How to find a flexible career that will allow you to be a work from home mom

Perhaps a new season of motherhood has allowed you to explore “what’s next” for yourself professionally. Perhaps you have been actively job searching to close a resume gap. Perhaps you are one of the millions of women that are prioritizing flexibility as the key criteria for their job search. Or perhaps you are one of the millions of women that left the marketing field (one of the hardest hit industries because of the pandemic) and are considering ways to now do that work on your own terms as a freelancer.

In any search to be a work from home mom, the question understandably comes up: How much can I make? As a company that delivers a proven 6-week social media marketing training for women looking to start and run their own freelance business as a social media manager, Hay There founder, Emily A. Hay, spoke with Barbara Ginty, CFP™, and the host of the Future Rich Podcast, to talk about exactly this.

Certified Financial Planner™ and money whisperer, Barbara Ginty, helps her guests through all their financial stresses and goals, giving out constructive feedback, advice, and let’s face it, a little therapy too. She’s basically your CFP Bestie. For women who are unsure about finance and savings, the Future Rich Podcast will teach you how you can work towards achieving your financial goals.

In this episode of the Future Rich podcast, Emily A. Hay and Barb talk about:

How motherhood inspired Emily to find a way to work for herself and to help other moms do the same
Why social media management is a great career for anyone looking for flexible work
How to set your rates as a freelancer, the earning potential for a social media manager and the importance of value-based billing.
How you can become your own boss, too.

How to Determine Your Earning Potential as a Freelance Social Media Manager

Since Barb is a “money gal,” (Future Rich is ranked as one of the 10 Best Finance podcasts), she and Emily peeled back the layers on what earning potential in this industry looks like. From our experience at Hay There Social Media as a community of social media managers, it takes some education and a mindset shift when you are switching from a W-2 employee to starting your own business. ESPECIALLY if you are coming from the world of W-2 employment or if you are partnered with someone who is a W-2 employee.

It can be an exciting journey to start your own freelance social media business. Not only can it give you professional fulfillment but it provides a transferrable skillset. While it is one of the best ways to increase your earnings, there are many things to consider. We created an in-depth collaborative post that shows comparison of a variety of factors from tax rates to write-offs to earning potential to how to answer the question: “How much do you make?”

As you can see, W-2 income and self-employed income are not an apples-to-apples comparison. When you are evaluating the worthiness of an opportunity based on the dollar signs, there’s a LOT more to consider beyond the salary or an hourly rate.

From a tax perspective, you might be making less than your salaried peers BUT you have the potential to put more in your pocket because you can expense certain bills.

*This is not personalized advice, this may or may not apply to your circumstances. Please seek a tax professional to discuss the details of your personal situation.