Emma used to work as a careers adviser in schools and colleges but when her second child was born, she decided to take voluntary redundancy because she wanted to be at home with her children more. After she had taken redundancy, she started to research work opportunities that could be done from home.
“Before starting my direct selling business, I was earning £26,000 a year working full time as a careers advisor, a job that I had been doing for seven years. However, after I had my second child, I decided to take voluntary redundancy so that I could spend more time at home with my young children.
“I started to research jobs that I could do from home, and I found Usborne. It seemed ideal for what I needed – I’ve always loved books and am passionate about reading so the opportunity to work with books and do so flexibly with the freedom I wanted, was incredibly exciting.
“I initially set out to earn £1,000 per month. That’s what I needed to ensure we could pay our bills. It took me about two years to reach that goal, and I have now built my business to a level that I earn approximately £4,400 per month. I’m really delighted with the success I’ve had.
“I sell the books through Facebook, and I work with some schools and nurseries. I’ll also attend local book fayres, especially at Christmas time. Plus, I support and mentor other Consultants, so I spend time running training sessions and calls and so on.
“I tend to start work once the children have left for school and I have walked the dogs. I then work until the children come home from school. I am incredibly grateful to be able to work around my family life, and family life always comes first. I occasionally work in the evening but only once the children are in bed. The other benefit of the flexibility is that I can take time off at Christmas and really reduce my hours during the summer holidays so that I can take the children for days out and so on. I can put the hours in at other times that suit me better, and sometimes, when I do work at the weekend at book fayres or events, my children come and help.
“It took patience and dedication to get to this point, but I wouldn’t say it has ever felt like hard work because I enjoy it so much and it fits so well around the rest of life. I have never looked back, and I could never see myself doing a traditional 9-5 job again.
“This job has afforded me so much – a trip around America, a new kitchen, I even won a free trip to the Maldives with some of the Usborne team in recognition of my success. Above all those lovely things though, the biggest benefit of my direct selling business is how it’s made life so much easier to manage. I love the freedom of this job so much!”