on its sanctity as your important work space.

3. Agree with your partner times when you will work if these overlap with times when your family is around.

4. Be firm with your friends and family if they call for a chat during your work time – tell them you’ll call them back.

5. Manage your time. Use a system that works for you – one suggestion is to do ‘time blocks’, looking at what you want to achieve each day and blocking out your diary with each task, estimating how long it will take.

6. Having good childcare in place is essential. You won’t be able to work effectively unless you know your child is happy and s

Working at home could be the ideal solution for mums combining a career with bringing up a family.

J K Rowling’s Harry Potter books may have made her a multi-millionaire but her life as a budding writer is also the stuff of fairytales.

Before phenomenal earned her a net fortune of ?520 million, the author struggled to raise a baby alone on a ?70-a-week welfare cheque in a mice-infested flat.

Like Rowling, mothers who work from home have become a powerful force in British industry with a turnover of more than ?4 billion a year, according to new research.

Dubbed the ‘kitchen table tycoons’, the employment world has seen a boom in the number of female entrepreneurs working from home.

Working at home combining a career with bringing up a family is the ideal solution for mums craving flexibility and independence with over two thirds saying being self-employed is the ideal solution for combining work and home life.

There has been an increase in mums working for themselves and the easiest and quickest way to do that is to have a homebased business. You haven’t got to get from A to B and you can manage the home – shove on the washing machine, empty the dishwasher – and be at your desk two minutes later. Instead of being out five days a week you can manage the household during the week and keep on top of things. And managing mum-tasks and playing housewife while you work aren’t the only advantages. From a business perspective, home working keeps costs right down so it’s ideal if you’re starting out.

If you’re not already an entrepreneuse, starting a business from scratch may feel daunting for mums, especially those with a long stretch of maternity leave behind them.

Start small is the key.

If you’ve got a computer and a phone, you’re off. There’s no magic thing you have to do. Just make sure you know what items you can and can’t claim through your business.

Many mums who want to be their own boss draw on experience from their pre-baby career or use their newfound mothering skills to set up a business. Many women start up online businesses like virtual shops – a lot of ideas are linked to being a mum, such as selling children’s toys.

If you have big ambition to become a ‘mumpreneur’, managing your home and work life can be a balancing act.

Tips for making it work for you:

1. Get out often! You can go stir-crazy working from home. If you’re self-employed, there’s also a need to let people know you exist.

2. Define your own office space and educate your family on its sanctity as your important work space.

3. Agree with your partner times when you will work if these overlap with times when your family is around.

4. Be firm with your friends and family if they call for a chat during your work time – tell them you’ll call them back.

5. Manage your time. Use a system that works for you – one suggestion is to do ‘time blocks’, looking at what you want to achieve each day and blocking out your diary with each task, estimating how long it will take.

6. Having good childcare in place is essential. You won’t be able to work effectively unless you know your child is happy and sa

seen a boom in the number of female entrepreneurs working from home.

Working at home combining a career with bringing up a family is the ideal solution for mums craving flexibility and independence with over two thirds saying being self-employed is the ideal solution for combining work and home life.

There has been an increase in mums working for themselves and the easiest and quickest way to do that is to have a homebased business. You haven’t got to get from A to B and you can manage the home – shove on the washing machine, empty the dishwasher – and be at your desk two minutes later. Instead of being out five days a week you can manage the household during the week and keep on top of things. And managing mum-tasks and playing housewife while you work aren’t the only advantages. From a business perspective, home working keeps costs right down so it’s ideal if you’re starting out.

If you’re not already an entrepreneuse, starting a business from scratch may feel daunting for mums, especially those with a long stretch of maternity leave behind them.

Start small is the key.

If you’ve got a computer and a phone, you’re off. There’s no magic thing you have to do. Just make sure you know what items you can and can’t claim through your business.

Many mums who want to be their own boss draw on experience from their pre-baby career or use their newfound mothering skills to set up a business. Many women start up online businesses like virtual shops – a lot of ideas are linked to being a mum, such as selling children’s toys.

If you have big ambition to become a ‘mumpreneur’, managing your home and work life can be a balancing act.

Tips for making it work for you:

1. Get out often! You can go stir-crazy working from home. If you’re self-employed, there’s also a need to let people know you exist.

2. Define your own office space and educate your family on its sanctity as your important work space.

3. Agree with your partner times when you will work if these overlap with times when your family is around.

4. Be firm with your friends and family if they call for a chat during your work time – tell them you’ll call them back.

5. Manage your time. Use a system that works for you – one suggestion is to do ‘time blocks’, looking at what you want to achieve each day and blocking out your diary with each task, estimating how long it will take.

6. Having good childcare in place is essential. You won’t be able to work effectively unless you know your child is happy and s

you can manage the household during the week and keep on top of things. And managing mum-tasks and playing housewife while you work aren’t the only advantages. From a business perspective, home working keeps costs right down so it’s ideal if you’re starting out.

If you’re not already an entrepreneuse, starting a business from scratch may feel daunting for mums, especially those with a long stretch of maternity leave behind them.

Start small is the key.

If you’ve got a computer and a phone, you’re off. There’s no magic thing you have to do. Just make sure you know what items you can and can’t claim through your business.

Many mums who want to be their own boss draw on experience from their pre-baby career or use their newfound mothering skills to set up a business. Many women start up online businesses like virtual shops – a lot of ideas are linked to being a mum, such as selling children’s toys.

If you have big ambition to become a ‘mumpreneur’, managing your home and work life can be a balancing act.

Tips for making it work for you:

1. Get out often! You can go stir-crazy working from home. If you’re self-employed, there’s also a need to let people know you exist.

2. Define your own office space and educate your family on its sanctity as your important work space.

3. Agree with your partner times when you will work if these overlap with times when your family is around.

4. Be firm with your friends and family if they call for a chat during your work time – tell them you’ll call them back.

5. Manage your time. Use a system that works for you – one suggestion is to do ‘time blocks’, looking at what you want to achieve each day and blocking out your diary with each task, estimating how long it will take.

6. Having good childcare in place is essential. You won’t be able to work effectively unless you know your child is happy and s

s.

Many mums who want to be their own boss draw on experience from their pre-baby career or use their newfound mothering skills to set up a business. Many women start up online businesses like virtual shops – a lot of ideas are linked to being a mum, such as selling children’s toys.

If you have big ambition to become a ‘mumpreneur’, managing your home and work life can be a balancing act.

Tips for making it work for you:

1. Get out often! You can go stir-crazy working from home. If you’re self-employed, there’s also a need to let people know you exist.

2. Define your own office space and educate your family on its sanctity as your important work space.

3. Agree with your partner times when you will work if these overlap with times when your family is around.

4. Be firm with your friends and family if they call for a chat during your work time – tell them you’ll call them back.

5. Manage your time. Use a system that works for you – one suggestion is to do ‘time blocks’, looking at what you want to achieve each day and blocking out your diary with each task, estimating how long it will take.

6. Having good childcare in place is essential. You won’t be able to work effectively unless you know your child is happy and s

on its sanctity as your important work space.

3. Agree with your partner times when you will work if these overlap with times when your family is around.

4. Be firm with your friends and family if they call for a chat during your work time – tell them you’ll call them back.

5. Manage your time. Use a system that works for you – one suggestion is to do ‘time blocks’, looking at what you want to achieve each day and blocking out your diary with each task, estimating how long it will take.

6. Having good childcare in place is essential. You won’t be able to work effectively unless you know your child is happy and safe.

You now have the joy of working for yourself and the feeling that you’ve achieved – being a working mother. It’s great that your children can see their mum not as ‘just mum’ but also as a woman with business acumen and personality.