Working a senior sales and marketing role in the hotel industry, Johanne was put in a position where she found it difficult to balance work and family.
Johanne has felt the financial impact of moving out of the corporate world, but has applied her business savvy to making childminding a profitable venture. Andrea was successful and well-paid, so it came as a shock to her colleagues when she made the decision last year to leave the industry – and retrain as an in-home childminder. Despite the money and prestige of a legal career, the long hours and high expectations were proving incompatible with raising three young children.
She’s taken a small hit financially, but says the benefits outweigh that, and it hasn’t affected the family’s quality of life. “I’ve never been self-employed before. They provided all the guidance that I needed in terms of setting up my own business, and they take a lot of the stress away. I used to have a secretary or paralegal support, and I feel like they’ve stepped into that role, as they deal with all the billing and marketing support,” she says.But becoming a childminder to make money while taking care of your own child isn’t always an easy solution.