Reply to What future careers are good for people who may want to SAH for a bit then go back?

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[quote=Anonymous]People have covered a lot of the usual options (nursing, teaching, accounting -- service jobs that are permanently in demand and where things don't change so fast that if you were out of the field for 5 or 6 years, you'd struggle to get back into it).

But there are other less common options. I worked in consulting at a high level before becoming a mom, and then took a SAHM break when I had kids, and then after about 3 years I started doing some one-off projects, usually coming in as an outside consultant on RFPs or tricky projects where I had a lot of expertise. That grew and now I have my own solo consulting business where I mostly set my own hours and can pick my projects. I can even do stuff like decide not to work for a month in the summer so I can spend time with my kids. I make about 100k a year, which is a fraction of what I'd make if I'd stayed the course in my career but also a very respectable salary for someone who has a lot of control over their schedule and what I work on. I could ramp it up if I wanted, but I don't want to. I like this balance.

I know other women who have done similar things, and I actually have a small network of women I worked with pre-kids and we all refer work to each other or will tag team on projects.

To do this you just have to know what you want and be willing to make the compromises to get it. I know there are people in my field who look at me and think I'm crazy for leaving so much money on the table when I could go back full time for a major firm and make bank. But I have ZERO interest in that lifestyle and I actually want to see my kids grow up and be present in their lives. My DH is a fed with very regular hours -- he makes more than I do but not that much more, though he's much more beholden to a schedule than I am (though he also gets benefits and I do not, so that's very valuable to us and I'm happy to be the one with the flex schedule who does more with the kids as a tradeoff for him keeping us in health insurance).

I know other women who have higher earning spouses who do similar to what I'm doing and it works for them too, though they generally need more help at home because their spouses can't contribute as much. But they also have more income so it works.

Think about building niche skill sets and strong client relationships and this could be an option for you, too. I think the people who struggle most to SAHM or find work life balance are people who are generalists in large organizations because it makes them very replaceable and limits consulting and part-time options. If you want flexibility, you need to have value that can't be more easily found in a full time employee, whether that's a history of working on specific projects that others find tricky or annoying, or a really strong rapport with a client or class of client, or specific skills that are rare in your field, like unusually good writing, presentation, or project management skills.[/quote]

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