Work from home moms - An interview with Holly Reisem Hanna

When it comes to working from home, there are many unexpected challenges that can make it difficult at first. We recently interviewed Holly Reisem Hanna, the founder of “The Work at Home Woman”. 

”The Work at Home Woman” is a one-stop solution for people wanting to explore all of their work-at-home or just looking to quit their 9-5 jobs. 
During the interview, Holly shared her experience, challenges, how to start a home-based transcription business, and more.

Tell our readers about yourself.

Hi there, my name is Holly Hanna, and I'm the Founder of The Work at Home Woman.
I worked as a nurse many years ago, but unfortunately, it wasn't the dream career that I thought it was going to be. I teetered on being totally stressed out or completely bored, that when I had my daughter, I decided to quit nursing and become a stay-at-home mom.
My husband and I agreed, I would return to work once our daughter started kindergarten, so I knew I needed to find a new career path during this time. Having worked most of my life, I was used to having my own money coming in, that when my savings started to dwindle, I started looking for part-time work from home jobs. I spent hours online, gathering ideas, figuring out what was a scam and what was legit. I had spreadsheets filled with research. I also started putting out feelers, asking people if they knew anything or had some kind of work I could do for them from home.
Through all of this, I started doing some freelance work — but I kept thinking about others who were in the same boat, looking for remote work but couldn't find what they were searching for.
At the same time, I had a conversation with a friend, and she suggested that I take my research and start a blog. So, I thought, why not, and I ran with the idea. I ended up falling into a career that I absolutely love. I've been blogging for 12 years now, and I still love it as much as the day I started.

How did you come up with the idea of The Work at Home Woman?

Like many entrepreneurs, The Work at Home Woman began as the solution to my problem, finding a legitimate work-from-home job that I enjoyed. Back in 2007, when I started my remote job search, the opportunities and resources were much more limited, so I sought to create a one-stop shop for people wanting to explore all of their work-at-home options in one place.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while setting up your business?

My background was in nursing, not business, marketing, or publishing, so I had to learn everything as I went. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, like not knowing that I had to pay quarterly self-employment taxes, but every step helped me become the entrepreneur I am today. Of course, being a mom, time is always a limited commodity.

Can you please share how you keep yourself organized?

I'm a huge fan of time blocking and using a day planner. I've even written a book Time Management in 20 Minutes a Day. I used to purchase a store-bought planner, but over time, I've created my own, called The Determination Bundle, that has the exact layout and functions that I want in a planner.

What would be your advice to those transcriptionists who want to start their home-based transcription business?

Get organized. Having multiple clients with multiple projects and deadlines can get confusing. And you never want to turn in sloppy or late work, so figure out a system to keep you on track. You'll feel much more at ease knowing that everything is taken care of in your business.

What will be the transcription industry trend in the coming days?

The web just continues to expand, and so does online content. So the need for transcriptionists will continue to rise; I don't see the industry slowing down anytime soon.

What are your future plans for your blog?

To continue to help as many people achieve their work-from-home goals as possible.

Conclusion

As Holly Hanna said that the web keeps on expanding day by day, so does the employment opportunities as well as the demand for work-from-home jobs. Working parents or mothers who are already undertaking household responsibilities and other priorities would obviously prefer work from home jobs over any other kind of job. All you need to do is never stop looking for opportunities, be consistent, have patience, do some research before taking any job-related decision and keep honing your skills, Soon enough, you’ll also become a successful entrepreneur like Holly Hanna.