Moving abroad might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But for those who intend to, it will be one of the biggest decisions to ever make. It’s more unnerving for those married with children. They might be concerned about adapting to a new culture and wondering how things will finally pan out.
Even so, for the women who’ll need to run the home, care for the kids and manage the emotional, spiritual and physical needs of their husbands, I’m afraid your work has already been cut out for you.
Despite that, if you would like to earn some income and help to ease your spouse’s burden, here are 3 skills which many women have found helpful. They provide the convenience of working at your own pace alongside your primary responsibility. More so, if Canada happens to be your final destination then repackaging these skills could catch the attention of the Nigerian community.
Provided your product or service has a certain je ne sais quoi (a pleasant quality that is hard to describe), then you could turn your passion into a small business and work from the comfort of your new home.
1. Hair/ wig making In Canada, women skilled in braiding and installing weaves hardly make hair in clients’ homes. You have to go to theirs and it’s not cheap. Prices start from $100 depending on the style and type of extension. In America, it’s double the price or more for home service.
Thus, to enable your wig or hair making expertise stand out, you could consider advertising via Kijiji. It’s an online platform which enables Canadians to connect locally to exchange goods and services. For those moving to the UK, Gumtree is a popular go-to place for almost everything while Craigslist is a similar website for the US. However, you will need to create an impressive and convincing profile to attract potential customers.
Furthermore, to increase patronage and keep clients satisfied, offering a loyalty discount for introducing a new client or receiving a specified number of services from you, could be a killer feature. Remember to be professional, courteous and willing to resolve queries without having to burn too many bridges. It’s easier to retain an old customer than to get a new one.
Equally, if you don’t mind doing the occasional ‘home service’, customers will be very delighted. Hair making is becoming quite a competitive business and as such, running a successful business requires you to, sometimes, do things differently.
2. Dressmaking Fashion is always changing and requires its pacesetters to be at the top of their game. Therefore, if you’re an expert at turning fabrics into lovely attires, making gorgeous beaded necklaces or creating bespoke ankara heels with matching bags, then the opportunity awaits you.
To boost sales, Etsy is a great way to showcase your products on a global scale. It’s a peer to peer e-commerce marketplace focused on handmade, vintage and craft supplies.
3. Catering Likewise, if your gift resides in catering for small to large size gatherings, summers and festive seasons are usually packed with barbecues, parties and events. But apart from serving up tantalising and diverse dishes, plating your food in artistic ways is important, as it is said that one eats with their eyes first.
In addition, taking a program to master the essentials in the art of plating could expand your repertoire in food presentation, placing your newly acquired skills at an international level. Check out Maclean’s, a Canadian weekly news magazine for details on Canada’s best cooking schools.
Also, offering a taste of your cuisine would give an exceptional experience of your culinary skills, and to advertise your business, printing your own business cards via Vistaprint or moo.com are brilliant ways to put oneself out there.
With Vistaprint, you can either customise a template, upload your logo or complete design your own business cards and at a very affordable price too. To add a bit of sophistication, you could design product labels and stick them onto your serve ware to give it a professional and personalised look. Then, for beautifully crafted cards in stunning presentation boxes, moo.com would be an excellent choice.