I never thought I would be a self employed carer.  In truth I didn't really know it was a thing!  But I can honestly say, it is by far the best career move I have ever made.  And now I'm on a mission to help others make that same career move so they can see the joys of being a self employed carer.  We are literally improving care for all..both for the people receiving care and for the carers delivering it! ​ I'm also a mum to two little boys, a wife, a human to a horse, a master to a dog and a slave to a cat!  So life is busy, fun and there is always lots going on! ​ So as I said, I do as I teach and I have a thriving care service which I run with my friend, Cheryl.  I love providing the best care service in the area and are super proud of what we have achieved.  We provide high quality bespoke care packages to people needing care and we are always inundated with care requests.  Because I see first hand how well this model of care works for all involved, I am passionate about showing others how they can become self employed carers too, so that they can deliver an excellent care service to those who need it, and can discover the joys of working as a Self Employed Carer. ​ Like so many great stories, my story starts out of need.  During covid I found myself being made redundant, places weren't hiring as it was mid pandemic and I had little people to feed and bills to pay.  So I simply needed a job.  I had toyed with the idea of starting a care company over the years, but there were lots of barriers to entry such as needing a lot of money to register with CQC and needing to find reliable staff, not to mention the sheer amount of paperwork was untrue.  But caring is something that I've always done, I'm good at it and I love making a difference to peoples lives.  But working for low pay at companies that were more than stretched with their resources, didn't make for good care or happy people. ​ ​ So, in the midst of panicking about what to do for work, (did I mention my husband also got made redundant the same week in our house, thanks covid!) I stumbled across the possibility of being a self employed carer.  Now I'm not going to lie, I didn't really know that was a thing!  Yes I had heard of PAs and knew of some people that looked after the odd person on the side, but I didn't know that I could choose to be a self employed carer.  I didn't know it was an actual job so to speak!  ​ ​ So I did a lot of digging around the internet to find out what I needed, to be able to set up as a self employed carer.  In truth that was the hardest bit, as there just isn't much information on the subject and I didn't want to just get going and feel like I was providing bogus care to people! But here's what I found out: ​ ​ - Anyone who has a caring skill set can become a self employed carer - Technically you don't need actual qualifications to get started - You don't need to register with CQC (phew, that's a big hurdle avoided!) - You do need to register with HMRC as self employed - There is a way you can do it with a friend ​ ​ So I established it could be done. although admittedly I was still a bit hazy on the details.  Crucially I needed to see if there was an actual need for such a service, so I took to good old Facebook and posted in our community page.  I simply asked if anyone would be interested in using a self employed independent carer,  care packages could be tailored to what people wanted and they wouldn't be squished into a standard non person-centred provision.  It truly would be a bespoke service for that individual.  And OMG, the post went wild!  So so many people saying they would love to use a service like this for their son, daughter, mum, dad, granny, grandad!  What we learnt was: ​ ​ - people wanted to know who was coming through their door and what time, rather than loads of different people from a care company - people wanted consistency and reliability - people wanted actual nice and normal people to care for them - people wanted to build a relationship with the person that cares for them - and most importantly, we learnt that this idea might actually work! ​ ​ So when I said my story was born out of need.  It was first started to fulfil my own needs to pay the bills.  But it continues as we have identified a MASSIVE gap in services available for people needing care.  The people we serve love getting a professional and reliable service that can be flexible to meet their needs, and we love being able to provide a high level of care to people who need it on our own terms.  It's a win for all.  ​ ​ But there is an issue... ​ ​ We are fully booked all the time!  We turn work away weekly. We are a two woman team and there is only so much two people can do.  But we appreciate how scary it is to go self employed.  We took the leap when we didn't have enough information.  We made mistakes that cost us money, in fact at times we pretty much were working for nothing!  We didn't know how to organise our finances and worried about the tax man.  We worried if we were even legal to do what we did.  To start with we had sleepless nights worrying if we would have enough work to survive.  Our little motto for a long time was 'just winging it'!  So I couldn't in good faith encourage people to become a self employed carer the same route we did!  But what I can encourage, is for you to let us help you!   ​ ​ So we have created the Professional Carers Network, as we have learnt all the lessons and can help you avoid the pitfalls.  We invite you to join our community of self employed carers and let us guide you to becoming a self employed carer.  Learn from people who have done it before you and are still enjoying caring as a career.  Save yourself time and money by learning from our mistakes!  But more importantly we take away the fear and loneliness of being a self employed carer, by having access to our community, resources and training.  So that we can encourage more people to take the leap and start their new career.  ​ ​ I truly love being a carer.  I love being able to make a difference to people's lives.  A genuine difference.  I love delivering a service that actually makes people's lives better.  But I would love to be able to do this on a larger scale.  Help more people.  Raise the standard of care that is offered to people.  Raise the profile of people delivering care.  Make care a career choice rather than something people do because they can't do anything else.  Make care a career that is worth entering the industry for.  Caring for people is truly a calling.  And we want people to be able to answer that calling in a way that lights them up and fulfils their needs.  ​ ​ By becoming a member of the Professional Carers Network, you are joining a movement towards better care for all.  This is only the beginning, and we would love for you to come along on the journey with us. ​