Joy Redmond, marketer
"Not only is it great not to have my creative work tied to nine to five, but it's lovely to be at the school gate a couple of days a week too," says Joy Redmond, a Gorey-based marketer.
Combining a part-time marketing role at the video-technology company Sonru with freelance consulting for "high-potential start-ups" and being on the mentoring panel with Wexford County Enterprise Board, Redmond juggles multiple projects to a schedule that works for her.
She works with start-ups, helping innovators to communicate their ideas. "My speciality is bringing their marketing materials up to blue-chip level – to a level that they fit in when they are selling across the table to multinationals."
She doesn't do regular hours. "I have no problem with a 40-hour week; it's just having to do it within nine to five, Monday to Friday," she says.
"If you are coming up with a whole new brand for a client, it's very hard to shoe-horn it into nine to five. I might do a few hours and then go for a long walk or a swim," she says. "If I'm doing research, I might do my statistical analysis and, before I write it up, sleep on it or take a day off and then really be ready to write up my conclusions."
With two sons, her younger on the autism spectrum, being her own boss fits better with family life too."When you are self-employed and have your own hours, it's easier to manage."
Redmond also volunteers her marketing skills with Cottage Autism Network, a charity for the families of children with autism, of which she is a board member.
She has no fears about job security. "When you are managing yourself you have absolute security. You have more control over your life."