u/KingKeet

Hi all!

I’m a Diploma qualified Beauty Therapist with 6 years worth of experience within the industry although I have been qualified for 10 years.

I’m just feeling a bit stuck at the moment and I’m looking for some advice.

I have a toddler who is almost three years old. She’s in daycare two days a week (Wednesday and Friday) and we can’t really afford more than that right now. We also don’t have any family that live nearby and sadly I don’t have any friends who could babysit for free.

With that being said, I feel like I’m limited in what I can do moving forward but I also feel like I’m making up excuses and making it harder than it actually is.

So, I work around 12 hours a week (although I’d happily work more) because the clinic that I work in doesn’t have enough clients to justify longer hours for me. We also don’t open on Saturdays.

I absolutely love the work that I do and it would be a dream job, but it’s genuinely gotten to a point now where I can’t justify staying there if I’m not getting enough hours.

The way that I see it I can go a few different ways:

1. Get an additional job.
   I’m happy to work weekends. The downside is that it’s actually really hard (at least from what I’ve seen so far) to be employed at a job for Saturdays and Sundays only. I could potentially work nights as well, it’s just a bit tricky with my husband’s schedule.

2. Quit this role altogether and find a job that can offer me more hours.
   This is logical too, but I feel bad about this because my boss has already invested a lot into furthering my skillset. It feels backhanded to be like “thanks for providing me with free training! I’m gonna take this elsewhere now.”

3. Change it up completely.
   I’m thinking about either going back to university or undertaking a diploma. I’m leaning toward nursing because it’s something that I’ve always been interested in, I also have a lot of clients that ask me if I’ve worked as a nurse before.
   The downside of course is again, time and money, but it’s also an investment into the stability of our financial future.

I guess I’m just feeling really anxious at the moment and I need something to change but I don’t want to make a decision that I’m going to regret down the track.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? I’m open to everything :)