I had this situation and said I was a part time childminder, Most pay cash and also I said I was an electrolysis( Not common and hard to question you on it but it's a specialist profession and good money) Said I was starting up my buissness with growing clients an electrolysis and doing child minding to. I knew friends who did both so I had done research incase they asked questions. Always believe a fib before you tell it and know what your talking about, Because people can be curious or just nosey but if you talk like you know what your saying with confidence then landlords will be happy your open and chatty. I had to explain why my account had cash payments and I did the above. And will have to again when work is back to normal and I need a new flat, And references I used was my Air serviced B&B feedback to prove I was respectful, But this was only in my circumstances and may not work for me next time so just my friendly charm I hope, I prefer open rent as it's people not estate agents.