From Pastime to Profit

Written by Nancy Mann Jackson

This article is courtesy of HomeLife magazine.

Years ago, Nanci Slagle figured out that preparing several meals at once and freezing them could help her better manage her family's busy schedule and always have a home-cooked meal on the table by dinnertime. She and a friend had been cooking that way for several years when people began asking them to speak to women's groups and teach others how to prepare meals for an entire month in just one day.

"We put together a seminar and a how-to handout," says the stay-at-home mom from Brownsburg, Ind. "The next thing we knew, we were being interviewed by our local television news." Almost overnight, Slagle's cooking hobby became 30 Day Gourmet, her own home-based business. Now she has an office in her basement and oversees a consultant program, order processing, a Web site, and additional cookbooks — all without missing a beat with her children.

Staying home with your children doesn't mean you have to stop using your mind or talents until they graduate from high school, and it doesn't mean you can't earn money as well. Turning a hobby into a home-based business may be right for you. Here's advice from successful work-at-home moms on how to make it happen.

Take a Risk
If you've been out of the work force for a while or if creating a business seems like something you never thought you'd do, it can be a little scary to take the plunge. But finding the courage to make that commitment can change your life.

Tammy Griffith of Winchester, Ky., worked as a bookkeeper for 15 years before she decided to start her home-based business, Off-Site Bookkeeping. "I wanted to have more flexibility for my children, so my husband said, 'Try it and see what happens,'" Griffith says.

Griffith purchased ad space in the local newspaper, resulting in her first client. She found her second client by sending resumes to local companies that were looking for bookkeepers. And after a job well done for those clients, they referred her to others. Currently, Griffith handles bookkeeping for three small businesses and earns the income she needs working about 25 hours each week. The best part is she is able to devote plenty of time to her children and their activities.

So think about the things you enjoy. Are there crafts, skills, or talents you're doing anyway? Why not find a niche, take a risk, and turn your hobby into a moneymaking business?

"Go for it," Slagle adds. "If it's something you love and are good at, it won't even feel like work."

Team Up
Beginning a new venture on your own can seem daunting. If that's the case, partnering with a friend may be the perfect solution. "When you work outside the home, you interact with people all day, but when you're a stay-at-home mom, you often get very little interaction with adults," says Denise Shuff, who partnered with two other creative moms to form Good Intentions, a company that provides handmade greeting cards and stationery. "The fun part about this business is getting together with each other to work on it."

With a talent for photography, Shuff had long wanted to create note cards using her photographs. When she became friends with two women in her Sunday School class who also enjoyed crafts and had an interest in creating stationery, the dream seemed within reach. "I probably wouldn't have ever done it on my own; it was much easier for me to do it with partners," Shuff says. "If I have somebody with me, it helps during times when I doubt myself. For me, having partners made the whole thing more successful."

Treat Your Business Like a Business
If you're serious about earning income from your hobby, you have to take your hobby seriously. Houston stay-at-home mom Christi Lambert began selling Melaleuca health and wellness products to earn extra money without leaving her children, but she's learned that it takes discipline. "If you want to work a home-based business, treat it like a business," she says. "Choose business hours and keep them. Also, don't give up. Working from home is often a long-term commitment, not a get-rich-quick plan."

For Griffith, taking her business seriously means keeping the same routine she kept when she worked outside the home. "You have to stay focused," she says. "I get up every morning and walk, then take a shower and get dressed before my kids leave for school, just as if I had some place to go for work other than upstairs."

Experience the Benefits
Every work-at-home mom has her own reasons for juggling multiple roles under one roof, but many of them take joy in realizing the same benefits, not the least of which is the additional financial security that can come from such a venture.

"We know we contribute immeasurably to our families' welfare by tending to them full-time, but it's very satisfying to contribute financially as well," says Tracy Friggstad, who paints and creates homemade crafts. Monies earned from her crafts helped her family upgrade their vehicle and take a trip to see family. "We don't depend on [my earnings] for day-to-day expenses, but they do allow us to have some extras on occasion."

In many cases, more than the extra income, stay-at-home moms are thrilled to find a way to fuel their passions and interests. "God made us complex, multi-faceted people," Friggstad says. "A home-based business can provide an outlet for our creativity and talents that we really need, making us happier and more productive. The wife and mother is the barometer of the home. If we feel happy, productive, and useful, this translates into happier children, a happier husband, and a happier home."

However, the benefit that keeps most work-at-home moms going is that they're able to be with their children. "I love the security that my four kids have knowing that Mom is home," Slagle says. "We're able to use our house for ministry and allow our kids to have friends over after school because I'm there. And I love being able to see my kids off to school in the morning."

Along the same lines, moms love the flexible schedule working from home affords. "I love arranging my work schedule around my family instead of squeezing my family in around my work schedule," Slagle says. "I can go on a field trip with my daughter and make up the time after good-night prayers. I can stop and fix a snack for my son when he gets home from school and then head back to the office after he starts on his homework."

While it may not be right for everyone, working from home has allowed these women to play both the roles of full-time mom and business professional. As women everywhere search for balance between the home and the workplace, these moms have brought them both under one roof.

Nancy Mann Jackson works from her home as a freelance writer in Birmingham, Ala.

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