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Home Based Business Opportunities for Moms

The Best of Both Worlds

by Amy Covington

Thousands of Americans spend hours each day on congested highways commuting to office jobs. With home prices soaring in metropolitan centers, many have relocated to the suburban fringes in order to afford a home and support their families. The additional time in the car is especially difficult on parents - who return home too late to pick up the kids from school and drive them to their respective after-school activities.

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In today's world, women have gained much ground in the business arena and most want to remain viable professionals with maximum earning potential. More now than ever, women are taking advantage of work-at-home opportunities, allowing them develop an appreciate of the art of balancing work life and home life under one roof.

Taking the plunge from a full-time employee to a one-stop-at-home shop can be intimidating, to say the least. If the idea of surrendering the "security" of a regular paycheck keeps you up at night, consider this: how often do you read about companies merging with other companies, downsizing, or moving out of state? Perhaps it's happened at your own company. If you think about this way, security is relative. When you own your business, you are in charge of your income; you generate your own security. If you have been dabbling in a side business while holding a full time job, and have been at all successful, think of how far you could go when you dedicate full time hours to your enterprise. We've been conditioned to value tradition and routine, and getting up at the crack of dawn and driving to an office building is ingrained in our subconscious to represent tradition and routine. After so many years of battling for a fair playing field and winning, women are becoming more comfortable going out on their own, realizing that they can have the best of both worlds; being at home with their families and making a mark in the career world.

The Land of Home-Based Opportunity

Fortunately, we live in the land of opportunity. For every interest there is a business idea and a plethora of information at your fingertips to help you pursue it. If you are starting from Square One and are not sure what homebased business is right for you, Paul and Sarah Edwards, professional speakers, nationally syndicated columnists, radio and TV show hosts, and authors of eight work-at-home books including "Finding Your Perfect Work," "Home Businesses You Can Buy," and "Making Money with Your Computer," recommend that you ask yourself this question: What would you like to be doing?" We have been trained to seek opportunities that are practical and logical instead of idealistic. Today, however, finding a unique niche and building a business around it is all the rage.

Stacy DeBroff is an example of someone who walked away from a high-powered career to start her own super-charged business. DeBroff, who started out as a lawyer, founded the public interest advising office at Harvard Law and then went on to found Mom Central, Inc. "I'm totally accessible to my kids while still being a role model for a successful, dynamic career," she said. DeBroff grew her business to the point where she has over 15,000 moms that she e-mails every month with tips and advice on owning and operating a homebased business. and has written several parenting books. "I've done consulting with companies on messaging to moms, from big companies such as Upromise to entrepreneurs, and have been asked to be a national corporate spokesperson for two national consumer companies."

Just being a mom was enough to launch a fulfilling career for DeBroff. Linda Burzynski, CEO of CM IT Solutions, believes so wholeheartedly in entrepreneurship that she has dedicated her career to growing franchise businesses. During Burzynski's first five years as president of Molly Maids, the cleaning franchise's annual client revenues jumped from $12 million to more than $86 million. When she became president and CEO of Computer Moms in 2000, the company had 45 franchisees comprised of stay-at-home parents located only in Texas. By 2004, Computer Moms became CM IT Solutions with 120 locations in 29 states and another 40 scheduled to open before the end of 2004.

Even a pillar of success like Burzynski had hurdles to overcome in the beginning. "Finding a balance of not allowing nay sayers to discourage you along the way but being able to accept input and critiquing in a constructive way is one of the biggest challenges," said Burzynski. "You must be positive and have the right information, be willing to listen and then act in a timely fashion. You must be accountable and you must lead. As a new business owner, one often 'does not know what one does not know.' Thankfully, being a part of a franchise system will greatly shorten that learning curve for most."

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