Moms Fuel Home-Based Business Boom

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Moms Fuel Home-Based Business Boom

Bay Area Moms Show How to Roll in the Dough

Reporting
Sue Kwon
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―

http://cbs5.com/consumer/home.business.moms.2.1282193.html

Ali Krebs works on her business from home.

In this economy, women are starting businesses at double the rate of men. Many Moms are starting businesses in the home to supplement the family income. Some are cooking up a lot of dough.

Sasha Nichols couldn't find interesting looking bows that stayed put in her daughter's hair. So the homemaker took out the glue gun and made her own.

"Everywhere we went people would say 'Where did you get those adorable bows I love 'em.' I thought 'maybe I'll give samples to friends,' which I did... they came back and said, 'You've gotta sell these.'"

From a little workstation in her garage, her business Bow Bijou bloomed.
She started selling bows in local boutiques.

"The first few minutes I brought the product in, they started selling in first 5 minutes," Nichols said.

According to hybridmom.com, a resource for entrepreneurial homemakers, women are fueling a boom in home-based businesses. Whether it's to start a college fund, in Nichols' case. or to supplement family incomes in a down economy.

Moms are finding inspiration and business ideas through their children. Ali Krebs came up with the idea for necklaces for mothers.

"I wanted to wear something hip and stylish that had my kids names on it," Krebs said.

But it's not just a hobby for Krebs. When her real estate staging work suffered during the recession, she needed Swank Mommy Necklaces to make money. The kitchen turned into the office. A team of neighborhood moms became her employees.

"Marketing at first was word of mouth. We wore it and people thought they were cute. Ladies at preschool would want one," said Krebs. But the mothers took their gift of gab and took it all to a higher level with technology. "Twitter and Facebook has been phenomenal. Social networking - I can't say enough about it. The number of people on the web are unbelievable and the percent of those who are mothers is crazy."

And once celebrity Mom's started wearing the handmade bling, the kitchen- based business started to cook up sales - $30-50,000 a month. Krebs is now working full time, and the business is expanding with a corporate distribution partner.

Nichols chose a different growth plan. She prefers to work a couple hours a day, so she can focus on the primary tasks of being a mother and homemaker. But even being a part time entrepreneur can pay. When Nichols first started Bow Bijou a year ago, she put in $500 of her own money for supplies. These days she makes that much per week.