Starting a Home Business: Foundations
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What Bakers Know About Starting A Home Business
To a beginner, baking bread seems hard. In reality, it is a straightforward process that begins with combining simple ingredients into dough, a basic substance that has the potential to become any number of things the baker can imagine. Next, that dough is nurtured with kneading, additional ingredients, and time. Finally, the dough is shaped into a smaller version of its mature form and slowly, yet consistently heated until it scales into the final product. When the bread grows, the baker consumes the fruits of her labor, which gives her what she needs to bake even more!
The more you bake, you become familiar with the stages that happen during the lifecycle of making bread.
You learn to take into account variables such as the way certain ingredients interact, the temperature of the room, the moisture of the dough, and the vessel in which the dough will be cooked.
When you’re building a business, you begin with a few basic ingredients — an idea, a product or service, a strategy, market research, seed money, systems, and tools. After you’ve started your business building “dough”, you learn to consider the relationships between your product or service, your audience, your platform, and your financial goals in order to shape it into the final product — the “bread” of financial prosperity!
So, mama, the bottom line is: if you can bake a loaf of bread, you can start a business at home!
The First Step: Generate Home Business Ideas
With all your other duties as a mom, carving out the time to pursue this dream is going to take serious motivation on those days when life is coming at you fast and furious. Extra money is nice to have, but you won’t be making any if that’s your only reason for adding work on top of your work as a mother.
The business idea sweet spot is one that you can make money from and that will make you feel excited to “go to work” every day.
Step Two: Monetizing it
For example, there are bloggers who use their blogs to get hired for service-based positions, those who rent out ad space on their websites, those who sell their own digital or physical products, and those who are affiliates for the products and services of other businesses. Some bloggers even use all these streams of monetization.
If your business idea has multiple options for making money, pick the two most straightforward ways to start. You can adjust your income streams as your business grows.
Step Three: Plan of Attack
When I began to look for ways to make money as a stay at home mom, I had an idea that I would become a software engineer (like my daddy!) and work remotely. I was pretty excited about the possibility until husband sat me down and asked how I could realistically do that when we had two very young children whom we planned to homeschool.
I didn’t want to admit it right away, but he was right. There was no way I could function well as a remote member of a team because caring for my children requires more flexibility than a full-time remote position would allow. My goal was incompatible with my lifestyle, so I had to come up with a new plan. The good news is I’m using my love for tech to build a business I love and to help other moms do the same!
Here are some things to consider about your lifestyle preferences and your home business plan:
- When will you get the work done? Late at night? Early in the morning? During naptime?
- Where will you work? At a café? The dining room table? In your own office?
- What needs to change in your current schedule? Will you have time to remain an active member of that committee/club? Wil you be able to socialize as often? Should you change what time you wake or sleep?
- How many days of the week do you need to work? How many hours do you need to work each day?
- Do you want a business that requires a strict schedule or do you need a business that allows you to be flexible with your time?
Step Four: Seed Money
How will you finance your new business? Will you take funds out of the household budget? Will you get a small loan from a relative? Will you sell items you no longer need? Or will you keep working part time doing side hustles to bring in a little extra while you create your own company?
Step Five: Finding Support
You WILL need support on this journey. Your husband or partner is your most important supporter since your decision to become an entrepreneur will affect those closest to you first.
Next, you should surround yourself with like-minded individuals. Reach out to your mommy group pal who has a reselling business, your cousin who offers virtual coaching, or your former college pal who advertises her freelance writing services on social media. You can swap tips, laugh about zany customers, or cry together during rough patches.
Entrepreneurship can be difficult and lonely, even though it is immensely rewarding. You should be your own cheerleader first of all, but don’t underestimate the power of having your squad in your corner!
Find your tribe and stick together! You will need their encouragement when the road becomes bumpy.
If you’re looking for your virtual Mompreneur Squad, join us in Savvy Mamas Making Moves.
The last thing you should do is make your children feel that they are being abandoned in favor of your business. You only get one shot at raising your precious babies, so be mindful of their feelings as you pursue your entrepreneurial dreams.
The Final Word
Remember to join our private group for business minded moms: Savvy Mamas Making Moves
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These are really great tips for those of us wondering whether to start or to continue on the entrepreneurial track. Thanks for the ideas!
Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad you found this post useful 🙂
These are great tips! The metaphor is very helpful and reminds moms that starting a business is not an impossible task. Thank you for the reminder – I needed it!
I’m glad you enjoyed the post, Jenny! Starting a business is tough, but as you’ve said, not impossible!
I really like your point about making sure not to make your children feel abandoned because you are working on your business. That’s so important, yet it can easily be done without even realizing it. Our businesses are important, but our job is to also protect our children’s hearts. Great post!
Loved reading all of these tips, it reminded me that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.