More Moms Working At Home

Cape Cod Times:

If you’ve ever worked from home under less-than-ideal conditions, you’ll appreciate Kimberly Kayajan’s recollection of the first business call she made from her home.

Kayajan, now 36, was using a cell phone for her startup Internet business selling colorful flip-flop sandals. This was several years ago and, at the time, reception at her home was pretty bad. Kayajan also was taking care of her infant son that day. So there she was, “hanging my head out the window, not wanting to leave my child alone inside, trying to sound professional.”

These enterprising women represent a trend that small business experts are paying attention to. They are enough of a phenomenon that there is now a widely accepted name for them — “mompreneurs.”

There’s nothing new about mothers finding ingenious ways to earn money from home while raising their kids. But today, e-commerce makes it possible for such ventures to earn more than grocery money. Sometimes lots more.

Plus, the growth of home-based businesses in general has meant that mothers who are home-based entrepreneurs — OK, mompreneurs — now are taken seriously.

Kayajan is now in her fourth year combining motherhood with her business venture, which last year shifted its focus to selling monogrammed jewelry.

Until her children are in school full-time, she expects growth to be slow. “That is one of the challenges with being a stay-at-home mom. Right now my kids are my priority,” said Kayajan, who spends just a few hours a week on her business, mostly at night.

“I’m really lucky that right now I can do a little of both. For our family this is what works.”

Photo by woodsy.

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