THE BUSINESS OF STAYING HOME
By Kate Copsey
Contributing Writer
It is not unusual for stay-at-home mothers to think that they would like to contribure to the household income in some way. This is particularly true when so many families are struggling in this economy. Finding ways to earn money, though, while staying at home with young children, is not easy.
There are basically two ways to earn money, and stay-at-home mothers are faced with those samed options--you can work for someone else or you can start your own business.
Janie McQueen chose the latter. Janie claims that she becomes creative with babies so having twins sent those creative energies into starting her own business. Janie and her mother, who was facing a loss of savings due to the economic downturn, got together to create Susu & John, a successful children's bonnet company. The company started when mother Mary Patrick, a talented seamstress, found an old pattern for the classic southern bonnet which she had recently used to make bonnets for babies of family friends. From there the company grew as the infants grew and now has a line of bucket hats for boys along with the bonnets for girls, from infants to toddlers.
"Quality handmade articles are very big right now," claims Janie.
Janie found that she could work while the infants slept, but more importantly she was able to network online to find help and support when the company started to grow and she needed to address sales issues. She credits the other mothers in her networking groups with giving her suggestions and support when things got tough as they had all been there, too.
Working from home and having young children around is always difficult, and Janie stresses that while you should strive to be professional, the idea that you are working alongside your children is becoming more acceptable.
Of course, as with any business, you will have to address the legal and permit issues. Susu & John needed a DBA (doing business as) registration, and as the McQueens live in Roswell they needed a Roswell business license for a home business. An EIN (employer identification number) is important for taxation issues. Both of these require paperwork being filled out and lodged with the appropriate office.
Making time for bookkeeping and sales issues is also something that has to be scheduled in and it is perhaps fortunate that Susu (Sophia Susannah) and John (John Lathan) have two older brothers to keep them entertained.
Any work or business from home adds yet another plate to balance in busy lives, so make sure that you think carefully before setting out. However, if you can multitask well, working from home adds another dimension to your life that can be enjoyable, as well as profitable.
The twins are now 14 months old and the company has sales representatives in 22 states. The website www.susuandjohn.com will show you some of the company background and illustrate how, in a very short time, a good idea came to life while still allowing Janie to work from home with her infants.
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