Ever since Diane Keaton got obsessed with apples in Baby Boom, moms nationwide have been reassessing everyday habits and asking themselves, is this profitable? Indeed, 52% of companies operate as home businesses in the United States. Of course, not all those are kitchen table start-ups, where mothers have seen an opening in the market just from feeding junior something different that morning that didn’t end up on the ceiling, or realizing that a simple tweak right there creates a wholly more fitting jacket for the family dog who feels the cold come winter. It is this open-minded, keenly observant attitude that has seen many a stay-at-home mom (who often was previously a hardworking career woman) find that golden ticket niche untapped by competitors. Sometimes, it’s simply openly a child daycare center.

Baby Einstein and Beyond

Just like the famous rocket-ship flying, classical music loving kids dreamt up by Julie Aigner-Clarke, it is more than possible for other full-time mothers to tap into the home business market through a little innovation and a lot of hard work. Running a business alongside a home life is difficult to start with, but once a routine is established, it can be easier even than juggling a lengthy commute into work with school runs and events and dinner times that suit young through to old in the family. Not for nothing are Virtual Assistants in high demand: mothers are high-functioning multitaskers by nature.

Your Product, Your Brand

Of course, the first step is the idea. If you feel you can handle more than one dog in the park but don’t want the responsibility or expense of more pets full time, a dog walking business could be your next step. Similarly, if you feel you’d love to get back into the academic way of thinking, rather than embarking on further study (not a temporally effective concept as a mom, despite the plethora of distance-learning courses available), why not look into opening a tutoring company?

The next step, if your thinking is big, is the backing, and then – after what often can feel far too long – comes the product, whether that be freelance, client-focused services or jam jars decorated via an online label maker with your particular – lovingly crafted – design. The key is to stand out from the crowd. You might love photography, but what makes your pictures better than the store in town? Further, if you want to sell something homemade, though you can attempt early sales online via platforms such as Etsy, eBay, and Amazon, but make sure you’re doing this legally.

Serious Business

Indeed, there are myriad rules and regulations out there, dependent upon the nature of your conceived brand (and particularly if it’s a food stuff you want to sell), so do look into the finer details of your cherished dream. Finally, don’t forget that running a home business (kitchen table start-up or not) requires different tax evaluation, so don’t get caught out having not set aside enough to pay this off or forget to allow for inevitable peaks and troughs in profit.