Starting any home-based business is hard work. Mix in a couple of kids and a husband and it can become a major challenge! I'm hoping to be able to help out by taking some of the guess work out of the whole process.

Back in early 2006 my (ex) husband and I had decided that we wanted to start a family. I knew that I wanted to be a stay at home mom so I started making all the necessary plans. I quit my job and we traded in both of our small vehicles for one bigger, family friendly SUV. We were okay financially... but I knew that money would be tight and I most likely wouldn't have the extra "fun" money that I had while I worked. That's when I decided to bounce around some ideas on what I could do while staying at home.

Deciding on what it is that you want to do as a home-based business owner can be a challenge in itself. You need to ask yourself the following questions to help you figure out what kind of business you would like to run. 

Do you have any special talents? Crafts, DIY, graphic design

Are you more of a people person or like to keep to yourself? Could you see yourself as an AVON or Scentsy Consultant, hosting parties?

Do you make any homemade gifts that family and friends are always praising you for?

What are your interests & hobbies?

If you could do anything you wanted to do, what would it be?

Do you want to work as an affiliate with an already established business or do you want to start something completely new?

Some of you stay at home moms may already know what it is that you want to do, but don't know how to go from there. If that's the case, GREAT! I'll have some wonderful info coming for you in the next few weeks. If you still have no idea what it is that you want to do, stay tuned! In the next few weeks I'll be posting about all  4 of the businesses I run as well as talking about a few other business opportunities out there.

In the next few posts I'll talk about:
- The Legal Stuff - What you need to know about BEFORE starting a business.
(The links I post will be exclusively for San Diego and California residents, but I'll help you figure out what you will need to research for your own city and state.)
- Building your brand.
- What's in name? How to choose a great, unique business name.
-Pricing your homemade goods.

Also coming in the next month or two I will be posting about:
-Cafepress vs Zazzle
- A quick guide to using PayPal
- How to sell on Etsy and be successful
- How to ship your items
- How to use Facebook pages, Pinterest and Instagram to your advantage
- How to build a website with little to no experience.