Moms building business at home

Some moms find they can run a business and watch the kids at the same time.

Fresno Bee

Some moms choose to work full time. Others become full-time moms.

Lately, a category in between is gaining popularity, even inspiring a new term: mompreneur.

Mompreneurs are women who run their own businesses — usually out of their homes — while juggling the duties of motherhood, said Ellen Parlapiano, who trademarked the term and is co-author of several books on the subject.

“The No. 1 reason that they start businesses is for family flexibility — the flexibility to go to the preschool in the middle of the day without having to ask a boss for permission,” she said.

Exact numbers of mompreneurs aren’t available. But millions of women run businesses by themselves and are the sole employee, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Women’s Business Research. The number of such firms grew at twice the rate of all single-person businesses since 1992, the center said.

With the state of the current economy, Parlapiano expects more.

Laura Gendron of Clovis, Calif., is a mother of three and the owner of Petite Fleur Designs, an online boutique that sells the hair accessories, hats and children’s clothing she creates. She also supplies 20 other Web sites and local shops with her goods.

Her factory is a small bedroom in the family’s suburban home, and she works when the kids are at preschool, after they go to bed and occasionally while they play quietly at the desk next to her.

She estimated she earns the same amount of money as she did working part time in pharmaceutical sales, her pre-baby career.

Balancing business and family is a big challenge, but Gendron said she always puts family first.

Tim Stearns, executive director of the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fresno, said many people have probably pondered entrepreneurship before they had children, back when they were working a full-time corporate job.

Now that they’ve left that job, they’re in a better position to start the business, he said.

“A woman who’s married who’s trying to raise a kid — it’s a perfect model for someone who now needs to be at home but would like to generate some income,” he said.

For public relations consultant Suzanne Crosina-Sahm, the move from full-time worker to business-owning mother happened accidentally. Her job ended when a grant ran out, and that same day, one of the clients she served in that job asked her whether she would continue to work for them from home.

That client was a large bank, and Crosina-Sahm eventually added other prominent clients.

Her office is in a corner in her bedroom, and she works when her 3- and 7-year-old sons are at school and still has time to volunteer in their classrooms, she said.

Her clients know she has young children at home, but she said the two worlds can collide at times.

Parlapiano said presenting a professional image is important. “Luckily, technology allows so much to be done by e-mail now.”