by Patricia Gilliam

Created on: December 31, 2007

I have a ton of respect for women leave the traditional workplace to raise their children. It's the most important job in the world in my opinion. Unfortunately it just doesn't pay anything financially, but I want to do what I can to help you in that area. The main reason I started a home-based business is because I want to be in your position one day-where I can be with our future kids and still generate a nice income.

There are a lot of opportunities out there, but you need to look at businesses that will give you the most flexibility. Online businesses are great in that you can have several running at the same time while you're doing other things. If you've never done an online business before, I would go with a major partner such as Amazon or Ebay starting out. I learned a lot about online sales from having businesses with them, and you can immediately start making a profit. Later on if you ever have a product idea of your own, your experience will help you. My main advice on those is watch that you don't lose money on shipping and be sure to have your high-ticket items insured by the post office when shipped.

Service-based businesses are great as well. With these, you can use any skill that you already possess and develop it into a business. Again, computers are a good field, as well as anything educational that you can tutor someone. If you're a specialist in a certain field, consider writing how-to articles as well and make money from your knowledge.

If you are up to it, taking care of an additional child during the day can also make you as much as a job. Daycare has gotten expensive in a lot of areas, and I have two friends that have done well with this. It may vary by state, but there are limits to how many children you can babysit before needing a home daycare license. You'll need to check with your local officials for details.

As a last parting bit of advice, I recommend two books for people wanting to start any business. They are "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki and "48 Days Til' the Work You Love" by Dan Miller. I'm not affiliated with either of them, but their books helped me a lot as I was getting started. I wish you the best and hope your business becomes a great success for you and your family.

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