Work At Home Entrepreneur Success Stories

There are so many reasons that people choose to start up a new business.  Some see opportunities everywhere are full of the "can do" spirit that every entrepreneur needs.  Some are driven to create the product they were searching for but couldn't find.  Some start up a home business because they want to spend more time at home with their families. Some can't stand a boss breathing down their neck.

Becoming an entrepreneur can offer freedom.   You become your own boss and don't have to answer to anyone but yourself!   You can work from anywhere and fit work around the important things in life- family, friends, pets, and health!  If you are interested in working at home and taking that leap from employee to entrepreneur, you may enjoy reading these Work At Home Entrepreneur Success Stories for inspiration. 

Startup and Entrepreneur Success Stories:

As a single mum I worked in the Music management and Sports management industries, lining the pockets of the rich and famous. When my daughter finished University and set off into the big wide world as an Artist, I was no longer needed to keep a roof over our heads, I was free to follow my passion of writing sexy thriller novels, the fodder for which I had gleaned watching from the side-lines in my previous jobs. I sold my apartment and invested in 'me'. I work from home and love it. Initially I thought I would miss the 'banter' and 'lifestyle' that went with the office, but no. My life is fuller than ever.  I have published the first of a trilogy, The Penance List, which is now being made into a movie, have just finished recording the Audiobook version for Amazon/Audible and am working on two sequels. Working at home is freedom, I work when I want (24/7 crazy hours) with whom I want, where in the world I want.
Author/Producer Siobhan Cunningham
@SCCunningham8

I am a proud Work At Home Mom.  I  am a single mom. My girls are 7 and 8 and I also homeschool them. I love working at home because it gives me plenty of flexibility with my time and I can guide my children and be there for them whenever they need me.  I blog, I write, and I teach classes on Skype. I started my own work at home web design business while my girls were 1 and 2 and I was single and working 40+ hours. My family all lives in the Dominican Republic and I was new in town. If I did it, anyone can.
Elayna Fernandez, The Positive Mom Foundation
@positivemommies

The idea was simple, by using our experience and skill sets with traditional public relations techniques, combining them with the new wave of web 2.0/social media, and packaging it with creative direction and design our company was born. Scraping together a few hundred bucks and opening a joint bank account we were able to fund our business cards and stationary, website hosting/domain fees, and various office supplies to get off the ground. Our logo, website, and creative direction were all developed in-house. By correctly leveraging our social media-outlets and networking connections, we gained a small buzz and began to focus our attention on musicians and local businesses, for their need in public outreach/brand recognition. Since then our firm has six clients and growing — we’ve actually had to ask clients to wait until some projects clear before bringing them on. Also, due to the fact that most of our external marketing and efforts to raise awareness have been conducted through new media tools like social networks, which offer a low monetary investment, as well as aggressive media relations initiatives, we retain almost all of our profits.
Jeremiah Sullivan and Peter Kelly, Framework Media Strategies
@FM_Strategies

I own Do Life Right, Inc., an independent publishing company which specializes in children's books about realistic homeschoolers of today. I started this company with my desire to fill a need in today's literature world: publish books about homeschoolers (there are virtually none other than my books). We've been in business for over two years now as a publishing company (and a consulting business before that) and have seven titles in our catalog (with about a dozen more lined up). Since my children
are homeschooled, they help with the business in many ways.
Lisa Cottrell-Bentley, Do Life Right, Inc.
@cottrellbentley

 

In order to balance time with my family more effectively, I left my full-time job as a Manager of Performance Development and started my own consulting business. The reason for this change was that I wanted to be the main caretaker for my children. I am able to balance time with my children while running my own part-time consulting business. Nine years after going to part-time hours, I published my book, "Ditch the Joneses, Discover Your Family" in order to share my insight into the struggle parents face when making a transition from being full-time employees to part-time employees or stay-at-home parents.
Cathi Brese Doebler, Ditch The Joneses
@CathiDoebler

Your query caught my eye, and I'd love to share my WAH success story with you. Nearly 4 years ago, my co-author and I left our six-figure salaries and the corporate world to pursue creating our own business from home. My friend Wona Miniati was doing high-tech marketing at the time and I was literally a rocket scientist. We wanted to create our own company and have a lifestyle that was more compatible with our lives as busy moms with two kids each. The idea was something new and unique: publishing Trader Joe's cookbooks – at the time there was not such a thing and it seemed like a fantastic idea. It was a whole new direction for us, since neither of us had ever worked in the publishing industry and had never worked at home or started our own business before. We pooled our resources and self-published the very first one, "Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's" – a book of easy recipes using Trader Joe's ingredients. It landed us on the Wall Street Journal and was selected as an IndieNext Pick by the American Booksellers Association. It has now sold over 100,000 copies and we're coming out with a new edition this fall. On its heels, we printed 2 equally successful books, and our small two-woman publishing company is now printing two books with two other authors for the fall. The books are available at bookstores everywhere, and we now have a web site devoted to helping other moms, busy people, and Trader Joe's shoppers cook great meals in a snap!
Deana Gunn, Cooking with Trader Joe's
@cookingwithTJ

Jellyfish Art is the worlds leading supplier in pet jellyfish and jellyfish aquariums. And, believe it or not, I started the company a few years ago out of my apartment! I had recently been laid off from my job and I was struggling in my search for a new one. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and start Jellyfish Art. I began experimenting and assembling custom tanks in my apartment (which I shared with 5 roommates) and selling them online. The business became very successful as tanks sold for as much as $25,000. I have since moved the business to a San Francisco warehouse as it has continued to grow.
Alex Andon, Jellyfish Art
@JellyfishArt

I am a mom inventor whose spicy light bulb moment catapulted me into the entrepreneurial ring leading me to manufacture and market a product that is now sold in over 400 stores across the US, Canada and Sweden and was recently featured on ABC's reality TV show Shark Tank. I was never the Entrepreneurial type, as a matter of fact, my whole life I pictured myself working for a few years once I got out of college and then I knew I would leave whatever career I chose to be a stay-at-home mom. My mother was a stay-at-home mom and in my mind, best roll model a young daughter could have. I followed my "plan" to the letter UNTIL…. After 9 years of working for a company, leaving that company to start a family and 3 years into my dream of "stay-at-home"-hood I hosted a dinner party that changed my life and thrust me into a very unique start-up! In 1 instant, my life went from very happy stay-at-home to inventor/entrepreneur in the male dominated "sport" of grilling! I am Founder and President of a grilling gadget empire, when my whole life all I ever thought of being the President of was MAYBE my daughter's PTA.
Leslie Haywood, Charmed Life Products LLC
@GrillCharmer

BestParking is a "parking decision engine" that steers motorists to the cheapest and closest parking garages and lots in 30 North American cities and 79 airports (40 cities by Q3, 2011). By decreasing the amount of time spent searching for parking in congested areas, BestParking is helping to make transportation more efficient. In business since 2006, we work with the nation's largest operators and dozens of on-the-ground surveyors to assemble highly accurate parking data – i.e., attributes and rates.  Our team consists of 10 full-time employees and 30+ part-time surveyors in the field. Everyone works from home.
Ben Sann, Best Parking

After graduating from college in 2006 I released a CD of my orchestra music, but sales were horrible and I wasn't left with much because I invested my entire college earnings into it. Then in 2008 I was laid off from a music awards company, and decided at that moment to five my music another shot. While on unemployment, I started 'ForOrchestra' where I arrange pop songs for orchestra – having done Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, and many more. The thing is that if I didn't pay attention to why my company failed in 2006, then I would have never known how to build a successful on ein 2009. For me, it's about changing the world at a time when orchestras are going out of business – I believe they just need new content which will then pull in more ideas and audiences. Sometimes the only way to grow is to get knocked down, learn from it, dust yourself off, and give another shot. You learn from your failures, not from your successes.
Walt Ribeiro, Pop Songs Arranged For Orchestra
@ForOrchestra

When my partner and I have started our writing and research business, we were ordinary graduate students with no ability to rent an office. Hence, we’ve set up a home office in my partner’s basement. Later on, we’ve moved to one of the rooms and spent nearly 1,5 years burning the midnight oil trying to develop and expand our endeavor. Since we had a shoestring budget, working from home has helped us save funds as well as avoid the hassle of finding and renting an office. Years later, we finally had to move to a usual office building, since our team grew tremendously.
John White, Best Essay Help
@BestEssayHelp

When my sister’s husband got fired, she turned to me looking for advice, but how was she to know I would turn her “crisis” (her word, not mine) into a new business venture? Or that, based on feedback from readers and audiences, it would not only entertain, but more importantly educate and inspire people? A stay-at-home mom and her retired executive sister (me) wrote a book titled "What I Learned About Life When My Husband Got Fired!"  This self-published book was launched by Neiman Marcus in August 2009. We are invited to develop and “teach” a financial literacy program to the Class of 2010 at KIPP Houston High School and our book is “approved” as a textbook by the State Board of Education.
Black, Red and Black Books

Lizzie Lou Shoes is actually anchored by moms in TWO continents. Founder and creator, Sheena, is based out of Texas, but production of the shoes occurs in India and is managed by Sheena's cousin – another work-from-home mom — Shilpi Goel, in New Delhi. Sheena says during a family visit to India in 2008, "I talked with my cousin who had design and manufacturing experience. She wanted to start exporting goods to the US and I wanted to start my own business. It was a perfect arrangement for two stay-at-home moms."
Sheena Edwards, Lizzie Lou Shoes
@lizzieloushoes

I’m the founder of and advisor to Meeting Wave, which helps members meet the nearby people they’d actually like to meet for business or social purposes, without having to disclose name or contact information until ready to exchange business cards.  Meeting Wave was alpha launched originally at TravelersTable.com in mid 2007 but was later renamed and now focused on mobile (iphone and android apps recently launched) and SaaS licensing of closed versions.  In July, we signed an investment transaction valuing the platform at over $1.5 million and now have a partner running the platform.
John Boyd, Meeting Wave
@MeetingWave

 

After a significant pay-cut, in an economy going south, this single mom of two, needed a change! I have been running a successful, licensed home daycare since April of 2008 – and I did it all on my own, with no child support and no husband to pay my bills while I built up my clientele. While still at my 9-5 office job, I began looking into my state's requirements for childcare licensing. After getting CPR certified, taking 15 hours of health and safety training, attending an orientation meeting held at the Community Care Licensing office and heftily baby-proofing my house, I was on my way to getting my childcare license. I got my first client by running an ad on my local Craigslist website. The calls came in slowly, but once they did, I'd set up interviews in my home in the evenings. I was prepared with a 3 page contract, that set the guidelines for the way I wanted to run my business. When I had two children committed to starting daycare with me, I quit my 9-5 job. It was slow getting "to capacity" with all of the six children I would end up with – but it did happen in just over a year – and my daycare has been full ever since! I now make more than twice my old salary and have the benefit of all the tax write-offs associated with working from home. I set my own hours, I have sick days and a yearly paid vacation – and best of all, I get to be home to raise my own children – and I did it all on my own.   After getting my daycare under way, I started making baby dresses for my little girl. Some of my daycare parents asked if I'd sold any. SO, I started to sell dresses here and there – and discovered making handbags. I began to use a little of my income from the daycare to buy materials for my handbags and in January of this year, I opened my etsy shop. Starting a handmade business when I only have the evenings and weekends to work on them is challenging, but I've learned from running the daycare business that perseverance is something you have to have to make it work! I am building my facebook and twitter pages and have begun to register at various fairs and festivals. It's a lot of work, but I'm pursuing making a living out of one of my hobbies – and with perseverance – it's becoming a success!
Kelly Wallace, Kelly Handbags
@kellyhandbags

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