Tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey.

I am married to an amazing man and I am the mother of two wonderful little boys. My older son has special needs and he works hard each day to overcome his delays. He and his little brother are my inspiration. I am the owner of Darceeshope.com an Internet Boutique based on sharing goodness through products, coaching and information. Darceeshope.com is the home of The Good Karma Campaign which is my mission to mail FREE, Good Karma to anyone who requests it. In addition to these roles I am also an Author and a Blogger. My goal is to remind everyone that there is always an up side.

What did you do before launching your own business?

I studied menswear design and have worked in several industries, including wholesale sales, retail sales, mortgages and beauty. I had been a stay at home mom for 3 months when I knew I needed a creative outlet. (more…)

By Carole Bennett

Recently, one of my clients made the decision to take their business offline for a while, and regroup. It’s always disappointing to see a small business take a backward step instead of making forward progress, but there are times that it’s actually a very savvy business move.

Here are some of the ways a small business can actually benefit from taking a pause:

1. Re-evaluate Your Resources

It’s the hallmark of most entrepreneurs that we tend to have a dozen really great ideas at any given time, and a huge amount of enthusiasm for each idea. Unfortunately, this can lead to being stretched too thin, and not giving any one concept enough focus to get it to a self-sustaining level of profitability. (more…)

What did you do before launching your own business?

Ahh … what didn’t I do? I have always been about “if you don’t love it, don’t do it” which led to many jobs from Kentucky Fried Chicken to a sales rep at Coca Cola to a manager at Claire’s in the mall. When I was about 24, I dove head over heals into the art fair circuit. I traveled the Midwest selling painted furniture.  Twelve years later it turned into designing clothing all because a friend was looking for work for her seamstresses.

How did you fund your business?

My husband and I have always been very frugal and wise about our finances. We have funded Matilda Jane Clothing on our own since the start. He was a teacher and I just kept booking more art fairs to make money.  The company has grown tremendously since the start and I’m almost embarrassed to say we had to use a line of credit in January, which we paid off a month later. It was our first debt and oh, made me so nervous.

How many hours do you work a week and how much is spent is your home office?

I work crazy hours.  Work seldom leaves my brain and I actually physical work about 80 hours a week. I love my job, it consumes me. (more…)

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey.

While I was employed in the traditional corporate world, I always received design requests from friends, mostly from those starting their own businesses. At first, after working 10 hours a day at the office, I took on a limited number of projects. As my skills developed with each project and my friends were impressed with the outcomes, I took on more work and began to really enjoy this newly found “paid hobby.”

Word of mouth spread with momentum, and I was getting continuous referral work. I was getting compensated for doing something I loved. It slowly dawned on me that I was building a business that was making money. When I was laid off from my job, it was a natural and easy choice to transition into this business full-time.

First and foremost, I am a Mom. That itself is a full-time job. Interwoven between my role as matriarch and wife, I love being a creative designer. Being a designer and doing what I love is the most amazing occupation I could imagine.

As a mompreneur, I pride myself on being organized. I create lists and calendars to keep up with schedules and activities for my family and business. The flexibility of being a freelance professional allows me to design around my family responsibilities. (more…)

By Golda Smith

Being a work at home mom is amazing. Let’s face it; you have the best of both worlds… a 30 second commute to your office and the pleasure of spending as much time with your children as you want. Sadly, the biggest mistake that many mompreneur’s make is that they try to take their life and fit it into someone else calendar.

We’ve read and even heard many successful business owners talk about the importance of having a calendar and making a list and while those things are important many are still struggling. What makes perfect sense and works effortlessly for me and my kids, would be a complete nightmare for another family. (more…)