StrollerStrides CEO : Growing Your Business With Your Kids

StrollerStrides (www.strollerstrides.com) is a well known exercise program for moms and babies. The business was started just eight years ago by then- new mom, Lisa Druxman. Wanting to stay at home with her new baby son inspired Druxman to become an entrepreneur and start a small business. Eight years later, and the once home run business has grown tremendously into a well renowned exercise franchise program.

Lisa shares her thoughts, experiences and insights in an article she has written, "Grow Your Business With Your Kids." She talks about starting her business small, and how it has grown as quickly as her kids over the years.

"When I started Stroller Strides, it was small (like my baby) and only needed a few hours per day of my time. As my children grew, so did my business's needs. Looking back, my business has grown very fast. But then again, so have my kids."

I find it inspiring and motivating that this entrepreneur mom was able to maintain and yet unquestionably grow her business while keeping it a home-based business these past eight years. But that is changing, as Drexel points out---

"As we hired more employees, I set them up to work virtually from their homes and gave them all keys to my house. It worked . . . until now. My business is finally moving into office space. I guess I just reached a tipping point. It was time, for my business and for my family. I can't help but feel like my business is growing up, just as my kids are."

It is a great article to read and get inspired by. And you can also check out the once home-based business inspiration of this mom, and check out the franchise options that StrollerStrides offers! Maybe a 'business in the making' for you in 2010??

Read the full article here, and check out StrollerStrides.com for information on their Franchise Opportunities.

Weekend Business Idea --Organic Delivery Baskets

It's Friday--which means time for brainstorming small home based business ideas, and of course, a new TGIF Drink Recipe!!

Okay--here is my home based business idea for this Friday--take it with a grain of salt (or a handful of seeds....):

Start a home based Organic Fruits and Vegetable Service. Not so new of an idea, I know...but still worthy of serious consideration considering the major impact "Going Green" is having on our lives and earth today.

Much needed would be a green thumb, as well as a available area for growing your fruits and veggies.

Also important would be offering the service of a Basket Delivery (say weekly or bi -weekly) to customers. You could offer different sized baskets, or one standard sizefor all customers.

Advertising would be important to build a client base--but could grow as your business grows kind of thing. Start small, maybe with just one or two clients even.

You can get ideas and thoughts from googling "weekly organic pick up," organic basket delivery," and organic fruits and vegetables."

Have any brainstorming you'd like to share?? Don't forget to check out the latest Work at Home TGIF Drink Recipe--and enjoy your weekend!

Thinking Outside The Box When Starting a Business

Ready for some weekend reading? If you are thinking of starting your own business, there is a great article to read through that discusses thinking outside the box when growing your business.

As important as it is to deal with the everyday tasks associated with running your business smoothly, it is vital that you are also looking forward to the future and keeping an eye on ways to help your business grow and succeed. Which is why I so enjoyed reading this article-- not only does it offer creative ideas for growing your business, but it encouraged me to think outside the box as well and come up with some of my own ideas.

Plus, there are links to additional resources that will keep you busy reading and coming up with "ah" moments all weekend! So take a look, and have a notebook handy and get inspired this weekend.

Oh yea. One more thing. I'll be posting a yummy delicious TGIF drink recipe to enjoy while you plan out your next successful business venture--so check back in a bit!

Work at Home as a Freelance Fashion Writer

WhatsWear.com is looking for a home-based freelance writers. WhatsWear is a fashion and blog for men and women.

Writers would need to contribute approximatly 300-500 word articles 2-3 times a week,and will be paid per article. Amount not disclosed.

If interested, they ask you send a resume, along with a sample of your writing to careers@whatswear.com

Good Luck!

A Mom's Home Based Business Inspiration

This home based business really just awes the heck out of me! It's one of those "Why didn't I think of That?" ideas that is so great and has so much potential.

This home business was created by Karen Lefebvre-Christou who fell in love with a drawing her then three year old son drew of a cat. So for a friend's toddler's birthday, Karen hurriedly made a real stuffed version of her own son's creative drawing of "Scooby, the cat". Karen says it "was a quirky cute gift but was hard to give away!"

In the spring of 2006, The parents at the preschool where Karen's son went wanted to give the teachers a unique memorable end of year present. Just by having the kids all draw their own versions of creatures, Karen was able to bring all those drawings to life, and the parents were able to give the preschool teachers a basket full of "artlings" from the children’s drawings, and the response was overwhelming! The children could not believe their eyes when they saw their art ALIVE, and many parents urged Karen to turn her hobby into a business…Thus the artling was born…

How many times have your kids drawn cute or even scary looking creations and proudly presented them to you? My 4 year old is currently into drawing dinosaurs. Each day he is showing me his latest attempts, and I love each and every one of them. I would love to have one of his drawings made into a stuffed animal creation! These could even make great Christmas presents for grandparents, don't you think?

Karen has a website, Myart2life.com, and when you visit, she explains how you can have one of your child's drawings made into an 'artling.'

And Karen is also working on combining her 'artlings' with hospitals and foundations to bring children that are in the hospital a real life cuddly version of creatures they have drawn.

Visit Karen's website, and check out the wonderful 'artlings' she has made from children's creative drawings.

I am curious if any other mommies or grandmothers out there have already done this--created a stuffed animal based on their child's drawings? I am really thinking to myself how I could have never thought of doing this??? Ack.

Convergys Is Expanding It's Home Agent Program

Convergys is one of the leading providers of Home Based Customer Service Support for businesses.

Convergys employs nearly 75,000 employees who serve clients in over 70 countries, speaking more than 35 languages, across the globe.

Yesterday, 6/12, the news was released that Convergys is expanding it's Home Agent Program. The company is expecting to hire an additional 2,000 home agents in key markets, including Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas by the end of the year.

According to Brad Krinhop, vice president of operations for the home agent business,

“More and more, people are looking for professional opportunities that will allow them to work from home,” says . “The Convergys Home Agent Program benefits both our clients and our agents.”


"Home Agent Program also provides an ideal opportunity for stay-at-home parents, individuals with disabilities, or retirees who are looking for ways to earn a good income.”

The requirements for working for Convergys are:

A quiet place in your home to work
A PC that meets our minimum standards verified during the application process
Cable or DSL high speed internet access
A noise-canceling USB headset

Convergys Home Agents are employees of Convergys. They pay employees for training and time worked in production. Convergys Home Agent employees are eligible to participate in the tuition reimbursement, health and retirement benefits programs.

The application process begins with a computer systems assessment that will determine whether the potential candidate’s computer meets all the requirements for processing speed and memory.

Individuals have the ability to test their system online at any time by clicking the “Start My Application” button. Once the system is verified, the candidate can complete the online employment application. Convergys recruiters review new applications for their home agent program daily.

So head on over to the Convergys website if you would like to learn more and start the application process to become a work at home agent!

Home Business Inspiration .... Organic Meal Delivery

Home Meal Delivery is an idea that is not new. There are lots of gourmet food delivery companies that deliver nationwide that can easily be found on the Internet. But putting a different spin on meal delivery can help create a home business for a serious cooking/chef entrepeneur. A local home made meal delivery service/personal chef business can be much more attractive to busy moms than a service located in another state that offers delivery of frozen entrees nationwide.
Three Potato Four is an organic meal delivery service that is based in San Francisco. This company is unique in that not only are all the meals prepared with organic ingredients, but their meal delivery system is all green as well. Instead of using platic or styrofoam containers, they use reusable glassware to deliver their meals in.
Every week a full menu of delicious (sounds yummy anyway!)meals for the week are delivered to customer's doors. The glassware from previous deliveries is collected at the time a new delivery is made.

A small scale local personal chef/meal delivery service could be something to think about if you are looking for a home business to start this year, and you love cooking and all things food!

For some inspiration, check out Three Potato Four!