Work & Family
Local Mom's Strike Creative Balance
by Karen West

Elisa Hays did it to find a balance in her life. Ann Hirano wanted to feed
her creative side. And Jennifer Hudson did it to maintain her sanity.  The three Puget
Sound area women are among hundreds of mothers across the country who have started their own home-based businesses in an effort to find a happy balance between work and
family. They join entrepreneurs, inventors, entertainers, educators and artists
who have figured out how to stay home with their kids and still work and be
creative outside of a traditional corporate setting.

"I have learned that the world is not divided into working moms and stay-at-
home moms," says Hays, who runs a family entertainment company from her
Puyallup home. "Increasingly, mothers are finding ways to be work-from-home
moms."

For many, going back to work after having children is a frustrating exercise
in daycare drop-offs, taking time from work for doctor appointments or parent-teacher conferences, and sheer exhaustion.

"No matter how family friendly a workplace claims to be, it is always
expected, or at least hoped, that the company will be first in your life," writes
Cheryl Demas in her book, It's a Jungle out There and a Zoo in Here (Warner
Books, 2003). "Your children and your family life have to be worked into your
work schedule. That's the reality of life in the third millennium."

Hundreds of mothers across the country are finding happiness -- and
their sanity -- by trading in their old careers for new business ventures of
their own.

"This is about women reclaiming motherhood and defining it for them-
selves," says Sally Hughes Doherty, founder of Mom-Co.com, an online
national consortium dedicated to promoting and supporting mother-owned
businesses. "We want to be mothers, but we are going to do it on our own
terms."

U.S. Census Bureau statistics show a 15 percent increase in the number of
stay-at-home moms (an estimated 5.4 million) in less than 10 years. And many
of those moms are working from home. Stacy Silva, 27, of Shoreline, is among
them. For years, Silva worked as a technical project manager for software and telecommunications companies in Bellevue and Seattle, and was faced with
a tough decision after her daughter was born 14 months ago.

"I never considered myself a stay-at-home mom, but I wanted to be home
with my baby," Silva says. "At the same time, I missed working and talking with
my colleagues."

Her dilemma was solved when a friend gave her a ready-made baby scrapbook as a shower gift. A scrapbook enthusiast herself, Silva decided to make her own baby scrapbook kits for retail markets. While her business, Little Izzy Scrapbooks, is only a few months old, Silva says sales are brisk. Her scrapbooks are being sold at the Tin Horse in Wallingford and Kinderbritches in Edmonds.

Silva is not alone in her quest to work and be home with her family. The
U.S. Center for Women's Business Research estimates there are more than
10.6 million women-owned companies nationwide. And NBC News recently
reported that mom-owned, home-based businesses constitute the largest grow-
ing business segment in America.

More than 53 percent of small businesses today are home-based companies, says Maureen Petron, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE).

For many women entrepreneurs, creating home-based businesses has proven
to be more practical, effective and convenient for their lifestyle than going into
a traditional office or work site.

"Clearly technology is an enabler," says Sharon Hadary, executive director
of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Women's Business Research. "Today,
you can be doing business with anyone all over the world and it's transparent to
him or her where you are. Women are embracing technology as a business
tool."

Here's a closer look at how Hays, Hirano and Hudson worked out the balance between work and family.

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Elisa Hays makes a living playing dress-up.

An accomplished actress, Hays didn't set out to make a career out of children's theater.

She received a bachelor of fine arts degree in theater from Pacific Lutheran
University in Tacoma and attended the Professional Actor Training Program at
the University of Missouri in Kansas City. 

But after her first child was born, Hays put her acting aspirations on hold
and focused solely on her family.

"I had this idea that I needed to give up my life and center everything around
my role as a mom," she says. "Anything else would have to wait until the kids
moved out. I was doing that for a while and feeling empty."

When her children were infants and toddlers, Hays started working in com-
mercial property management, but when she received an offer to buy Let's
Pretend Circus she jumped at the chance.

"It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time," Hays says.

The business was a perfect fit for Hays, who has spent the past decade
introducing children to the theater as a teacher, director and choreographer.
Since purchasing Let's Pretend Circus, Hays has taken on a business partner
and formed Let's Pretend Entertainment, LLC, which offers a variety of entertain-
ment shows, including Let's Pretend Circus and the new Let's Pretend Wild
West Show. 

She has taken her "Cutest Show on Earth" on the road all over Washington
(including the Puyallup Fair) and Oregon and California. The business has grown significantly during the years -- enough so that Hays earns a respectable income
on mostly part-time work.

Let's Pretend Entertainment allows children of all ages to become stars of 30-minute
shows. They dress up in costumes and perform with professional entertainers.

"It's all about building kids' self-esteem while fostering their natural tendency toward playing pretend," Hays says. "My kids love it. They've performed in the show dozens of times. In my house, playing dress-up is serious business.''

Hays' work as an entertainer has taken her throughout the world. Last May, she embarked on a 22-day trip throughout the Pacific as part of an Armed Forces Entertainment tour. The tour took her to Pearl Harbor and Kauai in Hawaii, Guam, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and Okinawa, Japan.

"I have been given so many unbelievable opportunities that you can't even put a price tag on it." She says her business wouldn't be a success without the support of her husband, an information technology specialist for Pierce County. In addition to running her entertainment company, Hays has gone back to working as a professional actress on stage and in films.

While Hays says she loves being able to "have it all," she admits there are tradeoffs.

"For me, the trade is giving up the image of the perfect home-maker and settling for a house that is full of love and excitement as well as piles of school papers, half-finished craft projects, laundry in various stages of completion and dishes that are soaking," Hays says. "It's about finding balance, and what that balance is for you."

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Ann Hirano has two jobs: Running her household during the day and running her hand-painted pottery business at night. She creates personalized FLOWERPOTS and angel gifts for home and garden.

Before she had children, Hirano worked for seven years as a human resources professional. She always knew she wanted to stay home with her kids, but after her first child was born, Hirano struggled with post-partum depression.

"I knew I wasn't fulfilling my own potential as a person," she says. She thought about going back to work in the human resources field, but she also wanted to do something that would challenge her creative side and her business savvy. Like many work-at-home-moms, Hirano's business idea was born out of a hobby.

She had been painting pottery for her friends and family and for her own home/garden decor for about 10 years. "My family always said I should sell the pots," Hirano says, especially her whimsical angel designs that have fun and caring sayings.

Using her business background in human resources and recruiting as well as her interest in e-commerce, Hirano created her own online business to sell her pottery. The first step was to build a Web site. She then posted her designer pots "just to see what would happen."

"It just took off from there," she says, noting that she immediately had orders. Since then, she has sold her products to customers in 48 states and five countries.

"Most people are looking for personalized gifts. They have many clients who come back time and time again for all their gift-giving needs," she says.

Hirano says her business has been a fun venture involving the entire family. Her husband, Kevin, is an optometrist by day and her shipping coordinator at night.

"My children love to watch me paint and will come into my office and ask me to paint the angels," she says. "They will also tell me what colors they think I should paint and if they see a flower pot unfinished, they tell me that I need to add hair or eyes."

She enjoys the fact that she can have it all: taking care of her family and running the business part time.

"I've gotten a good balance between having a creative outlet, but not letting it sacrifice my family life," she says.

"Feeding my creative side feeds my family's happiness. Happiness, or the spirit in the home, comes from the mother. So if the mom is feeling fulfilled and happy, the family as a result, is happy.

"It doesn't matter whether I've vacuumed. If my kids are having fun, that's what matters."

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Jennifer Hudson has taken a lost art and turned it into a business.

Her company, Taterberry Cottage, specializes in handcrafted functional household items -- products she describes at both comforting and practical.

She sells everything from Rice Paddies (scented hot pads) to oven mitts, as well as creative gifts for children that she says evoke a simpler time.

Hudson says being raised by two self-employed parents fostered a caring bond she wanted for her own family.  As a young girl, she developed a love of sewing after learning the craft from her mother and grandmother. Her father built houses for a living.

She was working in the mortgage lending business before her daughters were born, but quit to stay home with her children.

"My dad built houses and I decided to create handmade treasures to transform a house into a home," she says.

The name for her business came one evening when her daughter was playing a "let's make up silly words" game and called her father a "strawberry-potato." He responded, "You're a Taterberry!"

When Hudson started her business (originally under the name Alex & Ari) she was selling handmade jewelry, scarves, nightgown sets and rice paddies -- all of which she had been making as gifts for friends and family.

She later added oven mitts and other products made by other women. 

Each quarter, Hudson adds one or two new products. All of the products that are featured on the Taterberry Web site are hand-made by work-at-home moms throughout the United States.

She says the business is still in the start-up phase but is slowly building up.

"My goal was to maintain my sanity and help my husband out with the financial side," she says. "And I wanted to pass on to my kids something that a lot of people don't do  anymore."

Hudson's latest creation is fabric dolls for children and collectors. She has five different patterns, each with their own unique characteristics: Lucy, Molly, Prudence, Garrett and Madison. All of the dolls are handmade, and some of them are hand dyed, tea stained, lavender stained or lavender scented.

She says she made one for her daughter's friend for her birthday, and discovered a new creative bent she never knew she had.

Like many home-based business owners, Hudson works mostly in the evenings when her girls are in bed.

In October, Hudson started a newsletter to become better connected with the people who were visiting her Web site. Her newsletter includes articles on raising children, household tips, favorite recipes and craft ideas. She even added a monthly contest for
newsletter subscribers as well as a quarterly contest for all customers.

Starting a business can be a risky and nerve-wracking experience, but Hudson says she found support through online business groups that cater to working mothers.

Hudson is one of the founding members of Mom-Co.com, the online organization that helps work-at-home-moms with public relations, advertising and marketing of their
products.

She said another group -- Mom Pack (www.mompack.com) -- helped her by offering an
online forum designed to support work-at-home moms. Since she first joined the group in February 2004, its membership has grown from 800 to about 1,500.

"I've made a lot of friends through this group and have been given a huge amount of
advice that has helped me not only as I grow my business but as I am raising my children," Hudson says. 

Karen West is also a work-at-home-mom. She runs her freelance writing business out of her Bainbridge Island home. She is the mother of a 2-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy.