Home based business

In this episode, Wendy Klinke reflects on her start-up art instruction and art kit business this past year called Blue Cat Studio. Wendy’s love of art and teaching led her in a roundabout way to home-based production, as she created and sold canvas, paint, brush, and instruction kits to her students. Classes, both in-person and online, have created a growing residual business for new kits and supplies.

With a lifelong passion for painting and crafts, Wendy studied fine art and architecture in college. Her career veered in a different direction, but she has come back to painting time and again over the past 20 years. It was during the federal government shutdown, in December 2018, that she recommitted to art as a serious focus, promising herself that she would sketch or paint every day. Then, in the fall of 2019, a friend asked Wendy to teach an art class for a Junior League event. Wendy describes the event as a “hot mess” but also a great way to bring disparate people together for a fun activity. The wheels started turning to start a new art instruction business.

With infinite energy and creativity, Wendy only needed the business skills to get her new business off the ground. She started a master’s program in business, joined a Facebook group to help new art instructors market their paint parties, and launched Blue Cat Studio. With hard work and savvy advice, 

Wendy was able to create a solid business in just a few months. A crucial part of this success—and the part in which home-based production comes in—was the creation of art kits that Wendy made and sold to her customers.

Find out in this episode why Wendy decided to make these art kits in the first place and how the combination of instruction and production has been so vital to her students’ enjoyment and her early business success.

You can learn more about Blue Cat Studio, check out Wendy’s online classes, and purchase art kits at https://www.facebook.com/bluecatstudioart/, https://www.instagram.com/bluecatstudioart/, https://www.facebook.com/groups/letspaintwithbluecat/.

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/, and subscribe to our email list (https://cotcup.com/lp) and receive our living document, the Eightfold Path Plus One Guide to Success for Home-based Producers, and future updates. 

This episode is the last of three episodes that attempts to answer the question, “How can I get over the initial hump of starting a home-based production business?” It describes branding, product development, and the creation of an Ecommerce website, as well as reveal the first of three home-based products that podcast host, Cory Heyman, has just finalized.

As fun as it may be to complete paperwork and prepare your workspace, the best part of a new home-based production business is the actual creation of new products. Creativity flows with experimenting and tinkering, leading to immense pride when coming up with an incredible new product that you cannot wait to share with others. This episode is the story of that process.

Podcast host, Cory Heyman, describes the conceptualization of his new home production business, decisions he has made about naming the company and its product lines, as well as his approach to research and development in creating new products. He reveals the address of his new Ecommerce website (www.triplesshops.com), the actual first three products, and plans for new products in the next few months! This includes turning his free online creativity game, Bright Idea! (www.brightidea-game.com) into a card game. 

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/, and subscribe to our email list (https://cotcup.com/lp) and receive our living document, the Eightfold Path Plus One Guide to Success for Home-based Producers, and future updates.

In this episode, Jill Donaldson, a formally trained baker and entrepreneur, describes her evolution from a home-based baker to a home-based creator of commercial baking packages. This change dramatically altered her business, daily routine, sales model, and success.

In growing up, Jill’s favorite memories were of baking with her Lebanese Sito (Grandmother) Lilly. She knew at an early age that she would own a food business and worked diligently toward it. She studied entrepreneurship in college, with an emphasis on the food industry, and worked in restaurants, bakeries, and catering companies. She also took a six-month patisserie course and began to develop a set of baked goods that would form the foundation of her future product line. Three years later, Jill established a state-certified cottage kitchen and launched her baking business from her home.

Although successful in growing her home business initially, Jill knew she could do more. She had worked previously in bakeries with large-scale production capabilities and felt as though she was working very hard at home but not yet reaching enough people or creating a sustainable work/life balance. With these yearnings, and some new personal needs to eat differently, Jill began to develop allergen-free baking kits—her LillyBean line of products, named for Sito Lilly—with dry ingredients and utensils for people to bake themselves.

Over the last three years, Jill’s LillyBean line of Pastry Base has become an even bigger success and has shifted Jill’s business model completely. Jill now works closely with local and national businesses, as well as co-packers that produce and package her kits in allergen-free facilities, to sell her products online, in local stores, and in national grocery chains such as Wegmans and Food Lion.

This episode delves into Jill’s personal story but also some new technical issues such as allergen-free food production, working with co-packers, and the benefits of tradeshows and entrepreneur networks. This episode is a bit longer than most but provides useful insight for aspirants, beginners, and veteran producers alike.

You can find out more about Jill’s background and baking kits at https://pastrybase.com as well as on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pastrybase) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/pastrybase/) .

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, and check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/.

In this last of four consecutive episodes about personal care products, Lygeia Ricciardi explains how home-based entrepreneurs can inspire friends and family to become their best advocates.

Lygeia Ricciardi and Tania Teschke (our guest from the last episode) have been friends for 20 years. In that time, they have lived close together at times as well as continents apart. Despite the miles, they have enjoyed keeping in touch about each other’s careers and life journeys. This has given Lygeia a bird’s eye view of Tania’s production of her first book a few years ago, The Bordeaux Kitchen as well as the creation of Tania’s new home-production business, Bordeaux Kitchen Essentials. Given the depth of this friendship, it is not surprising that Lygeia would try Tania’s homemade soaps, balms, and cremes. However, friendship alone cannot turn a person into a repeat customer and ardent fan. What more does it take?

In this interview, Lygeia explains why she is so excited about Tania’s new business. It is not only the high quality of the products themselves or the professional packaging. Just as important is that the products are rooted in Tania’s story, and Tania’s story is rooted in a life philosophy that resonates deeply: healthy living, natural ingredients, respect for the plants and animals that provide the ingredients, and yes, a bit of decadence and richness, too.

Lygeia’s view is that although home-based products may be somewhat more expensive and less accessible than factory-based products, they offer other benefits. And the better that we as home-based producers can communicate about those benefits to our first-wave customers, our friends and family, the stronger our product launches and long-term sales will be. Lygeia shares her thoughts for how home-based producers can do this while, at the same time, continuing to do everything else necessary to make our new businesses succeed.

You can find out more about Tania’s soap and balm business, among her many other interests, at https://bordeauxkitchen.com as well as purchase her products at her Etsy store, https://www.etsy.com/shop/BordeauxKitchen.

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, and check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/.

In this third of four back-to-back episodes about people who make personal care products, Tania Teschke explains how many roads from childhood through adulthood have led her to become a home-based entrepreneur. This includes a do-it-yourself mindset, a passion for mixing, and a diverse set of skills, including cooking, soap- and balm-making, writing, photography, wrapping, and, perhaps most importantly, being a mom, that enabled her to launch her business earlier this year. 

Tania is the daughter of German immigrants to the U.S. and has lived much of her life abroad. This includes time in Kazakhstan, Russia, France, and Switzerland. She has approached these adventures with open eyes and a desire to learn as much as she could from others. Over the years, she has viewed the world through the lens of a camera and has enjoyed writing. She has also taken long courses on cooking, wine, soap making; apprenticed with an organic butcher who taught her many things, including how to wrap meat (we’ll come back to that); and developed an appreciation for traditional cultures.

But it was when Tania became a parent that she started thinking about better ways to feed and care for her family. This included deeper exploration of traditional foods, including the benefits of products such as animal fats for healthy skin and bodies. With this quest on her mind, and in living in Bordeaux, France, with exposure to some of the best food and wine in the world, Tania wrote the best-selling book, The Bordeaux Kitchen, a few years ago.

Since then, Tania has continued to build on her foundational knowledge and interests to create a new balm and soap-making business, Bordeaux Kitchen Naturals. Tania always knew shew wanted to start a production business, and her family’s move back to the U.S. last year made the decision more practical. She knew it would be easier logistically and more cost effective to set up a business and ship products in the U.S. than elsewhere in the world. She started with various cream recipes that she has created over time and has now built soaps in her product list—most of which included animal fats such as tallow. And with the continuing flare for writing and photography, excellent staging, and simple wrapping techniques (from her past apprenticeship!), she has built a professional Etsy site in record time.

Although sales are not yet where Tania wants them to be, she has a clear vision for where she wants to go and explains the next steps in her journey.

You can find out more about Tania’s soap and balm business, among her many other interests, at https://bordeauxkitchen.com as well as purchase her products at her Etsy store, https://www.etsy.com/shop/BordeauxKitchen.

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, and check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/.

This episode veers somewhat away from our typical discussions with makers into a sister industry, “direct to consumer,” to explore how this industry markets and sells its products and lessons that can be applied to home-based production.

“Direct to consumer” is a product distribution model that relies on representatives to sell a company’s products directly instead of through stores—think Tupperware, Cutco knives, or Mary Kay cosmetics. This is quite different from home-based production, as products are made on a large scale and not in a person’s home. Nevertheless, “direct to consumer” consultants face similar challenges and opportunities to home-based producers in the ways they market and sell their products. Both approaches, for example, thrive on direct person-to-person engagement and a personal touch. What can home-based producers learn from this sector?

Our guide to the secrets of “direct to consumer” sales is Jenna Watson, Director for Beautycounter. In just three years, Jenna has built a team of more than 50 consultant to promote personal care products that are safer for people to use. Her strategy begins with a strong moral sense about problems in the marketplace and confidence in her products to solve those problems. She is then able to draw on a wide variety of income-generating activities to meet and educate prospective customers as well as impromptu conversations with people she meets every day. Learn about Jenna’s story, how she has become so successful, and what she would recommend for home-based producers to sell their wares.

You can reach Jenna at bc.jennawatkins@gmail.com or follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jenna_watkins/.

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, and check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/

This episode describes how a home-based clothing designer and producer conceived her niche and comparative advantage in a market otherwise dominated by large labels.

In her last months of maternity leave, Lysandra Weber tested an idea for starting a home-based business. Her work colleagues had regularly complimented her clothes, which she had made herself, and she wondered whether the interest would translate into sales. Well, it did. The test was such a success that Lysandra thought she could make a go of it, and she has never turned back.

Six and a half years later, Geek Chic Fashion is a thriving business that Lysandra still runs from her home studio. She loves her work and stays closer to her young children and husband than would have been possible in the corporate world. In a business that is labor-intensive, fickle, and driven by short-lived trends, Lysandra has not been constrained by the small size of her enterprise. Instead, she has cultivated the trust of a loyal customer base. Maintaining full control of her business; using high-quality materials and innovative designs; providing outstanding customer service; and rooting her business in a core of ethical practices are some of the ingredients of success. Learn more about how Lysandra has employed these strategies to stay happy and grow her successful home-based business.

You can find Lysandra’s creations at https://geekchicclothing.com/ and follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/geekchicclothing/.

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, and check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/ 

This episode describes art as a path to home-based entrepreneurship and the ways in which a new hobby can be transformed into a part-time or full-time career.

We all find our passions in different ways. For this guest, Maria-Victoria Checa, discovering a love for painting was the result of renting her home a few years ago. To attract interested renters, she wanted to fill her walls with colorful paintings but did not have a ready source. So, like many other parts of her life, Maria-Victoria adopted a “do-it-myself” attitude and taught herself to paint. Her teachers? YouTube, books, and imagination! After moving from her home to an apartment, Maria-Victoria didn’t think she had the space to continue painting. However, a small paint set as a gift from a friend was all she needed to start again. She hasn’t stopped. She spends three days a week thinking about painting and then executing her visions. The result has been a portfolio of art that has resulted in gallery showings, awards, and even commissions!

Learn how Maria-Victoria developed this recent passion, how she successfully merges her passion and her entrepreneurial aspirations, and how she has been able to turn her new talent into a growing business!

Maria-Victoria’s paintings can be seen on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/mariavictoria.checa.39/, and her own website, https://www.mvchecaart.com/ 

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098

This episode shows how quickly a new product idea can turn into a successful business and the key steps in the process!

When Amanda Farnum’s kids were young, she wanted to take a break from her day job to spend time with them, but she didn’t want to retreat from the business world completely. She thought long and hard about how to use her project planning skills and arts education to create a small business. The “a-ha” moment came on a family vacation, when she thought that tourist hotels could make art kits available for their guests. After an all-night brainstorming session with her husband, Amanda decided then that she would be the person to create those kits. Five months later, she was representing her paint-by-numbers designs professionally at craft shows. Her home-based business, Wehgo.com, skyrocketed from there.

Amanda’s success came from deep creative and organizational skills, a clear business plan, the discipline to execute that plan, a proprietary manufacturing process, and support from her business partner (her husband) as well as local networks of other entrepreneurs.

Amanda discusses the growth of her company and some of its challenges and success milestones over the past five years—all the way up to the Washington Post article last week that spotlighted her business and spiked sales even more! She talks about the challenges of finding a name for her product, setting up the business, launching a website, selling on Etsy and Faire, displaying her wares in craft and trade shows, expanding her design portfolio, and moving into the world of wholesale to brick-and-mortar stores. She also talks about the role of her children in her business, seasonal planning, changes after the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, her current personal and professional goals, and possible growth opportunities from here.

For more information about Amanda’s business, visit http://www.wehgo.com

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098 

This episode explores the thinking of an early-stage entrepreneur who is deep in the process of fleshing out his longer-term plan. 

Like many of us, Matt Asin spent the early days of the Coronavirus lockdown trying to keep busy at home. Matt is a professionally trained baker and restaurant professional, so he naturally spent some of his time in the kitchen. Although he had never thought much about making bread, his new time in the kitchen started to change his mind. He started to create beautiful sourdough loaves and developed a new passion and flair for this, making loaves for family and friends. But it was only after a friend offered to trade tie dye shirts (another love of Matt’s) for loaves that Matt began to think about the possibility of starting his own business.

Now, a few months later, Matt has been testing the water and learning that people are willing to travel miles for one of his creations. The supply of fresh sourdough bread is limited in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, yet Matt is finding that the demand for great bread is high. So, he has begun to dream about turning his new hobby into a full-time vocation. Ideally, he would like to be fully operational in the next year or so.

Hear about Matt’s early thinking as he describes his love of sourdough and how he is translating that love into a concrete business plan. This starts with inexpensive, pure raw ingredients, wild yeast cultures that he grows himself (as is the case for all sourdough bread), he can see a path to success. His marketing skills are strong, as demonstrated by the daily images of his baked loaves that he shares through social media, as is his ability to budget. Find out more about what is driving Matt forward, what else he feels that he needs to learn along the way, and his ideas for expanding his business over time.
To see Matt’s loaves and, perhaps, request a taste, visit https://www.facebook.com/matt.asin

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098