4 Ways to Earn from Home

Talk about having one’s cake and eating it, too, more and more parents nowadays have a healthier work-life balance. The common denominator is that these ’rents have jumped onto the entrepreneurial bandwagon. Not only have they ventured into their own businesses, they’ve also made their businesses home-based (or, at least, they can manage them from the comforts of their homes). 

Home-based businesses are not new territory. Parents have long been selling stuff from home such as daily snack fare, baked goodies, and homemade Filipino food such as longganisa (sausages), embutido (meat loaf), and dried fish. Home-based businesses are perfect for just about anyone since they are low-maintenance. While the profit may not be too high, the business is not capital-intensive. More importantly, they do not take away too much time from hands-on parents.

“Entrepreneurs must be able to maintain quality time with the family while pursuing meaningful personal goals. They must also be in good health to remain grounded, well-balanced and enjoy the fruits of hard work,” says Chiqui Escareal-Go, president and managing director of Mansmith & Fielders, Inc., a marketing and sales training company.

From a fashionista mom to a fashion mogul, Primrose Co-Chua simply wanted to dress up her daughter Bea when she first started Baby Fashionistas.

Five years and one more child later, her business became more than just a passing whim or fancy. What was once a small online business  (Babyfashionistas.multiply.com) has transformed into a fast-growing retail store. Baby Fashionistas now has several branches: at Eastwood Mall, The Block in SM North EDSA, Alabang Town Center, Glorietta in Makati, and Robinson’s Department Store in Davao. 

“Baby Fashionistas came about because I am the biggest stage mom! I really love fashion and dressing up my daughter. I had a hard time looking for nice party dresses for her, so I decided to design her own clothes,” beams Co-Chua, who hails from a family of businessmen.

 

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Co-Chua started her business in 2005 with less than P100,000 in capital and with only one pattern maker, one cutter, and two sewers. All the other functions such as shopping, sourcing for materials, accounting, she used to do herself. 

“Now, I have 16 sewers and cutters working for the made-to-order line alone and several subcontractors working on our ready-to-wear line. I also have a general manager and a supervisor  now to help me out,” she says. 

She shares that being a full-time entrepreneur has been a win-win situation for her and her family. She gets to work from home during weekdays, and this allows her to pick up her kids from school and spend quality time with them. 

“I also get to nurture my daughter’s creativity by listening to her suggestions in designing clothes,” adds this fashionista mom.

Ready to join the club? Here are a few ideas that may inspire you to start your own business this year:

1. Embroidered decor

Fifty-four-year-old Letecia Rodriguez, a mother of four grown-up children, turned her embroidery hobby into an additional source of income. She needed only less than P1,000 to start her embroidered flowers-on-pot décor business. She initially bought basic embroidery supplies such as spools of thread, needles, small clay pots and artificial grass or ferns.

At the start, Nanay Letecia did all the embroidery work herself. Through word-of-mouth, neighbors and friends of her relatives learned of her unique decor and orders started to pour in. She then sought the help of her children as customers started requesting for more elaborate designs. She earns an average of P15,000 a month for her needlework. 

 

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2. Packed meals 

Office-bound professionals appreciate people like Mutya Castillo for offering more affordable options for their everyday meals. Packed lunches, also called ‘styro food’ because they are sold in polystyrene boxes (i.e. Styrofoam), are very popular in places where there are hungry yuppies. A packed lunch set can cost anywhere between P30 to P50.

Castillo has been dabbling in the food business since she was a teenager by selling snacks from their home every summer. With a capital of about P30,000, she started selling rice and different viands as well as merienda fare. She cooks the meals early in the morning and packs them in polystyrene boxes.

Capital for this kind of business would depend entirely on how much you are planning to sell. Are you planning to cater to just one company or to the entire building? How many employees are there in that particular office/building?

Packed meals for 50 people will require a capital of P2,000 to P3,000. The amount will depend on the meals you will prepare: the simpler the fare, the cheaper the cost. One packed lunch set usually contains one meat viand (pork, chicken, or beef) and one veggie dish, plus dessert (a banana or a piece of candy). Castillo’s monthly income averages P15,000.

Many dabble in this kind of business because it is quite fuss-free and convenient. Castillo did not have to get a permit or other documents since the office employees buy the meals directly from her. However, some building administrators do not allow vendors to enter the office without first securing a permit. Some even check for other documents such as business permits, etc. 

 

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3. Online baby store

For moms Monica Eleazar-Manzano and Denise Gonzales, it was really their desire to be stay-at-home moms that prompted them to start Indigo Baby. They pooled their resources (about P100,000 each) to put up their online baby store. 

They started by selling just a few baby items such as nappy clutches, nursing bibs, and bed and bath stuff. They uploaded product photos of these on their Multiply account (indigomanila.multiply.com). Soon after, they diversified their product lines. This caught the attention of so many moms that they were able to recoup their investment in just a year. 

Next, they launched their own website, Indigobabyshop.com, which further expanded their client base to include overseas customers. Now, they also have resellers working for them, most of whom are moms like them. 

On the other hand, Candice Co-Chua, mom to Caitie, 4, and newborn son Justin Curtis, uses her Facebook account to sell gift items for children. She started by selling things that her daughter also uses such as an insect repellent spray. She has recently included more items into the mix such as kitchenware, toys, accessories, etc. 

Co-Chua is an avid online shopper, and now she’s found a way to earn while surfing the Net. She was also able to turn a minor setback into a business opportunity. “When I got pregnant last year, I was asked by my Ob-gyne to rest at home. Since I wasn’t really doing anything at home, I decided to start selling stuff online.” 

Web-based businesses are growing by the day, and just like any other business, it is important to pay extra attention to cash flow. “People might be buying your product or service on credit. This setup can affect your ability to pay your dues on time, including salaries of your employees, payments to suppliers, rent, etc. You wouldn’t want this kind of problem. You want to sleep at night knowing tomorrow has been taken care of,” advises Co-Chua.

 

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4. Videoke machine rental

 Even fathers are setting up businesses at home. Juanito  ‘Etong’ Vizcarra, dad to four grown children, rents out videoke machines. He assembled his own videoke unit for less than P20,000 and recouped his expenses within a year of operation. The cost of renting a videoke unit ranges from P800 to P1,500 for 24 hours of use. 

According to sales and marketing guru Escareal-Go, home-based businesses are flourishing as a “development borne out of change in society’s expectations of the role of women.” She cites that women are no longer expected to just stay at home but to be active contributors to the family income and in other aspects of decision-making. She adds, “It is now also more acceptable for men to be stay-at-home dads while their wives work.” 

However, Escareal-Go warns of the challenges of home-based businesses. Flexibility of time is the key reason for putting up a home-based business, but it can also be a pitfall. “Home-based business owners usually work beyond ordinary hours and multitask a lot,” she says. Knowing when to switch from work mode to parent mode is indeed crucial to a successful and well-balanced home and business. 

Photos: woman with laptop, thread spools, packed meals, videoke machine