A Home Business that Has Brought Family Closer Together

by Brandon A
(Newcastle, Ontario, Canada)

I started a home base business selling fruits, vegetables, and other produce out of our home to make some extra money. I did this because I didn't feel that the income my household was bringing in on an annual basis was enough to really allow us to do all the things we wanted to do.

I opened the business in '02, and we've been going strong ever since. At first my partners and I were a little worried that this new venture would prohibit us from spending time with one another, or prevent us from having any time to ourselves, but thankfully, neither have occurred.

To make sure those things didn't happen, we set our hours and made sure we stuck to them. We open at 10am every morning, and we stay open until 5pm. There's an unwritten rule that we must close up shop and not work past 5pm, and we all stick to it. This system has worked out wonderfully, and we're all very determined to continue that trend.

We also made it so that once we felt we were bringing in enough money to adequately support ourselves, we quit our other jobs to focus primarily on our business.

This was a bit of a risky move, but with business booming, we figured this would give us all a chance to work together on a daily basis at home, which wouldn't be any different than being together at home except for the fact that we're working towards a common goal. It was strange at first, always being together, but it has worked out wonderfully, and we couldn't be more proud of ourselves.

Stuart's comment: Thank you Brandon. What you describe here is an excellent example of how a home based business can start small and part time - making extra money from home. As income grows it can then sometimes become a full time small business and you may decide to stop working for someone else. This gradual process is usually much less risky than becoming full time self employed from day one.

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