I haven't used this blog in a long time.  But at a recent party, several friends and I started talking.  We all live in Clovis, and most of us had "real" (meaning professional and full-time) jobs before moving out here.  Once out here, though, our employment opportunities dwindled to zip.  So we decided to have kids while we waited to move out of here.
But, we got bored.  Don't get us wrong, we love our kids, but we miss doing something more challenging than playing Candy Land.  We all also missed the income we used to make.  Together, we make up a former teacher, a former civil engineer, a former real estate executive, and a former corporate sales executive.  To us, there seems to be a huge industry catering "work from home jobs" to us.  And we think we've seen it all living near a military base.
Last year, I counted fifty eight separate "work from home" businesses that my friends were starting, running, and trying to get me to buy from.  They included:

Amway

appointment setting


article writing

Avon

hair styling

hanging Christmas lights

Herbalife

home childcare

house cleaning

house painting

interior decorating

making baby blankets

making baby slings

making beaded jewelry

making belts

making decorative flip-flops

making earrings

making hair bows

making jewelry from seashells

making purses

making tutus

making wooden ornaments

manicures and pedicures

Mary Kay

mowing lawns

office cleaning

painting murals

Pampered Chef

Partylite

personal shopping

personal stylist

personal training

petsitting

photography

planning birthday parties

reselling baby products at consignment shops

Scentsy

selling baby clothes on ebay

selling books on amazon

Shake it Up

Silpada

Stampin Up

Tastefully Simple

Thirty-one

Tupperware

tutoring

window cleaning

Those of you who are counting will realize that's only 47 separate business ideas the I wasv"invited" to "participate" in.  Some of them I was asked to join twice, so I counted them twice.  While talking with my friends, I realized we were all being hit up for about the same list of stuff.  And, in an effort to be friendly, get along with our husbands' business associates' wives, make money, or even just alleviate boredom, we each had tried at least one of these schemes.
 
If you're reading this, we're guessing that you've been in the same boat.  Which is why we're starting this blog.  Every week, I'm going to write about our experiences with one of these businesses.  Was it worth the time and effort?  Did we make any money?  Does anyone make any money with it?  Have we found a new career, or have we just wasted a lot of time and embarassed ourselves?
 
Additionally, we want to help all the other women out there who are looking for a real way to make some money and have a life outside of raising children.  So, if your frinds are pressuring you to try out their latest business idea, tell us about it.  Odds are, we know someone who has done it and is willing to share their experiences.  Leave us a comment, and we'll address it in a future post.