Mothers of invention: as home-based businesses grow, moms find their creative niche

WHEN Donna Maria Coles Johnson left her job as an attorney at a reputable law firm, it was to start a family, a decision she was convinced that corporate America wouldn't fully support.

In January 2000 she began the Handmade Beauty Network, which offers a wide range of services, including products liability insurance, logo design and legal options to small businesses. Two years later (and a few months after the birth of her first child), Johnson, who once charged $400 per hour, was operating her business from her home office in suburban Washington, D.C. "I trademarked the term 'lifestyle CEO' to describe people who start businesses, not solely for financial gain, but also to enjoy the personal rewards of entrepreneurship, independence, flexibility and fun," says Johnson, 42. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Darryl, and they have two children, daughter Vanessa, 3, and son Brooks, 18 months.

In 2003, Johnson was named Home-Based Business Advocate of the Year by the Small Business Administration in the Washington, D.C., region. She is just one of a growing number of women who are leaving lucrative careers in order to start home-based businesses. The Center for Women's Business Research in Washington, D.C., reported that as of 2004 an estimated 414,472 majority-owned, privately held U.S. firms are owned by African-American women, and such companies employ 254,000 people and generate $19.5 billion in sales.

Increasingly, morns (dubbed by some media as "mompreneurs") are getting in on the action. Tywanna Smith, 41, mother of 8-year-old Kayla and 5-year-old Shayna, began her hair care business with her husband, Brian, in 2002 after canvassing stores for hair products for her daughter Kayla's natural tresses. Not able to find suitable products, she began ordering online, but found that it took weeks for a shipment to arrive.

So treasuredlocks.com, an online boutique specializing in products for the hair and skin (many of which are not widely distributed) was born. The electronic store also carries its own line of products under the Treasured Locks brand, as well as shea butter and other personal items suited for Black hair and skin. During the first year of operation, the Ohio-based business grossed $100,000. Revenues for 2004 are expected to be around $150,000.

Another mother, Lisa Price, who created Carol's Daughter, probably did not expect her line of sweet-smelling skin and hair care products to be so popular. The company grossed more than $2.25 million last year. In the summer of 1993, Price, who once worked as a singer in an R&B group and as a writer's assistant for The Cosby Show, was between jobs when she began selling her homemade creams and fragrances at flea markets and craft fairs. Her initial investment of $100 came from her savings.

"The intention was to have fun and enjoy the products," says Price, 42, who first created products in her Brooklyn kitchen for family and friends. "And to make the products with love. No attitudes. You don't bring that into the kitchen. And no negativity; that doesn't get stirred into the pot."

Carol's Daughter boutique, opened in Brooklyn in 1999, and was named after Price's mother, Carol Frances Hutson, who died in 2003. Since opening the boutique, Price's biggest supporters have been her husband Gordon and their two sons, Forrest, 8, and Ennis, 7. But Price's big career break came when actress Halle Berry called the boutique to order a gift basket for a friend of hers--Oprah! The queen of talk later featured Price on her daytime talk show during a segment about stay-at-home morns.

However, since most new businesses do not receive a celebrity endorsement, enterprising mothers can measure their success in terms of time spent with family, rather than making money. Take for instance, Monica Moody, 36, who stepped down from her position as associate director for residential services at Clark Atlanta University in order to spend more time with her children. "I started receiving a strong [inner] message that I needed to be at home and not in the workplace," says Moody. "It seemed obvious that God wanted me at home with my family, but I also knew that there was even more for me to do."

In 2004 Moody launched Spa Party Creations, which offers on-site spa experiences for women and girls. She launched the business using personal resources as startup money and the company now employs about 30 independent consultants, many of whom are stay-at-home moms like her. "We've only earned about $10,000 in a five-month period," says Moody, who lives in suburban Atlanta with her husband, Willis, and daughters, Taylor, 9, and Sydni, 18 months. "But boy, are we successful."

For Moody and other mothers who work from home, job perks include being available for your child when he or she is sick, starting dinner at a regular hour, and never being worried about children at home alone after school.