Everyday Gifts: One Woman’s Success as a Work at Home Mom
When most people think of a small business, they think of a small shop on main street or a similar scenario. However, there is a growing number of people who work from the safety of their very own homes. One mom, Adriana Copaceanu, was already at home and decided to take a great idea she found on the internet and run with it. She opened a gift basket business and has never looked back.
People love to give and receive gift baskets, but few modern people have time to shop, compile, wrap, and deliver one. This is where Adriana Copaceanu’s new business, ABC Gifts & Baskets, comes in. Adriana began making baskets of all kinds, but she found that specializing was the key to her success. She began specializing in corporate gifts with gourmet stuffings that will impress even the most discerning business person.
Adriana learned several things while growing her business from the kitchen floor up. First, offer not just one product, but a range of them. Copaceanu’s first sale, in fact, was of several of a small thank you box that she threw together at the last minute. This proved to be a very popular item that is still in her repertoire. While targeting is important, having a reasonable line of products is also crucial to a business’s success.
Second, she worked at getting her name out in public. Copaceanu includes a business card with every bill so customers can either save it or give it to a friend. She also found that managing ordering to prevent waste was another key to her success. At first, she bought items for baskets when they were cheap or cute. Now, she knows her inventory a little better and can spend far less due to less waste. This is a great way to maximize profit without affecting the quality of the product and the customer service.
Last, Adriana Copaceanu found that specializing in one area, in this case, businesses, allowed her to target her marketing. She designed her website to further encourage businesses to buy her products, selling them as part of a marketing effort in themselves. With a nice successful retail logo and website, Copaceanu’s efforts must be working, because the married mother has seen nothing but growth in a market that is hardly recession-proof. Now, instead of focusing on growing her business, this woman can focus on more important things, like work family balance and developing new and interesting products.
Work at home businesses are not a guaranteed formula for success; they fail at the same approximate rate as any other small business. You will need to have a great business idea, a sellable small business plan, and a brand that can be recognized and loved by its audience. In other words, a small business ran from home will have all of the challenges of a small business ran from a traditional office—and then some. However, these success stories prove that anyone, you included, can jump feet first into a work from home job and find immense success.
