Home Business Expo held Saturday in Jackson
Chuck Hatfield started his home-based candle business in February 2009 because he wanted to buy his personal supplies at wholesale.
Four months later, his hobby became a necessity, providing the needed income to pay for life-saving medicines.
“In June, I was diagnosed with diabetes,” said Hatfield, who runs ScentSational Candles and Gifts. “This has been a great source of income. It’s been enough to help keep my medications filled.”
Hatfield and 15 other home-based business owners gathered Saturday at the Courtyard by Marriott off Campbell Street to participate in the first West Tennessee Home Business Expo, which Hatfield coordinated. The home-based business owners came to network, exchange ideas and encourage others to start their own home-based businesses.
Tina Edwards of Bells started selling Tupperware four years ago after attending a Tupperware party with a friend. She, too, began selling the product because she believed in it and wanted more of the food containers with lids that “burp” at a lower cost; but the chance to meet new people and earn enough money to pay for family vacations made selling the product even more attractive. Today, Edwards manages six other Tupperware dealers and earns between $300 and $1,000 a month.
“It depends on how hard you want to work,” she said.
The ability to set one’s own work hours is another benefit of running a home-based business, Edwards said. She establishes when and how many Tupperware parties she holds in a week. She decides whether her parties will be at her home or the home of a friend, and most of her presentations take only an hour.
“It’s great for those people who have small children,” Edwards said, “because you can work out of your home.”
The same rules hold true, however, for home-based businesses as those run out of retail stores:
Amy Ryan decided to turn a childhood interest into a home-based, online business. She founded her home-based business after finding a company that helps people get started while searching for prices for coins she already owned.
“And I realized that if I am going to buy coins for myself,” she said, “I might be able to sell them also.”
Two weeks ago, her husband, Saul Ryan, caught “coin fever” and followed his wife into the home-based business. He started his own company through the same franchisee to give her the $100 bonus received for signing up new members. Amy, 35, is a registered nurse. Saul, 38, is a construction contractor. The Spring Hill residents will travel to Nashville in May. The couple hopes to grow their businesses enough in the next few years to retire from their current jobs.
“I have seen what has happened to people’s 401(k)s in the past year,” Saul Ryan said, “and I think investing in coins and starting our own business is a smarter way to invest.”