Idaho Company Helps Moms Stay Home

HeadlineNewswire 2007

More mothers prefer to stay home with their children rather than take a job outside the home. According to a study by Pew Research Center, the number of moms wanting to stay at home with their children jumped 20% from 1997 to 2007. The desire to stay home with the children has created a growing interest in working from home among many mothers throughout North America, and a small but growing company out of Idaho is helping moms throughout North America stay at home and still have an income.

“I wanted to give my everything to my own kids and I wasn’t doing that as a school teacher,” says Jessica Waller, a previous kindergarten teacher who now works from home as a marketing representative. “I loved my kindergartners, but I thought there had to be some way I could work from home,” says Jessica. “I found it with Melaleuca.”

Melaleuca’s Moms

Melaleuca – The Wellness Company is a 22-year-old company based in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It produces safer and more naturally based products for health and home, which are marketed by word of mouth, a mom’s mouth in many cases. “I can think of no better way to fulfill our mission of enhancing lives than to help moms support their family in a very meaningful and significant way and be home to raise their kids,” says McKay Christensen, Melaleuca Executive Vice President.

The company has a growing team of sales representatives across the country who all work from home. Some of them are moms with offices that look more like playrooms than boardrooms. “The system we have in place to help moms do this business with their kids on their hips, or at their feet, works really well,” says Melaleuca marketing representative Amber McGown. “My family is the most important thing to me and for me to be completely available for my children is priceless.”

Moms even integrate their children into the success of their home-based business by letting them work with them. “We have set up an office in our house and each one of us has a corner in the office, including my son,” says work-from-home mother Carmina Sampson. “It is a common goal that we share. Melaleuca gives us time to share as a family.”

Fellow work-from-home mom Nancy McHugh adds, “I believe having a parent home makes the child’s confidence so much stronger and the added income really helps because they don’t see their parents dealing with money stress or the I-hate-my-job stress. Kids can sense that sort of thing and it makes a huge difference when you eliminate it.”

With the discovery of working from home, moms organize their day by finding creative ways to fit everything in. They return calls during nap-time and play dates quickly become business opportunities. “I’m still spending time with my children and building new market contacts at the same time,” says Melaleuca marketing representative Sandra Siemens.

Running a business from home can be great for the family, but when you’re setting your own hours, you also need discipline, which some people struggle with. Any businesses can flounder because of a lack of discipline and with all the distractions of running a household, work from home moms are no exception. “I always have to make sure I’m being productive. Our family is busy and life is busy so I have to be really good with my time,” says Sandra.

Rewarding

As work-from-home moms develop their confidence and leadership skills, they not only make a difference in the lives of the people they work with, they make a difference in their children’s lives. “My 5-year-old daughter says, ‘You are a leader’ and that’s important,” says home-based Melaleuca business builder Shawne Morgan. “You can just see her exemplifying leadership and we know that will carry on. She is growing up with leadership and it is instilled in her.”

Many mothers also realize they have the power to determine their own future professionally and maternally when they start a home-based business. Jessica, the former kindergarten teacher, changed more than just her profession when she started working from home. “Seeing yourself as a leader is really important,” says Jessica. “I have never been a leader of something or led a team, other than five-year-olds, so I really had to develop the leader within. Now I love to lead others. It’s what I’m made for.”

(From 1997 to 2007: Full-Time Work Grows Less Attractive to Moms

Considering everything, what would be the ideal situation for you—working

full-time, part-time, or not at all outside the home?

—Working mothers— —At-home mothers—

Change Change

1997 2007 ‘97 to ‘07 1997 2007 ‘97 to ‘07

% % % %

What’s ideal for you?

Full-time work 32 21 -11 24 16 -8

Part-time work 48 60 +12 37 33 -4

Not working 20 19 -1 39 48 +9

Don’t know * * * 3

100 100 100 100

Number of respondents 317 259 140 153

Note: Based on mothers with children under age 18.

Source: Pew Research Center

This article copied from HeadlineNewswire.com

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