Stay-At-Home Mom? Working Mom? Both? PART 2

When stay-at-home parents make the decision to leave their careers behind and focus on staying home with the kids, it can be a tremendous sacrifice. Many stay-at-home parents make the decision to continue to contribute financially, if even a little.  

In of this series we spoke with Susan Hubbard, a mom who decided to go back to work part-time, from home, in her previous career field.

In this article we had the opportunity to speak with Jennifer Hurley, a mom who joined established home-based direct sales company Initials, Inc. and became a direct sales consultant with the company.

Patch: Tell me what you did as your career before you had children.

Jennifer Hurley: I was in sales in a few different capacities from 1992 until I decided to stay home after my first child was born in 2005. In the past I sold spices to food manufacturers, major appliances to builders and in my last position I sold very technical telecommunications solutions to businesses. Telecommunications was “sexy” in the late 1990s and into the 2000s because of the unbelievable growth of the Internet, which caused the telecom technology to change very rapidly. My telecom job was so much fun because I got to learn about businesses of all types in order to help them with their needs. 

Patch: When you had kids, how did you come to the decision to stay home with them rather than go back to work? Was it a difficult decision for you?

Hurley: I didn’t have kids until I had completed my MBA and was at a place in my career that I needed a change. I didn’t want to have children until I could stay at home with them—from a financial perspective and from a personal perspective. So I knew that once I had a child I would stop working. It wasn’t a difficult decision to stop working because I waited until I was absolutely ready to do so.

Patch:  When did you decide to re-enter the workforce, and why?

Hurley: It was about two years ago that I decided to re-enter the workforce. I knew that I needed a position that was flexible so that I could still be there for my kids, not have the pressure of a huge quota, be able to make some extra money and to actually have fun at whatever I was doing. I didn’t think that such a position existed until I stumbled upon direct sales. 

Patch: What is direct sales exactly?

Hurley: It’s basically marketing and sales directly to the consumer. Home-based direct sales, like what I do with Initials, Inc., is where a sales consultant sets up social events—parties—and the hostess gets to earn free and discounted items for herself, and her friends get the chance to check out and order all of the great stuff.

Patch: How did you pick this particular business/work?

Hurley: I stumbled upon Initials, Inc. on the Internet and absolutely fell in love with the products. I continued to watch their website for about a year and then took the leap and have not looked back. Now I wish I didn’t waste the time watching their website and would have joined earlier! It has been an absolutely wonderful experience for me. With Initials, Inc. I don’t have the pressure to punch a clock, I don’t have a huge quota (actually, I don’t have a quota at all). I can work around my family’s schedule, I am making extra money, I love the products and I get go to parties for my job. It’s a perfect fit!

Patch: Tell me a little bit about Initials, Inc.

Hurley: I sell products for women, kids, gifts and home, and they are unique because everything is monogrammed or personalized for free.  Everything’s unique because the customer picks the fabrics, trim, colors and fonts. As a consultant, my goal is to book parties and also to get other women interested in selling these products.

Patch: How is it different from what you did before?

Hurley: If you believe in your product, then it is really easy to sell. Of course the products were more complex and the price tags were a lot higher in my previous sales positions, but selling Initials, Inc. products really isn’t selling at all to me. The products sell themselves. And it’s fantastic to have the freedom to work as much or as little as I want. 

Patch: How do you balance working from home and being with your kids?

Hurley: I do most of my Initials, Inc. work and parties in the evenings when my kids are in bed or when my husband can watch them. It gives me a chance to meet new people, get out of the house, make some money and have fun all in a few hours. The company was founded by two moms who knew the challenges of working and being a mom so they have made it very simple for anyone who wants to be a part of it.

Patch: Do you still consider yourself a “stay-at-home mom”? 

Hurley: Yes! I still consider myself a stay-at-home mom that has the pleasure of making my own work schedule to work as much or as little as I want.

Patch: Would you ever try to make this into a full-time job?

Hurley: Yes, as my children get older and are in school for more of the day, I intend to grow my business larger.  

Patch: What do you get out of this?

Hurley: I think the best part of my job is the flexibility to work when I want, the ability to earn money for my family and to feel like I can accomplish goals outside of the house. It is very rewarding and a lot of fun for me.

Patch: What do you enjoy the most? 

Hurley: Meeting new people.

Stay tuned for the third and final portion of this series, in which we talk with a mom who started her own business on Main Street in Ellicott City.