Sarah Morris Smith

I was recently asked to do an interview for dearerin.com, the article is posted below. ~Enjoy! Sarah

Sarah “Mo” Smith
dear erin

1. What made you start your journey to be an entrepreneur?

I love money. Not in the “love of money is evil” sense, but in the Money pays the bills and if I have a lot of it I can pay the bills and have some left over for savings, shoes and maybe a vacation. I got my work ethic from my Dad, though he and my Mom would rather it be used to clean my room growing up, but I know that I need to work hard to make money. If I can do the same amount of work and keep it all rather than give 70% of it away to my employer, and get to be my own boss then yes, sign me up!

2. What do you do to work from home?

I have a background in Recruiting in both an Agency and Corporate environment and started doing that from home in 2007 part-time basis. I went back into an office environment in 2008 but was forced to work from home again in early 2009 due to health issues. I just launched a Job Posting Service, using all my Recruiting abilities but with none of the stress (that I can’t handle right now). I also started an online store-front called ilovetheusastore.com, this site features t-shirts, car magnets, postcards, hats etc with a patriotic theme. I started this after starting a I Love the USA site on ning (which is down since they started charging but may be back up in the near future as a blog site). I have always been creative, and artistic, the entrepreneur in me says why not try to make money off of what you like to do for fun. I love photography, so I have a site that sells Note Cards that are prints of my photographs, as well as custom invitations, announcements and holiday cards. Since I am already designing Note Cards, creating custom business cards and marketing materials wasn’t a huge leap.

3. Which one of the things that you do from home is the most lucrative for you?

I would say the Recruiting when I am physically able to do it, as it has the largest fees. I am currently writing a book on Recruiting and working on an online training, as well as one on one training for new Recruiters and those wanting to get into the industry.

4. Are you seeing a profit from your efforts yet?

I have from my Recruiting efforts but with the New Job Posting Service and the other arms of my brand are just going live and being launched I am not seeing anything from them yet. However, since most of what I do is custom or a service there is a nice large overhead for me to work with, and not much that I have to pay out of pocket in the beginning, which is great.

5. If you are, how long did it take for you to make a profit?

Not counting recruiting fees, no profit yet.

6. Are you doing what you love, or doing what brings the most potential for profit? Why?

That is such a hard question, there are so many things that I enjoy doing, which is why I think my brand had such diverse arms. I love photography, but there isn’t a lot of profit there all at once, it’s slower. I love creating and designing things, thus the note cards, business cards and patriotic products, but again, the profit margin is lower and it takes longer to gain customers. Recruiting and the Job Posting Service provide the most profit as the only thing it costs me is my time, and finding the customers for Recruiting is easiest, the Job Posting Service, well that will come when it comes.

7. What are your biggest obstacles to working at home?

Stopping. I am a recovering (kinda) work-a-holic. I love to work, I love to be busy. So, turning it off is the biggest challenge.

8. What are your greatest joys in working from home?

Home Schooling my daughter, we made the decision when she was born that she’d never go to day-care and would be home schooled. Even when I was working outside the home, my husband was home with her during the day. She’s turning 5 in a few weeks, and is reading and will be starting 1st grade English in the fall. Seeing her grow up and being there when I realize that she is in the other room reading to her stuffed animals is the greatest joy. That, and I can go to work in my PJs.

9. What is one thing you wish you could change about working from home?

I would love to have an office/school room. Where we live right now just doesn’t lend itself to that kind of set-up. I would also love to furnish it from IKEA.

10. What are your future goals/plans?

Well, I just brought the final (for now) domain for my brand, MoFreeTea.com, which I will be selling imported teas and eventually spices. All will be packaged and shipped by hand. I hope to finish my first book by the end of summer and launch the first Recruiter Training in Oct 2010. I hope to have all the branches of my brand launched by the end of the summer.

11. Are you happy with your entrepreneurial path so far? Why/Why not?

I am, I like the path(s) I am taking; I would like it more if I had more traffic and purchases happening but that takes time, and I am ok with that. Especially since, I don’t have all my products up yet. I don’t like that it does take money to make money so in some instances I am not able to do everything that I want to since I don’t have a strong income stream yet, but it will take time, and I know that.

12. What advice do you have for other people who want to quit their 9-5 and work from home?

Be smart when making the transition. Not everyone can work from home successfully. If you are independent, a self-starter and don’t feel that you need of constant interaction with your co-workers then it shouldn’t be problem. If you feel the need to have face time, in real life, not video conference then it may be an issue. Be honest with yourself and your family as this can drastically effect the finances and day to day activities of your life as well as theirs.

Have a clearly defined plan, and a nest egg. Know what you are going to do, how you want to do it, and have the funds/resources in place to be successful. If you can start gradually that is a good thing, for example, if you are going to need a website, get that paid for, designed while you are still working. Really anything that requires large upfront costs if you can get that paid for while you still have an income stream coming in will take some stress off of you. Know that unless you already have clients it will take awhile for the money to start flowing in a significant stream.