I am a wife, mother and woman with two children, a dog, a cat, and a husband. My "job" for the past nine years has been to take care of this full and happy household. While it hasn't been easy to support a family of four on my husband's modest income, it was our choice that our children would have a parent at home during their pre-school years. Never say that a mother without a paying job doesn't work. I have worked very hard during those years, and it's been worth every sacrifice and every missed paycheck.

This year, my youngest child started school. She is growing up and into the next phase of her life, and it's time for me to do the same. For now, she attends for only half-days, but in the fall she will be a full-time first-grade student, and it will be time for me to return to the workforce. The children won't need me during the day, and another income will make a big difference to our very frugal lifestyle.

With that in mind, I began reading the classified ads to see what new opportunities might have appeared during my decade-long absence from the business world. I tried to picture myself doing the jobs that I saw advertised in the local paper.

Telemarketer? No, I hate it when they call me, so how could I become one? Waitress? No, I already have varicose veins from two pregnancies. Sales Clerk. Maybe, but it's not exactly the career that I've been dreaming of. I didn't seem to be qualified for anything else I saw...teacher, engineer, mechanic, welder. Yeah, right.

My resume was ten years old, and not very impressive. I didn't have the qualifications for any of the jobs that paid well or sounded tolerable. It seemed hopeless and I was becoming quite worried about my future employment prospects. Would I be able to find any kind of work that would respect my commitment to my family while still allowing me to contribute to the working world and earn some money?

While on an internet chat line one evening, I confided my problem to some cyber-friends. Their responses started a train of thought that would eventually solve my problem.

Their suggestions included making a list of my skills and abilities to help narrow down my job preferences, checking the resources on the internet for jobs that would allow me to tele-commute, looking into freelance work, going to see a career counselor and starting my own business. When I finally logged off at nearly one in the morning, I had plenty of food for thought.

I began to consider my employment objectives. I wanted to work about 4-6 hours a day, but not during school holidays or on professional days (in Canada, this is a non-instructional day when teachers attend workshops, etc. Students have the day off). I wanted a boss who would be understanding when one of my kids was sick and I had to stay home.

I wanted a boss who wouldn't mind my leaving work early occasionally to chaperone a field trip. I wanted a boss who could see past my decade of unemployment and see my incredible potential. I wanted a job with some responsibility and challenges. I wanted a job with advancement potential that paid more than minimum wage. It seemed like a long list of demands, and I wondered how I could ever find a job that filled all of these requirements.

After delivering my children to school the next day, I sat down in front of the computer and began doing some research. I used the Yahoo search engine to look for sites that involved subjects like "tele-commute" and "work at home."

I found so much information, some useful and some not, that I spent the next three days reading about cyber-jobs, home-based businesses and all the different ways that people earn money.

The most helpful sites I found:

At the Work At Home Moms on-line magazine (www.wahm.com), I found support, advice from and for moms who are working at home, practical solutions to home-business difficulties, a page of home business opportunities and ideas, and even a chat room dedicated to moms who are working from home. They have a page of very useful links on this subject too. A great site!

I then visited NOBO$$, The National Organization of Business Opportunity SeekerS. This was also a useful place to visit as they have lists of home-based and self-employment opportunities. Unfortunately, many of the ideas on their lists exceeded my minimal start-up budget. Still, it's definitely worth looking at if you're considering becoming your own boss.

Lastly, I stopped in at The On-Line Small Business Webshop. This site is Canadian, so the information about things like taxes and incorporation are not applicable to everyone.

However, they do have well-written articles about how to start a small business, such as evaluating your ideas, researching your market and drawing up a business plan. This site is great for practical information on how to make your dream become a reality.

I was fascinated by all the non-traditional job ideas that I had come across, and found myself pondering my options as I mashed potatoes and folded laundry.

It seemed obvious that working at home would answer many of my concerns. I would be able to pick my own hours, be available to my kids when they needed me and (hopefully) earn some money as well. It seemed that there were so many different ways in which one could work at home.

I didn't have a lot of money to invest in a business, so I took off my list anything with a start-up cost of more than $200. I immediately ruled out the idea of selling products because I know that sales is not one of my marketable skills. I checked out a few web-sites that claimed I could make money by reading e-mail, but decided that wasn't likely to be my new career either.

As I went over my mental list of skills and resources I had available to me, it hit me. I had a good computer and printer, and talent for writing and design. Could those form the basis of my new career? By doing a little more internet research, I found that businesses were popping up that would write and design newsletters for other organizations, do menu designs, promotional material for stores and other small businesses, even such basic services as resume and cover letter writing.

The more I thought about it, the more I knew I could do it. I checked the prices of these services, planned my own prices to be competitive and began to design flyers and posters to advertise my new service.

The next week, I had business cards printed. The only thing I didn't have was a scanner, but I felt that I could get by using friends' scanners and by paying an office center to scan things for me when necessary.

To be honest, I often stopped and questioned my ability to pull it off. Those nasty self-doubts came bubbling to the surface and I wondered if I was biting off more than I could chew, or whether, after all my preparation, I would ever have a paying customer.

Well, I have had paying customers. Not a lot of them, but I am now the owner of a growing business. I am also using my talents and my computer to assist an author with research, and am working on several writing projects of my own.

I may have gotten this far even without the web, but it made it much easier for me to access the information that I needed. Reading about other people who were starting their own businesses also gave me the courage to stretch my wn wings. Although I am very busy with my new endeavors, I continue to use the web for work and for play. It's irreplaceable!