By Carolyn Bigda, special to Tribune Newspapers

The road less taken was once a choice for workers. Now, increasingly it may be the only option.

Moreover, while employers added some jobs, the decline in the jobless rate was due mostly to workers dropping out of the labor force.

For someone like Chris Guillebeau, a 30-something entrepreneur and author of the new book “The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future” (Crown Business, $23), the jobs report is just further proof that more people should consider launching their own venture.

“People normally ask, ‘Isn’t it risky to start a business?’” Guillebeau said. “But for a lot of people, the traditional job market is a much bigger risk today.”

In his book, Guillebeau argues it’s possible to turn a passion, idea or skill into a profitable business, often with an initial investment of just a few hundred dollars. He is part of a growing movement of young workers who believe that entrepreneurship may be the best option when a more traditional job is not fulfilling or not forthcoming.

Guillebeau spoke with us and offered pointers on going solo.

Here is an edited version of the discussion.

How can you turn a passion into a business? You have to find a way to make your passion useful to other people. One guy we write about in the book is a CFO (chief financial officer) who is particularly good at using his frequent-flier miles to travel the world. Colleagues would always ask for his help when they wanted to book an award trip. So a couple of years ago, he put up a one-page website offering to book these trips, for a fee of $250. He wasn’t sure if people would respond to it because this is something that travelers could do at no cost on their own. But he found that a lot of people didn’t know how to manage their miles or didn’t want to bother with it. So he has this one-page website that’s really a side business, and today he makes more than $100,000 per year from it.

How do you figure out which of your skills are valuable to other people? Pay attention to what people are always asking you about. When people ask you the same questions all the time, it’s a signal that you’re a perceived authority on the subject. It also shows there’s a desire and demand for that kind of information.

What if your idea isn’t quite right? How much will it cost you? Thanks to the Internet, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get started today. We had 1,500 people submit information for case studies for the book. Of all the ones we looked at, the vast majority spent less than $1,000 to get started. I think the actual average was something like $400. Granted, you could spend a few months working on something, and it fails. That’s disappointing, but you’re probably going to learn something from the experience.

Do you need an MBA to be an entrepreneur? I’ve met a lot of what I call unexpected entrepreneurs, people who started their business after having lost a job or who went through a big transition. They stumbled onto something using the skills they already had. They didn’t have to spend a lot of money and they didn’t have to go back to school to get started.

Email Carolyn Bigda at yourmoney@tribune.com

The old axiom that necessity is the mother of invention is particularly true — and can be profitable — for inventive moms who build businesses around solutions to parenting dilemmas. But moving from inventor to full-fledged entrepreneur takes time, perseverance and, yes, money. Consider the journeys of these mompreneurs who launched inventions while taking care of their kids practically full-time.

Christine Moss Founder of MossWorld Enterprises Inc., Auburn Hills, Mich.
Invention: Snack-Trap

When Christine Moss found herself struggling to keep up with a toddler while pregnant with her second child, snacks inevitably ended up on the floor. She wondered why nobody had created a spill-proof snack cup. “It couldn’t be that hard,” she thought. So Moss, now 47, decided to invent one using heavy vinyl from a fabric store, a hot glue gun and a basic cup. The Snack-Trap was born.

A few months later, the former insurance and risk-management professional shared several prototypes with a day-care center. The test was a success. The cup’s vinyl lids had openings wide enough to let little hands reach a snack, but still keep food in the cup. Moss secured about $100,000 in bank loans to launch her company in 2003, and worked from her garage for three years. Last year, she sold nearly 1 million Snack-Traps through retailers, including BuyBuy Baby and Toys ‘R’ Us, at a retail price of about $5 each. Annual revenues were nearly $2 million in 2010.

Moss’s Advice: Research pricing. By first determining the price point for SnackTrap, Moss worked backwards to figure out the profit per cup and how many cups she’d need to produce to make money.

Pazit Ben-Ezri Founder of LulyBoo LLC, Santa Ana, Calif.

Pazit Ben-Ezri, founder of LulyBoo LLC and inventor of the Baby Lounge.

Photo courtesy of the company

Invention: Baby Lounge

In 2006 Pazit Ben-Ezri’s 3-month-old son Ronnie often couldn’t sleep unless he was in his crib. But with a family always on the go, Ben-Ezri found that putting Ronnie down for a nap at home was nearly impossible. “I had gotten to the point where I didn’t go out because of this,” says Ben-Ezri, 33, who had been a nursery-school teacher. So Ben-Ezri decided to make a small cushion with handles that fit in Ronnie’s crib, but could be removed to take him on errands. She drew sketches, taught herself to sew, and created the first Baby Lounge, a foldable bed that can be worn like a backpack.

Everywhere she went, Ben-Ezri fielded comments from moms who wanted the “backpack bed.” She gave away several prototypes in exchange for feedback and incorporated changes, such as a waterproof bottom and a sun canopy. But it wasn’t until attending her second juvenile products trade show in 2009 that Baby Lounge took off.

“The buyers need to see that you are serious,” says Ben-Ezri, noting that it still took seven months of negotiatons after the show before securing her first deal. She got orders from Target.com and BabiesRUs.com for the $75 Baby Lounge. To date, Ben-Ezri has sold tens of thousands of Baby Lounges and began turning a profit this year, although she declined to disclose revenues.

Ben-Ezri’s Advice: Go out of your way for feedback. Ben-Ezri offered prototypes of her product in exchange for feedback, which became critical in product development. And she walks store aisles to watch how customers react to the travel bed.

Related: Five Steps for Getting Your Business Up and Running

Debbie Glickman Founder of Fairytale Wishes, Inc., Highland Park, Ill.

Debbie Glickman, founder of Fairytale Wishes Inc. and inventor of whimsical aromatherapy sprays to calm kids’ anxieties.

Photo courtesy of the company

Invention: “Monster Repellent” and other whimsical aromatherapy sprays to calm kids’ anxieties

When Debbie Glickman’s 3-year-old son was moving to his “big boy” bed in 2005, he was anxious. He would wander into Glickman’s room to sleep or insist his parents lay with him until he fell asleep. Glickman wanted a better way to soothe him.

“I knew lavender was one of those scents that was calming and soothing,” she says. So the former advertising executive spent $20 on a tiny bottle of lavender linen spray. “I said I found this spray that would give him good dreams and keep the monsters away. He would inhale [the scent] from his pillow and feel calmer.”

Glickman, now 43, knew her idea could be a business. The mother of two wanted to work again once her children were in school, so two years later she made the leap. She researched common childhood fears, including separation anxiety and spooky dreams, and matched them with soothing, natural scents. Glickman wanted to develop calming sprays linked to a story and fun character.

Storytelling Freddy the Frog was born and Fairytale Wishes Inc. incorporated in 2008. About 10 months and $20,000 of her own money later, a few local stores carried the product. Each aromatherapy spray — with whimsical names such as Super Hero and Monster Repellent — comes with a hang-tag story. Revenues in 2010 were about $24,000, up from just over $10,000 in 2009. This year the product is being tested in several Bed Bath and Beyond stores.

Glickman’s Advice: Go with your gut. “If something doesn’t feel right, then it’s not,” says Glickman, who recalls once being talked into paying $2,000 in showroom fees that resulted in just four orders. She also suggests telling as many people as you can about your company. “I found people were very eager to help me,” Glickman says. “You never know who has a connection or an idea.”

These days, it takes more than cutesy advertising copy to win the attention of moms–who control more than 85 percent of household spending. “We think of moms as the CEOs of the household,” says Greg Duffy, co-founder of video monitoring platform Dropcam. Here’s how he and other entrepreneurs in three key sectors–tech, retail and service–broke into the lucrative mommy market.

Tech. Dropcam sells a Wi-Fi video monitoring camera for $149 and offers DVR service plans that start at $9.95 a month. Basic live streaming, sharing and alert services are free.

What’s different: It’s the first monitoring camera for in-home use. The majority of customers are parents. Dropcam comes with night vision, 720p HD picture quality, two-way audio, motion-sensor alerts and 16x digital zoom, all in a pretty aluminum package that fits in the palm of your hand.

How it started: Greg Duffy co-founded Dropcam in January 2009 with the goal of building a camera that was simple to set up and allows you to watch a video feed from anywhere in the world, from many devices. The company, which raised nearly $6 million last September, debuted its HD product in January at the “Mommy Tech” section of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Why moms dig it: Dropcam keeps sharp eyes and ears on kids, with applications like baby monitoring (“Moms are using it to catch their babies’ first steps when they’re not around,” Duffy gushes); checking that older kids have arrived home safely; contacting children who are ignoring their cell phones; and sharing footage from birthday parties.

Smart moves: Busy parents have only a few minutes to decide if a product is worth buying, so Dropcam’s marketing has always focused on immediate benefits for them, rather than listing feature-rich specs.

Sweet success: The first shipment of HD cameras sold out in a week. Dropcam’s 2011 revenue was five times that of the previous year. Duffy notes the company is the largest inbound streaming site on the internet. “YouTube takes in about 48 hours of video every minute,” he says, “and Dropcam is much, much larger than that. I have the bills from the data center to prove it.”

Retail. Las Vegas-based e-commerce company Ecomomsells strollers, toys, baby food and other products, all reviewed and given labels like vegan, sustainable production or handmade. The clever tagline: “It’s all good.”

What’s different: It’s the only retail store–online or off–that curates such a comprehensive range of products and reviews and provides a one-stop shop for parents.

How it started: After selling his private-jet business to Richard Branson, Jody Sherman focused on starting a socially responsible venture and realized there was a need for a central resource of kids’ products. Ecomom launched in 2009 out of Sherman’s house, with six volunteer employees and one product, a line of organic baby food started by a friend. “Then, every time we raised a little bit of money, I would pump it back into buying products, rather than marketing,” he says. Ecomom has scored major investor attention, including that of Zappos’ Tony Hsieh, and now has a staff of 14.

Why moms dig it: Shopping safe, made simple. And you can’t beat the perks: 24/7 customer service, daily deals, an informative blog and cool tidbits like celebrity picks.

Smart moves: An onslaught of traffic on Black Friday triggered a bug that brought the website down, but Sherman turned the potential disaster around using a mom-approved strategy: communication. The team broadcast regular updates on Facebook and even shipped some orders twice to ensure timely Christmas arrivals.

Sweet success: Now with about 3,500 products, Ecomom has an impressive conversion rate from direct-search traffic of 5 percent. Sherman closed on $4 million in financing in late 2011, with which he is revamping the website and expanding into home products. “The end of the second year we grew [by] three times; then, in 2011, it was five,” he says.

Service. CleanBeeBaby, a Los Angeles-based, eco-friendly cleaning, repair and installation service for baby car seats and strollers, launched in March 2011. Prices average $40 for standard cleaning and safety-check packages.

What’s different: There’s nothing else like it in the marketplace. Only a few mom-and-pop shops offer stroller cleaning, and professional car-seat installations in L.A. cost at least $100–which is probably why 85 percent of car seats are improperly installed, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

How it started: With the help of 40 classmates, Jennifer Beall spent her last year at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management coming up with a business plan. “Our market research revealed that 60 percent of parents wished their strollers or car seats were cleaner but didn’t have the time or desire to clean them,” Beall says. She won first place and $7,000 in the Kellogg Cup Business Plan Competition, then raised about $100,000 from investors.

Why moms dig it: Convenience. Beall’s steam-cleaning process can be done quickly and without disassembly. CleanBeeBaby has locations at Westfield shopping centers in L.A. and takes appointments at high-end baby boutiques. Beall is also starting to franchise, in the hopes that local owners will be able to partner with schools. “Preschool fundraisers would be a gold mine,” she says, noting that most of the events the company has held sold out. “We gave 15 percent back to the school, and moms dropped off their stuff with the kids and picked everything up at the end of the day. Everybody was happy.”

Smart moves: Beall went after a partnership with premium stroller manufacturer Bugaboo, which promoted CleanBeeBaby services during Customer Appreciation Days. “You gotta be scrappy,” she says. “I go to every mompreneur networking event and look for ways to cut costs everywhere.”

Sweet success: Beall reports she was cash-flow positive in the first four months, and the service was featured in DailyCandy’s e-newsletter in January.

This article was originally published in the April 2012 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Word to Your Mother.

Entrepreneurs: Michelle Inciarrano and Katy Maslow, founders of Brooklyn, New York-based Twig Terrariums, which offers ready-made and customized terrariums, terrarium kits and how-to workshops.

“Aha” moment: Childhood friends who had lost touch, Inciarrano and Maslow were reunited by a mutual friend later in life. They started getting together for craft nights, making greetings cards, bookmarks–whatever struck their fancy. “One of the many things we ended up making was a terrarium. Totally Michelle’s fault; she had the whim,” Maslow says. They both loved it and began playing around with themes for other terrariums. In 2010 they decided to start selling their creations.

What possessed them: “Not only is it fun, but it can be very therapeutic,” Maslow says. “It can be great for corporate events. Terrariums have such a range of use and enjoyment.”

The two were scrupulous with their startup: They consulted one of Inciarrano’s college professors to double-check the horticulture and make sure “all the balances were where they were supposed to be,” Inciarrano says, and considered many variations of the logo and company name until everything fit their vision.
From the ground up: After initially working from their apartments, the duo rented a 300-square-foot converted garage. They have since moved into a 900-square-foot store/studio in Brooklyn, where they offer workshops and sell their products. In 2011 they began selling online at TwigTerrariums.com; there are currently 19 products that can be ordered from the site and shipped nationwide. The duo started with a small personal investment, opening no lines of credit, and are proud to be (so far) debt-free. They have three employees to help manage shipping and administrative functions. Profits quadrupled in the first year of business.

Little requests: “We’ve had everything from naughty to nice,” Maslow says of the customized themes. People often send in photos of what they want re-created; themes have ranged from a parachuter stuck in a tree to a tiny doggy and kitty heaven as a gift for a woman who’d lost her pets.

Customers: The biggest market for Twig’s creations is middle-age, middle-income families. “We have a lot of high-profile clients, as well as–I hate to say–hipsters,” Inciarrano says with a laugh. The team offers training workshops in schools for underprivileged kids, and this spring they will work with the New York Botanical Garden on a “Little Landscapes” exhibit for 2- to 10-year-olds.

Marketing: Twig has not sought publicity, but has been lucky with word-of-mouth and press coverage, Maslow says. They keep up a newsletter and participate in events, including donating a terrarium to the GLAAD Media Awards (“a gay-arium,” Maslow jokes). The terrariums are now sold in more than a dozen stores and through the Toledo Museum of Art.

Cost: Kits start at $15 to $25; ready-made terrariums at $45. Costs go up from there (even into the thousands), depending on labor, materials and intricacy of design.

Up next: Inciarrano and Maslow are focusing on the tasks at hand as their overhead grows and will publish a book on terrariums this spring.

This article was originally published in the April 2012 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Sticks and Stones.