Bringing Business Home

The Miami County News:

Julie Perez, a Miami County Master Gardener, began cultivating her green thumb shortly after she moved to her rural Paola home in 1993. Since then, her home-based business of selling iris hybrids and perennials has blossomed into acres of gardens featuring more than 250,000 plants.

From the early morning’s dew until the evening’s sunset, Perez finds herself working constantly at her chosen career. But unlike some white-collar jobs, Perez’s profession has no set hours, no chain of command and no office.

She is one of millions of workers across the nation who have shed the shackles of corporate America to embrace their entrepreneurial drive to work from home.

Perez spends most of her days tending to her 14 different flower beds, which feature peonies, day lilies, hostas and more than 200 varieties of Irises.