More Moms Are Starting Businesses To Stay Home With Family

St. Cloud Times:

Ranadene Tapio believes in signs.

The Sauk Rapids woman should have noticed the emotional sign when she cried every day during her almost one-hour commute.

She didn’t feel good about her job as an admissions director for an assisted-living home in Golden Valley because she wasn’t spending that time with her new daughter.

The 33-year-old mother of two should have noticed the logistical sign when the day care she had overseen the construction of wouldn’t take her daughter because it was too full.

But it wasn’t until a physical sign, a serious car accident in 2000 that shattered her femur, broke ribs and required months of physical therapy, that Tapio got the message her professional lifestyle wasn’t working.

Months at home made her reconsider her career plans. In 2001, Tapio decided to start Medical Billing Professionals, a home-based medical billing business, after she saw newspaper ads for the service.

Tapio’s sister, Amy Guzek, was happy working part-time at a bank in St. Cloud after her son, Joey, was born. But the St. Cloud mom was intrigued when she stumbled across an article in Parents magazine about Stroller Strides, a national franchise company that specializes in fitness for mothers.

It took a month for Guzek to quit her job and become a franchise owner of Stroller Strides in July 2006. Since then, Guzek has grown the company to have a dozen members and plans to hire another employee when she gives birth to her second child next year.

“I was not looking to get out of the bank, but it just clicked that I could do this with Joey and also have other people come and exercise with me,” Guzek said. “But it was still a leap of faith.”