Getting started in business on the home front

Three women talk about the pleasures and pitfalls of pursuing their entrepreneurial spirit from their sitting rooms, writes FIONA REDDAN

THINKING ABOUT starting a new business? Or looking to train in the career of your dreams? Or how about just earning a bit of extra cash? If you’re looking for a new beginning this year, it might be time to consider taking advantage of one of your most valuable assets – your home.

Using your home for a business can mean you can start without having to raise funds to rent a space – and incur additional costs such as rates. But if you’re inviting people into your home – unless you live in a mansion – there will be restrictions on the number of customers you can cater for at the same time.

If you have children, it can complicate things further, particularly if you’re preparing food and need to be health and safety compliant. And it can be hard to “switch off” and achieve a good life/work balance. But it can work, as these four women show.

COOKING CLASSES

After 11 years as head chef with Avoca, during which time she contributed to the Avoca Cafe Cookbooks, Eimer Rainsford was looking for something new. “I had always wanted to do something on my own,” she recalls. So, she decided to use her home to start a business offering cooking classes.

When she launched PinkGinger, Rainsford was clear about her goal. “The whole idea is about inviting people into your home. I wanted some place people could ask questions, which meant a smaller business. Financially, it wouldn’t have made sense to rent a premises,” she says.

And it’s a philosophy that’s working. While there are quiet times during the year, particularly in summer and over the Christmas holidays, business is steady. “People like the small classes. They like the fact they’re not lost in a big class,” says Rainsford, adding that the more intimate environment has proven to be very popular for groups such as book clubs. Rainsford is selling the personal touch, noting that she is willing to take requests on how to focus particular classes beforehand, and she encourages questions. In this respect, a new initiative has proven to be very popular. If a group of eight people book a supper club together, they can learn to how to cook a themed menu – such as seafood or Indian cuisine – specifically tailored to suit their needs.

“It’s very rewarding getting people to try out new things and to become confident about cooking and using new ingredients. After all, a little bit of inspiration goes a long way!”

But while her home may have been the ideal place to launch PinkGinger, there are some downsides. If she had children, for example, she doesn’t think running such a business from home would be a viable option.

Moreover, unlike a traditional cooking school premises, Rainsford has no signage at her home to advertise her classes, which makes marketing that bit more time intensive. “You have to look for business a little bit harder,” she notes, adding that the scale of her enterprise is also limited due to the size of her house.

GUESTHOUSE

From picturesque Ashford in Co Wicklow, Hilde Eiselen runs Ballycullen Lodge, a former home of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. For Eiselen, who previously spent 25 years working in a corporate job, living where she works now means that she can be very efficient with her time. “Every hour, from the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed, can be productive. Even a bit of gardening on a summer’s evening to help me relax keeps the place looking well”.

It also means that she can widen the services she offers. “The pinch of the recession means I have to have a portfolio career, ie maximising income from all the skills, experience and networks. This allows me to manage three part-time jobs; as a guest house hostess, as a yoga teacher and as a therapist. Eiselens children are now grown up and live in their own homes, but for important family occasions and celebrations, the Lodge will be closed to the public. “Other times, when family and friends visit, they are expected to either lend a hand or duck while the guest centred activity happens around them!”

In this respect, Eiselen concedes that using your home as a place of business can have its challenges. “Family and personal social times have to be carefully guarded, otherwise it all becomes work, work, work,” she says, adding that it can be difficult to separate home and work life.

SUPPER CLUB

During her time in London, Sarah Halpin was struck by the rise of the underground supper club, pioneered by people such as Kerstin Rodgers of “Ms Marmite Lover” blog fame. So, after undertaking a part-time cooking course in Cathal Brugha Street upon her return to Dublin, she decided to follow suit and launch her own event, the Arbutus Club.

While it’s more of a hobby now than a business, Halpin has always had a dream of opening her own cafe, and hopes that supper clubs might pave the way for realising this goal some day.

“I’ve always had an interest in food, and an interest in setting up something,” she says. “I thought a supper club would be a good way of exploring am I any good at cooking for people and am I good at hosting people?”

She held her first club in July last year for eight friends, but has since spread her net wider, including running a singles’ night where she knew only two people. “It’s a nice way to meet new people and it’s definitely interesting,” she says.

So what can you expect to eat a the Arbutus Club? At her most recent event, she served potted crab for a starter, mushroom and pesto lasagne with a bean salad for the main course, and apple and quince crumble for dessert, along with her own freshly-baked bread. “I try and keep things seasonal – it’s a way of exploring local food producers,” she says.

Guests make a donation of €20 to cover the cost of ingredients, and while she provides the first drink and some nibbles, guests bring their own beverages for the meal.

“It’s not a business and I’m not making any money on this, it’s more of an experiment. I’m just seeing how things work for now,” she says.

FASHION/ADVERTISING SHOOTS

For Karen Molloy, a mother of four children, letting out her home on a short-term basis while she’s at work and her kids are at school has started to pay dividends.

Photolocations.ieoffers locations for fashion and product shoots, interviews, advertisements and film productions. While fees depend on the home and the nature of the job, they typically range from a minimum of €250 to a maximum of €1,000 for a full day's use (9-6pm).

Since she signed up last year, Molloy has already let her home in Portmarnock, Co Dublin, for an advertising campaign for SunSweet prune juice. “The TV crew came at 9am in the morning and were gone by 2pm, leaving the house exactly the way it was,” she says. Molloy was previously a part-owner and manager of Cruzzo Restaurant in Malahide. However, the restaurant fell victim to the downturn and never opened after Christmas. Now Molloy is enjoying seeing her home-decorating skills put to good use.”I have my mother’s flair for it,” she says.

But letting your home on such a short-time basis may not be everyone. As a self-confessed “Monica”, the compulsive cleaner in the TV comedy Friends, it is no effort for Molloy to keep her house spick and span. She also has a home of showhouse quality with which to entice prospective users. So far, Molloy has enjoyed the experience and would “definitely do it again”.