An Entrepreneur Family

“Mrs. Entrepreneur: Behind the Scenes Glimpse of Living with an Internet Success Story”

I really enjoyed listening to the Susan’s Whitehead’s interview with Andrea Cochrum, wife of internet entrepreneur, Jim Cochrum and homeschooling mom of five (3 internationally adopted).

Susan (of Homeschool Biz Expo) and Andrea have much in common. Both have 5 children are homeschooling, and have husbands that work at home.

Andrea is married to one of the most popular and well respected internet marketers around. The Cochrum family business is an example of a home business that is run by the husband while the wife handles the majority of the homeschooling and home making work. Andrea talks about her supportive role to her entrepreneur husband.

Andrea first revealed her initial uneasiness with Jim’s desire to leave the corporate world and rely on his fledgling new internet business as a means of supporting the growing Cochrum family. It was a process for Andrea to trust this to her husband, to pray and rely on God to provide for their family even though at the time she felt very unsure about their likelihood of success with a home business.

She discusses the adjustments that were required as they learned how to manage family life, homeschooling, and running a business from home.  I laughed as she revealed her secret…her husband Jim often does his work in pajama pants and  has to hunker down in a closet somewhere to take a business call  to get away from the noise of five children at home.

People don’t understand their family since they, including Jim, are home all the time. The easiest answer for “What do you do?” is that Jim is an author, because it is so difficult to explain what he does as an eBay expert and helping people find tools to build a business online.

Andrea believe that the home business has been a uniquely positive experience for their five children. The older children express an interest in following in their Dad’s footsteps.

I listened to Andrea’s amazing story about their adoption of baby Aven in Guatemala  in September 2008. The Cochrum family, because of Jim’s internet business, was able to relocate temporarily in Guatemala for an indefinite period while the adoption was finalized.  She shared some of the opportunites that they took advantage of  while living in South America  including hiking to a volcano. It was a great experience for the family to live in a different country for a while.

Andrea talks about homeschool stereotypes and how through her blog, she hopes she is debunking those myths and showing how homeschoolers are real families and not weird, socially disfunctional nerds.

She explains her opinion that some people are “entrepreneurially wired”  and entrepreneur success comes more easily to them. Her husband is one of those, but she isn’t. Yet you can see that her supportive role has been an essential element of Jim’s success. Additionally, Andrea offers advice to wives that have husbands that want to pursue their own businesses.

So besides homeschooling, managing her home, keeping up with five kiddos, and supporting her husband in his entrepreneurial  endeavors, she spends a lot of time writing her blog which you can visit at: True Moments with Family.  Andrea considers the blog her family scrapbook. Another Cochrum family website that is about Adoption, Adoption Questions We Get is a very helpful site with delightful pictures and true personal  Cochrum family stories. She answers adoption questions that are typically asked.  She also has a low key art business on the side that she hopes to develop further when these days of mothering and homeschooling are over.

You can still get in on the second half of the Homeschool Biz Expo interviews that are offered free this week, one interview each day. The ones that I have listened to offer some really good ideas and will help get you thinking about all kinds of possibilities for your family to develop additional income. A home business can be a great addition to homeschooling and offers some great opportunities to your children in addition to providing income for the family.

For more information see original article, Homeschooler Entrepreneurs,  announcing this free home business resource  or blog post  Homeschool Family Business.