11 Businesses You Can Start In Your Pajamas

Starting a profitable business from home is perhaps the ultimate American Dream.

Here’s a look at 11 entrepreneurs whose commute can be measured in feet, and whose ideas may give you inspiration for your own home-based enterprise in 2011.

Click here to see the businesses →

This post originally appeared at Inc.com. To read more articles from Inc., check out:

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• 11 Businesses You Can Start in Your Pajamas in 2011 >>

Etsy Craft Master

Who: Dennis Anderson

Company: Anderson Soap Company

When Dennis Anderson was asked if he considered himself more of an artist or an entrepreneur, he thought for a moment and replied, “Well, somewhere in between. I like creating things.” Anderson has achieved what so many Americans crave: he has turned his craft—organic soap making, or saponification—into a profitable business from his home.

Anderson Soap Company launched in 2007 in his California apartment, and has since moved into a rented house in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his fiancée and children. Anderson, who started out as an accounting major in college, fell in love with soap making after taking a chemistry course that taught him the process.

He has sold soaps to buyers in all 50 states and distributes internationally to Malaysia, Singapore, France, and Sweden.

Quirky Kid?s Clothing

Who: Jenny Ford

Company: Monkey Toes

The children’s clothing industry is a multi-billion dollar market, and a recent surge of interest for specialized kid's gear has given companies like Monkey Toes, a Colorado-based venture run by Jenny Ford, a niche in this burgeoning market.

Monkey Toes is a line of animal and insect-themed footwear for children. Ford started the company in 2002 after drawing designs on her daughter’s shoes. “I thought, ‘Oh, that’s cute,’” Ford recalls. “I fell in love with it.” She chose to keep her business at home to be able to spend more time with her two young daughters, but lack of an office hasn’t stymied the growth of the brand.

Ford currently distributes in stores all over the world, and recently signed a new distribution deal that will take the product into the hands of 100 representatives around the country.

Building Better Communities

Who: Kene Turner

Company: EpiLife

Kene Turner understands the value of building a better business. After all, that's his job. The mission of EpiLife is to help organizations achieve social responsibility by implementing special project-based initiatives within their communities.

Before launching EpiLife, Kene worked for the YMCA of New York, where he taught youth entrepreneurial programs. EpiLife is based out of Turner's home in New York City, and represents his desire to give back to the community that helped him in his own childhood.

“When I was a teen I lost my mom to cancer,” he says. “I never knew my father. I was a child in transition. I had family, but not much. The ones that really helped me were members of the community...and it was that message that I want to implement into a venture or business.”

When Dennis Anderson was asked if he considered himself more of an artist or an entrepreneur, he thought for a moment and replied, “Well, somewhere in between. I like creating things.” Anderson has achieved what so many Americans crave: he has turned his craft—organic soap making, or saponification—into a profitable business from his home. Anderson Soap Company launched in 2007 in his California apartment, and has since moved into a rented house in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his fiancée and children. Anderson, who started out as an accounting major in college, fell in love with soap making after taking a chemistry course that taught him the process. He has sold soaps to buyers in all 50 states and distributes internationally to Malaysia, Singapore, France, and Sweden.

The children’s clothing industry is a multi-billion dollar market, and a recent surge of interest for specialized kid's gear has given companies like Monkey Toes, a Colorado-based venture run by Jenny Ford, a niche in this burgeoning market. Monkey Toes is a line of animal and insect-themed footwear for children. Ford started the company in 2002 after drawing designs on her daughter’s shoes. “I thought, ‘Oh, that’s cute,’” Ford recalls. “I fell in love with it.” She chose to keep her business at home to be able to spend more time with her two young daughters, but lack of an office hasn’t stymied the growth of the brand. Ford currently distributes in stores all over the world, and recently signed a new distribution deal that will take the product into the hands of 100 representatives around the country.

Kene Turner understands the value of building a better business. After all, that's his job. The mission of EpiLife is to help organizations achieve social responsibility by implementing special project-based initiatives within their communities.

Before launching EpiLife, Kene worked for the YMCA of New York, where he taught youth entrepreneurial programs. EpiLife is based out of Turner's home in New York City, and represents his desire to give back to the community that helped him in his own childhood. “When I was a teen I lost my mom to cancer,” he says. “I never knew my father. I was a child in transition. I had family, but not much. The ones that really helped me were members of the community...and it was that message that I want to implement into a venture or business.”

View more at Business Insider

See Also:

• How Do You Determine Your Target?
• Small Companies: Lead, Grow, Or Get Out Of The Way
• When Too Much Entrepreneurship Is A Bad Thing

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