A Bit of Pre-2011 Inspiration

The question I get asked the most when I'm out visiting friends or family is this: "I'd really like to change my life around and start my own business, but I'm just not sure if my idea will fly. You follow entrepreneurs. How do they do it?"

I was just asked this again yesterday at my sister-in-law's place in suburban Chicago (I happen to be a travel victim of the Boxing Day Blizzard and am writing this from the basement of her house rather than from Portfolio.com's Manhattan headquarters). Her idea was a good one—I won't steal her thunder by sharing it—and the best advice I had from the outset was to gain some inspiration from others' success stories. So I sent her to StartupNation, one of the best real-world entrepreneurial sites out there. Each year, StartupNation polls its readers for the 100 best home-based businesses, and here are some that caught my eye.

CurlyQCuties: These dolls bear a resemblance to the super-successful line of Ugly Dolls. And that's precisely why this company created by 41-year-old Stephanie Estrin is inspiring. Just because someone got to an idea first doesn't mean you should give up on your own plan, nor does it mean that you can't adapt someone else's idea and make it your own. CurlyQCuties took honors as StartupNation's top vote-getter this year.

Once Wed: Emily Newt has made a good business out of the act of not being sentimental. Her business is reselling wedding dresses, used one time or more, on her website, which now gets 3.3 million views a month. Newt gets our inspirational nod essentially for thinking "there must be other people like me out there." She was right.

My God Shirt Designs: Lance Brown and Drew Bowers launched their business this past year to mix a few of their favorite things: skateboarding, rock music, football, and Jesus Christ. They make T-shirts that have some fun with religion without making fun of religion. And they seem to be having fun while doing it, which is definitely inspiring for the rest of us.

Xoddo: Customization is a growing trend. Why buy just a toy when you can buy a toy you design? That's the core idea behind Xoddo, the two-year-old company created by children's book illustrator and designer Russell Benfant. The company is inspiring because it took something Benfant was already familiar with and pushed it into a new direction. The manufacturing challenges are more significant than some of the other ideas listed here, but the very idea of getting a product with your own design is just very cool.

Nursing Bling: According to her own description, company founder Yvette used her background as both an accessories designer and a flight attendant to develop products for moms who breast-feed. She got inspiration from what she saw, created products that inspired others to ask her to create more, and then she started a company to make it all happen. Inspiration all around.

To check out the other 95 home-based companies profiled by StartupNation, click here.

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