Family Ties

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ennifer Dugan of Los Alamos, N.M., had worked at three travel agencies before she had her first child.

When Dillon was born in 1997, Dugan decided she couldn't leave him to go to an office. She took a big gulp and started a home-based agency.

Five years and another child later, she is the proprietor of Dugan's Travels, specializing in family travel. The tag line on her Web site, at www.duganstravels.com, is "Let us do the work for you ... if you're a parent, you already have enough to do."

Dugan knows that first-hand. She says that raising two small children and running a busy agency keeps her going virtually around the clock.

"When people find out I work from home, I always get, 'Oh, you are so lucky' comments," she says. "It can be a wonderful thing most of the time and other days I would give anything not to book a reservation for a client only to find that my kids are decorating the house with ketchup."

Dugan, whose e-book on her experience is available at Bizymoms.com, attributes much of her success to the Internet.

"When I joined the world of the Internet, I soon found that there were so many women and men in the same situation. You would not believe the number of people I have met online who work from home. We send each other jokes and lend an ear when someone has something to vent or brag about."

She says her online buddies were particularly helpful in the early days of her business.

"I no longer had an agency with repeat or walk-in customers, so I had to get my own clients. Learning how to market your services is the hardest part of being home-based. Again, my online friends were so helpful in offering suggestions."

After establishing a solid base of clients, she decided to expand by offering a training program to others who sought to be home-based agents. That decision brought a heap of criticism.

"I have been told by other agents that I am being very ignorant to the fact that I am helping people who will, in turn, leave my agency to work for another or start their own travel agencies.

"But there are some great people out there who are an asset to our industry even though they are beginners. I have agents working with me who had no idea of the business and now are better than several of the agents I used to work with."

Dugan, who holds a CTA diploma and is a member of ASTA, CLIA and Iatan, believes that home-based agents deserve respect for working and raising children under the same roof.

"It amazes me everyday how many people do work from home and keep it all together."

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