Find out how women like you are living the work-from-home dream, and how you can too, with these success stories.

Meet the Success Story: Cindy Freland; age 44; from Bowie, Maryland; mother of two daughters.

My Business: I run two home businesses:

• Maryland Secretarial Services, which provides fast, confidential, professional offsite word processing and data entry at reasonable rates to individuals and businesses of all sizes
• FUNotes, which specializes in customized, personalized notepads, note cards, stickers and stationery, targeting women ages 25 to 45, who like the colors and graphics

Business Birthdate: 1997

Start-Up Strategies: I worked full-time for 3 1/2 years while I built my businesses, and both companies were self-funded. At the time, I was a single mom and couldn't afford to go into debt. To land clients, I had inexpensive business cards and flyers printed up. I knew my marketing materials would change as my businesses evolved, so I didn't invest too much in them. I joined the chamber of commerce and started going to as many events as I could. I told everyone about my business and put flyers up at the local college.