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You can start a home business, too

Report by Lauren Lowrey - email | bio

Posted by LS

PERRYSBURG (WTOL) - What's a tailgate for the big game without buckeyes -- Marsha's homemade buckeyes?

The Perrysburg woman who built a business on the sweet treats is busier than ever and says you can start a successful business, too, if you're just patient.

Dip, dip, dip. "I've been making buckeyes 24 years," Smith tell us. Many of them for the Ohio State vs. Michigan game.

With enough butter and batter to grease the way, what started as a little side money for Smith turned into a business with two dozen employees that produces hundreds of thousands of buckeyes each year. "My youngest was three-months old, and I wanted money to buy my husband a Christmas present without asking him for the money," she says.

So how did this stay-at-home mom turn an icon into an income? "I took it one day at a time. I didn't go big really fast."

That's the same advice she's giving Barb Pinkelman, a 7-year employee starting her own cupcake business. She got the idea three years ago making cupcakes for an event at her daughter's school. "I've always loved to bake, and I thought it might be a concept people would like and it just kind of took off," she tells us.

Pinkelman explains, "Ever since then, I've been just researching cupcakes and trying new recipes and changing some recipes, and keeping some the same."

Today on her 45th birthday, Pinkelman is taking a step that could land her a mega-business in the future. "I think there's a lot out there. I think you just have to not be afraid, ya know. It's a risk, and you don't have to take a big step You can do it little -- step by step."

Or, for Marsha Smith... dip by dip.