St. George resident Jennie Hustead Larsen to turn a skill learned from her mother into a burgeoning online business.

ST. GEORGE – With job openings limited, more Americans have discovered – and capitalized on – ways to work while staying at home.

One such entrepreneur is Elise Clarke, a mother of three from St. George. Rent for a studio was more than she could afford, so she opened the Elise Clarke Piano Studio in her own home, and has been offering lessons for the past three years. But her motivations to stay grounded weren’t just financial.

“I love that I can be home when my children get back from school,” Clark said. “I just wanted to be closer to them.”

Amber Wolfe agreed that working from home was ideal for her.

After two years of commuting to Las Vegas, Wolfe was thrilled to find a way to work from home with Plus-One, a nationwide network that trains employees to receive and process customer calls from television and Internet advertisements.

Wolfe said she is enjoying the flexibility her new schedule allows.

“It’s a great company because you can set your own hours. A lot of women that do it can work while their kids are sleeping,” she said. “Plus-One is really growing big and bringing a lot of jobs to our area.”

Vickie Christensen of Washington City recently made the switch to working from home, and said she is enjoying every minute of it. She started at Mail-to-Save, while working a full-time office job. With Mait-to-Save, she picks up mail from business, processes it, and delivers it to the post office. She became the owner in 2006 and last year, was able to move it home.

“I have over 30 clients, including car dealerships, doctor’s offices, and law offices,” she said. “Mail-to-Save helps businesses save time and money.”

Though Christensen now has more free time herself, she said she is still quite busy. In October alone, her company processed 35,000 pieces of mail.

The expenses of raising a family with one income inspired St. George resident Jennie Hustead Larsen to turn a skill learned from her mother into a burgeoning online business.

“I was always a stay-at-home mom,” she said. “But with four kids, I had to think of ways to make some extra money. I started posting about home decor and craft projects on my family’s blog a little over a year ago.”

Her creativity and enthusiasm soon drew a large audience, and opportunities.

“I got so many positive comments that I made a new one called Craft-O-Maniac. It’s grown more than I ever thought it would. Local business owners buy advertising space on it, and a few big craft companies have even paid me to write promotional posts for their products,” she said.

For the enterprising women of St. George, the benefits of working from home far outweigh the disadvantages.

“It’s wonderful,” Larsen said. “I’m doing something I absolutely love, I work when I want to, and most importantly, I can be with my children. The only drawback is that blogging doesn’t provide a steady income like a regular job would.”

Christensen added, “There are no [negatives] for me. I’ve wanted to work from home for a long time.

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