She admits to being broke at the time and less than sure about what her next steps would be.

But from bare-bones beginnings, Traci spent her remaining savings of $18.49 on "nice paper and envelopes" from Staples as her first step in running her own business. From there, her firm Bisson Barcelona grew to service writers and authors, a mostly ignored and misunderstood market, and individual business professionals.

During the first quarter of 2008, her company was experiencing financial difficulties. Owed several thousand dollars from clients, she faced the prospect of laying off employees. Instead, she cut back on overhead by taking her son out of daycare and establishing a home office.

“Unable to network in person,” she says, “I turned to social outlets – Facebook, Twitter, etc. The Mom Entrepreneur was established within the next 30 days.”

Traci started The Mom Entrepreneur as more of a hobby. She began blogging about her challenges and successes in business and raising kids.

That same month, she sent a query out through two news channels looking for tips on balancing family and business in order to generate some additional content for her blog. She anticipated she would connect with a few other mom entrepreneurs, interview them and post their stories on her blog.

In less then 48 hours, Traci had received 400 emails with more than 1,000 tips from mom entrepreneurs all over the world. She was overwhelmed and very excited.

From that point, The Mom Entrepreneur started to grow. The company added The Mom Entrepreneur Online Support Group in June 2008, and then developed a custom, first-of-its-kind social networking site in January 2010 specifically for the needs of mom entrepreneurs. Members network with each other and offer support for balancing the demands of motherhood and running a company.

In January 2009, the company created The Mom Entrepreneur Co-op Shop, which includes bargains on dozens of products and services for moms, dads and kids.

The company also manages a suite of blogs, including The Mom Entrepreneur, Kids in New Hampshire and Neighbors Helping Neighbors as well as an educational Webinar series.

Traci's story as an entrepreneur has been told in dozens of publications, including Plan Ahead Get Ahead (cover story), Entrepreneur.com, WomenEntrepreneur.com, Associated Press, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB.com), Women’s Business Boston Journal, Union Leader, The Portsmouth Herald, RoleMommy.com, The Grand Island Independent and Parenting NH Magazine.

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