A window to success: taking a home business on the road.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy
• Position: SMALL BUSINESS

Tom Miller knows all about economic downturns. He once worked as a partner in an Anchorage business that featured interior design that opened just before the economic doldrums of the mid- 1980s slammed Alaska.

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"Every bank we were banking with went under," Miller said. "It was a mess."

The economy seems nearly as dire now. Banks haven't been closing in Alaska, but the state's unemployment rate reached 7.5 percent in December--up from 6.3 percent at that time the year before, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. With layoffs rampant, some out-of-work people are taking their economic livelihood into their own hands by launching a home-based business.

More than half of all U.S. businesses are based in the owner's home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and six out of 10 owners used their own money to launch their businesses. One in 10 owners put their startup costs on their business or personal credit cards.

ON THE ROAD

Miller is one of those people. He and his wife, Barbara, bought a motor home and hit the road after the partners closed their interior-design business after seven years. A year-and-a-half later, the Millers returned from their odyssey and used their American Express card to buy $700 worth of supplies for a new window-oriented interior design venture, which they ran out of the family van.

"We bought samples, a couple of little magnetic signs," Tom Miller said. "We bring everything to clients because, really, that's where the work needs to be done."

The business became an Exciting Windows! franchise nine years later.

Miller teaches others in Alaska about the business model and is expanding Exciting Windows! throughout the state to areas such as Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Palmer and Homer.

KEEP UP

One thing Miller thinks is most important in running a home-based business is staying educated--not only about trends in window fashions, but about trends in what customers need.

"In this type of economy, it's even more important," he said. "I've become more knowledgeable to address the people's needs that are out there. One of the things people are concerned about at this time, energy efficiency, is an area I'm paying attention to. The price of gas for a car might have gone down, but the price of...