Home businesses: How these Long Islanders maintain work-life balance, boundaries

The most important rule of her mother's home office: "Just remember, do not touch her scissors," said 11-year-old Janelle Weinfeld.

Michelle Weinfeld's family is used to the hum of her embroidery machine ("What sound?" joked her husband, Seth) and Janelle can get comfortable right at her mom's feet, sitting on some pillows and drawing flowers in her notebook.

On a typical day, Weinfeld, who runs the custom embroidery business Ell's Creations, meets with clients, fields their requests via email and embroiders everything from tote bags to toilet paper — all from her home in Plainview.

Weinfeld is one of many small-business owners on Long Island who fully run their operations from home. The entrepreneurs have transformed rooms that once housed beds and dressers, or sofas and television sets, into client-facing workplaces.

These business owners have faced challenges along the way, with work-life balance, lack of mentorship and the distractions that come with working in their living spaces. They shared what makes it all worth it, and why some prefer home setups.

Ell's Creations

In a way, the tools are Weinfeld's co-workers.

She's given them all names: Jane, the embroidery machine, shares a side of the room with Bethany, the sewing machine. Spools of thread in every color of the rainbow cover the walls. Shirts with college names and towels with cheeky sayings line a table, all stitched with precision. 

Her work ranges from meaningful, one-of-a-kind pieces (embroidering a message from a mother to her daughter for her wedding day, using a patch from the mother's wedding dress) to jaw-dropping gags ("Here's your crappy gift," stitched onto a roll of toilet paper).

Weinfeld said the process of registering as an LLC took

8 months and cost about $2,000

The payment also covers any LLC-related inquiries to her attorney for the next several years, she said.

This is the headquarters of Ell's Creations: Weinfeld's embroidery business, which became an LLC last year.

"I've always loved sewing, and I've always been creative," said Weinfeld, who previously worked as a paralegal, and later as a school bus driver. During the pandemic, she started sewing masks and surgical caps for local hospitals.

Then, Weinfeld decided to make it a full-time gig. Through the Farmingdale State College Small Business Development Center, she connected with an attorney who handled the paperwork for her LLC registration. The whole process took eight months, she said, and about $2,000. The payment also covers any LLC-related inquiries to her attorney for the next several years, she said.

Weinfeld also purchased all of her equipment during the pandemic — another major expense. "At the end of this year, everything will be paid off," she said.

Because of her husband's demanding work schedule as an attorney, and their two young children, "the thought of going someplace to work outside of the home was not even a thought that crossed my mind," Weinfeld said.

Her studio is easy to find. "We converted one of the rooms in the front of the house into a dedicated office space," she said. "So when my clients walk in the door, they can see my office just from walking up the steps and the pathway to get into my house."

Because of the colorful, laid-back energy of the room, "a lot of people say, 'I want to have a playdate in your office,' " Weinfeld said.

Doctor Promo

When Regina Finkelstein first started her home business Doctor Promo 25 years ago, her children were little, so she had to establish "Mommy's Office Hours."

She put a sign on her door, and laid down some ground rules: "If you see me out in the hall, I'm available," she told them. "If I'm here and the door is closed, go ask your father."

Based in the second story of her Baldwin home, the business creates promotional materials — printing logos on pens, mugs, license plate frames and more. "Anything with a logo that people can think of," she said.

Finkelstein converted a bedroom into her office and showroom. Her desk and computer are surrounded by built-in shelves and racks, displaying a large selection of the work she's done through the years.

"When people walk in, they don't know where to look first," she said.

Finkelstein's husband is a chiropractor, and his family ran a manufacturing business. The couple used to create and sell stickers and T-shirts at chiropractic training sessions and seminars, with doctors constantly asking to have some merchandise made for their own practices.

She remembered: "After dozens, maybe hundreds of times of telling people we don't do that, finally I said to [my husband], 'I think we need to learn how to do that.' "

Finkelstein started Doctor Promo and runs it by herself, now working with clients all over the country. But building her brand wasn't easy. "I wish I had someone giving me a little more guidance when I was starting out," she said.

Ten years ago, Finkelstein and her husband started their own networking group with other working professionals on Long Island, coming from about 24 industries.

Through the connections of the group, Finkelstein hired an answering service to field her day-to-day phone calls, which notifies her by text when the call is a viable business opportunity, rather than spam. This has led to another valuable lesson for small-business owners like herself. 

"People would say to me, 'I didn't know you hired a secretary,' " she said. "Appear bigger than you are. That's not a bad thing."

Little Feet Big Steps Daycare

Yohaina Martinez starts her morning at 5 a.m. Her day consists of cooking, reading, dancing, crafting, gardening, puppeteering, singing — and most of all, teaching and caring for the children of her day care, run out of the lower level of her home in North Babylon.

"I was a schoolteacher for 15 years prior to this," Martinez said. "And then I decided that I wanted to homeschool my kids."

She used to teach multiple age groups, from third graders to middle schoolers, and then transitioned to babies and toddlers when she started Little Feet Big Steps Daycare in 2023.

"When I first started, we were just testing the waters," she said. "So I started it on our main floor."

The day care overtook her living room, two of her bedrooms and the kitchen area. "I felt like I was in my house all day, every day," Martinez recalled.

Eventually, Martinez knew she needed a change, especially as more parents began to enroll their children. The day care now serves children from 6 weeks of age, all the way through 12 years old, for before and after school care. There are 16 children on a daily basis, Martinez said.

"Within a few months, it grew big enough, so we redid the basement, made it super kid-friendly and moved everything down to the basement level," she said.

To add some daycare touches in the basement, Martinez spent

around $15,000

She was also awarded a

$25,000 grant

to construct a greenhouse in her backyard last summer.

The basement was already finished, but just needed a few day care touches: A kitchenette area outfitted with cabinets, the removal of a door to open up the space, other cosmetic tweaks here and there and the addition of a cutout through the middle of a wall, shaped by moldings and a ledge, so that caretakers can peek into the nap time room. In the end, the project cost around $15,000, Martinez said.

The day care was licensed through the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, which includes a quarterly safety inspection. A fire marshal  also came to examine her home, Martinez said. There was no cost for the license, "the expenses were just in making sure we had all the right equipment," she added. Martinez also replaced all of her windows during this time, as an extra safety precaution.

Daily activities stretch beyond her home: Martinez was able to construct a greenhouse in her backyard last summer. She was awarded a grant of $25,000 to do this, from Optimum and the Long Island Association (which lists the application on its website). Now the children can grow fruits, vegetables and other plants, and snack on their harvest.

And watching the children grow, too, is Martinez's favorite part. One child has been coming to the day care since she was 3 months old with a plush pink bunny that now, as years have passed, has turned brown from its adventures.

"It's nice to watch them grow, and get all the hugs and love," she said.

Events in Bloom and Beautifauxl Cakes

Through a powder pink entrance is the home workspace of Lorraine Ceglia: She runs a wedding planning business and a display cake company, both out of her home in Northport.

"When I was probably 20 or so, I wanted to be a wedding planner, primarily so that I could decorate, because that's where my passion is," Ceglia said. "But life happened, bills happened, and that didn't work out."

But while looking for a way to make some money and work from home, she decided to start her display cake company, in 2022. Her event planning company began last year.

Ceglia's cakes are purely for "picture and aesthetic purposes," she explained, and are not actually edible. She partnered with a local bakery that provides clients with sheet cakes to be cut and served, while Ceglia's creations are made using Styrofoam, polymer clay (for toppers) and artificial flowers, with fondant, royal icing and sugar paste on the outside for an authentic effect.

The goal of Beautifauxl Cakes is to save couples money on their big day. According to The Knot, the national average cost of a wedding cake is $540, as of 2024. Ceglia's rentals start at $225. Some couples will rent cakes and then opt for other dessert options entirely, like food trucks or ice cream bars. 

Ceglia's studio includes a large island, shelves of display cakes behind glass, a small kitchen and a bathroom. It has a separate, outdoor entrance, below her home. The space started as a finished basement.

Events in Bloom is still gaining traction, Ceglia said, but she hopes to eventually combine her endeavors to better serve her clients. As for other future goals, she doesn't envision herself working from home forever.

"If someday, one day, we end up with our own space, that would be amazing," she said. "I have visions and dreams of owning property and having one of those glass, greenhouse-style venues. But we'll see."