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For Kathleen Byrne-Barrantes, owner of Grant Solutions, starting a home based business was more of an accidental evolution than a planned event.
“It really was an act of need rather than choice,” she said.
Byrne-Barrantes, who worked for 17 years as a microbiologist, worked from home since 1995, after returning to the area from the Mideast, where she worked as a research associate in Saudi Arabia.
“I completed research papers, chapters, and two books,” as a result of her time in the Mideast, Byrne-Barrantes said.
In 1999 Byrne-Barrantes took on a new role: that of a citizen advocate and activist for environmental concerns. She was one of the founding members of the Liberty Bay Foundation, and wrote an initial grant proposal for the group that brought them significant funding.
“I was successful in writing quite a large proposal for a $280,000 project through the EPA and state Department of Ecology,” said Byrne-Barrantes.
Byrne-Barrantes’ involvement with the Liberty Bay project cemented her work-from-home status.
“Naturally, it was more convenient to run the project out of my home since it was on Liberty Bay, as was the research/cleanup project,” she said. “We had multiple employees and partners in and out of this ‘home’ office as we also converted our property to a native plant nursery and our garage to house field monitoring equipment.”
Byrne-Barrantes’ business, Grant Solutions, grew from her success in obtaining funds for the Liberty Bay Foundation.
”Once successful at obtaining funding for the Liberty Bay project, I began writing proposals and working with other clients in obtaining grants,” she said.
Today Byrne-Barrantes’ business focuses on crafting grant proposals for clients, which include municipal government and state agencies, as well as nonprofit organizations. She also offers project management assistance, takes on technical writing projects and, when time allows, subcontracts her services to other businesses.
Populating her client list are Kitsap County, The City of Bremerton, The Homebuliders Association of Kitsap County, and the City of Gig Harbor. She also counts a number of fire departments, large and small from all over the country, as clients, securing funding from Homeland Security for first responer training and equipment.
Although she never set out to develop a home-based business, it suits Byrne-Barrantes’ business model well.
“These days you don’t need to be physically located near your client,” said Byrne-Barrantes. “Most of my meetings with clients occur in their offices and I often travel to Olympia and other cities in the state to do presentations.”
Working from home, she continued, can make for a much more efficient work day.
“I appreciate the productivity that is possible without travel and the work that goes into getting ready, packing up your work and trekking out every day,” she said. “And there are fewer disruptions and no chatter ‘around the drinking fountain’ that affects people who work in large firms.”
That efficiency and productivity can have a downside, however.
“The biggest challenge, I suppose, is knowing when to call it a day!” said Byrne-Barrantes. “I often put many more hours in than I would have while working in a lab or office situation.”
Working from home has a strong appeal for many people. But Byrne-Barrantes cautions would-be home-based entrepreneurs to consider their business goals first.
“I don’t believe it is prudent to ‘cook’ up a business because you’d like to be home more,” she said. “In fact, if you are successful, it can take more time away from your family, rather than less.”. | 
