Home economics. (home-based businesses)

Home-based business owners get tips from the pros at Mt. Hood Community College

Home-based businesses and the Internet seem like a marriage made in heaven. You can rock the baby, stir the soup and plug away at your PC at the kitchen table. While saving money on paper and postage, you can use the power of e-mail for messaging and the mighty span of the Web for marketing.

But in making a home-based business work, there's much more to learn than how to tune into the tools of cyberspace.

Just ask the participants of "Home Based Business Success," a workshop in eight sessions at Mr. Hood Community College Business Center.

Created by the center's acting director Billi Jo Schmunk, and led by Lenny Charnoff, a local Internet guru, the class takes place every other week for three hours. Most sessions feature specialists from the community, who offer information, advice, insights and …