Questions from one of our new readers

Received this great compliment (thank you) and some questions from one of our newer followers. First I wanted to share her email and I will answer each question individually in their own posts to help out anyone with the same questions and a big Thank you to you for sharing!

From the "busy bee"
I have been reading up on the www.balancedmarykay.blogspot.com site. I just want to applaud what you are all doing, especially welcoming pros and cons, good and bad. I have a friend that is a consultant who just started up and I am also interested in becoming one in the near future. I had a few personal questions and I hope you don’t mind me emailing. I don’t have a profile set up for the site, so I will have to figure that out soon so I can contribute my 2 cents(if I have any).
I wanted to start my business as more of a hobby. I would eventually like to spend more time, but currently I am a full-time student(19 credit hrs this semester!), mother of a 4 and 5 yr old, working part-time, and also married. My husband is getting ready for a year-long assignment (active duty Air Force) in July so I will be an “almost” single parent for a year. Can you tell me if I would still be able to consider my business as a “business” and claim expenses, etc? I wasn’t sure since I would probably only spend a few hrs a week and have about 2-3 parties a month. I didn’t know what all the rules were and wanted to do my homework before I got started. I haven’t signed up yet and I am planning to in a few months. I am continuing to try the products because I want to make sure I love them before I sell themJ.
I also had another question. My step mother-in-law currently purchases MK from another consultant. I would never want to steal another consultant’s clients but she had offered to use me as a consultant when I start up. I did not offer any type of discount or anything to entice her to switch consultants. I already feel bad for the offer because I wouldn’t do that to anyone! On the other hand, I would understand if I had a client who started buying from their relative, but I would never expect it. What are your thoughts?
I think I’ve wrote more than enough to keep you busy. I apologize for the length and I appreciate your time. I’ve read on a few of the older blogs and how you started off and you are an inspiration! I’m not sure how far I want to go with MK but at least I know that the possibilities are endless. Before I found this blog, I almost reconsidered. I actually was thinking about it so much that I couldn’t sleep and at 4 am I got out of bed and started to look for information. I am so happy I found you and just want to say thanks again. Take care and have a great weekend!