BELFAST – As the number of Maine home-based businesses continues to rise, organizers are preparing for next weekend’s sixth annual Mid-Coast Home-Based Business Conference.

The conference will be held at the Troy Howard Middle School and the University of Maine Hutchinson Center on April 5 and 6. The conference will feature a slate of more than 40 workshops as well as a business-to-business trade show.

Organizer and conference founder Jane Haskell, University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator for Waldo County, said 21 percent of Maine’s total employment is from microbusinesses with one to four employees. In the midcoast region of Waldo, Knox and Hancock counties, the percentage of total employment from microbusinesses is 31 percent.

“Home-based businesses have a significant effect on Maine’s economy,” Haskell said. “Often small businesses can supplement family income or eventually become the primary source of family income.”

Haskell said workshops were designed to tap into that potential opportunity by assisting anyone contemplating starting, improving or expanding a business.

More than 250 attend the annual conference, and many of its workshops are conducted by small-business owners or home-based business owners. It is the only conference in the state to focus specifically on the needs of small businesses.

The keynote speaker for this year’s conference is midcoast artist Lynn Travis, who twice made the transition into the world of the self-employed, first with a private physical therapy practice and second as a full-time artist.

Travis worked 18 years as a physical therapist and became a full-time artist in 1996. Her paintings are collected nationwide, appearing in public and private collections. Travis will talk about the difficulties and rewards of becoming self-employed.

The transition from a secure job to the world of self-employment is not always simple and smooth. Travis will talk about how she had to adjust and readjust her business plan along the way, and some of the tough decisions, rough spots and joys of success.

The conference begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 5. Among the evening’s workshops are: “Developing Your Business’ Visual Identity” with Carol Gillette, a graphic designer; “Building a Small Business Web Site” with Roy Atkinson and Jeff Erickson of MacAdvisor; “Technology Choices for Business Owners” with experts on computer software and applications; “Resources for Growing Your Business” with a panel of local, state and federal organizations that provide assistance to home-based businesses.

Among the more than 30 workshops scheduled beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 6, are: “E-commerce from One Who is There” with Beverly Stone, director of Aina Moja and Other African Crafts, a successful e-commerce business since 1997; “Generating Business Creatively” with Cathy Roberts, owner of Pieceworks Inc.; “Introduction to Business and Business Plans” with Marnie DuBois, director of the Small Business Development Center at Eastern Maine Development Corp.; “Being Socially Responsible and Successful” with Sanna McKim, regional director of Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility; and “You, Your Business and the Law” with lawyer Dana Strout.

The 2002 Mid-Coast Home-Based Business Conference is partially funded by sponsorship from eight area banks, agencies and businesses.

For information or to register for the conference, visit the Web site at www.umce.org or call (800) 287-1426.