Allison’s job may not be considered odd for long, now that social media is taking the business world by storm. A self-described “social media addict,” the stay-at-home mother of four has turned it into a career, launching her company, Island Networking, to help businesses maintain a presence on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (follow her: @islandnetworkin). “I’ve always wanted to find my niche,” she says. “I love it so much and I have so much passion for it. And I believe in it.

“Why won’t my cat use the litter box?” “Does my dog like my boyfriend?” “Is my pet happy?” Those are the most popular questions people ask Shelly, a pet psychic who realized her gift very young but suppressed it until several years ago because of society’s “standards.” “I’m just a bridge between you and your animals,” she says. “They want to talk to you.” Younger generations, she feels, are much more in tune with animals, pointing out her 11-year-old daughter is more gifted than she is.

Gretchen takes the cake for creative confections. Her custom fondant cake designs have included a three dimensional movie reel, an iPhone, igloo, bottle caps, and a fondant icing mommy-to-be figurine perched on triple layers. She’s even whipped up imaginative cakes for women’s toy parties! The stay-at-home mother of 4, 5, and 7-year-old boys says she’ll get an idea and think “there’s no way I can do that,” then sets out to prove herself wrong—usually at midnight when everyone else is sleeping.

“I never set out to have a nail file company,” says Colleen, the entrepreneur and visionary behind Top Notch Nail Files. “It was totally women’s intuition.” After spying glass nail files for sale, Colleen figured that crystal, being stronger than glass, would make the files even more durable. She promptly went home, came up with a design, located a crystal manufacturer, and spent her rent money on a stash of them.