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Start success at home: Develop a good resource network
(Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids, IA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 13--M any people dream about working from home. After the June floods, many Corridor employees got a taste of working from home, but not everyone enjoyed it.
It takes a certain discipline and mindset, according to area business experts and those who run businesses from home.
But the reality is that a majority -- 53 percent -- of America's small businesses are home-based, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. So making it work isn't an option for some people -- it's a necessity.
"Small businesses are growing at a phenomenal rate, and lot of them are started from their home," said Becky Esker, professional organizer and business coach with Get Organized!
Working from home certainly has its perks -- like a really short commute -- but it also has it problems and distractions.
"That's one of the biggest misconceptions. People think, 'I'll start a business out of my house. It's easy.' If you want to be professional and productive, you've got to be professional about it," Esker said. "You also have to be very disciplined if you are going to work from home." One of the biggest problems she sees with homebased businesses is that people are not setting up their home offices as professional spaces.
"Some people think that because they are working from home, it should be a different atmosphere. But you still have the same needs for equipment and work space," she said.
Esker knows firsthand.
She and her husband, Don, an insurance agent, work from their home. She also has worked with many home-based business owners who have found it difficult to work from home.
"Often I get called because it's disorganized. It's not fun and it's not comfortable and so they don't want to be there," Esker said.
"That means you need to paint it and make it comfortable. If it's not comfortable, you will not want to be there, and that will affect your motivation." Invest in good lighting, technology, desk and chair, as well as organizational tools, she said. Too often people try to make do with what they have, and it backfires because they are not as productive as they could be, she said.
Where to put that home office is a huge consideration.
"You've got to look at your space and the type of business to determine how much space you need," Esker said.
Initially, Esker had her office in a spare bedroom, but she later moved it to an addition off the kitchen, which allowed her to be much more available to her two children.
Since the kids are typically in school and most of her business is done at a client's home, she wasn't worried that her office be quiet.
But her husband, who spends most of his day on the phone, has an office in the basement with a door and asign that signals to the family when he must be left alone.
Since Esker has employees come and go from her house, she worked out a way to drop off paperwork without giving them access to her home. She urges others to do the same for security purposes.
Esker also recommends building a good network of resources that you can contact at a moment's notice to assist you if necessary. That includes an information technology company that can get you up and running quickly if your computer or network goes down, she said.
"Most of us are highly dependent on that," she said.
– Contact the writer: (319) 398-8469 or janet.rorholm@gazcomm.com
To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazetteonline.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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