Jana Roland lost her job as a build engineer with Golothonics - someone else casualty of outsourcing to southeast Asia. This had been her third job in ten years. She and Rob, a traveling consultant who was seldom home, had two school-age children. So Jana decided that rather than look for someone else job, she should start her own home-based business. This would give her a opportunity for more family time, she would not have a boss telling her what to do, and she would have greater operate of her own destiny. One end of the family room of their Westlake home would make a great office, a place where Jana could both work and watch the children. There would be microscopic cost, and maybe even some tax deductions. Life would be good.
However, Jana fast discovered that there is more to a home office than just working out of the house. So, after putting together a firm plan (yes, even a home-based firm needs a plan - more about planning in a hereafter article) Jana fast learned the realities of working from home.
Laptop Graphics Card
Reality 1. Reserve a incommunicable space for the home office. Setting up an office in the family room naturally did not work out. The Tv and the kids were constant distractions. Jana could never get away from her job, as she would see work waiting for her every time she walked through the room. The Roland's house had a guest bedroom that was not often used. So Jana supplanted the bed with a couch that could double as a guest bed, and set up her office. Now she had an exclusive and incommunicable work area, and she could remove herself from the firm when not in the "office".
Reality 2. There are costs linked with a home office. At Golothonics Jana had a furnished cubicle, and the firm supplied a telephone, a computer, Internet Access, e-mail, and the most recent versions of all the software she needed to do her job. Those luxuries were in the past! Now that Jana had office space, she needed to outfit it. She set up a card table which she would later replace with a desk. She needed a chair and a file cabinet. She had her own laptop computer, but needed to buy a printer. Jana also had to purchase accounting software, and specialized graphics software required for her build tasks.
Since her work required extensive Internet use, Jana obtained broad-band passage through the cable company, and set up an e-mail account. Using the family phone line for firm purposes did not seem very professional, so Jana purchased a new cell phone and decided to use the cell phone number as her firm number. She could now acknowledge the firm line no matter where she was. At last she would set up a web site.
Reality 3. Professional help is needed. Jana had a great idea for her business, but she knew that fascinating professionals would help her to succeed. She found a small firm lawyer who guided her through the legal issues of setting up the business. She placed an accountant who gave her advice on tax planning and book keeping, and would later do her yearly tax returns. She worked with her insurance agent to make sure she was adequately insured. She retained a firm consultant who helped her map out a firm and marketing strategy and who would mentor her as she embarked on her firm adventure.
Reality 4. Running a firm from home requires self discipline and good time management. One day, after getting the children ready for school, Jana saw the Tv was still on so she watched the end of the Today show. As she was doing the morning meal dishes she looked out the window and saw the bird-feeder was empty. While filling the bird-feeder, she saw her neighbor was out. After talking with the neighbor...... Well, after losing half the day, Jana realized that if she were to run her business, she needed to prioritize her time, and considered allocate the hours she would spend in the "office". While often working into the evening after putting the kids to bed, Jana also realized she had to set up a work program so she would not spend all of her time in the office.
Reality 5. Family. A few weeks after starting her home firm and getting into a nice working rhythm, Jana's son got the flu and had to stay home from school for two days. In her corporate life, Jana would have taken vacation time or sick days to stay home with her son. Now she learned that one of the benefits of working at home was the potential to flexibly deal with family issues. However, when summer came, she had to make supplementary adjustment and reverted to the child care she had used in old summers, in order to continue working. When Rob was at home, Jana needed to cut back on the late night hours in order to spend time with him.
Reality 6. Paycheck? When Rob and Jana decided for Jana to start a home business, they knew it would take a while to accomplish the level of income Jana had made at Golothonics. They also knew that there would be expenses in outfitting the office, and expenses for marketing. Most of their savings were in Iras and 401-K plans. Rather than risk penalties for early withdrawals from their withdrawal savings, they decided to use home equity to furnish interim funding. Once Jana started receiving money from her clients, she put the receipts into a isolate firm catalogue from which she paid firm expenses, made income tax and self-employment tax regular payments, and from which she paid herself.
Reality 7. Even a home firm needs to uphold a firm "image". Jana was involved that clients would consideration a residential address on her firm cards and correspondence. She also knew that there were times when she would need to have conferences with clients, and did not want them advent to her home. Her low-cost solution to both issues was in the form of a local firm center. For a modest fee, she could use the firm town as her mail drop and return mail address. She could Reserve and rent a consulation room on demand. There was even secretarial help available.
Once she got a good grasp on home-based firm realities, Jana was able to refine her firm plan, start marketing and selling her services, and begin satisfying buyer needs in return for a nice income. She is enjoying being her own boss, getting great pleasure from her work, and being closer to her family.
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