How do you run your small business from home?

[MatthewSBN]

From a milliner whose home office enables her to balance deliveries, domestic problems and clients without needing to travel, to a beauty company which uses the living room as a spa, SME owners have been telling us the creative ways they work from home in our Small Business Showcase.

But what is it about your home business which makes it particularly innovative or unusual?

Share your ideas and tips for running an efficient home office in this thread.

 

[chelle_85]

I think this a great thread. I'd love to hear some extra tips myself.

 

[arcon5]

I worked at home for a while, used the dining room as a place of work. Only problem is to get to the kitchen you have to walk through the dining room. And the lounge is right next to the dining room making taking a break too easy and tempting. If working from home id say it was a good idea to find a room that can isolate you from your home somewhat, otherwise you find yourself mixing business and pleasure and struggling to settle after a days work

 

[Risky]

To those who have to go to work and sit through traffic and listen to the same old rubbish from a miserable boss, working from home is a very attractive option. However, it can be incredibly difficult to sit, eat, live and work in the same room and the same place after a while and you will want to get out a bit more.

Although working from home is great as you wanna spend more time with your partner or your children, even they might get a little irritating as you start to pick up on their small habits.
It's like this story that I'll never forget which was about 2 men living in an isolated location in the forest. police discovered a body of a man in the cabin slumped over the chess board. when they caught the killer, the victims roommate, he said his reasons for lashing out was because the victim was tapping on the chessboard and he didn't like the way he burnt his toast in the mornings. This is why ill never forget it.

im not saying people working from home will hurt those living in close proximity but you'll certainly pick up on their little habits.

meditation is the best tool you can rely on to keep your mind healthy and keep yourself at ease

 

[GlobalBusinessCentres]

People think working from home is fun and easy however, I'd say 1 is boring 2 you will feel you want to go somewhere after working in same pattern for a week.

I myself started working from home as a courier agent and honestly it was very painful to just sit and wait for customer phone call or email so I can "do something" productive.

Lets start with a business website

First of you need to setup a website, a great looking website. Ensure you know every part of it and you know its working well. If you are receiving orders online ensure they are delivering in your mailbox. or if you are using Content Management System, check if all the contents are appearing correctly as entered by your potential customer.

Address

You need a virtual address to represent yourself in market as a serious business, you can't just write your home address, 1, its privacy matter, 2 its not professional. That address you need to put on your website so it should say your registered address on i.e. 4 Little Portland Street London W1W 7JB. You can use such address for your business correspondence etc.

Phone number

Third thing you need a phone number, a dedicated phone number for your business only. If you want to give an impression you are a London based company get 0207 number online.

Payment Method

If you are taking payment online, the easiest way is to setup PayPal account and link to your website so the money goes through PayPal securely and you don't have to worry about it. If you are willing to take payment via phone, again you must setup PayPal phone merchant service.

Make yourself organised

You have to be ready for any random phone calls by your potential customers asking you random question so have your products or services information handy.

Marketing

Now everything is ready to go all you need is people contacting you. Lets start with online marketing, start listing your business in all major search engines and directories.

Customer Care

You have to show your best telephone customer care skills when talking to your customers. Your customer won't like you taking very long to answer their question everytime, you must try and get their name and contact number.

Always maintain a list of your customers alongwith their contact details to go back to them not just to do further marketing if you are offering new services or products but also to get their feedback.

DO NOT IGNORE your customer, once you provide your customer great service they will become an agent and get you more business by recommendation, so do deliver their product in time or provide the requested service in time.

You need to stick to good working practice and you need to be dedicated to what you are doing, trust me success will be yours.

People think working from home is fun and easy however, I'd say 1 is boring 2 you will feel you want to go somewhere after working in same pattern for a week.

I myself started working from home as a courier agent and honestly it was very painful to just sit and wait for customer phone call or email so I can "do something" productive.

Lets start with a business website

First of you need to setup a website, a great looking website. Ensure you know every part of it and you know its working well. If you are receiving orders online ensure they are delivering in your mailbox. or if you are using Content Management System, check if all the contents are appearing correctly as entered by your potential customer.

Address

You need a virtual address to represent yourself in market as a serious business, you can't just write your home address, 1, its privacy matter, 2 its not professional. That address you need to put on your website so it should say your registered address on i.e. 4 Little Portland Street London W1W 7JB. You can use such address for your business correspondence etc.

Phone number

Third thing you need a phone number, a dedicated phone number for your business only. If you want to give an impression you are a London based company get 0207 number online.

Payment Method

If you are taking payment online, the easiest way is to setup PayPal account and link to your website so the money goes through PayPal securely and you don't have to worry about it. If you are willing to take payment via phone, again you must setup PayPal phone merchant service.

Make yourself organised

You have to be ready for any random phone calls by your potential customers asking you random question so have your products or services information handy.

Marketing

Now everything is ready to go all you need is people contacting you. Lets start with online marketing, start listing your business in all major search engines and directories.

Customer Care

You have to show your best telephone customer care skills when talking to your customers. Your customer won't like you taking very long to answer their question everytime, you must try and get their name and contact number.

Always maintain a list of your customers alongwith their contact details to go back to them not just to do further marketing if you are offering new services or products but also to get their feedback.

DO NOT IGNORE your customer, once you provide your customer great service they will become an agent and get you more business by recommendation, so do deliver their product in time or provide the requested service in time.

You need to stick to good working practice and you need to be dedicated to what you are doing, trust me success will be yours.


------------------------------------------
Econnective ShipCentre
Courier Services - Mailbox Rentals - Internet
4 Little Portland Street London W1W 7JB
TheShipCentre.com - 02074090083

 

[joeptsearle]

Being I live in the New Forest and connection is very bad, I know how annoying a slow connection is, so that is one thing you need, a damn good modem and even a signal booster if your out in the styckx! A slow connection always puts me off and I get distracted!

 

[SetupaCompany]

Certainly creating a dedicated room for an office is a good step.

Ultimately I love working from home but it can be hard to avoid the distractions. I have settled in to a scheduled work pattern now, usually working 7:30am to 4:30pm and then occasionally for another hour or two on an evening and at weekends.

That helps me to ensure I get work done and be available when most other people are also working.

 

[Nuno]

From a milliner whose home office enables her to balance deliveries, domestic problems and clients without needing to travel, to a beauty company which uses the living room as a spa, SME owners have been telling us the creative ways they work from home in our Small Business Showcase.

But what is it about your home business which makes it particularly innovative or unusual?

Share your ideas and tips for running an efficient home office in this thread.

You say "SMEs" but Matthew, aren't you talking about Micro enterprises? Those with less than 10 employees and under £2m turnover?
It would be an unusual Small enterprise which worked at home with more than 10 employees, no?

Some might think this is nit-picking, pedantic. But is all advice from a company with 45 employees and a £9m turnover always appropriate to solo milliners or people with 'spas' in the lounge? Or indeed any home based Micro enterprise?

 

[buy and sell Emma]

One advantage about working from home is that for example if I can't sleep I can work all night long (which is often my most creative time) and you just can't do that elsewhere as easy. The trick is to balance life and not stray too much from your objectives I feel it is too easy for us to do that with kids and friends coming round thinking we are just at home ready for a chat anytime!

 

[Alan]

Address

You need a virtual address to represent yourself in market as a serious business, you can't just write your home address, 1, its privacy matter, 2 its not professional. That address you need to put on your website so it should say your registered address on i.e. 4 Little Portland Street London W1W 7JB. You can use such address for your business correspondence etc.

There is an exception to this, the law, in the guise of the e-commerce directive states that an e-commerce website MUST state the TRADING address of a business, so if you are to comply you can't use a registered address or virtual address.

Also, as a general point, a home address isn't an issue in many sectors, but a virtual address can create an issue of mistrust when people research you and discover you are hiding your real address - as it raises the question 'what else are you hiding?'

 

[babblemouth]

How about PO Box addresses for home based businesses that dont want to publish their, 24 Woodland Close, home address - i wonder what people think of these nowadays?

 

[arcon5]

I wouldn't trust a business with a PO box address - there has to be transparency when it comes to address'.
Some big companies use them, and I always find that very off putting.

I'd rather see a residential address than PO box.

Some commercial address' sound like residential addresses so you can't be sure. For example 69 marlon road - a waiting area for customers and an office/control room above.

 

[cjd]

How about PO Box addresses for home based businesses that dont want to publish their, 24 Woodland Close, home address - i wonder what people think of these nowadays?

The DSR guidance specifically excludes the use of a PO Box address.

 

[TODonnell]

There is an exception to this, the law, in the guise of the e-commerce directive states that an e-commerce website MUST state the TRADING address of a business, so if you are to comply you can't use a registered address or virtual address.

Also, as a general point, a home address isn't an issue in many sectors, but a virtual address can create an issue of mistrust when people research you and discover you are hiding your real address - as it raises the question 'what else are you hiding?'

I dispute all of this, if I understand what's you are stating correctly. I would like to see the precise wording of the law.

Many ecommerce businesses can and do use virtual addresses. HMRC is perfectly aware of virtual office services and so is Companies House. A small trader can't or won't put his home address on a website, so what is he to do? Answer: Use someone else's.

A small business may not be able to afford 'real' office space. So you get a virtual one. And then it comes down to how many square feet constitutes a 'real' office? Maybe zero, if I can just get my mail forwarded to my home? Enter the virtual office solution.

That's why they don't police it, I guess. You'd get tied up in knots if you try.

When you start making good money you might move to a 'real' office. And if you start making good money, you might realise you don't need the kudos as much as you like saving money.

 

[cjd]

I would like to see the precise wording of the law.

Ecommerce Regulations: requirements

A person providing an information society service must make available to the recipients of the service (and any relevant enforcement authority) in a form and manner which is easily, directly and permanently accessible, the following information:

the name of the service provider;
the geographic address at which the service provider is established;
the details of the service provider, including his electronic mail address, which make it possible to contact him rapidly and communicate with him in a direct and effective manner;

where the service provider is registered in a trade or similar register available to the public, details of the register in which the service provider is entered and his registration number, or equivalent means of identification in that register;
where the provision of the service is subject to an authorisation scheme, the particulars of the relevant supervisory authority;

where the service provider exercises a regulated profession: (i) the details of any professional body or similar institution with which the service provider is registered; (ii) his professional title and the member State where that title has been granted; (iii) a reference to the professional rules applicable to the service provider in the member State of establishment and the means to access them; and

where the service provider undertakes an activity that is subject to value added tax, the relevant identification number.

In addition, where a person providing an information society service refers to prices, these must be indicated clearly and unambiguously and, in particular, must indicate whether they are inclusive of tax and delivery costs.

Companies Act 2006 and Business Names Act 1985

Every UK company should list on its website:

its name;
its company registration number;
its place of registration; and
its registered office address.
Sole traders and partnerships who carry on a business in the UK under a business name (very roughly, not the names of the trader/partners) must also make certain website disclosures:

in the case of a sole trader, the individual's name;
in the case of a partnership, the name of each member of the partnership;
in either case, in relation to each person named, an address in the UK at which service of any document relating in any way to the business will be effective.

Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs)
Written and additional information (Regulation 8)

3.9 Once consumers decide to buy you must provide them in writing
with some of the information at paragraph 3.1 and some additional
information (Regulation 8)

3.10 If you provide pre-contractual information in a form that does not
allow it to be stored or reproduced by the consumer, such as during a
phone call or on a website, then you must confirm in writing, or in
another durable medium12 available and accessible to the consumer,
the information given at paragraph

3.1(i) to (viii).
In all cases you must also give your consumers the following
information in a durable medium:

when and how to exercise their rights under the DSRs to cancel
including:

for goods – whether you require goods to be returned by the
consumer and if so who will pay for their return. For more
information on this see paragraph 3.55

for services – the consequence of agreeing to a service starting
before the end of the usual seven working day cancellation
period. See paragraph 3.22 under ‘Cancellation rights’

details of any guarantees or after-sales services

the geographic address of the business to which the consumer
may direct any complaints. There is no definition of ‘geographic
address’ in the DSRs but our view is that this means a physical
location, so a P O Box address is not sufficient, and



http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

 

[TODonnell]

Ecommerce Regulations: requirements

A person providing an information society service must make available to the recipients of the service (and any relevant enforcement authority) in a form and manner which is easily, directly and permanently accessible, the following information:

the name of the service provider;
the geographic address at which the service provider is established;
the details of the service provider, including his electronic mail address, which make it possible to contact him rapidly and communicate with him in a direct and effective manner;

where the service provider is registered in a trade or similar register available to the public, details of the register in which the service provider is entered and his registration number, or equivalent means of identification in that register;
where the provision of the service is subject to an authorisation scheme, the particulars of the relevant supervisory authority;

where the service provider exercises a regulated profession: (i) the details of any professional body or similar institution with which the service provider is registered; (ii) his professional title and the member State where that title has been granted; (iii) a reference to the professional rules applicable to the service provider in the member State of establishment and the means to access them; and

where the service provider undertakes an activity that is subject to value added tax, the relevant identification number.

In addition, where a person providing an information society service refers to prices, these must be indicated clearly and unambiguously and, in particular, must indicate whether they are inclusive of tax and delivery costs.

Companies Act 2006 and Business Names Act 1985

Every UK company should list on its website:

its name;
its company registration number;
its place of registration; and
its registered office address.
Sole traders and partnerships who carry on a business in the UK under a business name (very roughly, not the names of the trader/partners) must also make certain website disclosures:

in the case of a sole trader, the individual's name;
in the case of a partnership, the name of each member of the partnership;
in either case, in relation to each person named, an address in the UK at which service of any document relating in any way to the business will be effective.

Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs)
Written and additional information (Regulation 8)

3.9 Once consumers decide to buy you must provide them in writing
with some of the information at paragraph 3.1 and some additional
information (Regulation 8)

3.10 If you provide pre-contractual information in a form that does not
allow it to be stored or reproduced by the consumer, such as during a
phone call or on a website, then you must confirm in writing, or in
another durable medium12 available and accessible to the consumer,
the information given at paragraph

3.1(i) to (viii).
In all cases you must also give your consumers the following
information in a durable medium:

when and how to exercise their rights under the DSRs to cancel
including:

for goods – whether you require goods to be returned by the
consumer and if so who will pay for their return. For more
information on this see paragraph 3.55

for services – the consequence of agreeing to a service starting
before the end of the usual seven working day cancellation
period. See paragraph 3.22 under ‘Cancellation rights’

details of any guarantees or after-sales services

the geographic address of the business to which the consumer
may direct any complaints. There is no definition of ‘geographic
address’ in the DSRs but our view is that this means a physical
location, so a P O Box address is not sufficient, and



http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

Thanks for going to that trouble, CJD. My bolding in purple, above. The key text is, INMHO: "There is no definition of geographic address ...".

Also: "Our view" isn't worth beans until it is tested in law.

In practical terms I do not see how making people reveal their actual physical location can or should be be policed. There would be too many exceptions, loopholes, practicalities. So I think the hard-line interpretation of this law is moot.

People need virtual addresses, if only because they can't operate businesses from their home or they're on the move, constantly.

I suppose one could rent 1 square foot of 'real' office space, just to avoid bureaucratic interference in one's perfectly kosher online!

 

[cjd]

Thanks for going to that trouble, CJD. My bolding in purple, above. The key text is, INMHO: "There is no definition of geographic address ...".

Also: "Our view" isn't worth beans until it is tested in law.

It would be a very brave and very stupid person who would ignore the guidance of the OFT then be happy to be the test case that proved it one way or the other.

In practical terms I do not see how making people reveal their actual physical location can or should be be policed. There would be too many exceptions, loopholes, practicalities. So I think the hard-line interpretation of this law is moot.

I think we all know what a geographic address is and we can all read the government's legal interpretation of it. If you want to become the test case -please help us all out ;-)

People need virtual addresses, if only because they can't operate businesses from their home or they're on the move, constantly.

And customers need to know that the company they are buying from is real and that they can return their goods if necessary. The law is balanced towards customers because with online trading people can pretend to be things that they are not - in my opinion, that's a good thing as it gives customers the confidence they need to buy from us online.

Whatever the law says, I think it's a necessity to put your address in front of the customer - otherwise you've given them a reason not to buy from you.

 

[TODonnell]

I'm sure the OFT/EU/NSA would prefer to have a geographical location for every business. Prior to the advent of the internet, virtual addresses existed. After it, the need for them has expanded greatly, I would say.

Politicians and bureaucrats can make whatever laws they like, if the governed allow it. Enforcing them is another matter. They admit themselves in the text you quoted they haven't defined what they're trying to enforce.

It's my opinion that the British do love making laws and obeying them.

 

[Nuno]

Whatever the law says, I think it's a necessity to put your address in front of the customer - otherwise you've given them a reason not to buy from you.

This is the crux. The law exists, expert interpretations exists, (OFT, DTI, Pinsent Mason), but it is rarely enforced if ever.

So if you choose your own interpretation of the law and the law is enforced against you it seems very likely you will lose.

And, closer to a non-enforcement reality, you will lose money.

If other considerations trump loss of income, (and a very small chance of enforcement), in a trade-off, so be it. It's your train set.

 

[cjd]

Just to kill this off - the current legal advice is this:

Information that must be provided
Regulation 6 prescribes that all business web sites whether or not trading on-line must list the following general information:-

• Business name;
• Business address which must be a geographic address, i.e. street number etc. In other words a PO Box address is not likely to be sufficient; but a registered office address would;
• Other contact details such as email address and phone number;
• Its registration number and registered office address if a company;
• [Its place of registration if a company or a LLP. Please note this is a requirement under new regulations which were brought into force on the 1 st January 2007 ]
• VAT number if the business is VAT registered;
• Details of any trade and professional body or scheme with which the business is registered and the registration number if applicable;

http://www.sykesanderson.com/Articles/ecommerce.asp

 

[KateCB]

To pull this thread back to the original subject......I work from home with my husband, daughter and son-in-law; we have a LTD company with 5 brands/divisions. We have a dedicated office, we have a dedicated design room for print/embroidery - originally it was a double garage and it all works well.

We live together, work together and sometimes go out/days away together. WE argue sometimes, we shout at each other sometimes, we fall about laughing at things others/we do during a day, we commiserate and celebrate......it works.

We work together, we put the washing in on our way through the utility room to the design room; we make coffee in the kitchen on the way back. We meet for lunch in the dining room everyday and discuss the mornings events/requirements. We put the washing out on the line on our way to the stock room and whoever has time during the day visits the freezer and takes something out for tea - we cook it after work at around 6.30pm and we eat together in the dining room, discussing the day, general life, plans, holidays and at the moment - do we want an orangery room on the back of the house?

We do our own thing after tea - we have our own space, our own hobbies, appointments & outings. I wouldn't swap this for the offices and warehousing I sold 2 years ago.....not for a million quid......mmm, might consider £3m

 

[dedwardp]

Working from home can be incredibly lonely and at quiet times it is far too easy to wander away from the desk and put the tele on or something, which isn't ideal either.

It's also difficult for other people to get over the fact that, despite being in all day, you do actually have a job to do and so you can't "just pop to the shop" for them and so on, or they can't just call round for a bit. Nobody seems to be able to get their heads around pretending you're out at work during those hours which can be frustrating too.

 

[joeptsearle]

Working from home can be incredibly lonely and at quiet times it is far too easy to wander away from the desk and put the tele on or something, which isn't ideal either.

It's also difficult for other people to get over the fact that, despite being in all day, you do actually have a job to do and so you can't "just pop to the shop" for them and so on, or they can't just call round for a bit. Nobody seems to be able to get their heads around pretending you're out at work during those hours which can be frustrating too.

Agreed! Working from home certainly isn't all its cracked up to be, the process of building a business from home can be extremely tedious and sole destroying at times, especially if your not particularly passionate about what you do. But for me when everythings set up and running almost on autopilot, I just can't complain about the free time that I get, its just trying not to fall into the pit of procrastination that's hard!

 

[StuartWest]

I'm with Emma on this one - I too find it sometimes easier to work at night if I can't sleep. I've worked from home now for four years and I love it. I recommend getting out of the '9-5' mentality ... it just doesn't work when working from home! Also agree that this is not about SMEs, this is micro-business.

 

[stallfinder]

I also work from home. I don't do set hours, the hours I do depend very much on how busy the website is plus I fit my work around school runs etc. All I need is a laptop so I often work from cafes or at the side of a swimming pool whilst my daughters are swim training.

It suits me as I prefer not to have a set routine and like to get out of the house now and again. I'm not sure how well it would work if I had to employ anyone else though.

 

[baconsdozen]

I'm thinking of running a business from home in the future. I ran a store in Lowestoft but found it difficult to combat the double yellow lines and banning of loading/unloading anywhere near. The shop is proving difficult to sell but I've now moved,my business is now all mail order so I might start running it from home.

 

[joinuniverse]

There are several benefits from running your business from home, and some of them can be the difference between success and failure.

Key benefits

- You drop your costs and overheads dramatically, not to mention your transport and food costs (besides to eat better ). This money saved can allow your business to offer same goods or services as competitors but at lower prices, which can turn into a sustainable competitive advantage.

- Once profitable, you can allocate as fraction of your corporate costs as part of "office rent". Basically you are allocating corporate resources to pay a part of your rent or mortgage, so you live better, and save lot of money (i.e those costs reduce the overall profits on which you'll pay taxes, or if you were to define a higher salary to pay for your rent, you'll be charged NI, not this way).

- You have more time to actually work, and spend less time travelling or socializing with collages. This could be perceived as a weakness, but from my business point of view is a strength. All that time you save you can spend it to socialize with your family or true friends.

I keep going, but honestly don't have time. Anyone looking for further insights just drop me a PM.


Work from home realistic business ideas


I can't imagine a work from home scheme without using digital marketing solutions effectively. That said, here are some thoughts:

- Create a Ltd company. Develop a website, could be a nicely tweaked word press site, or you can invest in something more customized. Make a good introduction of your business, and leave space for a blog where you can publish news and relevant stories.

- There are two main business models to profit from internet: you sell a product/service, or sell advertising. That's it.

1- If planning to sell products, you should then decide if it worth creating a new website or maybe you can simply use existing e-commerce sites like Ebay or Amazon, or HireJungle for hiring out stuff. By researching opportunities on this markets, you will also have a better understanding of what's the offer out there, the prices, and compare with your capacity to realise if you are competitive or not. If using existing marketplaces as the ones above mentioned, then you'll need to decide if you advertise on those sites (i.e featured options) or do some social buzz or PPC.

If decided to create a new website to sell goods/services, you might want to do an extensive market research to identify your niche. It may help also a keyword research in Google, that could potential led to opportunities doing Google Adwords. If you don't have budget for PPC, then focus in developing great content, not such good informative, but engaging and creative. Your content would be the first key success factor on building a reputation.

Project your inventory, marketing costs, define processes for deliveries and other logistic-related tasks.

2- If going for advertising-driven sites, you should again identify your niche, your competitors, and then build either a blog or a news site. You will need plenty of content, possibly to publish around 5-10 articles per day to begin. Do some basic SEO, but mainly focus in delivering targeted, relevant and engaging content, your audience will follow good stuff.

Once you have your audience and built a social media reputation, you can always create a new blog. You can profit from affiliate marketing, CPC like Adsense (which will be pennies unless you have massive traffic)and mainly from sponsored posts or banners. Target digital agencies for this purpose.

Once you have several blogs, in a short run you might realise that you have an audience, and advertiser base, and some cash flow to invest. You will then take it from there and decide the future path of your business.

Good luck.

 

[GOSW]

Having worked from home in two different sectors (breeding and training horses, and retail) i have to say its hard to know when to stop working!!

I found it very easy to get up in the morning (6.30am) put the kettle on and start up the computer! from here on out its full on work, phone calls started from 9am until 5.30, yet because i had online sales, i found myself sorting paperwork, new orders etc way up to and over 9pm, which can lead to very late meals, and NO social life at all, the business ends up ruling completely (i know it was self inflicted).

When breeding and training horses its all too easy to be out into the 2am due to checking them or clients horses playing up etc.

Any business run from home has the potential to go either way, being all too lazy or being all to on it. Although i gave up breeding and training horses (too many injuries) and not being able to sustain a retail business, which was effected all too much by the recession. I am champing at the bit (excuse the pun) to get back to working from home... I hate the office, the boss breathing down your back, and i definitely despise every other colleges believeing that you know very little.

I think that once you have worked for yourself from home, you love the flexibility and working in an office etc becomes very annoying!

Very good advice joinuniverse

 

[TODonnell]

We are opening a hotdesking club (see my signature) where you can use our address as your registered office but also rent desk space and have use of a meeting room.

We think this might be a googd halfway house between one's home and a proper office.

One thing is that if you're working from home it can be very insular; your mind can turn in on itself. Getting out of the house clears your head and you get a proper perspective on things.

Also, one may not wish to meet clients at one's home.

 

[entreb]

There are many challenges in working at home. We have to learn how to balance our time with our family who are just within your home and with out business which is also in our home. We also need to separate our home and business expenses in terms of accounting and bookkeeping. Also, we need strong discipline with the home working environment. I also spend some time to regularly exercise outdoor like running in the part to reduce the stress of spending so much time in our home.

 

[David A]

My wife and I have worked together for 10 years and our business interests have three strands.

Only one strand of our business requires a close-to-town office. We gave up our shop front three years ago, and moved to serviced offices, as due to the internet, the shop front was no longer necessary. Making the move dropped our our electricity/water/office costs by half from over £16 to less than £8K

However, having looked our our income/profitability from each strand, and comparing this to the stress/hassle, we have decided to sell the strand that requires the close-to-town office.

We are then going to have a fully lined and insulated garden office built at a cost of around £8K plus £2K for the base and ancillary work. We will operate from there with a virtual address. Target move date is by Easter 2014.

Telecommunications
In preparation, we are looking at disposing of our current office ISDN system and moving to Voip. Our current line rental alone is £90 a month. So, as a start, we have set up a Voip account and are porting over our least used number to get used to the new system.

Both at the office and home we have an excellent broadband connection, and this is essential for Voip. Once we are happy, we'll move the other two numbers over as well.

It means when we do move, it's just a case of unplugging the Voip phones and plugging them in the new office. And having suffered with no broadband for 2 weeks and phone lines for a week when we last moved.

This was caused by one Openreach employee who was meant to wire up the new lines in our new serviced office. We were obviously still working at the old office, as the new office was completely bare with no facilities. We were given a time slot of 8am to midday for the wiring to be done. I had ensured that the works order had the comment 'Please phone when in area for access'. Went to the new office at 11 to find a 'sorry we missed you - please re-book' note through the door. Openreach were 'so busy' that it was 10 days before someone did the wiring, by which time we had moved and only had mobile phones as the sole means of telecommunications.

Virtual Address
We have in the last week set up our virtual office address. Even though we won't be moving for some months, this gives plenty of time for the address change (why does it take numerous requests and notifications to get some companies/clients to update addresses!)

Garden Office
We are having a 16' x 10' garden office built, and works are underway at the moment in providing a concrete raft base. Next will be the electricity supply from the main house through armoured cable using a dedicated spur. This will be four core so that we can have a storage heater (can't have the computer/printers at the mercy of overnight temperature drops).

We also need broadband, and the cable for this is being buried in a separate conduit at least 6' from the mains cable.

Savings
No only will we save the costs of our physical office, which with extras on top of rent costs us £11K a year, we will also save on travel costs. Because of school runs, both my wife and I travel separately to the current office, adding both journeys together means that instead of clocking up over 45 miles a day, this will drop to under 10. Not only will this save us the travel time, our mileage will drop by over 7,000 miles a year!

 

[cjd]

It sounds like you've got it all sorted out - I particularly like the idea of replacing a cost (the rented office), with an asset (your garden office).

And VoIP, of course

 

[Alan]

Excellent set up! Just like ours > http://llocally.com/about/

I would say we have both cable (Virgin) and ADSL (was on BT/O2 but now Sky) as we found that domestic broadband is a bit unreliable and you can have outages for several days without any sense of urgency on getting the service back, something in our particular business we can afford.

We use the excellent Voipfone service ^^^.

 

[TJEntrepreneur]

Time management is the most important thing in my opinion when working from home. You need to know when to switch off and when to be working. When to take a break etc. As long as you can get that right, anything other than that becomes easier to manage.
I'd also say have a dedicated room for business. Otherwise you'll be distracted by things that aren't business related, like tv, Xbox, or whatever it may be.

 

[docchuks]

One of the advantages to working from a home office is clothing. You can wear essentially anything you like while at home. There are no company dress codes or uniforms. A great deal can be saved on not having to purchase suits, corporate clothing or paying a dry cleaner.
Working from a home office means no commuting in business traffic or paying for gas to travel back and forth to work. There is no pressure to clock in at a certain time or go to the office when you are not feeling well. Stress is greatly reduced with the freedom to begin work when you are ready and take breaks as needed. In addition, you do not have to worry about road rage, traffic accidents or driving in inclement weather.

Working from a home office enables you to save money on childcare. Children can be attended to between work tasks and have more time with you. Domestic responsibilities can be squeezed in during the daily routine between work assignments.

Working from a home office will save expenditures with renting an office space to operate your business. You can save on utilities and even make certain tax deductions because of using home space for work.

 

[Ash-CBO]

Although my home office unfortunately is nothing exciting with no innovative concept, simply a basic office, I very much agree with the post above regarding the disadvantages.

My sole reasoning for starting a home business, as is the case with most im sure, was cost. But I must admit, it can become difficult working in your living space and not having a clear division between the two. As someone else posted, I find myself constantly wanting to leave the office for some new scenery.

This said, it is not enough of an issue for me to want to move to an actual premises and of course I enjoy the reduced cost aspect but wonder if this is an issue for many others?

 

[Hildeg]

Yep, You're right TJEntrepreneur. Time management is the most important and discipline of course.

 

[TJEntrepreneur]

Yep, You're right TJEntrepreneur. Time management is the most important and discipline of course.

Yes I totally agree with you about discipline. Applies to anything and everything, with business especially.

 

[StuartDavidson]

From a milliner whose home office enables her to balance deliveries, domestic problems and clients without needing to travel, to a beauty company which uses the living room as a spa, SME owners have been telling us the creative ways they work from home in our...

But what is it about your home business which makes it particularly innovative or unusual?

Share your ideas and tips for running an efficient home office in this thread.

My home office on the top floor of my house is nothing innovative, but I have installed a coffee machine which keeps me glued to the desk as much as my eyes will take!

 

[StuartDavidson]

My home office on the top floor of my house is nothing innovative, but I have installed a coffee machine which keeps me glued to the desk as much as my eyes will take!