What to Consider Before Making the Leap into a Home-Based Business

Many small companies commence operations as home-based businesses. This decision is usually driven by cost considerations and the fact that the business is in an early growth stage. Stats Canada reminds us that while a staggering amount of the Canadian economy is defined as small business, many of those (~20%) are micro-businesses of 1-4 employees and most of those run from a home office.

If this sounds familiar to you, SOHO Victoria is the event for you.

There are obvious advantages with a home-based business scenario both for small businesses and for employees but such arrangements may not work for everyone. So what are two of the primary issues you need to consider before you decide: home or outside office space?

Consider the downside

While working from home sounds like a dream come true, before you make the decision, consider some of the downsides;

• Client demands and working from home can lead to longer response times, especially if colleagues are in separate locations.
• Communications issues. even with video conferencing, subtle office politics, client and supplier communication and information can be misinterpreted.
• Adverse zoning by-laws.
• Lack of focus. Too many distractions from family and neighborhood. Can you focus when the dog and kids are competing for your attention?
• Difficulty in maintaining spatial boundaries between business and home.

You really need to be honest with yourself about what you can and can’t do.

Can you embrace your inner techie?

Business technology has made this easier than ever because of the relatively low costs of office equipment and software that makes video-conferencing simple (Skype, Google Hangouts, Join.me, Appear-in and webinar packages like Webex and Go-to- Meeting). Some companies have staff all over the world with morning huddles (short video calls) and extensive use of project management and collaboration software like Asana, BaseCamp, Padlet or apps like Slack. There are a wide variety of software tools to make working at home easier.

So the software and tools exist, but most of the time, that means you are learning and applying the tools yourself. You might have your web and IT guy, but with regard to the day-to-day tools – that is likely going to fall on you. Most home office aficionados have embraced their inner techie and swear it makes them sharp.

At the SOHO Victoria event, you can exchange notes with small business people about the reality of running a business from home.

______________________________________________________

This is an excerpt from the business book, Business Diagnostics that has been re-purposed for the SOHO blog with permission from the authors. Co-author and management consultant, Terry Rachwalski will be on the afternoon panel. She uses many different productivity software tools but her at-home office is still a blizzard of paper notes.