SoHo or NoHo – Work from home for you?

SoHo: small office / home office
NoHo: no to the small office / home office

Home businesses are becoming more and more popular. No one seems to have exact numbers on how many small businesses are being run from home. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that about one in five small business operators worked from home in 2006, but some earlier research indicated that there were more than 1 million people working from home – three times that rate!

All kinds of businesses are now operating out of the home and people are realizing that as long as they can generate income, there is more freedom, more time to spend with family and friends, less cost and no more commuting. People working on mobile phones and laptops in cafes are an everyday occurrence that is very appealing to those still tied to the confines of a traditional job and inflexible hours. But is it as ideal to work as it seems at first glance?

There are many considerations to take into account to make working from home a viable option.

1. Set up your space for success

A corner of the dining room table and a dining room chair will not do. You need a proper desk and the most expensive office chair you can afford. You’re going to be sitting on it all day most days! Proper lighting is also a must, and if necessary, get a good desk lamp to complement your ceiling lighting.

2.Equipment

Depending on the type of business you are in will depend on the equipment you will need.

At a minimum, you should invest in a good PC or laptop with an ADSL2+ or broadband connection. Laptops are probably preferable if you need to visit clients and will definitely give you more flexibility if you want to work from a cafe from time to time. However, even if you’re using a laptop, you may want to invest in a larger screen to use when you’re in the home office.

A printer/fax/scanner combination is also recommended.

Your phone requirements should also be taken into account here and if you are going to be making a lot of domestic and international calls, you may want to consider a VOIP (Voice over Internet Provider) or Skype account to reduce those phone bills. You may also need to renegotiate your existing mobile plan.

Software including database, accounting, word processing, etc. It should also be considered based on your business requirements.

3. Website

Every business, whether large or small, should have a website, and that website must be as professional as a corporate site to be considered a viable option for people searching for products or services on the Internet these days. Websites don’t need to be expensive, but some form of optimization is necessary so that potential customers can find you easily. There are many other things home business owners can do to help get their website found online and some of these include linking a blog to their website; article and video marketing; and list your business on social networking sites as well as free listing sites to name a few.

4. Professional advice

Business structure, registration, permits, insurance, accounting and contracts should be considered early in the stages of establishing your home business and professional advice should be sought. If you don’t know how to manage your bookkeeping and accounting requirements, you should consider hiring a bookkeeper so that you can easily determine how well your business is doing at all times.

5. Isolation and Productivity

Dr. Timothy Sharp, author and psychologist at the Happiness Institute says that not everyone thrives in a home environment. Many struggle with productivity and isolation, and he suggests making daily to-do lists and tackling unpleasant tasks first. He also suggests connecting online with other home-based business owners through social websites, virtual meetups, and professional organizations and networks.

As well as productivity being an issue for some, others find it hard to get away from the ‘office’ and emails and end up working all day and all night. Established work hours must be adhered to (as much as possible) if your new flexible home business isn’t going to be more taxing than the 60+ hour a week you left behind in the corporate world.