Your Home Business: Insights, strategies and start-up advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, 2nd edition

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Your Home Business

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Also by Helen Chryssides Local Heroes, published by CollinsDove, a former division of HarperCollins A Different Light, published by HarperCollins Arabian Nightmare, with Richard Arnot, published by Allen & Unwin

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Your Home Business Insights, strategies and start-up advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

Helen Chryssides cartoons by Andrew Weldon

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First published in 1997 This edition published in 2004 Copyright © Helen Chryssides 1997, 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: [email protected] Web: www.allenandunwin.com National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Chryssides, Helen. Your home business : insights, strategies and start-up advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. 2nd ed. Bibliography. Includes indes. ISBN 1 86508 859 5. 1. Home-based businesses - Management. 2. New business enterprises. I. Title. 658.041 Set in 11/13 pt Minion by Bookhouse, Sydney Printed by SRM Production Services, Malaysia 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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A new life beckons Getting started Home sweet office Money matters Performance and presentation Selling yourself and your business Dealing with stress and other health issues Making it work New technology Useful contacts

Index

1 38 70 105 138 163 188 219 259 302 310

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Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

would like to thank the home-based workers and all those who gave so willingly and generously of their time to share their experiences and expertise for the purpose of this book. Your comments and your wisdom are much appreciated, and I congratulate you all on your commitment and dedication. My aim has been to produce a book that offers practical guidelines together with moral support. This is the book I would like to have read when I was contemplating a home-based business many years ago—one that provided no-nonsense information, realistic advice and examples from those in the know, the home-based workers themselves. In the process of writing it I have found ingenuity, determination and motivation behind some of Australia’s hardest-working and most successful small businesses. That was for me, and I hope will be for readers, a fascinating and exhilarating, rewarding and encouraging experience. Revising the book has been both pleasurable and rewarding. I have enjoyed re-establishing contact with many of these individuals and have found it affirming to discover how their home-based businesses have fared. Most have thrived and even expanded, becoming more successful than they were. New home-based businesses have sprung up in hitherto inconceivable areas.

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The major changes in home-based business in the six years since the first edition was published have been in the associated areas of improved technology, growth and perception. Advances in technology, such as the now widespread use of the Internet and the World Wide Web, have resulted in easier business dealings, the possibility of an international client base and the subsequent proliferation of home-based businesses. Home-based businesses are no longer seen as unprofessional or second-rate options. They are, in fact, part of the norm and an accepted lifestyle choice. All information was accurate at the time of printing. While having produced the book in good faith, the publisher and author are not responsible for any adverse consequences arising from the use of any information supplied here.

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Introduction

Introduction

oday’s technology gives us choices and options—the choice to select an appropriate and appealing work environment, and the option of having a flexible work base. Working from home is the smart career move of the 2000s. As your own boss, you have adjustable work patterns and structure. You can create your work content, meaning and goal, whether that be working solely to obtain sufficient income to allow you to have more time to spend with your family or to combine a home office with headquarters in the city so that you will be able to work more efficiently and comfortably. Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1997, I have relocated from South Australia to Queensland. While continuing my freelance journalism with Sydney-based employers, I have found extra work with a variety of tourism bodies, Institutes of TAFE and a nearby university. That’s the beauty of a home-based business—the flexibility and opportunity it offers. Today I live in a high-rise apartment in a peaceful suburb, overlooking lush greenery and small clumps of rainforest. Not for me the dash through heavy traffic, the overbearing boss, the rigid work hours and dreary, time-consuming meetings. I have control and autonomy over my work day and its structure, having exercise and time off when I choose and making up the time in the evening.

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I can break up my day with swims at the pool or relaxing river walks. I find I am achieving more with less frustration and more satisfaction. I feel happier, am more productive, and am in charge of my own life and destiny. Join me. Almost one million Australians already have, and the numbers are growing daily.

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A new life beckons

ecause they ran their own hydraulics business from their home in Cairns, Queensland, Charlie and Kaye Ross were able to spend more time with their children. They were always home when the youngsters returned from school. For Charlie, who ‘lives and breathes hydraulics’, being near his work all the time was perfect. ‘This is my life and my hobby,’ he says. Partners in business and compatible in personality, the Rosses also reduced stress with this arrangement. ‘We had fewer arguments when we worked together,’ says Kaye, ‘and, with five children ranging in age from 7 to 18, I would not otherwise have been able to work.’ When his business was running, Roger Fountain would head down to the beach at Byron Bay, NSW, and surf in the late afternoon

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when there was a lull in his work. Yet he never missed out on a business opportunity, as he was able to respond promptly to interstate or international faxes, whether these arrived at 10 at night or 7 in the morning. As one of three directors of a company that specialised in the oil seed market—with his co-directors living in Geelong, Victoria, and Brisbane, Queensland at the time— Fountain needed to be within easy contact. His mobile telephone and personal computer with modem became indispensable. Modern technology allowed him to leave a frenetic life in Sydney, where he used to commute several hours daily, and to concentrate on quality of life. These individuals are just two of the many Australians who, from choice or necessity, have joined the global trend towards working from home. They are taking advantage of the freedom and flexibility such employment offers. They have become part of the 2000s trend—an ever-growing number of people the world over who have traded jobs in hectic, noisy offices for home-based occupations. Technological advances and falling prices have put sophisticated equipment within their reach. They benefit from lower overheads and less need for travel, coupled with a higher income, greater job satisfaction, personal wellbeing and motivation. And these people do not run only small, cottage-style businesses. Some turn over millions of dollars a year. Employees of big companies who work at home one or two days a week are also happier, more efficient and more productive than those who work full-time in the office. So what are you waiting for? Whether you want to escape from a frenzied lifestyle, office politics and lengthy meetings or simply be your own boss and develop your own product, home-based work can provide you with both the means and the opportunity.

First things first So—you’ve decided that working for yourself from home looks like an attractive proposition. First things first. Can you do it? Have you got what it takes? Are you suited to such work and to such a lifestyle?

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Before you look at what you would do, and how and why you would do it, ask yourself the following vital questions. Are you suited to working from home? 1. Are you happy working alone or with one other person? a. No. b. Sometimes, but I also need social contact. c. Yes. 2. Are you a well-organised person? a. Reasonably—and I can improve. b. No, everything’s always in a mess. c. Organisation is my middle name! 3. Do you set yourself realistic goals and work towards them? a. Yes, how else can I get anywhere? b. Usually. c. Goals? I’m not playing sport! 4. How often do you achieve these goals? a. Most of the time. b. Always. c. Never. 5. Are you prepared to do all the work associated with your business —from marketing to typing and invoicing, from bookkeeping to cleaning? a. No. b. Maybe—or I can hire others to do so. c. Definitely—when can I start? 6. Does the prospect of being your own boss appeal to you? a. Most certainly. b. No way—who can I blame or turn to when things go wrong? c. I’ll think about it.

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7. Are motivation, discipline and persistence part of your make-up? a. How did you know? b. Perhaps, on good days. c. My motto is ‘Put off today what you can do tomorrow’. 8. Do you need to work under constant supervision? a. Sometimes, but I’ll get used to working for myself. b. No—but I do appreciate praise and encouragement from my peers. c. Yes—this is what gives me confidence and self-esteem. 9. Does the prospect of working long hours for less money, at least initially, put you off? a. No—I have a goal. b. Possibly—but I’m aware of that from the start and I have drive and ambition. c. More work and less pay? The job I have now is just fine, thank you! 10. Are you easily discouraged? Do you need constant reassurance from others? a. No to both—I’m independent and a self-starter. b. Yes and double yes. c. At times—but I’m seeking a new challenge. Check your scores 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

a) 1 b) 2 c) 3 a) 2 b) 1 c) 3 a) 3 b) 2 c) 1 a) 2 b) 3 c) 1 a) 1 b) 2 c) 3 a) 3 b) 1 c) 2 a) 3 b) 2 c) 1 a) 2 b) 3 c) 1 a) 3 b) 2 c) 1 a) 3 b) 1 c) 2

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A score between 21 and 30 What are you waiting for? You have the aptitude and the motivation to work for yourself from home. Read on and learn how to do it. A score between 11 and 20 You’re considering the possibility. You’re weighing the advantages against the disadvantages. You’re not totally committed but you’re open to the prospect. Read on and learn more. A score between 1 and 10 So what’s wrong with your present job or situation? You’re not the ideal person to be working from home—yet. But don’t give up on the idea. Jim Penman once did a business magazine quiz called ‘Have you the makings of an entrepreneur?’ He bombed out completely, with such a low score that he was advised to stick to his safe and secure job. His response was a hearty laugh. At the time, Business Review Weekly had named his business, Jim’s Mowing, which Penman had started from his home, one of Australia’s fastest-growing businesses, with 210 lawnmowing franchisees to its credit! In 2003 there are 2100 franchises—in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. So take heart, read on, and discover how others have succeeded. The quiz and list are merely a guide. Skills can be learnt. Even your personality and character can be modified, although this can take a little longer. But if you’re motivated, informed and realistic about your expectations—above all, if you’re determined to succeed— great things can be achieved. In the words of US President Calvin Coolidge: Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

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The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Perhaps you prefer the philosophy of Bette Midler, who claims, ‘You don’t need to be smart, good-looking or fantastic. All you need is to be enthusiastic!’

The stuff of dreams Cabinet-maker Brian McNulty is typical of many home-based workers.‘I have rarely worked for a boss,’ he says.‘I’ve never been one to take orders, I prefer to get on and do things my own way. I am ambitious, have a lot of drive and am self-disciplined above all else. If it takes seven days a week to finish the job, I’ll do it.’ Personality plays a big part in the success of a home-based business. With no-one watching over or guiding you, with no building full of work colleagues inspiring or spurring you on, motivation must come from within. For some, this is the ideal situation. With the freedom that comes from running their own business, these individuals excel. ‘I have never had a day when I have not wanted to go to work,’ Brian enthuses. ‘I’ve found I have a far more imaginative approach to my trade when working for myself.’ After serving his apprenticeship for an old and well-established Melbourne company, Berkowitz and Sons, McNulty developed his skills by working there for several years. ‘This was in the 1950s and I was given a lot of free rein, working under my own direction. I did one-off work, high-class antique reproductions—dining settings, bedroom furniture, coffee tables—the stuff you dream about.’ He left to travel around Australia with his wife, before settling in Sydney and working in several partnerships. The McNultys now live in Bundanoon in NSW. ‘At one stage, I was spending almost four hours a day driving from one side of Sydney to another in peak-hour traffic,’ he says.

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‘I hated that. Today I live halfway between Sydney and Canberra, in a farmhouse on five acres of beautiful country. We have a dirt road, tank water, no postal delivery and we couldn’t be happier. This is the prettiest part of New South Wales and the lifestyle is very relaxed.’ Brian gutted the stables on his property, painting them white and installing windows for extra light, to create his workshop. He is there from 7 am most days, busy with his orders. ‘I can easily spend weeks or even months on a single item, such as the copy of a Chippendale pedestal desk on which I’m currently working,’ says Brian. This faithful copy of an original, with mahogany groundwork overlaid with French walnut, will cost the customer many thousands of dollars. ‘I survive because there is no way in the world you can go to a manufacturer set up to produce quantity and get a fine-quality one-off item. To be successful, you need to be in a niche market. You have to specialise or else bigger concerns will eat you alive on cost,’ Brian advises.‘It is a very competitive field and you have to know what you are doing. I see a lot of young fellas with a dream. But they all want to start off where I’m finishing. I can understand this “now” generation, but you really need patience.’ Ironically, Brian was pushed into his present position. ‘The State Bank of New South Wales foreclosed on my business in 1991, as it did on thousands of others who also went broke overnight. I was thirteen months away from paying off a fourteen-year loan for my factory premises. All my liquid assets were taken, so my business could not continue. I still had all my woodworking machinery and so I moved to Bundanoon. Now I visit Sydney every three weeks or so and I am far happier. This suits me fine. I use my fax machine to transmit drawings and quotes and do the rest of my business over the phone.’ At 60-plus, McNulty says he is past the empire-building stage and has all he wants—‘a reasonable income, good quality of life and time with the family’.

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For those starting out in a home business, he stresses the importance of preparation: ‘You have to plan ahead. You need imagination and you need coping skills. I bought some of my equipment second-hand and made other pieces myself. I upgraded a bit at a time. You need to be aware that there will be a lot of work time for which you will not get paid, time spent in finding work. One of the downsides of working from home is that you cannot produce nothing and expect to survive, and you need to be prepared to work the extra hours. The bottom line is that, if you’re working for yourself, you’ve got to be prepared. You need to be very self-disciplined. Mind you, if I had my time over, I would do exactly the same. This is magic’.

Facts and figures The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in June 2001, show that 998 800 people (and 778 400 businesses) work from home. That’s just over 11% of the total workforce. Of all small businesses, 67% are home-based, and they are increasing at a rate of 16% per annum. Two years earlier, the Yellow Pages Business Index Survey of October 1999 had found that 30% of all small businesses operated from home. In 1997 Telstra predicted that, thanks to rapid advances in technology, one in every four Australians would be working from home by 2007. This would deliver, according to Telstra, productivity gains to employers of $1 billion, and would save the community $500 million as a result of reduced traffic congestion, noise and pollution. The latest ABS publication on the topic is ‘Locations of Work, June 2000’. The survey population was limited to those at work during the reference week. The definition of people employed at home was expanded from previous surveys to include farmers who only or mainly worked at home, employees who worked some hours at home with the agreement of their employer, and those

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who undertook work both at the respondent’s own home and another home, excluding their employer’s or client’s home. The survey found that, of 8 589 400 employed persons at work in June 2000, a total of 980 300 (11%) were employed at home. Here are its main findings. Self-employment—being your own boss Self-employed people comprised a greater proportion of persons employed at home (38%) than of all persons at work (12%). Age—how old are these home-based workers? People in older age groups were more likely to be employed at home than younger persons: 76% were aged 35 years and over; 30% were over 50; and just 12% were aged less than 30 years. Male and female—who is more likely to work from home? Of those working from home, 49% were female. Reasons for working at home—why do it? The most commonly given reason for starting work at home was to operate one’s own or a family business, by 51% of women and 46% of men. Other reasons included flexible work arrangements, wanting a home office with no rent, and childcare or family considerations. Occupation—what are these home-based workers doing? For women employed at home, the most common occupations were professionals (23%), advanced clerical and service workers (21%), followed by intermediate clerical, sales and service workers (19%). Men employed at home were managers and administrators (35%), professionals (28%) and associate professionals (13%). Almost a quarter of those employed at home (23%) were in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry. A further 15% worked in property and business services and 9% in education. Hours worked—how long are they putting in? An estimated 30% worked 40 hours or more. Some 36% of men employed at home worked 40 hours or more, compared with 26% of women, where this was the main, and full-time, job.

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Duration of self-employment—how long have they been home-based? As of June 2000, 51% of self-employed persons working at home had been doing so for five years or more and 29% for 10 years or more. How are they doing it? Of individuals employed at home, 62% used computers in their business, with 50% of businesses having access to the Internet. Computer usage was slightly higher for women (66%) than men (63%) but Internet usage was higher for men (43%) than women (35%). Email formed the most common use of the Internet. According to Roy Morgan Research, the number of technology and communications items—personal computers, answering machines, fax machines, and mobile phones—in homes has grown significantly over the past few years. In June 1996, 53% of Australians had at least one of these four items in their home. Looking at the products more likely to be connected with a home office, Roy Morgan Research found that 8% of those surveyed had a fax machine at home, 34% had a computer, 6% a modem, and 14% had software for business purposes. The latest Roy Morgan Research figures (September 2002) indicate that 72% of Australians now have a personal computer at home, with 55% having an Internet connection. In comparison, 88% of home offices have a personal computer and 73% have an Internet connection. When it comes to other forms of communication, 63% of Australians have a personal mobile telephone, 39% a telephone answering machine and 17% a fax machine. Meanwhile, 79% of home business owners have a mobile phone, 58% have an answering machine and 50% have a fax machine. So—what can I do at home? There are different degrees and various ways of running a homebased business. There are trades and occupations that you always knew were home-based and others that will surprise you. The only limitations are:

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whether your business is suited to a home location; whether your business can get local or council approval to operate; and, naturally, home-based or not: whether your business is a viable option.

If the answer to all three is ‘yes’, the only other limit is your imagination! So what do people offer in a home-based business? One of three things. They: • • •

provide a service; sell a product; manufacture a product.

Providing a service can range from typing to window cleaning, from management consultancy to graphic design or dental treatment. Selling can be by means of direct retail or wholesale. It can be over the telephone (telemarketing), door-to-door (as with Avon), party-plan (as with Tupperware), or network or multi-level marketing (as with Amway). You can grow and sell herbs or flowers, or raise snails for gourmet palates. As for manufacture, you can make wetsuits or fashion outfits, sew mosquito nets or create wonderful jewellery. One point to bear in mind, however, is that not all of these enterprises will be classified as home-based businesses. If you sell some $1000 worth of Avon or Amway products each year, for example, you are not technically operating a business, and you will not be eligible for the corresponding tax deductions. On the other hand, should you be making $100 000 a year with a mobile telephone and computer website to handle your cosmetic orders, you most certainly are running a business. And a very successful one at that! (This topic is covered in detail in chapter 5.)

So how do I work from home? The flexibility and versatility of home-based work are endless. Some people use their home merely as a base, as an electrician or

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plumber may do. Others work entirely at home—painting ceramics or operating a medical, accounting or legal practice. Some use their home-based occupation only to supplement their partner’s earnings. Some work from home on a tentative basis, establishing whether their business can provide them with a living, or waiting until it has grown sufficiently to move out into rented premises. (This is how electrical appliance giant Kambrook started.) These days many home workers make extensive use of computer and telecommunications technology. Telecommuters put in a few days at the office and work remotely from home the rest of the week. Others are full-time teleworkers—self-employed and servicing a number of clients from home. From home or at home Tennis coach Marie Lococo works from a home base. She may start running her classes at a Brisbane tennis court at 7 am and finish at 10.30 pm. ‘They say life is what you make it and I love my job. I wouldn’t want to be in any other profession,’ she says. ‘I love the fact that I can help people on a weekly basis and see them improve.’ Marie enjoys being self-employed: ‘I can set my own hours, dictate class size and price without relying on anyone else.’ Back home, she has converted a corner of her living room into an office with a computer work station. Meanwhile optometrist Julie Weir works at home in the clinic incorporated in the design of the Weirs’ new home. With a separate entrance, Julie is able to see clients without disrupting family life. ‘Tax claims can be made for home offices in both situations,’ says Margaret Seedsman, former National Executive Director of Home-Based Business Australia, ‘but the difference is that there are probably not the same sorts of problems with isolation when you are out of the house. Working from home can put pressure on the family, tie up phone lines and that sort of thing.’ She regards people working from home as a hidden commodity: ‘Unless you live in

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that street, you would be totally unaware of the numbers of homebased workers.’ People have the perception that most home-based workers are female. Not so. The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that, in June 2001, 68% of home-based business operators were male. This was an annual increase of 13% over the previous 19 months. The numbers of women working from home increased by 17% over the same period. Only 56% of men, however, worked at home; 69% of men worked from home.

A working holiday The market in farmstays and country host family accommodation has grown dramatically. An increasing number of rural properties now offer visitors the opportunity to sample country life and even join in farming activities. If you are considering this as a money-making concern, it is important to thoroughly research the financial aspects. Even if you already have suitable accommodation on your property and do not have to go to the expense of building, profits may not be as high as anticipated. ‘Farmstay is not a quick fix for farmers,’ says Glenn Telford, president of Queensland Farm and Country Tourism. ‘You need at least three years before you start breaking even.’ And he encourages owners to then advertise in the Farmstay brochure, which has a wide circulation within the travel industry: ‘People will spend many thousands of dollars setting up their accommodation and then try to save a few hundred on advertising.’ That’s a false saving: promoting your business in the right sphere is vital to success. ‘Our dairying income has been severely affected due to the combined effects of milk deregulation and drought,’ says Robert Cork, who has a small dairy farm just outside Maleny on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. An enjoyable family holiday

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on a farm near Hamilton in New Zealand gave the Cork family the idea of doing something similar. With the aid of a $20 000 grant from the Dairy Regional Assistance Program, and a large bank loan, they constructed two luxurious timber cabins on their 120-hectare property, overlooking spectacular Lake Baroon. A lot of thought went into the elegant furnishings, which include bunks and a combined bath/shower for the children, music system, TV, video and outdoor barbecue. ‘We looked at what we liked when we travelled with children and furnished accordingly,’ says Anne Cork. What do you have to offer your visitors? Apart from a sensational view and wonderful walks, the Corks have a magnificent 40-hectare rainforest on the property and have created a self-guided trail that takes in over 200 rare and endangered plant species. The cool, refreshing environment is home to an amazing variety of birds, butterflies and wildlife, including goannas said to rival Steve Irwin’s crocodiles in size! If that is not enough to occupy visitors, there’s always the twice-daily milking and other farming activities. Wittacork Dairy Cottages opened in July 2002 and Anne, who currently works as an accountant in Maleny, hopes soon to return home. ‘I’d rather be milking cows than sitting in front of a computer screen,’ she admits. Graham and Diane Wilson made up a room in their glorious colonial homestead for single visitors and couples and converted the stable behind the house for families. The only giveaway to the conversion in this delightful two-bedroom cottage is the half-doors, ideal for letting in cooling breezes. Their farmstay income provides the Wilsons with what Diane describes as ‘top-up’ money, together with the pleasure they receive from entertaining guests. ‘We always had a house full of people, be they relatives or friends of our three children, and in 1994, on a suggestion, we expanded to include paying guests,’ she explains. Many Japanese students studying English

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come to Minmore, their 6000-hectare cattle property 20 kilometres west of Kingaroy in Queensland. ‘It’s hard to charge some visitors as they are now close friends,’ laughs Diane. ‘We’ve seen their children grow from toddlers to teenagers and they call this “our farm”.’ Graham takes people out on his working day (depending on the season there may be cattle branding or mustering). Diane organises picnic lunches or a barbecue by the river or dam, and cooks sumptuous breakfasts and evening meals. Diane will pick people up from Kingaroy and, if they don’t have a vehicle, take them on tours of nearby areas and to the Bunya Mountains. When Glenn and Sue Telford opened up Telco, their 1200hectare property 65 kilometres north of Roma, Queensland, to visitors in 1999, their life and that of their guests changed forever. ‘They feel like they’re part of the family and they didn’t expect that,’ says Sue. The guests—from as far afield as Denmark, England and France—are delighted with their introduction to country life, while their hosts greatly enjoy their company. The spacious self-catering guest quarters at Telco are located under the family’s large Queenslander, but guests seeking a truly relaxing experience may indulge in the magnificent homecooked meals upstairs. Glenn returned to this family property, where his parents had raised beef cattle since 1939, after a teaching career. Sue still teaches French at the high school in Roma and enjoys her role as Farmstay hostess in the evenings and at weekends, baking pain au chocolat (chocolate bread) with any visiting children. Telco now also stocks Boer goats and red deer. What is your market for visitors? Will you concentrate on overseas guests, interstate travellers or locals? You will need to advertise and promote yourself accordingly. Overseas visitors appreciate the wide, open spaces at Telco and the peaceful, pollution-free environment. Locals, on the other hand, revel

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in bringing their children here to see the animals and share the farm experience they once had. Income can be supplemented by providing farmstays, but you must bear establishment costs and lifestyle considerations in mind. You must be someone who likes people—they will be following you around and asking questions. Patience is another essential quality. ‘Many people do not know a lot about country life and ask many questions,’ says Glenn Telford. ‘Others are interested and informed about issues such as erosion and salinity and want to discuss this with me.’ Such a host situation is quite unlike a hotel, motel or bed-and-breakfast, where visitors pay simply to use the facilities. Here you are welcoming people into your home—people who will impinge on your space. Privacy is not the only consideration to bear in mind. There is also security. Or is there? ‘The question I am most frequently asked when I give talks about Farmstay is whether visitors will steal things,’ says Glenn Telford. ‘That’s failing to appreciate the nature of the relationship.’ In his experience visitors treat the accommodation as they would a friend’s house—‘they don’t pinch items’. A farmstay is all about providing guests with a rural experience and ‘true blue’ Australian hospitality in a private home. People come for the personal contact, and they leave saying, ‘We had no idea we’d be so much part of your life, it was wonderful.’ Says Sue Telford, ‘People arrive shaking your hand and when they leave, they’re kissing you and saying they feel like friends.’ As a farmstay or country holiday is a less obvious commercial arrangement than a motel stay, visitors may feel reluctant to complain, according to the Telfords. So bear this in mind. Wittacork Dairy Cottages and Telco have websites and say these are an important component of their success. Many bookings are made via the Internet by overseas and interstate visitors.

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Check out Wittacork Dairy Cottages at http://www.wittacork. com.au; and Telco at http://www.telcofarm.hwy54.com.au

Teleworking Professor Jack Wood introduced the idea of teleworking and telecommuting to Australia in the late 1980s. The concept was created in the late 1960s by American Professor Jack Nilles who, in conversation with a city planner, realised that the problem of commuter traffic could be solved in one easy move—by people working at home! He developed this theme at the University of Southern California, coining the term ‘telecommuting’ from the words ‘telecommunications’ and ‘commuting’. Wood, known as the Father of Telecommuting in Australia, just as Nilles is in America, describes a telecommuter as someone who works from home for a main employer such as the Public Service part-time, and at the head office for the rest of the time. He or she is able to link in with the head office by means of computer technology. A pilot program run by the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority gave telecommuting a trial in 1994. For six months, 77 surveyors, systems officers, clerks, engineers and computer systems officers spent one or two days at home and the rest of the week in the main office. The results were positive: productivity rose, and employees reported feeling happier and less stressed with this arrangement. One found that what took her half a day to do in the office took an hour at home! According to Paul Chung, former national manager for telecommuting and home business at Telstra, telecommuting is also good for companies, because it ‘opens up huge possibilities of improving customer service’. Companies that can call on a pool of tele-linked home workers can offer 24-hour service or rapidly reorganise work shifts without worrying about getting workers to and from head office. And teleworking can give individuals

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enormous freedom. Chung knows of a computer scientist who lives in Ballina, NSW, yet holds down a job in California via telecommunications links. There is also the ever-increasing phenomenon known as outsourcing, whereby large companies and organisations recruit an individual for a project on a contract basis. This can prove cheaper and more efficient for the company in the long run. The contract worker does not have holiday or sick pay but remuneration is slightly higher in order to compensate for this. Better work may be obtained from the outsource worker eager to build up a reputation and hence obtain regular work. You may be able to work for a large company in the convenience of your own home. When Paul Chung rang his travel agent to organise a flight from Sydney to Brisbane, he discovered the person he was speaking to was based at her home. ‘This opens up huge possibilities of improving customer service,’ he says.‘Telecommuting changes the whole structure of work.’ Others have even more freedom, thanks to a mobile office, a laptop, fax modem and mobile phone that fit in a briefcase and let them work from a Sydney hotel one day and a Perth apartment the next. Says Chung: ‘With technology, we can now distribute work and people can live the way they like. We can release the constraints that have been put upon us by industrialisation. Where management was once by control and a rigid hierarchical structure, it can now be run on trust and results.’ Yet whether your set-up is basic or state-of-the-art, you’ll still need to make it work to your best advantage. Here’s how.

Where to start When making the move to a home business, most people rely on their existing skills, background and experience. But some, like former builder John Ehm of Cairns, Queensland, strike out in radical new directions. Ehm set up Homechain, a home accommodation service for tourists. But as he had no previous knowledge or involvement in tourism, he was careful to do extensive research first.

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Tourism from home When John Ehm decided to go into business in Cairns, he carefully considered his interests as well as his experience and actually gave more weight to the former—a decision with which some would disagree. ‘I looked for a business that gave me a mix of the things I wanted to do when I retired,’ John explains. ‘I wanted to use my talents, to travel widely and visit cattle stations and properties. I was looking for both enjoyment and work.’ His idea was a tourist venture: ‘Our family had done some hosting for Expo ’88 when we lived in Brisbane. Visitors from Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia stayed with us, and we provided them with breakfast and the evening meal. They would go to Expo during the day, and in the evenings we would talk with them and share experiences.’ When he lost a contract job a few years later and moved to Cairns, John started thinking about a home accommodation business for tourists: ‘I asked a few people in the tourist industry what they thought and then I placed a few advertisements in the local paper to ask whether families were interested in joining such a network organisation.’ To his delight, John received more than 60 replies from the north Queensland area, offering a range of accommodation styles from suburban homes to farms and outback stations. Greatly encouraged, he suggested to his wife, Emmy, that they start up such a business. ‘It is my nature to research before I do things, so I spent almost eight months in investigation, talking to industry bodies and local government,’ says John. He wanted to find out whether his concept would be a viable business proposition. ‘It is a small, niche market but my research, in 1992, showed there was a strong trend developing. People are venturing away from the major tourist destinations and penetrating into the real Australia, and the perfect place to do this is in homes. Here they can meet people, talk about what life is like in Australia and interact on a friendship level.’

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Although John had had many years of self-employment as a builder, he decided to polish up his skills by attending a 21-hour small business course at the local TAFE college. That led him to apply to SEVS, the Self-Employed Venture Scheme, a Queensland government initiative. Similar schemes exist in other states, under different names. ‘SEVS provides financial assistance—an interest-free loan—to start a business,’ says John. ‘To get it I needed a business plan, so I put together a comprehensive proposal, which was approved.’ John then had to attend a three-week small business management course. ‘This complemented the other course I had done,’ he says. John and Emmy decided to start up their business from home. ‘Although I had included the cost of renting an office in my business plan, I decided a home office would give us breathing space in case the business did not fulfil expectations. We could pull out easily and would not be tied to any lease.’ They sought council approval for this. Neighbours were asked to register any concerns they might have. There were none and a few weeks later Homechain was in business. John’s groundwork had told him that Cairns is one of the top 20 holiday destinations in the world. Whereas the bulk of tourists visiting other states were domestic, most of those visiting Queensland—and Cairns in particular—were from overseas. This knowledge prompted John to advertise Homechain in Britain and Germany as well as on the Australian Tourist Commission’s overseas database. Four years later,‘the business has exceeded our expectations’, John says happily. ‘We have joined the Aussie Host movement, which has established our credentials and gained us a reputation. And having a home-office environment has proved to be very appropriate and a real advantage for us.’ John worked up to starting his business in a logical and methodical manner. First he decided what business he would take on. Then he researched its viability and the rules and regulations that would apply. He gained the necessary business

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skills by attending relevant courses, and obtained the requisite permissions. While all this was no guarantee that he would succeed, by preparing himself and making himself knowledgeable about the market, he minimised the risks. Since the first edition of this book was published, John has retired and Homechain no longer exists.

Adelaide graphic artist Kym Duval took the more usual course of moving from employment in a company to doing the same work in his own home-based business. ‘I wanted to be the master of my own destiny and, after working for others for sixteen years, I knew what was involved,’ he says. When looking at the top 10 home-based businesses, managing director of the national Micro Business Network Barbara Gabogrecan says it is impossible to be accurate, but offers this guesstimate: • • • • • • • • • •

construction trade consultants personal assistants coaches and trainers creative industry (visual art/performance, etc.) accountants/bookkeepers/financial advisers web/graphic designers IT support writers/wordsmiths/journalists/entertainment manufacturing (gift-type products, e.g. hampers).

Roy Morgan Research carried out a survey of Home Businesses by Industry between October 2001 and September 2002, and found the following percentages of home-based operators worked within these sectors: • • •

construction industry, 18% finance, property and business services industry, 15% community services, 14.4%

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• • • • • • • • •

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retail, 12.9% recreation and personal, 12.3% transport and storage, 7.6% manufacturing, 6.5% wholesale, 6.10% communications, 4% electricity, gas and water, 1.9% mining, 0.9% public administration and defence, 0.4%.

Be aware of the risks and the drawbacks Whichever route you choose, though, remember the Boy Scout motto:‘Be prepared’. Of all small businesses, 90% fail within a decade, and 11% fail in the first three months, according to Alan Williams, former Professor of Management at the University of Newcastle. His research over 20 years found that in all parts of Australia, on average, 30% of small businesses fail in the first year and 68%–70% by the end of the fifth year. There is, he points out, a wide variation between industries in their failure rates. Consulting engineers, for example, have a lower failure rate per capita than used-car salespeople. Do bear in mind that these figures apply to all small businesses and not specifically to home-based ones. We will consider why such businesses fail in chapter 2, but the main thing to be aware of is that just being good at mowing lawns, selling gourmet jams or making smart business suits is not enough. Once you’re in your own business, you are responsible for all aspects of that business. Its success or failure is on your shoulders.

Advantages of working from home Independence and total control ‘Working for myself from home has given me enjoyment and opportunity I would not otherwise have had,’ says Brisbane real-estate investment guru Jan Somers, a former high school teacher whose four books on property investment have sold 500 000

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copies. A millionaire who retired from teaching at 37, Somers is now on a mission to show others the way to financial independence. Flexibility and versatility ‘I can bend my working hours around other commitments and still get the same amount of work done in a day,’ explains Sue Carney, a senior editor at Reader’s Digest who works from her Blue Mountains home three days a week and travels to the Sydney office on other days. ‘If I was in the office, I might have to take half a day off work in order to take the children to a dental appointment. This way, I can make up that lost time in the evening once the children are asleep.’ Cairns desktop publisher Mil Clay lights the outdoor barbecue for the family, returns to work in his office for a short while and then joins them to cook the steak. You want to play golf on Wednesday afternoons? Do it. You’d like to play tennis each morning or go to the gym three times a week? Go right ahead. Take Friday off for a drive into the hills and work on Sunday instead. Do what you want—what suits you. Job creation and increased work opportunities ‘I looked everywhere for employment and I was prepared to do anything, even sweep the roads,’ says 61-year-old Roy Williams, who spent almost four years looking for work when he arrived in Australia from England. ‘People thought I was too old. So I started a home business in my old trade—manufacturing wetsuits—and I haven’t looked back since.’ In fact, Roy has been swamped with orders! If your situation does not permit office-based work—perhaps you are in a wheelchair with no transport available, housebound due to children, or for other reasons—you can still work from home. Working from home allows you to start up an entirely new business or specialise in one line of your present work. Nelli Greer custom-makes mosquito nets from her Cairns home. ‘I was forced into starting my own business and initially worked from home to cut costs,’ she says. ‘Mind you, I’m not complaining. Being

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at home means I am always here for my daughter, and where else can you have a balcony workplace surrounded by luscious rainforest?’ Time and money saved in travel ‘I save on commuting hours and so avoid considerable stress and strain,’ says organisational psychologist Bruce Crowe, who lives and works on the tenth floor of a Sydney mixed residential and commercial apartment building. ‘I go out one door, walk one metre and enter another door to my home office.’ More time to spend with family ‘I am able to watch my sons grow up, and that’s a priceless experience,’ says Adelaide building designer Elvio Ferrara. ‘I can pick up young Michael from school, and when my clients see my children, it breaks down the formality and softens the image.’ Cost savings ‘I save at least $25 000 a year in rent,’ says Cairns author, cartoonist and speaker Andrew Matthews. ‘That’s enabled me to buy a tennis court—vital in my case. I love the sport and aim to play daily.’ Potential for a higher income ‘My wages now depend on the amount of effort I put in,’ says computer consultant and reseller Wesley Brown. ‘That’s a great incentive. I like the fact that my income is driven by my capabilities and by what I’ve produced. If I didn’t have to sleep, I’d be making a fortune!’ ‘My home business grew enough to provide two incomes, so my husband joined me,’ says Jan Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services. ‘We currently employ 45 to 50 people.’ And it’s still growing. In the past six years, the business has expanded considerably—putting on more than 25 staff members, broadening into commercial cleaning, and diversifying into

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associated services, including shopping and meal preparation, open inspections and ‘declutters’. Jan has even developed her own range of environmentally friendly cleaning products. Increased productivity and job satisfaction This is due to fewer interruptions and distractions. Your noisy office has now become a peaceful environment, conducive to good work. ‘I am much happier and more fulfilled working at home on my own. Now I can continue to aim at achieving the impossible with fewer disturbances,’ laughs Jenny Church of Your Type Secretarial.

Drawbacks of working from home Isolation Without other people to gossip with and bounce off, some home workers feel lonely and isolated. Once the initial burst of enthusiasm has worn off, you may start losing touch with your colleagues and with changes in your profession. With no pressure from boss or workmates, you may realise your dedication and persistence are waning. Your motivation slips, you find yourself getting up later and later—and producing less and less. Loneliness You haven’t seen any of your friends for days. They seem to have forgotten that you exist. The invitations are no longer flooding in. You would even welcome a distracting telephone call or coffee break with an acquaintance. ‘I’m always alone in my work. I would prefer to have others around me,’ declares jewellery manufacturer and porcelain artist Beate Wickert. Together with her architect husband, she moved from a large Sydney warehouse, where she worked with others, to a large home on the outskirts of Cairns. A warmer climate, an outdoor and more tranquil lifestyle are benefits of the move that have helped to offset the isolation.

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Irregular income You also have to get used to an irregular income. ‘I’ll have nothing for some time and then all the money will come through at once’, says interior designer Anna Pyrzakowski. ‘That can be a problem at the time. But by the end of the year it will have averaged out to a decent salary.’ For anyone thinking of starting their own business, Cameron Johnston, publisher of the national monthly magazine Work From Home—Owning Your Own Business, adds these words of caution. ‘Remember the old “two by four” rule—it’s going to cost you twice as much and take you four times as long as you think.’ Work is always there And there’s no escape from work. It’s always there. Your partner complains: ‘You are always working—evenings, weekends, it never stops. You are putting in more hours than at the office and yet you’re earning less. What’s the point?’ You start to feel you’ve escaped from work, only to be trapped at home looking at the same four walls. And you can’t afford to go away. ‘If I take longer than a week’s holiday, the work builds up too much,’ says Keith Bainbridge, who runs a credit control service. ‘You need to plan holidays and juggle them with the workflow, a few days’ break here and there throughout the year.’ Not taken seriously by family, friends and neighbours Some people seem to think that because you are based at home you are available all the time. Partners may expect extra help around the house, friends may demand long lunches and neighbours may drop in for lengthy cups of coffee. ‘My husband would refer to the time I “gave up work” and, when leaving home for his job, would ask me to vacuum this or dust that when I had a moment,’ says Adelaide gourmet food products manufacturer Philippa Kerslake. Having left a long-time career in the corporate world because of

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growing disillusionment—‘there is no equal opportunity in the way women are treated’—she found she had to start all over again by re-educating her husband about her new occupation. Professional image Some home workers have to struggle with clients’ perceptions that a home-based business is less professional than one based in a commercial office. ‘While I don’t hide the fact I work from home, I don’t publicise it either,’ says Anna Pyrzakowski, who fears that if she does say she has a home office, she may lose work to larger inner-city companies. Insufficient work And what happens when the work is intermittent or insufficient? ‘The number of clients fluctuates,’ says Adelaide homeopath Meredith Norman.‘In addition to that, I am generous with my time and found it hard initially to ask for money.’ Though she set up the home base for financial reasons—‘I wanted to reduce the [total] costs of rent’— Meredith has had to learn to stick to her stipulated fees. Distractions Then there are the distractions. ‘The problems for me at home are the fridge, the TV and the telephone,’ says Adelaide writer Peter Goldsworthy, ‘and, since I’ve got onto the Internet, I am using any excuse to surf it. I know of other writers who have had to rent out an office in order to overcome distractions.’ Fear of failure You’re on your own now—which is fine when things are going well. But you can’t help fearing failure. What about when there’s a downturn? When will you be paid? Will you be paid? That big payment you were expecting is a week overdue; without it, you

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can’t pay your bills. What will happen? The gas and electricity will be cut off, the telephone will be disconnected, your car and house will be repossessed . . . Before you know it, one unpaid account has escalated—in your mind at least—into a catastrophe.

The appeal of accommodation When it comes to working in the accommodation industry, the traps are there for the unwary and unprepared. The advice is to research thoroughly. Start by asking yourself why you want to work in the area . . . Is it for the lifestyle or the income? For you may be disappointed, on both counts. Margaret Richard gave up her enjoyable and rewarding job in real estate in Sydney to run Clouds of Montville in the Sunshine Coast hinterland of Queensland with her husband Angus. The couple was looking for a change in lifestyle and more time together. Angus’s high-ranking position in the supermarket industry meant long hours and frequent travel. Says Margaret, ‘We looked through a book of businesses but we didn’t want a newspaper run, newsagent or petrol station. Then we saw accommodation and thought that was something we could do—my parents had a motel and Angus was used to dealing with people.’ They contacted a hotel/motel broker, choosing Queensland, as they had enjoyed their time there and it would be cheaper than Sydney where they were currently living. Their search began. ‘Motels located on the side of the road had no atmosphere and no garden; we wanted to put a bit of ourselves in there,’ Margaret explains. A property with 98% occupancy in Noosa seemed good but there was no room to expand, leaving it vulnerable. ‘You can’t expand much on that and someone will set up against you.’ Running a ‘grand colonial retreat set on 4.5 hectares of rural splendour with a backdrop of verdant bushland and a panoramic view of the Sunshine Coast to Moreton Bay and the blue

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Pacific beyond’, as their brochure describes Clouds of Montville, seemed an ideal solution. Yet, while they enjoy their new life, it is not quite what they had anticipated. It is ultimately fulfilling, but they have no illusions about working in accommodation. Here is the reality, warts and all. In the few years they have been in Montville, the Richards have noticed a big turnover in the accommodation business. ‘Some people find it all too much and their health may even fail. Many go into it for the lifestyle, thinking they’ll live in great surroundings with guests coming in and giving you money. They don’t realise what else is involved, that they will be tied down and that their life will no longer be their own,’ says Margaret. ‘You are on call all the time and you do not get away from it—with the phone constantly ringing, people coming into reception, and you get to the stage where you have to get out of the place. But even that has to be planned. Angus has to stay here when I’m out and vice versa. If we want time together, we have to pay for someone else to be here and it depends on how big your business is as to whether you can afford that.’ With a married daughter on the Gold Coast with two children, Angus and Margaret have to visit separately on their days off.‘If they come to see us, we’re working,’ Margaret explains. The day does not end at 5 or 6 pm. There are still telephone calls, people checking in late. ‘You have to be home and open. And guests are receiving overseas calls in the middle of the night. We do not say we are open 24 hours a day but we have to be accessible. If you like playing sport, entertaining or going shopping, be aware that you will have to pay someone to run the business while you’re doing that.You either have to be big enough to be able to afford to pay someone or else super small so that you can close the doors, put up the “no vacancy” sign and go out.’ When Margaret started having problems with her back, she was no longer able to do the cleaning and looked to employ staff. ‘The problem with hiring for a small establishment is that

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you can’t call workers in for two hours now and again. People want set times but we don’t know whether it will be busy or quiet and we don’t want them just sitting here reading a book.’ With 10 motel units initially and now four cottages to clean, they employ two casual staff. Margaret says the work is not so much hard as restricting. ‘You have to be on site. People tell us the pool is lovely but I’m never in it,’ she smiles. ‘They all have air conditioning in their rooms but we don’t. I love tennis but I have never played on our court. Then again, we live in a beautiful environment and not on a busy street corner in a downtown city.’ But as for their time together—‘We never see each other,’ laughs Margaret. ‘I’m in the office and Angus is doing the gardening or checking people in, even at night.’ Their work is varied. ‘It’s good because it’s a microcosm of everything,’ says Angus, ‘from fixing toilet washers to removing snakes from the verandah to calming people when they think they’re having a heart attack.’ He has derived great pleasure in planting over 1000 rainforest trees and grevilleas, all bird- and butterfly-attracting. ‘I’m not sure that creating gardens benefits the business but I would go mad if we just had a block of concrete here,’ says Angus. ‘You need to be a Jack of all trades as you don’t generate the income to employ people to do other jobs. If you don’t know, you have to go out and learn, get computer books. You need to be someone who is keen to explore and discover, someone who is self-aware and not frightened of challenges, someone who is self-motivated and not too set in their ways—or else you will be in for a shock.’ For this couple that had not previously been in business together, many things came up—advertising (‘We disagreed on where to advertise and we had to work out how to design brochures’) and hidden costs (‘We had to replace the washing machine and put new carpet in all 10 rooms soon after buying. You depreciate the claim, it’s not a one-off cost. And you can’t

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just put the price up and that’s a lot of room nights. You’re lucky if you come away with $20 after charging $100 a night’). Hidden costs include licences, fees and registrations. ‘You’ve got to be pretty fit and enthusiastic to work in accommodation,’ says Angus, adding that this is not the easy job people imagine as a semi-retirement after a superannuation payout. So what are the advantages of such a home-based business? Angus loves being responsible for himself. ‘You don’t have anyone telling you what you can do and how you can do it.’ For Margaret, the satisfaction lies in making decisions, such as expanding. The advice that Angus gives is ‘go into the business knowing what you want and what you want to get out of it. If I was chasing a dollar, I would be working for a multinational company. The real kick is when people write you a note saying they had a great time. People don’t work just for money—that’s important to live on but you get real pleasure out of the fact that people enjoy themselves.’ The people contact is certainly there in the accommodation business, but it may not be quite what you imagine.‘Guests come here to escape, relax and be with one another. They take their room key and the next time you see them is when they check out,’ says Margaret. ‘Mind you, you have to love people to work in this industry,’ she adds. ‘You need a sense of humour and an ability to see the funny side of things,’ says Angus. ‘Many people are not happy when they arrive—they may be tired or stressed after driving here. The challenge is to make sure they’re happy when they leave. You can serve a thousand people and there will be one bad egg but so many people judge the world by one person.’ Aldy and George Johnston run a very different accommodation business, a few kilometres away, on the shore of Lake Baroon. ‘Our minimum stay is two nights, children are not allowed, and our latest check-in is at 7 pm,’ says Aldy.

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Secrets on the Lake (http://www.secretsonthelake.com.au) is described on their brochure as ‘the perfect romantic escape’. Couples spend two nights or more in one of six individually themed treehouses, linked by elevated timber walkways and set in total privacy among 18 hectares of lush rainforest. Carved wooden furniture, delicately forged ironwork and leadlight windows made by local craftspeople adorn each treehouse with their queen-sized beds, double showers, mood lighting and rainforest balconies. The handmade pottery and other pieces reflect the tropical green tree frog, dragonfly and other themes. Occupancy runs at over 90% all year round and bookings are made weeks and even 12 months in advance with a deposit. ‘The idea for the individual themes was for people to come back and stay in the other cabins,’ Aldy explains, and indeed 30% of their guests return. ‘The secret to doing well in this business is having an excellent product to begin with,’ Aldy explains.‘To do really well, you have to have an exceptional product otherwise you will just have 50%–60% occupancy.’ Having said that, she stresses they are not in the business for the money.‘George just loves the place and our son and his partner work here. We employ cleaners and a gardener. We’re not here to make big bucks, it’s a lifestyle for us.’ That lifestyle includes Thursdays off for Aldy, ‘good friends and nice dinners—we don’t need a lot of entertaining. We take two to three weeks’ holiday a year in the United Kingdom’. The couple’s working life has been full and varied. From running a successful fruit stall and petrol station with another couple on the Toowoomba Highway (‘It was only closed on Christmas Day and I was also teaching at the time,’ says Aldy) to a 20-hectare fruit farm in Maleny on the Sunshine Coast and then a small crop farm, they have always been creative. But it was George’s dream to build the cabins. ‘He thought he’d get someone else to run it but I pointed out he would have to build it up first and put his stamp on it, create a unique

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quality,’ says Aldy. With George undeterred, Aldy geared up for the inevitable by taking various courses such as marketing in the hospitality industry. ‘I’m 58 now,’ she smiles, ‘I could have retired three years ago.’ Building the business has been a family affair—with daughter Katherine designing advertisements and son Robert carving furniture and doing rock work. Aldy is skilled in practical areas such as economics and art, while George ‘is hopeless with drawing but it’s all in his head—he knows good design instinctively’. Aware of their market—couples rather than families (elevated walkways would not be suitable for children)—Aldy had done a critical analysis and looked at the viability of their proposed accommodation business. ‘We had an edge because of our position on the lake.’ It took several years to create this bush paradise and plenty of staying power. With planning applications, power and sewerage to put on and permission required from four different bodies (local council, water board, environmental, forestry and national parks), the Johnstons showed tenacity and patience. George’s vision has not faded—he is now constructing another three cabins with a 40-metre railway line to get the material up the steep hill! ‘It’s always a challenge, you’re extending yourself all the time,’ George believes. ‘We have a good life but we work pretty hard,’ says Aldy, who greatly enjoys cooking and baking for the guests but finds bookwork the downside of the business. For George, the advantage of this lifestyle is ‘doing something really well, as best I can. There’s a lot of joy when people come here, ooh and aah, and are so positive’. There are, naturally, disadvantages to this type of homebased business. ‘Your employees can be sick but you can’t. You can be on death’s door but you have to front up,’ Aldy explains. ‘And you’re locked in—you can’t down tools and go for coffee in town. So play up after hours but often then you’re exhausted.

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And you must enjoy working alongside your partner.’ Otherwise it could mean the end of the relationship and the business. Aldy recommends going out if you have time off, ‘or you will get asked to do things’. She advises thorough research when contemplating an accommodation business, examining such factors as the market, occupancy and price charging. ‘Will it pay you to spend the money in the first place, particularly in this area where so many are struggling to fill their rooms?’ she asks. ‘Position is really important.’ When starting up a new business, run a thorough check on your proposed name. A similarly named business in the area can lead to confusion and possible legal action. When George and Aldy started Secrets on the Lake, they called it Treetops Cabins on the Lake. They asked for a name search, but this missed another accommodation property using ‘Treetops’ in its title. Since that time other properties in Montville have taken on ‘Treetops’ in their names. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but guests are not impressed. Bookings have been mixed up or lost altogether. Treetops Cabins on the Lake issued a ‘Cabin Confusion’ leaflet with their brochure, and changed their name to Secrets on the Lake in August 2004. Looking back on the creation of their home-based business, Aldy says, ‘The thing that has delighted me most is that George insisted on doing things his own way. I was trying to keep within the budget and he had a vision—you need to keep it somewhere in between. There’s a certain amount of energy you get from the business and that’s good, an adrenaline rush.’ George says everything has ended up much better than he had ever thought: ‘My vision has been doubled and doubled. We do a lot of long-term planning, we are planning to live to 180,’ he laughs. Angus and Margaret Richard at Clouds of Montville chose not to run a bed-and-breakfast. ‘That’s just too intrusive,’ says

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Angus, ‘but even though our accommodation is separate here, you don’t have your own space and privacy.’ Indeed. ‘People see us sitting on the verandah of our house and, even though there is a sign that says “private”, they will come through.’ Consider this loss of personal life. When it comes to an accommodation business, Margaret says, ‘Are you the type of person that would stay at home all day every day?’ Ask yourself what you like doing, Angus advises. ‘What makes you fulfilled? If you enjoy playing golf, buy a business that allows you to do that. If you want to holiday in the south of France for three weeks a year, buy a business that can deliver that. Perhaps you like a sociable life—going out in the evenings and entertaining. Then you need a business that permits that possibility.’ Rather than writing out lists of positives and negatives, advantages and disadvantages of the business, approach any decision from this perspective. ‘And the job needs to respond to you as an individual,’ Angus adds. ‘Entering data on a computer screen all day would drive me nuts. I like to meet people.’ Many are caught out as they see the accommodation business as easy work. Not so. ‘With the long hours and dealing with a lot of people, you need to be a happy and cheerful person in yourself,’ Margaret asserts.You need to appear happy and cheerful whether or not you feel that way that day. If you are rude, you’ll soon shut your doors forever. The business with the sign ‘Don’t knock unless you intend to stay’ on the door went bust very quickly. With the plethora of accommodation on the Sunshine Coast, one might think there is also plenty of competition. Perhaps so, but there is also a good sense of community, good networking and referrals. ‘The key thing is to attract visitors to the area, and we’re all in this together,’ Angus explains. The owners of the accommodation businesses get together once a month for dinner. This opportunity to socialise, to welcome newcomers, to talk out any problems, is mutually beneficial.

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Lack of promotion opportunities The saying ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ can ring very true when you work from home. ‘If you are working for an organisation from your home base, you still need to regularly go into the head office and keep in touch with your colleagues,’ says Paul Chung. Otherwise, ‘You can be forgotten or overlooked when it comes to promotion and you can easily lose touch with office politics and developments.’ You may lose status and self-esteem as well. ‘My neighbours noticed that I spent a lot of time at home. They asked me whether I had lost my job or been made redundant,’ he laughs.

Is it for you? ‘The one thing I truly want to emphasise is that working from home isn’t for everybody,’ says Kathie Thomas, founder of the award-winning A Clayton’s Secretary network. ‘A lot of people think it’s going to be really easy. But it takes a lot of time and a lot of hard work to build up a client base. You cannot sit in your pyjamas at the computer, despite what a lot of people say. It’s a mind-set. If you’re dressed for work, you feel and act more professionally. And people really do need to make sure they’ve got a space in their home dedicated to the business, not just the dining room table or a corner of the bedroom.’

Now, read on If, having assessed your personal skills and considered both pluses and minuses, you think working from home will be your cup of tea, this book is here to help. You will learn how to get started, what rules and regulations govern your proposed business, and how to set up your home office in practical, straightforward steps. You will also discover how to create a welcoming work environment, tailored to your unique needs, on a reasonable budget. And, while on the subject of money, it is vital to organise your finances and fees correctly from the outset. (Chapter 4 tackles this topic in detail.)

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Your Home Business will teach you how to present your business professionally with flair and style and give it that competitive edge. Case histories and examples of home-based businesses sprinkled throughout the text provide you with many years of accumulated experience and knowledge, in the form of valuable insight and advice relevant to your home-based venture. Learn how Peter Goldsworthy deals with the solitude of writing, how dietitian and nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton handles lunchtimes, and what real-estate guru Jan Somers recommends for alleviating work tension. From designing an effective business card to selecting your home office furniture, or from promoting your business to learning how to deal with the overwhelming response it generates, this book covers every aspect of your new, fulfilling and ultimately highly successful business life. With careful planning and preparation, you will come to value the fact that home is where the work is!

Exercise Put aside half an hour and write down the pluses and minuses of your working from home. Leave this for a few days, then go back and revise it. By all means talk to your family, friends and colleagues. But listen to what they say with caution. Have any of them ever contemplated working from home? Are they risk-takers or tentative types? ‘Working from home is too risky,’ some people will tell you.‘Why chuck in a perfectly secure job? Anyway, what about your longservice leave?’ Your long-service leave? The heart sinks. Your long-service leave is not due for another two years. How can you hang on that long? That’s when a new life beckons.

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here are no certainties in life, and there are many spectacular examples of highly researched products and businesses that have failed dismally. Conversely, others have boomed despite their owners’ lack of a business plan or any great forethought. Jim’s Mowing, now the largest lawnmowing franchise in the world, was started with a $24 investment, from home, by a man who freely admits that he is by nature a total slob with little natural business talent. ‘I am the most disorganised person and I have made hideous mistakes,’ says Jim Penman. His business and others like it may owe their success to a combination of skill, persistence and motivation in other areas. Or just to their owner’s being in the right place at the right time. Whatever the case, such success stories are the exception rather than the rule.

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Better to bear in mind the saying, ‘If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail’. Before you start your business, it is wise to prepare thoroughly. Here’s a step-by-step guide.

Getting started checklist 1. What sort of business is for you? Consider your qualifications, experience, talents, skills and expertise and interests. 2. • • • • • • • • • •

Is your business viable? Is there a market for your proposed business? Is that market large enough to provide the income you want? Who are your competitors, or are you creating a new market? Do you have suitable premises? Is a shopfront necessary for your business? Can your business be legally run from home? What are your local council regulations regarding homebased work? Do you have sufficient start-up and reserve capital? Do you have adequate business skills and knowledge and, if not, can you get them? Are there professionals—bank manager, solicitor, accountant, local business centre—that can advise you?

3. How will you operate? • Will you work part-time or full-time? • Will you ease into a home business while still keeping your present job? • Is this a permanent arrangement or will you test the market before renting other premises? • What will your business status be—sole trader, partnership, or limited liability company? • What will your business name be?

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Will you start a new business or buy an existing business? Will you buy into and operate as a franchise? What hours will you work?

What sort of business is for you? Some people find their professional qualifications are well suited to a home business. After obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the University of Adelaide and working in a partnership for many years, Derick Thomas decided to start up his own dental practice from home. It has been a successful move for him. ‘I feel completely in control here, in my own kingdom,’ he says. ‘My previous location was insecure—subject to leases and changes in ownership of the building.’ Other people have qualifications but choose not to make use of them. Ross Sutherland had had enough of teaching so he took a redundancy package and joined his wife Jan in Dial a Wife Complete Home Services. ‘I loved the teaching and the children, and I had worked at the same school for 13 years,’ he says, ‘but the politics in recent years had got me down.’ Experience counts for a great deal too. If you have had many years of experience in the fashion retail industry, you might decide to make clothes at home and sell them yourself. The advantage of this, as opposed to starting up a business from scratch, is that you know the industry well and have the contacts. Your previous employers may not be too happy to find that you are now a competitor, but there are ways around this. Why not work with them, perhaps even supply them? Geelong architect Wayne Ketchen started by doing contract work for major companies in Melbourne, including the one for which he used to work. ‘I lost my job because of the recession, so it was not my decision to leave,’ he says. ‘Still, I would have gone out on my own at some stage. This just speeded up the process.

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I literally finished one job on Friday and started my own business on Monday. Now I work for private clients and companies, and my last employer still supplies me with work.’ Maintaining a good relationship with your previous employer can be advantageous to both parties. Dennis Carroll believes his South Australian food wholesale business is successful because of his background. ‘I have good extensive training in the area, having worked for national manufacturers,’ he says. ‘Although my business is not yet paying me a huge income, I do not believe it would have worked at all without a knowledge of the marketplace. A public servant with no such experience, taking a redundancy package, could not have done this.’ If you haven’t got suitable qualifications or experience, you might put your personal talents to work. You may be a fabulous piano player or a gourmet cook. Have you thought of giving music lessons or establishing a home catering business? ‘I’ve always loved music, right from childhood,’ says Hazel Matters, of Adelaide. When she retired from schoolteaching in 1992, she decided to instruct students in piano and singing at home. Now she indulges in her passion while making a part-time income. Doing something you truly enjoy for a living can be an added bonus. If you have a particular interest, such as birdwatching, gardening or computers, you might find an opportunity to write articles for newspapers and magazines. Many such pieces are written by specialists or aficionados, rather than journalists. Or you might pass on what you know to others. Many adult education colleges employ individuals able to offer weekly lessons or one-day seminars on a particular subject. While you do not need to be a qualified teacher or lecturer to do this, you must have expert knowledge. Kay Hannaford started up a lucrative business offering guided walking tours in the Adelaide suburbs. ‘I hit upon the idea when I was walking through the city to my government job early one morning,’ she says. ‘I was pleasantly surprised to discover how popular the concept was.’ After running the business for several years, she sold it. Kay loves meeting and talking to people, so she enjoyed her walking tours. But if dealing with the public

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reduces you to a gibbering wreck, you might be better off staying put at home. Peter Goldsworthy, a writer and GP, has found a happy medium between company and solitude: he writes at home in the mornings and works at his wife’s medical practice in the afternoons. He spent two years writing full-time, but found that made him lonely and morose. Peter says, ‘I can identify with the words of Spanish film director Luis Buñuel: “Solitude is a wonderful thing—so long as you can talk about it with someone afterwards.” Having contact with people is very important to me as a writer—it gives me ideas and keeps me grounded. Otherwise I would get too cerebral.’ It’s vital, before you set up your home business, to consider whether it will suit your personality. ‘Looking back to why I left a job in a city office,’ says Adelaide computer consultant and reseller Wesley Brown, ‘I finally decided I had had enough of being regimented—of getting up at the same time each day and returning home at the same time. I find it very difficult to work for a boss. I like to work on my own, for myself. Motivation is no problem, I can work for days on end without a break. My income is related to the amount of effort I put in and I think that’s great.’ Your personality also includes your body clock. Are you an early riser or do you prefer to work well into the night? What time of day is most productive for you—morning, afternoon or evening? ‘I’m an early riser but, working from home, I can also work into the evening,’ says Wesley. ‘I have flexibility of hours at home.’ Adelaide building designer Elvio Ferrara works until early afternoon and then enjoys a siesta period—cooking the main meal of the day for himself, going to the bank or post office, spending time with the family, sometimes napping—before resuming work in the evening and continuing until 1 am. ‘The most valuable part of my work day is from 9 pm until 1,’ he says. ‘That is uninterrupted work time. The body is most tired in the afternoon, so that is when I take it easy.’

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Working into the night can reap big rewards for your business—if you need to communicate by telephone across international time zones. Melbourne-based Warwick Rodden, who has a home-based business providing translation services, can keep in regular contact with clients in Seattle, London and Berlin by being available early in the morning or late in the evening. These days, however, email communication cuts through time zones.

Flexibility When Val Harris first started framing pictures, it was initially to bring in some extra money. But after her husband left her when she was four months’ pregnant, her home-based business turned into a lifeline. Also an accomplished artist, Val approached starting her own business from an economic point of view. ‘The artist is the last to be paid and that’s only once the painting is sold and the gallery receives a commission. But the painting has to be framed before it is exhibited and the framer is paid up front. So I decided to work as a picture framer. That proved to be a sensible decision once I was bringing up my son on my own.’ A home base gave her the opportunity to spend time raising her child. Other women also have found this an important consideration. Queensland optometrist Julie Weir manages her work hours around her two children, Edward, 4, and Hannah, 2 years old. ‘I have quite a big clientele after 7 o’clock in the evening which really suits me as the children are asleep by then,’ she says. For her, a home business is a lifestyle choice. ‘I wanted to be able to spend lots of time with my children when they are small, it seems that they grow up so fast,’ she says. ‘Working for myself means I can schedule in family holidays when we want them, not when a corporation says I can take them.’ Julie’s professional freedom extends to her clinic, which was specially designed and incorporated into the Weirs’ new Birkdale home some 30 kilometres out of Brisbane. Says Julie, ‘I don’t have the financial pressures of shopping centre optometry clinics, lease

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payments and compulsory refits. And I don’t need to be fully booked to be able to pay the rent.’ Meanwhile Kathie Thomas, founder of A Clayton’s Secretary, delights in the fact that working from home enabled her to watch her five children, aged 7 to 12 when she started her business in 1994, grow up. She says, ‘I love being here for my kids, getting to know their friends and recognising any problems in their lives. I think a lot of parents that are out at work don’t see that side of their teenagers.’ She sees the fact that her youngsters have grown up with her running a business as a bonus: ‘They’ve all had work experience at home, learning how to use a fax and photocopier.’ As a full-time mother on the Gold Coast, Cheryl Kinder-Smith has found working from home has allowed her to relax and rediscover her creativity while bringing in some extra income. ‘It’s just perfect,’ she says, ‘ideal.’ She started making jewellery after purchasing a necklace: ‘It was quite an expensive item, and I looked at it and thought I could make it and a lot cheaper too.’ After studying other pieces, Cheryl began to make unique earrings, necklaces, bracelets and brooches, teaching herself as she went along. She had a design background, having made clothes and leather belts in the past, mainly as a hobby. She approached boutiques and bridal shops with her delicate, exquisite jewellery and now supplies eight outlets in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast. ‘It worked because everyone loved my work from the start,’ she says, and consequently was is able to sell her stock as a wholesaler rather than on consignment. She also works to order, designing and creating individual items for the stores’ delighted clients. At home she has her workplace tucked away in a corner of the loungeroom and made private with a partition. ‘I can just stop and jump up should any of my three children need attention. Some days I may spend more time making jewellery than others, especially if I have a big order. I may work a couple of hours a day or not at all and some nights I’ve sat up until 2 in the morning.’

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Cheryl calculates her prices according to the cost of materials and the time she spends—within reason. She charges from $15 for earrings to $35 and more for necklaces. There is a limit to what Cheryl can charge, bearing in mind that the retail price can be up to 120% of the wholesale price. ‘I’m building up my business and I don’t want to be greedy,’ she says. Yet she has plans for the future— to start a party plan for her jewellery. ‘I’ve always aimed to reach the highest possible level in whatever I do in life,’ she says. Her advice for those who intend working from home is just one word—passion: ‘You’ve got to be passionate about whatever it is you do. You’ve got to enjoy doing it so much that you really have to drag yourself away from it. It has to be something that’s not a drain or a chore but something that you enjoy doing.’ With her attitude Cheryl is set to succeed. The best thing about working from home for project manager Rebecca Cherry is the freedom it gives to live a full and balanced life. ‘I do a lot of volunteer work,’ she says. ‘I’ve found that homebased work can open you up to being able to give to others a lot more.’ Independence is also important. In her mid-30s, Rebecca adds, ‘When I marry and decide to have children, I don’t want someone to dictate to me when I need to work and what time I can spend with my children. I want to be able to decide that myself. Apart from wanting to be out there and set up my own empire, that was another bonus of a home-based business.’

Who works from home and how? More home-based businesses are operated predominantly by men (58%) than women, according to the June 2001 ABS publication ‘Characteristics of Small Business’. Just under a quarter (23%) are run by equal numbers of men and women, an average annual increase of 9% since November 1999. Of all home-based workers, 12% are under 30 years of age, 58% are aged between 30 and 50, and 30% are more than 50 years old. Over a quarter of these small business operators (29%) were born overseas. These figures are similar to or the same for small

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business and home businesses. Further, 20% of home-based workers hold a non-school qualification of advanced diploma or above, while 40% have a non-school qualification at a certificate level. Women are more likely to be working part-time, with 66% putting in under 35 hours, while only 20% of men work parttime. In all, 94% of owners operated one business, and the strongest growth in home-based businesses since November 1999 was in the Australian Capital Territory (annual increase of 26%) and South Australia (annual increase of 24%). Home-based business decreased by 0.4% in the Northern Territory over the same period. As with small businesses in general, the ABS survey found that 16% of home businesses were less than one year old, 38% were less than five years old, 17% were aged between five and 10 years and 29% had been running for 10 years or longer. Most (69%) were non-employing businesses; 28%, however, employed between one and four people, while 3% employed between five and 19 people. While 66% of small businesses were run by single operators, 74% of home-based businesses also were run by single operators, in June 2001. Slightly fewer home businesses (62%) used computers compared with small businesses in general (67%). And 50% had Internet access compared to 53% of all small businesses: 41% of home-based businesses used the Internet for email purposes, 39% for research, and 16% for e-commerce or making and receiving payments.

Is your business viable? A viable business is one that produces sufficient profit and a good cash flow. In deciding whether your proposed business is viable, you need to consider the following. Without a market for your goods or services, your business is lost before it even gets off the ground. To assess the size of the market, you’ll need to be clear on the range of your business. Do you intend to start—and remain—local, or will you be going

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national or even international? Naturally, this may change; you may expand as demand grows or reduce operations as demand declines. A word of caution: one common reason for small business failure is premature expansion. Suppose you decide to operate solely on a local level. You can now check local newspapers, community noticeboards, shop windows and club newsletters for others offering similar services. Are there already advertisements for your type of business in the Yellow Pages? If so, does this simply indicate that there is a demand for such a service, or does it suggest that demand is being adequately met? It is up to you to investigate further here and discover which is the case. Your local small business centre may be able to advise on this. Or you might even talk to your prospective competitors. If you intend to set up a lawnmowing business in your suburb and find it is already well served by another company, you might extend the services you offer, perhaps doing rubbish removal, tree pruning or weeding—things the other company does not offer. If you find that a similar type of business has existed in your area but failed, do not give up automatically. Why did it fail? Were its prices too high? Were its goods or services poor? Was the business unreliable? A customer profile can be very useful indeed. If your clientele is going to consist of fashion-conscious 20-somethings, it would be foolish to set up your custom-made clothing business in an area inhabited by retirees. You can initiate your own market research—doorknocking, placing questionnaires in letterboxes and asking neighbours and local businesses whether they would be interested in your services. When looking at national and international markets, similar principles apply. Once you’ve established the existence and size of the market, you’ll need to figure out whether it can provide the income you want and, if not, whether you’re in business for money or for love. Marilyn Jolly did not go into her home business expecting it to support her financially. And, as it turned out, it doesn’t: she’s ended up working for pleasure rather than for pay. Marilyn got the idea for Jolly Home and Pet Care after her own bad experiences. ‘My

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husband and I have a dog, which we put in kennels when we went on holiday,’ she says. ‘We returned three days later to find her very distressed—she had not been let out of the cage in all that time. Next time round, I asked a friend to house-sit for us. She was to feed and look after the animal, care for the garden and water the plants.’ That arrangement proved even more disastrous: ‘We came home to find the pot plants dead and the dog missing. So I decided to set up a business minding people’s animals and their homes when they are away.’ Keen to make her service accessible, Marilyn actually undercharges. ‘I had to charge less than the kennels in order to get business. When I look at the time and travel involved, I realise I am doing this for love rather than money.’ She charged just $12 a day in 1997 to check on the house, walk the dog for 30 minutes and clear the garden of droppings, take in the mail, put out the rubbish, water the plants and attend to any other chores requested. She advertises in three local papers and wishes she had a bigger budget—to extend to television and radio. Yet she is reluctant to charge more, as she believes people cannot afford to pay any more. So her market is limited to local suburbs—a drive of more than 30 minutes would make the whole venture unviable. Nor can she afford to hire help at busy times. Meanwhile, London-based human resources manager Stephen Bowen Lawrence started his home-based business for love and ended up making money. ‘I adore music, spend all my spare time in record shops and have a collection of over 6000 CDs and vinyl records,’ he says. When surfing the net one evening, he came across the site http://www.ebay.com, billed as ‘The World’s Online Marketplace’. Scouring through the myriad items for sale, he saw a book that he had (Peepolism by Jo Slee), selling for a great deal more than he had paid.‘So I put my copy on for sale—I had bought it for 10 pounds and sold it for 70—and that was the start. Then I put two of my singles on the site and have never looked back since.’ Now Stephen spends every night and all day Sunday on ebay: ‘I’ll put on 300 items and sell 20 to 50 a week. Buyers have a week

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to bid and the highest bid wins. My labour of love is making me serious money.’ Stephen explains that tax is not a problem: ‘That’s if you bought the item for yourself, which is my situation, and not to sell on’. In Australia too, as long as the items are personal assets, not antiques or collectables, and this is not the main source of income, then there is no capital gains tax. Stephen works from his attic, the walls stacked with CDs and 12-inch singles. ‘I love what I do, I don’t find it a chore,’ he says, ‘I like dealing with people.’ And they hail from the United Kingdom to the USA and Japan. The majority will email him and organise payment electronically or by cheque. Once payment is received, Stephen mails out the CD or record. ‘If you package it right and describe it well, people will buy anything,’ he says. ‘Ebay is an easy way of making money. It’s particularly good for those who are at home.’ Will your business need a shopfront to attract customers? If so, think again. Only retail outlets in commercial areas are allowed to have shopfronts, not home-based businesses in residential zones. You may be able to make or repair shoes at home, but you will not be able to have a window displaying your work. Advertising will have to be done by other means. Regulations regarding signs vary. In South Australia, for example, you are permitted to display one sign, so long as it is no larger than 20 cm square and is placed on your property, on the fence or the door, not on the street. Check with your local council. Rules and regulations can differ not only from state to state but from council to council. These need to be carefully examined and adhered to before establishing your business and before printing your stationery and business cards. This may sound painfully obvious, yet some brave—or foolish—individuals actually do all that and then find their business cannot be conducted from home. In general, a home-business owner needs to consider the neighbours and the surrounding environment. Will you be making excessive noise with any machinery or polluting the atmosphere? What about parking—are you expecting clients to be constantly

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coming and going? This can be annoying for the neighbours. It is essential that you contact the local council and ensure your business will comply with its regulations. When Anne Procek decided to start a typing service from home, she wrote to the planning department of her local council providing details of her intention. She was to be the only person involved in the business, had a home office with a floor area of 10 square metres and owned a computer, printer, photocopier and fax machine. She intended to collect and deliver work to clients, so there would be no parking problems. Anne’s business fell into the category of ‘home activity’ so no development approval was required. As Anne was renting her home, she also spoke with her landlord, who gave his assent. After checking council regulations, Allan and Julie Weir chose to build their new house, complete with optometry clinic, in the Queensland shire of Redlands in 1999, as they found Brisbane City Council overregulated at the time. ‘There were only a few conditions in Redland Shire and it was easy to comply,’ explains optometrist Julie. ‘Our double driveway allowed for parking, we designed for wheelchair access and I have a maximum of two clients at a time.’ Tom Wilson, who had lost his job, set up a car-spraying venture in his backyard. Before long, however, a neighbour complained to the council about the resulting fumes. He was warned to cease operations or vacate the premises in 14–21 days—unless he wanted to face legal action which could result in severe penalties, such as a $10 000 fine. Tom decided to call it a day and look for another employer. You will also have to find out whether or not you need a business licence. Your state business centre is an ideal source for this information. Its database will contain the names of hundreds of activities that require licences—ranging from beekeeping to emu farming, from interpreting to plumbing, from installing security alarms to making wedding videos. Robyn Russell wanted to operate her plumbing business from home, and consulted her state business centre. She learned that she

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would need a plumbing worker’s registration and a plumbing contractor’s licence. Depending on the activities she intended to undertake, she might also need licences to remove asbestos, perform gas fitting or install fire sprinkler systems. The business centre provided all the application forms required, the details of where they needed to be lodged and the costs. Once you have permission to start, you’ll need to brush up on your business skills. ‘I have seen many ventures fail because the owners have no idea of how to run a business,’ says Adelaide home-based electrician Bob Flaherty. ‘They may know their trade well but the costing, bookkeeping and accounts let them down time after time. One of my rules is for people to do some sort of business course, however basic. I feel very strongly about that.’ ‘So many people start a business without adequate preparation,’ says Professor Alan Williams. ‘Three-quarters of them commit the money, commit their ego, and commit their family without talking to anybody! They are undercapitalised—they may be good technically, as a tailor or a builder, but they fail to understand that there is a lot more involved in running a business than carrying out the work.’ In 20 years of studying small business, Williams has found that the first few months are critical. He says: ‘11 per cent of small businesses fail in the first three months. 18 per cent fail in the first six months. 30 per cent fail by the end of the first year. 39 per cent fail by the end of the second year. 70 per cent fail by the end of the fifth year. And 90 per cent of small businesses fail within 10 years. The remaining 10 per cent are considered high flyers!’ Williams says failure is usually the result of a lack of management skills, technical expertise, or entrepreneurial drive. Often, he adds, ‘People will say “I ran out of cash.” But if you dig deeper, you will find the real causes—lack of sales, poor cost control and so on. When business failure is related to financial management, it can be due to neglecting to realise the significance of liquidity and a good and positive cash flow. You need to do your budgeting, look at what earns the money, keep proper books and records and—beyond this—look at sales and marketing.’

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Do you have the necessary business skills? If not, you will need, at the very least, to learn bookkeeping for your own records and for taxation purposes. A small business course at your local college or small business centre can provide you with the basics. It can also change your mind about having your own business!

From a dream to reality Working as a production control clerk for an Adelaide stationery manufacturer, Peter Robertson had become more and more dissatisfied, wanting to make use of his artistic abilities. ‘I had originally wanted to be an architect,’ he says. Left a paraplegic at 21 after a motorcycle accident in 1980, he thought his work prospects were drastically reduced. After six months in hospital and six months in rehabilitation, Peter was able to return to his job. ‘They made certain modifications for me, ramps to allow for wheelchair access and handrails in the toilet. It was good going back to the same place. But you also face the fact that you are not able to do the same things, reach for things, have the same access. I felt conspicuous for a while, having to duck and weave in a wheelchair instead of being almost 2 m tall.’ He persevered for a few years and then decided to follow his dream. After spending a year studying for adult matriculation, he approached HETA—Handicapped Employment Training Assistance—and was shown how to go about finding work. ‘I sent out masses of letters applying for work experience in drafting to facilitate future employment. One company replied, “If you can get here despite your disability, we will accept you.” I can walk a bit so I would pull myself up the stairs while someone carried my wheelchair,’ recalls Peter. He spent three months tracing and copying from drawings and then started being offered small paid packages of work: drawing up the mechanical details of rollers for an extender conveyor belt, teeth

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for mining equipment, pipelines. He was subsequently subcontracted to work at the Housing Trust of South Australia and concurrently undertook a four-year drafting course. A significant proportion of his wages was being paid to the company that had subcontracted him, and Peter found himself in an inequitable financial situation. He approached the Housing Trust for work independently and worked there on contract for some years.‘Then their money ran out so I started working from home. It was difficult. My first year, earnings were negligible. It was a toss-up between the dole and work. The weeks I had paid work, I told Social Security and it resulted in very messy paperwork and not a lot of money.’ Then a friend told Peter of NEIS, the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme. Having fulfilled the entry criteria, he attended the six-week course and was then ‘subsidised to the tune of unemployment benefits on a fortnightly basis for a year’, by which time his business was established. ‘It was much better being on an unemployment benefit,’ says Peter, ‘as whatever you earn does not affect this payment. Your partner’s income is taken into consideration. You get regular payments rather than a lump sum, which can be a problem, but luckily my business did not require a large cash outlay.’ Another bonus of the scheme was to provide Peter with a business mentor, with whom he remains in contact. The final task in the six-week course was to prepare and present a business plan on which the decision about future financing depended. Peter decided to give his design/drafting business a focus on the aged and disabled. ‘You need to show you are not just the same as a million other drafting businesses,’ he reasons, ‘and I can design with an empathy for such clients.’ To look in more detail at his business, Peter used a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. Peter saw his business as giving him a fulfilling and financially secure career at home; among his strengths, he included the pride he

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took in his work, his concern with customer satisfaction and the fact that his work could be produced at highly competitive rates due to low office overheads. Working from a compact home office, he deals in both commercial and residential projects. He’s worked on suburban Adelaide units, a city hotel, and a basketball stadium at Oodnadatta. ‘I can work at home easily,’ he says. ‘Outside offices might have to make modifications for me.’ Another advantage to Peter of being home-based is spending time with his wife, Marilyn, and 9-year-old daughter, Leah. Marilyn works as a theatre sister and, Peter says, feels she has lost some of her autonomy with him being constantly at home. ‘So I spend one day a week outside. On Fridays I make site visits, drop off printing, get plans and titles from town. It is more efficient to do all this in one day and it gives freedom to Marilyn.’

Williams, who runs small business seminars, says a third of those attending subsequently decide against starting up a business. ‘Once they get down to the hard facts, they may say ‘it’s not for me’ or they may put it off for a couple of years until they get more experience. Running a business is very, very demanding. It is more than a job, it is a life commitment. You are involved 24 hours a day and the risks are far greater than in a job. There are more emotional demands and more psychological demands. It is like becoming a parent. Anyone can become a parent. To become a good parent is more difficult. It is the same with starting up a business—easy to do but more difficult to do well.’ As well as skills, you’ll need sufficient capital with which to start your business. It is advisable to have personal savings that can tide you over for six months or more as you establish and build up your business. These savings can also be useful further down the track should business suddenly slump—they are your insurance policy, a vital back-up resource. Working for an employer, you did not

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need to worry about this. Your income was regular and secure. But business income fluctuates, up one month and down the next. In your business plan, estimate a realistic monthly income for yourself. Err on the conservative side and appreciate the fact that at first you may go for some time without any income at all. ‘For six, nine or even 12 months after starting your business, most of the money goes out the door rather than coming in,’ points out Williams. If you decide to make sales on 30 or 60 days’ credit you will naturally need to wait that length of time for payment. Do ensure you have strong collection policies in place from the start: you do not want to be waiting indefinitely. If you go into business with insufficient capital, you are on the fast track to failure. This is where planning is absolutely crucial. Good planning and preparation cannot be stressed enough. It’s just as important to have a team of professionals you can ask for advice. You cannot possibly expect to know everything about every aspect of your business. Professionals can tell you about the latest regulations or developments that may affect you. At the very least, build up a good relationship with an accountant, solicitor and bank manager. If you don’t already know such people, you can find them by word-of-mouth recommendation, from a list of names supplied by the professional organisation in question, or from the Yellow Pages or a similar directory. Make sure you pick someone who is suitably qualified, with the background and experience you specifically need. They should give value for money, be easy to communicate with, be reliable and consistent, up-todate with advice and information and readily contactable. You are paying for these services, so if you are dissatisfied with a solicitor’s arrogant and dismissive attitude or an accountant’s constant unavailability, say so, and make a change! And do check the fee schedule before you commit yourself. You may decide your accountant is not such a friendly, helpful chap after you receive a bill for your chatty telephone conversations—which he deems ‘consultations’. Do make sure you know what is and what is not a chargeable service. Again, your local small business centre can be a helpful source. But do seek professional advice.

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But sometimes it pays to flout the advice and go on gut instinct. Roy Williams, the wetsuit manufacturer, approached a business centre for information on starting up his business. ‘They told me that there already was another company in the area and that I would be wasting my time. No-one encouraged me at all.’ Roy thought otherwise and, undeterred, approached the bank for a loan, armed with a comprehensive and impressive business plan. ‘They had never seen anything like it,’ says Roy. ‘They bent over backwards to help me.’ He was offered a $60 000 overdraft, yet he has never needed more than $10 000. His business has proved extremely successful. The moral of this story? If you have done the research thoroughly and you believe in yourself and your capabilities, do not allow anyone to put you off.

The business plan So what is a business plan? Why do you need one? How do you put one together? Most of us plan our holidays meticulously. We decide where and when we will go and for how long. We have a good idea how much it will cost us, and we browse through brochures and watch videos to find out exactly what we can expect to see and do. We may plan the daytrips we will make, the sightseeing tours, the museums, art galleries and shopping areas we intend to visit. Do we ever go into this much detail about our work? Rarely. Yet, unlike holidays, work takes up the bulk of our days, the majority of our life. How many of us would think of erecting a house without consulting an architect? Would you be content with a general idea, a vague concept, of what you wanted and expect the builders to figure it out as they went along? And if it didn’t work out, would you just shrug and return to your old house? Of course not. Just as a house plan covers every component of the structure, so must a business plan cover every aspect of your business. Professor Alan Williams says: ‘The reason people do not make a

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business plan is that most of those starting up businesses are doers rather than thinkers. They believe making out a business plan is not worth the trouble. They do not see it giving them an immediate return for their efforts. Working day to day, coping with demands and crises on the way, there is no time to plan. And with no planning, problems occur—and they are still there a week, a month or a year later.’ Put aside time to plan, or today’s problem will become tomorrow’s problem. ‘In retrospect, I would have done a small business course and made a business plan,’ says computer consultant Wesley Brown, ‘That would have been much easier than learning along the way.’ John Ehm, of Homechain, did make a detailed business plan. He found this paid big dividends. The business plan is a realistic outline of your company and its projected future. It contains background information, operating information, financial information and marketing information. You can use the plan to raise finance for your business, plan and control it now and in the future. You should regularly re-evaluate the state of your business and update the plan accordingly. Background information Set out your employment background and that of any partners or employees. What qualifications and experience do you have? What is your business aim, company vision, business philosophy? Compose a mission statement. Operating information Give a full description of the nature of the service and product you will offer, together with reasons why clients would select your business over that of your competitors. Outline any manufacturing process, including particulars such as production capacity, cost of raw materials, operating and packaging costs and any other overheads. Describe your premises.

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Financial information How much capital do you require to start your business? Take into account costs of office and other equipment, professional services (accountant, etc.) and so on. Do not underestimate your start-up costs. State where the money will come from—a bank loan, your savings, family money. Examine your assets and liabilities. Assets can be broken down into current assets, such as savings, and fixed assets, such as your car and house. Liabilities may be current or fixed, such as food costs and rent or mortgage payments. Include a projection of cash flow for the first year and the following two years. Look at several situations—best case, worst case and an in-between scenario. If, for example, you intend to work from home as a freelance journalist, you will need to consider the number of articles you can realistically produce each week, or fortnight, and balance this against the amount of work available. You need to take into account quiet periods and short breaks or holidays. You need to allow for income fluctuations as editors change, magazines fold and others start up. What remuneration can you reasonably expect? Naturally, these will all be estimates. What costs are involved in earning this income? You will need to include petrol, travel, telephone calls, home-office equipment, postage, stationery and so on. Subtracting costs from income, what are your expected profits? Will this give you an adequate income, one on which you can live comfortably? Marketing information Where is your market and how far does it extend—locally, interstate or internationally? How will you reach this market? You need to do thorough research here, examining the past market for your service or product and assessing its future potential. Your fees and charges will need to be assessed in this part of the business plan. When you work them out, bear in mind the demand for your service or product, manufacturing costs and the prices charged by your competitors. Also, where applicable,

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estimate the costs of publicity and promotion, which may be done through newspaper, radio and television ads, leaflets or brochures. Your business plan needs to be professionally presented as well as thoroughly researched. It should be clearly and concisely written, placed in a folder or portfolio, and accompanied by drawings, photographs or other illustrations where appropriate. You may prefer to seek professional help in compiling your business plan. Charges vary but you should expect to pay up to several hundred dollars for a fully comprehensive plan. Whatever you decide, though, it’s worth the effort: this document, after all, may be worth thousands of dollars in a loan to you! Seek out more detailed information on putting together a business plan from business centres.

How will you operate? There are several good reasons for choosing to work in your home business in a part-time rather than a full-time capacity. The market may not be large enough to provide you with a full income, you may have other commitments that leave you with limited time for your business venture, you may simply not want to work full-time at this enterprise, or you may want to trial the business and ease in gradually to full-time operation. Working at home, you have the option to change your work hours either as you please or as the work dictates. Whether you gradually ease into your home business or launch straight into it will depend on your personal circumstances. Some individuals have no choice, having been made redundant or laid off with little or no notice. Others have wanted to start a home business for some time but have been wary. Now they decide to face the fear head-on. There are advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios. Can you afford to take an initial drop in salary? Will you be sitting idle for much of your time, waiting for clients to build up? Interior designer Catherine Bugoss realised that the company for which she had worked for seven years was collapsing, and resigned. Two months later it went into receivership. ‘Fortunately

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I was involved with a network marketing company and so this gave me an income, albeit small,’ she says. ‘I had always wanted to start my own interior design business but I never had the courage or the funds to do it. The network business gave me confidence, knowledge and finance.’ Today Catherine works for herself in interior design, teaming up with a colleague for larger projects. Others prefer to keep their employment while they slowly build up their customer base and income. That way they avoid a sudden drop in income when they make the switch. I used to work as a dentist, and went from full-time to part-time dental employment as I gradually built up my writing time from evenings and weekends to three and then four days a week. At the same time I built up my contacts, skills and reputation as a writer. Once I decided I had enough regular work to provide me with a decent income, I launched into writing full time. But the whole process took several years. Ross Sutherland also thought long and hard about his career change. When he left his teaching job to join his wife Jan in Dial a Wife Complete Home Services, the cleaning business had already been established for several years. The detailed business plan told them that Dial a Wife would now be able to provide them both with an appropriate income. Beate Wickert started her jewellery manufacturing business soon after arriving in Cairns in 1993. ‘I used to do this work in Sydney and was initially worried that it would not work here, but figures have doubled in the last year,’ she says. Some people start out in a small way at home, testing the market before launching into the wider business scene. Some of the world’s biggest business success stories started life at home. Apple Computers was born in an Oregon garage in 1976. Kambrook Distributing started from Frank Bannigan’s Kambrook Road backyard in Melbourne in 1964, and is now one of Australia’s biggest manufacturers of small electrical appliances. Starting from home enables you to keep costs down—there are no expensive office rents and associated overheads. If the

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business does not go as planned, you do not stand to lose so much money. Running the business The main ways of running a business are as a sole trader, a partnership, or a limited liability company. Most owners of home businesses are sole traders, but some are partnerships and a few are limited companies. Operating as a sole trader is straightforward. Establishment costs are minimal and establishment time just a few days. You can have others work for you but, as sole proprietor, you and you alone are ultimately responsible for the business. You and the business are one and the same, legally and financially inseparable. A sole trader has unlimited liability. This means you are personally liable for any debts or claims. Should you burn someone’s legs while waxing them in your home beauty salon, you can be sued. Your personal assets—house or car—can be seized and sold in order to settle the claim. On the other hand, as a sole trader you can greatly reduce your tax bill by deducting legitimate business expenses from your income. You can claim a proportion of the interest on your mortgage and electricity costs for your home office (see chapter 4) but you will have to pay PAYG instalments. Unlike a limited liability company, a sole trader is not required to hold shareholders’ or directors’ meetings. Being in a partnership is more complex but has the advantage that you can involve between two and 19 other people in the business. The most likely scenario for a home business, however, involves two people. In a partnership you can share the work, the worries and the risk, the start-up capital and the expenses. Yet a partnership can be the easiest way of turning a friend into an enemy! Even when working with a spouse, it is highly advisable to seek legal advice and draw up a formal partnership agreement. Like a sole trader, a partnership is relatively easy to set up, run and wind up. There are also similarities in the legal and tax positions. But if you are considering this option, bear in mind that

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while each partner is personally liable, any debt or claim goes to the partnership. So, should your partner burn a client’s legs while waxing them, you can be held responsible. If your partner runs off or has no money, your assets are on the line. There are other practical matters to think of when contemplating a partnership. How well do you get on with the other person? Do you trust the other person and have confidence in his/her skills and abilities? How will the work and profits be divided? Are both of your signatures required on any cheques? What happens if one partner decides to leave? As with a marriage, enter into such an agreement in haste and repent at your leisure! To set up a limited liability company requires an understanding of corporations law, so you will need the assistance of a solicitor and an accountant. A limited liability company is complicated to set up, run and wind up. Establishment costs are greater and establishment time is longer. The main advantage is that as a legal entity it is separate from its owners. Liability is limited to its assets. If an employee of Bella’s Beauty Secrets burns someone’s legs with hot wax, the company is liable but losses are limited to the company’s assets. Bella’s personal property is safe. A limited liability company requires at least two officers—one director, who is also a shareholder, and a company secretary. There can be up to 50 owners. Certain rules must also be adhered to, such as holding regular directors’ and shareholders’ meetings and keeping records of these meetings. The introduction of the New Tax System on 1 July 2001 means that you will need to register for an Australian Business Number and perhaps register for the Goods and Services Tax. Details are in chapter 4. Naming the business Registration of a business name is not a legal requirement if you are working under your own name but is compulsory once you start trading under another name. It can be worthwhile in either

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case, as a business name can get you noticed and add to your professional image. You can use almost any name provided it is not already registered by someone else. Jane Eastern Publishing or Brunswick Plumbing Services immediately identifies you, your business and your locality. Photographer Matt Turner started his home business under the name Your Choice Photography. Talking to colleagues, he realised that using his own name instead would boost both his profile and his reputation as a photographer. This has worked for him. People notice his name under pictures in newspapers and magazines, associate that name with good work and hire Matt Turner, Photographer, for their next project. Procedures and fees for registering a business name vary from state to state. The application form needs to be completed by all individuals associated with your business. Certain words are not allowed to be used as part of a business name in Australia. The long list includes ‘corporative’, ‘consumer’, ‘America’s Cup’ and ‘club’. When Anna Pyrzakowski applied to register the name Design Club for her interior design business, she was told the word ‘club’ is approved for use only by sporting bodies and associations. A business name can add an air of mystery and intrigue to your occupation. When John from Our Father’s Electrical Service came to attend to the flickering picture on my television screen, I asked how long the home-based business had been in the family. He looked perplexed. ‘Didn’t your father start it?’ I asked. He smiled. It turned out that the ‘father’ in question was ‘Our Lord’ rather than a blood relation! John could not find anything wrong with my television set and did not charge me. I was impressed. Especially as ever since John laid his hands on it, my TV has behaved perfectly! Trade marks and patents Have you looked closely at a bottle of Coca-Cola? The trade mark is the familiar swirling script, the liquid contents are protected by a patent, and the design is the unique old-fashioned bottle shape.

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If you want to apply for a trade mark or patent, you can get forms and details from your local branch of the Australian Industrial Property Organisation. For advice on how and whether to proceed, you will need to consult professionals such as patent and intellectual property lawyers. Standards Your business may need to comply with one or more of the 6000-plus standards imposed by law on Australian products. Timber framing standards, for example, are set down in the Building Code of Australia. Your industry or trade governing body or the Standards Australia Information Centre in Sydney or Melbourne can help you with further details. Franchises A franchise is the granting of a licence by the franchisor to a franchisee that entitles the franchisee to the use of the trade mark, trade name and business package to reproduce the system. Some franchises, such as the lawnmowing services Jim’s Mowing or VIP Mowing, can be run from home.

A growing concern ‘My philosophy is, if you love what you’re doing, you’ll never work a day in your life,’ says Phil Maunder. As South Australian manager for Jim’s Mowing, Phil is convinced that franchises are an ideal introduction to small business. ‘Many of our people come from middle management,’ he explains. ‘They may be skilled in one area, such as management or marketing, but they have not worked for themselves before. What a lot of people find difficult is that when you run your own business, you need to be good at everything—doing the

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bookwork and preparing the invoices, finding clients and marketing, collecting accounts and so on—as well as doing your job. That means franchises are a good start for a lot of people. We do the work in setting up, training, advertising and back-up and, in one week rather than a few months, you can be working in an established business. The process and the speed of getting a business up and running are done for you. You are buying a name—Jim’s Mowing—that is well known to the general public. Moreover, when you are sick or on holiday, trained people are available to take over your work.’ What sort of people take up this lawnmowing franchise? ‘People approach Jim’s Mowing because they want a lifestyle change and they want to work for themselves. They are not forced to find work, and this makes them better operators. Our typical franchise owner at the moment is between 35 and 45 years, has probably had the same job for the last 10 years or so, so he’s generally quite a stable type of person.’ Phil believes the key to success is enjoying what you are doing and having an affinity for it: ‘You can like mowing lawns, but when you do so day in and day out, to put bread and butter on your table, it becomes a different proposition.’ Franchisees need a good personality: ‘People who get on with the clients generally do very well. You can do a wonderful job, but unless you get on with the clients, they will not notice it. What’s more, if the clients don’t like you and you do one tiny thing unsatisfactorily in their eyes, they will cancel.’ Phil started off as a franchisee himself, in Melbourne. When others told him he would find it a lonely job, he was not unduly worried. ‘But I found it was. There were no co-workers to talk to during the day and there was no feedback.’ He found support, and a level of commitment, back at the main office. ‘The role of the franchisor is to talk to the franchisee,’ he says, ‘to be a sounding-board. To be successful, you need to have a good

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relationship, not just a business relationship, but also an ability to get on well together.’ The first step in acquiring a Jim’s Mowing franchise is to have an interview. If both parties are satisfied, the potential franchisee is then sent out on a ‘field day’ with an experienced trainer who supplies a written report on the personality, attitude and motivation of the individual. ‘The main thing we look at, in addition to the personality, is the improvement in the standard and quality of the work throughout that day.’ Once approved, the individual can purchase a franchise for 10 years, renewable for a further 10 years. ‘This is a good way to find your feet in business’, says Phil. ‘After some years, a proportion of our franchisees sell out and go on to set up their own businesses.’ Russell Botten bought a Jim’s Mowing franchise. He’d never worked for himself; his previous experience was in clerical duties and hotel management. ‘I had a passion for gardening and then I saw a television ad for franchises which described this as “buying yourself a job”. It seemed like a reasonable way of earning a living to me. I was not confident enough to go out as a private contractor and I did not have the resources to build up a client base,’ explains Russell, ‘so I decided to look at going under the umbrella of a franchise.’ ‘Buying himself a job’ cost Russell just over $20 000 in 1995, plus $4000 for equipment—a lawnmower, tools and a trailer. The price for the franchise area was negotiable and was based on the number of clients. ‘Someone was selling off his area and Jim’s Mowing held on to his money for four weeks before paying him until I was satisfied I was getting all the customers I had paid for.’ (The cost of a franchise depends on the state and the region.) Russell bought—and wears—the standard Jim’s Mowing uniform, was supplied with a training manual and attends regular training seminars. These cover various aspects of work— lawn care and pruning—and there are additional practical

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sessions. At these times, Russell has an opportunity to meet other franchisees and share his experiences. While Russell took out a loan to buy the franchise, there are other possibilities—working for Jim’s Mowing for a set income or as a subcontractor for another franchisee. Russell is pleased with his decision to join Jim’s Mowing. He has seen his business grow steadily from month to month—in fact he has tripled his client base in just one year—and he has plans to buy into other territories. Most of the year he works from 8 am until 5 pm, five and a half to six days a week. ‘The work is not really seasonal,’ he says, ‘it just changes. In the winter, I’ll be cleaning out gutters and pruning trees and doing less lawnmowing.’ He enjoys working essentially for himself, not having to answer to anyone, and making his own hours.‘I set myself goals, such as to increase my customer base by a certain amount by next spring, and I stick to this. So far, I have achieved all of my goals. I pay Jim’s Mowing a certain amount and they in turn supply me with an area exclusive to me, the training, the bookkeeping methods and the advertising. I can go to them if I have problems, the office is there to give me guidance and advice.’ For those interested in franchises and the history of Jim’s Mowing, Surprised by Success—The Story of Jim’s Group by Jim Penman, printed in Australia by The Book Printer, 1998, and available from any office of Jim’s Mowing, offers a detailed, insightful and down-to-earth read. Check out the website at http://www.jims.net.

Buying into a franchise can be a quick and relatively secure way of starting up a small business, especially for someone with limited business experience. The success rate of franchises—note, though, that these are by no means all home-based—is twice that of other small businesses. Joining a good franchise provides you with a ready pool of clients, managerial skills, a bookkeeping

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system and ongoing help and advice. You are, of course, joining an established and, presumably, successful business. The initial expense is offset by the lower risk entailed in joining an established business. Obviously it is still up to you and your capabilities, but you are starting with a better chance of future success. A franchise can also be a good start for those intending to go into business for themselves later. One of the drawbacks of joining a franchise is that you need to be prepared to stick to a system that is already in place. This may not suit some individuals. Once you have approval to buy into a franchise, the franchisor will sell you the right to the service or product, the use of the business name and logo, and the right to trade for a set number of years—usually five or 10. After your initial outlay, you may be required to pay regular fees, or to buy product or equipment only from the franchisor so as to ensure consistent quality and service. In return, you are entitled to advice and back-up service from franchise headquarters. When selecting a franchise, ask yourself: • •

• • • • • • • • •

How long has the franchisor been operating and what is the company’s reputation? Is the franchisor registered with the Franchise Council of Australia, and does it adhere to the Franchising Code of Practice? Such registration is not compulsory but is certainly advisable. Have you spoken with other franchisees in this company? Are you interested enough in this service or product to want to work in the field? What is the public image of this service or product? Will the work be seasonal and, if so, can you survive on the income or supplement it in other ways? Is the right to an area or territory exclusive to you? Is there potential for growth? How much will the franchise cost—now and later? What does this price include? Are there good back-up services and advice?

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Will you have to buy your product or equipment from the franchisor?

If you are considering buying into a franchise, it is worthwhile making contact with the Franchise Council of Australia. A good starting point is to check out its website at http://www.franchise.org.au. Or the council can be contacted by telephone (on 1800 804 317). If you do go ahead, make sure you study the franchise contract in detail. ‘The one thing I tell anybody interested in a franchise is to inquire as widely as possible amongst people who have already bought it,’ is the advice from Jim Penman of Jim’s Mowing. ‘Too many people buy a business after talking to just the franchisor. The more people inquire, the more they check a franchise out, the better off they’re likely to be.’ Consider the possibility of your own business becoming so successful that, one day, you offer franchises. ‘We had our system franchised,’ says Jan Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services, proudly: ‘The process took 12 months of work and included design and making of uniforms.’

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hen Mil Clay started working as a desktop publisher from his Cairns home, he used the open-plan main living area as his office. His large wooden desk, computer and printer are at one end of the room, while the fax machine and telephone are a few metres away, at the kitchen end. Having no separate workspace ‘does not bother me’, says Mil, ‘but it concerns my wife, Annette’. Mil says Annette finds it irritating to be cooking alongside her husband while he works. She is also unhappy about work calls outside normal business hours and the fact that Mil’s hours often intrude into family time with their two children. So Mil now plans to move his workstation to the back of the house.

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Obviously most people would prefer to avoid problems like Mil’s. But some have no alternative but to work in their home’s living area, at least at first. One advantage of the situation, in Mil’s view, is that it has forced him to be compact and organised. His sturdy wooden desk is about 150 cm long, with drawer space on both sides. Three stackable plastic trays provide additional filing space on his desk. A calendar is clipped to the front of them. Mil sits in front of a Mac, above which a couple of wooden wall shelves hold reference books and other resources. His laser printer sits on a two-drawer metal filing cabinet to his left. He has a comfortable and adjustable office chair on castors and is kept cool by both an overhead and a small portable fan. The most enviable part of Mil’s home office is the glorious view to his right. Glass sliding doors open onto a wide wooden balcony overlooking green palms and distant hills. Who would opt for the sterile environment of an airconditioned office if this was the alternative? Wayne Ketchen’s home office is a dream. As an architect, he was able to design it specifically for his needs. The space is large enough to accommodate his office furniture, fax machine, photocopier and computer. Natural light is most important for his work, so Wayne has installed large windows along one side of the room. On the opposite wall, shelves are filled with his manuals and books. His home office is located away from the living area of the house. Wayne sold his drawing boards and installed CAD (computer-aided design) himself more space. Desktop publisher Maggie Boday has put aside a room in her Melbourne house for a home office, yet it is far from ideal. ‘On entering, you fall over my scanner,’ she laughs, ‘and then you bump into my desk. You can’t open the door properly because my husband Frank has bought a new filing cabinet and there is a big photocopier pushed under one desk.’ The office is also home to a couple of computers and three printers. Space is not just tight, it is desperately inadequate. Does this sound familiar? Jeffrey Frith is an architect and ergonomist. Past president of the Ergonomics Society of Australia, he is regarded as an expert in workplace design and currently works as a private consultant in

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this field. He is a former chairman of the committee that developed Australian Standards 3590 part 2, looking at appropriate workstation furniture for people performing screen-based tasks. ‘You will save yourself a lot of heartache and anguish if you consult someone before setting up your home office,’ he advises. Frith says there are three aspects to consider: the work environment, the work tools and equipment, and the work system.

The work environment When you work from home, there tends to be a blur between work and home life. ‘If you are a workaholic, it can be difficult for you to switch off. This situation can be like an alcoholic with a gin bottle— you can’t stop,’ says Frith. This blur can be overcome by having a designated area or room for your work and by reducing distracting influences—pets, children, partner—during your working hours. If at all possible, a separate home office is best both for yourself and for those you live with, because it: • • • •

makes your work life more organised, efficient and hence more productive; allows you to have clear and well-defined working hours; gives you a psychological boost—you work here, the office is not the place for social chats or cups of coffee; and it creates a discrete physical space, which permits you to close the door, leaving the outside world—or your work—behind.

Having set aside your work space, you should give careful thought to its lighting, design and set-up. It may be worth paying a professional to advise you here. You will be spending much of your time in your home office, so make the most of it. A cold, bare room will hardly encourage you to work. A few well-placed posters, potplants, rugs and paintings can make the space more appealing. Clever use of colour can help create a more pleasant and comfortable work environment. Building designer Elvio Ferrara chose light yellow for his table tops, as he finds this shade puts less strain on his eyes. The terracotta floor tiles with the blue and black

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Norwood border please him in another way. ‘They are the same colours as my favourite football team—Inter Milan,’ he says, ‘and every time I look at them, I feel good.’ Melbourne physiotherapist and ergonomist Jacquie Wissenden believes the colour of a room does not affect people greatly. ‘You will find it mentioned in interior design and ergonomics books that red is a stimulating colour while blue is boring, but I don’t believe it makes much difference. Besides, you get used to bright colours. You will hardly notice your striking red hallway after a year. On balance,’ she adds, ‘I would go for neutral tones.’ Climate control is also important. When selecting heaters, bear in mind that fan heaters can be noisy; you may prefer a quieter model. If you choose a bar radiator, don’t put it where it can come into contact with liquids such as water or spilt coffee. Curtains and blinds can help insulate the room and minimise glare.

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Lighting is very important. Poor lighting can lead to eyestrain and headaches. Make sure overhead or natural light doesn’t reflect on your computer screen. Anti-glare screens interfere with text clarity and should be used only as a last resort. As for overall appearance, some people seem to thrive in a cluttered environment. Albert Einstein agreed his university office was chaotic but described it as ‘organised chaos’. For the rest of us, creativity may be enhanced by a sense of order.

Work tools and equipment The precise set-up and equipment you need will depend on what type of business you are in, and how big your business is. Some of the items listed below will not be appropriate for you. Not every home-based business needs a personal computer, for example. Let common sense coupled with your budget and your needs be your guide.

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Bear in mind that you can expand or reduce, exchange or upgrade your office equipment as time goes on. Second-hand equipment will save money—but ‘buyer beware’, especially with computer and electronic equipment. Buy from a reputable source; buying at garage sales can be false economy. Office equipment: a checklist • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

door that closes (and locks) (this may be the single most important item!) desk desk return desk lamp chair for yourself (do not economise here) chairs for clients accessories telephone (Do you require separate business and private lines? A mobile telephone?) answering machine/service and/or pager fax machine photocopier—optional computer and printer filing cabinets extras: noticeboard or whiteboard, shelves and cupboards, wastepaper basket.

Door Closing the door can both save your sanity and boost your work output. If your workspace has no door, create some other physical separator—a screen or a curtain. Enter your home office at the start of your day, close the door behind you to prevent interruptions, and productivity rises! Exit your home office at the end of the day and close the door behind you to forget work. Sanity returns with a balanced life—work and play. It does take some discipline to keep the door closed after work, though—avoiding the temptation to check whether any

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faxes have come through or to respond to early-morning brainwaves. You can build some flexibility into your work hours—which, after all, is why you have chosen to work from home. The main thing is to ensure that your work does not detrimentally impinge on your relationship, family life or relaxation time. Keith Bainbridge, who runs a home-based credit control service, says, ‘If I am worried about work deadlines I can close the door to separate myself from family. And if things get really desperate, I can lock it!’ Desk When buying your desk and other office furniture, first look at your available space. Measure it and have the dimensions with you when you go shopping. Don’t forget to measure the width of the doorway and entrance hall as well. If you find a desk that seems slightly too big for the doorway, perhaps it can be disassembled or the drawers can be removed. An office furniture supplier I know puts a desk upright on a rug, which can then be spun round to manoeuvre the desk into the room. You may prefer a desk with a completely level surface or one with an adjustable ‘shelf’ for a keyboard. This section can be situated on the left, on the right or in the middle of the desk. The choice is yours but must be made when you buy the desk. Adjusting the height of your work surface makes good ergonomic sense. Do it while you adjust the height of your chair. When sitting well in and upright, your hips should be square to your knees and your shoulders square to your hips. Slumping forwards will lead to pain in your shoulders. If you are less than 150 cm tall, you will need to lower the keyboard so your hands are at the correct typing level— elbow height (for writing, the desk surface should be just above elbow height). You may also need a footrest. If you are much taller than average, you may need to raise the desk on wooden blocks to give you a comfortable work position. The standard desk height is 720 mm, but you can have one custom-made if necessary. Conventional desks are designed for typewriters. A computer screen, however, is ideally placed at arm’s distance. Sit too close and

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you will end up with eyestrain. So look for a deep desk. You should place the terminal so the top is level with your eyebrows, so your natural gaze falls to the middle of the screen. If the screen is set too high, you will tend to open your eyes more widely, which will dry them out. Conversely, if the screen is too low, you will find yourself bending your neck forwards, which will result in neck and shoulder pain. You will also need to decide on the configuration of drawers: should you have three drawers, or just one drawer? I have found that paper multiplies to fill every available space. Start off with one filing cabinet and it is soon filled. Start off with three and they are also crammed full very promptly! A basic office desk, with drawers, costs from $300 upwards. A top-of-the-range walnut desk can cost over $1500. When making your choice, you should consider whether your office will be seen by clients, and the sort of impression it needs to give. Desk return The desk return, an extension attached to one side of the desk, affords extra surface space to hold your printer or for spreading out work, as well as storage space in the way of drawers. Some people also incorporate a typist’s pedestal in the return—slots in which you can store papers. Desk returns come in different widths and may be right- or left-handed. Personal preference and room layout will influence your choice. Desk lamp This is an optional extra. Some professionals, such as architects and draftspeople, must have one; others may prefer to add to or improve their overhead or natural lighting. Chair After a door, a height-adjustable chair is your most important office item. After all, you will be sitting in it for many hours each day. There are two main types of office chair—the conventional gas- or manual-lift chair, and the Balans chair.

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The Balans chair is the strange-looking kind that you kneel into. Many people swear by it; many others swear at it. A sedentary lifestyle tends to shorten the hamstrings and quadriceps (thigh muscles). So, for some, kneeling into a Balans chair, which stretches the quadriceps, can be uncomfortable. But interior designer Catherine Bugoss says she would be lost without her Balans chair. ‘I feel completely relaxed and at ease in it,’ she says, ‘and it forces me to keep my back straight as I draw, which prevents aches and pains.’ If you are considering buying such a chair, ask whether you can hire it overnight and try it out. Many office furniture stores will be happy to oblige. Alternatively, spend plenty of time in the shop.‘One woman spent three hours deciding between two chairs before she finally made her decision,’ says Terry Black of Colin Murch Office Equipment & Stationery Supplies in Adelaide, ‘and she was very happy with the one she bought.’ There’s no point spending anything from $270 to $700 on a chair if it hurts your back more than the old kitchen chair! For the same reason, do not allow anyone else to buy a chair on your behalf. ‘A mother came in alone wanting to buy a chair for her daughter,’ says Terry.‘That was pointless, as her daughter needed to try out any chair herself, for comfort and suitability.’ Gas-lift chairs can be raised and lowered by a mixture of gas and oil in a cylinder, which forces the seat up or, when compressed by your weight, allows it to drop. The gas-lift chair has two levers—one adjusting the back of the chair and the other tilting the seat. It is vital that this type of chair have a five-way base, that is, five wheels. A chair with four wheels will topple over when you lean backwards. (These are now banned, but you may still come across them at auctions or garage sales.) With a five-way base, whichever way you turn or lean there is one wheel behind you. Gas-lift chairs are the norm these days, and a basic one costs around $150. In manual-lift chairs the seat can be raised, lowered, and moved backwards or forwards by manually adjusting screws and levers. Although these are cheaper than gas-lift chairs, demand for them has fallen. If you get one, you should have no problem if it is to be used by one person at all times. But if another person of a different height is also using it, you will continually need to change

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the height of the seat. This takes time and can be inconvenient. Gas-lift chairs, which can be easily adjusted for use by different individuals, are thus far more popular. When you sit in your chair, your arms should be at thigh level, bent at right angles to your body. But most people prop their arms on the armrests. These are usually at a fixed height. Some chairs now have height-adjustable armrests but these are dearer. Do you need armrests? Terry Black says their main use is to help you get in and out of the chair. Unless you have a job that requires the use of armrests—for arm support while taking notes, for example— forget them. You can rest your arms on the desk, not on the chair, and armrests prevent you from getting in close to the desk. Resist the temptation to buy a big ‘power’ chair. ‘People say to themselves, “I’m running my own business, I’m the boss” and demand an armchair-like “manager” or “executive” chair,’ says Terry. ‘This may look impressive, but it has poor back support so you are forced to lean forwards. Select a chair with separate back and base so that each can be adjusted,’ he advises. ‘Do not buy a single, integrated unit.’ Bear in mind that for an additional $10–$20 you can usually get a large rather than a medium-sized back on your chair. You may want this extra back support. Where finances permit, buy a new chair. This will come with a warranty for two to five years. Buying a second-hand chair is risky. You are not to know whether a 115 kg or a 50 kg person has been sitting in it. How can you tell whether it has been stressed to its upper limits for all of its life? In any case, you will not be saving much. Even if you pay 30% less, you will have no warranty and may end up with a dud chair. Says Terry,‘With the advent of the Internet, the computer area is becoming a focal point and people are concerned with ergonomics. So they are tending to opt for a higher grade of chair.’ Chairs for clients You may or may not need additional chairs for clients. If you do, remember they will be visiting you only briefly, so there is no need for their chairs to be of the same quality as yours. Comfortable, attractive chairs will suffice.

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Accessories Depending on your height and the height of your desk, you may need a footrest. When buying one, make sure you can change the angle. Prices range from $25 to $40. Ideally, however, your feet should be flat on the floor. This also means you can move your seat around. So, wherever possible, adjust desk and chair height rather than rely on a footrest. You may want a chair mat to protect the floor and to let you roll your chair about more easily. It can also prevent static build-up but this is a minor consideration unless you are constantly using your computer and have a nylon carpet. (If you stand on a nylon carpet and pick up a computer diskette, a discharge of static electricity can wipe it clean.) Chair mats come in three different sizes and range in price from $50 to $200. You can have a small mat for your chair alone, a medium-sized one that extends under the desk, or a larger one that fits under both desk and return. Top-of-the-range mats are made of clear, heavy plastic and are anti-static. Cheaper mats are not anti-static, but if you have a timber or tiled floor this feature is unnecessary. Here the mat is solely to protect the floor from being scratched by your chair. If you have carpet, check its thickness. The combined thickness of carpet and underlay dictates the style of chair matting. Piles of 16 mm and deeper require a thicker and heavier chair mat. Buy a cheaper, thinner type and the chair mat will crack due to lack of support. The ideal support for a chair mat is a concrete floor covered by a thin underlay and then a carpet. An anti-glare screen will reduce the reflection of overhead lighting on your computer screen. An optical glass screen, at about $90, is anti-static and can also cut down radiation glare. At the other end of the scale, you can buy a glass screen filter that will reduce glare by 95%, for around $40. The best idea is to position your lighting, or computer, so you do not get glare off the screen in the first place. A copy holder improves posture and is advisable when reading at your desk and typing. It can be placed on either side of your computer screen or between the computer screen and keyboard, and angled so that your head is in a neutral position while you read and type. If you lay documents flat on your desk, you will

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need to bend and twist to read them. There are about a dozen varieties. One model, from $18, is supported at its back, holds your material upright and can be pushed to one side. Another model, from $40 to $80, consists of a hinged adjustable arm arrangement and is mounted on the edge of your desk with a clamp. It can therefore be placed directly over your keyboard, which is ideal from an ergonomic point of view. Browsing around office equipment shops will introduce you to a number of other accessories—adjustable monitor stands that enable you to position your computer screen in the optimum spot, adjustable wrist supports to reduce stress and fatigue. Once you have the essentials, you can put such extras on your birthday or Christmas wish lists! Telephone Something as seemingly straightforward as selecting a telephone and the accompanying services is becoming increasingly complex. Not only are there many types of phone, but today there is the added complication of choosing a service provider—Telstra, Optus or one of the many telephone resellers. Offers and prices are constantly changing, so it is worth a little investigation before making your choice. Whichever service provider you select, Telstra will charge you a quarterly ‘service and equipment’ fee. Bear this in mind when comparing prices. Your phone bill may look cheaper with another company, but it may not include your telephone rental. Check who is responsible for repairs or faults. Will this be Telstra or the other company? Telstra sends out quarterly accounts. Other companies may bill you monthly. Is this a problem for you? While deregulation has given you more confusion and frustration along with the wider choice, it may ultimately give you a better financial deal, however. You, as the client, can be the winner from increased competition. And don’t be afraid to change companies when circumstances warrant it. If you can afford it, and your situation would make it useful, install a separate business line. This will make your entire operation

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more professional in an instant. When this telephone rings, you will immediately know it is for business and be able to say confidently, ‘Brunswick Plumbing Services’ without having a friend laugh. The other telephone, your private line, will be freed up for your partner and children—no more arguments there. In addition, you can easily monitor your business telephone expenses, as you will receive a separate bill. If you have only one line, you must separate the charges for private and business calls. Note your STD calls and check them against your itemised telephone account.Your accountant will ask you to estimate what percentage of your calls are for business purposes. This should not be too difficult. If your phone bill is regularly in the order of $100 and rises to $200 once you start working from home, then you know that 50% of your calls are for business.

An outdoor life As a tree surgeon, Piers Laverty does most of his work outdoors. He assesses trees for council development applications, chops down trees in backyards, is involved in tree maintenance and does some pruning, thinning and transplanting. ‘I’ve had an office at home for 12 years and this makes it a lot easier for me as many calls come out of hours,’ he says. ‘I can respond to them at once. In my line of business, if you can’t do that people will go elsewhere.’ He lives at Wahroonga, on Sydney’s North Shore, which he describes as a good central location for his business. ‘There was a big storm five years ago and I worked from 5.30 am until midnight for seven weeks, with one day off in that time. It was good for business but I had to take a long break afterwards to recover. Unless I physically go away, I never seem to be able to get away from work. It follows me home, and work and leisure time get blurred.’ Piers has three main pieces of advice for people working from home: ‘The first is to separate your life and your work;

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that is most important. The second is to make sure you have time for yourself and time to think about what you are doing. The third is to keep on top of everything, including the paperwork.’ His line of work, like many others, is becoming more competitive. He tries to counteract this by choosing his jobs carefully—‘some are not worth doing’—and building up a pool of regular customers for jobs such as seasonal pruning. ‘I used to advertise in the local paper but no longer do so. Inexperienced people will undercut your prices drastically—and then muck up the job. So now I just advertise in the Yellow Pages telephone directory and that has been very successful for me. The beauty of my type of work is that initially there is no big capital investment—I need a chainsaw, ute and climbing gear, and I subcontract a lot of work. It can be an intrusive life, with blokes coming round at seven in the morning to pick up gear. I have built a big garage workshop and have found that makes a big difference. And I get away whenever I can—I was out kayaking when you called, and picked up your message from my pager.’

Other options for distinguishing phone calls, such as Telstra’s Smart Ring, provide up to three different ringing tones in addition to the standard ring. So you can tell who is calling by the sound of the phone ring and hence save the expense of a separate line. But you’ll need to give out different phone numbers to friends and clients. Wherever possible, have a dedicated computer and fax line— that is, a separate line for your Internet connection and fax machine. That way, you will be able to talk on the phone while keeping your fax line free and send faxes while keeping your phone line free. Special phone features are ever-increasing. One useful service for your business may be ‘call waiting’. When you are talking on the telephone, a series of beeps indicates that someone else is calling.

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By putting the first caller on hold, you can speak to the second caller. The advantage of ‘call waiting’ is that you do not miss out on any calls. Previously, if your line was engaged, the person might not have called back and you might have missed out on business. This function can be switched on and off very easily if you find it a distraction after hours or at weekends. ‘Call waiting’ does have its drawbacks. It can be frustrating and inconvenient to interrupt one telephone conversation and go to another. It can also be expensive: if the second caller is from interstate and you arrange to call back, whose telephone bill goes up? My experience is that ‘call waiting’ acts as a magnet, attracting other callers. The telephone will be silent for a couple of hours and then, just when I go to make a call, three people will call me, one after the other. Other phone features that may be useful for your business include the following (these are available from Telstra): •

•

MessageBank—a personalised answering service with different levels of operation. Messages are retrieved by dialling a number and entering your access code; calling number display—you can tell who is calling you (and whether you choose to answer then or at a more convenient time) by means of —a calling number display screen in your telephone, or —purchasing and attaching a separate display screen device to your telephone;

This system can also identify nuisance callers. Do, note, however, that a telephone number can be programmed to registered as ‘private’ and hence not be identified; • •

•

call return—you can retrieve the number of your last unanswered call by dialling *10#; three-way chat—allows you to have conversations with two people at once, so saving time otherwise spent going from one person to another; abbreviated dialling—allows you to save up to 60 interstate and overseas telephone numbers and use a one or two-digit code for rapid dialling;

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call back—a system that will call back an engaged number, hence saving you time and frustration; call control—can bar interstate, international, 190 and some local numbers to stop outgoing calls that may be expensive or inappropriate for work. Can be deactivated with a personal identification number (PIN); call forward—can transfer calls; —to mobile phone, pager, answering service of other phone when you’re out of the office or on the Internet —of selected callers you designate, up to 15 numbers, or —operate during selected times, such as your chosen lunchtime.

New facilities are constantly coming onto the market—and they are getting easier to use. Check with your telephone provider. A mobile telephone can be vital to your business. As Adelaide electrician Bob Flaherty puts it, ‘If people have an [urgent] need for your product or service, you need to be able to respond.’ These days there are any number of mobile phone deals and plans. Exercise caution and pay attention to the adage ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is’. Remember, the cheaper the access plan, the higher the call rate. Some businesspeople use their mobile telephone only for incoming calls. That way, they keep costs to a minimum. Depending on which dealer you go to, you may be automatically connected to their related service—Optus, Telstra and so on. Note that you may choose your dealer as fees and charges—and coverage—differ. Answering machine My answering machine paid for itself with the very first call it recorded. It was an editor ringing to commission a magazine article. I was able to get back to her promptly and accept the offer. The fee covered the cost of the machine. As with other items of office equipment, there are many answering machines on the market. Which one will suit you—a no-frills model for less than $50 or a more sophisticated one with a voice-activated remote control that costs several hundred dollars?

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Do not be swayed by fancy extras. Ask yourself first if you really need them. If you are often out for much of the day and would find it useful to be able to pick up your messages remotely, by all means look at answering machines that offer this option. Otherwise, look for a machine that makes good-quality voice recordings (your outgoing message is part of your professional image) and is reliable. There will certainly be models within your price range, but beware: as the saying goes, ‘The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of the cheap price has faded’. In other words, you get what you pay for. Fax machine According to the Roy Morgan Research Centre, in its October 2001 to September 2002 survey, 17% of Australians and 50% of home business owners have a fax machine at home. With a fax modem connected to your personal computer, however, you can bypass the fax machine and transfer information from one computer to another, eliminating the use of paper altogether. Check out the range of fax machines available, selecting according to your budget and needs. A basic model, where each page has to be fed in singly by hand, can be bought second-hand cheaply. This may be all you require. At the other end of the scale, you can get a machine that uses plain (not heat-sensitive) paper, sends several pages automatically, cuts pages as they come in, and redials if a number is engaged. Perhaps you won’t need to buy a fax machine at all, especially with the advent of email. If you do need one, can you share a machine with a nearby colleague or pay to send and receive faxes at the local post office or business-services shop? Computer Pat Golotta wanted to buy a computer but found herself becoming more and more confused with each store she visited. The salespeople bamboozled her with incomprehensible information and she started to doubt her ability to ever make a decision about buying one. The first question to ask yourself is whether you need a computer. Perhaps you don’t need one yet. Perhaps you will never

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need one. What would a computer do for you that you cannot now do? Or what would a computer do for you more simply, more efficiently and more quickly? As a freelance journalist, I cannot imagine life without one. I can quickly and easily edit my articles, change paragraph and sentence order swiftly, and rapidly print out the final version. No more laborious retyping of entire pages on a typewriter. Instead of tediously searching through thick files, I can retrieve old articles from my hard drive or diskettes. My computer has made me more efficient and productive. This is without even mentioning the Internet (covered in chapter 9). But you must make your own decision. Consult a reputable dealer and have clearly in mind exactly what you want your computer to do for you. You can save a lot of money by bypassing unnecessary software and technical refinements. Why blow your budget on a BMW when a Holden Barina will get you where you want just as well and far more cheaply? And, just as with a car, you do not need to know the details of how and why it works—you just want to be able to get it up and running. Computers, printers, scanners and associated technologies are constantly being upgraded and improved. New products regularly hit the market. Here, however, are the general principles and the essential background. There are two types of computer—PC (personal computer) and Mac (Apple Macintosh). They use different operating systems and, depending on whom you speak to, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. In 2003, some 80% of the world’s computer-owning population use a Windows OS (operating system), 6% use a Mac OS and 14% use Unix. That’s not to say PCs are the superior system, by way of numbers. Before the advent of DVDs, the Beta video system had superior technology but VHS had better marketing, and was adopted. Macs are said to have a superior operating system. One computer salesman, who sold both Macs and PCs, told me, ‘If you want to work, get a Mac. If you want to spend your time getting your computer to work, get a PC’. He considered PCs to be unreliable.

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Those with PCs will inform you that they’re easier to upgrade, as it is easy to change their internal components. PC can be customised to your needs, rather than you having to buy computer A, B or C. This is not possible with an Apple computer. You may like to look at the following websites: http://www.ibm.com and http://concorde.net.au. Mac users will say their computers are more reliable, resulting in more ‘uptime’, while PCs tend to ‘crash and freeze.’ Any company can make the hardware for a PC, such as IBM or Compaq, and compatibility may not always be ideal. Meanwhile Apple has its own operating system, with checks and guarantees. While the perception is that Macs are more expensive, there is not much in it these days and the price includes the cost of the machine, services, repairs and upgrades, which may be more expensive with PCs in the long run. Macs are easier to use and their appearance is pleasing. ‘They’re always the centrepiece of and the first thing you notice in someone’s study,’ says Adam Minns, store manager of Choice Connections, an Apple Centre in Brisbane. He suggests checking out the website at http://www.apple.com and the ‘Switch’ section, which lists the reasons to switch from a PC to a Mac. Macs dominate creative fields such as graphic design and advertising and they do operate seamlessly with PCs. When buying a computer, look at processing power, memory (temporary working space, measured in megabytes—Mb—where 256 is the standard) and hard drive capacity (storage space). When it comes down to details, consider things such as screen size. The standard is now 14 inches and the maximum available is 17 inches. You may want to consider a slim liquid crystal display (LCD) rather than a large, bulky monitor, which will save space and look great. It will, however, cost you about three times as much. You may prefer to buy a notebook, or portable computer, and there are many types available. (The term is now ‘notebook’ rather than ‘laptop’. The speed at which these computers now work heats them up so much they will burn you if you work with them on your lap!) You might select a notebook with a ‘docking station’ so

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you can work on it in the office with a separate keyboard and mouse and then detach it to take to meetings and on travel trips. Wireless connection, using technology such as Bluetooth, connects devices without cables. You can now use your portable printer with your notebook with no physical connection. You can sit in the garden and surf the Internet with a cordless mouse (which now has an optical sensor) without leads trailing back into the house. Whether you go for a PC or a Mac, surge protection is a must— to protect against inconsistencies in power source and lightning strikes. Virus software is also vital. Many viruses are spread through email. Macs are less susceptible to viruses as most originate from PCs. A basic PC may cost $2000 and a notebook anywhere from $1800 to $6000. Macs cost slightly more. Whatever you buy, be aware that the general life of the technology you are buying is about three years. That’s not to say you will need to upgrade or buy another computer in that time: it still may be perfectly suitable for your needs. But, ‘If you want to stay on top of the current technology—both hardware and software— you will need to get a new system after three years at the speed at which things are going these days’, advises Adam. When selecting a printer, consider the speed of printing and the resolution of the print. Colour bubble jet printers cost around $300 upwards and four separate ink cartridges may be required— in black, magenta (pink), cyan (light blue) and yellow. Scanners, which allow you to transfer information by way of newspaper and magazine articles and photographs onto your computer digitally or electronically, are smaller and more compact than ever before. Prices start at $170 for one with reasonable resolution. There are also multifunction centres available. Starting at $250, these incorporate a printer, scanner and photocopier in one unit. ISP connection When selecting an ISP (Internet service provider), consider the following factors:

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speed of connection download limits price of plan number of hours.

Broadband Internet access This fast new way of accessing the Internet has been available in Australia since about 2000. Much faster than dial-up access (up to 26 times according to Ozemail and 50 times according to Telstra), it uses your existing phone line, and converts say they can never return to the old way of operation. You can talk on the phone and use the Internet at the same time. The key advantages of Broadband Internet access are: • •

•

one telephone line for phone, fax and Internet, thus saving on the rental costs of an additional telephone line; the Internet is ‘always on’, making it convenient for you and also cheaper as you save on dial-up costs. That may just be the cost of a local call but if you’re dialling up several times a day that can soon mount up to a significant annual amount; and faster Internet access, making it very difficult to return to dialup access.

‘It would be like going from a luxury car to an old bomb,’ says Stuart Grey, public affairs manager for Broadband and Online Services at Telstra. ‘It’s just so quick and easy, absolutely ideal for working from home and cost-effective. With our plans, download speeds vary from 256 to 1500 kbps for ADSL and Cable. The best speed depends on how many are on the service at the time but is generally more than 2000 kbps.’ Broadband has a download speed of at least 200 kbps—compare that with a dial-up 56 kbps modem which, if you’re lucky, can get up to speeds between 45 and 50 kbps. Prices for connection start from around $50 a month, increasing with your particular requirements. There is also an instalment cost of a few hundred dollars using a technician. You can halve this amount by installing the new modem required yourself. The telephone line also needs to be set up for Broadband Internet access

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but you can keep the same telephone provider. Check with the various companies that can provide this service. For further information on Broadband Internet access, there are a couple of informative websites (http://www.bigpond.com/broadband/ and http://www.ozemail.com.au/broadband).

Computer talk ‘Do I need a computer for my home business?’ If the answer is ‘yes’, work through the following checklist. • • • •

•

What do I want the computer to do/what applications do I need for my home business? Decide on the software—the computer programs you need. (This may dictate your choice of hardware—PC or Mac.) Decide on the hardware—the mechanical and electrical parts of the computer; the actual computer. Decide on the printer—dot matrix, inkjet or bubble, or laser printer. When selecting software, hardware and the printer, consider price and performance. Balance this against your budget and your work requirements. Do I want to rent, lease or buy? Which is the best financial option, which choice allows you to upgrade? Speak to your accountant about tax deductions and the best option for you.

Computer tips •

•

Do your research before you go to the store. Beware of the computer salesman who steers you towards top-of-the-range technology just for the sake of it. Will you ever make use of this in your home business? Look for a salesperson interested in your requirements. Familiarise yourself by reading computer books, magazines and newspaper articles such as the IT section in Tuesday’s

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Australian newspaper (also available on-line at http://www. australianIT.com.au). Be wary of what your best friend and neighbour have told or shown you. The needs for your home business may be very different. Consider attending a basic computer course, run by local colleges or computer stores.

Filing cabinets These provide valuable storage space and can fit unobtrusively beneath your desk or in a corner of the room. (Do check that, once they are in position, you can fully open the office door!) Filing cabinets come in two-, three- and four-drawer sizes. A two-drawer filing cabinet costs about $150, a four-drawer one about $225. ‘I often have people come back and say they wished they had bought a larger filing cabinet in the first place,’ says Terry Black. ‘The space is soon filled up, especially now that people are required to keep five years’ worth of tax records.’ A four-drawer filing cabinet also lets you avoid stooping—until you fill the lower drawers. With a two-drawer unit, you constantly have to bend down to retrieve and file documents. Buy new filing cabinets if you can. Second-hand ones may be chipped or battered and come with no warranty. They can cost $180 to $200, so how much are you really saving? If interior frames are missing, it will cost around $7 per drawer to replace them so you can use suspension folders. Most people use metal filing cabinets, which come in a selection of office colours—grey, white, pastel—with a five-year guarantee. If you are going for a smarter look, you may consider laminated board or timber laminate filing cabinets. Both are dearer than metal filing cabinets; timber laminate can cost several hundred dollars. Examine the runners on any filing cabinet. The more there are, the more the carrying capacity and the longer the cabinet will last, as paper is heavy!

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If it is space you are after, metal filing cabinets give the best value for money, with about 55 mm more storage room per drawer than other types. You will also need to buy suspension folders— about $30 for a box of 50. Don’t imagine that filing cabinets are either secure or fireproof. ‘They will keep out honest people,’ says Terry, ‘but others will jimmy off the front of the cabinet if they want to get into it.’ Though metal filing cabinets may be a little safer in a fire than wooden ones, they will not protect the paper inside from charring. If in doubt, do not store valuable and sensitive material in your filing cabinet. For full protection from fire, you will need a Chubb cabinet that costs several hundred dollars. All in one Cut down on the decisions and the gadgets by combining them. These days you can get a telephone, answering machine, fax and photocopier all in one unit. This may suit your present needs, but bear in mind that in the combined fax machine and telephone only one can be used at any one time, and that if one component breaks down, you will have to do without them all while the unit is repaired. Note also that the photocopying facility on the fax machine may use light-sensitive paper and so is unsuitable for copies you want to keep long-term.

The work system You will find you work more efficiently and comfortably if you have a short task break every 30 minutes. If you know a particular job will take you an hour, propose to pause halfway. When working at the computer or sitting for long periods of time, aim to take a regular task break. Ergonomist Jeffrey Frith says, ‘You should not spend more than 50% of your time at the computer, so as to limit the risk of occupational overuse syndrome. Keep your work varied. Alternate time at the computer with paperwork, making telephone calls, filing.’ When you sit, your circulation slows down. Your body weight compresses your muscles, making it harder for the blood to

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circulate. Compare it to folding a hose to restrict the flow—the water can still get through, but not so efficiently. So get up every half hour—restore the circulation! Stand up and stretch. Breathe in and out deeply. Have a tea break. Listen to a music track. Take a short walk in the garden. You will find your work tolerance dramatically improves after a break of just a few minutes. When your eyes are fixed at the same focal length—as when working on the computer or reading—they can get strained. So take a minute now and then to exercise your eyes. Look at a poster on the wall or look out of the window. Gazing into the distance alters the focal length of your eye muscles and relaxes them. Listen to your body. Pain is a sign that something is wrong. Do not ignore it. If your neck, arms or shoulders feel sore while you are working, stop and consider why. Perhaps your chair or work position needs to be adjusted. Physiotherapists are used to treating the kinds of aches and pains that result when people set up a computer on a spare table or sit on a kitchen chair in their home office. Such problems are almost invariably related to posture and, while treatment will relieve the symptoms, prevention is vital. Do not work too long in one position or with your desk or chair at the wrong height. Rather than spending an entire day each month preparing and sending out invoices, avoid the inevitable stiff back by doing a little each day over a week. Alternatively, break up the task into a series of smaller ones: fold accounts in batches, then put them into envelopes and seal them, rather than doing all this at once.

Time management Time management lies at the heart of a productive home-based business. Set up a routine and consider your hours of work, contact hours and work structure. The golden rule is working smarter rather than working harder. The following advice and experience of several home-based businesses includes both family and single lifestyles. Additional information can be found in the index under the headings of related topics: ‘organisation’, ‘routine’ and ‘procrastination’.

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Denise Fisher (whose case history appears in detail in chapter 9) admits she was not well-organised when she started out: ‘I hadn’t thought out exactly where the business was going or where I actually wanted to take it. So the direction and focus wasn’t there.’ As student numbers for her online health course grew along with trips to deposit money at the bank, she realised that her parttime nursing job, alongside her family commitments, was not allowing her enough time to adequately run the home business. ‘So I resigned from my employed position. Time management wasn’t critical then as I only had to manage a part-time workload.’ That all changed as her business grew to a full-time one. Says Denise, ‘I try to work office hours, getting house chores done before everyone leaves for work or school (when I’m more likely to get help), and getting to my desk by 8 or 8.30 am.’ Planning your work day is essential. ‘I found that if I didn’t schedule breaks then I would just keep working, with quick trips out to the fridge and back to my desk to eat. Now I mostly have coffee breaks at my desk but I make a point of stopping for an hour at lunchtime. I make myself a proper lunch, which I take outside and eat in the garden. To make sure I have that break, I set my virus checker to run at 12.30 pm—that slows everything down and so it is frustrating to continue working on the computer.’ Denise is aware of sitting too long at the computer: ‘I have a routine of stretches which I run through. They seem to help me avoid the “falling asleep at the computer” stage mid-afternoon.’ She works until her husband returns from work. ‘We usually have a drink together and a chat. We’ll have tea and then come back in and work through until 10 pm or so four nights out of seven. My day does get interrupted a lot when the family is at home—“Mum, can you drop me at the train station?”, “Mum, come and have a look at this”, or deep and meaningful conversations that one has with teenagers/young adults. I usually don’t begrudge these—this is the best reason for having a home office, so that I am there for my family if and when they need me. They are reasonable when I say “No, I’m too busy”. I also interrupt my day to do the washing, duck down to the shops or be there for

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tradesmen. I do try to limit these interruptions. Phone calls from friends are my downfall. I have a separate line for business calls— so I have no reason to even pick up the home line when I’m working but I just can’t help myself. I have no skills at cutting short a chatty phone call. I just add the work that wasn’t done during the day onto the evening workload. And that’s not desirable.’ Denise does, however, plan. She starts her work day with routine—checking administration emails and her online health course emails, and marking assignments before moving on to her ‘to do’ list. ‘I make that up each morning on a whiteboard. I put up major tasks and under them all the small tasks to be done in order to achieve them. I take pleasure in the small things in life, like putting a big tick through something that has been completed. This is what has been the most effective tool to stop me procrastinating. Having what I am to achieve that day written down really helps to keep me focused.’ Denise also uses the computer program Outlook to plan her day (‘the big picture’) and for reminders, appointments and her contact list. Her pocket PC syncs with this and also contains Work and Excel. ‘So I can continue to work on documents, make appointments or look up contacts when I’m out of the office and waiting at the doctor, dentist or hairdresser,’ she says.

Room with a view As visual artists, Agnieszka Golda and her husband Martin Johnson find nothing unusual in working from home. ‘Artists are traditionally self-employed and cost would be a big factor in renting an outside studio,’ they say. ‘We are always trying to do things cheaply and simply.’ The couple, who are in their late 20s, have lived and studied in Victoria and South Australia. Agnieszka was able to paint in the spare bedroom of their upstairs Melbourne apartment, but the neighbours complained when Martin took to his wood

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sculpting with a hammer and chisel. ‘It took us three days in a paddock with a handsaw to obtain the log, and now the entire flat was vibrating as Martin worked on it,’ says Agnieszka. He was banished to a corner of the downstairs garage but the noise still echoed from there. There was relief all round when the couple moved to Adelaide. They now live in a large detached cottage on the outskirts of the city. ‘The location is ideal,’ says Martin, ‘just a few minutes’ drive from town, and close to Port Adelaide from where I obtain recycled wood.’ They also enjoy the peace and quiet. ‘If you can create a relaxing atmosphere around you, you will produce work a lot more easily,’ says Agnieszka. ‘In the hustle and bustle of the city, you can get easily stressed. This is a peaceful suburb and we have a large garden, with a bench on which I place my paintings to dry. My philosophy is, create your own environment to feel inspired.’ Agnieszka has an entire room set aside for her art, while Martin has converted a vast area with a concrete floor at the back of the house into his studio. They intend, with council permission, to extend this into the ample back garden. For Martin and Agnieszka, the advantages of being homebased include the ability to focus on their work, at their own pace, without distractions; the freedom of work hours; and the unregimented lifestyle. Agnieszka likes to work late into the night, while Martin is an early riser. A home studio gives more flexibility than a rented studio with set hours of use. Passionate about their art, this couple never find motivation a problem: they have a focus—perhaps working towards an exhibition—and a daily plan. They set themselves goals, and a time frame in which to achieve those goals. And they make sure they keep a balance between work and leisure. ‘We aim to have regular exhibitions,’ says Agnieszka. ‘As emerging artists, we are aware that it can take years to get a reputation, so we keep costs down as much as possible—making our own frames and

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stretching our own canvases.’ They have already had several solo exhibitions, and have regular showings at a South Australian gallery. Other income comes from commissions—one of Martin’s paintings has been reproduced on a Peter Lehmann wine label— and part-time work—Agnieszka sometimes teaches textile design to students. ‘We are not looking for regular part-time work, as this would take us away from our art,’ Martin says. ‘We have had to make sacrifices but we have chosen to do so,’ Agnieszka concedes. ‘We don’t eat out or go to movies and the car is an old bomb. I buy my clothes at op shops—that can be interesting and unusual. Now I wonder whether I would go to an expensive boutique if I had the money, I’m not used to spending more than $1.20 on a jacket!’ For couples living and working together, Agnieszka and Martin offer these tips: keep your personal and professional lives separate; respect your partner and be supportive; be open and truthful with one another; and pursue your own interests. Each of them has their own style and approach to their work and both say that any competition between them is healthy. ‘We are one another’s best friends and have found that working from home has brought us closer together.’

Journalist Paula Ruzek has spent her whole career (22 years and counting) being driven by deadlines. By now, meeting them is automatic. ‘I don’t actually think of it as “time management” any more, I think of it as work management,’ she says. Her techniques include: •

Forward planning. A job has to be completed by a specific day. Working backward from that date, you break that job down into its discrete components and the date by which each needs to be completed in order to finish the job on time. Always allow some padding in your dates, because somewhere along the way someone else will screw up your deadline. Says Paula: ‘I also do

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a one-page plan each Sunday night of my work schedule for the coming week: what I need to do, where I need to be by what time, who I need to call/email, what is due by what date. This helps prioritise work, ensuring that I complete first the work closest to deadline.’ Being task-focused rather than time-focused. Home-based workers need greater discipline than office workers, and establishing a work routine is important when you first start out. ‘But over time I have found that I don’t have to be rigid in the hours I work or the time I get into the office,’ Paula says. ‘A regular starting time is good (I like to start by 10 am), but being rigid takes away one of the benefits of being home-based. I aim to complete a certain number of jobs or tasks in my working hours, things that have to be done in order to keep me on or ahead of schedule. If the tasks take only six hours, I get some time off. If the tasks take 10 hours, then I work harder and include an evening session.’

Paula has found that some procrastination or gazing out the window is inevitable, as you cannot maintain concentration and focus indefinitely, no matter what the environment. ‘An advantage of home-based work is that you can take some guilt-free breaks with no-one making you feel like a slacker,’ she says. ‘Again, focus on the tasks you wish to achieve for the day, rather than putting in a set number of hours.’ Work tends to be divided into things that are easier to do and things that are harder to do. Your day’s tasks will be a combination of these, but they all need to be done. If you are having a slow start to the day, then do some of the easier things first to get yourself moving. Set yourself to tackle the hardest job straight after a break or lunch. Or if you are feeling great in the morning, tackle the hardest job first. For a large, difficult job, set yourself to do it on a particular day. You know it is coming and you mentally prepare to do it. Think about how good it will be at the end of the day when you have completed it. A feeling of achievement will come each day from crossing the tasks off your list; it often won’t matter what order they are done

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in, as long as they are all done. ‘A task/job list achieved is a productive day,’ Paula says. Time management is vital to your success—in more ways than one. Bob Ansett has found that the biggest challenge in operating a home-based business lies in limiting the amount of time spent in the business. ‘Others I have spoken to face the same problem,’ says this marketing business manager. ‘It’s just too easy to step into the home office early in the morning or late at night. You must discipline yourself to observe reasonable working hours and not indulge in excessive ones.’ Real-estate adviser and writer Jan Somers considers herself good at time management for work but not for household jobs. Does this ring a bell with you? Says Jan, ‘I love just about everything I do, so every morning I just can’t wait to get started. Cleaning the kitchen and doing the laundry just get in the way. Even when I am at the gym, which is most days, I am thinking about particular angles and ways of doing things so I can start with new ideas as soon as I get home.’ So how does she deal with work-related tasks? ‘I tend to leave all the “must-do” but “don’t like” bits until the afternoon and that clears things for the next day. When I get overwhelmed by these nasty necessities, I write a “to do” list and that helps. For me, to do the things you don’t like first up in the morning is a waste of brain space at my peak thinking time.’ What is your most efficient time? Morning, afternoon, evening or night? Plan your day accordingly in order to achieve the most from work. Publisher and author Jill Morris is another advocate of the ‘to do’ list. ‘Ticking items off is very satisfying,’ she laughs. ‘Even if you lose the list, your subconscious will remember the details.’ In fact, the mere action of writing down tasks is an important one. It focuses the mind and makes you far more likely to accomplish them. Jill advocates setting realistic goals ‘plus an imaginative wild desire’ at the start of each year. ‘At the same time, check last year’s list and see how many of the goals you can tick off.’ In other words, look at short- and long-term goals.

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View from a room At the age of 9, Jill Morris sat down by a waterfall in the rainforest at Binna Burra and wrote a poem about her father who had died as a result of the Second World War. ‘I haven’t stopped writing since then,’ she says. Now, living with her husband Richard on 2.5 hectares of her own rainforest outside Maleny, 100 kilometres north of Brisbane, she has published some 100 books and uses the natural environment to inspire other writers, illustrators and musicians. Jill runs workshops for children, school groups and adults, linking writing, drama and the environment. Her house, Book Farm, is set among rolling green hills and is also the home of the children’s publishing and production house Greater Glider Productions, which she co-founded in Melbourne in 1983 (see http://www.greaterglider.com). She and Richard now live in the hexagonal timber house they designed and built. The dwelling is one large open-plan area, with bedroom upstairs, and has the maximum amount of glass to provide sensational 360-degree views. Unlike writer Peter Goldsworthy, who works in a small office to avoid distractions, Jill says, ‘My inspiration for creativity does not come from sitting at the end of a long white corridor on office furniture. For me, it comes from the environment, the changing environment.’ Watching two kookaburras on a branch was the inspiration for Kookaburra School, and she wrote Silly Baby Magpie after seeing a baby magpie parading in front of its parents outside her window. Jill’s company now works with 20 authors and 25 illustrators, and releases 10 books a year. Titles include a series of environment art books on which Jill collaborated with Melbourne artist Lynne Tracey. ‘We aim to produce informative and stunning beautiful books which look at the preservation of the natural environment.’ Husband Richard has a small business as a fitter and turner. ‘But he’s really an inventor, creating prototypes for irreplaceable

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boat, car, tractor and harvestor parts,’ Jill explains. Richard also handles the stock control, bookkeeping and physical maintenance for Greater Glider Productions. Jill’s dynamic centre of publishing may be no more than a dining room table but it can reach out to writers and editors, designers and illustrators, marketers and production managers, all working from their own bases all over Australia. And the beauty of her situation is the flexibility—the ability to choose and change work location. Her first home office was her large 4WD. The project, working on a series of books for the federal government to celebrate the Bicentenary in 1988, involved much travel. ‘For a long time, my business was conducted from the car, I went to Melbourne nine times,’ says Jill.‘This was in the days before mobile phones. I did a lot of editing and writing on the way, stopping to fax people on my journey’. When Richard was working on the fireplace at Book Farm, Jill rented a couple of offices in Maleny for a few months.‘Cement and publishing do not mix,’ she laughs. As for the offices, ‘I painted one pink to give a homey feel to it’. Back in her home office, she weighs up the pros and cons of home-based work. ‘You must be working in your passion,’ she insists,‘as it is with you day and night.’ Working in a rural setting, contact with the outside world is vital. ‘That column and wall in the middle of the room is the communication centre, with the phone and fax. But we have power failures, storms and blackouts. Another disadvantage is that we’re 9 kilometres from town,’ she says—a bit of a journey to use the photocopier or catch the post. On the other hand, when she gets up from her computer regularly, as is recommended, she may feed the chooks, water the vegetables or revel in her beautiful surroundings. ‘People get terribly excited after they’ve visited. They’ll call from Melbourne saying, “You lucky thing, how’s the rainforest?” The printers love coming here. So we certainly have a positive company profile.’ Jill maintains it is vital to link to appropriate networks for your home business. Hers include the Chamber of Commerce,

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Tourism Queensland and Tourism Sunshine Coast, the Australian Society of Authors, the Queensland Writers’ Centre and the Society of Editors. ‘I believe the industry gets better if you share rather than compete. Competing is counterproductive. The big strength of most small businesses is that they have a niche. If you’re in a network, people send you the leads that are right for you and you send on leads’. She loves her work—but that can be tricky. ‘If you are so passionate that you turn your hobbies into work and business, what do you then do for a hobby? I was struggling for an answer and then I discovered permaculture, organic gardening and bush tucker. I need to feel I’m learning something and it is fulfilling. We’re aiming for environmental sustainability.’

Kate Thomas of Splash Public Relations believes that, unfortunately, when running a small business, time management can be one of the first things to go out of the window: ‘People often think they are on call 24 hours.’ Here are Kate’s tips to make sure your work doesn’t become overwhelming or stale: 1. Like any business, set opening and closing contact times. Mine are 9 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Friday, and I do not take telephone calls after these hours. I will, however, make calls and respond to emails should I need to. This system means that clients cannot set new tasks for me but that I can get things done if I need to. My answer machine will take calls outside of my contact times and I can respond on the next working day. For emergencies, my mobile phone is a client’s point of contact. I have set this up as a work contact point only, so if it rings I know the matter is urgent. 2. I recommend investing in and setting up good systems for your business. I have a system that sets out my clients’ jobs by priority and gives me tasks to achieve each day. You also need good computer equipment and support, as it can be frustrating

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and time-consuming if the computer constantly crashes or your software is incompatible with that of your clients. 3. Even if your office is in the house, it is a good policy to shut the door at the end of your set day, like locking up the work office. 4. Look at the structure of your day and week. I always spend the first half hour of each day on administration, and I have set days for certain tasks. For example, I do my accounts on Friday afternoon. If I finish them early, I get an extra mark so there is a reward for completing a task that is not a favourite one.

Review When setting up your home office, consider: • • • •

location—have a dedicated, separate area if possible; contents—work through the office equipment checklist early in this chapter. Decide whether to rent, lease or buy; design and layout; ergonomics—short, frequent breaks are better than longer, infrequent ones. Changes in posture reduce fatigue. Take short walks and breathe fresh air to stimulate your creativity.

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4

Money matters

Money matters

ichael Pope was content. Business was going well. Orders for his pottery vases were flooding in from local stores and markets, and he was never short of work. Although he was putting in long hours, he was enjoying the satisfaction of being his own boss and using his artistic skills. He was happy and fulfilled—until he came to look at his earnings. After Michael had paid for his materials, other bills such as gas, electricity and telephone, and living expenses—food and rent—he was left with very little indeed. ‘It’s just not worth it,’ he grumbled. ‘I would have been better off sticking with my clerical job.’ But he decided to give his business another go. He doubled the price of his vases. ‘That will give me a reasonable income,’ he told himself.

M

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Suddenly demand dropped. Few of his customers were prepared to pay the new price. Those who were asked whether they could pay in instalments, and Michael readily agreed. Yet all at once he had far fewer customers but just as many bills—bills that he was no longer able to pay. Where did Michael go wrong? In several areas. He had not prepared a business plan at the outset, and he had not done any research into costing. He had simply set a price that he thought the stores and markets would pay. He had not calculated the cost of his materials and his labour. Nor had he looked at what his competitors were charging, what similar vases were fetching or what people were prepared to pay. Then, by suddenly doubling the price of his product, he effectively put himself out of business. By far Michael’s gravest mistake was that he ignored the importance of cash flow. He had to learn the hard way that a business can survive without profits, but it cannot survive without cash flow. What should Michael have done to keep his business in the black and avoid a return to paper shuffling? First, he should have looked more closely at costing from the start. After calculating what his materials and labour were worth, he could have added a 30% profit margin and checked to see whether his clients would pay the total amount. This would have prevented his having to extend credit to his customers and ensured that, when the bills came in, he had the cash to pay them. He could also have diversified into other products—smaller vases, mugs or plates that did not take so long to make and would have generated more profit. Carried away by the prospect of doing what he loved for a living, Michael failed to study in-depth the economics of his venture. Kate McLauchlan was eager to get going with her typing and writing business. She gave notice to her employer and, over the next month, she set up a home office, leased a computer and printer, bought a fax and answering machine, and stocked up on office supplies. Unlike Michael, she was successful from the outset. Her previous employer was happy to supply her with work and

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recommend her to others. Friends and acquaintances made good use of her quick and efficient, high-quality and well-priced service. Before going into business for herself, Kate had accurately assessed the likely demand for her services. She had built up a list of prospective clients and had priced her services at a level that was within the market range and also provided her with a reasonable profit. She had also taken into account that her income might be low at first, as the business found its feet, so she made sure she had savings to back her up for the first few months. Like Michael, Kate was happy and fulfilled—until the time came to fill in her tax return. Her accountant’s words filled her with dismay. She faced a tax bill of over $14 000. How on earth would she be able to pay it? She had only $3000 in savings. She had put some of her profits back into the business and spent other money on clothes and holidays. Kate had not frittered her money away, but neither had she prepared herself for this eventuality. And now, like Michael, she had put herself out of business. Unlike Michael, though, she had done very well in her two years of trading. Had Kate consulted an accountant earlier, she would still be in business, as she would have been advised to put money aside in a separate account for tax, and told about possible tax deductions. Because a computer can be depreciated for tax purposes at 50% a year, for example, she would have been better off buying rather than leasing the computer. Seeing the accountant early could have saved Kate’s business. The point here is that it makes sense to see an accountant before you go into business.

Talking tax A home business is just like any other—whatever you make you have to share with the tax man. There are important tax planning matters that you should really talk about, early, with your accountant—GST and PAYG instalments, tax records, the most

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appropriate accounting system, the deductions you might claim, whether or not to incorporate a company, etc. It will cost you not to talk to your accountant. When it comes to tax deductions, ask whether you are maintaining a home study or workshop, or running a business from home. A home study is any convenient space where you set up your work. Running a business from home involves having a space that is used exclusively for business purposes, such as a doctor’s consulting room or the shed set aside especially for making and marketing your widgets. Spaces that clients come to but your family usually doesn’t.

Maintaining a home office, study or workshop If you have a home office, you can claim only running expenses related to that space. Deductions must be based on the time it is used as an office, and can include a proportion of: light and power costs, telephone expenses, cleaning and maintenance. You may also be able to claim depreciation on furniture and fittings and your professional library. Running a business from home If you are truly operating a ‘home business’, this is likely to be you. As well as the running expenses listed above, you may claim a proportion of the occupancy expenses associated with your whole house—repairs, council and water rates, home and contents insurance, mortgage interest or rent. However, if you sell the house that contains your place of business, you may have to pay a capital gains tax on the sale. Running a business from home may also entitle you to deduct fuller travel expenses. Ask your accountant for advice and details on all these matters and the records you must keep. Remember that, by law, your tax records need to be kept for five years.

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Before you start See an accountant! Brisbane accountant Darryl O’Brien believes the person who wants to work from home has a distinct personality. ‘He or she wants to be their own boss and would relish dealing directly with clients,’ he says. ‘After going through the legislation, tax rules and administration required, some are miffed or disillusioned by the paperwork needed. Yet the vast majority are keen to continue. But if you’re not keen on responsibility, the business headaches of being selfemployed and the lack of social contact when working from home, you may want to reconsider,’ he warns. An accountant will look at the viability of your business. ‘People have brought me business concepts and I’ve told them not to proceed for economic reasons. It’s a question of being realistic— you need to ask yourself why you want to work from home and whether you’re better off working for an employer.’ Darryl considers the main reasons for working from home to be low overheads and flexibility, but you must bear in mind that this may be only a temporary option. ‘Certain occupations can get to the point where they can’t get any bigger unless they acquire premises and staff,’ he notes. An accountant will help you look at the many legal, financial and managerial aspects involved in setting up your own business, home-based or not. They’ll tell you about the need to keep records, do bookkeeping, prepare financial statements and tax returns, and give you information about registering a business name. If you are buying an established business, your accountant can look at the past business records and tell you whether this is likely to be a good decision or not. They can also advise on franchises. If you employ someone else, they can organise such things as group tax and superannuation payments, as well as help you decide on your business’s structure: whether it should be a sole trader, a partnership, a limited liability company or a trust (see chapter 2). This is important, because if your business booms after a year and you decide to change its structure, the transfer

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might include capital gains tax and stamp duty and could cost you big money. Your accountant will advise on registrations such as the ABN (Australian Business Number) and GST (Goods and Services Tax). Again, incorrect procedures here can cost you a lot in tax. In some respects an accountant is like a GP. ‘If there are specific problems, we can act as a referral point to someone experienced in the area, perhaps a solicitor who can deal with partnership agreements and legal franchising advice,’ Darryl explains. An hour with an accountant, assessing whether your homebased business is a practical proposition, is an hour well spent. It may cost you between $150 to $200, but how much better to pay that now than to pay hundreds more to sort out your mess later! And, as the saying goes, ‘Don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions. They’re easier to handle than dumb mistakes.’ It is wise to also consider consulting a solicitor, so as to ‘temper and combine the advice from your accountant’, according to Brisbane solicitor Cameron Hughes. ‘A solicitor can ensure that it’s legal for your proposed business to be conducted from home and advise on other issues such as public liability insurance. He or she should act as a partner to the business owner in providing ongoing advice and assistance on business financing, debtor control and other matters.’ The New Tax System On 1 July 2000, the Australian government introduced tax reform intended to make the tax system ‘fairer for all Australians and more streamlined for business’. Detailed information is available on the website www.ato.gov.au under Business, but the main points are as follows. ABN You will need to register for an Australian Business Number and quote this on all your invoices. The exception is if you are working as a hobbyist and do not expect to generate ‘a reasonable expec-

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tation of profit’. Check with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) if you’re unsure. An ABN is obtained free of charge by filling in the appropriate application form in the registration package for the New Tax System. Call 13 24 78 for a package to be posted out. Alternatively, you may register electronically through the Business Entry Point at www.business.gov.au or via your accountant through the Electronic Lodgement System. This single identifying number is to be used whenever dealing with the ATO, together with your private tax file number. GST If your income is more than $50 000 per year, you do not have a choice—you must register to be part of the Goods and Services Tax system. You may do this free of charge on the same application as for an ABN. This broad-based tax of 10% on most goods and services replaces the wholesale sales tax, which applied taxes at varying rates to a range of products. Registering means that you will have to include 10% GST on the goods and services you provide. You will now, however, be able to claim input tax credits— the GST on purchases of items for your business. If the income from your business is less than $50 000 per year, you decide yourself whether or not to register for GST. Opting out means you cut down on your paperwork and time spent dealing with your accountant and the tax office. On the other hand, you will not be able to claim input tax credits. Consult your accountant or the ATO if in doubt. BAS The Business Activity Statement is the form on which you need to report your business tax entitlements and obligations, including GST—both the amount you have paid out on acquisitions and the amount payable on taxable supplies you have made. You may lodge your BAS, monthly or quarterly (if your annual turnover is less than $20 million!), by mail, electronically, or through your accountant.

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PAYG The Pay As You Go system replaces previous systems, including provisional tax. Intended to simplify the collection of income tax, your PAYG obligation will be entered on your BAS. For or against? Judi and Peter Jaques of Cork ‘n’ Fork Winery Tours have chosen to prepare and pay quarterly BAS instalments. ‘We like the GST,’ says Judi. ‘It’s easy, and paying your tax off throughout the year does not give you such a slog at the end of the financial year.’ They did not, however, operate a business under the old tax system. ‘My brother did, and he said the changeover was a nightmare but things are coming together now.’ Advised by their accountant to use the free record system provided by the ATO, Judi says e-record is great for a small business: ‘We use it for our invoicing and daily records, and even profit and loss statements on a daily basis if we so choose. The system works out the BAS and we email it to our accountant.’

A grape business Judi Jaques drives people to drink. Then she drives them back home again. She and husband Peter started Cork ‘n’ Fork Winery Tours in January 2001 to give people a personalised and stressfree experience at the wineries of Tamborine and district in Queensland. ‘We enjoyed travelling around Australia in our time off and each trip always included a wine tour,’ says Judi, ‘so when I decided to give up nursing and start a business, this came to mind.’ Working in tourism seemed an ideal solution. ‘We jumped onto the Net and checked the government office, through SmartLicence, and Tourism Queensland to see how many

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operators for winery tours there were in the area. There was noone. Then we made appointments with each of the winery owners in the area, told them what our plans were and they embraced us with open arms. Six weeks from that date, I was licensed and on the road.’ They started with one 14-seater vehicle and now have another, which seats 22. ‘I was very green as far as marketing was concerned,’ Judi admits, adding that the advertising they did in local papers was money wasted. ‘Today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fish wrapper, plus it wasn’t getting to our market,’ she says. The advertising time frame was too short and holidaymakers were unlikely to be reading the paper on a daily basis. These days, Judi gets 50% of her clientele through her website (at http://www.corknfork.com.au) and another 20% from the Gold Coast publication What’s On, found in every hotel room. A further 10%–15% comes direct from accommodation places, in which Judi has left brochures and pays commission for bookings, and the remainder comes from word of mouth. ‘I pay $400 per year to the Internet search engines Google and Yahoo to be listed under “winery tours” for the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Queensland.’ The hosted wine tours include wine tastings, lunch and visits to six local wineries on a day trip. There are also two-day tours including an overnight stay. Judi encourages locals with a discount and collects people from the Gold Coast, 40 minutes’ drive away, and from Brisbane, 50 minutes’ drive away. Judi and Peter have researched their market well, catering to all tastes. They offer a Big Grog and Grape Escape, with a trip to the Bearded Dragon pub and tastings of 13 imported beers and matching fare, a visit to the world’s smallest legal distillery, and there are fruit juices for teetotallers. The awardwinning business has doubled its bookings in the past six months. ‘The Internet has been a wonderful tool,’ says Judi.

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‘Without it, things would have been much harder and taken much longer.’

Aldy Johnston who, with husband George, runs Secrets on the Lake, admits a quarterly statement has made her more disciplined. ‘Doing this annually is not the way to run a business,’ she claims. ‘You need to look at expenditure and profit far more frequently than that.’ Journalist Paula Ruzek says the advent of the GST has had no effect on the level of her business. ‘I am obliged to charge GST, but all my work is done for businesses that can claim it back so it has not been a deterrent to using my services,’ she says. ‘At the time it was introduced I was writing a payroll newsletter, so I had to learn all about the New Tax System, GST, the BAS and all its attendant bits and pieces so I could write about it. That actually made it all pretty easy for me, because I was paying close attention.’ Paula completes her BAS quarterly and takes care of the paperwork daily, so she always knows where she stands.‘I know how much of the money in the bank is mine and how much belongs to the Tax Office,’ she says. ‘At the end of the quarter I just have to add up the columns, fill in the BAS and write the cheque, which takes about three hours.’ The discipline invoked by completing the BAS has also provided Paula with the best income and expenditure figures she has ever had for her business: ‘Working solo, I never really paid close attention to things like quarterly figures: I just wanted to know if I was earning enough to pay the bills and stash some cash away. Now, I know where every dollar comes from and goes to, which is good. But, somehow, I still resent having to do the BAS!’ So does real-estate adviser and writer Jan Somers: ‘Doing the BAS quarterly is a complete and utter waste of time and gets in the way of my train of thought. I did it quarterly the first year, resented every minute of it and it took weeks to do. Now I have opted for annual provisional instalments and hand it all to my accountant

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with the other tax information just once a year. It still means additional accounting with three columns instead of one for every item but at least annually is far better than quarterly.’ Author and publisher Jill Morris believes the GST has ruined the Australian independent publishing industry. ‘There was previously no sales tax on the production of books,’ she says. ‘Surveys now show that the predicted 10% decrease in the industry has come through as 19%.’ She is dismissive of claims that a quarterly BAS ‘will make you keep more meticulous books’. Says Jill, ‘We were doing that before the GST.’ Bob Ansett sees GST reporting as no problem: ‘I have used computer software that gives daily, weekly and monthly profit and loss statements. So it was a simple adjustment to update this and have it produce the required BAS, which I do quarterly. Personally, I believe the GST has had a positive effect on small business as it has forced operators into running current profit and loss accounts plus, in many instances, cash flow forecasts.’ Kate Thomas of Splash Public Relations also completes a quarterly BAS. ‘Don’t let the paying affect your cash flow,’ she warns. ‘We have set up a GST account with the bank and regularly calculate GST and PAYE, setting this amount aside. Then we can make payments without affecting our day-to-day accounts. Sure, it’s a bit more accounting work, but we have a good computer program (MYOB) and quite straightforward invoicing so it’s not too difficult.’ Different viewpoints and different ways of reporting. So, quarterly or annual BAS—it’s your choice.

Suited to the job Melbourne-based journalist and desktop publisher Paula Ruzek is pleased with her decision in January 1990 to quit her job with a national business magazine and work for herself from home. ‘I’m very suited to this lifestyle,’ she says, ‘I have the skills and the right mental discipline.’

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Paula specialises in the production aspects of publications, including editing, desktop publishing, proofreading, overall management of the publication process, and liaising with other specialists (such as printers) in the production chain. She also continues to write when the work comes her way. ‘If a client wants me to write, then I write,’ she says. Paula used the holiday pay and other money she got on leaving Business Review Weekly to buy the equipment she needed, and launched into full-time work straight away. ‘When I started at the Age newspaper as a subeditor in 1984, I worked from 6 pm until 1 am. That gave me the capacity to freelance during the day and I started picking up regular work.’ Freelancing became more difficult once she moved to Business Review Weekly four years later. ‘This was a day job, from 10 to 6,’ she says. ‘It showed me the procedure of how to produce a quality publication under deadline pressures. I liked the people I was working with and the environment was great. But the work I was doing was very repetitive and I had no say in the final product. I decided I had all the skills I needed by then to set up on my own.’ She found a core job immediately, by word of mouth, becoming editor of HRMonthly, the national magazine of the Australian Human Resources Institute (published 11 times a year). Other work soon came in. ‘As soon as I would start wondering where the next job was coming from, the telephone would ring with an offer.’ Her first lean patch came a couple of years later, due to an unexpected tax bill. ‘I should have made sure I had put some money away each month,’ confesses Paula. ‘I had not been keeping track of what I was earning, as I thought it would be the same as the previous year.’ Fortunately she was able to find casual work back at the Age to get her through this financial hiccup. Today Paula has learnt her lesson and keeps a close watch over her income and her expenditure, a task that has become

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routine with the introduction of the BAS. She says she is now in a better financial position than she would be had she stayed working for an employer. ‘I work hard, often nights and weekends, to fulfil my commitments to the various people and organisations who hire me,’ she says. ‘But I have been well rewarded for this. As a freelancer, you have to be really disciplined to be successful. You must meet deadlines, give the ultimate in customer service and be really client-focused. You can’t just sit back and expect someone else on the team to do the work—I am the team and I’m responsible. What you present to the client must be of superior quality and presentation. Get the work done and on time. Meet and exceed client expectations.’ Perhaps the most important lesson Paula has learned is not to rely on one big client, no matter how ‘good’ or ‘decent’, for the bulk of her income. ‘Managements change over time,’ she says. ‘After nine years, my production team unexpectedly lost the contract for HRMonthly, so I went from a very healthy income to nothing in one day. No matter how good you know you are, it’s a horribly scary experience and your self-esteem will be at least temporarily damaged.’ Despite the scare, Paula’s business recovered quickly, in large part thanks to many friends and contacts made during those nine years who provided work, recommendations or fruitful tips. ‘My income is now spread between three main sources and several smaller ones, so the loss of one client will be less of a blow,’ she says. ‘It also gives me the capacity to take on new clients and add more variety into my work, which is an important aspect of freelancing that I enjoy immensely.’

Getting your business going Angela Basso was seeking a loan of $10 000 to get her home-based catering business established. She wanted to upgrade her oven and

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install an exhaust fan. She needed food processors, bigger and better-quality saucepans, and other kitchen utensils. Having itemised and priced the articles she required, she confidently approached her bank manager. ‘A new business?’ he asked. ‘Tell me more.’ Angela looked puzzled. ‘What would you like to know?’ ‘Have you made out a business plan?’ ‘No.’ ‘Have you had experience in catering?’ ‘Well . . . not on this scale.’ The bank manager looked again at the information Angela had presented to him. ‘You have had an account with us for many years,’ he said. ‘You are a good customer. But we need to know a lot more than this so we will feel comfortable lending you the money.’ ‘I am convinced my business will go really well,’ enthused Angela. ‘I already have a lot of companies interested in me supplying them with boardroom lunches and . . . ’ ‘How much profit will you be making?’ interrupted the bank manager. ‘I don’t know exactly.’ ‘You might not make any,’ explained the bank manager. ‘In that case, how will you be able to repay the loan? And what will you live on, if you don’t make any money?’ ‘At least I can eat the food,’ chuckled Angela. But the bank manager had the last laugh, for she did not get her loan.

You might think that Angela was naive and ill-prepared. She was. This was her first attempt at business. Now, 10 years on, and the owner of a successful business, she knows better. But she learned the hard way—from overcoming avoidable setbacks and embarrassments along the way. Meanwhile, wetsuit manufacturer Roy Williams had no trouble obtaining finance to set up his home business. His detailed and comprehensive business plan, coupled with his previous experience in the area, stood him in good stead.

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Making a splash When Roy Williams and his wife arrived in Australia from England in 1992, he could not find a job. ‘I was a wetsuit manufacturer in the UK but there was nothing for me here in Adelaide. I spent a year looking for work, going for four jobs a week. I was prepared to do anything, even sweep the roads, but it was a waste of time. I was considered too old.’ Roy, who has recently turned 61, became despondent. ‘I gave up in the end. You might as well dig a hole and bury yourself.’ He decided to start his own home business instead but got initial discouragement there also. He was told there were already two or three other wetsuit manufacturers in South Australia and that there was no room for another, but his research had informed him otherwise, and he set out to prove his critics wrong. ‘I found a niche in the market,’ he says. ‘I specialise in made-to-measure suits, not off-the-peg ones.’ He does not advertise much—only once a month in the Trader, which costs him $10—and he started by making wetsuits for the police and navy. Word soon spread and the orders came flooding in. ‘I had more trade than you could ever imagine.’ The good news continued when the bank he approached was so impressed by his previous experience and his comprehensive business plan that it offered him more than he had asked for! Val, Roy’s wife, works as an accountant outside the house. She manages his books ‘and keeps us on the right track’. Roy also makes ‘dry suits’ for professional divers. He works from a shed next to the house, in which he has industrial sewing machines. He has council permission, and says ‘Gawler council have been absolute diamonds, very helpful’. His nearest neighbour is 200 metres away and the shed backs onto open land. ‘I make a reasonable living,’ Roy says. ‘I’m not here to make myself a millionaire. My business is growing each year, slowly, but I wanted a good foundation. The first year it went up 50% and now it is 75% up. I like being my own governor and I’ve

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made a 10-year plan. A little bit of something is better than a big bit of nothing, I say. With big debts, you can crash overnight, so I move very slowly.’

Start-up capital Loans can be obtained from banks, credit unions or other financial institutions. Perhaps you do not need one and can make do with your own savings or money borrowed from family members. Maybe you do not expect to have big initial outlays. But make absolutely sure you have enough start-up capital. Underestimating capital needs is one of the most common reasons for small business failure. A loan is appropriate when you want to buy business equipment and pay off the whole amount. You borrow a certain amount of money, at an agreed interest rate, for a set number of years. But if you expect your bank balance to fluctuate when funding debtors or buying stock—if you need working capital—an overdraft is more appropriate. In its most straightforward form, this is an agreement with your bank on an amount by which you may overdraw your account for a set period. Interest may be calculated on the size of the overdraft. How does a home-based business obtain a loan? The fact that a business is home-based is not significant, according to Canberra bank manager Maria Costas. What banks look at is the viability of the business, the background of the person going into it, and how he or she is going to be able to repay the loan. They want to look at a solid business plan and forecasts of the capacity to repay the loan. Previous experience in the same business is an advantage. It would be very difficult for someone to get a loan for a computer consultancy business if they had previously sold vegetables all their life. The bank would not look on this situation favourably and would have severe doubts as to whether they could make the

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business work. If their previous employment had revolved around computers, the bank would be far more likely to approve their loan. You have to convince your bank manager that you are capable, knowledgeable and experienced. If you have not previously worked in the field, you must be able to demonstrate that you are aware of sound business principles and practices, that you have carried out sufficient research into your proposed enterprise, and that you are thoroughly prepared. It is far easier for the bank to approve a loan if you have proven business acumen. Banks look at past financial statements and consider income, sales and expenditure forecasts for the new business. They want you to be able to demonstrate a capacity to repay the finance, and need sound information to give you good banking advice. When a person is starting in business for the first time, the bank is more cautious. Many people have a ‘pie in the sky’ attitude and find it hard to make realistic forecasts. But having contracts in place and a guaranteed income will impress the bank. A business plan will also go in your favour. These are the requirements for success. The last thing the bank looks at is the security for the loan—shares, insurance policies, mortgage equity. Another way of obtaining start-up capital is by way of a business grant. This enabled Adelaide draftsman Peter Robertson to get started (see chapter 2). Having been laid off from his job with the Housing Trust, Peter attempted to work for himself but was unable to make sufficient income. ‘I had to register for social security and ended up with lots of messy paperwork and very little money,’ he says. ‘This was because I was continually going on and off the dole as jobs came in.’ He continued in this unsatisfactory manner until a friend told him of the federal government’s New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS), set up to provide small business management training, advice, and up to a year’s income support for unemployed people wishing to set up their own business. Peter fulfilled the eligibility criteria and was accepted into the intensive six-week NEIS course. After preparing a business plan that was approved by the NEIS board, he was provided with a business mentor and fortnightly payments for a year, while his

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design drafting business became established. ‘The amount was exactly the same as the dole,’ he says, ‘but since I was allowed to keep it all, in addition to my drafting income, I was able to get my business going.’ Had it not been for the NEIS, it is unlikely that Peter would have been able to run his own business. His story shows how worthwhile it can be to look at all options available to you. For general information on NEIS, call 13 62 68. Qualifying criteria include such factors as not being an undischarged bankrupt, being ready to work full-time in your proposed business, and having a suitable business idea.

Up and running You are in business to make a living, so your prices are crucial. Charge too much and no-one will buy. Charge too little and you will soon be out of pocket—and business. The secret is to strike a balance between what the market will bear and what you need to live on. How to set costs The same principles apply whether you are pricing a product or a service. You need to strike a balance between the market rate and your proposed income. When organisational psychologist Bruce Crowe started his home business, he checked with his professional body and with other practitioners offering similar services to determine the recommended hourly rate and what others were charging. He now had a guide on which to base his own fees. Once Bruce had an idea of the rate he could charge, he looked at his ongoing costs, such as living expenses and mortgage repayments. He looked at how many clients he could realistically expect. And he determined on making a profit of 30%. On this basis he was able to fine-tune his fee. Another way to approach this calculation is to ask yourself how much you would like to make in a year. Now ask yourself how many hours a week you are prepared to work for that income. For

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the sake of simplicity, let us say you want to earn $50 000 a year and you want two weeks’ holiday. You intend to work 40 hours a week, that is 2000 hours a year. Therefore you will need to charge $25, plus GST if applicable, an hour. There are other factors to consider. Is there enough work for you to be able to work 40 hours a week? Are you allowing yourself any leeway—for time lost due to illness, family commitments or other things? Are you being realistic, or overly optimistic? Of the 40 hours a week you intend to work, are all of those hours chargeable time? No, of course not. Do not forget this vital point! At a conservative estimate, only 50%–60% of your time is chargeable. Look at 30% as being administration time for your business. ‘The rest is “wandering around” time for me,’ says Bruce Crowe. ‘I spend that doing things such as perusing professional journals and contributing to my professional associations.’ So your year contains, at best, 1200 chargeable hours. To earn that $50 000, you will need to charge your clients in the order of $41, plus GST if applicable, an hour. Is this feasible? If not, will you settle for a lower income or, alternatively, put in more hours? This can be a very valuable exercise. Once you have estimated what your time is worth, you can set about improving the turnover of your business. If your time is charged at $30 (plus GST if applicable) an hour, it is far more economical to use a courier, at the cost of about $10, to deliver a package to a client than to spend an hour or more taking it yourself. Invest that hour in your business, earn $30 and be $20 ahead. Better still, the courier charge is tax-deductible as a legitimate business expense. Fixed costs and variable costs Fixed costs One of the advantages of a home-based business is that it has low fixed costs. These fixed costs, or overheads, are constant, and are not connected to your trading activity. Fixed costs can include rent

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or mortgage and business insurance. Bear in mind, however, that fixed costs may rise, and this will then affect your profits. Variable costs Variable, or direct, costs are directly related to your trading activity. When Michael Pope, for example, required more clay—raw materials—when sales of his vases boomed over the busy Christmas period, his pricing structure needed to match fixed and variable costs and include a profit. Counting the costs Aldy Johnston, who with husband George established and runs an accommodation business in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, says the couple stick to the same philosophy they had when running a fruit shop. ‘You don’t have to be the cheapest in town but you do have to provide the best service or product that you possibly can.’ Towards this end, Secrets on the Lake offer a luxurious romantic getaway for couples. ‘We’re not the cheapest in our range, but neither are we the most expensive.’ There is, of course, a bottom line. ‘Naturally you have to set a price so as to make a living and cover all running costs,’ adds Aldy. When setting costs, it is vital to bear in mind the service you are providing and the clientele you aim to attract. Some 10 minutes’ drive away, on the road to Montville, is Clouds of Montville. This delightful colonial retreat offers a choice of attractive four-star motel units or unique four-and-a-half-star cottage stays. When the present owners, Margaret and Angus Richard, moved here eight years ago from Tasmania, they stuck with the price already set for the motel units. Recently they built four cottages and had to decide on an overnight rate. The key was market research. ‘We looked at the closest equivalent accommodation and used that as a basis,’ says Margaret. ‘It’s pretty much area-driven—you can’t compare with prices in Noosa and on the Gold Coast. Neither can you look at a basic roadside motel unit, where people are expecting a cheap bed for the night. We’re offering a special experience.’

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Once a benchmark has been established, Margaret suggests asking yourself the question ‘What can the market take?’ based on your distinct product or service. ‘Set a cheaper price and people will think “poorer quality” and you’ll do yourself out of a decent income. Charge too much and, unless you can offer something extra, people will go for the low-cost alternative.’ Do your research. Margaret and George found that other accommodation businesses in the area would not accept singlenight bookings on weekends. ‘Most people come here for a short relaxing break and stay Friday and Saturday nights. By accepting a single night booking, you can miss out on this extra business,’ Margaret explains. But as Clouds of Montville was not a purely weekend-driven venture, they decided to provide the option of a single weekend night’s stay. They were the only business in the area to do so and hence were able to charge slightly more for this service. The situation may be different for a product. ‘In our market there are price points,’ says author and publisher Jill Morris. A book may, for example, have a recommended retail price of $9.95 or $19.95 (now muddied with the introduction of GST, which has led to far more untidy prices). ‘These price points, rather than the production costs, govern the price setting of our books. The market doesn’t feel comfortable going above these,’ continues Jill, adding that, notwithstanding, her independent publishing company will not compromise on standards of quality. When setting the price of her workshops or school visits, she must look at other considerations and limitations: ‘If another author or illustrator is involved, there are accepted industry fees set by the Australian Society of Authors. And neither schools nor families have much money, so you have to realise that you’re working in a low-profit industry.’ Making fees work for you Your business is up and running and you have no shortage of clients—among them many friends and acquaintances. Yet there are unexpected problems.

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‘Initially, I found it hard to ask for money,’ says homeopath Meredith Norman. ‘I think this is a problem for many women. We tend to undervalue ourselves. It was difficult for me to set a realistic charge and to stick to it. I made concessions for friends when there was no need to do so. They certainly did not expect it and, looking at it realistically, they did not need it either, as they earned more than I did! This was my problem and not theirs.’ Meredith learnt to change her ways: ‘I got a shock at tax time when I looked at my income. It was much lower than I had thought.’ So now she does no more favours for friends. ‘It is fine to make allowances for people in need, but I now know I have to strike a balance between providing a service that is accessible to a good number of people and one that provides me with a decent income. Otherwise it is pointless. I learnt the hard way but, even now, I tend to err on the generous side. I occasionally give a client a remedy free of charge.’ Jan Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services was also hesitant about sticking to her fees at first: ‘I would give too low a price in case I lost the job. But your confidence grows with the business. Now I am selective and say we give a quality service. I am no longer prepared to compromise.’ Besides, she says, ‘People do not value the service if you do not charge properly.’ Jan’s and Meredith’s message is to set realistic charges and stick to them. Working from home can mean lower overheads, a saving you can pass on to your clients in the form of competitive fees. That’s what interior designer Catherine Bugoss and her partner do. ‘Our fee structure is based on our years of experience, the guidelines of the Design Institute of Australia, and the nature of the project— whether it is domestic or commercial,’ explains Catherine. ‘Our fees are lower than those charged by interior designers working in city offices. To us, that is the whole point of working from home—you can offer the same amount of experience and the same quality of work for less money.’ They draw attention to this in their glossy prospectus: ‘Not bogged down with high overheads or unwieldy corporate structures, we are flexible, responsive, efficient, and our

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fees are moderate.’ Their approach works. Their tenders have been accepted over those of much larger companies. Managing money How is it that some people on high salaries are constantly struggling financially while others do very well on much less? The answer lies not in the size of the salary but in how it is managed. If you cannot trust yourself with credit cards, avoid them.‘I have paid off my credit-card debts and destroyed the cards,’ says computer consultant Wesley Brown.‘I have no debts and I have a healthy bank balance.’ An enviable position to be in, yet Wesley had to work hard to get there. ‘Credit cards can be a big trap,’ he says. ‘You can easily use them to spend beyond your means. And the interest rate on them is very high.’ Wesley took out a personal loan at a low variable interest rate to pay off his credit-card debts. ‘Afterwards I cut the cards up with scissors and set about paying off the personal loan.’ Your books must be kept in good order, both to run your business efficiently and for tax purposes. Your accountant can advise you on what records need to be kept, and small business courses and books will show you how. If you don’t savour the prospect of bookkeeping, employ a professional to do it for you on a regular basis. This can save you much frustration and time you would be better off putting into your work. Naturally, you’ll be concerned if your customers don’t settle their accounts promptly, so make sure you settle your own accounts on time. It helps to budget for regular bills. ‘I put money aside every week for gas and electricity expenses,’ says Wesley Brown, ‘so that when the quarterly bill arrives, I am ahead.’ Dealing with debtors As with illness, so with debts. Prevention is better than cure. In the most extreme case, bad debts can cripple and even kill your business. Consider this: If your profit margin is 10%, you will need to generate $1000 in sales to recoup that $100 owed to you. Even if you manage to collect the $100 from your debtor two months

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down the track, it may now be worth only $90, or less, because of the work time you’ve lost in collecting it. Clearly, it makes sense to steer clear of bad debts altogether. But how? You need to exercise trust and tact in dealing with customers. But there can be a fine line between trusting your customer and protecting yourself. Below are some recommendations to bear in mind. 1. Inform your customers about your trading terms at the outset Tell them clearly and state on your invoice that payment is due immediately or after seven, 14 or 30 days. Send out your invoices promptly. To encourage punctual payment, consider offering an incentive such as a small discount or additional service next time. Alternatively, to discourage bad debts, consider stating a late-payment fee on your invoice. 2. Have a credit limit The way to work out this limit is simple. Ask yourself: ‘How much can I afford to lose?’ If you can deliver your product COD—cash on delivery—do so. If you must give credit, insist on a few COD transactions first before letting your customer apply for a 30-day account. Ask your solicitor to help you draw up the application form. It should ask the customer to supply personal guarantees and trade references and demonstrate an ability to pay. Naturally, such measures are necessary only when large sums of money are involved. 3. Keep an eye on where things are going Be aware of late payments and be prepared to go after them. Make sure your books are always up to date. Write everything down—don’t try to keep it all in your head. Once you put it on paper, you may discover the situation is not as benign as you thought. 4. Remind the customer early Businesses often run into trouble because their owners do not ask for help soon enough. If you have not received payment by the due date, remind your customer with a friendly telephone

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call. There may be a reasonable explanation—he may have genuinely forgotten. If you feel uncomfortable making such a telephone call, ask someone else—who can do so confidently— to make it on your behalf. 5. Move swiftly The longer you wait before taking action, the more difficult it can be to obtain payment. If the account has not been settled within a week of contacting your renegade customer, send out a letter requesting payment. Follow this up with two more letters seven days apart. Turn up the severity. Tell the customer that you will take legal action if you do not receive payment in full. For outstanding debts below a certain amount (which varies from state to state), you can take the customer to a small claims court. Only you can decide whether it is worth the time, hassle and (minimal) expense. Even if you win the case, if your customer says he is in financial difficulty he may be ordered to repay the debt in small weekly instalments. Worse still, if he should fail to do so, it is up to you to pursue the matter—and take him back to court. Another possibility is to contract a debt collector or credit controller to act on your behalf. Naturally you will have to pay for this service, so, depending on the size of the debt, you will have to decide whether it’s worth taking action. Bear in mind that debt collectors have more difficulty collecting a payment that is two months overdue than with one that is just a few days late. Many bad debts can be nipped in the bud if you pay attention to some key warning signs. 1. Rumours Keep your eyes and ears open. Keep in contact with the other suppliers or workers in your area. If you hear that a certain customer is having trouble paying his bills, don’t accept large orders from him.

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2. Request for credit If someone who has previously dealt with your competition suddenly approaches you and asks for credit, ask yourself why. Perhaps he has been refused goods or services by the other businesses because of non-payment. Again, it is wise to keep your ear to the ground. 3. Large orders or payment in instalments If a customer who has previously paid promptly unexpectedly builds up a large account or asks to pay in instalments, he may be having cash-flow problems. Tread warily. 4. Non-payment If a customer abruptly defaults on a regular payment, this could also signal trouble, especially if the customer is always unavailable when you call and does not return your messages. Delaying tactics, such as the customer’s wrongfully claiming he did not get your invoice or was dissatisfied with the work or products, are another warning sign. In all these cases, remember it is the squeaky hinge that gets oiled— so get in first! On the other hand, be prepared to make allowances for previously reliable or longstanding customers. If they are in temporary difficulty, dealing with the problem amiably and patiently can be beneficial to both parties. Be neither overly suspicious nor too relaxed. Where you believe you have genuine cause to worry about whether the debt will be paid, act promptly! Jan and Ross Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services avoid bad debts by obtaining payment up front wherever possible. ‘It’s not a problem for us,’ says Jan. ‘We usually get cash on completion of a cleaning job. The client will leave the money, or a cheque, in an envelope. Otherwise we will invoice them and the next time we clean, they pay. We do not carry debts for any length of time. The only clients we have to wait on are builders. They are notorious for making late payments anyway, but they are not a major source of our income.’ When the Sutherlands expanded into boutique commercial work—in small city offices and public

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areas of apartment blocks—they gave seven-day accounts. ‘We have no cash flow problem; we only work for clients who respect us,’ says Jan. Architect Wayne Ketchen also refuses to carry bad debts. ‘My invoice makes my terms clear,’ he says. ‘Payment is due within 14 days. After that time I send a follow-up letter with a copy of the invoice, and a cover note saying “In case this slipped your mind . . . ”. I then make a polite telephone call to the client about another matter, and mention the bill. This tends to work pretty well.’ Beware. The bad debt that Charlie and Kaye Ross had, destroyed their hydraulics business. ‘We crashed and burned after doing a $32 000 job in Christmas 1998,’ says Charlie. ‘In January 1999, the customer refused to pay. We lasted until September 1999 and went into voluntary bankruptcy.’ In hindsight, could this have been avoided? ‘Not really,’ Charlie answers, ‘you tend to take people on trust and that’s exactly what I did. I took him on trust and when this bloke’s customer wouldn’t pay him, he just automatically turned around and wouldn’t pay us. I wouldn’t wish bankruptcy on anyone—the administrators came in and took the kids’ pool table, the barbecue setting, my Trident saw bench, the TV and video . . .’ Three years later Charlie was out of bankruptcy and free to set up his own business. ‘I wouldn’t do it—there are too many people in town. At last count there were 19 hydraulics businesses in town and there’s nothing here any more—mining has gone, the sugar industry is done for and the trawler industry has been cut back by a third, if not more.’ Charlie now works as a fitter and turner for a company in Cairns. At 50, he has 15 years of work left. But he still has no security for himself and family of five. ‘I’m employed as a casual. Employers have a fear of putting people on as permanent staff because of the way the industrial laws are set up. After 20 years of working from home, the biggest kick in the guts was ending up with absolutely nothing and having to start all over again,’ he says. Yet he’s philosophical: ‘That’s life, that’s the way it goes, that’s business.’

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Are you covered? When Barbara Chandler returned from a weekend in the country to find her unit had been broken into, she was devastated. Her only consolation was that her home-contents insurance policy would cover the stolen computer and printer. But she discovered, to her horror, that this was not the case. To protect your office equipment, or any cash in the office, you need additional cover. In most cases the extra payment is small. Don’t penny-pinch here: a robbery can ruin your business. A domestic insurance policy cover does not cover business items. You will need a business policy to insure your tools of trade. You may need to shop around. When Queensland optometrist Julie Weir looked for insurance, a couple of major companies refused her. ‘They wouldn’t give me house insurance as I had a business on the premises,’ she says. ‘And I wanted insurance cover with the same company for convenience.’ Julie finally found cover through EIG-Ansvar. When looking at insurance, you might consider the various types available: • •

•

•

Professional indemnity and product liability protects you against negligence and injury caused by your product. Public liability covers you against accidental injury to customers and visitors to your business premises. If one of them trips over the carpet and breaks an ankle, you do not want to be up for thousands of dollars in medical bills. Sickness and disability insurance protects your income in case you become ill or have a disabling accident. There are many forms of such cover available. Consult an insurance broker or company. It’s also advisable to line up another individual or company to take over your projects if you are unable to work for a few days—and vice versa. Superannuation is no longer a part of your salary package. Now that you are self-employed it is up to you to provide for your retirement. You may prefer to invest your superannuation

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savings in real estate rather than a super fund. The choice is yours. Car insurance is vital for your business vehicle. If you use your private vehicle for the business, you will need to inform your insurer, and the policy and premium will be adjusted accordingly. Life insurance is advisable for everyone involved with the business. Making a will is not a task most of us like to contemplate. But death, like taxes, is inevitable, and what will happen to your partner, children or other dependants without a will?

Superannuation Think of superannuation as forced savings with certain advantages. According to Mooloolaba accountant Martin Bristow, superannuation is a good idea and a worthwhile investment. He says the benefits of superannuation are as: • • •

an immediate tax deduction a low tax environment for ongoing investments asset protection, your creditors can’t touch it.

As with business structure and taxation, seek professional advice about superannuation. Make sure your accountant is a member of a registered association. Seek up-to-date advice from the Australian Taxation Office. ‘Superannuation laws are very complicated these days and in need of restructure,’ says Martin. ‘A high income earner can pay up to 30% tax on superannuation contributions. This is a considerable deterrent to further super investment.’ When considering superannuation, says Martin, you need to consider your age and business circumstances. If you are 45 years of age or more and have an established business, making a superannuation contribution can be very attractive as you can access the funds on retirement at 55. From

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the age of 50, you can invest up to $82 000 annually in superannuation. Look at superannuation in this instance as a short-term investment and invest as much as you can. If you are 30 years old and in a new home-based business, however, you will need the extra cash flow in setting up and running the business. Money invested in superannuation is money tied up for at least 25 years. Only invest any excess money you have in superannuation. As an employer, you are obliged to provide superannuation for your staff. The current rate of contribution is 9% of his or her ordinary time earnings. As a self-employed person, however, you have the choice of whether or not to invest in superannuation. If you decide to, you can: • •

invest in a commercial superannuation fund already in the marketplace; set up your own self-managed superannuation fund. Approach this with caution and discuss this in detail with your accountant. Be aware that it may cost anything from $700 to $2000 in annual administration costs for such a fund. Does the benefit outweigh this cost?

Sunshine Coast graphic designer Alexandra Sweres considers superannuation to be an important consideration. ‘Your superannuation is taken care of when you work for a company. But as a freelancer you need to be aware and make decisions. I think a lot of people forget that. You have to plan for the future, you can’t live on the pension,’ she continues. ‘You become accustomed to a certain lifestyle and you’d like to continue in that when you retire. For me, superannuation is a lifestyle choice.’ Superannuation is essential Without superannuation or an investment equivalent, such as a large share portfolio or investment properties or a business or asset to sell, a freelancer or contractor faces a poverty-stricken old age, says freelance journalist Paula Ruzek. ‘It is irresponsible and even dangerous not to have some sort of retirement income plan,’ she

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said. ‘The age pension is already inadequate and in 20 years’ time it will be less than a pittance. You don’t want to have to try to live on it as your sole source of income.’ Ruzek started a personal superannuation plan when she began freelancing 13 years ago. After a couple of false starts, she settled on two funds: a personal superannuation fund with a big, reputable funds manager and a second account with an industry fund. ‘I have two basic streams of income: the vast majority comes from my work as a contractor, where I invoice clients for my services, and about 15% comes from a media organisation where I am treated like an employee, paid under an award and receive pro-rata holiday pay and the compulsory employer superannuation contribution of 9%,’ Ruzek said. ‘This is where superannuation gets nasty and unfair for freelancers and contractors. I work as an individual using a business name, not as a company. Under the superannuation rules, if you earn more than 10 per cent of your income from a job where you are considered an employee, you are not entitled to claim superannuation contributions to a personal superannuation fund as a tax deduction. So, in effect, the money I put into my first choice of fund, with the big funds manager, is classed as income rather than a superannuation contribution and I pay tax on it at my highest marginal rate as part of my tax return. But it is not subject to contributions tax on the way in, so if I put in $3000 it is not immediately reduced to $2550.’ She uses the industry fund to hold the compulsory contributions from the media organisation (it refused to pay it into her choice of fund) and as an extra adds 12% of her gross pay from this work as a salary sacrifice into the industry fund. ‘That way, I get the benefit of a tax deduction on these contributions,’ she said. ‘I could, for example, stop paying money into my personal superannuation fund and direct most or all of my “employee” pay into the industry fund. I could even transfer all of my super money into my industry fund account. As good as the industry fund is, it is not my first choice, so at this stage I choose to run two super accounts. At least it gives me a bit of diversity and spreads the risk between two different managers and investment profiles.’

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Superannuation and investment generally are complex, specialist areas with a huge number of options available. Ruzek says that unless you have the time and expertise, don’t try to manage your retirement income plan personally. ‘Your time will be better spent building your business and increasing your income.’ Ruzek advises all freelancers, contractors and self-employed to establish a retirement savings plan as soon as they strike out by themselves. ‘It doesn’t matter if you only contribute $50 or $100 a month; just make a start and increase your contributions over time, as your business develops. Talk to your accountant or financial planner and set up something that suits your situation. For example, an industry fund may be the best option to centralise contributions from various employers who may offer a choice of only the company fund or the industry fund. Superannuation is about accumulation and growth over time; even if your super only amounts to $100 000 at retirement, that is way better than nothing.’

Review A business can survive without profits, but it cannot survive without cash flow. Before you start • • •

Consult an accountant. Get your business structure right from the outset. If you require start-up capital: —apply for a loan or overdraft, —apply for a business grant.

Up and running • Set realistic costs for your goods and services. • Prepare for Pay As You Go tax by putting money aside in a separate account.

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Ongoing finances • Adhere to your costs and charges. • Use your lower fees as a marketing tool. • Budget. • Keep proper records, as advised by your accountant and business courses. Dealing with debtors Prevention is better than cure: • • • • • •

Make your customers aware of your trading terms at the outset. Set a credit limit. Keep a close watch on your business. Follow up unsettled accounts promptly by telephone calls and with letters. Act early to recover bad debts. If necessary, hire a debt collector.

Are you covered? Look at: • • • • • • • •

insurance of house and office contents, including office equipment; professional indemnity and product liability; public liability; sickness and disability insurance; superannuation; car insurance; life insurance; making a will.

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5

Performance and presentation

Performance and presentation

our professional image flows through every aspect of your business—from your telephone manner to your stationery, from your personal appearance to the quality and reliability of your work. Many home business owners have encountered the incorrect but widely held belief that a home-based business is inferior to one located in a city office, for example. Certainly there are ‘backyarders’, just as there are shonky people in every field. Yet the majority of those working in home-based businesses do so from choice rather than necessity, and consequently are very committed to their venture. They are, after all, directly and personally responsible for their goods and services and derive great satisfaction from this.

Y

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With lower overheads, they are usually able to offer very competitive prices, and they must also offer quality as good as, if not better than, their competitors do in order to survive. People are keen to work from home for many reasons— convenience, savings in rent, autonomy—yet many are not so keen to make this fact public. Children’s book illustrator Craig Smith (see chapter 6) admits, ‘I don’t broadcast the fact that I work from home. I say “office premises” or put it in similar terms. The reason is that I am sensitive to the bedroom image some people have of home-based workers’. It’s an inaccurate image, he agrees. Interior designer Catherine Bugoss believes she and her partner have lost out on some contracts by being home-based. ‘Many organisations still have the idea that people who work from home are not serious,’ she says. ‘Clients will say, “You don’t have a secretary or an infrastructure? We don’t think you can handle a big job.” Yet we know we can. We point out that we can call on other resources and that our overheads are lower precisely because we do not have a large infrastructure.’ Far from being unable to do the work requested of them, Catherine and her partner may in fact be better suited to it. They know many interior designers and can call on the most appropriate for each job. ‘In this way, we have greater scope than a company with the same employees all the time,’ says Catherine. ‘Things will change, it just takes time. We think that, in the next two years, corporate clients will accept businesses working from home.’ Catherine and her partner have much more success conveying a professional image through their striking colour brochure. They know that a professional image is vital when it comes to finding and generating work and developing repeat business. Have you ever been treated rudely or inconsiderately by a shop assistant or tradesperson? Did you give that person the benefit of the doubt, thinking ‘Oh, he is just having a bad day’? Probably not. More likely, you decided that the store or company offered lousy service and resolved to avoid dealing with it again. And you probably told your friends and acquaintances about your experience, warning them to steer clear.

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Have you ever been let down by the late delivery of a product or by a faulty item or service and, when you complained, been treated politely, efficiently and with respect? If your money has been refunded or the product exchanged—promptly, with an apology and with little fuss—has your confidence not been completely restored? Did you tell your friends about it? Probably not. Somehow bad service seems to make a far better story than good. It has been said that every dissatisfied client will tell 17 others while a satisfied one will tell only three or four—a point well worth keeping in mind in your own business. The point is that you represent your company. You aren’t just Jean Duncan but Jean Duncan Designs. You are Norwood Accountants as well as Roger and Jane Wilson. So building up a good reputation depends on you and you alone. And this crucial process starts with your first contact with the customer.

Telephone technique For most people, that first contact is by phone, so your telephone manner is extremely important. Follow these guidelines: • • • • •

•

•

Identify yourself with your business name. Speak clearly, brightly and confidently. Be polite and helpful at all times. Avoid distracting background sounds—music playing, children screaming. Give the caller your complete attention—do not shuffle through papers, eat, drink or smoke while speaking. The caller may not be able to see you do this but can certainly hear you. Train others in the household to answer the telephone correctly or else warn them against doing it at all. Nothing will give your business a worse image than a child’s voice saying ‘Dad’s not here and I don’t know when he’ll be back’. Never argue with a customer. Listen to their complaint. The relief of talking may be sufficient to defuse the anger. The customer is always right.

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If you have an answering machine, record a new message regularly. The change of a few words or a slightly different tone in your voice will make a favourable impression on regular callers. Keep your message brief, serious and to the point. There was a fad at one time for humorous messages. It may be mildly amusing for some to learn that you are unavailable as you are ‘in the shower with a blonde’, but the novelty soon wears off. There is nothing more irritating than ‘clever’ or musicembellished messages, especially if you have to hear them more than once. One thing that does work, however, is using your answering machine as a marketing tool. Marilyn Jolly uses her telephone message to give the caller brief details of her home and pet care services. So, while Marilyn may be unavailable to answer any queries at the time, the caller can gain useful information from her message. For Julie and Andrew Matthews, whose Cairns company markets Andrew’s talks, seminars and books—the million-selling Being Happy, Making Friends, Get Faxed! and Follow Your Heart— making a bad impression on the phone ‘can cost you your speaking engagement and your reputation’. With this in mind, Julie has typed out a couple of scripts to help their secretary answer the telephone proficiently. ‘When you make a call, I think it is important to say who you are up front: “This is Julie calling from Andrew Matthews Productions.” The other person does not then have to ask who you are or where you are calling from. It is also a very confident and assertive thing to do.’

Making words work Whether you are sending a letter to a prospective client, mailing out a brochure or making a letterbox drop of leaflets advertising your services, professionalism is imperative. Your words and presentation reflect the image and competence of your business. Make sure they do not let you down. Check the grammar and spelling. Have the layout designed by experts. Use the form that is most appropriate for you in terms of cost and effectiveness.

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You may choose to make up a full-colour brochure with details and photographs of your work experience. Interior designer Catherine Bugoss and her partner place this information in an attractive, blue matt folder embossed with their business logo, and post it to prospective clients. This is an expense for which they have budgeted, and it has been money well spent, for it has helped them attract good clients and big projects. Marilyn Jolly has had simple but effective two-colour leaflets printed, with details of her home and pet care services. She places these in pet shops and veterinary surgeries in her area. Julie Matthews feels very strongly about printed material. ‘Your business card is you,’ she says. ‘It portrays how you feel about yourself, how big or small-time you are, how confident you are. It is a pity some people make their telephone number and address so small you can’t see them. They should be prominent. You must be prepared to spend money on good-quality paper and printing so that people will hold on to your card. When you hand over your card, the person receiving it must be impressed. He will instantly make up his mind about you, your business and your product. You need to show that you are not cheap.’ Naturally, the amount you spend depends on your type of business, your budget and what is appropriate. The business card for Andrew Matthews Productions folds out into three sections, is in full colour and lists Andrew’s services as well as contact details. Andrew’s card is geared towards his particular market and clientele. An individual or business with a lower profile and looking for small contracts can still pack a punch with a simple, inexpensive business card. Make your business cards appropriate—a window cleaner may not need as elaborate a card as a lawyer does—although you never know: this could be a good advertising gimmick! Whatever the case, it usually pays to have your card professionally designed. Avoid the vending machines that offer on-the-spot business cards for a few dollars. Cheap, flimsy cards suggest that your business provides a cheap, trashy service.

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But don’t waste money on overly colourful or gimmicky cards, either. ‘I had some really nice business cards made up when I started Your Type Secretarial Services,’ says Jenny Church. ‘Many people tend to get lovely letterhead stationery and business cards printed when they start up—it is a psychological boost. But it is also an extravagance, at a time when you can least afford it.’ The simplest design or logo can still be effective and sophisticated. Good design is the key. Do not clutter the card with too much information—this looks amateurish and can be difficult to read. Stick to the essentials—name and qualifications, address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, and goods or services offered. The graphic designer will suggest various designs for you to choose from and perhaps help you coordinate your cards with other business stationery—headed notepaper, leaflets or brochures, compliments slips or fax cover sheets. Writer Libby Gleeson’s two-tone business card, in deep blue, is complemented by a similar two-tone brochure listing her numerous publications and giving her background and contact details. A photograph of Libby adorns the front cover, together with her name and ‘Writer’ in the same large italics as on her business card. ‘People always comment favourably on my card and brochure,’ says Libby. ‘A graphic designer worked on them and I had them printed by a large company. They look better than they should for the cost and I think the secret is good design.’ Also well-designed is Libby’s website (http://www.libbygleeson.com.au). Here the reader can find biographical details, useful for school projects, as well as information on publications, frequently asked questions, and the full text of some of the talks she has given.

Invoices There are several ways in which you can save time, money and postage with invoices. Send the original invoice to your client, together with a duplicate. The duplicate can be retained by the client as a receipt, and the original posted back to you with

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Attention: .............................................. Company: .......................................... Tel: ........................................................ Fax: .................................................. From: .................................................... Company: .......................................... Tel: ........................................................ Fax: .................................................. Account Number .................................. Amount Owing ................................ to order ‘GET FAXED!’ in Australia fax 070 576 966

payment. Or you may have a single sheet for your invoice with a detachable lower section to be mailed back with payment. Make your terms of trading very clear, both to the client and on the invoice. State ‘Payment is due within seven days’, or whatever

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is appropriate in your case. For reminders about late payments, Andrew Matthews has an appropriate form in his book Get Faxed! This fax form, pictured here, vividly illustrates the problems caused by delayed payment.

Post office box This, too, can be part of your professional image. When you have a postal address, none of the clients you deal with by mail or phone need be aware that you work from home. The bonus is added security. No longer can your letters and packages be pilfered by others or drenched by rain. Mail need not be redirected when you are away. It is automatically kept for you at the post office. By far the biggest advantage is that your mail is sorted and placed in your post office box first thing in the morning, so you can deal with it at the start of the day. A post office box can also save you money. Should you move house but remain in the same area, you can keep the same box, stationery and business cards rather than having to print new ones. Prices vary according to the size and location of the box. A small box at a suburban post office will cost just over $50 a year, while a large box at the GPO can cost more than $300.

Face-to-face contact French fashion designer Coco Chanel once said, ‘If you dress smartly, they’ll remember the dress. But dress impeccably and they’ll remember the woman.’ Whether you are male or female, appearance is important. As with cards and brochures, a sloppy look will detract from your overall image. Prospective clients may take the next logical step and assume that your work is also likely to be unkempt or slipshod. People set great store by first impressions. So why not give yourself the best possible chance? Psychologists say that, on first meeting someone, almost 60% of our attention is occupied by the person’s physical appearance, over 30% by their manner and

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tone of voice, and less than 10% by what he or she is actually saying! ‘Your appearance definitely comes first, then your voice,’ says voice and drama teacher John Noble, who also works as an actor, director and producer. He advocates dressing cleanly and appropriately ‘to join the tribe’. When working with a team of accountants, for example, John will wear a suit. With a group of writers, he is more comfortable—and finds he gets a better response—dressed in casual clothes. By adopting a similar dress style to those around him, John is accepted more easily and obtains better results in his work. Whichever style you select, ‘Your appearance must be neat, clean and tidy’, says Julie Matthews, who, in addition to running Andrew Matthews Productions, presents seminars on business etiquette and corporate grooming. ‘It does not have to be an expensive look,’ she adds. ‘Style is not governed by budget. Knowing what to wear is just as important. People make up their minds about you before you even open your mouth.’ A smart outfit can boost a shy personality and give the wearer added confidence. Presentation goes far beyond dress sense. It extends to your manner and bearing. ‘A firm and confident handshake is very important, as is good eye contact,’ says Julie. A self-assured gait and posture also project confidence. A pleasant voice is another image winner. ‘Your voice can change the first impression someone has of you, for better or worse,’ says John Noble. Working from home some take the attitude you don’t have to dress up unless there are clients in sight. ‘I’m sitting here in my bathers,’ says media consultant John Myers as we chat on the phone on a warm summer’s day. ‘In what other job would I be able to do that?’ Jenny Church of Your Type Secretarial Services says, ‘I have found I don’t need as many outfits as I used to. I still dress well, in business apparel, and wear make-up, but I have saved money on clothes.’ Some of us are able to work in a professional manner when casually dressed; others find it harder. Dressing casually can also

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lead to encounters of the embarrassing kind. When interior designer Catherine Bugoss first started working from home, she acknowledges that she found it hard to discipline herself. ‘I would not dress up properly and it would take me forever to get round to starting work. I would do the dishes, put a load of washing on or decide that the garden needed weeding. Then I got caught in my pyjamas by a client at 10.30 am—and I decided I had to change my ways! From then on, I started dressing in business suits—as if I was going out to the office.’ Margaret Seedsman, former National Executive Director of Home-Based Business Australia, says, ‘I know of a worker who dresses smartly each morning, leaves the house and then walks back home from the nearest bus stop. He needs to do that to get himself in the right frame of mind to start work.’ Margaret says it’s also important to show clients you feel good about yourself and your business. But don’t unbutton completely. ‘A publicist once mentioned, in the midst of our telephone conversation, that she was lying by the pool, gin and tonic in hand. I thought that was going a bit far!’ When I am not meeting others, I admit I tend to dress on the casual side. Yet I find that often, on days when I look smarter, my entire attitude is different. I feel more focused and efficient. I find it difficult to project a professional image—even on the telephone —when I’m in shorts and a T-shirt. But everyone is different. Dr Rosemary Stanton and her husband Peter both work from their rural NSW home, she as a dietitian and nutritionist and he as a computer programmer for clients in England. ‘Peter has had many career changes,’ Rosemary explains. ‘Instead of going up corporate ladders, he goes down them—and his level of happiness increases. He has gone from wearing a suit, when working in engineering, to dressing casually and riding a bicycle when he worked as a teacher. Now he works from home in shorts or jeans. He believes the fewer constraints placed on you, the higher your level of happiness and satisfaction—though not necessarily your income!’

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Food for thought Shirley and Jeff Woods live in the shire of Corrigin, 250 km east of Perth. They have two 1200-hectare wheat and sheep farms. Dams on these farms contain yabbies. One of Shirley’s children spotted a business opportunity here and suggested selling live yabbies to Perth. She applied for a licence from the Fisheries Department and started catching the yabbies in traps. Six years on, Shirley supplies orders of up to 200 kg a week, catering for hotels and restaurants and selling wholesale to an exporter. Some yabbies had only one claw because they’d fought over food. These were classified as seconds and fetched a lower price. ‘Once cleaned, they are no different from the two-clawed ones. There is nothing wrong with them except their visual appearance.’ She hit on an idea and, like Beate Wickert the porcelain painter (see ‘Artistic pursuits’, page 162), created an entirely new enterprise. ‘You can pickle gherkins and onions in jars, so why not yabbies?’ Today you can buy a jar of Kyalla Yabbies—savoury yabby tails resembling rounded jellybeans— at Myers in Perth and other major stores in WA. Shirley had to overcome many obstacles in order to succeed. What began as a home-based occupation had to be relocated. ‘I have to work in a little hall at Bullaring, 10 minutes’ drive away. The law did not allow me to work from home unless I had certain things in place such as a concrete floor, special lighting, taps that could be turned on with your foot. “Why do I need a concrete floor?” I asked. I am not filleting fish, I’m not an abattoir. But no-one had ever done what I was intending to do and they did not know how to handle it.’ Minor renovations had to be done at the hall in order for it to comply with Health Department regulations. Shirley employs local women to work with her one day a week. ‘It’s a bit like a chain reaction,’ she explains—each person dealing with a different job until the cooked and peeled yabby tails end up in sealed jars. Shirley makes 20 kg of savoury yabbies a week as well as filling her live yabby orders from home.

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Market gardeners Frank and Annie Ackland-Prpic have found their business an ever-growing one. When they started growing herbs at the end of 1982, the market was not yet established. They had bought a property at Victor Harbor, South Australia, with the intention of growing vegetables. But this proved to be too fiddly and only a seasonal occupation. When their seed merchant told them that agents were buying chive seeds to grow for their customers, as fresh chives were not available, the Ackland-Prpics increased their mixed-herb numbers. A friend offered to sell basil and chives for them in his fruit and vegetable store and the couple became one of the first in the herb and salad industry. Another boost to their business came when the herb farm at Yatala Jail was closed down. They met the gardener, who not only gave them plants and cuttings but offered helpful advice on growing herbs, supplementing their knowledge. Today Annie and Frank live with their daughters on a property at Montacute, 20 minutes’ drive from the centre of Adelaide. They grow 25 herbs—including thyme, sage and coriander—a selection of salad greens, lemons and some cherries, and sell to the wholesale market through agents. Work can be a social and family occasion, with friends and relations helping with picking and packing and the children designing labels for ‘A-Pic’ herbs. Each person has different abilities. Frank is doing the growing while I see things from the customer’s side. We used to cut the coriander at ground level and bunch it, but now that Thai cooking is so popular we sell the whole plant, roots and all. When we started, this was all new,’ says Annie. ‘Rocket (arugula) was fairly unknown. Now it is a big seller. There are a lot more growers now but the market is much larger’. Edgar Wakefield has fond recollections of his childhood in South Africa, living in George, an agricultural centre. ‘It was an idyllic lifestyle and those memories have never left me,’ he says. After arriving in South Australia 20 years ago, at the age of 33,

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he spent many years working as a teacher before taking a redundancy package in 1993. He decided to change his lifestyle completely and began a business growing mixed vegetables in a garden on his wife Beverley’s property at Murray Bridge, an hour’s drive from Adelaide. Recently remarried, he was contemplating buying a shop. But after looking at his first year’s earnings he realised this was not a viable proposition. Beverley, who had been working for Telstra in middle management, developed arthritis in the knees and took a redundancy package in 1994. ‘We share a love for nature, we’re both conservationists,’ says Edgar. ‘Beverley is a marvellous gardener, while I did not know a great deal. We started with cauliflower, broccoli, corn and pumpkin. We tried compost and natural fertiliser and applied for certification as organic gardeners with NAASA, the National Australian Association of Sustainable Agriculture. They test your soil for pesticides and herbicides and ensure you are using sound organic practices. This certification gives us the ability to sell interstate.’ Edgar now grows zucchinis and has established a local market for gem squash, which also happens to be a large export-earner for South Africa. ‘I walked the streets of Adelaide to crack the market,’ he says. ‘I built up business by word of mouth, going to the shops and speaking to the owners. That took me 15 months. South Australia can be quite conservative. People are suspicious of something new on the market and you have to convince them. I would give gem squash, free of charge, to stores and include cooking instructions and recipes.’ Riverglades’ naturally grown products have proven popular and Edgar appreciates being his own boss. ‘I make the decisions and negotiate the prices. I like the person-to-person contact in shops.’ He has planted many native plants on the Murray Bridge property and done a lot of landscaping. The mud-brick house in which he and Beverley live blends into the surrounds and is

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cool in summer and warm in the winter. It is a quiet lifestyle. ‘The flowers bloom summer and winter. It is very peaceful and beautiful here. I enjoy that at this time of my life,’ says Edgar, who has managed to recapture those idyllic times of his childhood.

Your dress and work style can vary according to the situation. Will you be admitting clients into the private part of your home or just into your home office? Make sure all areas they’re likely to see are clean and tidy at all times. A messy and cluttered environment will not inspire confidence. Not having a separate entrance and area for your business can be a disadvantage here. ‘Clients come in our front door, so the house always has to be kept reasonably neat,’ says Melbourne desktop publisher Maggie Boday, who works at home with her accountant husband Frank. ‘Once inside, they might want to use the bathroom, so we have to make sure there are no wet towels or drying undies in there. There is a real lack of privacy—if the children have a shower, they are embarrassed to walk through the house in their dressing-gowns. We would prefer to have an outside office with a separate toilet and washbasin.’ Frank has discovered other disadvantages: ‘Once you have an office at home, clients regard any meeting more as a social visit. They will stay around sitting and chatting about everything under the sun. You have to get the message across that this is business.’ ‘It’s difficult to get some people to leave, short of being rude,’ adds Maggie. ‘I have had to excuse myself, saying that I have another appointment in 10 minutes.’ Set your limits at the outset and make them obvious. It is up to you to make it clear that an interaction is a business meeting and not a social event. Obviously a balance has to be kept. Yet it is possible to enjoy a friendly and polite interaction while remaining firm about your boundaries.

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This is much easier if you’re lucky enough to have your office set apart from the house, or at least from the main living areas. Adelaide homeopath Meredith Norman has a separate entrance for her work premises, which are at the back of the house. ‘Clients enter through the back door. They walk into a small passageway— on the right is my consulting room and on the left is the bathroom. Sliding doors provide a separation from the rest of the house. When I finish work on Saturday, I close all doors and don’t come back until Monday. I would recommend a separate entrance wherever possible, so that you are not sharing the house with clients.’ Adelaide building designer Elvio Ferrara has gone one better and built himself a separate, self-contained office at the rear of the family home. He has 32 square metres of space downstairs, which amply houses his drawing boards and files, table and chairs for client meetings, and a fully equipped kitchen complete with hotplates. A panel in the ceiling opens to reveal an ingeniously designed ladder which leads to the upper level. An additional 16 square metres of space is, at present unused. A toilet, sink and shower are located on the side of the heritage-style brick building. Clients and neighbours alike are impressed by the structure, which also serves as a valuable advertising tool. ‘I am told by many that my environment reflects my good design abilities,’ says Elvio, ‘and the work is flooding in.’ Elvio, who has been working from home since 1990, built his home office in three months in 1995. It cost $30 000, and he believes that by using recycled materials he saved himself $10 000. ‘Had I rented office premises, it would have cost me at least $10 000 a year. This office will serve me for 10 or 20 years. And I have room to expand upstairs. The office has added to the value of the house. The children can play and have sleepovers upstairs, and my wife and I can even live in here when we’re oldies!’ Elvio found he needed an entirely separate workspace to keep out noise (his two sons are aged 6 and 3) and for his professional identity. There are still interruptions from friends and children, but Elvio has developed strategies for dealing with dallying visitors. ‘I have a system for friends who may drop in to see me: I remain standing, and they won’t sit down unless I do. Sometimes I don’t

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mind having a coffee with friends but, if it bothers me, I will say, “I’ve got work to get on with, I have a deadline”. I’ll walk them outside or suggest they go into the house for a coffee with my wife, Vassi, as they are likely also to be friends of hers.’ As for clients, ‘I have meetings in here and young Michael may run in and say hello. The clients meet your family, and I think that’s important. It breaks down the formality, breaks down barriers and softens the image a little bit.’ It is up to you how you create an appropriate balance between a friendly, comfortable atmosphere and a professional image. It is necessary to set clients at ease while also giving them faith in your abilities. You must, however, consider security for yourself and for your home office. This is discussed in chapter 8.

Artistic pursuits Beate Wickert found a market and created a new industry in the process of working from home. Trained as a porcelain painter in Germany, she came to Australia with her architect husband, Jürgen, in 1986. ‘There is no such industry here,’ she explains. ‘In Germany, there are two big manufacturers, who recreate the designs of the 1700s—that’s how far back it goes. I worked for one of them in Berlin.’ When Beate and Jürgen came to Sydney, she started working from their accommodation, a large warehouse in Redfern. ‘I found an agent in Sydney and another in Melbourne, and I’d give them samples of my work. I also started supplying trade fairs and goods by mail order.’ The couple moved to Queensland in 1993, seeking a warmer climate and a more tranquil and outdoorsy lifestyle. ‘I thought things would be difficult for me as I don’t supply the shops in Cairns, it is not really the product for here,’ Beate says. ‘But it has turned out OK. I do business over the phone and fly to Sydney twice a year. My sales have doubled since last year.’

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She works in an idyllic setting, a large room set aside especially for her work with stunning views of lush tropical greenery. She overcomes any distractions by setting deadlines. Beate paints beautifully detailed and intricate floral designs onto brooches and earrings, bracelets and little boxes, even onto business-card holders. She may have created a new enterprise but she had to compromise in the process. ‘A brooch will cost $500 in Germany. Here you have to charge less than $20.’ Beate has shown the value of finding a new market as well as demonstrating that you can work from home anywhere. The experience of Jennifer Woodhouse in Darwin shows just how adaptable a home-based career can be. A display artist by profession, Jennifer does window-dressing, arranges shop interiors, and designs presentations at shows or exhibitions. Since 1986, she has been alternating between part-time and full-time home-based employment. ‘I started off being homebased because of the very nature of the job,’ Jennifer explains. ‘I was freelancing rather than working for a particular company. I converted a spare room at home into a studio rather than renting one, which would have been prohibitively expensive.’ When the demand for display work drops, Jennifer supplements her income by taking on other, outside work. She has worked as a receptionist in a chiropractor’s office and as a sales assistant at weekends, over Christmas and during other busy times. ‘I was able to work in the stores for which I did displays,’ says Jennifer. Working outside the home also helps overcome the problem of social isolation. ‘I do find I miss that contact when I’ve worked at home for several days, as I’m a pretty gregarious person. But I will go out and meet with friends. Discipline can be a difficulty when working from home. But I see it as more of an attitude adjustment. My work does not just involve one task such as sitting at a typewriter. I need to do lots of research and planning. I paint, make up objects . . . There are lots of possible angles, so

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if I get stuck on one I can just move to another. I’m no good in a system. I don’t like working in an organisation with people telling you what you can and can’t do. My environment is very creative and I have the freedom to do what I want. I enjoy that sense of control, that ability to work late into the night or start early in the morning. When things get too much, when I get tired or the creative flow ebbs, then I’ll do something basic like housework or shopping. I might garden. You can’t stop and do that in an office.’

Your manner A friendly, polite and courteous manner can work wonders. An angry attitude, however well-justified, will only serve to antagonise. ‘Humility plays a big part in business and in life,’ says Julie Matthews. ‘Be humble. Nobody likes a big shot. People need to dress well, speak well, make good eye contact and be sincere in what they do. That’s what people look for—sincerity. Some people working from home have an inferiority complex about doing so. They don’t need to do that. You have to be proud that you work from home. Ask some people where they work and they’ll swallow and mumble, “I only work from home.” They are a little ashamed.’ The truth is, there is nothing to be ashamed of in this regard and indeed much to be proud of: your independence, your selfmotivation and your self-reliance are all fine attributes and qualities. Your approach This lays the foundation for your entire business. If you are disorganised, sloppy, uninterested, impatient or distracted, it will reflect badly on you and your business. And remember, it is one thing to be casual and friendly, but quite another to be offhand and abrupt. Make time for your clients. Make each one feel as if they are your most important customer, neither rushing them nor

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letting them completely dominate your time. Discover for yourself what a difference this makes. The customer is always right! Can this simple adage ever be stressed enough? Think of it this way. If you do a $100 signwriting job and the customer is not satisfied, however hard you argue your case—that your work is of good quality and exactly what was ordered—you will not win. You may well be correct, but if the customer is not satisfied, what will you gain by arguing? Suppose you make your point and the customer pays up. How does this help you if he leaves in a huff, vowing never to come to you again, and then tells all his friends to avoid you? Instead of fighting to prove you are in the right, you can be assertive while still looking after the customer’s interests. Why not say, ‘I did the work to the best of my ability and to the specifications we discussed. Yet you are not happy. My aim is to please you. So what would you like me to do?’ Ask the customer if he wants the job altered or redone, or if he wants a reduction in price. Even if he doesn’t pay for the sign, at least you still have a satisfied customer. After all, it’s hardly worth gaining $100 if you are then bad-mouthed around town. If you rely on repeat business, it is especially important that the matter be resolved amicably. Look on the lost $100 as advertising costs. Photographer Matt Turner makes customer satisfaction an integral part of his business. ‘If someone is not happy with my work, for whatever reason, then I won’t charge at all,’ he says. He would rather lose the money than goodwill, and he makes this clear to clients at the outset. In four years of working for himself, he has only once had to forgo a payment. Learn to concede gracefully. To do so is a strength and not a weakness. One way to immediately boost the productivity of your business is to decide to work with people rather than against them. Set out to assist your clients rather than placing obstacles in their way. A home-based business friend of mine was going overseas to

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attend a conference. Short of time, she telephoned the local branch of her bank to ask if they could have $3000 worth of traveller’s cheques ready for her to sign and pick up later that day. Although she had an account there and was known to the staff, the bank employee presented her with a long list of reasons why this was not possible, concluding with the statement that she might not turn up to collect the cheques. ‘Of course I will turn up, I need them,’ she protested, but in vain. The employee would not be swayed, so my friend took her business—and account—elsewhere. If you put obstacles in the way of your customers, you will alienate them. This is especially important with repeat customers. It is far easier to keep an existing customer than find a new one. While you cannot expect to get on well with all your clients, they should all be offered the same care and consideration. ‘I aim to please everyone, including rude people—and I have met a few of those,’ says home-based electrician Bob Flaherty. ‘But in 15 years of working for myself, I have only had two disagreements. Mind you, I’ve had a lot of strong discussions! I go out of my way to prove to myself that no-one is beyond the reach of courtesy. Besides, if you can please your customer, it’s good advertising. You are just being pig-headed if you walk out of the situation. This is your future, after all. The whole essence of your business is customer service.’ Yes, indeed—it’s the customer who pays your wages! ‘Do good work,’ says Bob, ‘and you will get more from the same source. I did some work for my accountant and this led to work for three of his partners and 10 or so staff members.’ If people have a need, you need to be able to respond. To make his customer service as prompt and efficient as possible, Bob has an answering machine at home. He also has a mobile telephone with a silent number. His wife and business partner, Sue, takes the answering machine messages and he calls in regularly ‘or she can call me if it is an emergency’, Bob explains. (He believes taking calls constantly on his mobile phone ‘is an imposition on the customer I’m with’.) He also has two back-up electricians he can contact at short notice. ‘They handle any emergencies if I am busy. It doesn’t

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happen very often—only 5% of service calls are real emergencies— but I am prepared for any situation.’ While I was writing this, two light globes in my kitchen blew early in the morning. When I tried to change them, the bulbs broke off in my hand, leaving their metal collars behind. I called Bob and left a message, expecting to hear back from him that evening or the next day. Twenty minutes later, there was a ring at the doorbell. It was Bob. How was that for customer service? Jenny Church, of Your Type Secretarial Services, believes that to provide a good service, you should ‘do all your work cheerfully and be very patient with people. Offer advice without involving yourself in a situation for which you could be liable’. Jenny is happy to present document layout or structural options if asked, but naturally the final decision and the responsibility for it belong to the client. ‘Be as helpful as you can,’ she says. ‘Above all, honour your deadlines. If you have made a promise, stick to it!’ Your charges We discussed how to set costs in chapter 4. The secret is to stick to them, whether you are dealing with strangers, friends or acquaintances. Resist the temptation to do favours for friends. When word gets out, all your friends and acquaintances will come to expect a discount. Then what will you do? If you find charging for your work difficult to handle, ask yourself: Am I running a business or a charity organisation? If you are happy, and can survive, on a reduced income, then well and good. Otherwise, stick to your charges for one and all. Julie Matthews from Andrew Matthews Productions takes on the negotiations of fees for Andrew’s services. ‘I market Andrew Matthews as a product,’ she says. ‘It would not be professional for Andrew to talk about money or terms and conditions.’ Offering everyone the same good service at the same price can, in fact, enhance your image and your standing. People believe they get what they pay for. A low price is equated with corner-cutting service and an inferior product. When people pay more, they are

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more likely to value the product or service. On the other hand, the occasional trade-off can be mutually beneficial. One home-based computer worker had a graphic designer friend prepare his business stationery at a discount and, in exchange, provided the friend with computer services at cost. Home-based electrician Bob Flaherty says,‘My prices are not low but they are competitive. I must be doing something right, as I have never been out of work. Far from it. In fact, I had to stop advertising in the local papers, as I could not handle the amount of work generated. I have found from experience that a cheap price does not always win the job. I know of businesses where guys have taken the guts out of the prices and gone out of business in six months.’ Reliability You may have found a large market. You may be offering the exact services your clients desire. You may have the right prices and you may be capable of doing the work well. But if you are unreliable, business is unlikely to boom. Once you have made a commitment to a client, honour that commitment. Home-based architect Wayne Ketchen always sets deadlines for projects, even when his clients have not already done so. ‘That deadline can help me with motivation, as I know I am answerable to these people,’ he explains. Whether a deadline is for your own sake or the client’s, this is a good habit to cultivate. An additional tip is to try and beat your client’s deadline. That way, you have a bit of leeway but if you do finish ahead of schedule you impress your client and boost your own confidence. Jenny Church of Your Type Secretarial Services manages to meet constant deadline demands. ‘The nature of my work is that I will have six people coming in daily, wanting the work completed yesterday. I cope, I’ve always lived like that. I enjoy achieving challenges, doing the impossible, and I’m always thinking: how can I do it better?’ Jenny prides herself on her reliability, and consequently her business is thriving. Stick to your deadlines, and don’t let your customers down.

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That little bit extra Naturally the quality of your work must be up to scratch. But what may not be quite so obvious is the benefit of providing that little bit extra—that additional service, that unexpected considerate touch. This will not only make you stand out from your competitors but will demonstrate to the clients that you really do care about their patronage. ‘After each project, we go back to the clients and ask whether they are happy with the service—whether we can help in any way, whether there is any problem we can fix’, says interior designer Catherine Bugoss. ‘This has met with a great response. That little bit extra gets you noticed and remembered. It gets you more business, keeps the client happy and gives you self-satisfaction. If you leave a happy client and people later ask who did the work, he or she will happily pass on your details. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising.’ Window cleaner Josh Zappone, who works from his Adelaide home, also believes that little things count. A new customer told him she had seen his ad in the local newspaper, offering‘a new generation of service’. ‘She asked me what on earth could be new about window cleaning. I could see her point, but it’s the little things that count.’ Josh makes sure he brushes and cleans a window ledge before washing the window ‘so that when you put water on it, it does not turn into a muddy mess’. He always places a towel underneath his bucket when working inside, so as not to drip water on the carpet. He cleans the flyscreens and removes cobwebs. ‘Once you get rid of obvious cobwebs, the house really picks up. It has more impact and the whole thing looks really good. Clients appreciate that.’ They also appreciate the T-shirts that Josh and his wife, Emma, wear, emblazoned with their logo. ‘When we go to someone’s house, we don’t just look like any other backyard person. The customer can see who we are straight away,’ says Josh. ‘They can identify us and see we are a professional service. All our customers say, “Wow— that looks great. You look more professional each time we see you.” And we’ve had many calls since we started wearing the T-shirts.’ What can you do in your business to elicit that ‘wow’ factor?

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‘When people book us for a seminar, we go just that little bit further than expected,’ says Julie Matthews. ‘We will help with their promotional flyers, designing them free of charge. We will do whatever we can to make their job a little easier.’ Don’t keep the customer waiting ‘People are getting used to answering machines,’ says Marilyn Jolly of Jolly Home and Pet Care Service. ‘I make a point of getting back to them as soon as possible, so that they feel they are not forgotten.’ Window cleaner Josh Zappone also believes in responding swiftly to the needs of customers. ‘When I was working for a subcontractor four days a week and for myself on the other day, customers would have to wait for me to attend to their needs. Now that I have my own business, I can do the work straight away and customers like that,’ he says. Even when Josh is very busy, he does not let his customers down. ‘At those times my dad, who is also a window cleaner, shares the workload.’

Review A professional image is vital to business success. Never forget that you are the business. You convey your image via: •

•

your telephone manner. Always identify yourself with your business name. Speak clearly, brightly and confidently. Be polite and helpful at all times. Regularly record a new message for your answering machine. Keep it brief, serious and to the point. the way you use written or printed material, such as stationery, promotional brochures and business cards.

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face-to-face contact with clients. This includes customer service. Remember, the customer is always right. A dissatisfied client will tell 17 others, while a satisfied customer tells only three or four.

When dealing with your clients, create an appropriate balance between a friendly, comfortable atmosphere and a professional image. Offer each and every customer the same care and consideration. Be as helpful as you can. If people have a need, you should be able to respond. Do all your work cheerfully and be patient with people. Honour your deadlines. Keep meetings friendly but businesslike. Where possible, have a separate entrance to and area for your home office. Aim to give that little bit extra. Respond promptly to your clients’ needs.

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6

Selling yourself and your business Selling yourself and your business

he initial hard work has been done. Your business is up and running. You are satisfied that your service and products are of high quality and that there is a market for them. You have done your research well, checking out your competitors and pricing accordingly. You’ve thought of everything. Or have you? How are people to know of your new business and the goods and services that you offer? They may be the best, but if no-one has heard of you, then all your efforts have been wasted. It is time to think about marketing!

T

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Making yourself known ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others use public relations.’ There is much truth in the humorous caption I saw prominently posted on a friend’s noticeboard. Public relations influences the way customers see your business. The Macquarie Dictionary defines public relations as ‘the practice of promoting goodwill among the public for a company’ and ‘the practice of working to present a favourable image’. Public relations encompasses advertising, promotion and publicity. Depending on your circumstances and your budget, you can organise these elements yourself or hire someone to do so for you. Names of accredited individuals or organisations may be obtained from state branches of the Public Relations Institute of Australia. With advertising, because you are paying you have total control. If you advertise in a newspaper or magazine, you can select the size and position of your ad and the frequency of its appearance. You can make radio or television commercials. You can buy billboard spaces and fill them with posters advertising your product or service. Promotions or special offers can encourage people to use your products or services. A 10% discount for any typing job of more than 50 pages is an example of a promotion in action. Promotions can be used to generate business at quiet times. One picture framer offers 25% off for any work done in January, to boost a low business period when many of her customers are away on holiday. Publicity can be detrimental as well as beneficial to your business. Some would argue that there is no such thing as bad publicity— after all, it makes your product and business known to the public. But if a newspaper food writer notes that your jams are bitter and unpleasant-tasting, customers will hardly be queuing up to buy!

Should you advertise? Think about the brand of toothpaste you use, the breakfast cereal you eat, the car you drive. Can you recall the slogans or ads used

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to promote them? You may imagine you are a free-thinking person who is not influenced, let alone manipulated, by advertising, but if you really think about what has made you select certain products and not even consider others, you may be surprised. Although advertising can be effective, you must still ask yourself whether you need it. Perhaps your business will build up purely through word-of-mouth recommendations. This is the most effective way for a small business to become known. And it’s free. If someone you trust recommends an accountant to you—one who is pleasant, reliable and has got your friend a $3000 tax rebate last year—you are far more likely to try that accountant than to choose one at random from the Yellow Pages. Photographer Matt Turner has not spent a cent on advertising. His work has all come to him by recommendation—from journalists he knows, from other photographers with too much work on, from satisfied customers. This is not only good for Matt but means his clients come to him with faith in his abilities. And he has made recommendations in turn. ‘When I needed some business cards made up, my friend Susan told me of a home-based graphic designer. I was so impressed with his services that I told another friend who in turn spread the word among colleagues at her legal practice. I worked out that that one recommendation to me had led to five other recommendations. How many other people had Susan told?’ But active promotion is important, too. At a talk given at Adelaide’s Marketing Week a few years ago, I noticed round yellow stickers attached to the backs of chairs and pillars. Attracted by their bright colour, I looked more closely and read the words,‘Never miss an opportunity to market yourself ’. It was a brilliant and effective advertising concept—also a maxim well worth adhering to. You may think you have invented the most environmentally sound cat litter ever. Recycling old newspapers was such a splendid idea! But if nobody knows about your amazing new product, you’re stuck with 10 tonnes of newsprint. The windows you clean may sparkle brightly because of your technique and the cleaning fluid you have designed. But if no-one knows where to contact you,

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you’ll be spending your days alone at home—with a clear but unpromising outlook. Jan Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services has no need to advertise in the media. ‘Our work is based on referral,’ she says. Her staff wear smart aqua, navy and cream uniforms and display sandwich boards outside the premises in which they are working. Both measures not only promote a professional image but also create more business. Jan was one of 12 founding members of Business Boroondara Network, initiated by Victoria’s Camperdown Council. ‘We do voluntary work in the community, based on the movie Pay it Forward,’ she says. ‘That actually resulted in more work for my business and for my public speaking engagements.’

Assess the market If you want to advertise, the first thing you need to do is consider your market—the customers you want to reach. If you have prepared a business plan, you will already have identified your market and compiled a customer profile. Review this and consider: • • • •

the spread of your market (Does it cover your suburb, the entire state, the country? Does it extend overseas?); the age of your customers; their special needs or interests; and whether your customers are individuals or companies.

The answers will help you work out the best way to approach publicity. They will also save you money. It is surprising how many companies waste big money by not advertising in appropriate areas. If you are manufacturing or selling personal alarms for the elderly, for example, it will be appropriate to send information to local retirement villages. If you are making wetsuits, it makes sense to advertise in scuba-diving magazines and sports stores.

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On the other hand, it would be costly, ludicrous and ultimately unprofitable to advertise on national television if you were a small company that could supply goods and services only within a 20kilometre radius. And advertising in a pop music magazine is unlikely to elicit much response for your lessons in opera singing.

Drawing a comparison Have you ever wondered who creates those artistic and detailed drawings of houses for the real-estate pages of the newspaper? Chances are, it will be a home-based worker—someone like Rod Hutchison. Although a sole practitioner, he is one of a highly skilled group of people who do work for real estate companies. He describes himself as an illustrator, also doing technical drawings. These can range from sketches for an air force workshop manual to representations of air-conditioning valves. But the bulk of his work is in real estate. Rod is self-taught. ‘I was a technician for the air force and, when I left, I was out of work for a month before finding a job in the Commonwealth public service,’ says Rod. He spent that time sketching stone buildings. When a real estate agent happened to see his illustration of a stone smokehouse on the Nairne property Rod and his wife had purchased, he commented that it would look good in the newspaper. ‘Nobody else was using this process of illustration back then, in 1972,’ says Rod. ‘The only line drawings in the newspaper were of project houses. So I started doing these real estate drawings on a part-time basis.’ In the meantime, he did other varied work, including in aged care. When a five-year contract ended in August 1990, he had built up sufficient work in illustration to enable him to work full-time in his home-based business. ‘I had several customers in the late 1980s and I was going quite well, earning a good $5000 for illustrations in addition to my other income.

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I now have a fully-equipped studio at home and I’ll be at my desk, in my pyjamas, at 7 in the morning. I’ll have breakfast an hour later and get on with my day.’ Rod’s wife also works in the business—doing administration, answering the phone and sometimes delivering sketches. They are a partnership and have a registered business name, Hutchison Illustrators. Rod built up his workload by advertising in Real Estate Institute magazines as well as approaching agents face to face. He has also taught himself to do floor plans and site plans. He has a set price for his work, which does not vary with the size of a house or the travel involved. He will do pencil sketches of the house at the location, measure up the interior and complete the work at his home. ‘What I lose on the swings, I gain on the roundabouts,’ he says. ‘That takes care of fluctuations.’ As for separating work and free time, ‘depending on the workload, I’ll aim to finish by Friday afternoon so I’ll have a slightly extended weekend’, says Rod. Craig Smith has illustrated more than 140 books in his 20-year career. Self-discipline has never been a problem for him. ‘Small business is in the blood,’ he says. ‘My parents ran a shoe store in the Adelaide Hills and I put an enormous amount of stress on their example. They never demanded that I be my own boss but it seemed a perfectly natural thing to do. I have no fear of being self-employed. To me, it is almost genetic,’ Craig smiles. When he started work, it was from home. ‘Traditionally a lot of book illustrators go to art school, then work from the bedroom and don’t emerge until their mid-30s,’ he laughs. ‘And being shy seems to go with the work. Perhaps you take refuge from the real world in the finicky reworking of images and textures.’ Maybe. Yet Craig’s work has brought delight to thousands of youngsters. His versatility has seen him illustrate books as diverse as The Giant’s Tooth by Gillian Rubinstein, The Cabbage

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Patch Book by Paul Jennings and Billy the Punk by Jessica Carroll. Several of the publications on which he has worked have won prestigious awards, and his clients include the likes of Australia Post as well as Australia’s major book publishers. But talent is not enough. One of the hardest aspects of Craig’s work is forcing himself to overcome his shyness and get out of the house in order to establish work contacts. ‘A normal working environment gives you incidental contacts. It is important to meet people, that is the stuff of work,’ he believes. ‘People say it is cheaper in overheads working from home. But artists do not realise that work flows in by word of mouth. One of the immediate advantages of working in a commercial studio is that you are in a business loop. The set-up almost pays for itself as you end up getting more work.’ ‘The downside of working from home and so not interacting routinely with people is that you can lose the ability to string words or thoughts together. You lapse into a silent routine, as you are alone much of the time.’ Craig counteracts this with his involvement with schools. Book Week in August is a particularly busy time for him. He also makes sure his work is not at the expense of family time. ‘I work five days a week and rarely past 6 in the evening. I work shorter hours than I did in an office. I’ve learnt to be more efficient, and when I have a deadline, I’ll get up earlier.’ Home-based architect Wayne Ketchen has found being able to watch his two children grow up an invaluable experience, but: ‘I do find I now have a lack of contact with other professionals, so I will make an effort to drive out and see people. I attend seminars and certainly do not sit at home and vegetate. Clients can view you differently when you work from home. But it is certainly not true that if you are working from home you can’t make it elsewhere. You do need to have a professional presentation, be reasonably smartly dressed and have the image associated with this. I have not found any loss of status in

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working from home. In fact I have developed more selfconfidence in learning to do more things while being my own boss. Running your own business is prestigious.’ What could be better than having a beachside apartment in Queensland as your home and work base? ‘Working from home allows you to put more capital into your house, money you would otherwise put into your business,’ explains author, speaker and cartoonist Andrew Matthews. In this way, he and his wife Julie have been able to justify spending money on their home. ‘Office rent of $500 a week works out to over $25 000 a year,’ says Andrew. ‘Use that money as 10% of a loan and you have $250 000 to put into your home!’ Andrew believes in ‘doing what you love and working hard enough at it so you can keep doing it. If you do what you do for long enough and hard enough, you get the privilege of doing it for a living’. For Andrew and Julie, this privilege extends to spending their time together. ‘We enjoy each other’s company so much that it is a bonus to be able to spend the work day with Julie as well as non-working time. She is my partner, my friend and my principal adviser,’ says Andrew. That’s not to say it is all plain sailing. With no obvious demarcation between work and social life, Andrew has had to learn to stop talking about work at times they have designated, before 8 am and after 6 pm. And Julie, having been a successful businesswoman in her own right, has decided to step out of the limelight for a while in order to work for Andrew Matthews Productions. Compromises have been made on both sides. ‘There is no boss as such, we tend to run the business by consensus,’ says Andrew, ‘and that can be a slightly difficult thing. You can’t give orders to your partner as you would to a stranger that you pay at the end of the week.’ Having separate responsibilities eases any tensions. Andrew describes Julie as ‘a concepts and ideas person, someone who has the insights and intuitive flashes that change the big picture’, while he, ‘although not the

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world’s most organised person [is] a little more in tune with the administration side of things’. ‘I grew up with a father who did what he loved and that influenced me,’ says Andrew. ‘He was a framer, an inventor, a landscape artist and a modest real-estate developer. Watching him, I got the impression that work was doing whatever you wanted to do. And if you had to first do something less exciting to support yourself, that gave you even more incentive. I think you need a certain amount of discipline to work from home. And you must love what you do. If you love what you do and you have a vision, then that passion will supply the discipline you need’. Graphic designer Kym Duval started his own business working from home in 1993. ‘A shopfront would only have been marginally more advantageous than word of mouth in attracting work,’ he says. ‘As for being with other people, I had worked in a team for other companies in the past and being on my own was no deterrent to me.’ He says it takes time to build up a business. Early on, he made some poor financial decisions and charged too little for his services. ‘I found I was working long hours—70–80 hours a week—for little reward. I work every day, but have cut down to 60 hours now, and find I am most productive at night when there are no disturbances such as the phone ringing.’ As a graphic designer, Kym is involved in ‘the artistic arrangement of words and pictures to make the end result as good-looking and powerful as possible’. His projects range from logo designs for corporate identities to stationery and advertisements. He also works on promotional material, which can end up on anything from a T-shirt to the side of a van. ‘Some people expect that because you work from home you will be miles cheaper than anyone else. That is not necessarily so. In fact, when you have 20 people working together in a company, you can buy materials in large quantities and offer a cheaper rate, even though the office overheads may be

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higher. My prices are extremely competitive, but my consumables and utilities obviously still give me a bottom line, so I can’t undercut the mainstream business world by a huge margin. It is a hard grind but it’s lucky that I like what I do.’ To buy the equipment he needed, Kym took out a bank loan, which he is repaying over 10 years. He is happy to be in a situation where everything is under his control. ‘I don’t have a landlord telling me the rent is going up next week. My costs are fixed and I am now eligible for tax deductions in certain areas. The main advantage for me is being able to spend time with my young family. The disadvantage for me is that I am finding it harder and harder to unwind. Even when I am trying to relax, I find myself thinking I should be doing something else. Tight deadlines are the nature of the industry, but I was putting unnecessary pressure on myself to complete work beyond the customer’s expectation. Now, I am working out how to cope better with this aspect of my work, so as not to get stressed.’

Low-cost publicity Publicity isn’t necessarily expensive. There are many ways to promote your business at low—or no—cost. You could do a letterbox drop of potential customers in your area. Marilyn Jolly distributes leaflets for her home and pet care business at local veterinary surgeries and pet shops. You can distribute your card and brochures at any business meetings you attend. Or at any other opportunity. A van ahead of me at the traffic lights one day bore the sign ‘Caution—blind man driving’. Intrigued, I accelerated to overtake once the lights changed and caught sight of the confident-looking driver, who was wearing dark glasses. It took me some time to realise that this ‘blind man’, far from being visually impaired, made up and installed window blinds! I later spoke with him and he told me how on one occasion

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he had leapt out of his van at the traffic lights, wearing his sunglasses, pretended to stumble to the car alongside and thrust his business card through the open window at the amazed occupants. Who will they think of the next time they need blinds? Design some flyers to be slipped into magazines in waiting rooms. One home worker provides arrangements of her dried flowers for free at the local dental surgery—on condition that it display her business card. Use your answering machine. Dial Marilyn Jolly’s number and, if she is unavailable, you will hear the following message: Hi, this is Jolly Home and Pet Care. We can’t get to the phone right now but here are some of the services we provide while looking after your pets in your house. We walk dogs, clear letterboxes and papers, feed and water all pets, water pot plants, put out the rubbish bin and check the house daily. Our prices are from $12 a visit. If you’d like more information, please leave your name and number after the beep and we will get back to you.

‘We found most of the people who call us want general facts,’ Marilyn explains, ‘so we put in the information they were most likely to ask for. It works really well—they feel they have not wasted a telephone call, and we are not spending time going over the same information. It saves telephone calls on both sides. Now when people ring, we know it is most likely to be a genuine inquiry.’ One home-based business has magnetic car signs, which can be removed easily at times the owners don’t want to be identified. You may not want to be known as Larry’s Landscaping Services when you attend a friend’s barbecue—though for a small-business owner, such occasions are few and far between! Bear in mind that maintaining a professional image is critical when you have a logo on your vehicle. Screeching around corners and exceeding the speed limit are not good moves for Larry’s Landscaping Services—nor for Larry’s bank balance. Approach potential customers in person. Catherine Bugoss scours newspapers and magazines for stories on the latest building projects. She then approaches the companies with her interior

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design portfolio, and this has resulted in big work contracts. One home-based food company approached a major airline with its gourmet jams and found an untapped, large market. A children’s writer approached libraries and obtained regular speaking engagements. While most of these were unpaid, they helped raise her profile, which resulted in larger sales of her books and also enabled her to ‘test-run’ new stories on her ready-made audience. Cross-promotion is another cost-effective idea. You can combine with another home-based business to offer the public a more complete service package. As a photographer, you can team up with a graphic designer. As a house-cleaning service, you can recommend a lawnmowing business, and vice versa. Teaming up can help mutual promotion and cut advertising costs. You can advertise inexpensively in home-based business newsletters and publications. I have found that home-based businesses tend to support and endorse one another to potential clients, which is terrific. Who better to promote you and your home-based business than someone in a similar situation? Before you know it, you can build up a network of home-based businesses that you can recommend and that will, in return, recommend you. Don’t neglect regular customers, either. By giving them special service you can encourage them to promote your business for you. Marilyn Jolly gives her regular clients slightly lower rates if they introduce her to new clients. That’s an innovative and efficient way of building up business. Remember your previous employer. He or she may refer business your way or even employ you for contract work. While Tourism Queensland hires individuals based on their skills, manager of Destination Media and Publicity Bruce Wallace concedes that hiring a home-based worker can be an advantage: ‘We don’t have to pay the exorbitant consultancy fees as they don’t have all those overheads.’ Experience within an organisation can work for and against you. In the case of Tourism Queensland, for example, you and your abilities may be known but, as a government agency, their dealings have to be transparent and fair to all. ‘We go through a three quote

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process and select the best, which is not necessarily the cheapest,’ says Bruce. His advice to home-based workers seeking short-term or contract work is to network. ‘Get involved in those industry associations, be seen out and about. You can’t sit back and wait, you must market yourself and keep up with your industry-related issues, be that tourism or whatever.’ Finally, you can use the media inexpensively. Put together a newsworthy story about your business and send it as a media release to the local newspaper, radio and television stations. Or send a funny anecdote about your business to the newspaper. This may be used as a short filler, your business name appearing as a byproduct and, one hopes, a buy-product!

Advertising Suppose you’ve decided you could use paid advertising. There are a number of factors to consider. Are you allowed to advertise? For most occupations, the answer is yes. But in certain professions there are strict rules governing advertising. When I worked as a dentist in private practice in the Northern Territory in 1980, I was permitted to place a small notice in the local newspaper stating that I had commenced work. This notice was allowed to be published weekly, three times in all. Any further advertising would not have been acceptable to the local Dental Board. Doctors’ advertising is also restricted. As a lawyer or an accountant, you can advertise. If you specialise in family law, for example, or in tax returns, you can state this and seek clients accordingly. Can you afford to advertise? If you decide that paid advertising is necessary for your home business, set aside part of your budget, and your time, for it. That budget does not have to be vast. Advertising whiz Siimon Reynolds

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—best known for the Grim Reaper television commercial— suggests 2% of sales for big business and 5% of sales for small business. But you should be careful how you spend the money. It is possible to waste thousands of dollars that have no impact on your sales. Ask yourself if your ad spending is likely to have a profitable result. Speak to others in the same line of business. Ask the publication or organisation with which you intend advertising about the best line of action. It may be far more effective to advertise in the newspaper each Saturday, when there are more readers, than on several weekdays. Late-night television commercials may be more likely to reach your target audience than daytime ones. At this stage, you may choose to hire a public relations person or firm to advise on and organise a public relations campaign. Again, this will be geared to your budget and your needs. You may need to advertise only initially, gradually winding down the campaign as your business becomes established and repeat customers are found. Be prepared to pay at least $80 an hour. The alternative is to negotiate a total package for a fixed amount. Where should you advertise? When considering the media, there are print and electronic media. Print outlets include local, national, suburban and rural newspapers, magazines, trade journals and professional publications, mailing lists, club and society newsletters, home-based business association booklets, and the Yellow Pages telephone directory. It may be appropriate for you to advertise or insert a profile piece in newsletters, trade journals or professional publications. This is known as advertorial, as opposed to editorial, content. You pay for advertorial, which resembles an article rather than an advertisement. The words ‘advertisement’ or ‘advertising material’ must appear at some spot on an advertorial page. The electronic media comprise radio and television.

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Spreading the word As publisher of the national monthly magazine Work From Home—Owning Your Own Business, Cameron Johnston has found a niche market. With no other Australian publication aimed specifically at this area, he has developed an industry that now employs seven full-time staff. ‘I started out from my Kangaroo Point home in Brisbane, after borrowing $3000 from my grandfather. Then I got on the phone and started ringing people to sell them ads and to get the stories,’ he says. The money enabled him to publish Insight magazine, concerned with issues relating to mind, body and spirit, in October 1997, and then Work From Home. Eighteen months later Cameron moved into a rented office and has not looked back since ‘One of the worst things about working from home is the isolation,’ he says. ‘When we work in an office we have social interactions and can establish friends and peers within those interactions. Working from home, you’re very much by yourself and so this magazine is aimed at giving home-based workers a sense of belonging.’ Containing articles written by people who do or have worked from home, there’s information on topics from marketing your products to managing your business.‘This may sound a little esoteric for a business magazine, but this is a way of supporting people in chasing their hopes and dreams.’ Isn’t that what working from home is all about? ‘The most important ingredient in anything today is passion. If you’re passionate about what you’re doing, then you’re halfway there,’ says Cameron. ‘Then it becomes more than a job.

When purchasing advertising space in a print outlet: • •

choose an appropriate publication, which your potential customers are likely to read; have an eye-catching advertisement designed by a professional;

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make sure your ad is a good size, and well-positioned, such as in the top right-hand corner, near the front of the newspaper; and run your ad long enough and regularly enough to make an impact.

Radio and television advertising may not be as expensive as you think. By selecting appropriate time slots, you can get good value for money and worthwhile results for your business. Late-night and early-morning advertising on television are economically priced; if your potential clients fall into this target audience, you might like to think of using some of your advertising budget here. Likewise, radio can offer good deals for a series of ads in your campaign. Check with your local radio and television stations for further details. Evaluation The difficulty with advertising and promotion is that no-one can guarantee results. What has worked for a business colleague may not, for a variety of reasons, work for you. You can experiment, having a trial run with a few advertisements and gauging the reaction. Ask each new client how they came to hear of you and your business. Take good note of the answers. Was it through an advertisement or by way of an individual who was pleased with your work? Did they see the logo on your car or spot your snazzy T-shirt? Was your letterbox drop successful or did your leaflets, prominently displayed in a local shop, do the trick? Don’t expect too high a response rate to your ad. Have you ever returned to your car after a night out and found a leaflet on the windscreen? Perhaps it boasted that it could give you the secret of losing weight easily and quickly or invited you to a local nightclub at a discount on presentation of the leaflet. If you patiently placed such leaflets on 1000 car windscreens, how many responses do you think you would get? If you got just 20 positive replies, you would be doing well! The same applies to mail-outs. Post out 100 leaflets and if you get two or three sales, you’ll be pleased. Telephone

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salespeople are considered highly skilled if they make one sale in every 10 calls. But do not let this news disillusion you. Be aware. Be sensible about the ways in which you can market your business. Retain a healthy scepticism about the benefits of paid advertising. Learn more about how it operates and look at the ways in which it can operate most economically and effectively for you.

The media release You can get what amounts to free advertising if you are able to get a story about your business run in the newspaper or on radio or TV. You do this with a media release—a short, preferably one-page, summary of a prospective story that can be used for an article, feature, news item or interview. The idea is that once people read the article, see the show or hear you speak, they will know about your business and perhaps buy your goods or use your services. So how do you put together a media release? Let us suppose you have started a home-based business providing graphic design services. Many graphic designers work from home. What is different, what is unusual, what is newsworthy about your business? ‘News’ is ‘new information, fresh events’. News can be about the first or the last, the biggest or the smallest. News is something different, something out of the ordinary, something unusual. Say you have recently secured a lucrative contract with a hotel chain in Singapore—and you’re the first Australian graphic design firm to do so. Now, that is news. You may paint porcelain brooches with Australian scenes, which you sell to souvenir stores in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. You discover that most of your customers are overseas tourists, many of them German. They are delighted to be able to take a ‘little piece of Australia’ home with them. The funny thing is, you yourself are from Germany. Not only are you now promoting your adopted country, but you have also introduced a new skill to that country. Porcelain painting is a traditional and highly respected profession in Germany, but relatively unknown here. This too is newsworthy.

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These sorts of things are the ‘angles’ for which journalists are always looking. That’s all well and good, you may say, but I run a home-based typing service—or an electrical business—and there is nothing new or different about me. Or is there? The fact that you are a man running a typing service is unusual in itself. You may be used to customers who expect to see a woman but their reactions might make an interesting newspaper story. As an electrician, you may have two customers who avoided serious house fires thanks to the smoke detectors you installed. This might be a good introduction to a story in which you discuss the importance of these potentially lifesaving devices. Are you starting to get the hang of it? A media release should answer the following questions: who, what, why, when, where, how. Cover all those points and you will have covered your story. You can put together and send out the media release yourself or hire a public relations person or company to do this for you. Let us look at an example.

Media release For the attention of Susan Jeffries, News Editor, The Daily Times 7 April 2004 Embargoed until 8 April 2004 Local business wins big overseas contract Twenty-year-old Meredith Summers has become the youngest Australian small-business owner ever to win a large overseas contract. Her home-based business has secured a lucrative contract, worth $500 000 over five years, for translation services with a Japanese firm. Language Links, which has been operating for just 12 months, impressed the Tokyo company with its high-quality,

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reliable and speedy service. Meredith, who uses the latest computer equipment, has been able to secure the work despite stiff competition. Having visited Japan several times, she has proved that distance is no object when it comes to finding business. ‘I’m absolutely thrilled to have won the contract,’ says Meredith. ‘I have found that being home-based is an advantage. To me, the secrets of success are marketing yourself well, being confident in your ability and being totally dedicated.’ For further information, please contact Meredith Summers on tel 042 123 4567, fax 042 123 4555, email: meredith@ languagelinks.com.au, mobile 041 123 456. She is available for interview. Black-and-white photograph or colour transparency provided on request.

Where to send it Your media release can be posted, faxed or emailed to newspaper and magazine, radio and television journalists. In considering where to send it, ask yourself: What is your market? Is this a local story or will it have national interest? State and many local libraries will have a copy of Margaret Gee’s Australian Media Guide, which lists details of newspapers and magazines throughout the country. This is a good starting point. When considering newspapers, do not forget suburban or rural ones. You may, in fact, have more success with these than with big arty or national newspapers. Remember also community newspapers and newsletters, ethnic newspapers and magazines, and specialist publications, including trade journals and professional publications. The electronic media, too, have a voracious and relentless appetite for stories. While newspapers have fixed space in each edition, radio and TV news bulletins change throughout the day, so particularly on local radio you have more chance of getting a story in. You have a better chance of securing an interview on radio talk and current

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affairs shows or special-interest shows. Local morning TV shows can also be good to target. Address the media release to the appropriate individual at the company—the news editor or the business journalist on a paper, the producer or presenter of the radio or television show you are approaching. Do make sure you know the program well and that your story is appropriate. Sending a media release about your tulipexporting business to a local TV cookery show is hardly likely to result in an interview! If aiming at television news or current affairs, think of the visual angle. Shots of your colourful tulips would suit. Timing When is it appropriate to send out your media release? This depends on a few factors. Is your story relevant for only a short time? How often does the publication you are targeting come out? If it is a daily newspaper, one or two days’ notice will be sufficient. If it is a weekly newspaper, give one to two weeks’ notice. Timing is all-important. Give too much notice of the event or occurrence and your media release may be put aside and forgotten. Give too little notice and it may be too late for the journalist to organise a story. When faxing, first thing in the morning is the best time. Getting your release noticed How can you maximise the chances that your media release will be singled out from the many hundreds of others and acted on? Make sure: • •

•

it is unusual and newsworthy; it is addressed to, and reaches, the right person at the right time (Never send information addressed to just a radio or TV station. For which program and for which person is it intended?); it is clear. Make your story short, snappy and direct. Give as much information as you can in the fewest words, on one sheet of A4 paper. Use straightforward English;

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it is professionally and appealingly presented. You might use colour or bold graphics to make it stand out; it is followed up with a polite telephone call, asking whether any further details are required; and you are readily available for interviews.

Journalists are always working to deadlines. Their time is short, and the easier you can make things for them, the happier they will be and the more likely it is that your story will be picked up. Your media release may be quoted word for word in a newspaper article. Be prepared for this. Then congratulate yourself that you pitched its style and content correctly!

The interview The best way to handle an interview is: prepare, prepare, prepare. Prepare what you want to say and how you will say it. Ask the person who is organising the interview a few key questions: how long is the interview likely to last, what will be its focus, and—if for radio or television—will it be live or prerecorded? Prepare how you will look. Dress smartly and appropriately. Arrive punctually. Have supporting material on hand—a copy of your media release, and a photograph or transparency for a newspaper or magazine. Note your main points and jot these down on a piece of paper. You can refer to them before or during your interview to calm your nerves. Be friendly and helpful, courteous and charming. Handle nervousness by concentrating on enjoying what you are doing. This is, after all, an opportunity to talk about the business you have established. You are talking about a subject on which you are the expert, about which you know more than the interviewer. And you might even inspire others. You only have to look at the number of biographies and autobiographies in print to know that what people are most interested in is other people and their lives. Once you start the interview, you will most certainly find it a pleasurable experience. A radio interview will be much more memorable and impressive if you create word pictures rather than

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recite facts or discuss abstract concepts. For example, ‘Since I redesigned the packaging for my gourmet jams, I have saved 10 trailer-loads of waste cardboard a year’, rather than ‘ . . . I have saved two tons of waste cardboard a year’. Use anecdotes to make a point and use humour as much as possible. Keep your answers short and to the point. A radio interview may last only five minutes. If you take up to three minutes answering the first question there won’t be time for much more.

Review Public relations influences the way customers see your business. It encompasses advertising, publicity and promotion. You pay for and have total control over advertising, deciding on the size and position of your advertisement and the frequency of its appearance. Promotions can be used to sell your products or services. Publicity can be free.

How to market your business • Identify and target your market. • Aim at repeat business, offering discounts or special offers to encourage this. • Money-back guarantees can also buoy up business. Building up your profile You can consider: • • •

a letterbox drop of potential customers in your area; buying an advertisement in your local newspaper; preparing a media release for your local newspaper, radio and television stations; and

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sending a funny anecdote about your business to your local newspaper.

You must: • •

maintain a professional image at all times; and always be aware of providing good personal service.

Advertising in action • Contemplate print and electronic (radio and television) outlets. • Consider cross-promotions. For print advertising • Choose an appropriate publication to attract potential clients. • Have an attractive, eye-catching and appealing advertisement design. • Choose an appropriate size and prominent position for your advertisement to be noticed. • Ensure that your advertisement is run long enough and regularly enough to make an impact. Never miss an opportunity to market your business.

Your media release A media release is a short summary of a story about your business, sent to a media outlet, and designed to encourage an article or interview. Make sure your media release is: • • • • •

timed correctly; unusual and newsworthy; answers the questions who, what, why, when, where and how; is addressed to the right person in the right department; is no longer than one A4 typed page in length;

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uses clear and direct language; gets across the most information in the smallest number of words; has an appealing and professional presentation; is followed up with a polite telephone call, asking whether further details are required; and includes the details of a person readily available for interview.

How to handle an interview Prepare, prepare, prepare. Engaging in and enjoying the interview • Arrive on time and be well-presented. • Have your main points written down and memorised. • Adopt a confident manner. • Speak slowly and clearly. • Be personable, friendly and helpful. • Answer all questions concisely and stick to the point. • Be enthusiastic and smile. • Show respect to the interviewer. • Relax, and keep your sense of humour. Never miss an opportunity to market your business Lying back in the dental chair, my mouth wide open and in a state of panic, I was distracted by a sign on the ceiling: ‘If you are happy with your treatment, please tell your friends. If not, please keep your mouth shut.’ That dentist certainly took every chance of building up business! Window cleaner Josh Zappone also has an innovative approach. ‘I carry my business cards in my top pocket,’ he says, ‘and whether I am working on shop windows or a house, I aim to get more jobs in the same shopping centre or the same street.’

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He will assess, for example, the store next door. Then, business card in hand, he walks in saying, ‘Hi, I’ve just started my own business. If you ever want your windows cleaned, I can do it for $5.’ He immediately identifies himself, quotes a price and, not surprisingly, the work rolls in!

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7

Dealing with stress and other health issues

Dealing with stress and other health issues

eredith Norman used to be a workaholic. ‘In my first job, as a teacher in the country, I found I was spending most evenings and at least one day of the weekend working. I had little time free. I never seemed to be able to relax.’ Constantly physically and emotionally on edge, she did not last long. ‘By the end of the first term, I had severe tonsillitis and then I ended up in hospital with glandular fever. That told me my body was not coping.’ She tried to change her ways but says,‘If you are a super-conscientious person, as I am, it can be difficult.’ Ten years on, nothing had changed. Now teaching at an Adelaide primary school, Meredith would work hard during the week, but it was not uncommon for her to put in

M

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additional hours at the weekend. Such commitment naturally took a toll on her physical and emotional health—she suffered from frequent colds and minor ailments—and her social life was limited. Today, in her home-based homeopathic business, Meredith applies the lessons she learned as a teacher. She sets aside regular time for outside pursuits and leisure activities (‘I play tennis three times a week, have frequent massages and meet with friends often’), she has set a limit to her hours and avoids doing any work on Sundays. ‘In my 40s I far better understand the importance of a balanced life than I did in my 20s,’ she says. ‘I am firm about my work times and I pace myself. Having been down the workaholic road and experienced the consequences of stress, I decided that when I started in a new career I would do it differently.’ Stress is a word we hear all too often: ‘I feel stressed’, ‘I can’t cope with all this stress’, ‘He’s off on stress leave’. But what does it mean? The Macquarie Dictionary defines stress as‘a disturbing physiological or psychological influence which produces a state of severe tension in an individual’ or, in terms of physics, ‘forces on a body which produce a deformation or strain’. In colloquial use, stress is a term covering a wide variety of pressures, social, psychological, work-based and emotional, which produce discomfort or disease when they exceed the body’s capacity to cope. When you overstress yourself, your body will manage for a while. But sooner or later it will start to break down under the strain, putting your wellbeing at risk. Stress is not all bad news. Without any stress, without any motivation, you would be so relaxed you would be in a coma! Stress is necessary for daily activity, and the right amount of stress keeps us attentive and driven and enables us to perform well. ‘I’m looking and feeling 10 years younger,’ says Philippa Kerslake, who has been running her home-based food business with her partner for several months. It is a taxing and demanding activity that sees her working long hours and travelling interstate to build up new contacts and clients. She admits to feeling anxious and apprehensive at times, yet she is thriving on her new lifestyle. Can you remember the last time you were pushed to get a piece of work out? Time was desperately short, the client was nagging

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and insistent, and the work was complex and demanding. Yet you did it, somehow. Not only that, but you summoned up all your resources and completed the task to the best of your ability. How about the time you had to speak in public? Perhaps it was at a work function or at a social event. As you were being introduced, your heart started pounding, your palms felt sweaty and your mouth was suddenly dry. Nothing remarkable in that. Public speaking, after all, rates as one of people’s biggest fears. What is remarkable, however, is how your body responded. You felt so charged up with adrenaline that you gave a wonderfully energetic and impassioned speech on the virtues of working at home to a mesmerised audience. ‘How did I do it?’, you asked yourself afterwards, incredulous at the loud and appreciative applause. You did it because your body responded to the challenge. Placed in the stressful situation, it went into alert, ‘fight or flight’ mode. You made a split-second decision whether to stay put and give your talk or take to your heels. Your body snapped into action. Blood was pumped to vital organs and to your muscles as your heart rate speeded up. Less important functions, such as digestion, slowed down. You started to breathe more quickly and more deeply, taking in more oxygen for immediate energy. Your perspiration rate accelerated and your body temperature dropped. The same thing would have happened if you’d chosen to flee. Your body would have prepared you to run as hard and fast as you could. There have been many instances of people being able to perform almost superhuman tasks when under pressure—suddenly leaping high fences when chased by ferocious dogs or finding themselves able to lift heavy rocks to free a trapped friend. When John Parker’s tractor suddenly reared going up a slope on an isolated NSW opal field, he was thrown clear but his 15-year-old daughter Helen was not so fortunate. Her head was jammed between one of the tractor wheels and the trailer behind it. As locals arrived on the scene, someone suggested lifting the tractor to free her. ‘I didn’t think we could do it,’ John admits, ‘but we were desperate. Five of us stood under the front of the tractor and, with a mighty grunt, we lifted it about 45 centimetres—making

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enough space for Helen to be pulled out. It’s amazing what you can do when the adrenaline is running.’ Due to the prompt action, Helen’s life was saved and she went on to make a complete recovery. The ‘fight or flight’ response boosts our physical capabilities. But when we do neither—and just persevere under constant, unrelenting pressure, neither lashing out nor running away—we maintain that response for hours, days, weeks. And this places enormous stress on our bodies. Our bodies were not designed to stay so alert for prolonged periods. Small wonder we then suffer from ailments such as headaches, backache, frequent colds, an upset stomach and other minor illnesses.

Are you too stressed? Take a few minutes to read through the following questions, answering each one with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Do you often suffer from headaches, backache or a sore neck? Do you lose your temper easily? Have you found it hard to make decisions lately? Are you having trouble concentrating at work? When you are not working, do you feel guilty? Have your sleep patterns changed? Have you noticed you are more forgetful recently? Are you unusually irritable, snapping back at people? Do you suddenly find it frustrating to wait in queues? Do you often get coughs and colds? Do you find it difficult to relax? Are you drinking more coffee and smoking more cigarettes than usual? Has your alcohol intake increased? Do you find yourself overreacting to minor things? Are you constantly thinking or worrying about work? Do you feel good on a Friday or Saturday (the end of the work week) and bad on a Sunday evening or Monday morning?

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17. Is your stomach often upset? 18. Does it often feel to you as if your heart is racing? 19. Do you tend to spend more time alone because people have become an irritation? 20. Are you much more impatient and intolerant than you were in the past? 21. Do you feel uneasy in your office or work environment? 22. Do you constantly feel there is not enough time? 23. Do you often find yourself daydreaming? If you answered ‘yes’ to 10 or more of these questions, it would be advisable to look closely at your situation and take action.

Warning signs of stress Dr Peter Cotton, chair of the Health Issues Advisory Group for the Australian Psychological Society, is a Brisbane clinical psychologist whose special focus is occupational stress. He says that often the earliest sign of stress is disturbed sleep—either difficulty in getting to sleep or waking up in the night and being unable to get back to sleep because of worry. This can progress to other physical signs, says Peter. Common signs are muscle tension leading to headaches and sore neck or backache, pounding heart, dry mouth and sweaty palms, frequent colds and minor illnesses, gastrointestinal disturbances such as upset stomach, fatigue, feeling sick and anxious, increased susceptibility to minor respiratory ailments, coughs and colds, and increased allergic reactions. Stress also has emotional and cognitive effects. The former include impatience, anxiety and irritability. The latter include reduced concentration, forgetfulness and impaired decision making. Prolonged stress over an extended period can result in raised blood pressure (essential hypertension)—although there is some debate about this—and can contribute to chronic health complaints such as cardiovascular problems, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome and dermatitis.

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Stress can result in poor work performance, accidents and ultimately physical collapse. Don’t wait until this happens!

Responses to stress ‘Your response to stress depends on the sort of person you are,’ says Dr Cotton. ‘Some people thrive on self-discipline, establishing a routine and getting things done. Others function better where there is some external structure and feel pressured with deadlines when working alone.’ People also cope with the effects of stress in different ways. Some try to ignore the warning signs, while others try to suppress them. They step up their nicotine, caffeine or alcohol consumption in an attempt to counteract the negative feelings. But all these substances can create a dependency, which brings its own complications. For this reason, they are ineffective long-term solutions. People usually find they tolerate stress best if they: feel committed to the work they are doing; feel they are being supported in that work; and feel they are receiving adequate remuneration. While you may experience some level of psychological distress and get agitated, you can still function well at work if your morale is high, for example. Once morale drops, though, you will experience the symptoms of stress.

Taking action ‘Only you can decide when to take action,’ says Dr Cotton.‘It depends on your personality—some recognise the warning signs earlier than others.’ There are also gender differences.‘Some women are far more likely to acknowledge the signs and seek help while some men are more likely to turn to coffee, cigarettes or alcohol. By and large, in an ideal world, if your sleep is disturbed on a regular basis, review the situation. Ask yourself what needs to be done. Do not merely take sleeping pills and, when they become ineffective, supplement them with alcohol or demand stronger ones from your doctor. When you have the signs of stress, there is obviously something amiss.’

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Ask yourself where the stress is coming from. You may need to alter your work environment in some way, perhaps cutting down on your workload, at least temporarily, or changing your work setting. Alternatively, you may need to boost your personal coping skills. You may be able to deal with the situation yourself. If not, talk to your doctor. He or she may recommend attending a stress management course—which can help you look at your situation in detail and teach you specific relaxation techniques—or consulting a counsellor or psychologist. Adelaide GP Dr Alice McLennan says stress is far more likely to adversely affect those who are unable to resolve their situation. ‘Someone on the factory floor unable to keep up with the pace of work on the production line and powerless to alter this is more prone to the effects of stress than the boss who has responsibility but control of 300 staff.’ Margaret Moore, an Adelaide dress designer, loves her teaching job. ‘I’m someone who adores people and I gain so much fun and enjoyment from teaching. But the pressure is enormous, it always is in dress design,’ she admits. ‘You have a big responsibility—to personally supervise every garment for each student.’ So, to unwind, she gardens or enjoys her landscape painting. Physical activity that is in complete contrast to your work is an excellent way to relieve stress. Andrew Matthews plays tennis. ‘I get more stressed playing tennis than I do working,’ he laughs. ‘But having accessible exercise is important to me. I always make sure there is a tennis court where I live, so I can walk off the court at 8 am and be at work by 8.30.’ Jan Somers also strongly believes in the value of having another interest. ‘Mine is exercise, and I will take time off for that no matter what. No matter what deadline I have or where I am, I’ll go to the gym, swim, run or jog some time in the day.’ Walking not only keeps Jan Sutherland, of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services, fit but gives her a bonus. ‘I think of ideas while I’m walking,’ she says. Adelaide dentist Derick Thomas’s solution is not to get stressed in the first place. ‘My philosophy is not to work too hard,’ he says. ‘I

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see only eight to 10 patients a day so that, if a problem develops, I have time to think about it and solve it. But obviously if I had five children to support, I would not have this luxury.’ Derick also chooses to work alone, as he has found that strains and tensions are inevitable in any partnership. ‘By myself, I’m my own master,’ he observes. ‘I feel I have got rid of one set of stresses only to replace them with another set,’ says Geelong architect Wayne Ketchen, who is married with two young children. ‘I no longer have to battle traffic three hours daily, to and from Melbourne, but now I have to find my own jobs, set my own goals, motivate myself, avoid distractions and make enough money to be able to pay the bills at the end of the week.’ And, he hopes, make a profit! When it all gets too much, Wayne says, ‘I sit down and do some deep breathing. Then I work out my priorities. I manage the crisis.’ That crisis management can take various forms—perhaps a 30-minute walk to clear his head. ‘When I return home, I know what I have to achieve.’ Wayne also does karate and meditates regularly. He became a member of Home-Based Business Australia for networking and for peer support. There, he says, ‘You meet people with similar problems which it’s good to be able to share and discuss.’ In 2003, with HBBA no longer existing as it was, Wayne says, ‘I now consider myself a businessperson who just happens to work from home and so, for me, a home-based business organisation is no longer necessary. I think things have changed. A few years ago, some people looked down on you, thinking you couldn’t get a “real” job and so you had to work from home. Nowadays I think it’s quite an enviable position to be in.’

In sickness and in health When illustrator Rod Hutchison fell down some slippery steps, he was thankful he had not injured his right drawing hand. But he did not feel quite so pleased to discover he had broken his left arm. ‘I was completely unable to work for four weeks and

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only on a part-time basis for the following three weeks,’ he says. Fortunately he was covered by the loss-of-income insurance he had taken out some time previously. This, however, did not take effect for two weeks. ‘I had a bit of money to tide me over but I found I had to dip into my capital to keep going.’ Just as well— for he received his cheque from the insurance company almost three months after the event! ‘I was making real estate sketches for a client at the time of the accident,’ Rod says, ‘and I will now be lodging a claim against the household insurance of the owner.’ Rod’s experience shows the necessity for home-based workers to have such income protection insurance and sufficient health insurance. He now considers it vital to look after your health and to keep fit. ‘I had a heart attack last Christmas and I’m sure it was partly caused by work pressures. The computerisation of newspapers has resulted in shorter deadlines. Where once I had to deliver my real estate sketches by midday Friday for them to be published in Saturday’s newspaper, they now have to be in by Thursday. Sometimes advertising agencies even require them by Wednesday, which makes life very difficult for me and makes me very tense. Mine is mainly a sedentary job. I spend a lot of time finishing the sketches at my desk. Sometimes I’ll be working from 6 am to 10 pm, putting in 70-hour weeks. Most of the time I work 50 hours a week. I’m working in a fiercely competitive industry, with a lot of people fighting over a finite number of customers. A lot of people can draw houses, and they undercut the market by doing very cheap work. Luckily for me it is not of good quality, and they don’t last. The recession also shook out quite a few people. You build up clients through loyalty and goodwill and by doing the job on time. You can ruin an entire weekend for a real estate agent: if you don’t complete the drawings, they cannot put together their brochure or catalogue.’ Having a heart attack made Rod reassess his fitness level and work style. ‘I now do a lot of walking and I have learnt to meditate,’ he says.

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Picture framer Val Harris kept up her income protection payments for over 30 years. Separated from her husband since she was four months’ pregnant, she had brought up her son alone. ‘Now that he was independent and looking after his own family, I wondered why I was still continuing to pay this insurance. There was only me now. So I stopped,’ she says. Six months later, Val had an accident while mowing her lawn and badly injured her right knee. ‘I needed major reconstructive surgery and was out of action for several months.’ That was bad enough but, when she was able to return to work, she could no longer use her foot-operated equipment. ‘I had to spend thousands of dollars buying the latest machines that are hand-operated,’ she says. ‘I’m a firm believer in insurance and so it was a silly mistake to end it.’ And an expensive one. When one has chronic health problems, working from home can be a convenient option. Sue, business partner and wife of electrician Bob Flaherty, suffers from an autoimmune disease. Yet Bob considers her contribution invaluable. ‘She is the heart of the business,’ he says. ‘Sue is able to deal with customers over the telephone, help sort out any problems and take care of the finances. Sometimes her help can be restricted because of the disease, but we work round that. I get a buzz out of it,’ says Sue. ‘With my condition, I could not hold down an outside job. I have constant muscle and joint pain and it is very tiring. It can be difficult to be pleasant with customers at times—the calls start at 6 am and sometimes don’t stop until 10 o’clock. After 16 years, Sue has got used to the lifestyle.‘It has become like a second skin. Your life is not your own most of the time,’ she says. Adding to the pressure is the fact that Bob and Sue’s 25-year-old daughter, Jane, suffers from the same disease and is practically confined to bed. ‘We are a happy family, though, we don’t go around with long faces,’ she says cheerfully. ‘Our 27-year-old son Christopher also lives at home with us. He doesn’t want to leave—so we must be doing something right!’

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Others thrive in a home setting. ‘I have been sick a lot less at home than in the office’, says journalist Paula Ruzek, who now specialises in publication production. ‘When I worked for Business Review Weekly I had five colds, one after the other. That was from travelling on public transport and from air conditioning in the building. Now I get one cold a year at most. I’m extremely healthy. I go for walks and to the gym, as I always did. But now I can choose my times, and go to the gym in the morning rather than the evening.’

Separating work from non-work When magazine editor Sue Carney had to temporarily shift her home office to a back room in order to accommodate visitors, she found her output suffered. ‘I found it incredibly difficult to get motivated in the living part of the house,’ she says, ‘and work tended to permeate everywhere.’ A physical separation between work and other aspects of your life is essential to both your general wellbeing and your work efficiency. If this is not possible at first, plan to create such a separation in the short term. You are making things very hard for yourself from the outset if you attempt to run your home business from the kitchen or living-room table. It can be done, it is done by some who have no alternative, but this definitely is not a practical long-term situation. The ideal, as we saw in chapter 3, is to set aside a room or other area specifically for work. Set clear boundaries between work and non-work. Keep them distinct, so you don’t ever find, for example, that you are reading a work document while eating a meal. Working from home, we do not have prompts or cues to structure our day, no set starts or stops. We have to set our own. Margaret Seedsman knows of one woman who dresses up smartly and comes in through her own front door each morning to artificially create the beginning of her

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work day. Another home-based worker uses breakfast at a local cafe as his start. A short walk in the fresh air, pleasant conversation and a good breakfast set him up for the day ahead. Sue Carney works at the Sydney office of Reader’s Digest two days a week and at home three days a week. ‘My working day starts after I drop my two children off at childcare and school. As soon as I re-enter the house, I am in work mode.’ She follows office hours and has no problem deciding when to stop work. ‘Once the boys are back, it’s impossible to continue,’ she laughs. Others may not have, or want, such a definite end to their working day. Author, cartoonist and speaker Andrew Matthews loves his work so much he could go on and on. ‘Sometimes I realise it is 4 in the afternoon and I have been so engrossed in my drawing I have not even thought of lunch.’ Such devotion to work has caused friction between him and his wife, Julie. ‘As I don’t physically leave my workplace, it is easy to be carrying on after dinner or before breakfast. That can be unfair on Julie,’ Andrew says.‘So we have now instituted the rule that I am not to talk about work after 6 pm or before 8 am.’ When Jan Sutherland found herself getting stressed because her phone never stopped ringing, she took action. She disconnected MessageBank from her mobile phone and started turning off her office phone at 5.30 pm. ‘People can call on the landline and I go through the messages on my answer machine the next morning,’ she says. ‘I close my office door at night and don’t go in there and I don’t work on weekends.’ Wise decisions, because a balance between work, family life and leisure time is essential. ‘Such a balance is the best buffer for stress, the most effective shock absorber,’ says Dr Peter Cotton. ‘You are far more prone to stress if one or other of these domains is out of balance.’ Dealing with interruptions and distractions Interruptions can be reduced or kept to a minimum if you have a separate work location. ‘I conduct my business from the front room of our house and I get very irate when my bank manager

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husband comes in on his rostered day off and disturbs me,’ says Philippa Kerslake. She is strict about her boundaries. ‘I close the door and tell him not to come near me—I don’t want any distractions.’ Tell friends and family members who don’t live with you that you work from home and would prefer not to be contacted during certain hours. Emergencies are, naturally, excluded. I have read about one mother who tells her children to disturb her only if the situation is serious, involving lots of smoke or blood and preferably both! When someone does make a social visit or phone call, there is no need to be brutal and inflexible. Be polite and suggest a more convenient time. And keep the encounter short. Reader’s Digest editor Sue Carney finds she can bend her work hours around interruptions and commitments and hence be more productive. ‘You might take time off to attend children’s school concerts but, working from home, you can still put in a full day’s work as your hours are flexible.’ When you work at home, what is there to stop you distracting yourself by smoking, raiding the fridge for snacks or drinking endless cups of coffee? Nothing but self-discipline. Here are a few useful tips: •

•

Prepare some easy-to-grab snacks. Put slices of carrot or celery in a bowl of water in the refrigerator. Keep pieces of fruit— apples, pears, bananas—handy. It is far better to snack on fruit and vegetables than on chocolate or biscuits. While sweet snacks may taste good, they provide a quick energy boost followed by a corresponding low when blood sugar levels drop. (A good breakfast—cereal and toast—is most important. Complex carbohydrates provide an even release of blood sugar throughout the day.) Tackle nicotine cravings. If you’re longing for a cigarette, tell yourself you can have one in 30 minutes, once you have finished your present task. Not only will this increase motivation by giving you something to work towards but, with a bit of luck, when the 30 minutes have passed so has your desire for a cigarette. Note the times you automatically reach for a cigarette: with a cup of

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coffee, at frustrating points in your work, when speaking on the telephone. Make a point of disregarding these cues. Limit daily coffee intake by substituting other drinks—tea, hot chocolate, water. Note that a cup of coffee contains about 240 mg of caffeine, while a cup of tea contains just 80 mg.

Television can be another addictive distraction. ‘If the TV is on at lunchtime for the rest of the family, I watch with them,’ says Wayne Ketchen, ‘and before I know it, much time has gone by.’ Be strong. Avoid daytime television. It is all too easy to get hooked. The view indoors One of the reasons you choose to work from home may be your pleasant and peaceful surroundings. Perhaps you are fortunate enough, like Sue Carney, to have a spectacular view in the Blue Mountains. Or maybe you work in a tropical setting, overlooking an expanse of unspoilt beach and palm trees in Darwin. But what about the view indoors—the dirty plates in the sink you notice every time you make yourself a coffee, the overflowing laundry basket in the bathroom and the dirty kitchen floor? ‘I just ignore it,’ says Sue Carney. ‘In an office you can shut yourself away from all that. You are cut off from home and personal life. Here it is staring you in the face all the time.’ And calling out to you! Sometimes it can seem far more appealing to scrub out a filthy saucepan than to apply yourself to completing that set of house drawings. Disregard the call. Be strong and discipline yourself. After all, what would you rather have at the end of the week or month— a pay packet or a clean house? With a little organisation, it is possible to incorporate some household chores into your work day. After sitting in front of the computer screen for an hour—at most—loosen up your muscles by putting a load of washing on. As long as you have short, limited breaks, you can make circumstances work for you rather than against you. Short breaks can actually promote concentration and boost productivity.

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‘I love what I do,’ says Melbourne desktop publisher Maggie Boday, ‘but I also like the house to be tidy. I can overlook the dirty dishes and the unmade beds, I don’t fuss over that, but I would like to get someone in to do the ironing.’ And why not? That could let her make more money, and save her sanity in the process! If you pay someone $20 each week to do ironing that would take you two hours, and your time is charged at $40 an hour, you don’t have to be a mathematical genius to figure out what makes better financial sense. Forget about the guilt you may feel. Look at the added bonus: by hiring someone, you are creating a job! Look at changing your priorities and even lowering your standards. Concentrate on keeping just one part of the house smart and presentable—the area where you see clients. Coping with children ‘I’d have a brilliant idea and be tapping away at the computer when a voice would say, “Mum, I’m hungry.” You get this interference all the time when the children are young and while you can stop to make a sandwich, there are times when you just don’t want to,’ says real estate adviser and writer Jan Somers. Isn’t it ironic? One of the reasons you chose to work from home was that you could spend more time with the family. Now that very same family is driving you to distraction—the baby is bawling, the youngsters are back from school and demanding your attention. Meanwhile you are trying your hardest to concentrate on a major report for an important client, due tomorrow. The key to your plight is organisation, coupled with a little flexibility and common sense. Look closely at your circumstances. ‘You have to be fair on the children,’ advises Jan. ‘Mine are fairly good and understand there is a work ethic in the house. And I make sure I pull myself away from work to give them talk time, perhaps 30 minutes each night. I don’t have a strict regime: that’s the good thing about working from home, you can take time off. My husband and I have made a commitment—that we will take time off to do things with the children, such as going to their sports carnivals. It’s

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not like when you are working for someone else and you say, “I’m sorry, I can’t get down there, those are my work hours.” I’m now President of Australian Rope Skipping. Working from home has given me the opportunity to be a bigger part of my children’s lives.’ Some people set strict guidelines. Others, like Jan, are more flexible. Consider the age of your children. You can’t possibly hope to work effectively at a demanding home business if you also have to provide total care for a toddler. Don’t fool yourself that you can, and don’t waste your time trying. Some companies go so far as to prohibit their employees from doing home-based work unless alternative childcare arrangements have been made. Aside from registered childcare centres, you may be able to call on your partner or a relative to help out here. Sue Carney is fortunate in both respects. Her two boys attend childcare and school on the days she works from home, and husband Paul looks after them on the days she is at the office. Paul is a journalist who has opted for part-time work in order to be able to do this. Both partners are happy with the arrangement. Sue does not worry about her sons, as she knows they are in good hands. ‘I’m only 10 minutes’ drive away from childcare, so I can be there almost immediately if anything happens to them.’ Architect Wayne Ketchen works full time in his home office while his wife, Joanne, cares for 18-month-old Madison and 4-year-old Alexander. ‘Joanne gave up her teaching job two years ago, so I am now the primary income earner. While she was still working, my mother-in-law looked after Alexander,’ Wayne explains. ‘One of the biggest disadvantages in working from home is being accessible to the kids. “Daddy” is always there. I am reluctant to say, “My hours are 9 till 5 so don’t disturb me.” Instead I’ll take 15 minutes off and make up that time elsewhere. It’s come as a surprise to me that one of the advantages of working from home— being able to spend more time with the family—can also be a disadvantage. Yet it’s a valuable experience watching the children grow up, and I am always there to help.’ He still is there to help in 2003. With Joanne now working full-time as a teacher, Wayne finishes work at 3 pm when he collects the children from school.

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With older children, it’s a different story. Jan Somers involves her youngsters in her work, which she thinks helps teach them the importance of the work ethic and the value of money. ‘I try to include them without being pushy. My older son became interested when he reached the age of 13 and he’d ask, “What can I do to earn a Slurpee today, Mummy?” So I’d give him a bundle of brochures that needed stapling. I’d do this to teach my children the discipline of business and to help them understand how business works. I think working from home is a two-edged sword: it allows kids to see just how hard you do work but at the same time you’re always doing something when they’re tugging at your apron strings.’

Ways with words ‘Today was a good example of why I work from home,’ says writer Libby Gleeson. ‘One of my daughters injured her arm a week ago but she left it until today, the first day of the school term, to say it was hurting. So we spent two hours in the X-ray department at the hospital. Luckily nothing was broken, it was a sprained wrist. ‘Working from home gives me flexibility and independence. In the past seven years I have chaired the Australian Society of Authors, been on the Sydney Writers’ Festival Committee and on the judging panel for the Premier’s Literary Awards for New South Wales. This could only happen with the flexibility of working from home. I find working much less stressful now. Whether that is because I am doing what I love or working from home, I don’t know.’ For writer and GP Peter Goldsworthy, the job is part-time. He works at home in the morning, on his poems, books and scripts, and then heads off to the medical practice in the afternoon. ‘It’s better that way,’ he says. ‘With writing, I run out of steam by lunchtime and I get bored—unless something is going, like the second or third draft of a novel, and then I resent having to leave. But more often than not, it is a nice respite.’

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Peter has worked part-time in medicine ever since he graduated. ‘I looked after the children and worked part-time while my ex-wife Helen completed her studies. It would have been impossible for both of us to be studying.’ He has been writing for 17 years, winning national and international literary awards in the process. Peter works at home in a small office, which he describes as a sparse little convent room. ‘I believed some discomfort was necessary,’ he explains. His computer faces the wall. A printer and fax machine are placed on either side and a window is on his right. ‘I don’t want too good a view, otherwise I would get distracted. I know of writers who have rented an office to overcome distractions. I tend to give way to them. I work in one-hour blocks and then have a coffee or something to nibble. Film scripts are different—they have deadlines and that is quite useful.’ Jenny Church of Your Type Secretarial Services is used to dealing with deadlines. To her, they are a lifestyle. The demands placed on her by clients with short deadlines are such that she feels she will never have enough time. ‘But I cope, I have always lived like that. I am trying to learn the violin to relax,’ she says, ‘and that is very enjoyable.’ With over 25 years’ experience behind her—as an executive secretary and office manager of a legal practice—Jenny was well-qualified to set up her home-based secretarial business in 1989. Nevertheless, she regrets going in cold. ‘Although I knew the field fairly well, I should have taken the building-up time into consideration. I had no business plan then, but I’m looking at one seriously now. With hindsight, it would have been wise to have done this initially. You can be so busy there is no time to ask yourself where you are heading, what you are doing or what you should be doing. And soon you may be wasting money in certain areas or not costing things properly or having to work at too rapid a rate in order to get things done. I advertise in the Yellow Pages but I have found the best

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advertising is by word of mouth. It took me about 18 months to build up the business and, had I been depending on the income, I would have starved. My husband was still working then—he is now retired.’ Kathie Thomas’s winning ways brought her back home. A Melbourne-based secretary, she was awarded the 1993 Victorian ‘Member of the Year’ by the Institute of Professional Secretaries and was runner-up for the national title. ‘I won a whole lot of software but I had no computer at home and no need to put it on my computer at work. So my husband bought me my first computer and I realised I could actually work from home. That’s what kicked me off.’ The following year she founded A Clayton’s Secretary and has not looked back since. In fact, she matched her income from her previous government position in the first 12 months of working from home. Her aim to be the household name for secretarial support for home-based businesses has seen her win many awards, including the 2002 Victorian Virtual Business of the Year from the Micro Business Network and the 2001 Australian Institute of Office Professionals’ Award of Excellence. From operating as a sole trader in 1994, Kathie started a network in 1996 once the Internet started to take hold in Australia. Today A Clayton’s Secretary has over 100 members, in countries ranging from the United States to Spain and Ireland, as well as Australia. For Kathie, the bonuses of working from home include being able to raise her five children, working more efficiently than in an outside office, and developing independence. ‘Because I work on my own, I have had to learn how to solve my own problems —software and computer problems, things like that. I’ve become very independent and I love that. I’ve even built my own website, learning web design along the way as I couldn’t afford to pay someone initially. I’ve built it up from scratch to almost 200

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pages, using Front Page and then Dreamweaver.’ The address is http://www.asecretary.com.au. She’s built up other skills and now belongs to the National Speakers Association of Australia, inspiring other home-based and small-business owners with her talks. ‘I explain to them that it doesn’t matter what size they are—they can have a web presence and run an international business.’ In Melbourne, Pamela and Gary La Personne earn their income at home from the topic of working from home! Gary is the founding editor of HomeBiz, Australia’s first magazine for and about home businesses, and his wife Pamela deals with the associated marketing and promotion. HomeBiz started as an eight-page newsletter in February 1994 with a circulation of 500. By 1997, it became a 36-page colour magazine that was sold nationally through newsagencies, and circulation swelling from 500 to 10 000 before ending in 1997. Pamela did well when she started in her business 2 years ago, but was troubled by the notion that being home-based she was not taken seriously. ‘It all seemed too easy to be a real business. Then I did a stupid thing and bought an established secretarial service, taking on an expensive lease in commercial premises. I subsequently added a personnel consultancy.’ When she started a newsletter to promote the businesses, the response was so great that she and Gary realised they had tapped into a market. The couple set up their own publishing business, the Wise Group, and Gary left his position as deputy editor at New Idea to work from home. Persuaded to return, his services are now retained on contract by the magazine. As for many others, working from home has provided the La Personnes with flexibility. ‘The best thing I ever did was leave the secretarial service and come home,’ says Pamela. ‘Someone asked me the other day what I would do—working from home—if I wanted to be in the garden. I replied, “I can be!”. People who work from home do so for the lifestyle. We are

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unpretentious, we do not want the glamour and glitz of the office. HomeBiz is the same—unpretentious and flexible. In 2004 Pamela now runs a new business, Turnaround, because, she says, ‘It’s never too late to be all you can be, to live as you should. It’s all about great partnerships, great teams and great supporters—dream teams!’ Meanwhile husband Gary is editor of MPG, the Age newspaper’s property publication and Melbourne’s highest circulating magazine. ‘Home-based business is still my passion, not the tag but still the focus,’ says Pamela. ‘The focus is about creating a rich life now.’

Family When setting up a business from home, consider the impact on the family.‘Talk it through,’ advises Sue Telford. She and husband Glenn decided to open up their 1200-hectare property, 65 kilometres north of Roma, to visitors in 1999. ‘Our three children were at boarding school and university, but when they came home for the holidays they did not get top priority as visitors were here,’ says Sue. ‘It could be a bonus for them—good food and a party every night,’ she laughs, ‘but your home is no longer your own and this is a consideration you need to discuss. The children learnt to use it to their advantage— suggesting a pool table would be a really good thing for Farmstay!’ Errands and chores ‘When I first started working from home, my husband Peter would say things like “If you get a moment, could you vacuum this or dust that?” as he left for his bank job in the morning. He would talk about the time I first “gave up work”—yet I now work longer and harder at home than I ever did!’ laments Philippa Kerslake. ‘People assume that if you are at home, you are available to run errands,’ says telecommuting consultant Paul Chung. It takes a while to adjust: your partner, children and friends need to be made aware

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that they can’t ask you to pick up the dry cleaning. You would not be able to do this if you were working in a city office, so what is so different now? Carry out chores in your breaks or do them outside working hours. Routine Without a realistic set of tasks assigned for the day, you can find time drifting by without your achieving anything. Look at your productivity rather than your activity. It is easy to keep busy, but harder to be effective. Speaker Andrew Matthews says, ‘I evaluate myself at the end of each day and ask myself, “What have I achieved today?” If at the end of the day I have not made some impression, I put in a few more hours.’ Andrew’s attitude is, ‘If you love what you do and you have a vision, then that passion will supply the discipline you need.’ Unfortunately, for most of us passion is not quite enough. We need a working structure as well. For a start, it is sensible to define your working hours—both the times when you are actually working and the times when you make yourself available to clients. Adelaide dentist Derick Thomas works in his surgery five days a week and can be contacted after hours for emergencies. Homeopath Meredith Norman makes herself available for 45 hours a week, ‘but I do not have personal contact with clients all that time’. Dr David Kavanagh, former head of the Department of Psychology at Sydney University and now Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Director of Research for the faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Queensland, says defining work hours ‘helps with the guilt many people experience when they are not working’. He suggests routinely setting aside leisure time—‘from 4 pm to 5 pm, play with my daughters’. ‘That sounds hard and cynical but it provides you with permission to do so,’ he says. ‘It is written in your diary, so you can tell people that you are not available for the meeting—that you have something on at four.’ Of course, he adds, you should not plan all your leisure time. ‘That too can be stressful. But do plan to have regular time off, pursuing a hobby,

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perhaps visiting the theatre, playing sport.’ Dr Kavanagh has found that most people working from home are highly motivated (they have, after all, chosen to work in this way), so for them the problem is far more likely to be stopping work than starting it. Two words about guilt—forget it. Guilt is an appalling waste of energy and a drain on your resources. Instead, set realistic aims each work day, and take regular breaks. ‘If you work at an outside location, there is preparation and unwinding time,’ Dr Kavenagh explains. ‘You have to travel there. I listen to more classical music driving to and from work than at any other time. That gives me great pleasure and calms me. You miss that working from home, so give yourself permission to sit and listen to music for 10 minutes. This can be very helpful in terms of promoting concentration. To get to the train station, you may have had to walk up and down stairs. That can help concentration as well as fitness. So take an active break from sitting in front of the computer or doing a long task. You will find your productivity rises!’ ‘You need to set yourself a schedule or else the day is a mess,’ agrees Jan Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services. ‘I just run around in circles and get nowhere.’ Jan has taken to writing down the six tasks she wants to achieve in the day and finds this very helpful. ‘Ideally I’d do this the night before and put them down in order of priority. I handle at least four and put the rest down on the next day’s sheet.’ Why bother writing it down? ‘I know exactly what I aim to do’, you may tell yourself. But committing your tasks to paper will clarify them and make them concrete entities. Prioritising them and ticking them off as you go along will provide you with a sense of achievement. You will find yourself becoming much more efficient.

Business worries American author Mark Twain once remarked that he had been through some terrible things in his life, some of which had actually happened. What an accurate observation, yet how difficult it is to avoid worrying.

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There you are, working on an order or project but already focusing on the next piece of work. What if there is no next piece of work? If your business is not going well, this can be a real concern. How will you survive financially? How will you pay your bills, feed yourself and your family, keep the mortgage going . . . ? Before you know it, you have worked yourself into a frenzy. So much so that you can no longer concentrate on the task in hand. Stop right now! Say to yourself, ‘I have a problem to solve but I will not think about it right now. I’ll do that at 5 o’clock.’ Having set this time aside, you can stop dwelling on the problem and instead concentrate on the task in hand. By the time 5 o’clock arrives, your ‘problem’ may already be solved. Perhaps a client has called with the offer of more work. Perhaps a large cheque has come in the mail to pay off an outstanding debt. Perhaps three prospective clients have called in response to your newspaper advertisement. By 5 o’clock you may be breathing a sigh of relief. But, if nothing has changed since the morning, you now have some free time— not so much for worrying as for thinking about practical steps to improve business or to solve your problem. Why has there been a slump in business? Do you need to advertise more widely? Are your costs and charges too high? Perhaps a talk with your accountant is in order. Setting aside the time to concentrate on your worries pushes the worries aside. Taking action can banish them altogether.

Being a Jack of all trades Working from home, you are likely to be working alone and hence wearing all the hats. As well as doing the work you enjoy—as photographer, electrician or computer consultant—you need to be receptionist, bookkeeper and secretary. You need to deal with client inquiries, type letters, send out invoices and keep track of accounts. You need to make the coffee, do the filing, collect and post the mail and so on. Little wonder there are not enough hours in the day. You are under a tremendous amount of pressure. So make it as easy for yourself as possible. Relieve that pressure wherever you can. Learn to delegate. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and it

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is a rare individual who is a happy and competent all-rounder. If you loathe the bookwork or can’t manage the typing and find these tasks cause you hours of misery, why not hire someone to do them for you? A professional may take half the time. Meanwhile you can put your hours to better use, generating an income by doing what you are good at, whether that be painting, designing houses or drilling teeth. Another thing to bear in mind is to be well organised. Time spent searching for that elusive but vital piece of paper is wasted time. Make setting up an efficient filing system a top priority. Take a morning off to look at your situation in detail and ask how you can save yourself time and effort. ‘Many businesses fail because their owners have too many hats to wear,’ says Jan Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services. ‘Not only do they have to perform many different functions, they may also have no skills or experience in them.’ Jan has had to deal with administration and warehousing, finances, secretarial duties, sales and marketing. ‘You stumble as you learn. While you may have the natural aptitude and intelligence for these tasks, they can drag you down. You have to do all this as well as your work, which can be all-encompassing. These tasks can stop you being effective.’ Jan has found two solutions work for her—delegation, and paying for professional services. Since her husband, Ross, joined her in the business, the couple have divided up the tasks. ‘I do not enjoy the paperwork, so he does that and all the bookkeeping. I prefer to train the staff and handle publicity, public relations and franchise.’ As the business has expanded over recent years, employing more staff, Jan has delegated some of her duties—such as quoting—to them. ‘Ross and I have clear and separate responsibilities.’ Such clarification of responsibilities has improved the effectiveness of the business and reduced personal stress. The couple has also put aside capital to employ a business mentor. ‘He can look at our business in a different way,’ says Jan, ‘provide a fresh new outlook and advise us.’ His professional, objective overview has led them to focus on their objectives rather than wasting time taking unprofitable directions. ‘We put our marketing plan to him and he brought us back to reality,’ laughs

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Jan. Ross adds, ‘He told us, “You are working all these hours for this much money. You would be far better off financially working for someone.” Well, we knew that.’ With the help of their mentor, the Sutherlands studied their business plan once more and made changes. ‘Our priorities shifted after 12 months—to concentrating on expanding the business, training cleaners rather than doing the cleaning ourselves. That also left us time to develop cleaning products,’ says Ross.

The meaning of work As we have seen, work offers far more than the financial means to survive. It gives one a sense of identity, a feeling of purpose, and social contact. And, however much you may moan about the tedium of your present job and the accompanying office politics, it is important to consider the absence of such factors as you prepare to work from home. While you may harbour the fantasy that a life without work would be ideal, remind yourself this is just a fantasy. Sooner or later lottery winners become bored, retirees lose motivation, and the unemployed suffer low self-esteem and become despondent. The reality is that life without work, whether this happens by choice or circumstance, can be an unhappy existence. It is worth looking in more detail at one Australian who discovered the truth of this. Jan Somers as good as won the lottery with her shrewd investments in real estate over the years. By the time she was 37, she had given up her high school teaching career. After all, she was a millionaire and had no need to work. Or so she thought. After a few years at home with the children, she found she lacked the mental stimulation gainful employment had given her. Although she had other interests, there was a limit to how far she could indulge herself. ‘I derived great enjoyment from jogging,’ she says. ‘I jogged every day of my three pregnancies. Jogging kept me fit but I needed more than that. I might have had all the time in the world but I wanted to keep my mind fit as well as my body.’

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Believing that ‘to rest is to rust’, she set herself personal goals. After realising that selling real estate was not for her, she set about writing down what she had learnt about property investment. Both real estate agents and lay investors snapped up her 56-page booklet, and she realised there could be a market for her knowledge. Jan’s first self-published book sold 200 000 copies—an outstanding success in Australian publishing, where sales of 7000 qualify a book as a best-seller—and her three subsequent books also proved extremely popular, notching up total sales of 500 000. She now travels interstate regularly to give workshops and puts together supporting computer software packages with her husband, who left his government job to join her. Their business is booming and, in the past few years, the Internet has helped enormously. ‘It’s provided a rapid way for us to communicate with people, without the normal mail or telephone interface,’ says Jan, ‘and also for our clients to interact with one another through a forum we provide. It really has improved the communication: it’s as though we have our thousands of clients sitting in the one room and conferencing at the one time.’ For Jan’s business Somersoft (http://www.somersoft.com.au), the Internet has reduced the pressure for one-on-one communication, although extra effort is required to maintain the website. Jan looked at what she enjoyed doing—teaching and passing on what she had learnt to others. She finds her new life rewarding and fulfilling, enjoyable and great fun. And after all, isn’t that what life is all about?

Unemployment Flinders University emeritus psychology professor Norman Feather is well aware that work contributes to social, psychological and economic wellbeing. His research on the unemployed has found that both lack of structure and purpose in one’s life and lack of finance can cause unhappiness.‘We need goals and purpose,’ he says.

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‘A salary may be the manifest aspect of work, but employment also offers the opportunity for the use of one’s skills, social contact, variety and activity. Working from home you would still be exercising these skills and earning an income, but you may miss out on social contact.’ (The problems of professional and social isolation are discussed in detail in chapter 8.) ‘Unemployed people can become depressed and lose self-esteem,’ continues Professor Feather. ‘They may indulge in passive behaviour such as watching television and sleeping in.’ ‘For the majority of people, work is part of identity,’ says Trevor Parmenter, professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Sydney. ‘It defines who you are to the public and to yourself, your self-identity. And this is of great importance.’ The loss of a job can be devastating. ‘I have heard of men who are retrenched and continue to get up at the same time, catch the same train with their packed lunch and not tell their wife. They feel humiliated at losing their job, they feel helpless and hopeless.’ So it seems that many of us need work if we are to enjoy a reasonable quality of life. Through his work with disabled people, Professor Parmenter has concluded that work can perhaps be too highly emphasised as a determinant of social worth. He is critical of this. ‘Nevertheless,’ he says, ‘for some people, work is the main thing on which their whole life hinges. I have come across disabled people who have told me “We like working in real jobs” rather than sheltered workshops. “It shows we have more value, people respect us more, we know who we are.” That may well be the case for some. I have met a couple, both in wheelchairs, running a motel to provide accommodation for disabled people.’ Working from home can be an ideal solution for disabled people.

Retirement Professor Sol Encel is the co-author, with Helen Studencki, of Retirement: A Survey, published by the NSW Consultative Committee on Ageing. He has found that early retirement can

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be a threat to health, wealth and a sense of wellbeing. ‘Activity is the best guarantee of good health and life satisfaction,’ he says. ‘My research demonstrates that the best assurance of good health after retirement is to work—whether that is voluntary or not.’ The reason for this is that work is so central to daily life. ‘Losing your daily routine, life shape and social networks can have a bad effect on many people. I’ve spoken to doctors who have patients who have left work and would like to go back but can’t. They feel frustrated with life and are being treated for depression and minor illnesses.’ It would be far better if people did not have to retire or could choose when they wanted to. A large percentage of people aged 50–65 appear to be retired but are really chronically unemployed: no employer would take them on at that age. ‘We need to get away from the notion that a gate closes behind you when you retire—it is not like that.’ Indeed, working from home can be an ideal next step. John Ehm (see chapter 1) started up Homechain, his home-based accommodation business for tourists, after he was laid off in 1992 at age 60. ‘I had taken on a builder-trainer position in an Aboriginal community north of Cairns, but the job was made redundant midway through the five-year contract,’ John explains. Having rented out their Brisbane home, he and his wife Emmy decided to settle in Cairns, where two of their daughters and six grandchildren lived. John now faced a dilemma. He needed an income, but ‘Who would employ a 60-year-old?’, he asked himself. He considered his options and his interests. For John, these included travel—visiting cattle stations and properties—and meeting people. ‘Elderly people need to keep busy: a man’s life expectancy is now 80 or 90. And I have grandchildren who will need jobs. There is a high unemployment rate in Cairns. By creating a business, I can employ them and others. My long-range plan is to help pensioners—to have them open their homes to tourists for friendship and for finance.’ Professor Encel has spoken to some who have accepted redundancy packages. ‘Early retirement is a bit of an illusion,’ he comments. ‘You think you are going to be financially secure, but

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that is often not the case. The economic situation can worsen, interest rates drop and suddenly the package you were offered is not so attractive. You may have unexpected calls on your money, due to illness, or you may need to help out your unemployed children. So if your present job is boring, stressful or physically unhealthy, would it not be better to change it or go into a different career altogether?’ Working from home makes sense under these circumstances, and also because thirty years of leisure can be tedious. With current long life expectancies, retirement can last 30 years. Professor Encel practises what he preaches. Having retired from full-time teaching in 1990, he says he has never been busier. He works as a researcher at the University of New South Wales’ Social Policy Research Centre. This is unpaid work; his income comes from consulting work. ‘For the minority of retirees, retirement is leisure,’ he says. ‘But that is only for a minority. Giving up work suddenly and without preparation is not advisable. There is a definite phenomenon of premature death after retirement. Unfortunately, we only hear of the dramatic occurrences—people dropping dead eighteen months after retiring. No accurate surveys have been done, but this does happen,’ he says. Here is yet another reason for easing into a home-based business gradually. If you are thinking of working from home, prepare for it. Do not launch yourself into it suddenly. And bear in mind that if you enjoy what you are doing, as Jan Somers and John Ehm do, you are far more likely to be successful. One of the most inspiring individuals Professor Encel has come across in his research is a 71-year-old woman living in a Melbourne retirement village. ‘She works as a copy editor for magazines, using telephone, fax and mail facilities. She jokes that she is glad to do it that way, at a distance, so no-one knows her age. This woman is very effective working from home. All domestic responsibilities are seen to by the retirement village. Her husband is long since dead. Her children live far away, but not seeing them frequently does not bother her. She is happy and fulfilled in the lifestyle she has created for herself.’

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Review Stress results in physical, emotional and cognitive effects. Reduce the effects of stress by: • • • •

• • • • • • • • •

physically separating work and living areas; setting core work times; making a daily schedule—listing tasks in order of priority and ticking off each one as completed; limiting interruptions to work by setting your limits from the outset and discouraging social visits and telephone calls in work time; snacking on already prepared fruit and vegetables rather than sugar-rich foods; taking regular breaks and having proper, well-balanced meals; cutting down on cigarettes; substituting tea, hot chocolate or water for coffee; unplugging the television; incorporating small domestic chores into your work day for a physical and emotional break; setting your organised, but flexible, work schedule around your children; putting aside time to solve any work problems; and delegating or paying for professional services such as bookkeeping.

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8

Making it work

Making it work

nce your business is up and running, certain unexpected ‘problems’ may arise. This chapter reviews and expands on topics touched on earlier. By considering those ‘problems’ as challenges and tackling them head-on, you can improve both your work situation and your lifestyle, and help create a rich and fulfilling existence for yourself.

O

Social isolation After years of thinking and planning, I found myself in my ideal situation—being paid for what I enjoy doing most of all, writing, interviewing fascinating people, reading intriguing books and 219

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talking to their authors afterwards. This was not work to me. It was a joy and a pleasure. Yet there was one aspect of my new life that I had not anticipated: social isolation. Sure, much of the time I was out and about interviewing. I was by no means alone. But even if I did join British actress Hayley Mills in a cup of coffee or watch other tennis champions practising while I chatted with John Fitzgerald, this was not the same as contact with friends and work colleagues. I found that I really missed these social interactions. I began to appreciate that my old job had many positive aspects: the stimulating exchange of ideas, the light banter and laughs and, above all, the company. Working alone, I found it all too easy to get bogged down, take everything too seriously, and become obsessed with work. I found I had to initiate social contact far more than before. I would meet friends occasionally for lunch or, more often, for a cup of coffee. I found this gave me a boost in my work because it eased my isolation. Naturally I had to keep time in mind— just an hour at most for lunch, and a short coffee break. But all of my friends were working as well, so their time, too, was limited. Sydney writer Libby Gleeson, who previously worked as a teacher, finds that not having work colleagues nearby is both an advantage and a disadvantage. ‘You are not involved in office politics or competing against one another so that a 9 to 5 job becomes a 9 to 7 one,’ she explains. ‘But the downside is that, when you feel like going out to relax, you find that your friendship circle has shrunk because you are no longer seeing people day to day. Many of the writers I know live outside Sydney, so we keep our friendship going by means of telephone calls and occasional visits.’ Dr David Kavanagh, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland, has worked from home for part of each week in the past. ‘I find the use of email extremely rewarding,’ he says. He uses the Internet to keep in contact with his professional colleagues interstate and in the United Kingdom. ‘I felt as if I was talking to them. It was like exchanging letters but

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almost immediate. It was serious work as well as socialising. Email is great when editing drafts: the time difference allows for a rapid turnover. One person is working while the other is asleep.’ Many home workers who have face-to-face encounters with clients find that, eager for social contact, they spend longer chatting with them than they would do otherwise. So, beware of becoming socially isolated, and make the effort to catch up with friends.

Professional isolation Working alone, you can easily get out of touch with your trade or profession. What new developments have been made? What new products are on the market? Where is your business or industry headed? If you find you no longer know the answers, the solution is simple: join professional bodies and organisations, subscribe to newsletters and journals, and initiate regular meetings with colleagues. I am a member of the Australian Journalists’ Association section of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the Australian Society of Authors and the South Australian and Queensland Writers’ Centres (also Home-Based Business Australia when this existed). I bought HomeBiz magazine and I have kept up my dental registration, which gives me the option of delving into mouths when I tire of minds! ‘I have made a point of joining the Chamber of Commerce and the Australian Marketing Institute so I can meet other people,’ says Julie Matthews. ‘It can get claustrophobic working from home.’ Home-based organisational psychologist Bruce Crowe warns that when you network on an informal basis, ‘you [and the others] may be competing for the same business’. Meetings at professional organisations and associations, being on neutral ground, are preferable, he says. ‘I don’t feel isolated from my profession but I do from other businesswomen,’ says online educator Denise Fisher.‘I suppose what

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I’ve done is change careers. I’m no longer a midwife and lactation consultant, I’m a businesswoman and not an employee. The great majority of my friends work as employees, and so my problems are different from theirs. In addition I’m working in a new area, on the Internet, and so my business problems can be different from those of others.’ Optometrist Julie Weir overcomes professional isolation through her post as visiting clinician at Queensland’s University of Technology one day a week. ‘I regularly have meetings with top optometrists and academics,’ she says. Support ‘It’s important to have support organisations,’ says Kathie Thomas, Melbourne-based founder of A Clayton’s Secretary. ‘Working from home it’s very easy to get isolated, depressed, consider yourself totally on your own and think that nobody else knows how you feel. But the minute you join up with a group of like-minded people, you begin to realise that others are going through the same things. You can learn from their experiences, share resources, knowledge and information.’ Kathie’s busy lifestyle—raising a family of five and running a home-based business with over 100 network members—limits her attendance at meetings, so the Internet is ideal. ‘I connect with people on Micro Business Network, for example, and discuss subjects online in the chat forum. I’ve organised a similar thing for my own team. This means that no matter where they are located— Australia, New Zealand, Argentina or the United Kingdom—they can connect and exchange information and seek answers to their questions.’ Kathie belongs to a number of virtual networks, including the US-based Home Secretarial Services, the International Association of Virtual Office Assistants and the Virtual BizGroup. ‘I’ve never met the people face to face. The majority of members are overseas and so we discuss everything by email. I belong to a local professional body, the Australian Institute of Office Professionals, and go

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along to meetings when I can.’ She thinks support organisations are vital when working from home. ‘In addition to advice and information, you can develop a good camaraderie. Micro Business Network has helped develop our profile and give us exposure. They lobby local and federal government and help develop a voice for home-based business.’ Perceptions Has the recognition of home-based business changed in the past few years? There are differing views. ‘I don’t think it is the goldmine people thought it might be: you lose that social interaction,’ says real-estate mentor Jan Somers. ‘And I don’t think businesses have embraced it wholeheartedly for their employees. There still is that feeling among employers that you have to be seen working otherwise it creates resentment within the employee ranks.’ Meanwhile, Jan Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services considers there to be more acceptance of home-based businesses. ‘People no longer say, “You can’t do that, it’s not productive, it’s not professional”.’ Perception is no problem for Queensland optometrist Julie Weir. She has found that her clients, mainly locals, appreciate the fact that she works from home. ‘Older people are happy because they don’t have to park far away and walk, and those with children find it a stress-free environment with the play area I provide. People appreciate it when I can do an emergency repair or an eye examination after hours.’ Bruce Wallace, manager of Destination Media and Publicity at Tourism Queensland, believes there is no longer any stigma attached to people working from home. ‘It’s just a lifestyle choice and very often a good one, one that allows people to work more and do more.’ He’s seen home-based businesses change and become more professional over the years, with the increased use of technology, websites and the like. So much so that ‘you don’t know where people are working from these days. There are even companies that will rent out boardrooms for meetings’.

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Loss of social status and self-esteem ‘It was hard at first for me to work for Andrew Matthews Productions with my husband,’ admits Julie Matthews. ‘I had had my own company—a modelling and finishing school—with 13 staff members. I was used to having things done for me: others made my coffee or went to the post office for me. They did the more menial jobs while I got on with running the business, keeping them happy working as a team, doing my own job and bringing in money to pay them.’ Julie found that, working with and essentially for Andrew, she lost some status. ‘It was a big compromise for both of us,’ she says. ‘I am in the background, as I market Andrew and his talks and seminars. But I also like speaking and sharing my knowledge, so I also do that to a certain extent, teaching business etiquette and corporate grooming. But Andrew is in the limelight now. I’ve been there and enjoyed it. Once Andrew is settled in, I will go back to it.’ When Ross Sutherland left teaching to join his wife Jan at Dial a Wife Complete Home Services he experienced no loss in selfesteem. ‘When I told people I cleaned houses, they would be surprised. “You enjoy doing that?” they would ask. And I do. I have met some wonderful, really interesting people in my cleaning work. I went to meetings and breakfasts organised by Home-Based Business Australia, and there I have met a wide cross-section of people and come into contact with businesses I never knew existed. My social interactions have actually widened. Teachers tend to mix with a narrow range of people, mainly other teachers.’ Having a business mentor can help improve self-esteem as well as business knowledge. Draftsman Peter Robertson still keeps in touch with his business mentor, whom he first met on the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme. ‘Initially he inspired and educated me. Then, when I finished the course and started my own homebased business, we would have regular follow-up meetings at my home. He is still happy for me to ring him and that is very encouraging,’ says Peter.

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Managing your time Working at home, you may find it all too easy to fall into a pattern of late-morning starts and long lunches or, alternatively, hours spent on low-priority tasks. Have you heard the expression, ‘Time is the coin of your life’? American poet Carl Sandburg went on to say, ‘It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.’ The American scientist-statesman Benjamin Franklin advised: ‘Do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.’ We all have the same amount of time in a day, so why is it that some achieve so much and others so little? Less sleep—is that how it’s done? Certainly, some workaholics do work day and night, but the answer is to work smarter, not harder. Author and advertising executive Bryce Courtenay believes it is immaterial whether you sleep four hours a night or 14. It’s what you do with your waking hours that counts. He says most of us waste about four hours every day. Those who achieve most invariably manage their time well. They make the most of every hour. Setting a routine The first step in taking control of your time is to establish a routine, or at least set core working hours. Decide what times of day and what hours you will work. Perhaps 9 to 5 will suit you; perhaps other commitments will not allow this. You may choose to work until early afternoon, collect the children from school, and continue your work once they are settled or asleep. Are you a morning or evening person—a lark or a night owl? Now you can choose to work at the times when you are most productive, starting at dawn or in the late afternoon. The latter can be an ideal time to start business with overseas companies, as during the evening and night you will be in sync with their time zone. For a home worker, insomnia can bring great benefits! Some people don’t function well unless their hours are flexible. The hours they set are more like core working hours. ‘If I had

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wanted set working hours, I would have stayed in my last job,’ says computer consultant Wesley Brown. ‘I don’t want to be regimented, starting and finishing work at the same time each day. For me, that defeats the whole purpose of working from home.’ But whether your hours are rigid or flexible, once you’ve settled on a routine, stick to it! This can take a lot of discipline. As dietitian and nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton says, ‘You can’t be constantly leaving your work to duck out and clean the kitchen.’ But if such self-control is not part of your nature, there is no need to fear. Psychologists say it takes three weeks to get into the habit of something new—21 days of rising at 6.30 am for that early-morning walk before it becomes second nature and, perhaps, even a pleasure. It is the same with your work: it will take at least 21 days before most of us get into the swing of a routine and do it automatically. Persevere and your hours of work will become a pattern.

A home from home Dr Rosemary Stanton’s commitment to working at home is reflected in the fact that she has not one but two home offices. Australia’s leading nutritionist previously used one office—in rural New South Wales, where there is peace and quiet—for writing her books and articles, and her Sydney office for seeing clients. (These days she works entirely from her rural home, although she still owns her Sydney office.) Rosemary has been working from home, as a dietitian and nutritionist, since 1968.‘When I started, I had a separate entrance to the study from which I worked but people still knocked at the front door! So I built a separate building altogether. I felt I needed to be separate from the house as I had four small children. I ran a private practice from there. When the children came home from school, they could buzz me on the intercom and I had the flexibility to go and have afternoon tea with them. I was at home for 10 years before having the separate building.’

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Rosemary and her husband Peter now live in the country. ‘I needed to see private patients [in the city], so I bought a terrace house in Sydney,’ Rosemary says. ‘The consulting room is on the ground floor and I can live upstairs. I’m in town two or three days a week and one of my daughters lives there permanently. I am so wedded to the home-office concept that I did not rent an office [but searched] for a house with a waiting room and a consulting room at the front and a separate hallway. This area could be divorced from the rest of the house. Otherwise you would be spending your entire life keeping the house tidy.’ For the remainder of her week, Rosemary enjoys living in the country. She and Peter who also works from home, writing computer programs, have offices at opposite ends of the house, with an intercom connecting them. They usually meet for morning tea and lunch. He does not need a city office. In addition to her other work, Rosemary regularly gives radio, newspaper, magazine and television interviews. She is a regular presenter on Burke’s Backyard and writes regularly for Burke’s Backyard Magazine, Australian Good Taste, Australian Doctor and the Weight Watchers magazine, and writes occasional articles for other magazines and newspapers.‘Having both a country kitchen and a city kitchen is an advantage,’ she says.‘It is beneficial having two different locations for filming. Working from home gave me flexibility for the children when they were young. I could go to Easter bonnet parades and then work late at night. I like having plants outside my window and deciding when I want to do something. Another reason, maybe a strange one, for why I work from home, is that I can’t stand being in air-conditioned offices. I like open windows, not stuffy offices, and while I do have an air-conditioner now, at least I have the choice of turning it on or off. I tend to work long hours. There is more tendency to do that from home. But I’m getting better at curbing it. I’ve developed a passion for gardening. It’s coming along slowly but surely. We now have a lovely netted vegie garden and have made

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many of the grassy areas into gardens. The fruit trees—fig, apple, and many varieties of citrus—are also producing. There’s still much more to do. I’m looking forward to that when I “retire” in a couple of years from now and work only from Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. The workload is huge at present.’

Setting your goals and priorities Once your routine is in place, set yourself a weekly schedule and then a detailed daily timetable. What do you want to achieve this week? How will you divide the tasks up day by day? Planning is crucial if you work from home. Andrew and Anne Cousins run a distribution business from home, operating with the Amway Corporation. They make daily lists prioritising their tasks. ‘You need to ensure that you have something to achieve each day,’ advises Andrew, ‘otherwise it is all too easy to have cup after cup of tea.’ Andrew Matthews, too, makes a list of tasks he wants to accomplish each day, and places them in order of priority. Setting priorities can be extremely helpful. You can classify your tasks in various ways, for example: (a) must do; (b) should do; (c) would like to do. Or (a) do immediately; (b) do next; (c) can wait. Sometimes it will be difficult to assign priorities. If this is the case, or if the tasks are of equal priority, place the most challenging ones at the top of your list. This may seem back to front, but completing these tricky tasks first will encourage you and spur you on. Then, when you start to tire, only the quick and easy tasks remain. Remember, successful people also dislike doing certain tasks, but the reason they are successful is precisely that they do them. It is not only through talent that people become successful, but through application and perseverance. Successful people keep going long after others have given up. It is important to write the tasks down rather than relying on memory. Rereading the list prompts you to act on it, and ticking the tasks off as you do them will give you a sense of accomplishment.

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Be as specific as you can with your daily goals. What size orders are you aiming for? How will you go about getting them? When will you need these orders to be placed? Be realistic, too. Initially I found that I put far too much on my daily list. Not only did I overestimate the amount I could realistically do but I did not make allowance for any interruptions or unplanned changes to my schedule. One day, I had planned to finish writing a magazine article on abandoned dogs and then start preparing a workshop on writing biographies that I was to give in a few weeks’ time. No sooner had I started on the article than the telephone rang. Actor Jack Thompson was available for interview that day, and would 10 o’clock be convenient? As this was an interview I had been chasing for weeks and there was no way I could—or would— put it off, it unexpectedly became my top priority. As Thompson was filming in New Zealand at the time, the interview took place over the phone. Then I wrote up the story while our conversation was fresh in my mind. To accomplish that piece of work, though, I was forced to reschedule all my other assignments. Such changes happen to everyone, so make allowances for them. And when setting your day’s goals, don’t overestimate what you can realistically achieve. Failure will only leave you disillusioned and despondent. Far better to write down a few tasks and accomplish them all than to write down many and achieve hardly any of them. Indeed, I find writing down fewer tasks than I can feasibly complete motivates me to do more! Remember to keep your goals realistic and attainable. When listing your daily goals, keep your eye fixed on your bigger aim. It is all too easy to get tied up in one aspect of the business or project to the detriment of everything else. Obviously the priorities you set will be affected by deadlines and payment, along with the amount of work involved. Look at what you are doing and why. It can be extremely helpful, too, to give yourself deadlines even when there are none. Dr David Kavanagh believes introducing short-term deadlines can get you really involved in a project. ‘When I am working at home, I may tell myself that I’ll write two pages of a report by 11 am and then go for a walk to the shops and treat myself to a

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cappuccino. By keeping this in mind, you can work without a lot of stress but with a lot of focus. There is a double bonus—this technique can help you get going and there is a bonus for staying with a task. You get the job done and a concrete reward. I don’t necessarily do these things all the time, but when I do, they work well.’ Short- and long-term goals Have you heard the story about the mouse that set itself the task of eating an elephant? The determined rodent cut the massive pachyderm into small manageable pieces which it devoured daily until the elephant had completely disappeared. You, too, can accomplish large undertakings by breaking them down into small, controllable portions if you set short- and long-term goals. If your long-term goal is to create a business with a million-dollar turnover, for example, how can you work toward this in short-term increments? You can set yourself the challenge of building up the business from scratch to having a $25 000 turnover in the first 12 months and then doubling this turnover each subsequent year. So you aim for a turnover of $50 000 by the end of year two, $100 000 by the end of year three and, in the first quarter of year six, you will have reached your long-term goal. So what are you waiting for? Make sure your short- and long-term goals are compatible. It is really not feasible to have a short-term goal of spending most of your time with your family while having a long-term goal of becoming financially independent within five years. But then again, you could prove me wrong.

International lives Montgomery Omodei thought no-one would employ him at the age of 47, so he decided to go into business for himself. ‘I had been an executive director of large companies and at

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my age I was not easily employable. Organisations have cleared out those 40 and above from management positions. I did not want to go on social security. I had experience, contacts and abilities, so I decided to work on my own, from home.’ Five years on, Montgomery works from his Gold Coast base as an international business adviser and lobbyist. He represents overseas corporations in the areas of mining and petroleum and acts as a trader’s representative for base metal. All his clients are based offshore. He introduces them to the Australian business markets and helps them to achieve their goals. The companies for which he works may have assets of billions of dollars: working from home in his case is certainly not small-time! Having his business integrated with home life enables Montgomery to run a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week enterprise should he choose to do so. ‘I may work 25 days one month and five days the next,’ he explains. ‘My wife Janet’s support role in my business has been vital to its success. She has been dedicated, hard-working and understanding in creating a balance between business and our private lives. As well as everything else, you have to be good friends.’ One of the main advantages of a home base for him is the flexibility. Communicating by telephone, email, the Internet or fax, he can be available at all times—from early evening to make contact with Europe and from midnight on for the USA. ‘International dealings come in at different times, but you can deal with them,’ says Montgomery. Three company directors located in three different states? It sounds incredible but it worked well. Roger Fountain, Steve Reutens and Ray Green founded Seedex Pty Ltd, operating from their homes in Byron Bay, Brisbane and Geelong respectively. They started by specialising in the oilseed market, ‘doing what the big crushers can’t do’, explains Steve. ‘We dealt with a niche-type market, a lower volume but higher margins, while

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large companies look at big volumes.’ Seedex not only crushed but traded oilseed. ‘We were big in the organic market, which was booming in Europe and the USA and just taking off in Japan.’ Between them, the three men have 80 years of experience. They started Seedex in 1990 and by the time they sold it a few years ago, company was the largest supplier of organic vegetable oils worldwide. Roger handled the trading side of the company, often travelling overseas, while Steve was the financial controller and Ray worked in the field, making contact with seed growers. Mobile telephones had made communication between the three of them easier and they had regular three-way meetings via conference calls. Roger moved to Byron Bay from Sydney, where he was working as a commodity trader. ‘I’d had enough of the city.’ For eight years he, wife Nancy and their two children lived in a large red-cedar house with an orchard, set on 19 hectares. With the aid of a computer and modem, Roger could check the global markets daily and immediately respond to any news about the price of canola seed or sunflower crop. When he was on the road, Roger’s office was his portable computer and modem—in his briefcase. In 1997, Roger swapped one rural environment for another, relocating to Windsor in New South Wales when the company started its own specialist crushing plant in western Sydney. In 2003, Roger has retired. When the trio sold Seedex, Roger began trading a few shares from home. ‘It’s just a hobby, using my experience in trading,’ he laughs. Steve still works from home, as a grain trader for a multinational Canadian company, and Ray, now also in Queensland having retired on the Sunshine Coast, helps him out. ‘Technology has made communication much easier these days, with email,’ says Steve, ‘but working from home takes a lot of discipline; not everybody can do it’.

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Home-based or not, the three men made a good team, and were highly successful because of their age and experience rather than despite it.

Beating procrastination Set yourself unlimited time for a task and you are unlikely ever to complete it. Have you heard the saying ‘If you want something done, ask a busy person’? If you ask someone who is not busy, he will tend to procrastinate, asking, ‘What is the best way of doing this? When should I start? How long should I take? Is there any other way of doing this? Can I do a good job? What if it is not good enough?’ Ask a busy person to do something and the chances are he/she will start straight away, without stopping to think about it. The phenomenon of procrastination is familiar to most of us. While the dictionary innocuously defines it as ‘deferring or postponing action’, those afflicted with procrastination know it can be an unwelcome and incapacitating ailment. As the Chinese proverb states: ‘He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg.’ You can read endless books and articles on procrastination. You can analyse ad nauseam the reasons for your procrastinating. Of course, in the time you have spent worrying about not starting the task, and asking yourself what is stopping you, you could have completed the task and saved yourself the anguish! Have you ever said to yourself, ‘I’ll get down to work once I tidy my desk and make myself a cup of coffee’? While making the coffee, did you notice that the kitchen floor was a little grubby and think, ‘I’ll just quickly wipe it over’? Did you then glance out the window and wonder, ‘Where did all those weeds spring from?’ And did you find that before you knew it, you had a neat desk, a sparkling floor, a pristine garden, a cold cup of coffee, and had still not done any work? Stop stalling! Get on with it! Interior designer Catherine Bugoss has put up a large sign in her office. It reads, ‘DO IT NOW!’. This is a good philosophy.

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Successful people do not find it any easier to work on certain tasks: they just do them instead of dithering. It may also help you to try enjoying what you do rather than only doing what you enjoy. In a home-based business this can be especially pertinent, for you are responsible for, if not personally obliged to do, all the tasks associated with the business. Here are a few tips on how to avoid procrastination: •

• •

•

• • •

Make sure your expectations are realistic. If you plan to do too much, the prospect can become overwhelming and stop you from ever starting. Remember, less is more. Make a list. Write down what you aim to achieve. Set deadlines. Give yourself a time limit. Do you plan to achieve these tasks today, this week, this month? Make sure your deadlines are realistic and attainable. Become less perfect. If you try to gather every scrap of information about snail farming, for example, you will become paralysed by the sheer quantity of data. Start. The Roman poet Horace said, ‘He who has begun his task has half done it.’ Use your office only for work. This will reinforce the idea that when you’re there, you should be working. Reward yourself. Give yourself a small treat for completing your task.

We all tend to put things off, and the longer we do so the harder it gets to start. Sometimes we stall, dither or hesitate because we feel the work has to be more than just right—it has to be perfect. Let go, relax, and you will find the task flows much more easily. When you are really stuck, dismiss the saying ‘If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well’. I heard a speaker at a seminar advise instead, ‘If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly and fixing up later’. If this applies in your situation, use it to get you moving. If you find you have a real block about a particular job, map it out roughly and then go back and fill in the gaps. Do the job somehow and then improve on it, rather than not starting on it at all.

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Sometimes, the only way to tackle this problem is to leap in. I was once commissioned to write an article on museums. Thinking it a tedious topic I procrastinated, dealing with trivial and less urgent projects first, then just brooded over it. When my deadline loomed, I broke down the project into small, manageable portions and decided to spend a short time on it each day, so I would not become bored. As it happened, once I had started I found museums to be a fascinating topic, and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable pieces I have ever worked on. Writer Libby Gleeson is all for doing the task right now. ‘You have to,’ she maintains. ‘I don’t believe in sitting and waiting for the muse to strike. I do procrastinate, there’s no question about that. But my tip is to get up and at it! If you’re a writer, sit at your desk in your office with the door shut. Have a blank piece of paper in front of you and a pen or pencil in your hand. You will find that thoughts will come. I find I think much better with a pencil in my hand than without one.’ For those with computers, I recommend sitting in front of a blank screen, fingers poised on the keys. But first turn on the computer! Evaluating yourself Evaluate your performance. Are you on schedule, week by week and month by month? How are your finances—your income and your outgoings? If you find these are insufficient, go back one step to prioritising. Once your business is established, you may find you are working long hours with little remuneration. Instead of continuing in this way, and perhaps even forcing yourself to work ‘harder’, look in detail at what you are doing. You may find that you are spending far too long on aspects of your work that do not pay well. As a journalist, for example, you might spend a week writing five articles that pay $100 each before tax, when you could spend a week on one article—albeit a far more complex one—that would pay $1000. Do you have the option of pursuing better-paid work or spending less time on the work that does not pay so well? Consider the 80:20 law: 80% of your time may be spent on work

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that generates 20% of your income, so why not focus on the 20% that generates 80% of your income? If 20% of your customers give you work that accounts for 80% of your income, concentrate on these bigger orders, save yourself time in work and earn more. After you have been in business for a few months, ask yourself: ‘Am I becoming more efficient?’ Set up your own ‘time and motion’ study. Analyse your day and then your week. How long are you spending on administration, on tasks not directly incomegenerating? In my case, this means things such as reading and responding to mail, searching out further work, sending out invoices and chasing them up, and bookkeeping. You may discover, to your horror, that this administration takes up a significant part of your day. The well-known adage ‘Time is money’ is not entirely correct: it is what you do with that time. ‘Work is money’ would be fitting and preferable. By work, though, I mean income-generating work, not futile paper shuffling. Look at how you spend your day and each evening, like Andrew Matthews, ask yourself: ‘What have I achieved today?’ and ‘How much income is that likely to generate?’ Bear in mind that you are after productivity rather than just activity. Do not confuse action with accomplishments. Focus on your results rather than your efforts. ‘Sometimes you might work for 100 hours in the week and you’ve done nothing. Sometimes you only put in a few hours but it’s been extremely worthwhile,’ says real estate advisor Jan Somers. ‘Anne and I work a maximum of 30 hours a week,’ says Andrew Cousins of his and his wife’s involvement in multi-level marketing. This does not include time on the road, he adds. ‘You would not count the time driving to and from your city office as work time.’

Organisation This is another key element in the success of your business. But however unmethodical and disorganised you are, take heart. Like

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self-discipline, organising skills can be learned. Here are the golden rules: • •

Have a place for every item in your office and keep that item in its allocated place; and Handle each piece of paperwork once only.

These two tips can save you hours of wasted time. If you know duplicates of customer invoices are kept in the top drawer of your filing cabinet, then you can quickly and easily locate Mr Dower’s account instead of searching for ages through piles of papers scattered throughout your office. As for handling each piece of paper once only, you will halve your frustrations if you immediately replace Mr Dower’s account in your files when you have finished with it. Toss it on your desk for filing later and you will increase your work and decrease your efficiency. Develop a suitable and effective filing system. This may be easier said than done but, once in place and adhered to, it will make your life much easier. Writer Libby Gleeson has created a filing structure for herself. There is only one problem. ‘Getting the papers from my desk to the files is where my system breaks down,’ she laments. ‘I tried taking Friday mornings off to remedy this but then I’d find myself meeting deadlines for Saturday morning talks.’ Libby has a solution in mind. ‘I’m going to teach the children how to file and pay them for it!’ Dealing with your clutter pile can take courage and stamina but it can also help to unclutter your life. When you eventually get round to sorting through a huge pile, it is bound to be a painful task. You can avoid grief by following these tips: • • •

Block off some time in your diary, every week or every fortnight, to deal with the clutter pile. Stick to that time. Always place each item or piece of paper in its final destination. Do not handle a piece of paper more than once. Devise your own system whereby you tackle the clutter pile when it reaches a certain, manageable, size. That is, deal with it before your diary date, if need be.

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Every six to 12 months, block out a day to clear out your entire office and filing system. If you are an obsessive hoarder, learn to break this habit. Rip out and keep the articles you want rather than holding on to entire magazines. Instead of keeping newspapers or other disposable items ‘in case I need them one day’, dump them and make a note of where you can locate the information in a library, for example.

My cousin George in London once heard of an elderly woman who was exceptionally neat and tidy. When she died, the people clearing the house found she had been a methodical and compulsive collector, reluctant to throw anything out. They came across a box labelled, and containing, ‘pieces of string too short to be used’. Be warned: if it isn’t curbed promptly and effectively, clutter can take over your life!

Home alone This morning my notebook computer died on me. For some reason, it just refused to start. I felt like kicking it. Had I been in a busy office, I would merely have summoned a technician and worked on another computer while mine was being fixed. But I was alone and had no support. Well, not quite none. I made a telephone call to my local computer shop and, unable to rectify the problem over the phone, Ashley Beeching, the proprietor, suggested I bring in my Powerbook. The battery was fully charged, my mains plug was perfect. He was at a loss. Replacing the battery, he pressed the switch. The computer booted up and proceeded to work perfectly. I could have felt rather silly at that point, but I was overcome with relief rather than embarrassment. Having frequented the store in the past, I had got to know the staff, who also realised I worked from home. They would go out of their way to help me promptly, for they knew that without my computer I could not work. I, in turn, have recommended their professional, friendly and reliable service to others. So I may not have staff who can help me in the

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next room, but my support is just a telephone call away. Many are the times my problems have been solved that way. Leaving the store that morning, smiling with relief, I remembered the experience of a friend of mine who will remain nameless. She, too, had found her notebook would not work one day. The familiar ‘on’ chord sounded when she turned it on, but the screen remained black. When she took it in to a computer store, it was fixed in two seconds flat. The computer expert merely turned up the brightness control. You can be your very own support person in such easy-to-solve emergencies if you take the trouble to familiarise yourself with your equipment, read articles or books and attend courses on it. When writer and desktop publisher Paula Ruzek purchased her first computer and printer, she took time to thoroughly learn about the system and its capabilities. ‘So began my love affair with computers. Now my whole business is based around computer technology.’ Don’t be one of those people who believe in reading the instruction book only when all else fails. Working on my last book, A Different Light, I sighed with satisfaction as I turned off my computer after a good afternoon’s work. In my haste, I inadvertently clicked on ‘no’ rather than ‘yes’ when the question ‘save changes before closing?’ flashed up on the screen. Several pages about Dr Tenshi Ayukai’s work on the Great Barrier Reef were instantly wiped out! The words ‘can’t undo’ came up as I frantically tried to retrieve my work. My first impulse was to scream. My second was to hurl the computer across the room. I settled for a compromise and, while the material was still fresh in my mind, sat down again and retyped it as best I could from memory. I even convinced myself that the second draft was an improvement. In that way, I refuted Paddy’s Law. Murphy’s Law claims ‘Whatever can go wrong will go wrong’. Paddy asserts ‘Murphy was an optimist’. In any case, my experience taught me a valuable lesson. Had I saved each page as I went along, I would have lost—at most—a few lines of text. Had I printed out my day’s work, I would still have it to copy from. Had I backed up my efforts on a floppy disk, I would have been laughing rather than screaming. These days I

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overdo it a little and do all three. I’d rather be safe than sorry. And I have also attended a couple of computer courses, as well as studying the manual. I am convinced those lost pages are floating around somewhere in the system, still waiting to be found!

At home with your partner Working with your partner at home is a potential minefield. Tempers can flare, angry words can be exchanged. I have even heard of a marriage breakdown in which working together was a contributing factor. Some would never consider working with their partner, while others cannot contemplate another lifestyle. If you decide to work together, you need to be very clear about what your tasks are going to be, advises Jan Sutherland of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services. Have clear and separate responsibilities and areas of expertise. As well as preventing arguments and disagreements, this helps you to keep up your self-esteem and confidence and boost efficiency. ‘Once you clarify your tasks, you ensure a better result,’ says Jan. She did the initial market research for the business and set the charges. Now she deals with the public and trains the staff while husband Ross does the paperwork. Jan sees herself as the ‘people person, the risk-taker’, while Ross is the ‘keel or rudder that keeps me on an even balance’. They work well together, seeing their roles as complementary. But it hasn’t been easy. Jan believes it is important to ask a few questions when considering working together. Do you have the same goals in mind? Do these goals include making the business a success, supporting your financial future, being aware of giving a high-quality service? Does your partner complement you in your job? Says Ross: ‘There are difficulties in being with someone 24 hours a day, and we do have arguments occasionally. You need to have time out from the business and away from each other. It need not be a long time, just two hours or so. I go to the gym and play golf regularly.’ As for your relationship, Jan cautions, ‘You need to be very careful to each treat the other as an employee of the company and not as a spouse. You can get blasé or complacent. Familiarity really

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does breed contempt and you need to avoid that.’ Would you speak in the same tone and manner to a stranger, your employee, as you do to your partner? Treat each other with respect. ‘We’re a good team,’ says Aldy Johnston from Secrets on the Lake on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. ‘I’m the behind the scenes sort of person and my husband George is the one that has visitors laughing the minute they walk through the door. One of our secrets to success is the good rapport that George has with the guests.’ To work together, you have to get on well with your partner, according to Aldy. ‘And you must see the humorous side of things or else it could be the end of the relationship.’ Andrew and Annie Cousins, who run a distribution business from home, find it a great advantage to be together. ‘When I worked as a teacher, I would also be out coaching football for up to five nights a week. Annie and I would only have decent time together at weekends,’ explains Andrew. ‘I think working together is a fantastic idea, but do expect a few challenges if you are not used to being with one another so much and seeing one another in these business roles.’ They, too, have different roles. Andrew shows people the concept of multi-level marketing and Annie offers support, particularly in the ordering and marketing of products, should their clients decide to join with them in business. Andrew also advocates looking on your partner as another employee of the company. ‘Treat the other person as you yourself would like to be treated,’ he says. ‘That way, you can get the best out of one another. Our attitude has been that we do everything 100:100. That way, if I don’t do it, Annie will. So the job will get done. If you do something 50:50 and someone does not do their part, then the whole business suffers.’ He believes that, far from damaging their relationship, working together has strengthened it. ‘You are working together with your partner instead of someone else’s,’ he explains. ‘The divorce rate today in Australia is 40%, but the divorce rate in the IDA system [Amway’s support and training system] is less than 5%.’ Andrew says the IDA sets them on a course of self-improvement, with seminars, tapes and books. ‘You learn how to work things out.’

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Window cleaner Josh Zappone is certain that working together has brought him and his wife Emma closer. ‘Before, we would only see one another at night. Now we get to enjoy the time we have together. We take a full hour for lunch, instead of just a 15-minute break, and it becomes the highlight of our day—inasmuch as lunch can be a highlight! We’ll make sandwiches or buy our lunch and go to the park.’ For Josh and Emma, it is early days yet. They have been working together for only a few months. Julie and Andrew Matthews have been co-directors of Andrew Matthews Productions for four years. ‘Make the rules before you start!’ says Julie. ‘Talk business only from 8 or 9 am, whenever you start work. Otherwise you’ll be lying in bed together, talking business before you even get up. You must also be disciplined enough to stop work at 6 or 7 pm, whatever time you decide. Otherwise you will find that business dominates your whole life. Things will grate if that is all you talk about.’ Julie and Andrew have different interests: he plays tennis, often before breakfast, and she takes time out for walks on the beach. ‘We were not always like this,’ Julie admits, ‘but we learned. Now we plan our holidays before the year starts, to make sure we take them. We mark the time off in the diary. We used to keep taking on work and saying we’d catch up with holidays the following year. We never did, and if you don’t take regular breaks, you start getting niggly.’ Have time together to relax and forget about work. What about a slightly different situation—when you both work from home but in different businesses? ‘I told Peter I married him for many reasons, but lunch was not one of them,’ says dietitian and nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton. ‘I had to make it clear that I would not be getting lunch for him every day.’ Rosemary has been home-based since 1968, but Peter joined her only a few years ago. This caused her some concern at first. ‘I thought I would go mad but I didn’t, and he thinks working together is wonderful. I did initially resent having him there, as I work very long hours and like to have a break at lunchtime and read the paper. I thought I would no longer be able to do that but in fact it’s worked out really well. When I’m not here, he will answer

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the telephone and take messages and I will do the same for him,’ says Rosemary. ‘We have separate offices, and it is important for the offices to be far enough away so that you cannot hear one another on the phone. And you do not have to explain who is ringing. You need to maintain a degree of integrity. It is essential to have separate telephone and fax lines.’ Valerie Britton Wilson started work as a home-based qualitative researcher in the 1970s, when the concept was still new in Australia. ‘I had spent some time working in this way in London and thought it was terrific. Once back in Melbourne, I struck up an arrangement with my previous employer.’ She has continued in this way ever since, with breaks when raising her children and studying. Now she’s been joined by her husband, John, whom she describes as a ‘lapsed lawyer who is now an investor and fiction writer’. ‘At first I found it quite hard because this was not just my domestic territory but also my work territory. But once we had worked things out, it was better,’ she says. ‘We both work best in the mornings, we put our heads down and get on with it. We do not interrupt one another in the first hour of work, when we are most productive. We meet for a cup of coffee at 10 o’clock and for lunch once or twice a week, circumstances permitting. Today was a fairly typical day. I have a sick child at home, I’ve done five loads of washing, and I did the supermarket shopping in the lunch hour.’ Computer consultant Wesley Brown found home-based work presented problems at the outset.‘If my wife, Tina, wants the car and a client rings, then that takes priority. In the beginning that was a hassle and caused friction, but that’s where the money comes from— clients.’ Tina sees having Wesley at home as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. ‘The children love it, too, but once a week we get a babysitter and go out for a meal together, just the two of us.’

At home with children Wesley Brown is fortunate. He can concentrate totally on his work. ‘He can switch off from the children and work on his computer, not even knowing they’re there,’ says Tina. That’s all well and good

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if there is another carer in the house, but if you are responsible for the children or if you and your partner are both working at home, things can be a little tougher. It’s important, as early as possible, to explain your work situation and guidelines to your children in language they can understand. Draftsman Peter Robertson has explained to his 9-year-old daughter Leah that although Daddy is now always at home, he cannot devote all his time to her. ‘When she comes home from school, she will ask, “Can you do this?” and I’ll say, “No, I’m working”. She understands now and will amuse herself until I have finished.’ When it comes to toddlers, Libby Gleeson has it all worked out. ‘You are kidding yourself if you think you can run a business from home alongside small children, unless you can run that business on two hours’ work a day. What would you do if you had to go out to work? You would find childcare outside the house or get someone to come in.’ Libby picked the former option. When she worked part-time she would take her youngest child to childcare two or three days a week. ‘I almost never work when the three children are at home,’ she says, ‘only if there are deadlines.’ Qualitative researcher Valerie Britton Wilson has found she has to be strict with her three youngsters. ‘They put more demands on you when they know you are home,’ she admits. ‘The children are more likely to ring and ask me to bring in the hockey stick they left at home. They wouldn’t do that if I was in an office. It is frustrating but it would be more so if I was working elsewhere. Then I would have to lose a day’s work if a child was ill. This is much better. At least I can do some work if they are ill.’ Some years ago, Valerie went to a school talk ‘where a family very much like ours spoke about relationships. Both parents worked from home and there were three children. The children said the usual things about the advantages of their parents being home, but they did not see it as all good. They were troubled by the fact that there was no clear dividing line between work and play time with the parents. They sometimes felt bad for interrupting their parents, and their parents’ attention was often divided. The kids said they did not have enough structured leisure

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time with their parents because of that.’ Like Libby, Valerie does not even try to work when the children are home and awake. ‘I drop everything between 3 and 8 pm and I sometimes go back to it after dinner.’ With three children, aged from 15 to 21, Denise Fisher experiences the ups and downs of working from home. ‘School holidays seem to be longer these days and uni breaks are never-ending,’ she laughs. ‘I’ve always got one or other of the family around.’ But there are compensations. Her eldest son, James, has been working as administration officer for her online health education business while the other son, Nick, has contributed with website graphic design. As for the youngest in the family: ‘I think it’s an advantage to always have Mum around,’ says 15-year-old Laura, ‘that’s really great. The disadvantage is that I can’t make as much noise as usual!’ Sometimes having children will help you reassess your priorities. Deborah Fitzgerald, co-director of Splash Public Relations, had intended returning to work in her city office three months after the birth of her first child. That stretched to a year. ‘Motherhood was very different from what I’d expected,’ she says. ‘I found I didn’t want to go back as soon and I certainly didn’t want to work within the rigid confines of an employer/employee situation with builtin work hours of 9 to 5 or longer. Another thing I hadn’t anticipated about motherhood was illness. When I reached the stage that Mackenzie went to day care a couple of days a week, so that I could work part-time, the exposure to other children meant he was getting ill. Quite frankly, I don’t know how other women who work manage. For me, one of the benefits has been that, if a child is ill, I can just work from home.’ Now that she has two children—Mackenzie, 4, and Finnegan, 2—Deborah has given up the Sydney office and works totally from home. ‘The Internet has been great for easy access of information and communication, whether that be with Kate, my business partner, or with clients,’ she says. ‘Email has been a tremendous help, for immediate, and to a certain degree informal, communication. I can be at home and still be meeting the needs of my clients without any dramas.’ Even when they are happening around

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her. ‘I always felt uncomfortable about phoning clients when the children were there. Needing my attention is almost an in-built instinct for them: they’d be playing happily and the moment I’m on the phone they’d cry or want me. So now I’m able to email clients even if the kids are screaming in the background!’ Even better is the fact that Deborah can do that anywhere in the house with no hassle. ‘My husband works in IT and I’ve got wireless connection to the Internet, so I can be sitting outdoors working on my notebook while the children are playing. Other women have told me you can’t mix children and work and, to a large degree, that’s true. It’s pretty stressful. I work three days a week, while the children are in day care and at preschool. Depending on deadlines, I may sometimes work when they’re at home. But I’ve told clients I’m not available for meetings on particular days and they’ve been happy with that. People are a lot more sympathetic to working mothers that you might think. I find that I’m happier if I can commit to the children when I’m with them and commit to my work at other times. It is still possible to cross over: my 2-year-old sleeps for a couple of hours during the day and so I usually spend that time at the computer.’ ‘Having my own business has been a brilliant way for me to mix career and motherhood,’ says Deborah. ‘I have flexibility, an understanding business partner prepared to work around my hours, and the technology—by way of computers and Internet access— that provides client contact and immediacy.’

Life change Tom Warnes used to wear a three-piece suit and carry a briefcase. Today he lives in casual shirt and shorts and travels with a swag. As founder of Wilderness Challenge, a Far North Queensland-based tour company, he left behind a successful career of 23 years with the international computer company Honeywell, and a Sydney beach suburb home. ‘I needed another

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challenge,’ says Tom. ‘There was no thrill in going to work any more as I had gone as far as I could in my career.’ After a life-changing trip to Cape York, he persuaded his reluctant family to pack up and move to Cairns in 1990 to start a new life. ‘People thought I was crazy, and my wife and two daughters were equally unimpressed. But I had always felt more at home outdoors, running around the bush, and one of the things that was starting to disillusion me about Sydney and the city was that everything seemed to be plastic.’ Tom started from scratch in Queensland, buying two Toyota 4WDs and working from home. It was not an easy road. ‘Tourism is a tough business,’ Tom admits, ‘and after two years in Cairns we had lost everything—my superannuation and the proceeds from the sale of our Sydney home. I even had to sell my expensive game-fishing gear so that we could eat. I was guiltridden. I had dragged my family from a secure environment to pursue my dream.’ But he never thought of chucking it in. Instead he applied the business techniques he had learnt at Honeywell and kept going. Today award-winning safari company Wilderness Challenge (http://wilderness-challenge.com.au) operates oneto 16-day trips from the Daintree rainforest to Cape York, Kakadu and the Kimberley. Tom’s wife, Di, and his daughters, Samantha and Saxon, work for the business. Life for him now provides both challenges and pleasures, with a mix of managing his company and sharing the beauty of the landscape with others. ‘I’ve lost count of the number of trips I’ve made to Cape York, but each time it’s like a revitalisation,’ he says.

Spirit change When Maggie Hamilton found herself hanging up the washing at 11 o’clock one night, she wondered what had become of

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her life. As head of media and marketing at Random House publishers in Sydney, she was used to the 14-hour days with their correspondingly high demands and tight deadlines. She loved her job with a passion and the contact she had with top authors. But, while outwardly successful, her lifestyle had taken its toll. ‘I found over time that the more successful I became, the emptier I felt,’ she says. ‘It was almost like a direct equation, and the dark space inside me actually felt like a physical space, one that I could reach out and touch with my hand.’ She initially resorted to shopping in an attempt to feel better, buying clothes, household items or gifts for friends. ‘But often the joy wouldn’t last the trip home.’ Nothing seemed to help. ‘I had a wonderful man in my life, lots of friends, but yet it didn’t fill that space.’ In a period of selfreflection she realised her job ‘wasn’t feeding the soul and, when you’re giving out all the time, you can become a husk very quickly’. She felt more and more suffocated by the demands placed on her and distressed by the impact on her social life, missing birthday and wedding celebrations when working interstate. ‘Once we get into the cycle of business and chronic stress, it can feel like a never-ending treadmill that we cannot get off or slow down,’ says Maggie, ‘we don’t see any end in sight.’ She struggled on, discovering meditation and finding this ‘a bridge that started everything. With meditation, I felt I was living in the eye of the storm and I could work through the drama and politics of work from a state of peace. It was eminently practical and wonderful metabolically’. It was also a means to an end. After a series of ‘life-changing journeys that took me to the great deserts of the American Southwest, through South-East Asia and to the ancient sites of Britain’, Maggie walked away, in 2002, from a secure and successful career spanning more than

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two decades to pursue a new one in writing, giving talks and workshops. Her book Coming Home is the culmination of her own soul-searching and discoveries. For Maggie, working from home is a spirit change. She has no regrets. ‘My work in publishing was like having a long magnificent banquet but you get to the point you can’t eat any more because you’re satisfied. My new life is a gentler one, with more meaning. I relish the fact that it’s up to me to make things happen. And when you work alone, you can cover a great deal of ground in a day. There’s no longer the endless round of meetings, politics and changes of direction to contend with. I have always been focused but now I find I am able to be even more focused. I enjoy being able to work my own hours. I still tend to put in an eight-hour day and will sometimes work on Saturdays, but I now have far more holidays and will take a few hours off here and there to do the things I love. I now have far more energy for friends and look forward to getting out and about. ‘For years I was a stranger in my own home, because of the hours I worked and the amount of travel I did. For the first time I am really enjoying my home and garden and all those delicious nuances you don’t notice when you’re away from them: I love having the time and space to observe the way the way the light spills through a certain window or the moods in various rooms as the days progress. And there’s nothing like taking a break in the garden to clear your head. Household work is integrated into my working day and it’s now far less effort and far more enjoyable.’ Maggie’s home office is the front bedroom of her Sydney home, a room that opens up onto an old iron-lace verandah. ‘As it faces south I get the southerly breezes on hot summer days. It feels more like my creative womb than my office as it has a sofa and many other things that I love. My working life is mainly concerned with reading and writing with some teaching.

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I write books for adults and for children and also review books.’ A morning person, Maggie starts her working day at 8 am, and the only disadvantage of working from home for her is ‘having to be your own backup; there’s no-one to help organise stationery or the post or take messages except you’. She loves being part of her community, seeing neighbours and shopkeepers regularly. ‘They have more than replaced the community of work. I still keep up with work friends, meeting them for early coffee or breakfasts, ensuring that I can still get working when I’m at my best. For years I used to think I’d die if I had to work from home, because I thought I’d feel isolated, yet nothing could have been further from the truth!’, says Maggie. ‘I’m far more relaxed and fulfilled working from home. I still work hard but my days are far more satisfying; I love having this time to myself.’ She believes working in corporate life gave her the experience and discipline needed to work for herself. ‘In times past, people worked to sustain themselves and their families,’ Maggie says. ‘If they were lucky, work satisfied them as well but they didn’t rely on work to provide as much fulfilment as we often do now. Working from home has helped to bring balance into my life and my relationships. At the end of the day, life is not meant to be only about work. The most important thing in life is how we have lived, and what qualities and passion we have enjoyed along the way. Working from home has brought me far closer to loving the life I live.’

Expectations Says one home-based worker, a wife and mother, ‘My husband is very supportive but the expectation is still there that, because I’m home all day, I’ll get the housework and washing done and organise

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tea. There are no complaints when I explain I’m busy—everyone pitches in—but I have to say something every time to make this happen.’ Others are regarded differently by friends and colleagues. ‘They don’t think I work, just because I’m always home. To them it’s not a real job. And they assume that I will be able to go to anything organised during the day,’ is another observation.

Motivation Some mornings Jan Sutherland, of Dial a Wife Complete Home Services, would cry from exhaustion, not wanting to work, bemoaning the fact that she had no holiday or sick pay and that she had to carry on regardless. How did she—and how can you— find the motivation to continue? We all, even the most successful, have days when we can’t be bothered to work. It may all seem too difficult. Business has not been going well recently, so why go on? You have run out of steam, the effort is all too much. Besides, it’s a beautiful day outside, so why not take the day off and relax? At times like this, Jan asks herself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Her reply: ‘I would rather be working for myself than having to answer to another person. I also have the freedom to express myself in my own business. I have the challenge of discovering entrepreneurial skills. And apart from all of that, who else is going to feed our family?’ Having come to that conclusion, Jan gets herself going by getting out of bed, having a shower and dressing to start her day. Many books have been written on motivation and many people, like Jan, find them useful. One terrific book is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey (Melbourne, Business Library, 1990). Some fortunate individuals have no difficulty with drive. ‘I’m a very motivated person,’ says Adelaide dress designer Margaret Moore. ‘I’m up by 6 and have put in half a day’s work by 9 o’clock. I’ve always worked on the principle that life is too short, so I don’t want to waste a minute.’ In addition to her determined disposition,

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Margaret’s motivation comes from competition.‘When I started out as a dress designer in the United Kingdom, I soon discovered that it was not enough for my garments to be just average. They had to be much better than average or they would not sell. And if they did not sell, I would no longer have a job.’ Not only did this fact spur Margaret on but it also gave her constant motivation for improvement. You must be self-motivated to work for yourself, according to picture framer Val Harris. ‘It is very easy to talk yourself out of things, saying you’re not well or that you don’t need to do that job now,’ she explains. ‘I’ve always driven myself and I have always set myself a goal, such as having to make 10 frames a week in order to pay the bills. I’m the type of person that wants to succeed, and being on my own with a child, after separating from my husband, was a marvellous motivator. You can have all the training in the world but, if you’re not self-motivated, a bit of an entrepreneur and someone that gives good customer service, your business will not succeed.’ Talking with other home-based business owners can be a helpful way of motivating yourself. Discussing your problems with others in the same area can provide you with solutions. Chances are, they have also been through this. Remember, however hard it gets, even in your darkest moments, you are not alone. There is always help and support available, whether it be from other colleagues or home-based associations. By establishing your own professional network, you can exchange ideas and trade clients. Such regular social contact can boost flagging morale while keeping you in touch with the latest business developments. Jan Sutherland says, ‘It can be really hard when you work alone keeping your business afloat. Home-Based Business Australia meetings were a good place to network and to learn new ideas you can implement in your business. I might feel disgruntled about something and another member might have a good idea on how to deal with it.’ Jan is also a member of the Women’s Business Network. ‘I attend breakfasts and listen to speakers. I am inspired by successful people such as Ita

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Buttrose and Kerry Packer.’ She also reads books and listens to tapes. One television designer found that when reading scripts at home for which he had to create sets, he would invariably fall asleep. He discovered that, curiously, in the noisy and stimulating atmosphere of the local pub, with a single beer to last all evening, he could concentrate much better. It worked for him! It is important to get out of the house from time to time. Otherwise your work environment can become oppressive. ‘I have always been involved in organisations,’ says writer Libby Gleeson, ‘The Australian Society of Authors, the P and C Associations at my children’s schools and now social justice organisations that are involved in assisting refugees.’ Julie Matthews believes in the value of taking an afternoon or day off, out of the house and away from your partner. ‘Otherwise you would not have anything new to talk about,’ she says.

Looking after yourself Security The fact that you are on your home premises for much of your time can provide additional security for your property and contents. But make sure your house has adequate security measures in place for when you are out, such as window bars or locks, a burglar alarm or a guard dog. Make sure your insurance policy is valid and covers all office equipment. Be thoughtful when recording the message for your telephone answering machine. ‘I’m out at the moment’ can serve as a welcome invitation to a burglar. ‘I (or we) are unavailable at present’ is far more sensible. If you do not want callers to know you live alone, you may prefer ‘we’. You might also restrict your contact hours with clients, not seeing them at home after dark and making sure someone else is in the house with you when clients call. Alternatively, you could visit them.

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Diet and exercise You may find cooking a bore, a hassle or too time-consuming. Constantly eating out or buying take-away food can play havoc with both your stomach and your wallet. Try always to have some nutritious, tasty food on hand, or learn some easy-to-prepare recipes. Cooking can help you unwind and thus aid your mental wellbeing. Just three sessions of 30 minutes a week doing a sport or activity you enjoy can keep your body fit and healthy. I find I can concentrate far better at my work after a game of tennis, and that swimming helps clear my mind. Overwork, sickness and holidays Who would have thought you might be in the position of worrying about overworking? But when you work for yourself, overwork is a distinct possibility. Beware of burn-out, and aim to avoid it by taking regular breaks and short holidays. ‘Holidays? What are holidays?’ asks Jenny Church of Your Type Secretarial Services. ‘I do manage a clear week over Christmas, but I can’t leave my business unattended for too long. I had to use temporary staff when I had the flu, but luckily I don’t get sick often.’ Holidays can be a difficulty for small-business owners. Yet it is vital to make time for them. Don’t learn the hard way, by putting holidays off until you become thoroughly exhausted or ill. Speaking of which, does your insurance policy cover you for sickness and accidents? Can you make an arrangement with a similar business to cover for you when you are ill or absent? Optimism ‘To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe’, I once read on a poster. Optimism is fundamental. Author Bryce Courtenay says of success, ‘I don’t think it is a question of time or any special ability. I think it’s a question of understanding, having confidence that you can do it.’ And you can do it. You know you can! The door to success is, after all, labelled ‘Push’.

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Review Time management • Plan, prioritise and evaluate. • Set yourself a weekly schedule and a daily timetable. Organisation • Develop a suitable and effective filing system and stick to it. • Handle each piece of paperwork once only. • Have a place for every item in your office and keep that item in its allotted place. Averting procrastination • Make sure your expectations are realistic. • Make a list, but keep your goals attainable: remember, less is more. • Set deadlines and keep them. • Use your office for work only. • Reward yourself for completing the task. • Become less perfect. Separating work life from family life • If possible, have a separate physical space put aside for your office. This will give you privacy, productivity and peace of mind. • Have set core working hours and set aside time for relaxation. • Respect your partner and family. Security • Have adequate security measures—window locks or bars, burglar alarm, guard dog. • Make sure your insurance policy is valid and covers all office equipment. • Have an appropriate message on your answering machine (‘we are unavailable at present’).

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Restrict contact hours with clients or avoid seeing them at home.

Coping with children • Explain to the children, in language appropriate to their age, that you now work from home. • Set guidelines for the children. • Let the children know at what times you are not to be interrupted, except in cases of emergency. • Learn to be patient and flexible. Expect and deal with extra demands placed on you by children. • Never attempt to run a home-based business alongside small children. Get childcare. • Set aside play time for your children. Handling friends and neighbours • Make it clear that you are working from home. • Answer the telephone with your business name. • Tell friends and neighbours that you will speak to them after work. • Put the answering machine on at times when you do not want to be disturbed. Dealing with other distractions • Develop self-discipline. • Learn to say no. • Choose not to see housework during work hours. • Share chores with your partner. • Hire a cleaner. • Decide to do, in your work day, only what you would do if you were working away from home.

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Isolation Avoid social isolation by: • • •

keeping up your friendships; having lunch occasionally and coffee often with friends; and using the telephone, email and letters to keep in touch.

Counteract professional isolation by: • • •

joining professional bodies and organisations; subscribing to newsletters and journals; and initiating regular meetings with work colleagues.

Overcome loss of social status and self-esteem by: • •

joining a home-based organisation; and/or finding a business mentor.

Motivation Beat lack of motivation by: • • • • • • •

reminding yourself of the reasons you have chosen to work from home; remembering the advantages of working from home; taking action; planning your strategy; setting yourself goals and doing the most challenging ones first; networking; and getting out of the house regularly.

Stay motivated with: • a balanced and nutritious diet; and • regular exercise—30 minutes, three times a week.

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Overwork, sickness and holidays • Avoid overwork and sickness by taking regular breaks in your work day. • Have contingency plans for illness (e.g. other colleagues to take over your work and insurance to cover your salary). • Take holidays. Short, regular vacations can be more effective than one long one. There may be appropriate times in the year for holidays, when work is slower. Remember, you are the most important asset of your business, so take good care of that valuable asset.

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9

New technology

New technology

The Internet Let’s start with the basics. What is the Internet, and what can it do for you and your home-based business? To put it simply, the Internet is a global network of computers, linked via telephone cables and optic fibres. Applications include email (electronic messaging) and the World Wide Web, which provides information by means of text, images, sound, animation and video through web browsers. Internet Explorer and Netscape are the names of browsers, computer software that interprets and displays information from websites. A website is a collection of pages linked together containing information—in this case, about your home-based business. The home page is the main page of your website and allows access to information on the rest of the site and possibly other websites, by merely clicking on the highlighted links (called hypertexts or hyperlinks) with your mouse. A modem (modulator/demodulator) is the device that connects your computer to a telephone line and hence to the Internet. The modem can be a separate item, external to your computer, or it can be internal, incorporated into the body of your computer. 259

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An external modem can easily be upgraded to one of a higher speed to enable you to ‘surf the Net’ and access web pages more rapidly and efficiently. If you wish to upgrade an internal modem, you will need to physically take your computer to a service area for this to be done, or for the modem to be repaired. Connection to the Internet can build stronger ties with your clients, save you money, and greatly improve or expand your homebased business. Yesterday The Internet was developed by the US military in the 1960s as a communications network. Then universities, initially in the United States and then worldwide, became the principal users of this technology. Starting with email, online scientific conferences followed. At this stage the Internet’s appeal was limited to academics. In the late 1980s, however, HTML (hypertext markup language) was developed and the World Wide Web came into being. Free software to view HTML—web browsers—was released and by the early 1990s, with falling costs of computers, demand for Internet access really took off. Today One year of the Internet, like a dog year, is equivalent to seven years of regular life, according to Internet consultant Monte Huebsch, owner of a Brisbane-based web design company. ‘The Internet changes and develops with astonishing speed,’ he says, ‘and any type of business these days, whether home-based or not, cannot afford to be unconnected.’ This holds true unless you rely on local letterbox drops. For Monte, the Internet is akin to any other utility that runs past your house, ‘just like water or electricity, and you plug into it’. And today what flows through the ‘pipe’ is not life-giving liquid or power but equally vital information, and communication. Connection to the Internet allows you to carry out your banking and

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financial dealings electronically. Pay your bills online. Order your business supplies from companies such as Officeworks. You can even order fruit and vegetables, which will be delivered fresh to your door! The Internet has revolutionised the way we live and do business. According to Monte, the ‘killer application’ on the Internet is email. Electronic mail, as opposed to snail mail (postage), allows effective, unobtrusive and inexpensive backand-forth communication. Rather than playing phone tag and leaving messages on one another’s answering machines, or calling at an awkward time when the other person is busy, irritable or rushing to a meeting, email can be answered at one’s convenience. ‘The benefit of email to a home business is in its collaborative ability,’ says Monte, ‘the ease of communication once a relationship has been established after a face-to-face meeting.’ Forget expensive interstate or international telephone bills. The cost of email is negligible with Internet connection. There’s no tyranny of distance, there being no difference between making contact with a neighbour, colleagues in the next city or thousands in the next country. You can send newsletters with details of your services and products to all your clients at the press of a computer key or attach 100-page documents. Consider the alternative. Estimate the cost in printing a hard copy (and using those trees), distribution or postage, and then pick yourself off the floor. It costs the Commonwealth Bank at this time, says Monte, $5 to process a transaction across the counter, $1.30 for an ATM transaction, and half a cent for an Internet transaction. The 70% of airline tickets for Virgin Blue booked on the Internet are processed by eight individuals operating the website, while the remaining 30% are handled by 240 staff members in the call centre. Small wonder that the telephone booking will now cost you $10. After communication, the most valuable asset of the Internet, according to Monte, is its research potential. ‘Now you can obtain information and a second opinion not just from a local source but

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from an international one and from wherever in the world that you find the material valuable.’ Monte lectures to many corporate and public organisations. Four or five years ago, perhaps half of the participants at his seminars would have email addresses. ‘Today, instead of asking whether individuals have an email address, I ask how many they have.’ The answer is anywhere between two and five—a business email address, a personal one for partner, children and key associates, a (free) hotmail account for friends, jokes and spams (junk emails) and so on. Different addresses for different purposes make it easy and convenient for you to check on appropriate messages at appropriate times. Disadvantages As with everything, there are weaknesses and shortcomings, and even dangers, with the Internet. These can range from viruses that can cripple, incapacitate or damage your computer, to inaccurate or misleading information including pornography There are methods of overcoming these, from buying or downloading free virus protection programs and screening applications that eliminate pornography and junk emails, to your own common sense, caution and investigating skills when it comes to assessing credible websites for knowledge. Be alert and watch out for scams. Many businesses have been stung by an elaborate hoax that features a faxed invoice demanding immediate payment or else your website will be removed. How could I have so careless as to have missed the pay-by date, asks the busy owner? And hands over the several hundred dollars to the schemer. With the amount of paperwork involved in running a business these days, the unscrupulous can sometimes take advantage of you. Meanwhile Monte Huebsch considers the biggest dangers to the Internet to be psychological. ‘They relate to time-wasting and social isolation,’ he says, ‘you can easily become a hermit, you are not out and about.’ Take note and take time out for fresh air and face to face interaction.

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Email address Select an email address that promotes your own name or business, rather than that of an Internet service provider (ISP). This is a company that sells Internet connections via a modem; examples are OzEmail and Telstra BigPond. Choose ‘[email protected]’ rather than ‘[email protected].’ So what’s the difference? ‘The second example says “amateur”, “sole practitioner” and “home-based worker” to me. It’s not professional,’ comments Monte. ‘Furthermore, you’re advertising a company to no personal advantage and giving the impression that you’re American.’ (What follows the @ symbol (e.g. ‘AussieWeb’) is a website. Each country around the world is indicated by its unique abbreviation, for example, ‘au’ for Australia and ‘uk’ for the United Kingdom as in ‘com.au’ and ‘com.uk’. As the Internet originated in the USA, there is no symbol for American websites, merely ‘com’.) And the answer? Create an email address as in the first example by recording a domain name (‘AussieWeb’ in this case), then linking up to an ISP that can set up any number of mailboxes for you. A domain name is your identity on the Internet, the unique name of your website. When you pay to register for your domain name, be proudly Australian and pay that extra amount to be identified as such (‘com.au’ rather than ‘com’). Should the domain name you request be already taken, you can try applying for the same name under ‘biz.au’ rather than ‘com.au’. Be reassured, however, that Australia has the best domain registration system in the world—only the owners of a business or trading name can purchase that domain. The beauty of an email address is that you can take it with you anywhere and everywhere in the world. Changing your residential address no longer means going to the effort and cost of redirecting mail for weeks or months. Check your emails regularly and make sure you answer them promptly.

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Website—to be (online) or not to be (online)? When it comes to deciding on whether or not to have a website, you need to go back to basics and ask yourself standard business questions: Will I get a return with a website? Will it save me money, will it make me money? But even before these considerations, you need to look closely at your home-based business. A business must be successful offline before going online. ‘If you are trading profitably offline,’ says Monte, ‘then you can look at the strategic purposes of having a website. These may be cost savings, income generation, customer service and, as a final thought, customer acquisition.’ Many individuals and businesses automatically establish a website, outlaying hundreds or thousands of dollars without adequate thought. You may well have the latest whizbang page available to the world, but who knows and who will access it? It’s like placing your book containing the sure-fire secrets of business success in the international library without telling anyone. A few people might stumble on it quite by chance, but the rest of us will be blissfully unaware of this valuable resource. Search Engine Optimisation is one of today’s hottest topics. If you want your website to be found, you must be in the directory of a popular search engine, such as Google. Others are Yahoo and LookSmart. It will cost you good money, like advertising in the Yellow Pages, but it will reap rewards for your home-based business. And, as with the Yellow Pages, you must place your business in the best location. ‘Choose the best key words and descriptions. Be extremely focused in your key words so that the person seeking your services will get a meaningful response,’ advises Monte. ‘If they’re looking for someone to walk their dog, for example, you need to make sure that typing the words ‘pet walking’ into a search engine’s index does not come up with websites dedicated to interesting walking routes or pornographic sites featuring animals.’ On-line resources and local experts can advise. Feature your website address on your business card and all stationery. When talking to clients, suggest that they visit your

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website. Look at linking it to other sites, so as to potentially expand your client base. ‘Links are all-important,’ says Monte, ‘they are one of the three main criteria that Google uses to link a site in their search engine. The more links you have, the more they think your site is important.’ An Australian example of a site with many links— over 10 000—is the News Corporation website, to be found at http://www.newscorp.com.au. Alternatively, you can save money by not having a website at all, instead representing yourself and your business on your industry association’s page. Should you, however, decide to set up a web presence, make sure you consult a reputable individual or company. These days you really can’t do it yourself. Seek out the services of a professional web designer or developer. Once established, it is vital that you are able to maintain your website yourself. Spurn any organisation that does not offer you this capability. Now you will need to approach a web hosting company, such as WebCentral, which is one of Australia’s largest such organisations, providing space on servers for websites. Depending on the level of technical sophistication of your website, you can opt for a shared or dedicated web hosting solution. Unless you conduct your entire business on the Internet, the former is more likely. (Check out the excellent WebCentral publication ‘17 mistakes businesses make on the Internet’ at http://www.webcentral.com, under the ‘Online Brochures’ section of the Info Centre heading. Or call 1800 800 099 for a hard copy to be posted to you. More valuable information about the Internet can be found under the Info Centre heading, including other brochures.) Monte Huebsch makes three observations about life with the Internet. He says: ‘You will never have enough information to make that fully informed decision, as it’s changing too fast. What you do on the Internet is not a one-off project but rather a program that needs to be maintained—you need to regularly update your website, including additional information and features so as to keep clients interested.’ Finally, he states, ‘Once you are connected to the

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Internet, you can never sever that contact as it has become a vital business tool for you.’

Leaping ahead Robert Whyte is director in charge of Web Services at Toadshow, an arts-related company of creative freelancers that has grown into a multimedia and communications organisation employing 18 staff. While primarily building websites for corporations, Toadshow also does so for individuals and homebased businesses; however, with a minimum charge of $5000, it is concerned with the high-quality end of the market. While this may not an option for many home-based businesses, such a website can become a possibility with expansion or when selling expensive items on the Internet. Yet, whatever your situation, Robert has some fine advice to share. ‘Start in a modest way, at a small cost, to get a presence on the Internet,’ he says. ‘Move slowly, from email to website, learning as you go. The more you know, the better you’ll be able to brief a website designer.’ Check out other websites, comparing and contrasting them, deciding what is effective in each, and what is appropriate for you. The client list on the Toadshow website has links to a couple of interesting examples, for artist Mark Crocker and yoga teacher Peter Bissen. ‘These are classic home-based businesses, at early stages of web development,’ says Robert. Yet they still display the important principles of web design—a clean, uncluttered, professional image. ‘People don’t want a lot of spinning, whizzing things that make a lot of sound. They’re far too busy for that,’ Robert explains. ‘It’s far better to have colour pictures that can be enlarged and clear text with perhaps a little movement to catch the eye. Avoid silly graphics and sound. Once you have the design, ask yourself, “What do I want my user to do once they get to this page?” Then create this action.’

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That action may involve filling in a form to join a yoga retreat, buying a book or painting, or merely requesting further information. ‘The aim is to start a dialogue and the huge advantage of the web is that it weeds out the tyre kickers,’ says Robert. ‘If people get to your website, they absorb good information about your business. You’re finding qualified customers, the ones that are right for you.’ Says Robert,‘The Internet works best for high-priced products and services—otherwise administration costs can eat up your profits. It may take you an hour to dispatch both $12 and $2000 items, but consider the difference in profit. Make sure your website address is easy and memorable to the market. The search engines Google and Yahoo presently account for 75% of all web searches.’ Robert suggests reading the website www.selfpromotion.com for free and comprehensive advice on making your website search engine friendly. Further valuable information on the Internet and what it can do for your business can be found at the website http://www.toadshow.com.au.

The virtual office Steve Sherlock’s car rental company has an annual turnover of $2 million, employs three part-time staff members, but has no physical office. Instead it’s located in cyberspace, at http://www.carhire.com.au. ‘I was an inbound tour operator with a Brisbane travel agency, offering Australian tourism products to overseas wholesalers,’ says Steve. Hoping to compete with similar enterprises that were turning over $14 million a year, the company started marketing on the Internet. Success was limited, just covering costs. But this was back in 1997, prior to the dotcom boom.

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Steve noted, however, that the link for car rental on the website was becoming very popular. Taking a punt, he decided to ditch the tours, and he bought the company and concentrated on the rental car market. ‘This was in 1999 and by November 2000, the monthly sales went from $2000 to $90 000.’ The vast majority of those wanting to rent cars were overseas tourists, who found the site through search engines, tourism portal advertising and by word of mouth. ‘Bookings were all done manually, without any database,’ says Steve, who would work alone, up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Each transaction would involve up to six emails between the client, Steve and the car rental company, and take Steve 40 minutes. With such a tedious, repetitive and inefficient process, Steve discovered he was spending most of the 15%–16% revenue he made in the processing. ‘The production capacity was limited and expensive,’ he says. Then he heard Internet consultant Monte Huebsch speaking at a seminar. ‘Together we evolved a system that was a thousand times more capable, with a database to do all the repetitive stuff,’ explains Steve who, as managing director, now spends his time working on the business rather than in it. His three homebased workers profit-share in the business, giving them an added incentive. ‘In a business sense, our costs decreased as our production capacity increased massively, resulting in an increased revenue per booking.’ From taking 40 minutes per car rental booking, it now takes two to three minutes at most. Turnover has risen, from $90 000 per month to a new high of $250 000. Steve’s lifestyle has changed accordingly. With less working time in the business, he is now able to involve himself more in family life, picking up the children from school. And his business life has also thrived, with the time, energy and resources now available to set up other Internet businesses, in car and campervan rental and hotel accommodation. He now has global

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distribution, with car rental outlets in New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom. ‘With the Internet, we can compete with the biggest and best companies in the world and, in some cases, outcompete them,’ says Steve, ‘because we’re a very nimble business.’ He rates his car quoting system (at http://www.RentNewCars. com.au) as the best in the country. ‘With our “true quote promise” we guarantee that the charge will be within 1% of what we quote,’ he says. ‘With other companies, clients never know the final price because of additional factors such as insurance, GST, stamp duty, airport taxes and damage waivers.’ Steve has achieved success by being a customer-focused business, researching what clients want and building this into the system. ‘With our database, we are able to graph everything and compile statistics. So this takes a lot of the guesswork out. When marketing on the Internet, you can work out the return on your investment to the last dollar. The Internet has given me time to focus on the productive aspects of my business, as opposed to the tedious, and to expand it. By no other means could I possibly have achieved such rapid growth and with such little capital.’ The Internet has given him the edge. And isn’t that what business is all about?

International connections ‘Splash Public Relations is the most effective public relations company in the entire universe—even the 95% of the universe which is still missing,’ says science broadcaster and educator Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. Another client praises the company’s ‘compelling track record in delivering cost-effective, innovative campaigns—and delivering the impossible on budget and on time’.

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Together with the experience, skills and creative talents of the two directors, Kate Thomas and Deborah Fitzgerald, the Internet has contributed to the success of Splash Public Relations. It’s absolutely invaluable,’ says Kate. Three or four years ago she would spend an hour or more sending faxes. Today she emails a media release to 400 journalists at the click of a button. ‘I pretty much do all my distribution through the Internet now. I’ve almost done away with the fax machine, contacting journalists and getting the message out online instead. And people like to receive pictures online. The Internet has allowed my time to be streamlined. I can coordinate my contact lists and specifically target people, being far more time-effective. The Internet has also made management of my business easier.’ Such advantages benefit the client. Says Kate, ‘Not only is the time you dedicate to your client more effective but there are also time savings and hence cost savings in fewer charged hours of work.’ This streamlining has flowed on to research. ‘These days, you don’t need to go down to the local newspaper shop to check out the main headlines and stories or go to the local library— you can just jump online. I find out what people are writing about, what they’re interested in, and research story ideas and angles. I consider myself a heavy user of the Internet and when it’s offline, I feel like I’ve lost an arm or a leg!’ Kate is conscious, however, of isolation. ‘I do buy the smaller papers, it’s good to have the touch and feel of a newspaper.’ The Internet has made the business more international. ‘We work with clients in the United Stated now and I organised tours for Dr Karl Kruszelnicki in the United Kingdom wholly on the Internet. It’s unbelievable how you can get to a journalist anywhere in the world now via email.’ Not only is contact possible but so is keeping up to date. ‘In a small business, I couldn’t possibly afford to buy a media guide that was updated every three months,’ says Kate, ‘but I can get current information

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on journalists, television shows, whatever I need, on the Internet. I even tracked down a former Canadian Prime Minister through the Internet at Harvard University, made email contact and had her launch a client’s book in Canada.’ When it comes to websites, Splash Public Relations works with clients on developing copy content and the look. ‘The Internet is a very visual medium and a website, like any brochure or magazine, must look good and be appealing. It also has to be easy to navigate, just like a magazine having an index. And content must be updated regularly.’ The Splash Public Relations website (at http://www.splashpr. com.au) receives many‘hits’ due to different aspects of its content. ‘We have fact sheets on our website for a project we did for Leichhardt Council which people frequently access. Then they see what we do and call us up.’ By having good content, which is updated regularly, the company has gained new clients without having to pay to be on an Internet browser. Kate also often checks the website hits. ‘I can see how many there are, where they come from, what pages people have looked at and for how long—it’s fascinating. It’s also rather strange,’ she laughs, ‘looking at people looking at you.’ The Internet has made a difference to the nature of work. ‘I’ve always been a visual person—I tend to think in pictures and then formulate the words after that. The web and the advance of computer technology has just made it easier for a more professional presentation of ideas and words. Where five years ago, you put the words into a word processor and then printed them onto your letterhead, now the letterhead is on your computer and you print it as one document. Media releases can now incorporate pictures and better layout. It’s also easier for people to receive information in a visual format. Almost everyone has tools such as Adobe Acrobat, a picture viewer, on their computer, and a media player, with most professional people having some sort of design or illustration program as well.’

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Splash Public Relations was started in Sydney in 1999. The majority of its clients come from the tourism and hospitality industries. Initially based in Balmain, Kate and Deborah now each have a home office. ‘We tend to visit clients at their premises so a city office isn’t needed in that regard. Working from home just made more sense. We’ve saved on rent and also on travelling time—I’d waste an hour twice a day, depending on Sydney traffic, just getting to and from work,’ says Kate. For her, working from home made it easier to manage her time and schedule. ‘I can give a lot more of my day to clients—as I don’t have to factor in traffic time—and get a lot more work completed, beneficial when you work on an hourly rate. The worst aspect of working from home is that I’m always on call for housework. And I have to schedule time to get out and take part in social gatherings, otherwise I’d soon tire of these four walls.’ With two young children, Deborah preferred to work from home. ‘It’s all based around convenience at this stage,’ Kate continues, explaining how they will rent an office when Deborah’s children are at school, ‘so that we can be in the same place and brainstorm.’ Until then, they’ll continue working in the universe’s most effective public relations company from home. They’ve made a splash: of that there is no doubt.

Wheely good times As senior instructor and director of Planet Inline, a home-based business providing rollerblading instruction, Monte Walker’s greatest joy comes from seeing the smiles on the faces of his students when they learn something new. ‘Skating is a liberating recreational pursuit that brings freedom to everyone who takes it up,’ he says.

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Monte noted that skating instructors were usually aligned to skate shops, and that lessons were secondary to skate sales. So, when he started Planet Inline in Brisbane in October 2001, he based it on two needs—servicing students and servicing instructors. He established a working relationship with Skate Biz in Brisbane, with the two businesses agreeing to operate as separate entities. This association brought benefits for everyone. Skate Biz recommends lessons with Planet Inline, providing flyers and cards, while, for $30 a year, Planet Inline members receive cheaper tuition, a weekly email newsletter and 10% discount on all Skate Biz purchases. All this with no money changing hands between the businesses. Both merely act as referral agencies for the other. ‘We work at driving the skate industry and we’ve already made Brisbane the skate capital of Australia. 40% of the sales at Skate Biz in Christmas 2001 were generated by Planet Inline and we probably got 40% of our students from them,’ says Monte, who has trained six instructors to work with him. ‘Skating instructors employed by a store may earn 30% of what the student pays. But we work like an agency and pay our instructors 75% of the takings,’ he explains. ‘I went online with the business pretty much straight away, as I recognised keeping in touch with people by email was a very efficient means of letting people know about our tours,’ says Monte. In addition to group and individual lessons, he runs regular weekly tours, in locations from Brisbane suburbs to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, as well as an annual trip to Melbourne. ‘We also have Australia’s biggest organised night skate, every Wednesday.’ Monte considers his website (at http://www.planetinline.com) an essential interactive tool to promote his business worldwide. ‘A cyberspace presence is vital these days and a business would not be considered professional without one,’ is his view. ‘It’s like not having a telephone or a fax machine in the past. We’re a

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very social business, all about having fun, and we need somewhere to post up photographs of people, calendars of events and dates of skating tours.’ What Monte likes most about this virtual presence is that ‘people can interact with it and go at their own pace. They can skim through it quickly, read it slowly or check it again the next day. They don’t need to ask me to repeat information over the phone and a website can reach thousands of people at once’. The website address is displayed on business cards and on the uniforms (shirts, trousers and helmets) of instructors. ‘Having all the information on the website, from tours to price lists, saves me time and makes it much more convenient for clients.’ Individuals can book lessons over the Internet. ‘We get 20% on our business through the Internet, 40% by referral from Skatebiz (shop) and the remaining 40% by word of mouth,’ says Monte. ‘We have a lot of repeat business and secondary and tertiary referrals. We’ve never had to advertise in a magazine or newspaper and the one time we tried the low-cost option of flyer drops, we got a return of just 3%. Our focus is on providing a good service for the students and keeping money with the instructors.’ Saving on advertising costs means lower fees for students and higher income for instructors. Some 60% of Planet Inline’s students are aged 40 and over, 30% are 25–39 years of age and the remaining 10% are below that. Monte’s passion is to teach people to skate safely. He went overseas to obtain his qualifications. ‘You can get a coach to teach you how to speed skate or play inline hockey but there is no accreditation to be a recreational skating instructor in Australia,’ says Monte. ‘That’s because it’s not seen as a sport but just as recreation. So anyone can set up as an instructor, without any coaching qualifications. The industry is unregulated.’ Monte, however, has accreditation as both an instructor and examiner with the International Inline Skating Association, and ran an Instructor Certification program for

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his employees with an American instructor. He was named the 2002 Instructor of the Year by the International Skating Association. Monte wants to see skating as an extension of walking and to ‘foster a social acceptance for skaters in the community. And we get involved in community and charity events when we can’. ‘I could not have made my business viable without the Internet,’ concludes Monte, who has seen his client base grow from 25 students to over 400. ‘The Internet saves me time and money, prevents needless replication of data and has allowed me to rapidly develop and expand my business.’ It has even enabled him to communicate easily with a deaf client. ‘Our website is linked to some of the best skate schools in the world and vice versa, helping to increase our presence and give our business name a profile. That’s vital for a community-based business. Unlike a business like Westpac, which is a stand-alone entity, we depend on people in the community—the local skating community and the global community.’ His tip for those thinking of setting up a website is to immediately register the domain name. ‘Otherwise someone else can get the name. So buy it and “park” it until you’re ready,’ he says.

Totally online This is the story of an entirely new field and a new work medium. This is also a story of slowly does it. A few years ago, Denise Fisher was working in a Brisbane hospital as a midwife. ‘I recognised there was a need for the workshops in breastfeeding education I gave to health professionals, but the local market was too small. I could only run two or three workshops a year and it was saturated.’

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Her husband Steve, a TAFE manager, had moved into online education. ‘I saw this as the ideal venue for my course, so I sat down and wrote it,’ says Denise. Initially intended as a hobby, interest grew rapidly until Denise thought to herself, ‘Why am I doing shift work at the hospital when I could be working at home?’ Her 10-part breastfeeding course (available at http:// www.health-e-learning.com) is aimed at health professionals, the majority of whom are midwives, child health nurses and American obstetric nurses. ‘Lactation consultancy is a new field and has only been around for about 15 years,’ says Denise. Students enrol and pay online. They can download a workbook and progress through assignments and items designed to make learning interesting—self-test quizzes and crosswords. ‘I use resources on the Internet, linking to relevant articles and medical journals.’ The 120-hour course is equivalent to a university semester at master’s level and results in a certificate accredited by the International Board of Lactation Consultants. Denise is soon to release courses on other health topics. She has created a job, as an online health educator, that she says would not have been feasible a few years ago. ‘It’s because so many people are getting connected to the Internet that my business has grown,’ she says, ‘and I have a worldwide market, with students from all over Australia to Canada and North America, England and New Zealand, Spain and Italy. They say that there are jobs out there our children will be doing that haven’t even been dreamt of yet. Well, this is one of those jobs: this would have been inconceivable 10 or 15 years ago.’ The only marketing Denise does is on the Internet. People hear of her on the list servers, and satisfied students (over 3000 have trained to date) recommend her to others either by email or by word of mouth. ‘The amazing thing is that it’s such a small business and yet it is international. I’m exporting, which the government thinks is just lovely. When I’m working

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in my lounge room or dining room, I sit back and think: Wow, I’m an export company.’ As for the difficulty of learning about the Internet, she describes herself as an end-user. ‘It’s like driving a car: if it stops, I call the garage. If I have problems with my computer or the Internet, I get help. But I have become very proficient now and that’s really been through use.’ Bonuses to her job include being able to drop in at an Internet cafe when visiting the Sunshine Coast and respond to emails from students, and making many overseas friends. ‘I attended a conference in Acapulco, bought a round-the-world ticket and sent out an email requesting accommodation. I had responses from all over the United States, England and Singapore.’ Denise even got to meet her business’s online tutor, Renate Rietveld, in Holland. ‘Up until then we’d only communicated by email and the occasional telephone call,’ says Denise. It’s important to note, however, that slowly does it. ‘It took a good 12 months for my business to build up,’ says Denise. ‘In the beginning I didn’t think of it as a business that was going to support me but as more of a hobby, albeit a highquality one. But as it got busier and busier, I thought I was silly to be doing shiftwork at the hospital when there were enrolments waiting for me at home and students wanting attention. So I resigned from my permanent position and started casual work. Then I cut that down and these days I work [at the hospital] about two or three days a year.’ Denise has been working full-time as an online educator since mid-2001. ‘I would definitely advise people to go slowly with an Internet business. There is so much hype about it and stories of getting rich quickly. Maybe some people have got those sorts of entrepreneurial skills but my style was far more gradual, taking each day as it came and ensuring that I had a good-quality product. I listened to my students and changed things accordingly.’

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When it comes to business, online or not, some things never change. ‘I think the reason I am doing well is because I provide really good customer service,’ says Denise. That includes both product (the course) and response (a prompt reply to emails). ‘This is a great job, one that I really enjoy,’ says Denise. And she’s certainly not lacking when it comes to communication with her students. ‘I know all about the miscarriage or the toddler, things a teacher probably wouldn’t get to hear about in a classroom. Some students confide in me a lot, which is lovely but time-consuming, while others just do the work and thank me.’

Web wonders The Internet has brought great benefits to home-based workers and others. Says Terry Black of Colin Murch Office Equipment & Stationery Supplies in Adelaide: ‘When someone telephones to ask about a particular item, I can refer them to the supplier’s link on our website at http://www.colinmurch. com.au. This allows them to look at computer screen filters, for example, in the supplier’s catalogue.’ The Internet has expanded Jan and Ross Sutherland’s business, Dial a Wife Complete Home Services. ‘People find us by searching for “cleaning services, Australia” and we’ve had hits from Hong King and England,’ says Jan. Based overseas, these individuals then used the company’s services for their Australian apartments, paying online. Jan and Ross also use their website (at http://www.dialawife.com.au) to promote other businesses. Having produced her own range of citrus-based, environmentally friendly cleaning products, Jan is keen to help the community

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further. ‘We have links to reliable, like-minded tradespeople and companies, such as one that deals with saving water in the garden.’ Meanwhile, real-estate guru Jan Somers praises the Internet for its means of rapid communication. ‘Our thousands of clients can interact with each other through our forum, as if they were all sitting in the same room.’ But be aware of the downside. ‘The Internet has created a huge burden for me,’ confesses Dr Rosemary Stanton. ‘Firstly, I have to meticulously check everything before publishing the information, just in case there is something new on the topic I hadn’t realised. Secondly, I receive over 60 emails daily and it’s a huge job reading them and answering many of them. I spend three to four hours a day answering questions from the public that come via email and letter.’

The future Home-based business is neither an industry nor a market but a culture, according to Pamela La Personne of the former HomeBiz magazine. ‘It is a lifestyle option and one that is on the increase,’ she says. ‘People often ask me what are the most common homebased industries. You can’t pin it down to 20 or even 30 areas, it goes right across the board. What surprises me is how many professionals and manufacturers are now working out ways of operating from home. People want choices about when and how they work. They find the bonuses are being their own boss, being rewarded for their own efforts, and having no ceiling on the income they make.’ Home-based business is a trend that is growing rapidly and one that is here to stay, although it may alter slightly in form, says Professor Jack Wood, director of the MBA Program, Monash Mount Eliza Business School, Monash University. Because ‘advances in technology are so sophisticated, so rapid and so smart

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that it is too expensive to keep up with them in a home office’, he foresees a levelling out in the number of home offices and a corresponding growth in high-tech satellite offices. ‘People will commute to their nearest satellite office,’ he says. ‘This is already taking place around Los Angeles and is starting to happen around Tokyo.’ Resort offices have also been created, offering a trade-off between work and leisure. ‘A cluster of resort offices now exists around Mount Fuji. They are fully equipped with the latest technology, including videoconferencing facilities,’ says Professor Wood. ‘They present a less work-oriented environment, where Japanese businessmen can ski during the day in winter, play golf during summer, and work in the evenings. The aim is to stop burn-out from overwork.’ Bob Ansett believes that Australia follows the US experience, albeit five years later. ‘When I was recently in the United States, I was impressed to discover that a total of 33 million people now work from home,’ he said in 1997. ‘That is 15% of the workforce.’ Of this total, 25 million work from home for themselves while 8 million work at home for a company based elsewhere. ‘The trend over there is to move away from the dense populations of the east and west coasts to the Rocky Mountain states, where the air and water are clear and the population low. Working from home has become increasingly significant in Australia, with the quality-oflife factor having some bearing on this decision,’ says Ansett, who is one of the almost 1 million Australians (11% of the workforce) who work at home. He moved his marketing business (at http://www.bobansett.com.au) to Noosa, Queensland, in 1995 purely for the lifestyle, having decided that ‘I can work as easily from here as from Melbourne or Sydney. My neighbours in Noosa are Americans who have chosen to live here and work in the USA. He is a share trader, accessing US stock exchanges by computer modem, and she is a trial lawyer who flies back regularly to the USA for work. This is an extreme example of work having no boundaries. The globe is becoming ever smaller. With today’s technology you can live where you want, even though your customers may be in other states or even other countries.’

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Bob has noticed a rapid increase in people working from home in his local area. ‘The Noosa Council has recognised the need to change legislation to formally accommodate this trend,’ he says. ‘Consequently the Community Economic Board is pushing hard to ensure the availability of broadband optic cable to households.’ Meantime, our houses may be growing larger. Bill Hamill, former chief executive of Australia’s largest real estate group, First National Real Estate Network, considers our country to be in the midst of a home-based business revolution. First National’s research found in 1996 that more than 700 000 households, 12% of the total, had the capacity to be involved in home-based business. In Sydney, 15% of home buyers bought a house with a home office; in Hobart the corresponding figure was 6%. ‘Drive down the streets in suburbs such as South Melbourne, and you will see numerous signs advertising printing or consultancy services, interspersed between the terrace houses.’ Says Ian Bremner, CEO of First National, ‘There is an increasing trend these days to have residential premises above commercial ones. Inner-city development has grown enormously in Melbourne in the last five years and building and design is now incorporating small businesses.’ Local governments and councils are approving residential/commercial zoning, and ‘commercial apartments’ are springing up in clusters. A group of townhouses in central Adelaide uses this living and working potential as its main selling point. Areas have been put aside for similar developments in Queensland, and the New South Wales Blue Mountains and Central Coast. While a home office may not presently necessarily increase the value of your home, it can improve your chances of later selling the house, says Hamill. ‘Having a home office opens up the property to a bigger audience. Those wanting to work from home will certainly look on this as a more favourable investment.’ As a result of the home-business trend, new industries are developing. ‘Furniture is now being made to cater for the home office,’ Hamill says. He describes a desk housing a computer which, with the press of a button and the flick of a lever, converts into an antique-style desk. ‘There are filing cabinets that disappear in the evening and

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transform into wine racks and a wine bar! Furniture has been evolved that is totally functional during the day for an office set-up and then closes up at night for a home look.’ ‘In the future, [more] people are going to see working from home as a viable option,’ agrees Margaret Seedsman, former national executive director of Home-Based Business Australia. ‘People are no longer content to stay in jobs they hate. They see that there are alternatives, that they can instead do work that they enjoy. With the ageing population, a lot of people are taking early retirement and making a former hobby into a business they love. And there are more single-parent families these days and many in this situation choose to work from home,’ she says. ‘I know of one man who has custody of his children every other week. He decided to work from home because of this. He bought a larger property and is there and available when the children return from school. For him, working from home means making the most of his time with his children. For others, the elimination of travel time is a big consideration. Cutting down on commuting reduces stress for the individual, and noise and pollution for the community.’ With ever-increasing traffic congestion, home-based workers are in an enviable position. ‘Friends tell me that they never travel in peak traffic any more. If you’re in a home-based business, you can avoid travelling at those times.’ Home-Based Business Australia, founded in Melbourne in 1992, grew rapidly from the start. ‘I was getting more and more calls, to the stage that we couldn’t keep up with them, hundreds a day,’ says Margaret. There were over 8000 members on the database with branches formed in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth when Margaret sold the business in 1998. National Micro Business Network now incorporates Home-Based Business Australia. Managing director Barbara Gabogrecan says that 80% of MBN members are home-based, and this figure has now reached 20 000 nationally. Still working from home, as a psychotherapist, and giving the occasional talk on home business, Margaret says, ‘I really don’t think people would blink an eye if you said you worked from home now. A lot of the stigma around

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it has completely dissipated. New opportunities are being created for home-based workers all the time’. Most of these are the direct result of advances in information and communications technology. Would you like to work from home for a company as a travel consultant or receptionist? You can work short shifts, perhaps just a couple of hours, picking up extra work but avoiding long commutes. How does becoming a ‘content editor’ for a CD-ROM appeal? Paul Holland was general manager of ICE T Multimedia in 1997, which financed, developed and published multimedia titles for the world market, as well as developing a range of online solutions for corporate, government and general markets. With 17 full-time staff in its Queensland and Victorian offices, the company hired 30 or more contractors for periods of days, weeks and even months. ‘These contract workers, who happen to be home-based, are graphic designers, animators, computer programmers and writers,’ explains Paul. ‘The latter may be script writers or content editors, who take the raw content, written by a technical person, and re-write it for a visual medium. The advantage to us of using people outside the organisation is that we don’t get stale. Using in-house staff all the time, you can easily fall into an in-house style. We are constantly injecting fresh blood, new input, to avoid this. The challenge for people like myself is to manage these workers and to ensure the quality of the product. The flexible use of outworkers means that we do not require an enormous infrastructure.’ Some industries depend on home-based workers. First National Real Estate has regional managers who work from home. ‘The field force has done so for a number of years,’ says Bill Hamill. ‘There is no longer any real need to drive in from the suburbs into the office. Using new technology, workers can access the office from home.’ Ann Moffat, formerly of Technology Solutions, says the biggest shift to using home-based workers is in the tertiary sector— government, banks, insurance companies and so on. ‘These account for 75% of all jobs in Australia and I think 80% of these jobs could

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be done from home. Only about half of the people in these jobs, however, will decide they want to work from home.’

Growing up and leaving home According to Tom Warnes, of Wilderness Challenge Proprietary Limited (http://www.wilderness-challenge.com.au), the right time to expand is‘once your resources and your facilities make the business inefficient, either operationally or financially’. There are many ways of expanding—from merely moving to a larger home office to leaving home altogether, relocating to an outside office and hiring staff. Desktop publisher Mil Clay moved from the dining room into the bedroom vacated by his son, at the front of his Cairns house. He branched out into a company with a business partner and started a new, annual publication, Cape York Explorer Your Guide to Touring Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands (http://www.cyfe.com.au), which hit the streets in March 2000. ‘The booklet is going from strength to strength,’ says Mil, ‘and the series of postcards we produced specifically for the Cape are selling like hot cakes. As a result, we have acquired a lot of design and printing business from the region.’ Mil now also works in real estate and, while he has full use of an office in the CBD, he is reluctant to use it. ‘I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to working in an open-plan office environment,’ he says, ‘and that’s probably got something to do with the fact I’ve been totally independent and self-sufficient for the last 14 years. I have all the equipment I need at home and, selfishly, I don’t have to share it with others.’ After working from his Trinity Beach home for 13 years, Tom Warnes moved his business, Wilderness Challenge, to Portsmith, an industrial area of Cairns, in 2002. ‘One of the four bedrooms in our house was my first home office,’ he says, ‘and, as we were a safari company, the verandah became a workshop and storage area. In the second or third year, we decided to put up a substantial shed at the back of our 1.2-hectare block, and that did us for the next 10 years.’ Council approval was required and the 7.5 by 15 metre structure cost $25 000 to erect. It was on the downside

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of a hill, our block was sloping, and our vehicles made a track and then erosions, especially in the wet season. So then we had to concrete the driveway and that cost another $12 000.’ With a loan already paying off the shed, half of the road was concreted one year and the remainder the following year. ‘When responding to the need for facilities, you have to prioritise and deal with the ones critical to your success. The rest have to wait,’ Tom explains. By the time his two daughters had left home, Tom found the single bedroom office wasn’t large enough and so he expanded into the two adjacent vacated bedrooms. In the fifth year of operation, Wilderness Challenge added two 13-seater vehicles to their two seven-seater ones and went from one telephone and one fax line to a four-line telecommunications system. ‘By now the Internet and email were on our doorstep.’ The Warnes’ house was large, but they were rapidly running out of space. ‘The laundry doubled as the pantry for our camping safaris and we stored sleeping bags and archival documents in the third bedroom. We’d turned the double garage into a large family room but there came a point when I told my wife, Di, that we had to go into the lounge room and make this the new home office. Our vehicle maintenance was carried out off-site but we reached a stage when we started to do our own maintenance, and that’s when we started looking around for a facility and moved the entire business into an industrial area. Moving into town, we had to go through the whole gamut of Workplace Health and Safety and Environmental Protection Agency regulations, city council ordnances on waste disposal, security and so on. Now we had to pay rent and additional insurances and there were substantial bureaucratic and financial outlays.’ The alternative was to stay put, enlarging the shed and building an office onto the side of the house. ‘We could have bought an ATCO demountable and dropped it onto piers. But we would have corrupted the value of our property for future sale by turning our residential property into a semi-industrial area, and that’s assuming we would have got council approval. Living on site was great when we were establishing ourselves and

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growing. We didn’t have rent and we could work all the hours we wanted. We could be together and not on the other side of town. But there comes a point in time when the most sensible thing is to move.’ Tom’s wife, Di, and two daughters, Samantha and Saxon, work for Wilderness Challenge along with Samantha’s husband, Russell. Other staff members are employed on a seasonal basis. There can be from four to 17 individuals, working in administration and as tour guides. ‘One of the major benefits in our new location is that we find ourselves surrounded by our suppliers and we don’t have to drive 25 minutes to get to them,’ says Tom, who adds it has been ‘a blessed relief ’ to leave home after a 13-year, seven-day-a-week business. If somebody wanted to make a booking or an inquiry, they might have called us at 2 in the morning, from New York, as the only telephone number they had was the one where we lived. Now someone else is handling that and there is an answering service after hours. Now when Di and I sit down to have dinner, it’s only our daughters and friends that bother us,’ laughs Tom, ‘and I say that in the kindest possible way. For Di and me, it’s a brand new existence.’

Hot desking Working from home has given rise to new ways of working in offices. Try telling someone you are going to be hot desking today, and check out the reaction. The reality may not be quite as exciting as they imagine. It simply means sharing an office space with several others. A company whose employees do not need the full-time use of their office—because they work from their home or from their car—may decide to have fewer desks than it has people. Employees may now book a ‘Just in Time office’ in advance, for the day or two a week that they need it. Hot desking requires an efficient central storage system and individual lockers for personal belongings and working files. A sophisticated telephone system which can divert incoming calls to the appropriate office is also needed. Some companies take this

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concept one step further, with ‘hotelling’, where managers are able to book offices and other facilities (e.g. meeting rooms) ahead of time, electronically via their computer notebooks. Ann Moffat was managing director of the former company Technology Solutions, a virtual company based in Sydney. ‘I had 200 computer professionals at my disposal. They work from home whenever they can, come together when needed and are paid only when they work.’ Ann, who had a similar set-up with 400 staff members in the United Kingdom, sees hot desking as just another way of organising an office environment. ‘There is no need for a desk full-time. IBM in America use hot desking—you’ll go in for work in the morning and be allocated a desk, say Desk 3 on Aisle 23. In big consultancy firms in the USA you can call to book a desk and the concierge will prepare one for you. Some concierges go so far as to have Polaroid photos of your desk set-up so they can put it together in exactly the same way you left it!’ Ann says telecommuting is widely used by large companies. ‘AMP salesmen, for example, all work from home and always have done so. They may go to the local sales office once a week and to the head office regularly.’

Tele-jargon Today SOHO is no longer a district of London, teleguerillas are not necessarily aggressive, and you may have a virtual office when working from home. The fastest-growing type of workplace in Australia is the ‘Small Office Home Office’, otherwise known as SOHO. This is manned by a new breed of workers—teleguerillas, who work from home on an irregular basis, not having a formal agreement with their employer. And do you have a virtual office? ‘Well, yes,’ you might say, ‘it’s almost a proper office. Once I remove the children’s toys and build some bookshelves . . . ’ No, no, no. A virtual office is one that disappears when you do. ‘When you go,’ says Professor Jack Wood, ‘someone else uses—or hot desks—it. This can also be called hotelling or motelling.’

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Another variation on the virtual office is the mobile office, consisting of a notebook computer, a modem and a mobile phone in a briefcase.

Value and efficiency Whereas the 1980s may have been seen as a time of excesses, the 1990s all about savings (in costs and space), the 2000s are concerned with value and heightened effectiveness in all ways. ‘Today’s brief calls for flexibility and value for money,’ says Peter Geyer, strategic director at Geyer Pty Ltd, consultant designers. ‘People are prepared to pay a little more if they can get their people to be more effective.’ The company incorporated occupational health and safety elements together with sustainable design when working on the Woodside Energy building in Perth, which encompasses a massive 30 000 metres of floor space. ‘The stairways have generous landings to reduce accidents, there are no cables in presentation rooms to trip over, and there are recycling facilities,’ says Peter. ‘It’s a program not just for the fit-out but to reflect their safetyconscious attitude.’ Another of the company’s projects, the IBM Innovations Centre in Sydney, has a completely wire-less environment. ‘You can walk around with a laptop anywhere here and connect to the Internet. It’s critical for businesses these days to attract and keep the most talented people, and the workplace is consciously used as an attraction tool. The IBM Innovations Centre is exciting and relates to the age group, those in their early 20s. I think organisations today are more switched on to the benefits of the cultural side of work, more innovation, and workplaces align very much with the values and also the brand that they’re trying to convey in the marketplace. They’re saying, “If we stand for this, you can walk into our workplace and it matches,” be that innovation or risk-taking. The workplace is a manifestation of those values and that culture.’ When it comes to value and effectiveness, ‘companies are recognising their people are out of the office for the majority of

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the time and are planning accordingly’, he explains. ‘One company manager, wanting a fit-out for his premises, walked through all the offices one weekday, capturing on video the activity at 10 am and 3 pm. When he showed the video to his partners, they could not believe it had been taken during office hours. They were convinced he had come in on a Saturday, as the offices were so desolate.’ The manager did not have to work hard to convince his partners about the savings they could make by optimising the use of office space! ‘You do save a lot of money, but designing more shared work areas also encourages teaming,’ says Geyer. ‘It is good for consultants who have been out on the road all week to come back to the office and interact with others. We are concentrating far more on the group these days. Individual space is smaller than it used to be.’

Leading the way Australia may be leading the way, not so much in numbers but in other respects, for home-based workers. ‘As far as I am aware, Australia was the first country in the world to have a home-based award for public sector workers,’ says Gerardine McNamara, national industrial officer with the Community and Public Sector Union. This Commonwealth interim award came into effect on 14 February 1994, has since been reviewed and continues unamended. ‘We could see what would arise in the future with the advances in technology,’ says McNamara, ‘and we wanted to take the initiative rather than react to what was going to happen.’ Of the 100 000 public servants technically eligible to be home-based, only 150 had applied to do so by September 1995. Of these, 85 had been approved and 65 rejected. ‘It has not taken off in a big way,’ McNamara admits. ‘There is still a long way to go.’ She says those who have received approval to work from home part-time come primarily from middle rather than senior or lower levels. ‘They are in positions where they can work independently, not

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needing to be under close supervision and not participating in teamwork.’ Since the first edition of this book was published in 1997, some state governments and many local councils have taken the initiative in supporting and promoting home-based business. Victoria has been a leader in this respect. When Ben de Waard was working in Statutory Planning for Manningham City Council (then Doncaster and Templestowe City Council, before council amalgamation) in Victoria, he received many inquiries from home-based business operators unhappy about the planning requirements. ‘So I thought of developing different ones, ones that would allow the businesses to operate more easily while also protecting the rights of residents,’ says Ben. The Victorian state government was so impressed with the new set of controls in the ‘Home-Based Business Policy’ put together by Manningham City Council that they applied them statewide. ‘That was the first time in Australia the restrictions on home-based business were lifted,’ Ben explains. These included such factors as expanding the work area from 30 to 50 square metres and employing a person that did not live on the premises. Other clauses were updated or removed totally. Manningham City Council has produced a number of helpful publications aimed at prospective home business owners. The benefits discussed cover financial, lifestyle, social and environmental issues. Social benefits of home-based businesses include closer community links, safer local neighbourhoods, and the creation of more employment opportunities for teenagers, women, older and disabled individuals. Environmental considerations mean a city with reduced energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and air and noise pollution. As half of the businesses in the Manningham City Council area are home-based—and the figure is rising—this makes a significant difference to the health of the environment. Thriving home businesses prospered and grew. Some moved into the inner suburbs of Melbourne. ‘But they hadn’t taken their

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client base with them, now had high rents, and consequently many failed and returned home,’ says Ben, who saw the need for a stepping stone. So what is the next step for a home-based business that has grown and wants an outside base? A serviced office or a business incubator. Business incubators provide a physical location for a business, together with shared facilities, support services and business advice. Monash Enterprise Centre is an example of a successful business incubator. ‘Home-based businesses are our main target market, we support them through the early stages of growth,’ says Jenny Pietsch, manager of the Monash Enterprise Centre (http://www.monashincubator.com.au), located at Mulgrave, a south-eastern suburb some 25 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD. Rather than embarking on an expensive three-year lease in outside premises, home-based businesses in the next stage of development now have the option of moving to one of the many small business incubators located throughout Australia and New Zealand. These are listed on the peak body’s website at (http://www.anzabi.com.au). Another useful website is the Capital Regional Enterprise and Employment Development Association (http://www.creeda.com.au). CREEDA operates a network of three business incubators in the ACT, the CREEDA Business Centres. For a remarkably low rent (starting at $100 a week in the case of Monash, which was awarded the Metropolitan Incubator of the Year in 2002 by the federal government and ANZABI), home business owners can rent office space. Work spaces range from 10 to 40 square metres and come with a desk, office and business chair, digital telephone handset, telephone, fax and Broadband Internet lines. There is mentoring at call and access to business growth services. Even car parking and tea and coffee for your visitors are included in the price. New home businesses, too, can give themselves a more professional image by moving from the dining-room table or the bedroom to these premises, where peer interaction cuts the isolation of working from home. Present businesses at the Monash

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Enterprise Centre include a solicitor, furniture designer, financial accountant, safety consultant, photographer, computer trainer and a team of pharmaceutical researchers. ‘Some come here to test out their business idea,’ says Jenny. ‘One in eight households run a home-based business and I think both federal and state governments need to recognise the influence of these businesses, not only on politics but on the economy.’ Another Victorian council, the City of Casey, with a population of over 195 000, has also embraced home-based business. As the fastest-growing municipality in Victoria and fourth-fastest in Australia (at March 2003), it adopted a homebased strategy in 1999. Check out the extensive database by typing ‘home-based business’ on the website http://www.casey.vic.gov.au. The Council was the first in Australia to carry out a study into the emergence and importance of home-based business. This took place in 1998, with the main aim being to look at how growth and employment potential could be enhanced with external support. It found that 16% of employed people in the region worked from home. Over two-thirds did so for lower overheads, and some had been forced to do so because of a change in their employment situation. The study found that the longer the home business had been established, the more interested the operators were in remaining at home and the higher the income they generated. Another key finding was that home-based businesses had difficulty obtaining information about regulations: there was a fear of regulations and a perception that home-based businesses needed to operate in an ‘underground capacity’. Consequently, operators were hesitant to attend training and networking functions, assuming that working from home was illegal. The City of Casey has worked to address this by meeting with over 500 home-based businesses through one-on-one consultations, training functions and networking sessions. Another initiative meant that the City of Casey was the first municipality in Australia to have a Micro Business Network branch and in 2001 it launched Australia’s first electronic home-based business manual, at

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http://www.homebusinessmanual.com.au. Barbara Gabogrecan, managing director of the national Micro Business Network, says the organisation is actively working with government and local councils on a national basis in developing policy to assist the growth and acceptance of home-based business in the community. It makes economic sense. ‘A significant number of home-based businesses have an annual turnover exceeding $100 000 and a turnover of more than $250 000 is not uncommon,’ she says.

Resources One of the challenges of working from home is equipping yourself with the appropriate technology. In certain careers, this can prove costly. ‘Our graphic designers and computer programmers need a substantial home set-up,’ says Paul Holland of ICE T Multimedia. ‘The hardware and software can cost at least $10 000–$20 000. You can manage on a shoestring for a while, but eventually the lack of technology will become an impediment.’ But there are other ways to get access to computer technology. There are many community technology centres (CTCs, also known as telecentres and telecottages) located in regional and rural areas throughout Australia. A telecentre is a community access point for the delivery of services in enterprise development, education and training. Such centres contain state-of-the-art technology, including computers, modems, scanners, fax machines, photocopiers and colour printers. They also have Internet facilities. Their users are diverse, ranging from restaurant owners wanting to print menus to students typing out course assignments and home-based businesses sending faxes and emails interstate or overseas. Prices are reasonable, and using the facilities is certainly much cheaper than buying the equipment for yourself. Australia’s first telecentre, the Walcha Telecottage in New South Wales, was funded by the then federal Department of Primary Industries and Energy and opened in 1992. Telecentres flourished

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throughout the 1990s, in locations from Cygnet, Tasmania, to Tumby Bay, South Australia, funded by federal or state governments or local communities. There were some 100 rural telecentres, encompassing various functions and philosophies, by 1995. While some could not operate viably once start-up funding ended and had to close down, most are still operating successfully. In New South Wales, for example, the original network has spread significantly since 2000. Community Teleservices Australia Incorporated (CTSA) was formed in 2000 as a national support network for communitybased teleservices (website address http://www.teleservices.net.au). ‘Telecentres are now being recognised at all government levels for the important role they play in the community, and this is reflected in the support they attract,’ says current CTSA president Jeff Ridley. New South Wales telecentres are members of the CTC@NSW Network and further information can be found on their website (at http://www.ctc.nsw.gov.au).

Tips from the top ‘People say you need to be disciplined when working from home,’ says Pamela La Personne formerly of HomeBiz magazine. ‘I’d say it is not so much being disciplined as being methodical. You need to have a method of getting the work done by the time it has to be done.’ Pamela also believes in being able to say no. ‘This is so much more important than when you are in an outside office. Friends, family and neighbours often ask you to do things for them. They think you are not working when you are at home. It all comes back to control—being in total control of what you do, when you do it, and how you do it.’ Pamela’s third point is to take your business finances very seriously. ‘This is where people tend to fall down or get stuck. The area of finances often tends to get overlooked. But you need to keep marketing, keep selling, and keep the business growing.’

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Putting a spoke in the works Ann Moffat, formerly of Technology Solutions, believes the signs of a good home-based worker are not a tidy desk or excellent time management but first-rate communication and negotiating skills. ‘Make sure you are always saying what you mean—clearly and effectively,’ she advises. ‘You may think you are saying something clearly, but it’s not much use if the other person does not respond. Be able to negotiate, too. People tell me “I thought my husband would be available, working at home, but he works every evening” or “My wife gets angry if I don’t bring the washing in when it rains. I’m working, I don’t notice it is raining. Besides, if we were both out at work, the washing would get wet anyway. So what’s the difference?” These couples need negotiating skills. They need to work out these issues for themselves.’ As for appearance, Moffat has some interesting views. ‘I really think working from home is an attitude of mind and of lifestyle. You can’t make all people do the same thing, there are all sorts of ways to operate. Personally, I don’t care whether your hair is blue, green or brindle and whether you work in a bathrobe. I am not concerned whether your desk is a pigsty but about what you produce. Your client looks at the quality, the price and the timeliness of your work. It is not how you work but what you produce that counts.’ It amused Moffat that, although her neighbours knew she worked from home much of the time, they did not take this seriously until a film crew arrived to film her for the television program Beyond 2000. The perception or attitude of others can have a big effect on home-based workers. ‘A guy in Canberra told me he had worked from home for two years and was dying to get back to a city office. “The newsagent thinks I am unemployed as I go in during the day, the neighbours feel sorry for me . . . I’m fed up with it all,” he moaned. Awareness is changing, here as in America. [In Britain] home-based workers are looked on as being totally professional and providing very good value for money.’ In fact, the British

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company for which Moffat worked now has a turnover of $100 million and is regarded as a role model for home-based business. But until this positive perception is widespread, Moffat suggests shamming it in some situations. ‘If you feel a client will freak out and you won’t get the job, don’t say you are a home-based worker. I do not invite clients to my home. Instead we use an office in North Sydney with a plush boardroom. In Australia we need to look more closely at measuring productivity—output—rather than merely whether someone is in the office between 9 and 5. This is happening gradually. Big companies are in the early stages of setting policies and guidelines. But working from home will increase as people seek a more flexible lifestyle and companies seek increased productivity.’ ‘Further, when you are working away from the office, the work you are doing has to be better defined. If you are in the office and don’t understand what the boss wants, you can talk to others. At home there is no-one to ask, you have to know. People working from home feel they are being given a privilege, so they tend to work harder to keep that privilege. In addition, research shows that 50% of time in the office is spent in socialising, game-playing and politicking.’ Remove those elements and it is little wonder those working from home are far more productive!

New Zealand Home Business New Zealand Limited, established in February 2000, is a privately owned organisation that provides information and resources to the home business market. This one-stop, predominantly online company (http://homebizbuzz.co.nz) has hundreds of relevant links, and heaps of free information, resources and tools including a free directory listing and monthly newsletter. The site also includes lifestyle advice, networking possibilities and discussion groups. Joint founders Heather Douglas and Vicki Fowler, who coordinate the organisation, have gained media profile, recognition and credibility for the home business sector. They

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write a monthly column for the Sunday Star Times, provide a weekly home business tip to the New Zealand Herald and have established an annual National Home Business Week. They also conduct regular and ongoing research into the home business market. ‘We really are the only organisation serving the home business market exclusively in this way,’ says Heather. ‘Homebased ourselves, of course, our aim is to help other operators make running their home business fun, easy and successful. We have already created significant cohesion within the New Zealand home business community and have provided home business operators with a voice.’ New Zealanders are among the most entrepreneurial people in the world. The Bartercard Global Entrepreneurship Monitor New Zealand 2002 (the ‘GEM Report’) found that the country had a total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) of 14%, with the highest proportion of ‘opportunity entrepreneurs’ in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and developed countries. ‘Opportunity entrepreneurs’ are those who spot a smart market need and fill it, while ‘necessity entrepreneurs’ are forced to start a business because of job loss or redundancy. ‘There are few verified statistics, but we estimate there are over 200 000 home-based business operators in New Zealand, and that number is growing rapidly,’ says Heather. ‘The trend is fuelled by a number of factors, including technological advances, lifestyle choice, labour market fluctuations and the belief that selfemployment is more secure.’ She believes home-based businesses play a vital role in the country’s economy. ‘Firstly, they alleviate unemployment through self-employment and, even more importantly, this sector spawns businesses which may grow larger.’ For a tour through the more unusual home-based business, type in ‘other’ on the HomebizBuzz directory website. From balloon décor creators to dog biscuit bakers, you’ll be amazed and the scope and variety. Freelance website designer and virtual office assistant Jo Walker runs her international virtual business, the home office (http://www.thehomeoffice.net), from her Wellington base.

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A staunch supporter of home-based business, she promotes the Virtual Business Group (http://www.virtualbizgroup.com), an online international network for those running virtual businesses. ‘Your success is only defined by the boundaries you create,’ says Jo. ‘My greatest success in life is being a WAHM—a Work At Home Mum. I’m able to turn off my computer when my children need me, whether that be at home, play or at a school activity. I have never felt more fulfilled as a working parent than I do now.’ For Jo, success is watching her children grow from day to day and seeing them master a new step in their life. ‘Both my children suffer from different forms of dyspraxia, a speech disorder, and so having them read, write and interact with family and friends brings a special meaning to life’.

Insight into the home-based community in New Zealand By Heather Douglas, managing director of Home Business New Zealand Working from home is nothing new. From the earliest times, many professional people and those providing services to others were self-employed people working from their own homes. As commerce and industry developed, commercial and industrial giants existed through harnessing the labour of hundreds or thousands of workers in their organisations, usually within a limited workspace. Reliant on physical labour or at least interaction, and without sophisticated means of communication, efficiency depended on the proximity of the organisation’s employees to one another. Employment, as opposed to selfemployment, was attractive, too, with its proffered security of a job for life, a company retirement scheme, and the certainty of a salary coming in every month. Running a business from home was generally frowned on.

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Rapid and fundamental changes in technology, making it cost-effective, universal, generally compatible and highly efficient, have made it possible to seamlessly integrate the homebased contributor into the organisation. Tax and lifestyle benefits, as well as the growing awareness that few organisations still offer the security of a job for life, have encouraged individuals to strike out on their own. New Zealand has around 200 000 home-based businesses; in pure numbers, this sector makes up by far the largest part of the economy. A peek into the directory on HomebizBuzz (http://www.homebizbuzz.co.nz/directorysearch.php3) reveals an immense range of business activities. While there is a definite preponderance of knowledge-focused and service-based businesses, there are also innovative businesses built around niche markets and novel ideas. A home business is relatively easy to start in New Zealand, unlike in some countries where one might have to become a member of an organisation such as a Chamber of Commerce (which may have strict acceptance criteria) before being allowed to trade from home. This may well, in part, account for New Zealand’s relatively high start-up rate for entrepreneurs. The majority of home businesses (33%) cite lifestyle benefits as the main reason they chose to start their home-based business; another 18% decided to start a home business to allow flexibility or accommodate family. ‘Having a good idea’ is the second most popular reason (31%) given for starting a business from home—a figure that bears testimony to New Zealand’s reputation for entrepreneurship, although a relatively high proportion of start-ups don’t survive their early years. However, the picture is not as bleak as it seems at first glance: while some home businesses vanish altogether, others mutate to reappear in revamped form.A recent HomebizBuzz survey found that, while 56% of home businesses had started up less than two years previously, 20% had been operating for

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between three and four years, 16% had been around for between five and nine years, and 8% had been in existence for 10 or more years. Somewhat surprisingly, about 60% of home-based business operators are men (with a disproportionate number in the 55plus age bracket), although the general perception is that this group comprises a larger percentage of women than men. Home Business New Zealand attributes this skew to a number of factors, including increased redundancy and the subsequent difficulty older men face in finding appropriate employment, getting ‘fed up with the system’ and opting to ‘be their own boss’, greater emphasis on the achievement of lifestyle, and increased freedom from financial commitments such as a mortgage to pay off or children to educate. Once very much the domain of part-timers or hobby businesses, home businesses nowadays contribute significantly towards family incomes, with 40% of home businesses being the only source of family income, 24% providing over one-third of the family income if there was another source, and only 36% providing less than one-third. However, home business operators still face a variety of unique challenges. Without a doubt the biggest of these is the isolation, both social and professional. Hand-in-hand with this is the invisibility that many home businesses need to overcome in order to be found by customers. In the absence of foot traffic, and often either prohibited from or reluctant to display signage, it can be hard for a home business to attract interest from potential clients—and the limited budget most home businesses have for advertising usually doesn’t help matters. Sharing one’s home with one’s work (and work space and equipment with one’s family) can also prove frustrating. With New Zealand clearly keeping pace with international trends towards home-based self-employment, the home business sector is actively growing, both in terms of size and significance.

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With the lifestyle advantages it offers, the potential for greater ‘job security’ than employment, the satisfaction it provides, the ease of entry and the acceptance home businesses are gaining in the marketplace, it’s hardly surprising that this growth looks set to continue well into the future.

Final words Margaret Seedsman, former national executive director of HomeBased Business Australia, says home-based business has the potential to help people fulfil their dreams. ‘It can offer a lifestyle and work combination not previously thought of, and it can bring greater happiness, as people are doing what they love doing. Working from home is taking the ultimate responsibility. Instead of depending on or blaming others, you are responsible for generating your own revenue instead of becoming a burden on society,’ she says. So what are you waiting for? Get out of that city office and come back home!

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Useful contacts

Useful contacts

Government business centres (Australia) Queensland Department of State Development: Level 21, 111 George Street, Brisbane, Qld 4000, tel: 07 3224 2111, fax: 07 3224 8661, website: http:// www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au, business hotline: 13 26 50 Smart Licence: 400 Boundary Street, Spring Hill, Qld 4000; PO Box 974, Spring Hill, Qld 4004, tel: 07 3221 1620, fax: 07 3234 0024, Qld country callers: 1800 061 631, website: http://www.sd.qld.gov.au

New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development Small Business Development Group: Level 43, 225 George Street, Grosvenor Place, Sydney 2000; PO Box N818, Grosvenor Place, Sydney NSW 1220, tel: 02 9338 6600, Small Business information line: 1300 134 359, website: http://www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au

Northern Territory Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development, Business Development: 76 The Esplanade, Darwin, NT 0800; GPO Box 3000, Darwin, NT 0801, tel: 08 8999 7970, fax: 08 8999 7924, toll free: 1800 193 111, website: http://www.dbird.nt.gov.au 302

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South Australia Centre for Innovation, Business and Manufacturing: 145 South Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000; GPO Box 1565, Adelaide, SA 5001, tel: 08 8363 3800, fax: 08 8231 1199, SA country callers: 1800 188 018, website: http://www.cibm.sa.gov.au

Western Australia Small Business Development Corporation: 553 Hay Street, Perth, WA 6000; GPO Box C111, Perth, WA 6001, tel: 08 9220 0222, fax: 08 9220 0266, toll free: 1800 093 340, website: http://www.sbdc.com.au

Tasmania Department of Economic Development: Small Business Service, 22 Elizabeth Street, Hobart, Tas 7000; GPO Box 646, Hobart, Tas 7001, tel: 03 6233 5888, fax: 03 6233 5800 Department of Economic Development: Small Business Service, Level 1, Cornwall Square, 12–16 St John St, Launceston, Tas 7250; PO Box 1186, Launceston, Tas 7250, tel: 03 6336 2501, fax: 03 6334 1131 Department of Economic Development: Small Business Service, 2nd floor, Harris Building, Cattley Street, Burnie, Tas 7320; PO Box 672, Burnie, Tas 7320, tel: 03 6434 6312, fax: 03 6431 9164, website: http://www.dsd.tas.gov.au

Victoria Business Access: Level 5, 55 Collins Street, Melbourne, Vic 3000, tel: 03 9651 9888, fax: 03 9651 9725, Vic callers: 1800 136 034, hotline: 13 22 15, website: http://www.businessaccess.vic.gov.au

Australian Capital Territory Canberra Business Advisory Service: 6/18 Napier Close, Deakin, ACT 2600, tel: 02 6260 5000, fax: 02 6282 5288, website: http://www.canbas.com.au

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Non-government centres (government-funded) New South Wales Sydney Business Enterprise Centre: Level 11, 418A Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, tel: 02 9282 6977, fax: 02 9281 2546, website: http://www.sydneybec.com.au

Chambers of commerce Queensland Commerce Queensland: Industry House, 375 Wickham Terrace, Brisbane, Qld 4000, tel: 07 3842 2244, fax: 07 3832 3195, website: http://www.commerceqld.com.au

New South Wales State Chamber of Commerce, NSW: Level 12, 83 Clarence Street, Sydney, NSW 2001; GPO Box 4280, Sydney, NSW 2001, tel: 02 9350 8100, fax: 02 9350 8199, website: http://www.thechamber.com.au

Northern Territory Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce and Industry Incorporated: Suite 5, 2 Shepherd Street, Darwin, NT 0801; GPO Box 1825, Darwin, NT 0801, tel: 08 8936 3100, fax: 08 8981 1405, website: http://www.ntcci.com.au

South Australia Business SA: Enterprise House, 136 Greenhill Road, Unley, SA 5061, tel: 08 8300 0000, fax: 08 8300 0001, website: http://www.business-sa.com.au

Western Australia Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: 180 Hay Street, East Perth, WA 6000; PO Box 6209, East Perth, WA 6892, tel: 08 9365 7555, fax: 08 9365 7550, website: http://www.www.cciwa.com

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Tasmania Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: 30 Burnett Street, North Hobart, Tas 7000, tel: 03 6236 3600, fax: 03 6231 1278, website: http://www.tcci.com.au Launceston Chamber of Commerce: Old Launceston Post Office, corner St John and Cameron Streets, Launceston, Tas, PO Box 1854, Launceston, Tas 7250, tel: 03 6337 9364, fax: 03 6334 2745, website:http://www.lcc.asn.au Burnie Chamber of Commerce: PO Box 139, Burnie, Tas 7320, tel: 03 6431 9911

Australian Capital Territory ACT Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited: 12A Thesiger Court, Deakin, ACT 2600; PO Box 192, Deakin West, ACT 2600, tel: 02 6283 5200, fax: 02 6282 2436, website: http://www.actchamber.com.au

Victoria Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: Level 4, 55 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, Vic 8003; GPO Box 18008, Melbourne, Vic 8003, tel: 03 9608 9950, fax: 03 9668 9958, website: http://www.acci.asn.au

Australian Marketing Institute branches Australian Marketing Institute: Level 12, 468 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Vic 3004, tel: 1800 240 264, website: http://www.ami.org.au

Standards Australia Shop and office in each state and territory

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New South Wales Head Office: 286 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, tel (customer service): 1300 654 646, tel: 02 8206 6000, fax: 02 8206 6001, website: http:// www.standards.com.au c/o Newcastle and Hunter Business Chamber: 475 Hunter Street, Newcastle, NSW 2300, tel: 02 4979 0499, fax: 02 4979 8721

Queensland 232 St Pauls Terrace, Spring Hill, Qld 4000; PO Box 290, Spring Hill, Qld 4000, tel: 07 3216 1355 fax: 07 3216 0277

Northern Territory Territory Construction Association: agency 1st floor, lot 1450, Winnellie Road, Winnellie, NT 0821, tel: 08 8922 9666, fax: 08 8922 9600

South Australia 63 Greenhill Road, Wayville, SA 5034, tel: 08 8373 4140, fax: 08 8373 4124

Western Australia 165 Adelaide Terrace, East Perth, WA 6004, tel: 08 9221 6700, fax: 08 9221 6194

Tasmania Agency: 10 Barrack Street, Hobart, Tas 7000, tel: 02 6224 2380, fax: 02 6224 4185

Victoria 19–25 Raglan Street, South Melbourne, Vic 3205, tel: 03 9693 3555, fax: 03 9696 1319

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Australian Capital Territory Gallery Level, The Boulevard, City Walk, Canberra, ACT 2600, tel: 02 6249 8990, fax: 02 6249 8989

Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) FCA National Secretariat: GPO Box 1498N, Melbourne, Vic 3001, Tel: 1800 804 317, website: http://www.franchise.org.au

Queensland tel: 07 3221 2594

New South Wales tel: 0500 566 451 and 02 4393 2433

Western Australia tel: 08 9304 8346

Home-based business associations New South Wales Home-Based Business Network/Parramatta Business Enterprise Centre: Level 3, 169 Macquarie Street, Parramatta, NSW 2150, tel: 02 8836 1312, fax: 02 8836 1321, website: http://www.parramattabec.com.au

Micro Business Network (incorporating HomeBased Business Australia) PO Box 309, Lilydale, Vic 3140, tel: 0418 106 133, fax: 03 9753 9405, email: [email protected], website: www.mbn.com.au

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Useful websites in Australia http:// www.bli.net.au, national site for business licence information http://www.virtualbizgroup.com/, The Virtual Business Group http://www.ctc.nsw.gov.au, CTC@NSW Community Technology Centre http://www.teleservices.net.au, Community Teleservices Australia Inc http://www.monashincubator.com.au, Monash Enterprise Centre http://www.anzabi.com.au, Australian and New Zealand Association of Business Incubators http://www.homebusinessmanual.com.au, Home-Based Business Manual http://www.casey.vic.gov.au, City of Casey, Victoria (type in ‘homebased business’) http://www.ibm.com, IBM Computers http://www.apple.com, Apple Computers http://www.bigpond.com/broadband, Broadband access http://www.ozemail.com.au/broadband, Broadband access http://www.ato.gov.au, Australian Taxation Office http://www.business.gov.au http://www.webcentral.com, Refer to ‘Online Brochures’ section of the Info Centre heading for the publication, ‘17 mistakes businesses make on the Internet’

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Home Business New Zealand Limited PO Box 32 610, Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand, tel: 09 445 2899, email: [email protected], website: http://www.homebizbuzz.co.nz

Useful websites in New Zealand http://www.bzone.co.nz, The Resource Centre for NZ Business http://www.tsbc.co.nz, The Small Business Company http://www.bizinfo.co.nz, BizInfo, government-funded http://www.businessmentor.org.nz, Business in the Community http://www.edancz.org.nz, Economic Development Association of New Zealand http://www.creeda.com.au, Capital Regional Enterprise and Employment Development Association http://www.thehomeoffice.net, Virtual business, the home office http://www.virtualbizgroup.com, Virtual Business Group

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Index

Index Index

A Clayton’s Secretary 36, 44, 206–7, 221 accommodation 28–35 see also country host family accommodation, farmstays accountants 55, 109–10 Ackland-Prpic, Frank and Annie 149 activity, workplace 209, 236 advantages, working from home 22–5 advertising 49, 164–7, 175–9 age groups of home-based workers 9, 45 Andrew Matthews Productions 141, 142, 146, 158, 170–1 see also Matthews, Andrew and Julie Ansett, Bob 100, 115, 280–1 answering machines 10, 85–6, 141, 173 appearance 145–53, 295 Apple Computers 60, 87–9 appointments, home 151–3

associations, home-based business 307 attitudes of others and home-based workers 26, 139, 151, 295 Australian Bureau of Statistics 8, 45 Australian Business Number (ABN) 110–11 Australian Marketing Institute branches 305 Bainbridge, Keith 26, 76 bankruptcy 131 banks 117 Bannigan, Frank 60 Basso, Angela 117 Black, Terry 78, 79, 278 Boday, Maggie 71, 151, 202 Botten, Russell 66–7 Bremner, Ian 281 Bristow, Martin 133–4 Broadband Internet access 90 310

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Index Brown, Wesley 24, 42, 57, 127, 226, 243–4 Bugoss, Catherine 59, 126, 139, 142, 147, 173, 233 business cards 49, 142–3 etiquette 146 grants 121 licence 50 methods of operation 59–64 names 34, 62, 63 plan 56 skills 50 worries 210–11 see also financial management Business Activity Statement (BAS) 111 business centres government 302–4 businesses defined 11–13 establishment 61 failure rates 22, 47, 50 part-time/full-time 59–61 success rates 67 types of 11 viability of 46, 120 Capital Regional Enterprise and Employment Development Association (CREEDA) 291 capital start-up 55, 120 Carney, Sue 23, 197, 199, 200, 201, 203 Carroll, Dennis 41 Casey, City of 292 chairs 77–9 Chambers of Commerce 304–5 Chanel, Coco 145

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311 characteristics, small business 45 charges 126–7, 158–9 checklist, getting started 39 Cherry, Rebecca 45 children, coping with 202–4, 243–6, 256 chores 208–9 Chung, Paul 17, 46, 208 Church, Jenny 25, 143, 146, 158, 159, 205–6, 254 Clay, Mil 23, 70–1, 284 clients difficult 156 expectations of 159 face-to-face contact 145–61 satisfaction of 156 who visit you 151 Clouds of Montville 28–31, 124 Colin Murch Office Equipment & Stationary Supplies 78, 278 commerce, chambers of 304–5 communication skills 295 community technology centres (CTC) 293 Community Teleservices Australia Incorporated (CTSA) 294 commuter traffic 17 commuting hours 24, 283 competition 252 computers, personal 10, 86–92, 238 computer technology 293 contact list 302–9 contract working 19 Coolidge, Calvin 5 Cork ‘n’ Fork Winery Tours 112–14 Cork, Robert and Anne 13 Costas, Maria 120

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costing, financial 105–7, 122–5, 158–9 see also financial management costs, fixed and variable 123–4 Cotton, Peter 192–3, 199 country host family accommodation 13–17 Courtenay, Bryce 225, 254 Cousins, Andrew and Anne 228, 236, 241 credit cards 127 Crowe, Bruce 24, 122–3, 221 customer needs 161, 162 profile 47 satisfaction 156, 160, 161–2 deadlines 76, 159, 228, 233 debt management 127–31, 137 demand, small business 46–7 desks 76–7 Dial-A-Wife 24, 40, 60, 69, 125, 130, 166, 194, 210, 212–13, 223, 224, 240, 251, 278 diet 254 disadvantages, working from home 25–8 distractions, working from home 27, 199–202, 256 door-to-door sales 11 Douglas, Heather 296, 298 drawbacks, working from home 25–8 dress 145–7, 295 duration of self-employment 10 Duval, Kym 21, 171–2 efficiency, work 93, 198

Ehm, John 18, 19–21, 57, 216, 217 Encel, Sol 215–17 environment, work 70–4, 75–6, 151–3, 198–9, 253 ergonomics 71–2, 93–4, 104 errands 208–9 evaluation, self 235–6 exercise 93, 254 see also leisure experience 40 face-to-face contact 145–61, 162, 220–1 failure fear of 27, 234 small business 22, 51, 54 families 24, 76, 202, 208, 255 farmstays 13–17 fax machines 10, 86 Feather, Norman 214–15 fees 125–7 Ferrara, Elvio 24, 42, 72, 152–3 filing cabinets/systems 92–3, 236–7 finance bank 117–22 obtaining 56 financial advisers 109–10 financial management before you start 58, 105 cost setting 122–3, 158–9 getting your business going 117–18 up and running 122–36, 136–7 see also business plan: debt management; money management

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Index Fisher, Denise 95–6, 221, 245, 275–8 Fitzgerald, Deborah 245–6, 269–72 Flaherty, Bob 50, 157–9, 197 flexibility 11–12, 18, 76 Fountain, Roger 1, 231–3 Fowler, Vicki 296 Franchise Council of Australia 69, 307 franchises 64–9 Franklin, Benjamin 225 friends, attitudes of 26–7, 151, 256, 295 Frith, Jeffrey 71–2, 93 furniture 70–2, 74–81, 92–3, 281 Gabogrecan, Barbara 21, 282, 293 gender of home-based workers 9, 13, 45 Geyer, Peter 288 Gleeson, Libby 143, 204, 220, 235, 237, 244, 253 goals setting 228 short-term/long-term 230 Golda, Agnieszka 96–8 Goldsworthy, Peter 27, 42, 204–5 government assistance schemes 20, 121–2, 124 government business centres 302–4 Green, Ray 231–3 Greer, Nelli 23 GST 111, 114–15 guilt 210 Hamill, Bill 281, 283 Hamilton, Maggie 247–50

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313 Hannaford, Kay 41 Harris, Val 43, 197, 252 holidays 26, 254, 258 see also leisure Holland, Paul 283, 293 home 238–239 alone with children 202–4, 243–6, 256 with your partner 240–3 Home-based business associations 307 Home-Based Business Australia 224, 282 Home Business New Zealand Limited 296, 309 Homechain 18, 57, 216, 217 hot desking 286–7 hours and productivity 209–10 chargeable 123 worked as home-based workers 9–10, 123, 209 Huebsch, Monte 260–6 Hughes, Cameron 110 Hutchinson, Rod 167–8, 195–6 income assessment of 46–9 irregular 26 potential for higher 23 indemnity, professional 132 insurance 132–3, 137, 254 Internet 46, 259–66 disadvantages 262 email address 263 history of 260 service provider 89–91 website 264–6, 308–9

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interruptions 75, 199–201, 202 interview, media 183–4 invoices 143–5 isolation 25, 219–22, 257 ISP (Internet service provider) 89–91 Jaques, Judi and Peter 112–14 Jim’s Mowing 38, 64–7 job creation 23 satisfaction 25 Johnson, Martin 96–98 Jolly Home and Pet Care 47–8, 161, 172, 173, 174 Jolly, Marilyn 47–8, 141, 142, 161 Johnston, Aldy and George 31–5, 114, 124, 241 Johnston, Cameron 26, 177 Kambrook Distributing 12, 60 Kavanagh, David 209–10, 220, 229 Kerslake, Philippa 26, 199, 208 Ketchen, Wayne 40, 71, 131, 159, 169–70, 195, 201, 203 Kinder-Smith, Cheryl 44–5 LaPersonne, Pamela and Gary 207–8, 279, 294 Laverty, Piers 82–3 Lawrence, Bowen Stephen 48 leisure 24, 26, 199, 209, 217 see also exercise; holidays liability, public 132 lifestyle 1–2, 24, 199, 218, 295 limited liability companies 61 lists, achievement 228, 234 loans, business 56, 120

loans, personal 127 Lococo, Marie 12 loneliness 25 McLennan, Alice 194 McNamara, Gerardine 289–90 McNulty, Brian 6–8 management see debt management; financial management; money management; time management Manningham City Council 290 manufacturing 11 market access 46, 166 research see research size 46–9, 58 viability 46 marketing 11–12, 58, 166, 186 see also advertising; promotion opportunities Matters, Hazel 41 Matthews, Andrew and Julie 24, 141, 142, 146, 155, 158, 161, 170–1, 194, 199, 209, 221, 224, 228, 236, 242 Maunder, Phil 64–6 media interview 183–4 media release 179–83 men as home-based workers 9 Micro Business Network 221, 282, 307 Midler, Bette 6 mobile phones 10, 18, 85 Moffat, Ann 283–4, 287, 295–6 Monash Enterprise Centre 291 money management 127

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Index see also debt management; financial management Moore, Margaret 194, 251–2 Morgan, Roy 10, 21, 86 Morris, Jill 100–3, 115, 125 motivation 251–3, 257 multi-level marketing 11 Myers, John 146 name checks 34 negotiation skills 295 network sales 11 New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS) 121–2, 224 New South Wales Roads and traffic Authority 17 Nilles, Jack 17 Noble, John 146 Norman, Meredith 27, 126, 152, 188–9, 209 O’Brien, Daryl 109 occupations 9, 10–11 office equipment 74–93 space 288–9 Omodei, Montgomery 230–1 opportunities 23, 282–3 optimism 254 organisation skills 236–8, 255 outsourcing 12, 283 overwork 254, 258 Parker, John 190–1 Parmenter, Trevor 215 partner, expectations 250–1 partnerships 61, 240–3 party plan sales 11 patents 63

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315 Penman, Jim 5, 38, 67 perceptions, home-based business 223 personal appearance 145–7 manner 155 skills 2–6, 25–8, 36, 42–3, 155 talents 41 personality 42 Pietsch, Jenny 291 Planet Inline 272–5 planning see business plan post office boxes 145 presentation 37, 138–62 qualification 46 pricing see charges priorities 228, 235 procrastination 233–5, 255 productivity 25, 209–10, 236 professional assistance 55 image 27, 138 indemnity 132 isolation 25, 221–2 promotion opportunities 36, 164, 172–5, 178 public liability 132 public relations 164, 176 public sector workers 289 publicity 164, 172–5 publicity, low-cost 172–5 Pyrzakowski, Anna 26, 27, 63 quality, work 160–1 qualifications of home-based workers 46, 40 regulations, council 49 regulations, government 49, 281

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reliability 159 research, viability and demand 20–1, 46, 56, 58 Reutens, Steven 231–3 Reynolds, Siimon 175 Richard, Angus and Margaret 28–31, 124–5 Ridley, Jeff 294 risks, working from home 25–8 Robertson, Peter 52–4, 121–2, 224, 244 Rodden, Warwick 43 Roy Morgan Research 10, 21, 86 Ross, Charlie and Kaye 1, 131 routine 209–10, 225 Ruzek, Paula 98–100, 114, 115–17, 134–6, 197 sales, product 10–11 Sandburg, Carl 225 Secrets on the Lake 31–35, 114, 124, 241 security, home 253, 255–6 Seedex Pty Ltd 231 Seedsman, Margaret 10, 147, 197, 282, 301 self-discipline 294 self-employed workers 9, 198 self-esteem 224 self-evaluation 235–6 self-motivation 252 service providers 11 Sherlock, Steve 267–9 shopfront 49 sickness 254, 258 sickness and disability insurance 132, 254 skills business 50

learning 5 negotiation 295 organisation 236–8 small business centre 50, 52, 56, 59 small business, characteristics 45 small businesses, failure rates 22, 50 Smith, Craig 139, 168–9 social isolation 25, 219–22, 257 status 224 sole traders 61 solicitor 110 Somers, Jan 22, 100, 114, 194, 202, 204, 213–14, 217, 223, 279 Splash Public Relations 103–4, 115, 245–6, 269–72 standards, product 64 Standards Australia Information Centres 64, 305–7 Stanton, Rosemary 147, 226–8, 242–3, 279 stationery 49 statistics 8–10, 280 stress 188–95, 230 suitability for home-based work 3–5 superannuation 132–6 surveys 8 Sutherland, Jan and Ross 24, 40, 60, 69, 125, 130, 166, 194, 199, 210, 212–13, 223, 224, 240, 251, 252, 278 Sweres, Alexandra 134 taxation 107–8, 110–12 technology 2, 8, 10, 12, 18 Telco 15

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Index telecentre 293 telecommuting 17 telecottage 293 tele-jargon 287 telemarketing 11 telephone technique 140–1, 161 telephones 81–5 teleworking 17–18, 289, 295 Telford, Glenn and Sue 13, 208 Telstra 8, 83, 90 Thomas, Derick 40, 194–5, 209 Thomas, Kate 103–4, 115, 269–72 Thomas, Kathie 36, 44, 206–7, 221 time management 94–104, 225 travelling 24, 282, 283 working 123, 199–200, 225, 235–6 Toadshow 266–7 Tourism Queensland 174 trade marks 63 Treetops Cabins on the Lake 34 Turner, Matt 63, 156, 165 Twain, Mark 210 unemployment 214–15 viability, of business 46, 120 Waard de, Ben 290 Wakefield, Edgar 149–51 Walker, Jo 297–8 Walker, Monte 272–5 Wallace, Bruce 174–5, 223 Warnes, Tom 246–7, 282–6 Weir, Julie 10, 43, 50, 132, 221, 223 Whyte, Robert 266–7

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317 Wickert, Beate 25, 60, 153–4 Williams, Alan 22, 50, 54 Williams, Roy 23, 56, 118–20 Wilson, Graham and Diane 14 Wilson, Valerie Britton 243, 244–5 Wissenden, Jacquie 73 Wittacork Dairy Cottages 14 women as home-based workers 9, 10, 26, 126, 252–3 Wood, Jack 17, 279–80, 287 Woodhouse, Jennifer 154–5 Woods, Shirley and Jeff 148 work environments 72, 75–6, 152, 198, 253 equipment 74–93 insufficient 27 intermittent 27 meaning of 213–14 system 93–4 tools 74–93 volumes 26 working from home advantages 22–5, 279 age groups 9, 45 and failure 22, 26–7, 46, 50, 51, 234 attitudes of others 26, 139–40, 155, 295 defined 17–18 distractions 27, 199–202, 256 drawbacks 24–36 duration of self-employment 10 flexibility 11–12, 23, 76 hours worked 9 income 26 independence 22–3

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Jack of all trades 211–13 occupations 9, 10–11 opportunities 23–4, 283 productivity 25, 209, 236 professional image 27, 138 qualifications 46 reasons for 9 restrictions 49–50 risks 22 satisfaction 25 statistics 8–10 suitability 3–5 viability 46, 120

versatility 11–12, 23 where to start 18, 38–40 work is always there 26 Yellow Pages 8, 47, 55, 165, 205 Your Type Secretarial Services 25, 143, 146, 158, 159, 205–6, 254 Zappone, Josh and Emma 160, 161, 186–7, 242 zoning, residential/commercial 49–50, 281