A reader asks:
Hi I’m thinking of starting a business but I’ve not got much money so I was thinking of working from home to start with. But I’m worried, can you work from home and look professional?
There are some business that obviously can’t be run from home and you certainly would not be considered a professional if you tried to. But in many cases, particularly with while collar work, yes you can work from home and still be considered a professional by your customers.
There is nothing inherently wrong with you working from home and in many cases it can be viewed or promoted as a benefit to your customers. Here’s a few benefits it provides you and your customers:
- It’ll enable you to keep your costs down so you can afford to charge them less.
- You’re able to work non standard hours to get their project done.
- You’ve got more time to work because you’re not loosing time every day commuting.
I’m sure you can add to that list. I certainly believe that working from home is a good way to keep costs down while you are bootstrapping your business.
Even if you’re planning to build a big company you can still work from home, sure it doesn’t happen often but it can happen, for example MySQL the company behind the worlds most popular open source database employs 350 employees in 25 countries. On their jobs page they have this to say:
We are a global distributed organisation. We hire anywhere in the world, and we let people work from their home or whatever place they are most comfortable with. Currently, 70% of our employees work from home…
So if MySQL can build a billion dollar company that works from home there’s no reason you can’t.
Asking John:
Do you have a business question you would like me to answer? If so you can Ask John or you can ask on the forums where you’ll get both my input and that of your fellow entrepreneurs.
This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
Microsoft and Google also only started with humble beginnings so it can be done. There’s that saying about oaks from acorns which is a good thing to remember.
Very true Phil, Coke also started small, as did Tesco, WalMart etc etc etc
Working from home should not just be limited to jobs in which you work for a company, but spend the majority of your time (often circa 80%) at your home instead of in an office – If you’ve the get up and go and an idea to start your own business from home then whats to stop you – I’m sure Richard Branson did not worry about being “professional” starting selling records out of his garage – in his autobiography he says he went to the bank for his first loan wearing flip-flops!
Alternatively, if you don’t have the ideal business idea yourself perhaps you could join one of the many multilevel marketing opportunities (MLM) that are out there (although if you have little start-up money you will have to do your homework first to one that really requires limited initial investment and ongoing charges). You may find that your first MLM business does not work out – but take it also as a learning experience. If you decide to investigate this, then join an MLM business that gives you support and training into how to run your business, cheap advertising, using the internet, talking and selling to people and so on. This experience can be invaluable to building your “professional” image.