Posted on 02/17/2011 4:41:45 PM PST by Niuhuru
Does anyone here think that running a business from home is going to be the new way that businesses are run and how do you think this will affect hiring policies?
>>> What do you do?
I provide emergency water damage restoration services, mold testing and remediation, carpet cleaning, radon detection.
“Does anyone here think that running a business from home is going to be the new way that businesses are run and how do you think this will affect hiring policies?”
Both my wife and I have our own small businesses that we run out of our home. She’s a CNA who takes care of the elderly and/or infirm in their own homes.
I’m an IT consultant and specialize in PC optimization for home and business users. I work from my home as well as make house calls.
Neither of us would ever consider hiring someone else due to tremendously burdensome regulations and costs. We don’t make a huge amount of money, but we make all we need; we enjoy what we do and it’s relatively hassle-free. In effect, we rely on ourselves to take care of ourselves based on our eduction, skills, experience, and providing top notch service to our clients at reasonable prices.
Being relatively self-sufficient, we are relatively insulated from the economic destruction of the U.S. by the Obammunists and their merry band of neo-Marxists. At this stage of the game, everyone still needs a working computer and with the aging of the population, there’s more work than my wife can handle.
Since I have the AutoCAD and PLC programming software at home, I do much of my “office work” at home. The business deals with control systems projects. No inventory involved, since hardware is supplied by manufacturer reps. Any control panel/cabinet fabrication is subcontracted out to panel shops that have UL approval. Of course I get the unsolicted counsel from the local busybodies that I have been suckered into some envelope stuffing or piecework assembly deal, but this is Minnesota.
If I have a design idea at some odd hour, I could at least tinker with it instead of forgetting it later. I also get the service call at Oh-Dark-Thirty, where I have to link into the control system remotely via internet and work with the technician on site before I have to travel there.
It’s a specialized business to business operation (refineries, pipelines, chem plants), so not much of the generic home based business advice applies, outside of legal incorporation, separate business accounts, etc. Much of the project administration practices are similar to the major engineering companies (Fluor, Jacobs, Kellogg Brown and Root, etc), except streamlined due to the low overhead. I’m part of a consortium that pools some resources, which even has a full safety manual much like the refineries - full OSHA compliance. Many of our project bids tend to be quite competitive, with well defined deliverables.
I seem to recall that Mao attempted to increase steel production by means of iron smelters in back yards. Didn’t work...
Hehe, at least if someoen starts amrting off online, you’re well armed to deal with the situation, no?
“If I have a design idea at some odd hour, I could at least tinker with it instead of forgetting it later”
That’s the best part, being able to work on something right away instead of coming home, figuring it out, and then smacking yourslf on your forehead after all that driving. I SO love being able to look outside and not have to go out in that weather.
UP until now, I was living at this place with no internet connection, so I had to go to a coffeehouse ot get a signal and work from there. Now at my new place I have a full signal so I can work from where I’m living and not go out and hang at hte coffeehouse, also dealing wiht loonies that come in.
I also know of this excellent legal service that you can prepay with and it’s only twenty-six dollars a month to subscribe. Not bad and I plan on using it the minute I get my contracts going.
Mao was good at uniting the country, but an idiot at running it.
What do you think, of a freelance business that transports blood samples to labs for testing and then mails the results to the customers? All it would require are a few certifications and skill at Phlebotomy and then you’re in business. Make appointments from home and then get a well outfitted pickup and delivery van worked out.
I honestly think that people are going to end up getting multiple certifications.
No, however with federal labor laws, tax laws, etc.. the “independent contractor” may be the future, especially in the workplace.
J.S.
Not to say some people CAN’T make a good living on working out of their home. But its silly to say that everyone can. The big things that add value are made in factories. Even software development is mostly done on teams—and teams function best when they’re co-located.
I don’t know if it will be the future, but I have been working out of my home for eight years now and can confidently state the I am more productive in three hours at home than I would be in a workplace during eight hours.
With technology some situations will definitely allow home based businesses to thrive (talk about low overhead). The company I work for has its customers concentrated in Maryland and Virginia, but also in other areas of the country, and no state has more than one employee from our company, the CEO residing in Maine.
It’s been a blast (and my fuzzy office mates, Cadillac Jack and Capella appreciate it too).
My life insurance company sent someone to my house to draw blood, so I’d say it’s being done already.
OMG(osh)! That's my dream office!!!!!!
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