I have been kicking this question around for sometime. I even asked the question on twitter and got a few responses:
In order to get even more input into my little quandary, I put quick survey up which some of you have taken the time to answer. And I want to thank those who participated and voted. Here are the results:
Of those who did vote, two left comments too:
Sparky Firepants — In my line of work (illustration & animation), I think people kind of like the fact that I work from a home studio. I think it puts the business relationship on a more personal level, which I strive for. I rarely meet with my clients in person and have only had one over to my home studio. He has exactly the same setup in his home, so it wasn’t a strange experience for him. They usually don’t ask, but if it comes up, I always tell ‘em like it is. If anyone ever complained, it would be an indication that we wouldn’t be a good fit anyway.
Dobes Vandermeer — Even though we’re selling online accounting software, we’re not ashamed of working at home, we’ve even blogged about it. We hire consultants and coaches who also work from home. Of course, our secure servers are NOT in our home, they are in a 24/7 monitored data center. I think there might be some people who’d think it was weird that customer support is ringing someone’s home line, but transparency and honesty seem to be the way of the future for businesses with integrity, so that the way we go.
The “Somtimes” vote was the one I find the most interesting. My question to these folks, when do you and when don’t you tell a client you work out of a home office?
I have had my office in my home since Janurary, 2005. I have only lost one client because of it. My position has always been, if you have a problem with me working from a home office, I don’t want you as a client anyway. I for one think this is the position we should take too. We should never discount or feel ashamed that we have picked a lifestyle that enables us to work in an environment, our homes, which gives us a commute of a matter of seconds. Which gives me more time to spend with my wife and children. And saves me money on overhead and the hassle of dealing with onsite employees. Finally, we should not apologize ever for making a sound economic decision.
If any of you would like to comment to keep the conversation going on this topic, please do. I would love to get more comments on this topic as it is a “hot button” with many who work from a home office.
To elaborate on my tweet to you - I actually feel I have to tell clients I work at home. I have kids here with me and I don’t want it to be a surprise if they hear the background noise if we talk on the phone. I try very hard to keep the kids entertained when I am on calls, but the reality is that I work at home because of my children and if clients can’t understand then we probably won’t work well together anyway.
I think i forgot to vote in this, but I am in the sometimes category also.
I do recruitment from home and although all my recruiting is done over the phone clients still expect a certain professionality from me.
So I tell those I have developed a strong relationship with as they know that it does not impact upon my ability as a recruiter… but for those I have yet to develop that kind of working relationship with I simply don’t mention it.
However if I was asked I would never lie about it.
I do tell my clients and my readers that I work out of my home. Being relevant and transparent is a feature that I think makes me more credible to them. I have worked out of my home for 23 years now, raising a family and now enjoying the flexiblity of spending spontaneous time with my grandchildren now as a huge benefit. With gas prices rising, I think that home offices are the wave of the future as the norm rather than the exception to business practices. So supporting one another and providing education is crucial.
For more information on some upcoming training that I am personally involved in go to http://tinyurl.com/5fgghc
This advice is very reassuring to small business owners. Although a home office is becoming more acceptable, it is taking time for society to more broadly accept that serious professionals don’t need to be in a office complex to be productive. Thanks for this good post.
To elaborate work at home we should be very informative and always focus on that only and it should be in a professionals way.