On a wet and snowy day like today, I really appreciate the ability of working from home.
Sure, for many years I did make the daily commute to a “J.O.B.” Day in and day out. I, like most employed Americans, got in my car 5 days a week and hit the roads in order to make an honest living. Decades of early morning and late evening miles, to and from the same office or factory. Through sun, wind, snow and rain. Freezing winter or balmy summer days. Days when I didn’t feel good, days when I felt great and days when I flat out questioned why exactly am I doing this? Ok, I did have a family to support.
So, I paid my dues. And, for whatever reason (mostly because I planned it that way), I am sitting right now in my comfy home office chair, sipping a warm coffee. With the fireplace churning out some real pleasant BTUs nearby.
Plenty of us work from home these days. According to Pew Social Trends, almost 3 in 10 jobs in the US are held by the self employed (and the people they hire). You can read the article by clicking HERE. Of course, not all of those folks are actually working from their homes, but I’ll bet a bunch of them do. I know I’m not alone.
Working From Home Is Not A “Real” Business?
This is one comment I hear all the time – that my business is not a “real” business because I don’t have a “real” office. Well, that is total baloney – here’s why.
- I take great care of my clients – right from home.
- I meet with my clients on a regular basis.
- I collect reasonable fees for my services
- I pay my taxes.
- I run my business as a full-time business. No part-time here.
And I do all the above without a “real” office, working from home – just like most any other business who cares about his clients.
I do understand that much of my competition do work from an office. They might think that gives them an edge in appearance – a fancy office in a nice location. But does that really improve the quality of their work? I would disagree. There are also plenty of extra cost that gets passed on to the client – rent, utilities, etc. None of those costs contribute to better service. In fact, I would argue that us work-at-homers with our lower built-in expense structure makes it possible – maybe even probable – for us to concentrate more on our clients.
Lower Expenses Makes It Easier To Concentrate On The Client’s Needs.
In short, I don’t have to frantically search for ways to charge clients just to pay for overhead.
Many in my industry of Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and website design are small firms. Between 1 and five employees. There are big companies out there for sure, but they are fewer and far between. The sweet spot is the small SEO company with 1 – 5 employees. One thing you learn quickly when running a small, local business is that your income can vary widely from month to month. But, office expenses are pretty consistent. So, what many small SEO consultants find themselves doing is basing a certain amount of client charges on current overhead expenses. Which has nothing to do with the level or quality of services provided to the client – except for higher prices.
Working From Home Means More Time For Clients
Working from home with built-in lower expenses removes a lot of the stress of running a small business. Which, I believe, equates to better service for the client, at a lower overall cost. And we can concentrate on client’s needs much better without needing to concentrate on the “churn” needed to cover excess expenses.
Now, this is just IMHO, but I have a few years of experience to back this up. And I know I’m a lot less worried about spending a big chunk of my day marketing for new clients when I should be doing my best for my clients.
