Stay at home mums and dads running there business

Hi Everyone,

I am a stay at home mum, running Wee Print while looking after my 1 year old daughter and 4 year old son.

I know there are a lot of people out there doing the same thing.

Does anyone else find sometimes that just because your business is based at home other people don't think it is professional/ legitimate business.
This is only a very small percentage of people I think feel this way.

You would notice the difference if you had an office, put it that way. I have done both and would never work from home again, unless it was the MLM sort of self employment. Image is everything.

Not sure what being a parent has to do with it working from an office or from home, as you can still go to the office after school drop off and leave early enough for pick-up, just as if you were at home. I suppose the only folk who would need to be at home all day are those with toddlers or babies who don't have childcare options, but that woudln;t last for too long. You would struggle to get much work done though as they need your attention most of the day though.

Also, it certainly doesn't sound good if your kids suddenly starting making background noises, or if the dog barks, washer goes on full spin, and so on. It's not so much not loking legitimate, but being professional and also being as available and committed in order to compare with your competitors. It's a sign of how much you want to invest in your business.

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Well I have young children who aren't at school yet.
I started my business in 2010 and have slowly built it up from there.
Most people don't mind the kids, I have even had them there while having meeting and it hasn't been a problem.
I have plenty time to work and my clients are very happy with my service...if on the odd occasion I can't get much done during the day I can always work at night or the weekend.

I do agree with this bit though
"Also, it certainly doesn't sound good if your kids suddenly starting making background noises, or if the dog barks, washer goes on full spin, and so on."
but it is easily solved...walk into the other room.

I do not agree with this however "It's a sign of how much you want to invest in your business." Just because my business is based at home doesn't mean I haven't invested in my business and I think that is a very close mind and insulting thing to say to be honest.

But you are entitled to your opinion.

Many small businesses wouldn't be undertaken and / or are only viable if they're run from home.

I agree with indizine, though, it can be easier to maintain a professional image if visitors come to glossy commercial premises rather than your home. On the other hand, the friendly, domestic, reassuringly solid and down to earth image of a home-based business can appeal too, particularly to clients who want to know you're unlikely to disappear on them.

Depending on your business and home, there are in-between options. The printer I use has a listed property with what was once a barn(?) in the garden - this barn has a gallery space used for the offices while the printing press equipment and storage is below.

I hire office space as and when I need it. At other times I work from home.

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What a great thread topic, and moved it over to the general biz discussion.

Likewise I've done both, starting from home, right to the point where there were 4 of us working at my house, at which point it was time to get an office!

I remember our Natwest account manager came out to visit us, and we were sat in my living room, not exactly professional, but got us started and was means to an end. I've since met up with plenty of small businesses who are either home based or started out there, and I don't think there's any stigma from working for home.

But I have to be honest, I can't imagine how I would look after one or both of my nippers all day and get any work done. I look after the youngest every Wed afternoon, and could prob get about an hours work done (assuming she sleeps!)

Looking at it with purely business non parental eyes, maybe the time saved not looking after nippers, but focusing on growing the business and generating more revenue, would easily pay for nursery costs.

Unless of course its a lifestyle business that's giving the best of both worlds, ie revenue and the chance to stay at home and look after kids, then fair play.

I do wonder though with these type of businesses what happens if they get to a tipping point, become too successful and turn into a normal growing business that will inevitably take up more time and resources? Sell up and enjoy the proceeds, or sacrifice the home life and get an office?

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The printer that I use is a local man.

He actually lives walking distance from my house. His home/office is a kind of convert, it's just off the main street and he has it set out front of house a bit like a shop if you like and he lives above and behind.

He has mass storage area in his extension at the side of the house and I imagine a lot of his printing etc as the shop part of his house is virtually just a reception with sitting and a few computers for copy and design, his garden is just a drive and he has a business plaque on the wall of the house.

Apart from the odd person I think it's rare for him to get people being onsite while I'm there anyway.

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Firstly, this is an open business forum and if you are going to open a discussion, be prepared for some other opinions but don't consider the word insult, because that in itself can be deemed insulting to us that have taken the time to constribute and give another opinion. One that is solidly backed up, I might add. It has nothing to do with a closed mind; it has everything to do with a mind that has extensive experience and knowledge in business. I worked from home myself for a couple of years, so it can't possibly be a closed one if I have experience of both sides of this debate.

It's pointless asking if you do not want to hear something you don't like. A bit like the 'review my website' when it gets torn apart, the OP gets the hump on! Yet we are more experienced to comment than the OP is on their own website.

Back to the subject though, it really does depend whose busines you want to win, when I am referring to the image you present to potential customers. Like I said, it doesn't come across as bad in any way, it just makes you less competitive in the B2B world as clients will cosndier your position as a whole.

I have worked for larger organisations and I have used advisors and consultants who clearly don't have or even need an office, or if we needed a small caterer who worked form home for sandwiches for a course every week thenn that was fine but if I wanted a caterer for a big event, it wouldn't be ordered from someone who worked from their home kitchen. It's very much horses for courses, and therefore what is appropriate.

Cakemakes are expected to work from home and could be thought as expensive if they worked from their own shop. It's what fits the business really. But for B2B you would do better working from an office, even if you only went there 5 hours a day. I also half own a virtual office company and a lot of people will use that if nothing else, just to make it look more professional. If they have a client who wants to come to them as does happen, then they would hire the meeting room here. it still works out cheaper than renting an office all year. So you see, there are ways and means of getting around it that will help you do better. There will be one not far from you or at least in your region, why not go check it out?

I have just moved offices, for a completely different reason, but my enquiries literally noticeable since the week I moved here, have tripled. The office costs me half as much as the last one (though that wasn't the initial reason for moving here) yet my status has increased being based at an airport; I do not believe it to be a coincidence especially as nearly every new enquirer now says "oh I see you're at the airport".

People just take you and your business more seriously, that really is the truth. Branding yourself as a business isn't just having a logo, it is positioning yourself in your marketplace to win business against your competitors. Of course you can stay where you are, doing what you do, doing what suits your current family lifestyle, but you cannot be compared to someone who has invested a lot more money and time to win more business and therefore, nobody will think badly of your business, but they may choose to overlook you. My business was boosted when I got my first office, so it is noticeable.

PS Yes if my printer lived down the road and had a workshp in his garden, and my consignment wasn't huge, I would be okay with that. If I wanted what I once ordered - 500,000 leaflets - I would be ordering from a big printer comapny, since the order was tied in with a scheduled distribution. One coonsiders the capabilities when assessing the risk factor.

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I also work from home, from my room actually, but I can say that I am lucky everyone I talk to and work with is online. (They would have one heck of a lot of travel to do if they had to come here to my office). From what I have seen or gone through, mornings are the best time for me. There are no real noises around here, except birds. My dog is easily silenced. I am the alpha female of course lol and she knows it. But there is a practical side to it all as well. From a security aspect, I am at home, and will not worry about something happening to my house, PC's etc. (I stress about it all when I am not at home - It's a personal space thing), and from a financial aspect I don't have to rent an office, pay utilities for the office and I save petrol because all I need is a cup of coffee and about ten steps

If you can build an office off the house as Paul mentioned, you have better control over the noises around you, especially washing machines, and it feels different somehow, because its your own personal office space but not a room in your house.

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I have done that, and it was quite nice for a while to do so, but it became pretty clear I wasn't getting enough of what type of client and work I wanted. But yes, for an business where nobody visits you or where your address doesn't matter, then yes it will be fine. Although you may be more productive going to an office every day.

I decided to get an office so that more clients (who seem to want to come to me and not the other way around) can come visit me. I didn't really like folk turning up to what was my personal home space, and yes, a couple of clients turned up unannounced, albeit to pay me, which balanced the issue!

One client turned out to live 4 doors away and she thought it fine to keep posting her web hosting fees through my letterbox, often with a pound missing or 50p short, whatever! It felt like an invasion of my privacy, especially when she sent her kid down with money on a night!

Also, I left my job to go self employed a month after getting burgled so yes, security wise I felt safe being at home for what was most of the day as well as evenings. But after a couple of years that worry wore off. I was paranoid after it first happened and locked everything away in my new big heavy-duty safe, even when I went to the shop!

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I still do. lol I have been burgled so many times.. But then again I can understand that after so many times, you kinda get paranoid about it. I hide everything I can

It's just easier for me to be here for now. I guess I can build an office outside, but as it stands now, I do get quite a bit done, until the girls get home, then its homework and all that, but even then I can still multitask quite well.

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