How to Work from Home in Your Own Business - Practical Tips for Free Agents

Type 1 - remaining employed

Your company allows you to work from home, only visiting the office for essential meetings, presentations, etc. But you are still part of the corporate structure, answerable to your line manager and your personnel officer. Your company still sets your goals and appraises your performance. This doesn't constitute a major life change, especially as, in most cases, if it doesn't work out, you can probably go back to the traditional ways.

Type 2 - going solo

Perhaps you take redundancy or simply resign from your staff job with a view to setting up on your own. Or maybe you've been seeking work for some time without success and take the decision to stop seeking and start working for yourself. Both are brave decisions and entirely life-changing. The rest of this hub is devoted to this type of home working - the true free agent!

It's not my business - it's yours

So I'm not going to tell you you need to set up a room as your office. For all I know, you actually need to set up the garage as a wiring shop or set up the garden as a nursery. You know your business, you know what you need to get started and you've probably priced it and ordered it already. That's the fun bit.

It's just possible, though, that you've already focused too much on the wonderful things you're going to do and not enough on some of the factors common to all businesses that can make or break any enterprise. Let's take a look at a few of these:

You're now your own boss

Really? You used to have a boss. Now you have clients instead. In my experience, clients are far more demanding than any company boss. You used to be able to negotiate or at least review your priorities with your old boss. But your clients don't care that you have other clients. They expect your attention; they expect it now.

There is one home industry, and only one, that can be practised profitably with no clients at all - you can become a forger. If you're good, you're made for life!

You don't like paperwork

Unfortunately, the taxman loves paperwork. He loves it so much he's not happy with just his own - he wants to see yours as well! He has a great sense of humour. So great that if he finds something funny in your paperwork he'll share the joke with all his friends - in the courts.

Many people make the mistake of getting behind in their records, promising themselves that they'll take a day soon to sort it all out. That's a big mistake. It's almost impossible to reconcile a drawerful of jumbled receipts, credit notes, etc with the hard facts on your bank statements. Whether you adopt a paper system or an on-line spreadsheet (I use Google Docs) please keep it up to date. If you don't, at best you'll lose money, at worst get into serious trouble.

Cashflow - cashflow - cashflow -

Did you really think you were going to get paid on time? Whether or not they will admit to it, it is the policy of most companies to pay as late as they can without being taken to court. It makes perfect sense, for them. For you, it's no good at all. Late payment is the single biggest destroyer of small companies. To give yourself the best possible chance -

• send invoices as early as possible
• send staged invoices regularly throughout a long job or project
• always include your payment terms (e.g. 14 days) on the invoice
• immediately the payment becomes due, follow it up
• issue regular statements of your account with a client

In many countries, a statutary rate of interest (SRI) applies to overdue invoices. In the UK, the body that defines this is the Better Payment Practice Group (BPPG). Similar bodies exist in most countries. While you don't want to antagonise a good client who is habitually a little late, it is well worth applying interest to grossly overdue invoices, since you probably don't want repeat business from such quarters anyway.

One client - one contact

You provide a service to a client - you don't work for the client's company. And because you don't, you should avoid being given (or giving yourself) the runaround of that company's internal structure. It's none of your business and it's a huge timewaster. Your client is the one who gave you the contract. If the Finance Department withholds payment, don't waste time talking to them. Don't investigate who or why. Instead, go straight to your prime contact, the one who gave you the job, and get him/her to chase your invoice. S/he has far more influence than you, an outsider, and also, has an interest in nurturing the business relationship.

When there's nothing to do -

- do nothing. Or do something else. Go for a walk. Watch a movie. Whatever you like. In all businesses there are quiet times. If you have communicated with all your clients, leave them in peace. If you are good and they know you're good, they'll come to you when they need you. Be confident and proud of your business. Don't hustle for custom like a two-bit whore. (Unless that's your business, of course!)