Working From Home

Why work from home?

 

The alarm goes off, you get out of bed, brew yourself a quick cuppa and get started on work in your pyjamas. Sound good?

There's a tonne of reasons why running a business from home is an appealing option ranging from the cost savings – not paying overheads on a rented space can greatly improve the look of a start-up's financials – to flexible lifestyle choices.

Being able to juggle work and family life out of the same lounge room can be a big plus for business owners with kids, not to mention giving up the daily joys of traffic jams.

It's also pretty easy to start up at home. Today's technology, including mobile phones, email, the internet and videoconferencing, lets you connect to your wider clientele, no matter where you are.

And if that's what you've done, you're not alone. Australia is home to more than 856,000 home-based businesses – almost two-thirds of all small business operators in Australia.

"We're moving from a more manufacturing industry culture to a more service based-industry,' says Dr Simon Kelly, principal research consultant for NATSEM, who works for the Canberra-based company from his home on the Gold Coast.

"Service-based industries are better suited to being home-based. If you're an architect, you tend to go to the client. If you're a cleaner, you go to customers house to do the job. It doesn't matter where you're based."