Start & Run a Graphic Design Business. Michael Huggins
especially when it comes to getting things done. If you are not careful, you can face interruption after interruption at home and end up being hugely unproductive. You must be disciplined enough to shut out distractions and get right down to work. This can be especially challenging if you have others at home with you. They may not understand your need to concentrate and focus on business tasks and, as a result, they may not be too receptive to your need to shut out the rest of the household.
In my case I’m an extremely easy person to distract. A quick “hello” from a family member could easily derail me from a project I was working on for a good hour! That’s not good when you are basing part of your fees on the hours you spend on it. Remember, just because you can be accessed, doesn’t mean you should be.
No business mailing address: Without a business address, your company might look less professional or legitimate to prospects and clients. Most addresses for homes are easily identifiable as such and can hurt the professional image you want to present. You may find that some businesses are a little hesitant to deal with you. This is especially true if they value professionalism and are looking for stability in their business relationships. Home start-up businesses tend to leave a bad impression in the business world; people think you may be unprofessional and unstable. You can try and solve this perception problem with a post office box mailing address, but this tends to generate similar perceptions and can also create some mistrust with certain clients.
More difficult to stay focused: You’ll need to be disciplined and focused to keep yourself on track and actually be productive. It’s easy to waste away your day with small, unimportant tasks such as doing the laundry or tidying up the house before you get started. Even a trip to the coffee pot can be dangerous if you can’t resist the urge to clean up the kitchen, or post a personal letter. Your seemingly harmless break can quickly deteriorate into a string of little tasks that can easily eat up a couple of hours of productive work time. There is also no one to stop you from surfing the Internet or watching the news for a few hours if you want to. The need for self-discipline is a big one when working at home.
Lacks professionalism for clients: Most clients will be uncomfortable with coming into your home to do business. It feels like a personal intrusion and less like a business transaction. If you have a separate entrance for your business this helps, but can still be a little awkward for your clients. Especially when they still have to navigate through your residential area and walk past your gardens just to enter your home office. The environment and residential surroundings put out all the wrong signals and can even make clients feel uncomfortable about doing business with you.
You lose the value of your service fees: Working out of your home can even cause clients and prospects to question your service fees. They may feel that since you are a small home business you have low overhead. Therefore your fees shouldn’t carry the same professional fees as others in the business. They feel entitled to receive a discount or huge price break in your rates just because you work from home.
You don’t stop working: I think one of the biggest challenges you’ll face when choosing to work from home is that you never truly stop working. Not only does it take incredible willpower to focus on your work, but also it’s equally difficult to stop working when you should. You will find that your work is never done. Usually this happens right in the middle of dinner when you realize you forgot to send an email or left a task undone. Your temptation may be to slip back into your office and “just do it” but do yourself a favor — “just don’t.”
This advice is coming from a guy who is speaking from experience. This will mess up your family and home life if you don’t get hold of it right away. What’s the solution to the unwanted reminder of undone work? Most things can wait until morning except for the odd panic, which is rare. Make a note and post it on your office door when you think about it. Then do yourself a favor and forget about it until you start working the next morning.
2.3 Tips for working at home
If working from home is a choice you make, or the only option available at first, there are ways to guard against the pitfalls.
Have a door to close: Be sure your space has a door that you can close when you conduct phone meetings or work on design projects. That way you make it easier to avoid distraction and interruption when you need to focus. Be careful if you are considering an open area of a well-used part of your home. Disruption by loved ones can present a problem when it comes to efficient work flow.
Create a set of business rules in advance: The best way to avoid the problem of the clash between family life and business life is to plan for it. Make a set of rules for how you will behave during business hours. Define what your hours will be. Outline proper behaviors for that time. Let everyone know when it’s okay to interrupt and how they should do it. It sounds a little controlling and formal, but it makes dealing with the stress of business at home so much easier on you and others. The last thing you want a client to hear is, “Hey Dad! Look at what Jordan stuck up his nose!”
Soundproof, if possible: When I first started my business in my home I actually renovated the lower level to accommodate my office. When I had it built I soundproofed the office as much as possible to protect my client phone calls from the sounds of suburbia, such as screaming kids and barking dogs. It was a real image saver especially when I was making my big deals on the phone with clients.
Make your place of business feel professional: If you have a home office and you want to invite clients in, be sure it feels as professional as possible. Try to overcompensate for the home feeling your clients will get when they walk up to your doorway. Let the environment feel like an office the moment they walk through the door. If possible, try to have clients’ access through an entrance other than the front door to the house.
Chances are you won’t be able to post a sign in your neighborhood due to local laws. Check with city hall to confirm this before you start bolting huge signs to the front of your house. If you can post a sign, put it out front for clients to see as soon as they drive up to your house. It still won’t communicate the prestige you will want in your business, but at least it will make them feel comfortable that they are in the right place.
3. Working at an Office Location
Now let’s take a look at another alternative, which is renting office space outside your home. Some designers just don’t have the option of working from home or don’t find it practical, so an office environment becomes not only ideal, but also necessary. If you are considering this option for your office, there are a few things to keep in mind.
3.1 Advantages of working in an office outside the home
The following are some of the advantages of working in an office located outside your home.
Separation of work and home: You’ll still be tempted to take work home to finish, but you’ll have a sense that you are truly done for the day when you leave the office. When I first rented office space I could honestly say that once I closed the doors for the night I was done. It was a nice change from the home office where I was always tempted to sneak back to my desk to do “just one more thing.”
You’re treated more like a legitimate business: Working in an office outside your home gives your business a more legitimate feel to clients. It can make clients feel less skeptical about the stability of your business. As soon as I opened my business in an office outside my home, I landed my first Fortune 500 client. Did the office get me the work? I doubt it. I still had to present and prove I could provide what they needed, but one thing is for sure, my office environment wasn’t a barrier. I’m not so sure it would have been easy for me to get this client if they discovered I was a home-based business.
You can justify higher fees: Just as being a home-based business carries the implication that you should charge lower rates, clients accept that you need to charge higher rates to cover overhead expenses in an office outside the home.