So you want to work from home? ...

LUCKIEST 7,932 posts since
Aug 6, 2007

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1. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Oct 16, 2007 10:58 AM

Batchblue, If you go and google "Telecommuting" you will get great info for your presentation.
There is the TELEWORK COALITION which has a 3 page executive summary that should help.
Good luck, LUCKIEST

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DomainDiva 1,731 posts since
Oct 10, 2007

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2. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Oct 16, 2007 1:38 PM

I manage my technology startup from everywhere using BaseCamp. The whole team from code to design, to legal and accounting as well as board advisors have access to the company board and projects to keep up with what is happening.
I also post 'info bursts' to the group at regular intervals with articles about technology, business applications and other items of interest to what we are doing.

The number one item has to be an online meeting place, where messages and documents can be posted. BaseCamp also has writeboards and collaborative chat through CampFire. Meetings can be scheduled and everyone can log in and discuss.

Second is work space. If you have a dog, get the dog a bed in your office. (trust me). Have a large desk, flat workspace and be sure to have a bookcase with an office supplies basket and a file cart close by. Also a 4 gig memory stick so you can take it with you.

Third you will need cable broadband, DSL or a wireless (protected) network and phone...cell or hard wired.

Fourth if you are the boss, make sure that your people have the best equipment. Laptops, docking stations, large monitors if needed and the up to date software. Never have an employee telecommuting using their own computer equipment and software.

I like the at home office. I can stay up as late as I wish to and work.

My husband stays home and trades all day. there are two dog beds in the office and he has his computer/monitor set up on a server rack/desk we found in the trash from a company going out of business. He has two hard drives, two 22 HD monitors and a 20" Sony TV for CNBC all day.

MOST IMPORTANT: If you are planning on taking the IRS home office deduction be aware that you must not use the equipment for any personal reasons and the space must only be used for business (dogs excepted). If the IRS does audit you for the home office the first thing they will check will be your computer hard drive.

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batchblue 9 posts since
Oct 15, 2007

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3. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Oct 16, 2007 1:47 PM

in response to: DomainDiva

Great, DomainDiva, this is exactly what I was looking for! We're working on the presentation now and didn't even think of broadband needs or the tax deduction information. Great info, thanks so much!

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Lighthouse24 2,396 posts since
Oct 10, 2007

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4. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Oct 16, 2007 2:42 PM

The primary benefits for us are lower costs (gas, parking), more time (no commute), and overall better productivity. Employees can be better workers, better spouses, better parents, (better dog owners) -- better at everything because they are positioned to effectively manage all aspects of their lives.

The disadvantages are that not every employee has the self discipline to work at home, and it often takes a crisis for that to become evident to managers. Related to that, managing a virtual team is significantly more difficult than managing a group with whom you have daily face-to-face interaction. Finally, the underlying technologies that support group collaboration become essential for telecommuters, so when these technologies are unavailable to one or more of the principal players for some reason, everything sputters. That's my biggest complaint -- it seems like the past two years have been brutal in terms of natural and manmade problems that effectively severed our technology links to one another at crucial times.

As far as software and tools, I have project teams with several hundred members. Only a few of them work for my firm, with the rest being self-employed specialists or employees of subcontractors in a variety of locations. Therefore, the technology they have available is owned and controlled by someone other than me. While I'd love it if they all had and used something like BaseCamp with CampFire, I can't require them to pay $150/month to license it, nor can I demand that the ones who still have Win95 on some of their desktops get up to speed. Consequently, I tend to rely heavily on Microsoft and Adobe applications (not because they are the best solutions, but because they offer the least expensive and most readily available ways to share information and collaborate on-line across the mix of platforms and operating systems that I encounter).

Hope this feedback is helpful.

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DomainDiva 1,731 posts since
Oct 10, 2007

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5. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Oct 16, 2007 3:48 PM

in response to: Lighthouse24

Group members do not pay for Base Camp. I pay the 150.00 per month and all of my team has access to it. One person opens the account and is responsible for the payment but there is only one charge.

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Lighthouse24 2,396 posts since
Oct 10, 2007

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6. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Oct 16, 2007 7:25 PM

in response to: DomainDiva

Although it was last November or December when I inquired about it, that's not how the pricing/licensing was explained to me. I just visited the website, though, and $149/month would appear to provide unlimited access to all -- so thank you for the info, DDiva!

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Ed O'Gee 215 posts since
Oct 25, 2007

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7. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Nov 15, 2007 3:35 PM

I run my business successfully out of my home and the benefits to me are:

1. Low overhead - when I am out of the office I am on site with clients so no need for expensive office space
2. No communiting cost - unless you count the energy of walking down a flight of stairs and a short hallway to my home office.
3. More time with my family, almost forces me to structure my day so that I have time to spend with the family

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LUCKIEST 7,932 posts since
Aug 6, 2007

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8. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Nov 16, 2007 8:13 AM

Batchblue, Read Thursday Wall Street Journal, Personal Journal Section:
Good News For Professionals Who Want to Work at Home.
This article could help your presentation (if it not too late)
Again, LUCKIEST

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batchblue 9 posts since
Oct 15, 2007

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9. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Nov 16, 2007 10:07 AM

in response to: LUCKIEST

Hi everyone-

Thanks so much for the feedback, this is a great forum! We gave the presentation last week, if you're interested you can check out the slides here

http://batchblue.com/presentations/

Thanks again,
~BatchBlue

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WayneSGA 2 posts since
Nov 28, 2007

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10. Home based since 1984 Nov 28, 2007 10:00 AM

To work effectively virtually you need to have the right electronic environment - the right collaboration tools. The choice is to select each tool independent of each other or select one integrated platform so you all can work together seamlessly. If you add up the costs to try to accomplish this independtly you will spend an enormous amount of time and money trying to put the pieces together. As your business grows technology will be a constant pain point.

Some components to think about (not in any particular order):

1. fast Internet access (DSL/Cable)
2. a well set up computer with an image backup in case of corruption or virus. (e.g., Acronis Image software)
3. e-mail (gmail, outlook, notes, etc.)
4. personal productivity tools (spreadsheet, word processor, presentation software - Office)
5. accounting software (quickbooks pro)
6. backup software (burn to dvd, backup exec, etc.)
7. customer relationship management (contact management, ACT, etc.)
8. time managment software
9. shared calendar
10. expense reporting
11. project management software
12. instant messaging (AIM, msn messenger, sametime, etc.)
13. web conferencing (gotomeeting, sametime, etc.)
14. antivirus, anti-everything software (symantec, mcafe, etc.)
15. website hosting and development and email routing (ISP)
16. website content management, integration with internal operations and backup
17. email anti-spam (e.g. postini)
18. discussion/collaboration software (forums, lotus notes)
19. laptop encryption software (vista ultimate, lotus notes)
20. document management/sharing (sharepoint, lotus notes)

Following is synopsis of how we accomplish this and it's been so successful we help other firms do the same.

In 1993, we converted all operations to using Lotus Notes as a base. We built on that foundation an entire suite of collaboration solutions: crm, project management, time management, etc. etc. etc. We even backup quickbooks pro to a Notes database. The advantage over all other technologies? Replication. All of our information replicates to multiple servers and clients in multiple locations. That's automatic backup and the ability to share anything/everything. Oh, our website is built 100% on Notes. Check it out http://www.sga.com/

When a hard disk dies it's not a big deal. We replace the unit, install Lotus Notes and replicate the databases from any server and back up and running. Virtually no information lost.

Now for the good stuff. You can replicate locally and work locally. This means we were productive back in the mid-90's even though we had to use the old dial-up technology. We can work on airplanes then replicate when you arrive at the hotel.

There's more - design of the databases replicates transparently. This means you don't need to install updates to any application. New field for the CRM? Sure...done and replicates to everyone, whether two employees or thousands.

Oh...Notes has a full mail system built in and free. Ever hear of a virus for Lotus Notes? Nope. Notes is one of the most secure environments there is on the planet. And when you replicate/synchronize locally all information is automatically encrypted.

Want more? How about integrated web conferencing and instant messaging - all encrypted and secure.

Say goodbye to the thousands of folders you have in your mail file and shared drives you use to store Office files. You can store and manage it all in the applications.

You want a solution which will scale as your business grows. Notes can be used by two people or 200,000.

What's the price? If your firm is 1,000 employees or less (I'm sure most here fit that category), it's $103/person. IBM is giving it away to the small business.

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BDS INC 131 posts since
Jul 20, 2007

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11. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Nov 28, 2007 11:02 AM

Advantages:

Money Savings
Time Savings
Quality of Life
Personal Tax Benefits

Drawbacks:

Difficulty in meeting clients at home office
Lack of business space clarity

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majones 18 posts since
Dec 10, 2007

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12. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! Dec 10, 2007 5:06 PM

So many options for working online and virtualizing a company... our organization works with thousands of companies who need or want to virtualize for a variety of reasons.

Depending on the specific requirements, there are TONS of options available. It really depends on how much or how little you intend to centrally manage. For example, you could offer messaging, calendaring and basic tools like that by using Google Apps or Microsoft Live services.

There are a large number of companies providing, for example, CRM as an online application. Most companies require more than just CRM, however, so this is often not a means to totally virtualize the organization.

For businesses who need total IT capability, but don't necessarily want the tech management responsibility, outsourced and hosted desktop services may be the ticket.

One company (www.cpaasp.com) is offers total virtual desktop services for businesses. Subscribers can have a complete Windows desktop (hosted) with all desktop and network applications hosted and managed by the service provider. This company also is licensed by Intuit to host the QuickBooks products, so you can have QuickBooks Pro, Premier or Enterprise with the virtual desktop.

The key in virtualizing any business is to ensure that all participants know and understand their jobs, know what is required of them, have the tools to do their job, and have a means to collaborate and get information when it is required. Remember that virtualizing a company doesn't mean that people don't see each other and interact. It just means they don't have to be in the same room to do it.
-majones

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seetumail 2 posts since
May 6, 2009

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13. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! May 6, 2009 10:28 PM

well i also work from home and have earned a lot from that.it's really helpful especially for busy people like me
for more details please visit teh link below
Eliza
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][/url]

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seetumail 2 posts since
May 6, 2009

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14. Re: So you want to work from home? Telecommuting tips needed! May 6, 2009 10:32 PM

well i also work from home and have earned a lot from that.it's really helpful especially for busy people like me
for more details please visit the link below
Eliza
<a href="http://www.makemoneyfromhome365.com">Make Money From Home</a>

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