Working from Home/Working Portfolio - Judge the Quality not LocationI have been working ‘portfolio’ now for a number of years. This involves doing much of my work from home. One of the most difficult aspects of being home-based, self-employed and a portfolio worker is convincing clients and prospective clients that I am just as professional as my counterpart in the corporate world who has an office, wears a suit and has other workers and colleagues through the wall or over the partition. All away from home in the corporate empire. When we think of someone working from home we can easily garner an image of a woman with her hair in curlers, old t-shirt and worn jeans, or a guy in his robe and slippers, lounging about the house waiting for the phone to ring. This is seldom true. Not all, but many of us dress in business attire.....! Obviously there are times when more formal attire is appropriate and this should be taken into consideration. Even the newest home-based kid on the block knows not to network in jeans and sweatshirt! Seriously, even though our appearance on days we are certain no client will call, can be ... well ... comfortable ..., the quality of the work is what should count. There are home-based people who can put out twice the quality with higher accuracy than an office full of people who are ‘dressed’ for the job in professional/corporate surroundings. Those of us who have chucked the corporate lifestyle to run a business from home are as conscientious, quality minded and accurate as we were before becoming home-based. In a way, a home-based entrepreneur is more sensitive to client needs because we are where the buck stops. A mistake can cost us not only a client but damage our reputation, where a corporate entity usually has the choice of putting someone else on a project and keeping the account. However, being dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt with hair pulled into a ponytail doesn't affect the quality of the work. Sometimes, because the comfort factor is actually higher, the work can benefit from it much more than when dressed in the formality that the corporate world demands. (In fact, research on casual dress in offices has found work output IS higher when people dress casually!) Another fact in dealing with a home-based business is that the client is in direct contact with the owner ... the CEO ... the project manager. Instead of being on hold for 10 minutes while calls are being directed to seven different departments in search of the account representative, the home-based worker is likely to answer the phone personally. Home-based entrepreneurs are, contrary to popular belief, proficient, quality-minded, project driven professionals. But in some cases we feel it necessary to hide our home-based office from a client, at least until the person is comfortable enough with the work provided. If you are considering a person (company) for a new project, look at the samples, check out the quality, then make the decision. If you later learn they are home-based ... expect the best quality and service you've met with in a long time. You'll likely get it, and then some!
Tom Law |
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