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Suburban Revolutionaries
The NINE principles of the Home-Office Paradigm
4 From ‘Doing time’ to ‘Completing Projects’
For anybody who’s a fan of the television series “The Flintstones” you’ll probably recall during the introduction of each cartoon the picture of Fred yelling ‘Yabba-dabba-do” when the bird screeches to announce the end of the day’s work at the quarry.
The notion of ‘clocking on’ and the ‘nine-to-five’ working day derives from the need to co-ordinate the workers with the work machinery. Having employees work as teams requires that they be at work at the same time.
In your home-office, the need to work at 9-5 is simply not there.
Being available for your clients during working hours may be a motivation for working particular hours. However, with the use of a mobile phone you can now stay in touch and run you business meetings on a golf course if you really want to.
Perhaps we can remind ourselves that ‘nine-to-five’ is an artificial construct (as is time itself). Even the notion of a 40 hour week is clearly a choice. The choice is typically based around ‘how much do you want to earn?’ and ‘how much time are you going to spend to earn it?’
So if the ‘time is money’ equation is no longer paramount, what is?
The basis of information work is centred around completing sets of work to produce specific results. In other words, the focus of home-based work shifts from ‘doing time’ to ‘completing projects’.
This is not to say that time is not important. Deadlines still need to be met. This distinction simply suggests that you work when you work best amidst the requirements of family and work commitments.
You may like to stop work in the afternoon when your children come home from school and then put in a couple of hours when they go off to bed.
The choice of time, of ‘when’ and ‘how much’ you do, is all yours.
5 From ‘Location’ to ‘Expertise’
What’s the difference between a McDonald’s restaurant and your home-office?
The majority of McDonald’s restaurants are located on the busiest corner (based on traffic volume) in the region, whereas your home-office is located where-ever you live.
So what’s the thinking behind that?
The success of McDonald’s is based upon delivering a standard set of products the world over, a consistent level of quality and a rapid turnover of customers all backed by an extensive mass media advertising campaign.
Does that sound like your home-office?
I doubt it. Most home-based businesses, particularly those based upon information services, are based on the expertise of the individual running the business and a direct and personal relationship between client and customer. Advertising is minimal.
If we were to summarize this into a formula for success, the McDonald’s recipe is based upon the old real estate adage: Location, Location, Location.
Alternatively, if were to invent three reasons for success in developing your home-office it may be: Expertise, Expertise, Expertise.
The implication is clearly that information technology allows you to run your business from anywhere you are. What’s the common question you ask when calling someone on a mobile phone?
“Where are you?”
Furthermore, the growth of cities that has traditionally been generated from attracting workers from outer areas will cease. Cities as we know them in this way will need to be re-invented.
Likewise, the Internet as access to the global market promises a world of opportunities for the information based worker.
6 From ‘Work and Play’ to ‘Play and Live’
Think back to a time when you commuted to work. How long did it take you each way?
For most workers in the cities around the world, the commuting time is at least half an hour to and from work each day. That’s just over 4% of a 24 hour day for a return trip!
Commuting to a workplace is a significant event. It also provides a neat boundary, or a transition space, for when work begins and when it finishes. Being ‘at work’ or ‘on the way to/from work’ creates a division in our life between ‘work’ and everything else.
How many times have you heard it said, ‘Thank god it’s Friday!’ What we really mean is, now I can get on with doing the things I love to do. In many ways, there was ‘work’ and then there was ‘play’.
When you work from home, the division between work and play is removed.
This is most evident in the flood of ‘networking’ events that are now offered by organizations. Going out for breakfast, having lunch with a colleague or to hear a speaker in the evening. Is this business or pleasure? I would hope that it can be both.
Likewise, having the family around whilst running your business - at times it can be a distraction and sometimes an empowerment.
The merging of home and work is also a merging of family and work.
Instead of work being this external activity that takes ‘Daddy away from the kids’, it is an opportunity to create a new balance to your life.
We are still in the early days of the “Home-Office Paradigm” and we carry forward many of the habits and thoughts from our past about how things ‘should be done’.
For some, there is still a stigma attached to working from home. As we find ourselves dealing with more home-based businesses than not, it will be presumed the kids are running around the house. It will be presumed that you don’t wear your business suit at home. It will be presumed that you don’t work from nine to five.
This is not about relaxing the standards of business. It will always be important to produce results for your clients. It is about having your life work powerfully!
Running a home-based business is not just a shift in where we work. It is a fundamental change in lifestyle. Play a little and live a lot more.
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