From Entrepreneur.com:

Definition: A business whose primary office is in the owner’s home. The business can be any size or any type as long as the office itself is located in a home.

Two out of three companies (of all sizes) begin in a spare bedroom, garage, basement or sometimes even a bathroom. That’s how companies as diverse as Apple Computer, Baskin-Robbins ice cream, Electronic Data Systems, Hallmark cards, the Lillian Vernon catalog, and Purex began. Of course, the internet makes operating a virtual company from home more feasible and popular than ever.

If you want to hang your shingle at home, either permanently or temporarily, here are some things you must consider:

First, is it legal to hang your shingle or sign at home? This is one of the many possible restrictions on your being permitted to make your home a working castle. Whether and how flexibly you can operate a business from your home is covered in local zoning ordinances and also by the covenants, codes and restrictions (CC&Rs) of homeowner and condo associations.
How are you going to separate your home and your workplace? While the demanding hours required to start any business affect an entrepreneur’s family, when you bring the workplace into the home, your family’s needs must be taken into account even more.
How are you going to establish and maintain a professional image? This is especially important if your address is on Cow Path Lane, your dog loves to bark, or your teenager loves to play his drums in the room next to your home office.
Most cities and many counties have zoning ordinances that limit, to one degree or another, whether you can operate a business from home. While many communities have modernized their zoning ordinances to recognize that a computer-based business isn’t like a noisy auto body repair shop, an odorous hair salon or a 6 a.m. gathering point for a construction or cleaning crew, many communities ban certain kinds of businesses and prescribe limitations that may handicap some businesses. Here are some common activities communities don’t like and may restrict within their zoning code: [Read More]

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Home Based Business, Home Business Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.