CREDIT: WICKEDSTART.COM
Working from home can be a rewarding experience.

One afternoon, back in the early 1990s and shortly into my career as a freelance journalist, I was out mowing my lawn during a weekday afternoon when a neighbour asked, "Are you looking for work? We're hiring down at the plant." This fellow could not wrap his head around the fact I was able to tackle household chores and still make a good living without punching a clock.

A lot has changed since then in terms of home-based businesses and freelancing. When I formed my business in 1989, the phenomenon of working from a home office was new and greatly misunderstood. Today, Statistics Canada reports that about eight per cent of Canadians work out of their homes — and I am guessing that number is significantly higher in certain sectors, including communications. The Internet, of course, can make the home office as sophisticated as any cozy corner of a downtown ivory tower.

In fact, many of my students over the years have observed how I've succeeded as a professional with a home-based headquarters, and thus have aspired to do the same. My advice remains constant: it's not for everyone. There are sacrifices to make and rules to abide by if you wish to trade a daily commute from the suburbs for a 10-second turn from the kitchen to the home office. But if you are disciplined, work in a compatible business sector, enjoy the flexibility and freedom and, yes, make a solid wage, then working from home may be the right choice for you.

My first home office consisted of an old telephone, an answering machine, a kitchen table purchased at a garage sale, a portable typewriter, a tape recorder and microphone, and a wall calendar to keep track of my appointments and deadlines. It was a bare-bones business, but it all started with a professional image. Unless anyone knocked on the door of my basement apartment, there was no way they could tell my office apart from an office in a downtown tower.

That professionalism started with a well-designed business card and a professional voicemail message. I had already established a professional wardrobe (professional for 1989 — remember, this was the '80s), and I made sure the oil leak on my 1973 Chevrolet Nova didn't totally destroy a client's driveway when I travelled for meetings.

Most of all, I did what I continue to do today: try my best to outwork the competition. There's no substitute for hard work — work hard and you'll always give yourself a chance to succeed. It's a simple rule that not everyone buys into when they establish a business. They want the glory, but they're not willing to offer blood, sweat and tears.

The Internet, though, has made the move from working outside the home to working within a home office a seamless transition. It has forever changed the way we do business. In 1993, when I was researching for my first book (published in 1994), I spent most of my work weeks researching microfiche files at the London Public Library. Back then, whenever I researched for an in-depth magazine article, again I spent countless hours digging into library files for a needle in a haystack. Today, with Internet search engines and resources including Google and YouTube, I can complete research for a number of stories in less than an hour.

There's a downside to computer technology, of course, and it's spending most of your time staring at a screen and thus ignoring the fact you need to establish personal relationships. No matter how well written they are, email messages are always impersonal — especially if you have never had a face-toface meeting with the person at the other end. Today, no matter how busy I am with assignments, I always make an effort to conduct interviews and meet with clients face-to-face — even if a simple phone call would have completed the task. Clients appreciate that — and they expect it if you wish to continue doing business together.

Today, I have two home offices, including one simply used for writing and telephone interviews. This bright, quiet room, unlike my larger basement office, has a window facing my backyard where — you guessed it — I sometimes take a break from my writing and mow the lawn. I still have a neighbour who wonders why I am home at 1 p.m. on a Monday. But that's okay: I enjoy our banter when he's out walking his dog and I am taking a mental and physical break from sitting in front of my screen.

If working 9 to 5 is dogging you, then you may consider freelancing from a home-based office. Just make sure you're prepared to make sacrifices before cashing that first cheque.

Award-winning journalist Jeffrey Reed is a Fanshawe College professor with the Corporate Communication and Public Relations post-graduate program and an instructor with Fanshawe's Continuing Education department. Email him at jreed@fanshawec.ca.