Solo Professional Working From Home – What’s Great About It, Reason #1 – Freedom

I love having my own business. And I love having that business in my home. But many years ago, I tried not to let on to people that I was a sole proprietor working from my home. There was a stigma to it, like you couldn’t get a “real job” and therefore didn’t have a “real” business. But fortunately, times and attitudes have changed. In fact, even many corporate employees work from their homes. In this digital age, it doesn’t matter where your physical presence is. As long as you’ve got a phone and a computer, you’re ready to rock and roll.So running a business from your home is not only reasonable and possible, it has many benefits. I’ve identified “eight great traits of being a home-based solopreneur”:1. Freedom
2. Flexibility
3. Lots of Variety
4. Less Stress
5. Lower Expenses
6. Tax Advantages
7. More Control over Personal Time
8. Relaxed Dress Code!I want to talk about the first one, FREEDOM. It’s one of my favorites. Let me start by sharing an experience I had in the corporate world years ago.Early in my corporate career, I worked in corporate communications for a fast growing real estate services company. I had been talking with an editor at BusinessWeek about a story on my company’s recent purchase of a real estate investment trust. It was becoming evident that all wasn’t as it seemed with the state of this REIT’s finances and we were about to experience some fallout.I thought I’d done a good job of convincing the CEO to do an interview with BusinessWeek, to take the offensive and explain the company’s side of things, instead of retreating and refusing to comment, which made him look bad, like he had something to hide. We agreed on a time and place out in California for a reporter and photographer to meet with him.On that day, when I returned from lunch on the east coast, I had several “urgent” messages — from my boss, from the BusinessWeek reporter and the BusinessWeek editor. Everybody accused me of screwing up: The magazine was furious that I’d “led them on” about this interview, because when the reporter and photographer got there, the CEO insisted he knew nothing about it and refused to see them. The company bigwigs wanted to know why I had “sicced” this reporter and photographer on the CEO. My direct boss implied my job was on the line for pulling such a stunt.Of all these people, the CEO knew the truth. But he lied — to the reporter, to his management team, to my boss, to the magazine — and made me out to be the bad guy.It wasn’t the first or the last time that someone higher up in the corporate world betrayed me or treated me essentially like refuse. But it’s certainly one of the most memorable. This wasn’t some mercenary guy stepping on others’ toes during his climb up the corporate ladder. This was the guy already at the top!That experience certainly did nothing to enamor me to the world of corporate politics. Now I love the self-employed work-style. You report only to yourself. You can come and go as you please. The decisions you have to live with are made by you. You can hang whatever you want on your office wall. No bosses, no set work schedule, and no office politics to maneuver. My boss is honest, loyal, and committed to my success! She will never stab me in the back!