THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603160119
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER C. O'DONNELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 159 lines
ON A TYPICAL workday, Tim Mayfield sees his wife off to work, puts his two children on the bus, then prepares himself for the commute to Trademark Home Designs, a building design firm he owns and manages.
The commute, which takes all of 10 seconds, involves stepping over the family dog and walking up a flight of stairs to Mayfield's office, a 350-square-foot room over his garage.
Mayfield is just one of many Chesapeake workers who uses his living space as a home office. Representing what is becoming a national trend, Mayfield found a home-based business to be the solution he needed to incorporate his personal life with the requirements of a demanding career.
``I had to do something. My children were getting older, and when the youngest started first grade, I decided I needed to spend more time with them. They were definitely my motivation for the move,'' he said.
A year and a half ago, Mayfield made the move to a home-based business when he dissolved a business he owned with another designer and embarked on his own.
According to Rudolph Lewis, president of the National Association of Home Based Businesses in Owings Mill, Md., people that choose to work from home are looking for more than casual dress codes.
``Today, the trend is being driven by corporate downsizing. People just can't count on their jobs to be there tomorrow,'' he said.
Other home business owners are motivated by flexible work schedules, nonexistent commutes and low overhead costs, especially important for start-up businesses, said Lewis.
Approximately 45 million people work from home. Of those, 15 million run their own business, said Lewis. The others telecommute or derive part-time incomes from interests like hobbies or crafts, he said.
Lewis and Coralee S. Kern, president of The National Association for the Cottage Industry, said home-business owners span the generations and occupations. The NAHBB has more than 200 home-business classifications listed on its World Wide Web page on the Internet, where members network and talk shop.
Surprisingly, what is a common trait among home-business owners is the fact that most of them are men. Like Mayfield, many are prompted to work from home for personal reasons.
But satisfying family needs isn't the only reason some Chesapeake workers choose their homes as their work sites.
For Karen B. Nichols, a home business proved to be a springboard for bigger and better things.
After working out of her house for eight years running Medical Billing Services, a billing and accounting firm for doctors, Nichols moved her computers, copy machine, fax machine and numerous files to her own office off Kempsville Road. She then proceeded to hire nine full- or part-time workers, one of them her husband, Bob, who left his position with a mortgage banking company to help Karen run the business.
``I knew I had to move out of my house when I started expanding into the dining room,'' said Nichols.
But her success was by no means overnight and she acknowledges that she never would have been able to make the move to her own office had it not been for the low overhead costs associated with her home business.
``We figure we saved at least $400 a month in rent when we worked from home,'' said Bob Nichols. Karen Nichols said frugality is something they carried with them when they moved.
``You can go crazy with office furniture and equipment,'' she said. ``But we decided to buy our furniture second-hand and much of our equipment is also used,'' she said.
The benefits of working from home are numerous, according to the experts. Not only do at-home workers avoid the obstacles commuters face every day, but they also have a certain amount of flexibility in their work schedules.
``When the kids come home from school, I'm here,'' said Mayfield, who added the first phase of his work day ends when his children step through the front door.
``But once the kids are in bed I go back upstairs and work for another two or three hours,'' he said. ``When you work from home, you work when you can.''
Home businesses also provide individuals with the opportunity for supplemental incomes without the drawbacks associated with part-time jobs such as schedule problems or conflicts of interest.
Such was the motivation for Gale F. Cross, president of Centerville Signs. Cross opened his part-time business nearly ten years ago.
Cross constructs, paints and installs cross-arm poles for area real estate companies. Cross, a captain with the Norfolk Fire Department, started the business to supplement his income and provide a summer job for his then college-age son.
``I set the hours and work it around my schedule with the fire department,'' said Cross, who admitted he might fall back on the business full-time when he retires from the department.
But there are just as many disadvantages related to home-based businesses as there are perks. Topping the list of cons are lack of privacy and the inability to walk away from the job after a long day.
``Business contacts will call whenever the urge strikes,'' said Mayfield. ``It took me a while to get used to not picking up the phone every time it rang.''
Nichols, a self-proclaimed workaholic, found walking away from her desk a challenge.
``I couldn't always put it down,'' she said. ``At five or six in the afternoon, I'd run downstairs and cook dinner then run upstairs to work some more. I just couldn't switch gears.''
Nichols also found her home-business somewhat restricting when it came time for her to expand.
``I had to be very selective about my clients when I worked from home,'' said Nichols. ``Because my space was limited, I couldn't take on large practices.''
Should he ever decide to work his business full-time, Cross has already considered how he would deal with future growth.
``I wouldn't have to move the office work from the home, but I think if I enlarged the business I would have to rent a bigger workshop,'' he said.
Home-based workers say they are frequently labeled by clients and competitors as being less serious about their work or not as hard working as those who do business from an office.
``I lost some of my high-end customers when I moved home,'' said Mayfield.
Neighbors and city zoning codes can also provide hurdles for those who wish to work from their homes.
Last year, the Chesapeake Zoning Department conducted 196 residential business inspections. Most of the complaints came from neighbors bothered by increased traffic from delivery services and clients, said Chester D. McClain, zoning administrator.
If violations are found, home workers are forced to take steps to solve the problem, said McClain.
But Cross, and his wife and partner, Margaret, took steps to prevent problems with their neighbors before they began their part-time business.
``I went to all our neighbors and told them what we were planning and what it might involve. We just wanted to reassure them,'' said Margaret.
For home-based businesses, tax time can often prove grueling and for most, federal and state taxes must be filed quarterly instead of annually.
``We had to get used to saving all those little receipts,'' said Margaret Cross. ``After a while, you just have to develop a system that works for you.''
Despite the drawbacks, Mayfield doesn't believe he'll go back to an office anytime soon.
``Maybe one day,'' he said skeptically. ``I'll have to wait and see.'' MEMO: WHY STAY HOME?
The top four reasons for home-based businesses:
Low overhead or start-up costs
Avoid commuting
Protection from downsizing or layoffs
Flexible schedules for child-rearing
Source: National Association of Home Based Businesses ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover by MORT FRYMAN
Tim Mayfield...
Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Margaret and Gale Cross make and assemble real estate cross arms at
their home.
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Tim Mayfield designs homes at home.
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Karen Nichols, foreground, started her medical billing business in
her home, but moved into an office as her business and staff
expanded.
by CNB