Green Acres: Homebased Entrepreneurs Are Heading To The Country

Joan Schweighardt, owner of 18-month-old publishing company GreyCore Press; Jeffrey Rose, co-founder of XpressTrack Inc., an 18-month-old software development company; and Michael and Uli Belenky, owners of Zutano, a designer of upscale baby clothes, have all discovered that where they work is not nearly as important as how they work: conveniently, flexibly and with minimal stress.

The Belenkys started Zutano from their kitchen table in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1989, but the strain of trying to raise two young daughters in the city, coupled with the apartment's space limitations, prompted their move to Michael's hometown of Cabot, Vermont, two years later. This village--which boasts a population of less than 1,000 and contains a hardware store, a general store, a garage and a creamery--welcomed the new business, which the Belenkys operate, along with their 17 employees, out of three dairy barns on their property. The move hasn't hurt the business, which grew 50 percent last year and supplies about 1,000 boutiques, and Michael, who is 40, claims he never feels out of the loop. When the couple needs to tap into urban resources, they can easily travel to New York City, Boston or Montreal from their headquarters.

"So much of what we do doesn't matter where we are; we're all working in this virtual world," Michael says. "We do our knit production in Armenia and Macao, and all the communication and corrections are done by e-mail." For the Belenkys, the big advantage of being in the country has been the ability to expand their facility at will simply by building another barn.

They've also been enriched by building personal relationships with people in the community. "[New York City] was incredibly impersonal, especially in the area of banking," Michael says. "Here, there's support for growing businesses. The bank president, Alice, comes to our farm and has coffee. It's nice to be a bigger fish in a very small pond."

Jeffrey Rose, the 39-year-old president of Wildhack, a 6-year-old Web development company, and XPress Track, a company that develops software for academic journals, believes he's more productive working from his home office in Cochecton, New York (population: 1,300) than he was five hours away in New York City. "I needed the fresh air and the country lifestyle," says the long-time urbanite. "I saw there was no need to be around all those people all the time."

For Rose, the benefits of the move have been monetary: The mortgage on his 6-bedroom farmhouse, situated on 15 acres, is the same as the rent for his apartment in the city. But he's also found that the relaxed lifestyle helps his frame of mind and, ultimately, the quality of his work. "Coffee breaks are vastly more fun," he says. "I can get completely out of my work environment without going far, and I can get right back to work quickly."