QUESTION: One reason I
wanted to start a homebased business was to have flexible hours.
How can I work when I want to work and still be available to my
clients?
ANSWER: More than any other
factor, the kind of business you choose determines the flexibility
of your hours. If you're an artist or a craftsperson, for
example, you can usually work at your own pace during the hours of
your choosing.
But service businesses, such as massage therapy, image
consulting and professional organizing, usually involve
appointments, so you lose a certain amount of flexibility. If you
develop regular clients, some are apt to want their appointments at
a particular time of day or week, but you do have the ability to
negotiate appointment times with most people.
Content Continues Below
Often, you can schedule clients at times that are mutually
convenient. In fact, one way of specializing is to offer
appointments during nontraditional hours, like at night or on
weekends. After all, 40 percent of full-time employees work
nontraditional schedules themselves and may prefer appointments on
their way to and from work.
Many other businesses don't require particular hours and
aren't appointment-centered, but clients nevertheless demand
that work be delivered on deadline. In fact, we, along with Lisa
Roberts, found in the national survey we did for our book, The
Entrepreneurial Parent (Tarcher), that meeting deadlines was
the challenge entrepreneurs most frequently mentioned.
Deadlines are a particular issue for one woman we know who
subcontracts with ad agencies to do PR work for their construction
industry clients. She chooses the hours she works, but she must
meet the ad agencies' killer deadlines, even if it means
sometimes putting her life on hold.
If you want to keep specific hours for yourself, you can follow
the example of another entrepreneur we know. She tells people she
has a commitment during the hours she doesn't want to work.
During the "non-working" hours, e-mail and her voice-mail
system allow clients to contact her.
If you are willing to be "electronically tethered," as
so many corporate employees are today, a cell phone, a pager, and
newer multipurpose handheld devices such as Handspring's Treo
300 and the Danger Hiphop can enable clients to contact you
regardless of time and place. That will give you the flexibility to
go about your life and still be available to clients who must reach
you.
Ultimately, finding a satisfactory level of flexibility depends
on what flexibility means to you, and what trade-offs you're
willing to make.
Originally published in the February 2003 issue of Entrepreneur's StartUps