Working from home has its perks, but what about the drawbacks? From barking dogs to faulty phone lines, homebased business owners can have mini- crises on their hands at any given moment. As the following entrepreneurs demonstrate, however, it's all in how you handle the situation.
Christine
Johansen-Hewitt
Second Chance Marketing
Middlesex, Vermont
I live in a rural area in Vermont, where I'm doing a very
high-tech job in a very low-tech area. One morning I woke up, got
my cup of coffee, came down to my home office and realized none of
my phone lines was working. I had a major conference call scheduled
with a client for the next morning at 11 o'clock. The next
morning, the problem still wasn't fixed. I didn't want to
have to reschedule the call, so I took my cell phone downtown where
I could get a signal. I ended up camping out in the tanning room at
my gym, holding a conference call on my cell phone with Israel and
Boston. Since then, I've made arrangements with several friends
of mine who have office space in downtown to borrow a spare desk in
case something like that ever happens again.
Jayme Simoes
Louis Karno & Co.
Hillsborough, New Hampshire
A year ago I started my own communications consulting firm in a
section of our house. Martha, one of our two Boston Terriers, likes
to come over to my office with me and sleep by the gas stove.
Before starting the firm, I ran an inn for seven years, and many
prospective guests were put off by Martha barking in the background
as I tried to tell them about the inn. I learned to throw my shoe,
not at her, but near her to get her attention, but I often had to
excuse myself, put my hand over the receiver and [scold] her. When
I opened my communications firm, I made sure I got a phone with a
mute button and a hold button. Thank goodness for modern
technology!
Chris Ryan
Ryan & Associates Public
Relations
Phoenix
When I got my cat, Nat, they warned me at the shelter that he likes
to be the center of attention all the time. In my business, I do
crisis management and trial publicity, so I do more serious kinds
of public relations. Nat [likes to make] his way under the desk
while I'm talking on the phone, and he'll bite my ankles
and then run away until he gets my attention. It's very
painful, and it's hard for me to keep my composure. If that
doesn't work, he'll come right up to the phone and start
meowing. It's basically a two-pronged attack. Now I keep a big
squirt bottle by my desk and threaten to squirt Nat if he keeps it
up. It's a pretty comical ritual that we go through on a
regular basis.
This story appears in the March 2001 issue of Startups. Subscribe »
