Alone Behind The Desk 8 Tips to overcoming the isolation of working at home.

In 1987, Sue Hurlbut experienced every corporate employee'sworst nightmare when she was abruptly and traumatically fired froma Portland, Oregon, construction firm she'd helped build into amultistate corporation. She recalls, "I began in entry-levelcustomer service and rose through the ranks to become vicepresident of operations. I was also on the corporate board ofdirectors and had developed such a level of trust with the companypresident that he allowed me to house-sit when he went onvacation."

But suddenly, Hurlbut says, life as she knew it was over, whenher supervisor chose to believe a false accusation issued byanother employee. Devastated, Hurlbut cried for two days. But onlytwo weeks later, her homebased business, Organization Plus, inClackamas, Oregon, was accidentally born. She was working for atemp service when a potential first client approached her aboutsetting up a bookkeeping system. In her former position, Hurlbuthad regularly completed manual bookkeeping and installed computersystems. Before she knew it, she'd embarked on a new career asa professional office organizer, specializing in helping businessesmake the transition from manual to computerized accounting, as wellas providing other organizational services such as creating filingsystems, developing employee manuals, and organizing paperflow.

Yet, while the required tasks seemed to be a perfect match withher past experience, operating a homebased business initially wasnot. "I'd always considered myself to be someone whoworked best alone," she recalls, "so I thought a homeoffice would be perfect for me. It was a shock to find myselfmissing working with other people after only a few weeks." Atthe corporate office, she'd grown weary of hearing voicesconstantly calling her name. "I knew the voices representedapproaching demands on my time and energy."

Hurlbut couldn't believe all the aspects of the conventionaloffice environment that she missed. She felt the absence of all ofthem, from janitors to clean her office to colleagues with whom shecould share common complaints. She even missed being able to bringtreats to share with her co-workers! "I live alone, but loveto cook and bake. I would bring baked goods, or cook a lunch ordinner and take all the leftovers to work. I suddenly had to stopcooking, because there was no one to share it with."

Hurlbut found herself frequently leaving her home office to chatwith neighbors. "I was forever making deals with myself topostpone working until the evening so I could enjoy a movie, take awalk or run errands." She finally faced the fact that she wasputting off completing tasks because she craved the company ofothers. She says, "Nobody had ever told me that the adjustmentto working from home could be hard, scary and lonely. I thoughtthat nobody felt this way but me--that everyone else waseffectively dealing with this situation." Today, nine yearslater, Hurlbut is happily successful with two homebased businesses.Hurlbut and other homebased business owners and experts all agreethat shifting to the flexible hours and solitary environment of ahomebased business requires a conscious adjustment, and can benefitfrom advanced planning. The following suggestions are offered tomake the transition from traditional office employment to homebasedentrepreneurship smoother and less disruptive:

1. Shift to a proactive mode of interacting with others.Hurlbut began coping with her isolation once she discovered animportant difference between corporate and homebased business."When you work for a company, you spend most of your time in areactive mode, responding to other people's requests foraction," she says. "In a homebased business, you aresuddenly in a proactive mode, where nothing happens unless you takeaction. It's a very different mentality."

When she began to seek and acquire more clients, Hurlbut'ssense of isolation ebbed because there were more people with whomshe could interact. "People usually start companies becausethey're good at making or doing something. I was good withpaperwork, devising budgets and creating business plans. Butbefore, I was totally passive and reactive, never proactive in mypersonal and business relationships." Creating OrganizationPlus changed all that, Hurlbut says proudly. "Starting ahomebased business caused me to become proactive in order topromote myself through speaking and advertising--a risk I'dnever have taken otherwise. Self-promotion turned me from beinglonely and scared to being alone and strong."

Nancy Heubeck, president of Business Clinic in Denver, ahomebased enterprise that assists others in starting newbusinesses--particularly homebased businesses--suggests givingyourself a "strategy for success" to help overcomeobstacles caused by your own personality quirks. "Because Iabsolutely hate networking and going to cocktail parties," shesays, "I would put 20 business cards in the left pocket of myjacket. My rule was that I could not eat anything at the partyuntil I gave 10 of them to other people. I couldn't leave theparty until I got rid of all of my cards and got at least 20 backfrom people in my target market."

2. Focus on results to cope with your new solitary workingstyle and flexible hours. When you are used to an 8-to-5schedule, switching to a flexible schedule requires self-disciplineto duplicate your former professionalism and productivity, saysHeubeck. She explains that feeling free of the time constraints ofoffice life and required co-worker interactions sometimestranslates to feelings of isolation when you realize that there areno longer colleagues in the same building with whom to share yourthoughts. Heubeck feels that shifting your mind-set from an hourlyemployee-based outlook to a results-oriented approach can help youcope with your new business style.

"Don't measure your work by the time you put in,"says Heubeck. "Set goals and evaluate your success by theresults you are getting. For example, if you have four projects dueon Friday, and you finish them all on Monday night, you can takethe rest of the week off." Remember, one exciting advantage ofa homebased business is that you don't have to duplicate theprescribed hours, dead time and long waits of typical office life.You can get more done and have more time to yourself.

3. Create a business plan to cope with the loss of officesupport. Most conventional office employees don't realizehow much support is actually provided by an office environment, sayHeubeck and Hurlbut. When there is no one there to buy yourenvelopes, fix your computer, or answer your phone, you may feelbereft working alone. "Know yourself--your ownpersonality--and create an office plan before you begin yourbusiness that will replace those aspects of conventional officesupport that you will no longer have in a homebased business,"advises Heubeck.

Rudy Lewis, president of the National Association for HomebasedBusinesses in Owings Mills, Maryland, suggests that homebasedbusiness owners might want to consider the possibility of utilizingshared office space if they find they still need secretarial orother business services on a limited basis.

4. Consider joining a mentor group or other supportnetwork. Across the country, homebased business owners arejoining mentor groups in increasing numbers. Denver's DixieDarr, who left a career in higher education ten years ago to beginpublishing her newsletter for "corporate refugees" called"The Accidental Entrepreneur," suggests homebasedentrepreneurs might want to contact a group of other homebasedbusinesspeople or others in the same professional field."Because of your common interests," she says, "thegroup will understand obstacles that you are dealing with and beable to offer their own perspective on similar work and personalsituations."

Heubeck agrees. "Simply setting up a peer mentor group toshare war stories and nitty gritty problems and concerns allows youto get feedback while fulfilling the need for socialization that weall have."

5. Surf the Net. While computers are often perceived asisolating, you can use your computer to connect with others byutilizing online Internet services. Darr used to post messages andchat with other homebased entrepreneurs on CompuServes'sWork-At-Home Forum, and has since become aware of many online usergroups relating to homebased business. "Online services getyou outside of your own head, yet you don't have to leave yourhome to participate," she says. "Also, you can spend asmuch or as little time as you want."

6. Have a company picnic. Just because you don't workfor a company doesn't mean you can't enjoy the companyperks. If you work alone, there's no one to pick for a softballteam or three-legged race at a company picnic. But you canhave your own form of "company picnic" by gettingtogether socially with others who are also homebased, possibly inprofessions that are similar to yours. "It's important tobe with people with whom you have some history, and who know andlike you. It's one of the best antidotes for loneliness,"says Lionel Fisher, who has studied living and working aloneextensively and is the author of A Guide To Working Happily,Productively and Successfully From Home (Prentice-Hall, $10.95,800-922-0579).

Six years ago, Salt Lake City's Lonnie Bradley, a homebasedscreenwriter and travel-agent instructor, formed a group of writersdedicated to the premise that writers spend too much time alone.The members, who range from writers of children's literature tonewsletter writers to technical writers, meet monthly and interactas friends. They'll discuss writing, but just as often discusstheir kids or their hobbies. "Even though we're writers,during our fun and relaxed meetings, we usually end up discussingall the creative arts," says Bradley. "We interact insinging, storytelling, drama and philosophy. Even though we rarelydiscuss the technicalities of our work, I always go awayinspired."

7. Give yourself a bonus. All experts and entrepreneursinterviewed for this column agree that, without the typical officehours and structure, it's not always easy for you to realizehow much you are accomplishing. Remember to reward yourself andtreat your most important business asset--yourself--well."Hopefully, I've had my last `real' job," saysLarry Borowsky, who was a staff editor at an alternative newspaperin Denver for three years before founding Text Therapy, a homebasedcopyediting business whose clients include university presses andhistorical societies. Realizing the importance of seeking a changeof scenery, Borowsky relishes many opportunities each week to leavehis house to do activities that are not related to work. He evenreads away from home, taking a book with him and walking to acoffee shop for a couple of hours of literary recreation. He alwaysgoes to movies in theaters, rather than renting videos for homeviewing. In the summer, he becomes very active in bike riding andbasketball, and during the school year, he tutors students once aweek at their school. "Because I work at home," helaughs, "when I have time off, I don't want to come homeand sit on my living room couch like my friends who work intraditional offices do."

Carolyn Campbell, a home-office entrepreneur for 20 years,has written more than 200 magazine articles.

Coming Up

Fourth Annual National Homebased Business Conference

May 4-6, 1997

Hyatt Regency Hotel

Beaver Creek, Colorado

For admission or exhibition information, call (303) 863-9506, ore-mail ndana@csn.net

Worth Reading

"The Idea Activator" card deck.

Available through the

American Creativity Association,

P.O. Box 2029, Wilmington,

DE 19899, (302) 239-7673.

Reaching Out

Design your business plan to include interaction with others.Dixie Darr offers several suggestions for scheduling interactionwith others during both work and personal hours.

1. Schedule a breakfast, lunch or dinner meeting, or simply eatout with friends at least once a week.

2. Take a class relating to your business, such as accounting orbasic computer science.

3. Attend conferences and trade shows to meet potential clientsand other people in your business field. "This helps you findout what's going on in the world," says Darr.

4. Publish a promotional newsletter about your business."My newsletter presented information to potential clients,caught their attention, and got them to call me," says Darr."It also reminds past clients about my business, and theyoften call, too. This promotes additional interaction withothers."

5. Give one or more speeches about a topic related to yourbusiness field. "Speaking helps you meet people who areinterested in your field," Darr says. "It's a goodmarketing tool, and it's a way to find newinformation."

6. Occasionally, pursue a joint project with another homebasedbusiness owner. "By working on an occasional jointproject," Darr says, "you may also develop a reciprocalarrangement where you can refer assignments you are too busy toaccept to a colleague in the same business, and they can also referoccasional clients to you."

Contact Sources

The Business Clinic Inc., 1911 S. Pearl St., 1st Fl.,Denver, CO 80210, (800) 470-7780.

Lionel Fisher, 31307 I St., Ocean Park, WA 98640, (360)665-4673.

Lonnie Bradley, 4375 South 2490 East, Holladay, UT84124.

Organization Plus, P.O. Box 1703, Clackamas, OR 97015,(503) 659-3773.

The Accidental Entrepreneur, 3421 Alcott St., Denver, CO80211, (303) 433-0345.