Don't Sweat the Small Stuff There's bound to be a simple solution.

Working from home has its perks, but what about the drawbacks?From barking dogs to faulty phone lines, homebased business ownerscan have mini- crises on their hands at any given moment. As thefollowing entrepreneurs demonstrate, however, it's all in howyou handle the situation.

ChristineJohansen-Hewitt
Second Chance Marketing
Middlesex, Vermont
I live in a rural area in Vermont, where I'm doing a veryhigh-tech job in a very low-tech area. One morning I woke up, gotmy cup of coffee, came down to my home office and realized none ofmy phone lines was working. I had a major conference call scheduledwith a client for the next morning at 11 o'clock. The nextmorning, the problem still wasn't fixed. I didn't want tohave to reschedule the call, so I took my cell phone downtown whereI could get a signal. I ended up camping out in the tanning room atmy gym, holding a conference call on my cell phone with Israel andBoston. Since then, I've made arrangements with several friendsof mine who have office space in downtown to borrow a spare desk incase 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 asection of our house. Martha, one of our two Boston Terriers, likesto 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 manyprospective guests were put off by Martha barking in the backgroundas 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 toexcuse myself, put my hand over the receiver and [scold] her. WhenI opened my communications firm, I made sure I got a phone with amute button and a hold button. Thank goodness for moderntechnology!