5 Reasons Why Working from Home Should Not be Underrated Infuse disciple while working from home, you could actually deliver results.

With modern-day entrepreneurship not restricted to only running business from swanky offices; you could also bring out your entrepreneurial traits right from the comfort of your home. In fact, a sizeable number of freelance entrepreneurs today prefer working from home independently on multiple projects; rather than restrict themselves to a fixed working environment having to follow office rules.

But, there are apprehensions about the new work from home trend not bringing in the desired laurels for entrepreneurs (especially the first-timers) who after a point in time look at expanding horizons. Hence, in a bid to analyze the prospects of the modern-day informal working trend, Entrepreneur India interacted with multiple entrepreneurs who give a 5-point lister on why you as a newbie entrepreneur should not underrate the work-from-home culture in 2018 and beyond:

You could run a startup from your home – it won't do any harm

"The blend of work and play is increasing and social. Informal gatherings often lead to large business opportunities," states Rahul Puri who is Managing Director at Mukta A2 Cinemas.

For Puri, what matters is the right platform for idea exchange and learning facilitation; both of which could practically happen anywhere; there is virtually no need for an office for an idea to strike your brains.

In this regard, you could be a business owner, and work from home by remotely monitoring your team – who could work from their respective homes as well. This could essentially create a non-physical organization which with the right policies could witness the same amount of discipline and optimal work performance as that within any conventional office/organization.

"Empowering and unshackling your workforce to be themselves and think like individuals will yield the best results for any 21st century organization," he believes.

Puri's thoughts are echoed by another entrepreneur – Amin Rozani (Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Spartan Poker) who says that informal and work-from-home work cultures could more often than not lead to your teams exploring uncharted territories as they mentally have more space to experiment to discover innovative techniques and solutions to problems.

"A skilled leader can help their team by offering them support and freedom," he adds.

Home – your first school for everything

If you are a first-time entrepreneur preferring to work from home, then remember the good old saying "Home is the first school, mother is your first teacher." This is not an exaggeration considering the fact that the home is where innovation begins.

This is true for work as well; when you work from home, you are practically devoid of mental blocks such as commuting to office, having to face a bad boss, and even fretting about lunch. Your mind is essentially free and chances of an innovation striking your brains are on the higher side.

"Even within an office, hierarchical cultures are ending, as a democratization of ideas begins to be the most valuable thing in a business, and these ideas flow in a very 360-degree manner," informs Puri.

With large corporates also encouraging the work from home trend, you as a newbie entrepreneur are certainly not in a bad position if you adapt this trend and even display this on your RESUME. Today, you could start a business without having an office; what matters is cleverness and creativity.

You live in a creative society

Your product and innovation attracts the first priority, compared to your business model and glamour of your offerings. This is substantiated when we consider independent filmmakers who often make low-budget yet content-oriented films that are devoid of glamour; and most of these indie filmmakers do not possess swanky offices; their idea largely got configured while they were nested in homes reading a news bit or researching for something.

Hence, creativity is what grabs the eye today and the Indian society does not complain when you give them what they want.

Millennials leading the way in 2018 and beyond

With India being one of the youngest countries in the world, in terms of citizens under the age of 35, the number of millennials joining the workforce is naturally on the rise.

"66% of workforce will be millennials by 2020," informs Bina Mirchandani who is Happiness Mentor. Mirchandani analyzes the mind of young professionals and is of the inference that a key requirement among the new-age millennials would be a "home away from home". What if you give them a home itself?

"In today's fast moving dynamic times, the idea of having a workforce that thinks only of work from 9-5 means that opportunities are being shackled," iterates Puri.

Now, we do not aim to discourage your ventures to start offices on your own and manage large teams; but the emphasis here is on the aspect of creating wholesome work policies and considering your fellow team members as humans, rather than hired guns.

Eliminate tardiness in informal work cultures – Opportunity to showcase smart policies

While the very idea of an informal work culture and work from home sounds rosy; there are chances that tardiness takes over work productivity. You could create policies for your team (remote monitoring) where they adhere to certain fixed hours but are at liberty to take part in business video conferencing even in their pajamas whilst maintaining discipline.

"Discipline starts with respect for time. When you read the stories of some of the most successful entrepreneurs or CXOs in the industry, they all have the following in common – they are early risers, prompt in their response, constant learners and diligent about professionalism and time," adds Soumini Sridhara Paul who is Vice-President, Artist Aloud, at Hungama Digital Media Entertainment.

If you are working from home, remember that you only have the liberty of your home; other work disciplines should be followed whilst staying connected. Us smartness to get work done, rather than spending hours starting at your computer screen.