Lori
04-16-2004, 08:27 PM
Many new businesses are "virtual companies," in which entrepreneurs and their staffs work from home offices. Frequently, these offices are scattered around the country or even around the world, tied together by increasingly sophisticated and inexpensive technology.
Although the absence of a "normal" office environment changes the job of managing people, it doesn't eliminate the need for doing so effectively. In fact, it introduces new challenges the founder must be aware of. As in every realm of business -- and life -- these challenges are the flip side of a set of advantages that prompted the model to take hold in the first place.
COST. In 2002, after eight years with three public relations agencies, I opened my own firm, Principor Communications, as a virtual organization. My major reason was to eliminate the cost of office space and everything connected to it. In addition, there are tax advantages to working from a home office. However, the major cost savings have been in the area of labor. The skilled, experienced professionals who staff my agency are all independent contractors. They're women who are home raising young children.
Read more about virtual businesses (http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/apr2004/sb20040416_7411_sb008.htm)
Although the absence of a "normal" office environment changes the job of managing people, it doesn't eliminate the need for doing so effectively. In fact, it introduces new challenges the founder must be aware of. As in every realm of business -- and life -- these challenges are the flip side of a set of advantages that prompted the model to take hold in the first place.
COST. In 2002, after eight years with three public relations agencies, I opened my own firm, Principor Communications, as a virtual organization. My major reason was to eliminate the cost of office space and everything connected to it. In addition, there are tax advantages to working from a home office. However, the major cost savings have been in the area of labor. The skilled, experienced professionals who staff my agency are all independent contractors. They're women who are home raising young children.
Read more about virtual businesses (http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/apr2004/sb20040416_7411_sb008.htm)