Home Alone and Working: Now There’s a Club to Help : Business: Home-based entrepreneur organizes a support group with twice-monthly meetings to swap office advice and provide encouragement for others.
Cindy Zuvich of Redondo Beach has what many would consider the ideal job. She can schedule her work around the demands of raising two small children, has no need to commute and can wear jeans--even a bathrobe--to the office.
Zuvich, a 34-year-old office management consultant, is part of a small but growing segment of the economy: home-based businesses. For people who are laid off, or fear they might be, home-based businesses offer a measure of financial security in uncertain times. But even for those who successfully set up such a business, being a home-based entrepreneur is not easy.
Zuvich started working at home two years ago after leaving her former job as a buyer for a department store. She advises small business clients--many of whom also work at home--conducts seminars and workshops, and sells filing systems and other office products.
The normal difficulties of starting a business were exacerbated by the isolation of working at home alone, unable to interact with co-workers or retail customers. And like many in the vanguard of social or economic change, she knew of no home business group that could help her cope.
So Zuvich decided to start her own. Initially, she called everyone she knew who worked at home; in October of last year, the Homebased Business Club was born.
At their twice-monthly gatherings, about a dozen home-based professionals in a variety of fields swap business leads and time management or cost-saving tips--and provide moral support for their fellow entrepreneurs. Their informal discussions cover everything from tax planning to dealing with interruptions from children or parents. But most important, the meetings let members know they are not alone.
“A lot of times there’s a blur between personal time and business time,” Zuvich said. “It’s hard to say, ‘I’ve got to work, goodby,’ especially with the kids. You can’t really put your finger on how many hours you’ve worked, so you don’t know what your income is as a reflection of your time. There’s no way of measuring.”
For many members, the hardest part is selling themselves--even imagining themselves--as professionals with something to offer. Club meetings give them the opportunity to do so in a low-pressure setting among peers.
“In the back of my mind is the thought, ‘People are going to find out I’m faking it,’ ” confided Laurie Lindsay, a Lomita graphics designer recently laid off after eight years at Hughes Aircraft. “It’s very scary.”
Lindsay’s circumstance is not unusual; several club members became entrepreneurs because they lost their jobs--or felt they might.
Kris Kimble, a sales and marketing manager at a Stockton waste management firm, says he started a sales management business at home to provide a timely financial cushion because he and his wife plan to have children.
“I feel the same way a lot of people do (about the present economy)--just fear,” the Manhattan Beach resident said. “Not that (a layoff) is inevitable, but the loss of control, having somebody else controlling my future . . . We’d love to start a family, but we have a very high mortgage, and it’s very difficult to back off that treadmill.”
Through featured speakers at each meeting, members get information on small business topics or ideas on solving start-up problems. They also gain access--through barter with other members--to services that their new businesses need but cannot otherwise afford. One business owner might exchange design work on a direct-mail brochure for computer consulting or word processing services, for instance.
The emergence of home-based businesses may be changing the way American corporations do business, particularly in the present era of economic downsizing. Members say home entrepreneurs appear to have an advantage amid today’s tough economic times. They offer services that companies can no longer provide for themselves as a result of layoffs--marketing and advertising, for instance.
Zuvich theorizes that home-centered work, with its tolerance of disruptions that families can cause, may even help to humanize the workplace and the way Americans do business.
“I talked to one member recently who has a cordless phone, and who has to lock herself in the bathroom whenever she’s on the phone,” she recalled, laughing. “Or if her child gets really out of hand, she’ll run out to the back yard until she finishes that conversation. I’ve had my kids purposely start fights when I’m on the phone, and then the dog starts barking.
“But I think there are so many of us now that are doing this that it’s becoming more acceptable. Business can be conducted in a more informal way, a more trusting way. It doesn’t have to be so structured.”
