Chances are that you read the latest movie reviews on a HP desktop; make presentations to clients on a HP laptop or maybe just take print-outs of images from a digital camera through HP laser printer. Yes, that’s the extent to which HP has permeated into our lives. In fact, that’s not even a representative range of the Company, which was, quite inspiringly, born in a garage!
HP is just one of the many examples of huge and trail-blazing corporations across the globe that were born in a small room. Or even without a room.
So why can’t you house your idea in that small room of yours? Don’t you believe that limited physical space can never be a limiting factor for a mind space full of ideas?
Small or Home Office (SoHO) is a phenomenon that is making its comeback. Before the industrial revolution around the globe, nearly all offices were small offices and/or home offices, with only a few exceptions. The industrial revolution aggregated workers in factories, to mass produce goods; bringing along the need for large ‘office work’ by a big number of ‘white-collar’ professionals.
But the advent of the personal computer, and breakthroughs in voice and data communication has created opportunities for office workers to decentralize – leading to greater productivity at much lower overheads. And now, SoHOs make up a sizeable percentage of businesses across the globe.
Now several ranges of products, such as the multi-purpose computer desks and some cupboards are often designed specifically for the “SoHO” market. Several kinds of books are written and marketed specifically for this type of office, ranging from general advice texts to specific guidebooks on setting up such things as a small PBX for the office telephones.
Many top-notch consultants and the member of several professions such as lawyers, real estate agents or graphic design professionals operate from such home offices.
In fact, more and more large businesses across the globe are hiring professionals who work from home!
And it is not difficult to fathom why. ‘Normal’ offices find it difficult to adapt to new-age realities like outsourcing. The 36-hour or 48-hour cycles of much of software development have led many practitioners in this domain to do their work in home offices.
While it is still quite rare to be a part of a huge organization and yet get to work from home, the phenomenon of independent business-persons doing wonders in the field of their arena is fast becoming a visible trait of our society.
Of course, there would always be people who would suspect your ability to deliver – or worse still, your credentials. But if you can believe this, even the biggest corporations have to face apprehensions – in some form or the other – of future clients, partners or employees.
The fact of the matter is that while working from home might help you give your entire to your ideas and the business of ideas, biting more than what you can chew by investing big money into infrastructure might give you sleepless nights about the ways of early recovery of investment and probable repayment of loans. On the other hand, SoHO is safe, efficient and accepted globally.
Go for it!
