Build a Solo Practice, LLC has a great post this morning called, When going home to go to work benefits the client.
One more reason to move your law office home. It works, really. While I agree with Susan, it is not for everyone. Don't discount it until you have given it some series research and thought.
By the way, while you are over at Build a Solo Practice, LLC, make sure you sign up for updates to the upcoming Solo Practice University.
I bet that got your attention. Especially since it was posted on the Home Office Lawyer. Well, Jay Fleischman certainly got my attention when he posted this, Why Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers Can't Work from Home.
This is a great post by Jay which really nails it why some attorneys will not practice from home. "Fear of the unknown, fear of changing the way you think about your world. Fear of how people - your clients, your colleagues, your judges - perceive you."
However, Jay takes it a step further and gives the one reason no one wants to hear. "Because you have no confidence."
Go over to Jay's POST and get the "rest of the story."
Separating the home office from the rest of the home, or the family activities can be a challenge at best. You have to create some sort of division between your home office and the rest of the home to maintain some form of productivity and to ensure your success as a home office professional. If you have the same option that I had, you should try to find a room that is as isolated from the rest of the house as possible. I use a room in my basement. Some others I know, use the attic, a spare bedroom, or a converted back room of the house. Still others use a room in the garage and even an outbuilding completely separate from the main house structure. The smaller the home, the more of a challenge it will be.
Personally I am not in favor of trying to use a room for your home office and also for other family functions. And I don't believe you can be productive if you use dividers in an attempt to separate yourself from the rest of the house. As they say in the movies, "get a room." And have a door you can shut.
In my home office and even though it is in the basement, I have a separate outside entrance to my office. Not that I make it a practice to meet my clients at my house. But it it nice to know if I do, they don't have to interrupt the rest of the house. Having a separate entrance may be important to you. This can also be a consideration as to where in the home you will put your home office.
Get organized!! If you use files, try to have the room for as many file cabinets as you might need. I scan as much of my files as I can. Two reasons. One, saves on the necessity for square footage. Second, if I leave the office I have my files with me and when I am in the office, I don't have to look for a file folder. It is all on my computer. How much space you have available in your home office may decide for you whether you will be a paperLESS office or not.
The main concern in deciding whether you are going to be a home office professional or not is will you have enough room. Enough room to be comfortable, to do the work you need to do and to store and organize the things you need.
Beating the Top 10 Problems of Working at Home is a new post over at Home Office Warrior.
They include:
We introduced a new feature over at the Home Office Warrior today, called Home Office Snap Shot. I included one photo of my desk. Which is actually only one of the desk in my office setup. You will have to visit Home Office Warrior to see my photo.
I would like to have this be a weekly feature and if possible more often. So, please email me a snap shot of your office. Give me a list of the technology you use that is shown in the photo. Also, provide me with your URL’s and an description you would want. This might be way to get even more exposure.
Well here it is. I have decided to officially announce the Home Office Warrior, the Internet Magazine for the Home Office Entrepreneur. As most of you know, I run my law practice out of my home and have been doing so since January 2005. I have enjoyed working out of my home and like many home office entrepreneurs, could not imagine going back to a downtown office.
I have also had a blast publishing the Home Office Lawyer and because of that, decided about 4 months ago to start the Home Office Warrior. It has been in the works for at least that long and it has been fun. From the first overall layout of the blog to the logo. Each step has been painful, exciting and rewarding. Even though we are still tweaking some of the features and even through we don't have all of the “Resource Center” blogs up and running, I decided now was the best time to announce it and provide the above link. We need to get the Home Office blogroll up and I need to finish the about page too. However, I have been posting to it for a while and I am lining up guest posters and others to contribute to its content as well.
During the process, I have enlisted the help of some wonderful people and best of all friends. They have provided me with very honest and candid opinions of layout, design and logo. I could not have done this without them. I will do a post very soon personally thanking each and everyone of them. Oh, and wait until you meet my developer. I know you are going to be as amazed as I am and proud. He has done just a wonderful job and he is hard at work on the other blogs in the resource center. I may even get him to guest post from time to time.
One of the Home Office Warrior Resources I would like to provide is a legal blog geared to the home office entrepreneur - home office business. If there is anyone who would be interested in being a contributing writer for that type of blog, please drop me an email.
The next network project we are working on is based on the success and fun I have had with the Home Office Lawyer. The network will be called Home Office Warrior (HOW). The main blog is under heavy construction as we speak and I am in the process of rounding up some great editors/bloggers for the blogs that will be part of the network. While HOW will not be focused only at the legal industry, the Home Office Lawyer blog will certainly be a big part of it. The HOW network will be a source for information about all things that concern the home office worker, home office business, home office warrior and the home office entrepreneur. My goal is to make it an “Internet Magazine for the Home Office Entrepreneur.” And it should be a lot of fun.
The network will be made up of connecting blogs covering everything from Home Office Financial Planning, Home Office Product Reviews, Home Office Technology, Home Office Technology Tutorials, Home Office Virtual Assistants, Home Office Health and Fitness, Home Office Blogging (Blog for Profit) and others.
Once we get further along in the construction process, design, layout and banner logo, I will post a link on the Home Office Lawyer for everyone to see. I also plan to post about the process of doing the HOW network as we progress with its birth. Right now we have a basic layout which we are doing from scratch. And so you know, we are building both networks on the Wordpress blogging platform. And hosting it ourselves. So stay tuned for more details. I might even post an image of the Mindmap I am using on the project.
Why you ask am I telling you all this now. Because I need your help. I am looking for home office entrepreneurs, home office business and home office workers who have an interest in writing, who are interested in being a part of such a venture. Not a money part but a writing part. I am not looking for investors. So drop me a comment here or an email if you have an interest in being part of the Home Office Warrior, the Internet Magazine for the Home Office Entrepreneur.
|
| Macs In Law Offices (MILO) |
| Visit this group |
