Do you have concern for your business or only for yourself?

I had an interesting conversation about my view that management control over employees is a myth. I have believed for some time now that an office is often a total waste of money and completely unnecessary. Most of the time I’m told it’s OK when you work by yourself, but not if you have employees, as they need to be supervised and somehow “controlled”.

I have now been working for almost ten years from home, and most of my staff works from home too. Apart from being an eco-friendly way to work, it saves people time and frustration to travel in and around London to come to an office, where we all sit in cubicles or offices. In the days of broadband internet, Skype and OnlineOffice, there is no need for an office, even to have meetings.

Offices, like cars are are often nothing else but status symbols - what other reason can there be for a small business to have an office? If that is true then how is the office helping with your business, it’s a big expense. Seriously, if you do not have clients coming thru your office doors several times every day, why have the office. Even if you have, do really all your people need to be in the office every day? I guess not!

We are in an economic downturn, what is more important - your ego or your business - ask yourself that every time you walk into your office. I’m sure there a good reasons for some micro businesses to have offices, even so I currently can’t think of any, but I’m convinced in most cases a healthy bootstrapping and outsourcing mentality would be more beneficial for your business.

Unless the first business goal is to feed your egomania, you need to have a good hard look at your cost structure to survive in these times. — ST.

11 Responses to “Do you have concern for your business or only for yourself?”

1. Chris Norton
   http://www.chrisnorton.biz
   
   Said on April 25th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

   I think this really depends on what sector your business is in. If you are in sales for a company you tend to be on the road and so not having an office isn’t a problem. However, some sectors and companies have to meet really regularly and brainstorm ideas and although Skype is a fantastic tool, it can also be found to be unreliable for face to face communication. Believe me it can be difficult to be creative when the signal suddenly drops out or you suddenly can’t see the face of the person who is speaking. I think working from home can save many businesses a stack load of money but for some the good old office block will always remain an expensive fixture.

2. Stefan Töpfer
   http://www.winweb.com
   
   Said on April 25th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

   Hi Chris,

   thanks for the comment.

   I have been doing it for ten years and we are pretty innovative, so why can’t it be done all the time like this. We meet maybe once a month or every two month, but most of the stuff is by phone/skype and other means. My team is all over the world, last week I hired someone in Australia and despite the time difference we all talk in groups.

   But I agree that some businesses need offices.

   Stefan

3. Chris Burgoyne
   http://www.loan-machine.co.uk
   
   Said on April 28th, 2008 at 9:37 am

   My work involves Consultancy and BDM work on a self-employed basis and I don’t need to have an office. Working from home is fine. My day is spent on the telephone a great deal and I do find that some people do feel the need to have an office - even on their own! To a certain degree I think it can make people feel more important to have “an office” but in a lot of situations it is a waste of money.

   Working from home does require a degree of discipline and perhaps those that have an office for the sake of having an office don’t trust their discipline in working from home?

   Chris Burgoyne
   www.loan-machine.co.uk
   www.iva-machine.co.uk

4. Stefan Töpfer
   http://www.winweb.com
   
   Said on April 28th, 2008 at 11:32 am

   Chris, thank you for your post - needless to say I agree with you wholeheartedly.

   - Stefan

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   http://vidacomesperanca.org/socialentrepreneurshiptoday/?p=13
   
   Said on May 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm

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6. Doug
   http://wakeshine.com
   
   Said on May 14th, 2008 at 4:04 am

   I agree with all of this, especially the part about “controlling” the employees. When we outsource, we just specify what we want done and evaluate the results. The same can be done with our direct employees.

7. Don
   http://www.anchorpointdesignsd.com/
   
   Said on August 20th, 2008 at 1:42 am

   I feel sometimes it’s important to have that store front available for clients to experience when they do come to the office for a presentation or to pick up an order. For newer clients, it solidifies the fact that you’re the real deal, but I can see all the other points too.

8. Phillippa
   http://www.purelivingcollection.com
   
   Said on August 25th, 2008 at 3:16 pm

   I couldn’t agree with you more. Many working people really do not need an office space it’s just another expense. As an interior designer I had an office purely to house all my furnishing samples, brochures etc but realised that I was looking at them less and less as I used the internet, using my mobile phone as a contact number (instead of the office number) and picked up suitable samples with each job on which I was working. Giving up my office space to work from home was so liberating - I threw out everything and haven’t needed any of it since. I now work from home on as a bedding retailer and if I need to have meetings I arrange to meet others in public places, though I recently read an article on places set up entirely for workers, many of whom are artists and other creatives who wish to meet and swap ideas, without having to necessarily sit in Starbucks to do it. It sounded a brilliant idea.

9. Hayden Hughes
   http://www.totalhomeservicesbc.ca
   
   Said on August 26th, 2008 at 3:15 am

   This is an aside, but I think that the businesses with the best ‘vision’ are those with smaller numbers of employees. In my opinion, when you start to expand too much, your vision and direction gets diluted. Obviously there is a trade off given the wealth of expertise available and as Chris aptly pointed out, the necessity of doing various things in business depends largely on what industry a business is in.

   Personally, I run an eco-friendly home services company, and so Skype and broadband internet wouldn’t really help my employees do their jobs, much less from their homes. One day, though, maybe. Great blog. -H

10. glass tiles
    http://owenclivetgmail.com
    
    Said on September 10th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    well for both
    mostly people do business for themselves only

11. Nicholas
    http://www.nburmandesign.com
    
    Said on October 7th, 2008 at 6:17 am

    If nothing else, working from home means I contribute less (if anything ) to the city smog. I reduce the amount of meetings I hold by using Skype and other online methods and encourage others to do the same.
    When it comes to paper, if I’m not reusing, I’m using applications like Google’s Notebook or my Blackberry to take notes, instead of scraps of paper.
    Also, my Blackberry is my map.
    And I have totally eliminated the fax machine! An internet fax machine is the way to go, if you have to communicate with others who insist on 150 yr old technology!

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