The Home office Manifesto is designed to be a guide to operating a Home Based Business. We have included a small Index below to assist you in reading the information that is most useful to you. I.T. on Tap offers a service that brings all of the components together under one roof.

Why Work From Home?

What Are The Disadvantages?

Home Based Work Essentials

• A separate office space
• Office Furniture
• Air-Conditioning
• Family Support
• Technology
• Business Cards
• Good Lighting
• Power and Wiring
• Children and Pets
• Client Meetings

Home Office Security

Getting On The Road To Mobility

Website

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

Home Office Business Handbook

• Have a dream
• Be Clear
• Understand Your Obstacles
• Only seek good advice
• Navigate your way forward
• Forward March
• The Business Plan
• You’re Website
• Home office networking
• Home office computer setup

General advice 

Why Work from Home

In Australia today there are 800,000 people working from a home office, the positive points are well known:

• No daily commute
• No office rent
• Taxation deductions
• No dressing for the office
• No difficult bosses
• More time with family
• Small business operators
• Reduction in staff turnover
• Part time work
• Special skills
• Health
• Greater use of out of hour’s computer resources
• Increased productivity
• Geographic or sea change
• Fewer interruptions
• Job satisfaction flexibility
• More effective time management
• Less Fatigue
• Disabilities
• Lower absenteeism
• Less expense
• Greenhouse Emissions

What Are The Disadvantages?

It’s worth asking the question, "Am I suited to this type of work?", whether you are a home-based business operator, employee or already working from a home office you should be aware of the following disadvantages:

• Less social interaction
• Less supervision
• Greater discipline required
• Reduced access to workplace resources
• Less visibility for promotion
• Less feedback on performance
• You’re on your own
• Long hours
• Family distractions
• House hold chores
• Space requirements
• Suitable systems

Home Based Work Essentials

It’s all about having a good environment to work in. Listed below are the essentials you’re going to need:

A separate office space

If possible a separate room is desirable, you will need to be away from distractions and cover background noise when on the phone with clients.

Office Furniture

Your will need a filing cabinet, a comfortable chair, a desk large enough to accommodate your computer and still have enough room to work, and stands for other equipment .

Air-conditioning

You may also need air-conditioning particularly if you spend long days working, you must cut out background noise like lawn mowers. You may not have the option of opening the windows.

Family Support

You will need time and space to run the business, ask for no interruptions particularly when on the phone with your clients.

Technology

You will need the all-in-one profit making home office service from I.T. on Tap no matter where you are. Website, CRM and office software included.

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Ok OK enough about us. You will also need a fax, printer, and separate phone line. Really good speaker phone, modem for broadband, answering machine, mobile phone, broadband internet service (ISP) and computer.

Business Cards

Professionally printed and use the back of the card to describe what it is your business offers

Good lighting

Poor lighting strains your eyes and makes it difficult to work

Power and Wiring

Be aware you are going to be running a number of devices. Computer, fax, telephone and maybe even a copier. Most commercial buildings are set up for this, not so residential homes-consult a qualified electrician.

Children and Pets

You will have a lot of equipment plugged in and live almost all the time. If your home office is in a separate room lock up, if in a more visible area make sure the cables and wires are all out of reach , remember visitors may have children

Client Meetings

Most home based businesses are not set up for client visits. There are a number of virtual office providers in almost every city that cater for home based businesses. Meeting rooms, answering services and secretarial are available at competitive rates.

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Home Office Security

The main issue is equipment theft, and it’s not just the loss of equipment that hurts. Your data and stored files on your computer or backup disk are not replaceable. Typical loses include

• Excel Macros
• Files
• Addresses client details
• Customer history
• Work in progress
• Accounting billing information
• Password Control

This all adds up to hours of work and in reality is your business value. Insure for this type of loss, make sure you know how to back up and have two copies stored in separate locations or simply use the I.T. on Tap service.

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You never worry about this type of thing-all your data is protected by us

The first step to making mobility a contributing factor to your home business success is to understand the many different flavours mobility comes in. Below is a list of thing you will need

• Software that takes the input of the devise you use and connects this to your applications you use to take orders etc
• You will need to customise this software to get it up and running
• You may use a Smartphone with an email program; you will also need to create an application in the background to take the data off the Smartphone and into your office.
• Sounding like a costly chore, the alternative is to log on to the I.T. on Tap Service and get mobile now for free.

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Website 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

Your CRM software must be easy to use, inexpensive, integrate with your website and integrate with your Microsoft office software. At I.T. on Tap we provide SugarCRM free of charge including hosting ready to go and you save immediately on CRM software purchase and expensive integration.

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Home Office Business Handbook

One of the challenges is to remain focused and invest resources for maximum pay off. Working form your home office can sometimes result in your activity being unfocused, poorly designed and ineffective.

Below is a simple list of things you must do-the handbook of the home office business.

Have A Dream

Why am I doing this, what’s the big picture. Remember where you want to go and do not allow your self to get buried in the daily grind. Put systems in place to streamline your office procedures and keep it simple.

Be Clear

If you’re starting a home based business you already have some skill or idea of what it is you want to offer. Have a precise description of your product or service in view in your office.

Understand Your Obstacles

Make a list of the obstacles you are aware of and then list 2 or three solutions for each issue. It may take some time and back yourself up with research on each problem, Google can help by pointing you to good reference material.

Only Seek Good Advice

You need feedback relating to your business, only accept this form people you know and trust. Gets lots of opinions from these people and write down the most recurring themes and use this information to your advantage.

Navigate Your Way Forward.

Knowing the problems you may face, begin to map your way through and look for he easiest most safe direct route. Write down corresponding tasks that match each step forward.

Forward March

You know where to go and what to do about each problem you will encounter, its now time to write your business plan and take action. It’s good to re-assess your plan often and keep referring to it daily.

The Business Plan

If you have not written a business plan search the local internet on Google using the criteria “how to write a business plan” and look for the government sites as the most complete guide. Broadly your business plan should include

• Executive summary
• Business goals
• Management plan
• An operating plan
• A financial plan
• An action plan

Your Website

There are three components to get your website to do its job:

• Creation of the site
• Marketing the site
• Integrating the site with your office systems and CRM Software

I.T. on TAP will provide you with a website free of charge to get started; it’s already integrated with your CRM database and our other systems.

Please contact us and ask for advice - we can help you do this inexpensively and save you time

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Home Office Networking is one of the most inexpensive ways to build you database of prospects and clients. If you’re working in a home office it’s also a way of out of isolation, listed below is a quick guide to business networking.

• Carry your business card with you always where ever you go
• Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine
• Target where you go
• Be brief, your there to meet as many people as possible so remember so are the people you are meeting
• Tell people how you can help them
• Be specific, nothing worse than being confusing
• Ask for cards
• Keep a supply of cards in you car
• Talk a little about yourself from a personnel perspective.
• Do not drink to excess-it’s not a good look to prospects.
• Social Networking Sites such as LInkedIn (refer LinkedIn And Social Networking For The Home Office Business)

Home Office Computer Setup

You have a small office and are running some combination of Microsoft Office on Windows operating system. Below is a list of things that you will need to know

• Connect routers & Computers
• Configure your computer to receive IP addresses
• DHCP protocols
• Power up a router
• Web browser settings
• Back up procedures & software.
• Install Spam Software
• Install Virus Software
• Load patches and fixes on the system

We recommend if you are not technical you have all of this for done for you. Remember if your computer is not kept up to date then sooner or later you will not be able to operate it, suffer from a security issue such as identity theft or you may lose your data.

You can log in to I.T. on Tap and completely forget about all of the above - we take care of everything.

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General Advice

Credit Card Debt
Business credit cards are useful tools in separating your personal expenses form your business. Some simple tips are:

Lowest Interest rate

• Shop around

Loyalty offers

• Should not influence your use of the card-the travel points or other incentives are only a bonus.

Consolidate only have one card

• Keep to your budget

Only Business Expenses

• Discipline needed on this one but it’s important

Estimate Costs Accurately

• Be thorough-read the fine print and if your unsure seek clarification, offer the same to your clients.

Minimise Risk

• If for some reason your cease business the last thing you want is some fixed monthly fees. Never purchase anything for the business that requires you to enter into an extended contract that you cannot stop.

Direct Bank Debit

• This is useful for both suppliers and customers, only use it for services that are essential. Otherwise it’s not necessary and you should decide when a supplier is paid.

Conserve Capital

• Rent where ever you can provided no fixed term-conserve your cash

Third Party Financing

• Establish relationships with financing partners for your clients, once again shop around. 

Do Your Own Bookkeeping

• Stay Informed and save money

Do Your Own Banking

• Stay Informed

Customer Benefits

• You and your customers must understand the benefits your service or product provide-customers buy benefits

Extra Value

• No Questions Guarantee

Location, Location

• Make sure you can be found, ensure your web page is at the top of the searches.

Convenience

• Make it easy to deal with you, have credit card facilities in place and consider a free call in number

Reliability

• Attention to detail, advice, follows through and follows up

Planning

• Simply means control your destiny

Know Your Audience

• Understand your customers and why they come to you, ask them for feedback

Go To People

• Be a go to person for others

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