I’ve (Kate) been working from home for over 20 years and wouldn’t have it any other way. Fortunately, I learned at an early age that pantyhose, water cooler chit-chat, and interminable meetings weren’t for me. Over the years, I’ve run three businesses from the comfort of my home. As I sit here now, in my underwear, with one cat massaging my hip and the other one snuggling with my iMac, I pity the poor souls who are battling the interstate on the way to their nine-to-fives (hah, more like seven-to-sevens).

I started my career in banking and spent six years as a commercial lender with two of the nation’s largest banks. The daily commute on the Sure-Kill Expressway (Philadelphian’s nickname for I-76, the Schuylkill Expressway), convinced me to start my own home-based consulting business. I think the final straw, make that straws, was the mattress that flew off the truck I was following and blanketed my windshield. On the other hand, it really may have been the pantyhose. It’s hard to say which was more traumatic.

Problem was, even running my own business I was still wearing pantyhose most of the time. Then I met an entrepreneur, whose business, like many of my clients, was on the bleeding edge of technology. After desperately trying to help him raise money for his venture, I reluctantly recommended he quit while he was behind. It was Tom who introduced me to flying with a ride in his 1920’s open cockpit biplane. And it was love at first flight. One thing led to another and the two of us decided to ditch the rat race, trade our business suits for flightsuits, and try make a living flying biplane rides.

One little problem with the concept–Philadelphia’s weather. We either had to move somewhere we could fly year-round or go back to real jobs–and pantyhose. Be afraid, be very afraid. So, with the aid of modern technology, we did an analysis of national weather statistics. Our search specified sunny skies a minimum of 300 days a year, annual precipitation of less than 15″, and average temperatures of at least 60 degrees. San Diego was the perfect fit. California here we come.

About a month later we packed our bags (very small ones) and headed west in a 1929 biplane in the middle of winter? In fact, it was the worst winter Philadelphia had seen in decades. Open cockpit, 16 degrees. Can you spell `windchill’? We left tracks in the snow on takeoff, and somehow endured six days of flight in sub-freezing temperatures before finally landed in the warm Sunny Diego. Over the next 16 years we expanded the fleet to 7 airplanes, and turned Barnstorming Adventures into the largest vintage airplane ride business in the country. But even a fun business like Barnstorming can get old after a while so in 2006 we sold the business to a nice couple who continue to share the dream.

What does all this have to do with undressing for success? It may be hard to imagine, but for the most part, we ran the flying business from home in our underwear. We had 25 pilots who did the flying (not in their underwear), and a virtual answering service fielded the phone calls. Our time was spent rounding up folks to fill the planes.

Fortunately, making spectacles of ourselves was something that came naturally, and that knack served us well in attracting media attention. Our quirky web site was our primary method of chumming for customers, and that’s where most of our marketing effort went. And boy did it pay off. All accomplished while working at home.

Along the way we wrote two books: Finding Money: A Small Business Guide To Financing and The Directory of Venture Capital–both published by John Wiley & Sons.After college and a stint as a Navy flyer, I (Tom) “went to school” at Booz, Allen & Hamilton as a Consulting Scientist, and then became a Senior Scientist at OCLC, an amazing international computer services company. While I loved both jobs, I knew deep down I really wasn’t cut out for the world of suits.

For the past 25 years, the entrepreneurial call of the wild defined my path. Some ventures worked. Some were, um, learning experiences. But after spending the last two decades working from home, I can’t imagine ever going back to a `real job.’ Well, actually I did recently consider applying for what would be my dream job–running cameras on a spacecraft–but my game plan was to convince them to let me telecommute. What’s another few miles compared to 142 million miles to Mars?

Now don’t get me wrong, we may work in a comfortable setting (it’s Southern California and we really do have an office with a hot tub in it–and an ocean view), but we work our butts off to earn a home-based living. The nice thing, they say, about running your own business is you only have to work half a day–the issue is which 12 hours. But we don’t mind because both Kate and I love what we do, and we love working 6 feet from each other. We even wrote the manuscript for Undress For Success without shedding any blood.

But here’s why we don’t mind the long hours–we choose when, where, and how hard we work. No one watches us (except the cats). No one second guesses what we’re doing. There are few meetings, and when there are, it’s usually on the back patio or in the hot tub. And best of all, Kate doesn’t have to wear pantyhose (me neither, for that matter). In the end, all that matters is what we accomplish. It’s that simple.

Are you tired of torturous commutes, endless meetings, and countless interruptions? Do you want a better balance between work and life? For thousands of people just like you, a work–at–home career is their road to freedom, control, and happiness. But what kind of home–based work is available? And, how do you separate the real opportunities from the thousands of bogus work–at–home scams that dominate the Internet?

Undress for Success offers honest, real–world information on home–based jobs, businesses, and careers that can change your life. Based on the authors′ three decades of experience working from home, this comprehensive guide explores and explains everything you need to know about how to simplify your life with a work–at–home job or business. It′s the perfect guide for anyone who′s sick of the office lifestyle and ready for a change.

This practical step–by–step guide details the who, what, why, and how of working from home the advantages and disadvantages, the skills and traits you′ll need to succeed, and how to avoid losing your shirt as you attempt to undress for success. If you′re an employee, you′ll discover how to successfully pitch a work–at–home program to your boss or find a new employer who loves the idea. If you want to freelance, Undress for Success offers a guide for how to find, price, and get paid for your work. And if you want to run a business, it reveals the motivations, talents, and resources you′ll need to get started; identifies best–bet home businesses; and offers true stories about what it′s like to work where you sleep. If you′re an employer or government leader, you′ll find a fascinating look at the ways at–home workers are more productive, help reduce traffic, increase productivity, and even slow global warming.

This book offers work–at–home hope for everyone from high school grads to PhDs, secretaries to programmers, Gen Y′ers to Baby Boomers. From interviews with people who work at home, you′ll learn about the techniques, technologies, and strategies that make them successful. Undress for Success is the ultimate guide for making the road less traveled the way to work.

Praise for Undress for Success

“The best collection of teleworking ′How–To′s′ and ′Why′s′ that I′ve seen anywhere. This book is a gold mine for anyone seriously considering working from home. Whether you want to freelance, operate your own business, or stay fully employed while you work at home, you′ll find dozens of hints and insights in this wonderfully entertaining and insightful book. And if you′re an employer who wants to attract and retain talented people, give them a copy of this book, send them home, and reap the benefits of their productivity and motivation. They′ll love you for enhancing their lives.”
Jim Ware, cofounder, Future of Work Program

“No one should attempt e–work until they understand how to be a competent e–worker. This unique and enlightening guide will help you open the door to e–work success and improve every aspect of your life in the process.”
Marcia Rhodes, Public Relations Director, WorldatWork

“There′s never been a comprehensive guide to all aspects of telecommuting, until Undress for Success. Whether you want to work remotely occasionally in your current job, find a full–time e–work job, or start a business that allows you to work from or at home, Lister and Harnish cover all of the bases in this comprehensive, easy–to–read guide that clearly outlines the rules of success.”
Cali Williams Yost, Fast Company expert and author, Work + Life: Finding the Fit That′s Right for You

Kate Lister is an authority on small business marketing, finance, management, and growth. She has owned and operated three successful home–based ventures, including a consulting business that helped hundreds of entrepreneurs raise millions of dollars and an aviation business with seven aircraft and twenty–five pilots.

Tom Harnish is an expert on the technologies that make home–based jobs possible. As a consultant, project director, company president, and business owner he learned what it takes to make money using computers and telecommunications from over thirty years of successful and not–so–successful business development in fields as diverse as health care, home banking, and elec–tronic publishing.
For more information, please visit UndressForSuccessOnline.com

Undress for Success

The Naked Truth about Making Money at HomeBy Kate Lister

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2009 Kate Lister
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-470-38332-2

Chapter One

Who E-works and What Do They Do?

Imagine organizations in which bosses give employees enormous freedom to decide what to do and when to do it. Imagine electing your own bosses and voting directly on important company decisions. Imagine organizations in which most workers aren’t employees at all, but electronically connected freelancers living wherever they want to. And imagine that all this freedom in business lets people get more of whatever they really want in life-money, interesting work, the chance to help others, or time with their families. -Thomas W. Malone, The Future of Work

About 14 million people run home-based businesses or freelance in their frillies. In addition, depending on who you ask and how they count, somewhere between 5 million and 12 million Americans hold jobs that allow them to work at home in various states of undress.

The counting problem isn’t because no one has bothered to study the work-at-home population. The IRS, Bureau of Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Small Business Administration, and a number of private researchers all collect data about people who work from home. But they all come at it with their own needs and biases. Some researchers count small businesses, others don’t. Some surveys include people who work from home as little as one day a year, while others focus on people who primarily work from home. Some fail to distinguish between paid and unpaid work. None separate out those employees and business owners who work at home from those who work from home.

Bruce Phillips, a researcher for the National Federation of Independent Business, described during an interview the task of trying to find the real work-at-home numbers as “a statistical Vietnam-the data goes in, but you can’t get it out.” As a result, studying the work-at-home population is a little like trying to study meteoroids. We know there are a lot of them and we know they’re important, but we don’t know where they all are and not everyone agrees on which ones to count. Still, based on what we do know, we can begin to develop a model that’s helpful.

E-work by the Numbers

While it’s true that figures lie and liars figure, statistics do offer a useful insight into the nature of e-workers. Surveys show that men outnumber women e-workers five to three. Four out of five e-workers are married or cohabitating, and three-quarters are college grads. Fifteen percent are over age 55. Forty percent have a household income over $75,000 a year, and only about a third of those who work at home for an employer have been with the company for less than two years.

So a forty-year-old, college-educated, married man, who’s been with his employer for five years is a shoo-in right? No, not really. There are lots of thirty-year-old, high-school educated, single women who e-work too.

The Nature of E-work

A program called Workplace Flexibility 2010 was started by Georgetown University to help policy makers and corporate leaders understand the need for more flexible work environments. They examined the jobs that offer the best fit for home-based work. Table 1.1 is a summary of their findings. You’ll note that many of these skills are common to professional, technical, or sales functions. In fact, those types of jobs account for over half of all e-work. Table 1.2 summarizes the best job categories for e-working. If you look at the industries where those skills are dominant, as Table 1.3 demonstrates, business services accounts for the highest percentage. As we mentioned earlier, some of these industries, such as construction and real estate, don’t truly offer the opportunity to work at home-that just happens to be where they’re based.

The Trade-offs

Landing an e-work job or starting a home-based business may require retraining, and even a change in lifestyle. For many, the desire to work from home is worth the effort.

Robert is a registered nurse specializing in pediatric care. He wanted to work at home so he could be there if his wheelchair-bound father needed him. He found e-work as a telenurse. It meant a cut in pay, but being available for his father was more important.

Eleanor had a good job as a corporate bookkeeper but decided to freelance so she could spend more time with her kids. It meant a less stable income, but she says the move has really improved their quality of life.

Jim, an at-home legal transcriptionist, has a law degree but frequently moves because of his wife’s military career. He doesn’t practice law anymore, but he can take his job with him wherever she goes.

In the chapters that follow, you’ll read how millions of others have made the road less traveled their way to work, and how you can too.

(Continues…)

Excerpted from Undress for Successby Kate Lister Copyright © 2009 by Kate Lister. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Are you sick of the rat race? Do you feel like your life is out of control? Are you tired of the time and money you waste commuting?

You’re not alone. The majority of U.S. employees would eagerly trade their business suits for sweat suits if they could find a way to work from home. Already, for about twenty-six million Americans, work is what they do, not where they go.

Way back in 1970 Alvin Toffler understood the problem. In Future Shock he wrote, “In a country that has been moaning about low productivity and searching for new ways to increase it, the single most anti-productive thing we can do is ship millions of workers back and forth across the landscape every morning and evening.”

Does dressing up and going to an office make you any smarter? Speaking for myself, I can almost feel my I.Q. go down as I pull my pantyhose up. And what’s with neckties? Who decided a tourniquet around an executive’s brainstem was a good idea?

Does sitting in an office with a gaggle of people make you more productive? Between the obligatory coffee-corner blather, interminable meetings, two-hour lunches, football pools, birthday parties, and cubicle gossip it’s a wonder anything gets done.

To be fair, some folks enjoy the social aspects of office life. They’re content with life on the cubicle farm. They like being corralled by the nine-to-five routine and enjoy the time away from home. But if, like me, you’re happy to hammer away at your keyboard in solitude, you’re eager to shed your business duds, and you yearn for more control over your life, this book is for you.

Early on in my career, a keen sense of the obvious told me the conventional job scene was not for me, so I set out on my own. Over the past twenty-five years, I’ve run several successful businesses from the `comfort of my own home,’ and couldn’t be happier.

A reporter once asked: “So what inspired you to start this business?” My answer–on live TV–was, “Pantyhose. I can’t stand `em.”

We sold our home-based aviation business in 2006 and while initially retirement beckoned, we quickly burned out on life in the slow lane. So, we set our computers in search of something that would allow us to continue to work, if not au natural, at least in comfy clothes. Google didn’t disappoint. It found 1.6 million work-at-home opportunities and another 2.2 million home business ideas. Gulp–we’d be eligible for social security before we’d make a dent in the list.

We engaged our BS detectors and quickly realized that finding legitimate at-home work is akin to hunting for lost pirate treasure. You’ve heard there’s booty out there, but you don’t exactly know where it is, you’re not the only one after it, and all manner of ne’er-do-wells are out to hornswoggle you along the way.

Those who do manage to secure a home-based living still face an uphill battle. They often find that people don’t take them seriously because they don’t dress up for work.

We encountered the work-at-home prejudice on several occasions as we interviewed companies for this book. Though virtual employers themselves, they refused to be quoted because of the title of the book. One virtual accounting firm owner said he didn’t think the image of his bookkeepers wearing nothing but a pencil behind their ear would be good for business.

Another stigma home-based employees and business owners face is that folks think they have it easy. Their co-workers, neighbors, and even families picture them sitting around eating bon-bons while they giggle at reruns of The Office. Fact is, successful pajama professionals work every bit as hard, often harder, than their dressed-for-success colleagues. Indeed, over-working is a common problem–having the office `right there’ makes it very hard to turn work off at the end of the day.

It’s been three decades since forward thinkers saw that telework had the potential to unclog the nation’s highways, clean up the air, and improve worker morale. Until recently, the anticipated wildfire of change has simply smoldered. Now the high cost of gasoline, labor shortages, environmental worries, and commuter gridlock are adding fuel to the fire. Technologies that weren’t available even a decade ago are fanning the flame. In spite of the many obstacles, the at-home workforce is growing by about ten percent a year.

There’s never been a better time to dress for success. Over half of all U.S. employers have tested the waters, and many have found telework the cure for all sorts of business maladies. Venture capital is pouring into companies with remote-work business models. Politicians are calling for laws that support and even require it.

A trip to the bookstore finally pushed us to write this book. While we found plenty of titles that claimed to offer expert work-at-home advice, most were stuck in the days when June and Ward Cleaver were the model family. They touted treasures in antiques, cash from crafts, and fortunes from cookies. Few mentioned the concept of having a job you could do from home. Most seemed to assume that only Mommies care about spending time with their families. More to the point, none of the books really showed their readers a way home.

What we’ve tried to do in this book is deliver the naked truth on how to earn a living at home as an employee, a freelancer, or a business owner. Since most people long for more control in their lives, we’ve organized this into six sections that you can read in whatever order you damn well please.