Practicing Out of Your Home

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Permalink Reply by Jill Semonin on July 21, 2008 at 12:04pm

I would think if it was perhaps a separate closed off area from the rest of the home. I often wanted to sell my other home, which i use just for my office. (it's on a business strip). You will not get commercial advertising, same as you would in a business zone, so it's harder to advertise, but it's still do-able.

Downside:
When I did run a business from my home (different business) i found it to be a pain in the rear. It was like nobody took it serious and when I said I had appointments and family needed anything, they expected me to be the one to budge. . . Since I owned my own business. Being the boss, family and friends expect me to just change my schedule for everything. Had I worked for someone else, I could just say "can't get off" and they would not press the issue. So I am expected to always be available for everything. It can be abused easily, as well as unneeded phone calls.

Also, I had to constantly clean my entire house. Tough to do, as I did have 3 children and was divorced with one small dog. It was just too hard to keep up, I eventually bought a different home to keep business and personal separate. However, I must say.... The cost is doubled. Not sure if I can keep up. Trying to do it all.....

My idea is thinking if I can find a bunch of people, willing to all work together to offer alternative choices for clients. Then we could all split the costs. Hard to do, especially if in a new area.

If I could buy a new home, I would make a home with an front office, that closed off from the rest of the home for appointments and do this out of my home. It's accepted anymore. Security is another issue, but I think it's the same whether it's office or business. Anyone can find anyone anymore, so it seems.

It will be very interesting to see what others have to say.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Nongard - HypnosisGurus.com on July 21, 2008 at 12:10pm

My opinion:
A professional should never practice out of the house. An exception is the professional who lives in a house zoned for both commercial and residential, who can create a seprate office without entry into the living quarters.

There are a number of issues with practicing out of the home:
1.) Yes, it is unsafe. That should be enough.
2.) The highest level of client you will ever be able to attract is the level of your living quarters. So you you are middle-middle class, you will never have upper class or middle-upper class clients.
3.) Your fees will be reduced becasue you look unprofessional (fair or not, this is the perception)
4.) The perception of referral resources (you will need to do a lot of networking in a new city), is that you are unprofessional.
5.) It is unsafe.
6.) You won't like people in your real-life space.
7.) Boundary issues are born from practitioners who practice at home.
8.) It is unsafe.
9.) If the neighbors know, they will turn you into the zoning board or HOA. If they are crazy neighbors, they will call the police saying you are running a brothel or crack house, with strange cars pulling up... They you will have to explain to Austins finest, AND deal with zoning and HOA.
10.) At your house, you can't put up a sign.

Get on Craigs list. Austin CL is VERY active. You can get a private room in a suite with others for around $200 a month. That is one smoking cessation client a month. You can get a business suite for about $400. Thats 1.5 smoking clients a month.

In Texas, they have chased out the hookers from the massage industry, and so 99.99% of massage places in Austin are legit. They did this about 15 years ago, with tough licensure laws, and have tightened again recently. As a result, you can respond to ads seeking to lease massage space, and this is perfect for hypnosis, and you can get referals from the massage therapists who share the space.

There are alot of other office share arrangements in Austin, I would stay south on Bee Caves Road area, or north like Round Rock or Pflugerville, or central like UT area. 183&620 probaly a great ara for business also.

Moving is hard, and it will take a little adjustment, but Austin as as wonderful as California, and very open to hypnosis. You will have no trouble getting referrals and building clients, there is enough hypnosis for everyone to stay busy in Austin.

Enjoy Austin, and don't stress - you will do well once you esablish your niche. The best way to describe Austin, is what if the people of Portland, had the values of California, and lived in Texas.... a wierd place, but wonderful.....

Get an officeshare, get lowcost ads in the Austin Chronicle classified section, and start networking... :) In no time you will be enjoying your new home.

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Permalink Reply by Celeste Hackett, CH on July 23, 2008 at 10:47am

I love working from home! I have a separate business wing and two dogs now. My husband is home by 12:30 and we park both of our cars out front so new clients think there are people here at all times.

I live in a middle class neighborhood and I attract clients of all pay-scales. By the way, I had several millionaires use my services and at least one came when I was practicing out of my apartment 3 flights up by the dumpster.

There are safety considerations. But there are anywhere. I used to practice in a medical facility. I officed with an accupunturist/chiropractor. After I left the building, a lady came in and held another doctor at gun point on our floor. THAT was in a building. The lady ended up killing herself, not the doctor, by the way.

Use your intuition when you book people. If for any reason you don't feel comfortable refer them out at any juncture. Apartment leasing agents used to take licenses and copy them and put them with another leasing agent before showing apartments. Maybe you could have an agreement with a neighbor like this.

My apartment complex knew about my business and didnt' mind at all. Also, The City of Plano allows home offices and even allows up to one employee to work for me. Check with Austin to find out the restrictions in your area. YOu can research it on the internet.

To me, I would rather take a chance on my own life by helping people then take a chance on the lives of so many others by not offering my loving service to help them. But you have to be comfortable in your decision. See.....I know I can bounce back from any tragedy. I'm a hypnotist. If I die, I'm in heaven and what a better way to go then while doing your best to serve your fellow man?

If I am maimed for life, I'll be stronger for bouncing back, even if only in attitude. if I don't help people and I have this knowledge, well, to me that is nothing short of a shame, maybe even a sin, as I am called to do this work from that one power greater than me.

My husband commented the other day as we were driving up to the house after lunch. He said I used to be so worried about some psycho coming to the house or that people would just hound you and follow you around "what about Bob style" but, he said, I have grown to trust your judgement.

Still, yes, anything can happen. Just be sure you know what you are willing to lose. To me, this is worth the risk. I love it!

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Permalink Reply by Tianna Roser on July 21, 2008 at 12:38pm

I appreciate your thoughtful responses. Richard I like your idea about sharing space and refferals with massage therapists. It's funny because I looked on Austin's craigslist for a couple weeks and found hardly any listings for shared space. There are many here in the Bay Area craigslist. I am wondering if anyone knows of another resource for finding office space?

I also looked up Austin's city website and found regulations around home occupation businesses. It seems like it would be okay provided that I don't put up a sign or have too many people coming or going. My preference is 4 clients a day, spaced out, which isn't too much traffic. One of the reasons I am considering this as an option is because I saw Celeste Hackett's podcast (from the Cal Banyan website). She has been practicing out of her apartment in the Dallas area and highly recommended it as a way to start out until you build your client base.

I was thinking that I could look for a place as Jill said, that had a den or bedroom at the entrance. Then it could be separate from the living space. I still have time to figure this one out and am looking forward to more discussion. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Richard Nongard - HypnosisGurus.com on July 21, 2008 at 1:57pm

In my opinion, advising someone to work out of an apartment is really bad advice. That is an eviction notice waiting to happen. And, the chances of someone practicing in an apartment being able to afford to move to a "real" office is slim in my opinion, becasue the rates you can charge with such an unprofessional setup, will never be high enough to save for the big move....
Also in Texas, that is where the hookers did move to - apartment complexes!! No more massage parlor hookers, they now have "private studio apartment" according to the ads in the Austin and Dallas weekly newspapers.... you can bet the landlord will be on top of that one.
Now, I know you were talking about a single-family home, so that warning probly doesn't apply to you, but in my opinion it is a rather poor idea someone else should not take advantage of.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Singer on July 22, 2008 at 9:50am

Tianna,

My thoughts are completely with Richard on this one. It is unprofessional, and I promise you, you will never REALLY be able to charge what you're worth or what you want if you don't have a professional office.

Sharing space is great idea. Another great idea for finding space is looking in your phone book and calling every psychologist/weight management counseling group/counseling group and asking about space. This is how I found my last two offices, and never paid more than $400 a month.

If you are satisifed making about half of what you should be making, and don't care that clients will see you as "some lady who does it out of her house", then you could keep seeing clients in your home.

I really don't mean to be harsh, but hypnotists are always complaining about never really getting as much respect as other health professionals, but people continue to see clientele out of their home and wonder why. Would a doctor ever even THINK to see clients out of his home?

If you start trying to project the same professional image as a doctor has (not promoting yourself as a doctor, of course), and positioning yourself as an equally professional footing as a doctor, lawyer, or other professional, you will begin to attract much higher quality and higher paying clients.

Josh Singer

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Permalink Reply by Walter Martindale on July 21, 2008 at 9:09pm

My 2 cents is this... If you have a nice, clean and professional office in your home, then the biggest consideration I would have is this: Safety. Are you comfortable having clients in your home alone with you? I'm a hypnotherapist working in Hollywood and have had 3 offices over the last 5 years. One in Hollywood, the other in Westwood and now I work exclusively from my home office. My clients all prefer my home office and I prefer the ease and savings of working from my home. I work on a referral only basis, have affluent clients and charge $100hr -- I have never had a problem. Maybe some would say i'm lucky or it's easier for me because I'm a male and have no safety issues. I'd suggest for you to take all things into consideration and make the most cost effective solution for yourself.

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Permalink Reply by Susan French on July 23, 2008 at 6:41am

Hi all,

I was a top LA singing teacher for 25 years. I had one room in my condo for students/studio. It was soundproofed and separate. At the time I left that field I had a 2+ waiting list for time slots. People seemed to love coming in if they were early.

Maybe I'm lucky, but in all the years I did this I never had an incident.

When I started my hypnosis practice, I started in my condo and moved to shared office space as soon as I could justify it with a minimum flow of clients.

When I have clients who can't afford my fees, I see them at my condo and pass the savings on to them. At our shared office space they charge us $100 a month even if we have no clients and then charge us $20 out of each hour (more if we dare go over a few minutes) up to a max of $500.

Truthfully, I haven't it found that it mattered if I give the client what they need. My condo is very, very quiet.

I think that you start where you can. Actually, my clients seem to prefer my home office also. I DO like to meet new clients at the office for safety and for the way it looks to a stranger (impressive).

Susan

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Zimmerman on July 22, 2008 at 8:14am

Tianna,

I practiced out of my home for years. At the time I lived in a small college town and the City allowed home businesses so I did feel safe. I did it with kids and a husband who did carpentry at home. The upside was the price and convenience. The downside was having to keep my house clean for clients. When I moved to Sacramento there were restrictions on the business license. I could go to client's homes or have an office but could not see clients in my home. So I rented an office and now I love not having clients here.

While I felt safe in the small college town, in a bigger town like Sacramento (and the fact that by then I was living alone) made a big difference. Check first with the business licensing requirements in Austin. If it isn't allowed perhaps you can find a small office to sublease or share. I subleased my first office for around $350/month. It was great. She already had the waiting room furnished and she never raised my rent. It was in a nice part of town and offered free parking. I was there almost 4 years... until she retired.

As for seeming unprofessional, many of my clients said that they preferred the home atmosphere. And I think that you can be professional in any setting. If you decide to work at home, just dress and conduct yourself the way you would at an office.

Katherine

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Permalink Reply by Tianna Roser on July 22, 2008 at 4:29pm

It is interesting to see the diverse perceptions about working out of one's home. So far most everyone I have talked to here and elsewhere who has practiced out of their own home had many positive things to say and seemed to have no problem getting clients. Those who have not practiced out of their home seem to have a somewhat negative perception of it, in terms of safety, professionalism and financial feasibility.

I am still weighing all the options and can see how it really depends on where your home is and how you present yourself. I did a search on Austin's craigslist yesterday and did find more options for shared/subleasing space than I did previously. I have to admit though, with today's gas prices and commutes, that I find working out of home an attractive option.

My practice is perhaps different from some of yours. I am also a Reiki Master and do Reiki treatments and Reiki training. My practice is about 50% hypnosis and 50% Reiki. I approach hypnosis from a more transpersonal model. Therefore I tend to attract mainly female clients who are on a path of personal development or spiritual awakening. So safety is less of an issue with this client population.

I still would love to hear more opinions. Due to the economic factors, I think working from home will continue to rise, not just in our profession but in many others. If done well, I think it can make sense.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Karas on July 23, 2008 at 4:56am

Hi Tianna - I have been practicing out of my home for several years, and I have 3 kids, a husband, and 2 enormous dogs. For me, it's the only way to go. My office is in my (finished) basement and has 2 large ground-level windows, so there's plenty of natural light, and is just a few steps down a short hall from a bathroom. The space is separated from the family area by a door and another short hall.

To get to the office, you must enter my front door and go downstairs -- I don't have a separate entrance. I worried that this might seem unprofessional, or that people might be intimidated by seeing the dogs (2 well-behaved Old English Mastiffs). It has never been a problem. The house is very clean for when a client is coming, and I always mention the dogs when talking to clients on the phone. I explain that they don't jump,nudge,bark etc., but if the person would be more comfortable, I would make sure the dogs were in another room or outside and the client would never have to see them. In all these years, no one has ever asked me to leave them outside, and in fact, the dogs are a great ice-breaker. Kids especially can't wait to see these gentle giants.

An important note - pay attention to odors in your home (cooking/pet etc.) You don't want to make a bad first impression because you just cooked some fish for lunch.....Also, a home office can be less "clinical" than some rented spaces, but that doesn't mean less professional. (I've seen some rented spaces that were really gross. It's all about how you present yourself.) I've found most people relax & open up more quickly in my home than they might in a different environment.

As for safety, most of my clients are women, but if there's a new male client coming, I set that appointment for a time when my husband can be home. I also have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and clients have to walk past my heavy bag and gear on the way to the office. Maybe that sets a certain tone......;-)

Let me know if I can answer any questions: www.mindworks-hypnosis.com has a contact page as well.

Jess

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Permalink Reply by Susan French on July 23, 2008 at 6:46am

Hi Jess,

I put in my .05 cents (I think that's what a penny is worth...lol) above. It sounds like your office is isolated, safe and private for the client.

Didn't anyone see the showtime serious with Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment"? I was fabulous and I hope it comes back.

He was a credentialed psychologist who had his office downstairs from his home (which seemed to be in an upscale neighborhood). He had an external entrance but it was definitely in his "basement" and he was definitely professional.

Susan

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