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Byron Anstine, of Paoli, Pa., is a real estate developer and syndicator whose current projects include a shopping center and an apartment complex. His business, launched five years ago, is doing very well, thank you.

Anstine's gross income varies between $150,000 and $200,000, he says--"and that's just about my net, because my expenses are so low."

When he talks of expenses, he means telephone bills and stationary, but not rent for an office at some prestigious business address. He operates out of his home.

Byron Anstine represents a trend in the national economy--the rise of the home-based business. Experts who have studied this trend estimate there are more than 10 million home enterprises today, 7 million of them nonagricultural. A decade ago the total was only 6 million, experts estimate. And they see more growth ahead.

There are several reasons for this phenomenon.

One is the renaissance of entrepreneurial spirit that has seen so many Americans strike out on their own in business. In some cases, this has meant a part-time, after-hours enterprise. But--hard figures are not available--experts say the vast majority of home-based businesses are full-time endeavors.

Another reason is the growth of direct sales companies like Amway. Martin Lefkowitz, director of economic trend and statistical studies at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says direct sales distributorships rose 61 percent from 1977 to 1982, the latest year for which figures are available. But the 1982 total--766,000--was only a small portion of home-based businesses.

Still another reason is extension of life expectancy and better health in latter years, coupled with early retirements.

And another is the increasing perception among business people that they can cut costs by contracting out work to specialists in various business services, such as research or tax accounting. Lefkowitz says the number of self-employed providers of business services almost doubled--to 1.2 million--2n the five years ending in 1982.

Sparking this growth, Lefkowitz says, has been the availability of the personal computer, which enables business people to draw on information sources once unreachable from home. PCs facilitate proliferation of other types of home-based business, too. They enable the small firm to process and store information more efficiently, reducing the need for space and clerical employes. (And their widespread use has created healthy demand for free-lance computer programers, many of whom work out of their homes.)

Advances in telecommunications, including install-it-yourself wiring, jacks and adapters, have also enabled home businesses to use time-saving devices and conferencing techniques formerly affordable only by larger companies.

Combined with the growing number of telecommuters--people who work at home but are not self-employed--home-based business people have become a significant market segment for communications equipment suppliers. Says Arthur Friedman, executive director of marketing and product management at AT&T Consumer Products: "Providing products for work-at-home consumers is perhaps the fastest growing area of the communications market today."

Home-based business is, of course, not new to this country. It has long been common among professional practitioners--medicine, dentistry and accounting, to name three types--and craftspeople. And many big companies--Apple Computer and Hewlett-Packard come immediately to mind--got their starts in homes or home garages.

But today the variety of home-based businesses is greater. They range from architect to free-lance anthropologist, from electronics designer to importer-exporter, from nutrition consultant to supplier of secretarial services.

And many home-based business people do not intend to leave home even if their companies become big.

Byron Anstine, who went into real estate development after 12 years of practicing law, says:

"I started my real estate business at home originally for economic reasons, just to make sure I could get it off the ground. But now that I'm used to it, I'd find it difficult to work with a lot of people around. The isolation allows me to think creatively." His wife and three children respect his privacy while he is working, he says.

As he becomes more successful, Anstine anticipates need for a staff, including leasing representatives, construction managers and clerical help. "I'll set them up in an outside office, but I'll keep my personal office here at home and visit my staff once a week or so," he says.

Locating a business in the home, whether that is the goal itself or a means to an end, offers fundamental advantages. One of the most commonly cited is the opportunity to spend more time with family members. "My working long hours outside the home was hard on my family," says Anstine. "Now when I want to take an afternoon break I can go out in the backyard and throw the Frisbee with my 15-year-old. And I eat lunch with my wife almost every day."

# posted by Medical Information : 3:34 AM