Home Business Information

Research shows that the vast majority of wireless usage occurs within a 20- to 30-mile radius of where people live and work. Cincinnati Bell, which serves nearly all of the households and businesses in greater Cincinnati, believes that the new plans will provide exceptional value to customers, especially families and small businesses, who frequently use their wireless phones. These plans offer unlimited calling in greater Cincinnati and Dayton to and from the more than two million Cincinnati Bell telephone numbers customers most frequently call.

"Cincinnati Bell has shattered the old way of thinking about wireless," said Rod Dir, chief operating officer of Cincinnati Bell. "We've designed the 'New Rules' wireless plans much like our home phone plans. Customers calling any other Cincinnati Bell customer, whether to a landline or wireless phone, no longer have to worry about minutes."

The plans also include unlimited Cincinnati Bell mobile-to-mobile, unlimited nights and weekends, free long distance and no roaming charges anywhere in the USA.

"New Rules" is only available with the GSM wireless network. Cincinnati Bell has invested more than $80 million over the past three years to upgrade its GSM network and has added more than 100 towers to expand its wireless coverage.

"A recent independent study of network quality confirmed Cincinnati Bell has fewer dropped calls than any of our competitors," said Dir. "We provide an outstanding network to go along with the exceptional value of the 'New Rules' rate plan."

# posted by Medical Information : 3:47 AM  0 Comments

The business marketplace is rapidly becoming less localized and more international. Import-export revenues are increasing faster than any area of the economy. In fact, National import revenues often exceed the gross national product of countries with whom we trade. A major benefactor is small business, work-at-home moms and entrepreneurs.

These import-export trends are expected to continue as communication and transportation capabilities become more sophisticated. One entity that's paving the way in this field is Government Publications, based out of Washington, DC. They are dedicated to researching and publishing the latest information about government grants, loans and other sources of aid for small business and entrepreneurs.

Government Publications offers a complete business start-up kit for US and Canadian residents on CD-Rom. It includes instructions for successfully importing/exporting products from and to foreign countries. The CD reveals how and where US and Canadian residents can obtain free grants and low-interest loans to start a new or expand an existing business. It includes contracting opportunities for selling products and services to the US Government. It lists hundreds of importers-exporters according to geographical area and type of product they buy or sell.

In addition,"Billions of loan and grant dollars have been earmarked for people previously identified as credit risks," announced Terry Newborn, a researcher for Government Publications. Money is available to purchase homes, cars, start a business, and consolidate debts and many other purposes.

"Now is the time to act if you need money for any worthwhile purpose," urged Newborn. He also reported that several reduced-cost and even free programs now exist to benefit the economically disadvantaged and recently unemployed.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:45 AM  0 Comments

Watching movies on a plane or in a car just became more affordable. Dell Computer Corporation Tuesday announced it is offering DVD drives (digital versatile disc) on its mainstream Inspiron notebook PCs, enabling customers to take movies, high-end games and educational programs on the road.

Beginning now, customers can order DVD on the company's Dell Inspiron notebooks for small business and consumer customers with prices starting at $2,299.

Dell expects the low price to make DVD more accessible to customers who have been attracted to the technology's high-definition video quality but turned off by the high prices normally associated with the DVD systems.

Dell is offering DVD-ROM as a $299 option on its Inspiron 3000 and 3200 series notebook PC that feature Intel Pentium and Pentium II processors, 12.1 to 13.3-inch active matrix screens and high-capacity hard drives. In addition to playing full-motion videos and movies, Inspiron notebooks with DVD come with a special "TV-out" device to connect to televisions to play DVD movies at home.

"Up to now, customers have had to pay a premium to enjoy the benefits of DVD technology," said Stephan Godevais, vice president of Dell's Inspiron notebook product group. "By leveraging the advantages of its direct model, Dell is offering DVD-equipped Inspiron notebooks for less than $2,300."

While some notebook PCs sacrifice size for DVD capability, Dell Inspiron notebooks will maintain a slim-line design by incorporating hardware MPEG2 support through a PCMCIA card similar to that used for modems on most notebook PCs. The credit-card size MPEG-2 decoder card can be easily inserted and removed from the Inspiron PC.

This feature, made possible by efforts from LSI Logic, Billionton Corp. and Margi Systems Inc. allows customers to enjoy the thin-form factor and lightweight design of the Inspiron notebook PC by bypassing alternative integrated hardware solutions. By using a thin MPEG-2 PCMCIA card, customers can experience full 30-frames-per-second video without making additional demands on the processor or memory.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:44 AM  0 Comments

Seiko Instruments, creator of the label printer category 17 years ago, added the stylish SLP 420 to its flagship line in July. CompUSA chose the full-functionality SLP 420 for its combination of features, Windows and Mac compatibility, ease-of-use -- and attractive price point.

"Businesses want products that allow their customers to function more effectively and efficiently," Brian Woods, executive vice president and general merchandising manager, CompUSA, said. "Seiko Instruments' single label printers address the desktop printing needs of our business customers."

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) reports that there are more than six million small and mid-sized businesses in the country, a potentially large market for office products like Seiko Instruments' label printers.

"We expect that selling our product through such a premier technology retailer, will greatly expand and increase our existing installed base of more than 300,000 satisfied end users," Dennis Cox, director of sales and marketing, Seiko Instruments, said. "CompUSA has a direct line to the corporate, government and home office customers we're targeting and will also provide them a superb, competent and knowledgeable outlet for sales and support of our product."

Along with all Seiko Instruments' Smart Label Printers, the SLP 420 allows users to create customized labels for envelopes, files, storage boxes, floppy or Zip disks, video cassettes, 35mm slides, bar codes and a variety of other office and home applications. The small footprint, desktop printer also makes great name tags and ID badges for parties, trade shows, conferences and other business or social events.

Each SLP comes complete with Smart Label Software for fast, easy production of custom labels. CompUSA will offer four popular label types from Seiko Instruments. A variety of fonts and graphics can be selected, along with customized formats, complete with company logo and post office-approved bar codes. With a single mouse click, addresses or other text from standard desktop computing applications can be sent directly to the printer, so no typing is required.

Pricing, Availability & Distribution

The Seiko Instruments SLP 420 will be available in CompUSA stores by Sept. 1, 2005. The full line of SLPs is also being sold at the company's web site at www.siibusinessproducts.com. VARs, integrators and other resellers can also place orders through leading national computer products distributor Ingram-Micro. The SLP 420 will sell for an estimated street price (ESP) of $129.

About Seiko Instruments USA Inc. (SIU)

Seiko Instruments USA's Business and Home/Office Products Division produces end user products designed to enhance productivity in small business, home office and a variety of vertical industry settings. The company's products are sold through computer dealers, office and computer superstores, mail order and online catalogs in the Americas, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:14 AM  1 Comments

Priced at $199, the Dell Photo AIO Printer 964 is ideal for homes and businesses that need sharp, economical document and photo printing as well as copier and fax capabilities.

It incorporates advanced features such as a 50-page automatic document feeder and a built-in fax modem for stand alone faxing. In addition, its media card reader and Pictbridge port allow users to print photos directly from memory cards or digital cameras. Images can be previewed on the 2.4 inch LCD screen or saved from memory cards directly to the PC using the Memory Card Manager.

The Dell Photo AIO Printer 964 is up to 23 percent faster than the previous generation Dell Photo AIO printer, printing as many as 26 pages per minute (ppm) for monochrome and up to 20 ppm for color. (Actual print speed will vary with use.)

Other technical specifications include:

--Optional wireless printing, scanning, and faxing when used with the Dell Wireless Printer Adapter 3300(a);

--Print Resolution -- Up to 4,800 x 1,200 dots per inch (dpi);

--Scan Resolution (maximum) -- 19,200 x 19,200 dpi;

--Dimensions (H x W x D in inches) -- 19.2 x 14.9 x 9.7 (28 percent smaller than the previous generation).

Dell printers feature the Dell Ink Management System(TM), designed to make installation, configuration and reordering of ink and photo paper easy and efficient. The Dell Photo All-In-One Printer 964 comes with Dell service and support, 24x7 toll-free telephone troubleshooting and one year of Advanced Exchange Service(b).

For additional information on printer specifications, visit www.dell.com/printers. High-resolution images can be downloaded from www.dell.com/photos.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) is a premier provider of products and services required for customers worldwide to build their information-technology and Internet infrastructures. Company revenue for the past four quarters totaled $54.2 billion. Dell, through its direct business model, designs, manufactures and customizes products and services to customer requirements, and offers an extensive selection of software and peripherals. Information on Dell and its products can be obtained at www.dell.com.

Pricing, specifications, availability, and terms of offers may change without notice. Taxes, fees, shipping, handling and any applicable restocking charges are extra, and vary. Dell cannot be responsible for pricing or other errors, and reserves the right to cancel orders arising from such errors.

(a) PC must have a wireless card, be connected to a wireless network, and have the printer software installed for proper function. Requires printer connection to a modem line.

(b) Replacement part or unit will be dispatched if necessary following phone-based troubleshooting in advance of receipt of returned defective unit. Availability varies. Other conditions apply. Defective unit must be returned. Replacements may be refurbished.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:11 AM  0 Comments

Authors Sunny and Kim Baker, in doing research for their book, Peterson's Ultimate Home Office Survival Guide (Peterson's, $18.95), interviewed hundreds of home-based entrepreneurs and telecommuters to determine what they have in common as a group and how they have fared.

Among the findings:

* The ideas for successful businesses ranged from ordinary to weird and mundane to extraordinary, but the business idea seemed to be less important than the entrepreneur's desire to succeed.

* Age, sex, and ethnic background were not relevant in forecasting the success of the ventures.

* Education also was not a predictable factor of success.

* Motivation and productivity levels of telecommuters often surpass the performance of their peers who work in an office.

* Many of the home-based entrepreneurs were unemployed when they started their businesses.

* Most of the entrepreneurs started with less than $5,000 in the bank, and some had no savings.

The Bakers' book covers topics as varied as developing plans and setting up operations and work zones, managing time to increase productivity, selecting furniture, making sales, and handling promotion and legal issues.

The book comes with a CD-ROM containing information for the home-office worker, including printable forms, lists of home-based-business opportunities, a sample business plan, links to related World Wide Web sites, and Internet browser software.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:06 AM  0 Comments

MUNNSVILLE--Colgate University professor Adam Weinberg and Colgate senior Heather Vaughn have put a powerful tool in the hands of Madison County economic-development officials and elected officials. The tool is information--information about the nature and needs of many home-based businesses in the southern part of the county--according to Peter Cann, director of the Madison County Industrial Development Agency and Madison County Edge.

On October 20, Weinberg released results of a survey and study that Vaughn conducted during the summer in an area running from Munnsville to Earlville and from Brookfield to Cazenovia. The survey involved telephone interviews with the owners of home-based businesses of all types within the survey area. Findings, according to Weinberg, should give officials a much clearer picture of the growth potential and needs of a growing segment of the county economy.

"We have identified four primary types of home-based businesses," Weinberg says, stressing, "There is a considerable variety, and each type of business has its own particular potential and needs."

Weinberg's and Vaughn's study, funded in part by grants from Oneida Savings Bank and Oneida Valley National Bank, revealed four primary types of home-based businesses: professional services, such as graphic design, consulting, and accounting; manual labor, such as construction or carpentry, landscape maintenance, etc.; light manufacturing, generally doing subassembly work on larger products; and direct sales-Tupperware, Amway, baskets, and candles.

"Many of the light manufacturers have good potential for expansion and would like to expand," Weinberg says. He adds that some of the professional-services companies also show a good possibility of growing.

The most common barrier to expansion for businesses in all the categories is access to capital. "Their biggest challenge is finding small loans--in the $3,000-to-$5,000 range. Banks are telling the owners to use their credit cards, but if they do that, they are paying high interest rates for the same kinds of investments for which larger companies can get loans carrying single-digit interest rates," Weinberg says.

"What we need is a vehicle to provide small loans at low interest rates," stresses Weinberg. "Basically, these businesses need the same kinds of assistance, but with much lower price tags, that the counties and state make available to larger businesses to encourage them to stay in and to grow in New York."

In addition, light manufacturers also report difficulty finding appropriate sites for expansion. There are few available commercial buildings in the area, according to Weinberg.

Madison County officials and the Madison County IDA are already working on possible solutions to that problem, according to the IDA's Cann. A 150-acre industrial park has been created at the Hamilton Airport, and the county is looking for a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to establish a manufacturing incubator there, Cann says. He adds that he is confident that the HUD will approve the grant.

Weinberg also reports that the surveys found that many of the light-manufacturing and professional-service businesses show a "high level of technical expertise." And many are turning out high-quality, technologically advanced products. Others, he adds, are putting products in nationally distributed catalogs.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:39 AM  0 Comments

APPLE COMPUTER INC. HIT BOTTOM ON MARCH 15, 1996. There were no Apple headlines that day, no lay-offs, no executive changes, no suggestions that the legendary Silicon Valley computer company was about to be acquired and sold for scrap.

Instead, March 15 was the day--beware the ides of March !--Nick said he wanted a Pentium.

Nick, 14, is one of Apple's most important customers-besides being my son. Apple had cultivated him in school since kindergarten. His first computer was my old Mac II. His favorite T-shirt reads, "Windows 95 = Macintosh 89." He has amassed an impressive array of Mac software. Only recently, he made it clear to me that the Power Macs in his school were much cooler and more powerful than the embarrassing Quadra our family forces him to use at home (with a 14.4Kbps modem, no less).

So when he said he wanted to upgrade the Quadra--and was even willing to work to help pay for it--we went to the local computer superstore to check our options.

His choice stunned me: a Pentium-based machine running Windows 95. Et tu, Nicky? Where did I go wrong? Had he fallen in with a bad crowd at school? Or was it typical teen rebellion?

"Let's be practical, Dad," he said, in the same infuriating tone he had used to persuade me to cut my graying ponytail. "There are six long aisles of cool Windows games in the store, and all the Mac software is piled in the back corner."

I started to explain the intrinsic value of a Macintosh, from built-in networking to the famed Mac operating system. As I droned on, I realized that I sounded like one of Nick's early heroes, Obi-wan Kenobi, from the long-ago Star Wars era. Crazy old Ben Kenobi carried a light saber rather than a modern blaster because it was a more elegant weapon, from a more enlightened time.

Nick's defection caused me to rethink my own long-term commitment to the Macintosh platform, upon which almost everything in my home office is based. And after much deliberation, I reached a reluctant conclusion: Nick is making a big mistake.

Yes, it is possible to assemble an extremely successful home-office information management system using Intel processors and Windows software. I know. I've done it. There is a Pentium machine running Windows 95 at my right elbow, just as there have been DOS and Windows machines at my side since Nick was a baby. I spend at least half an hour a day using the Windows-Intel regimen for my own personal growth.

But one can get carried away with such spiritual and character-building exercises, and there is work to be done. For me, as for millions of others who do not have the backing of a corporate technical support department, work is done more easily and efficiently on the Macintosh.

In the process of re-evaluating my commitment to the Macintosh as the foundation of my home-office equipment, the following points rose above the current turmoil at Apple's headquarters. (For the record, I do not own stock or have any financial interest in Apple.)

The Mac is easier to set up and use. The operating system is still, despite the gains made by Windows 95, more elegant than what is offered by the competition. It is rarely a challenge to add a new printer or other peripheral device; plug and play is the rule, not the exception.

Mac's system software coexists quite well with Windows. The standard disk drive can read disks created on Windows machines. With the new version of Soft Windows, from Insignia Solutions, I can even use my Mac to emulate Windows 95 and run Windows programs at a reasonable speed. For my interests today, which include the Internet, the World Wide Web, multimedia, and desktop publishing, the Mac is simply a superior platform.

And even if Apple did simply vanish tomorrow, which would be unusual for a company with $10 billion in annual revenue, the Mac platform has enough momentum left to carry it through the life expectancy of even the new Mac or Mac clone I am planning to buy for my office.

In the end, Nick and I decided to build a Pentium machine from components, which will be a nice rainy-day project for the two of us this summer. We'll also keep the Quadra.

But most of all, it will be nice to have a 14-year-old around the house to help solve all of my technical difficulties with the Wintel blaster in my office.

PETER LEWIS writes regularly for The New York Times and is a regular contributor to this section.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:39 AM  0 Comments

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  0 Comments

Can a home-based business go out and land impressive, household-name accounts? Absolutely! A lavish budget is not essential, but you do need persistence, ingenuity, determination, and, most important, marketing techniques that entire corporate giants to award their business to you--no matter how small your company or how big their corporation.

In formulating an effective marketing strategy, you must have a keen sense of what you have to offer and exactly why a corporation would want it. The method you choose for letting companies know about your services has to fit both your budget and your personality. If you're miserable making cold calls, for example, you probably won't be very good at it, so consider directmail or print advertising instead.

I recently landed my largest account ever, the Private Industry Council, after I sent them and 3,000 other potential clients a large, humurous black-and-white postcard on which I had collaborated with a desktop publisher and a cartoonist. The card shows a cartoon of a worried businessman sitting in his cobwebbed office. The tag line reads: "Are things a little slow around your office? We'll help you pick up your prospects." On the back of the card I list my services, ranging from producing newsletters to writing sales letters. Though the card bears my company's name, it also promotes the talents of the cartoonist and desktop publisher. Whenever I receive requests for their services, I refer prospects to them. Since we shared the expenses, the entire mailing cost us each only $300.

In my 13 years of working with small businesses, I've encountered many entrepreneurs who have landed enviable clients with techniques that are just as simple. As they'll agree, there are no magic formulas for winning big accounts; they just use smart marketing techniques that make them stand out ahead of their competition. Here are strategies that any sole proprietor or small-business owner can use. The entrepreneurs featured here found an outreach approach that felt natural, allowing them to show their abilities in the best possible context. You can, too.

GIVE AWAY USEFUL INFORMATION

In 1988, my firm helped launch Vertical Systems Analysis, a consulting company that works with property owners and managers on improving and evaluating their evaluator service. Because many elevators are located in high-rise buildings, the company's founder, Ed Voll, wanted to tap the high-rise commercial and residential building markets right away. So I adapted charts and forms Voll used in his work and created an inexpensive 14-page booklet we named "Owner's Guide to Better Elevator Service." I sent a brief press release announcing the free handbook to every real estate trade publication in Voll's target markets--residential and commercial property managers, plus co-op and condominium board members; most printed the news release.

Voll stacked the handbooks at his tradeshow booths, gave them out at his talks, and mailed them to anyone who called in response to the publicity. The handbook blitz brought Voll a handsome list of heavy-hitting clients such as IBM, New York University, and Westinghouse Elevator. His strategies also helped him add many metropolitan-area real estate powerhouses to his client list, such as William B. May, Millstein Properties, and Newmark & Co.

STALK YOUR QUARRY IN

UNUSUAL PLACES

Susan Winer, president of Stratenomics, a strategic-planning firm in Chicago, started out in 1975 convinced that she could garner corporate clients. Stratenomics helps companies develop plans and organizational capabilities so they can become more efficient and more profitable. Winer also assists companies by defining their marketing needs, steering them toward capital, and helping them implement their plans for growth. Winer scouts out midsize to large national corporations that are in a growth phase.

When she was starting out, she went through the Sunday Chicago Tribune, looking for companies with new positions to fill. "I viewed those classified ads as new business opportunities. In one case there was a company looking to hire a lot of senior-level people. That indicated that they were in a growth mode. So I called up, got the names of key decision makers in the expanding departments, and contacted them. I suggested that it may be more cost- and time-efficient to use Stratenomics to implement new programs rather than hire senior-level employees."

By looking for corporate needs that she could fill. Winer carefully positioned her firm as innovative and experienced, rather than small or new. Using this forthright approach, she has, over the years, cultivated an impressive client lineup that includes Coopers & Lybrand, Wick Homes, and RCF Information Systems.

EXHIBIT AT TRADE SHOWS

Attending trade shows is one way to get business, but becoming a regular trade-show exhibitor tells prospects what you can offer them, keeps your company name in the minds of potential clients, and opens the door for repeat business from existing clients.

# posted by Medical Information : 2:02 AM  0 Comments

When Diane Valletta lost her job as director of sales promotions with a midsized insurance company and was unable to find employment right away, she launched her own successful marketing-communications company from her Chicago home.

For years, researchers have reported on the increasing number of women getting out of the home and into the work force. But new research shows that millions of women, like Valletta, are part of the work force yet stay at home. A recent study by the National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO) shows that 3.5 million women own home-based businesses, providing 14 million full- and part-time jobs.

There were a total of 15 million home-based businesses nationwide in 1995, according to the National Association of Home Based Businesses, in Baltimore.

Julie Weeks, the NFWBO's director of research, says that although no formal studies of the number of home-based businesses owned by women were done before the one by her group, evidence suggests that such businesses are on the increase. She attributes the proliferation to "technology making it possible to open a business anywhere."

Computers, faxes, modems, on-line information services, and the ability to conduct business by telephone enable entrepreneurs to link up with clients from home and, in many cases, to open their businesses with an initial investment of less than $10,000.

Contrary to popular belief, said the NFWBO study, it's not for the purpose of taking care of children that most women choose home as the location of their businesses. Of the 1,435 women surveyed, only 32 percent had children at home.

Women cite an assortment of reasons for starting businesses at home, but corporate downsizing is one of the main ones, says Suzanne Tufts, president and CEO of American Woman's Economic Development, a New York City-based, nonprofit organization that trains, counsels, and offers support to women entrepreneurs.

Many women who fall victim to corporate downsizing use the company's severance package to help launch a home-based business, often with the former employer as an initial client. Other women decide to take control of their lives by starting a home-based business before the pink slip arrives.

There are other factors that have pulled women out of the corporate environment and into home-based businesses. "The glass ceiling, the fact that many corporations were not family-friendly, and women wanting more flexibility and refusing to work 60 or 70 hours a week" all have contributed, says Judith Obermayer, whose company, Obermayer Associates, in West Newton, Mass., does consulting work for start-up technology companies.

Most home-based businesses owned by women are service-related, ranging from computer consulting to desktop publishing to public relations. Only about 17 percent of women's home-based businesses produce goods, says the NFWBO's Weeks.

The chief difficulties that the women face are securing an initial bank loan and raising enough capital to sustain the business, according to the NFWBO study.

But success stories abound. Lane Nemeth started a home-based business, Discovery Toys, in 1978 in Martinez, Calif. By the early 1980s, the business, which sells toys at parties, had moved out of her home and into an office complex. Last year its revenue reached $93 million.

In 1992, Joanne Winthrop started the Basket Connection, making baskets in her Portland, Ore., home. After several years the business produced $300,000 in revenue. Winthrop is moving to a new home on 13 acres and plans to build a warehouse on the property to store the baskets.

A 1995 study of 1,000 home-based businesses by AT&T Home Business Resources--a division of the telecommunications company that provides services for home-based businesses--showed that one-third had revenue of $60,000 a year or more--compared with only one-quarter of other small businesses--and that one in 10 had revenue of more than $100,000 annually.

To succeed at a home-based business, "it takes discipline and technology," says Valletta, the Chicago marketing-communications entrepreneur.

Experts in the field say that before starting a home-based business, you should meet with a lawyer or accountant to review the tax implications of self-employment, make sure local zoning allows home-based businesses, and separate your personal life at home from your business.

The NFWBO's Weeks sees no end in sight for the trend toward women running businesses from home. With technology continuing to advance at a fast pace, she says, "the number of women-owned firms located at home will likely increase."

# posted by Medical Information : 2:02 AM  0 Comments

Drum Up Business On-Line

When Debbie Dewey started her business-services company, Executive Project Service, she sent out 500 direct-mail letters and followed up each one with a phone call. She also spent money to advertise in local business publications. The disappointing net result: one client.

Then Dewey joined CompuServe's Working from Home Forum. She quickly gained two major clients and several minor ones. Now she uses the forum to make contacts and recruit clients. She also uses the service to exchange ideas and tips with other home-based businesses and has recently helped start a private-investigator's section on the forum. In addition, she has developed a side business with a CompuServe acquaintance, Nate Lenow. Their Online Detective Agency, based in Memphis, Tennessee, conducts investigations on-line.

Using an on-line service to drum up business, conduct research, and exchange information with colleagues and clients offers several advantages for self-employed businesspeople. Such electronic foraging extends your reach nationally or internationally. You have access to far more people than you could possibly meet in person. What's more, you can sign on every day, you don't have to wait for special meetings to make contacts, and you never have to leave your home or office.

Here are short descriptions of the major sources of small-business information.

COMPUSERVE'S WORKING FROM HOME

FORUM

CompuServe's Working from Home Forum comprises a message board, libraries, and a conference area. The message board allows users to post and read public messages in such areas as business basics, marketing, pricing, accounting and tax, free-lancing, consulting, office hardware and software, and business networks. Data libraries hold files on many of these topics, including hardware and software reviews from HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING. Users post about 1,000 messages a week, according to sysop Paul Edwards (coauthor of the monthly Working Smarter column in HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING). One section of the forum contains member profiles.

Forum members pay CompuServe's regular $12.50 per hour connect charges. For more information on CompuServe, call (800) 848-8199.

GENIE'S HOME-OFFICE ROUNDTABLE

GEnie's Home Office/Small Business RoundTable is similar to the Working from Home Forum, but not nearly as active, primarily because CompuServe has more subscribers than GEnie. Nevertheless, the Round Table offers a library of informative articles, a message board for asking and answering questions, and useful software that you can download.

One major advantage of the GEnie service is its price. The bulletin-board area of the Home Office/Small Business RoundTable is one of GEnie's basic services; GEnie subscribers pay $4.95 per month for unlimited evening and weekend access to this and other basic services. Other GEnie services, including the file libraries, are billed at $6 per hour during evenings and weekends. GEnie, like CompuServe, can be accessed from any computer with a modem and communications software. For more information on GEnie, call (800) 638-9636.

MICROSOFT SMALL BUSINESS CENTER

America Online offers the Microsoft Small Business Center, which hosts a message board as well as news and extensive information about running a small business. The Center also offers libraries from which you can download shareware software packages, spreadsheet templates, and articles on running a small business (including articles from HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING). Although the forum is sponsored by Microsoft, members are free to exchange information about software from other companies.

This relatively new service, introduced last March, is far less robust than the CompuServe forum or GEnie RoundTable. However, America Online is easier to use than CompuServe or GEnie because it has a graphical user interface. You can move from one section of the service to another by selecting icons with your mouse or keyboard.

America Online, available to both Macintosh and MS-DOS users, requires special software. Macintosh users pay $5.95 per month and get one hour of free access time. MS-DOS users pay $9.95 per month, which includes three free hours. After that it costs $5 per hour during evenings and weekends or $10 per hour during the business day. To contact America Online, call (800) 227-6364 or (703) 893-6288.

PRODIGY

Prodigy is more of a consumer service than a business tool. You can't, for example, download software. However, Prodigy does offer articles and software reviews from HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING as well as the Computer Club bulletin board, where you can ask questions pertaining to IBM PCs and Macs. Users can download and print out these articles. I write a regular column for Prodigy and answer questions on the Computer Club bulletin board, as do the editors of HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING.

The service is a good place to get your questions answered, but Prodigy rules prevent members from using the service to make business connections or promote goods and services. Prodigy does, however, sell classified advertising to anyone wishing to use the service for business development.

# posted by Medical Information : 2:01 AM  0 Comments

Technology improvements have made the home office an effective workplace alternative.

Two years ago, James Wilcoxon, owner and CEO of Paddock Swimming Pool Co., in Rockville, Md., began working occasionally in his new home office. Now, he says, "a large percentage of my work gets done at home."

Wilcoxon is one of the growing number of small-business owners who are finding that offices at home for themselves as well as for selected employees can increase productivity while improving their quality of life at little or no cost to their companies. They have learned through experimentation that home offices can be backups or even replacements for offices in traditional business seatings. The home office is gaining wider acceptance largely because the tools that make such arrangements effective-- personal computers and peripherals such as modems, office equipment such as fax machines, and telecommunications devices--are falling in price while posting great gains in speed and efficiency.

Wilcoxon spends one or two workdays a week at his Rockville home running his firm, which specializes in building pools for commercial water parks. "I have no distractions once I close the door," he says.

He planned his home office--a room complete with refrigerator and adjoining bathroom--when he built a new home in 1993. Though he's away from the distractions and interruptions common in a main office, Wilcoxon remains abreast of the latest company order data and can exchange electronic mail with employees as if he were down the hall. He uses an IBM PC/90 desktop computer connected to the firm's computer network via a modem and a standard phone line.

The arrangement has worked so well for him that he has offered the home-office option to key employees at his firm's 50-person main site. At Paddock, as in most companies, white-collar jobs--especially those involving PCs--lend themselves most readily to telecommuting.

More than half of the company's 16 office workers now work at home part of each week. And the dear gains in efficiency and morale have prompted Wilcoxon to lend personal computers to aspiring home-office workers who don't own one.

Avoiding rush-hour commuting one or two days a week can be a major incentive for telecommuters. At Paddock, that commuting benefit, says Wilcoxon, enabled him "to hold on to an employee I didn't want to lose" the woman who designs our pools.

She's recently married, and it's an hour and a half commute from her new home. She had just bought a computer for home, so we agreed that she could work from her home office two days a week. The cost to keep a valued employee? "A capital investment of $150 for a high-speed modem to connect her new home PC to the phone line," says Wilcoxon.

According to Find/SVP, a technology research firm in Ithaca, N.Y., the number of U.S. business people regularly working from home or other remote telecommuting locations will nearly double, to 11 million, by the year 2000. And an increasing proportion of these workers will be employed in small and midsize firms, says Find/SVP.

In some instances, necessity drives the move to telecommuting. For example, when the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake heavily damaged some transportation arteries, many area companies embraced telecommuting just to keep their operations going. And some metropolitan governments encourage telecommuting as a pollution-reduction measure to help meet Clean Air Act requirements.

Until recently, much of the voluntary growth in satellite home offices has stemmed from initiatives in large, high-tech companies. AT&T, for instance, has allowed more than 35,000 of its 250,000 employees to telecommute one or more days a week. But now, motivated by the convenience, flexibility, and efficiency of working at home, owners and managers of smaller businesses are adopting this workplace alternative.

"By the year 2000, companies will be offering telecommuting from home as a standard work option for many job functions," says Judy Rapp Guadagnoli, manager of the telecommuting program for the city and county of Denver--one of the metro areas that use telecommuting as a way to cut pollution.

For small and growing businesses, establishing home offices where some managers or other employees can work a day or two a week--linked to clients and the main office by computers and communications tools--is just one of several alternate-workplace arrangements made practical by today's office technology.

Others include:

* Remote customer-service centers, where employees can handle customer calls at home-based computers, seldom if ever reporting in person to a central office.

* Telework centers and satellite offices, in company locations close to employees' homes, to reduce commuting distances.

* Virtual or mobile offices, which depend on portable computers and communications devices to enable on-the-go personnel to work wherever they might be.

Among these options, the telecommuter's home office is proving to be the least expensive to set up. It usually requires only a small amount of hardware and software and the adoption of office practices in place at the company headquarters, such as working hours and days off, standard forms, and communication procedures.

# posted by Medical Information : 6:20 AM  0 Comments

Business of dealer accreditation seen creating its own competitive spark

Just as home care equipment dealers are seeking a competitive edge through formal accreditation, the organizations offering those sales of approval now find themselves sparring over whose industry standards are most meaningful.

Perhaps the best known option for dealers is the program offered by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Since June of 1988, JCAHO has accredited more than 600 home care organizations under a program which now employs 18 durable medical equipment surveyors. Heavy hitters which have either gained accreditation or indicated they will seek it include Abbey Foster, Caremark, Glasrock, Homedco and New England Critical Care.

The program has come under fire from some dealers who say its cost are prohibitive for many smaller companies. JCAHO's 1989 survey fees started from a base of $3,700 plus incremental amounts for branches. However, the group is now looking at a sliding scale based on some variable yet to be determined, according to Anne Rooney, associate director of the JCAHO home care accreditation program.

Meanwhile, the National League of Nursing's Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP) recently published separate standards for home medical equipment, infusion therapy and pharmacy. CHAP has been accrediting other home care providers since 1965.

The group has now positioned itself as the only independent evaluating body for home care and community health driven solely by considerations of management, quality and patient outcomes. Officials claim the biggest difference from JCAHO is that their standards are consistently more stringent than minimum safety standards. They also assert that CHAP looks at the broader elements of a company's management and financial condition, and places more emphasis on patient outcmes than structure and process.

Applying outcomes research to home care represents a unique challenge in that so many of the patients have either chronic or deteriorating conditions. However, CHAP's cause got a big boost last fall with the award of a $1.2 million research grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The three-year project will be conducted in two phases. In the first, researchers will survey consumers on their attitudes about the quality of care they have received. Analysts will draw on diagnostic, functional-status, demographic and other data from more than 700 patients. A goal is to determine what can reasonably be expected as an outcome for a given condition, what resources are required and how long improvements should take. In the second project phase, the findings will be implemented as outcome measures and incorporated into CHAP accreditation standards.

According to Carolyn Davis, former head of the Health Care Financing Administration and currently a member of the CHAP board of governors, the accent on outcomes will help channel resources toward the most productive service areas.

"Home care providers often invest time and dollars in expensive cures and sophisticated technology without any measure of the net benefit to patients. In fact many believe we've gotten further and further away from considering what's important to the patient. The quality of care from the patient's perspective has been an elusive thing; providers and consumers alike want to direct their energy--and money--toward really helping the patient," says Davis.

On another competitive angle, CHAP has firmly aligned itself with payers. The Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) participates in the CHAP governing structure, and officials believe the outcomes study will help insurers make choices over how to reimburse for rapidly expanding home health services.

The stringency of various accreditation standards may emerge as a key issue in coming months, although the problem areas confronting dealer operations do not appear widespread. Since the inception of the JCAHO program, only eight companies have failed to make the grade. JCAHO does, however, identify certain "contingencies," or deficiencies dealers must correct in a given time period in order to gain full approval.

Among the most common problems, Rooney cites an "inconsistent understanding" among personnel on infection control policies. Some handlers, she explains, are not always up to speed on equipment cleaning and maintenance procedures are recommended by manufacturers. Other problems include compliance with OSHA and Transportation Department guidelines on the safe handling of oxygen.

Dealers' choices of accrediting bodies will likely be influenced by perceived value in the marketplace. And toward that end, sponsoring organizations probably scramble to document benefits companies have realized. For example, Rooney suggested JCAHO may soon attempt to identify dealer sales increases realized after gaining accreditation as a partial impact measure.

In its own marketing efforts, JCAHO recently published "Key to Quality: Guide to Home Care Survey and Accreditation." The $75 manual provides an overview of the JCAHO accreditation process and instructions on survey preparation. Also, the group will this year sponsor a series of educational seminars on the process.

# posted by Medical Information : 6:18 AM  0 Comments

Anyone who currently operates a home-based business, or is considering starting one, will relish the fact that the electronics industry is serving up a savory batch of products. According to Working From Home by Paul & Sarah Edwards (Jeremy P. Tucker Inc., Los Angeles), 600,000 new full-time home businesses were established and 1990-1991 witnessed a 12% increase in the number of homeworkers. Subsequently, in 1991, home-based equipment represented around one-fourth of all electronics sales, according to the Electronics Industry Association, Washington, D.C.

The most essential items sought by home-business owner--after their PCs--are a fax machine, desktop copier, answering machine and cordless telephone. While many products are standard, marketers are constantly coming up with innovative features to attract new business. Here's a glimpse of what's hot in home-office equipment.

* Fax Machines--About 5% of all retail fax sales are made to home-business owners, according to BIS Strategic Decisions, Norwell, Mass. The biggest improvements have been made in paper handling and plain-paper use. Document feeders and automatic paper cutters may seem like extras, but are actually indispensible time savers. These features prevent standing over a fax machine and feeding paper in page by page, or cutting a 20-page document using scissors.

Another key feature is a fax/tel switch, which allows the telephone and fax machine to work from the same phone line and distinguishes between incoming phone and fax calls. First-time fax buyers should consider future faxing needs in order to purchase a machine that will serve them well as their business grows.

The Faxphone 50 from Canon U.S.A. Inc., Lake Success, N.Y., has speed dialing and allows you to hook up an answering machine. The $895 machine also employs paper decurling. Light users will benefit from the low price and features of Plano, Texas-based Murata Business Systems' M700 and M750 fax machines--no larger than an 8 1/1-x-11 piece of paper, 5 1/2 lbs in weight and $599 in price.

Among the more fully featured, "step-up" fax machines with a built-in answering machine, is Secaucus, N.J.,-based Panasonic Co.'s KX-F60. The unit uses a patented auto-logic answering system, enabling users to rewind, play, pause and save incoming messages. A superfine mode lets users reproduce finely printed documents (i.e., newpapers) or photographs at a high resolution.

Industry leader in facsimile, Sharp Electronics Corp. in Mahwah, N.J. offers the UX-195 with 512 K of memory, allowing up to 26 pages of text to be scanned and stored for later printout. The $1,499 fax machine has an error-correction mode, which automatically searches and corrects transmission errors before printing out.

* Copiers--Compact, cosmetically appealing and light-weight are key features of copiers today, as well as enhanced capabilities in enlargement and continuous copying. Sharp's Z-76 and Z-77 desktop copiers, which sells for around $1,299, can run up to 50 continuous copies. Canon's PC-11, which sells for about $1,795, has advanced features in reducing and enlarging copies in specific percentages. It also copies onto transparency sheets, as well as labels or business cards. For $90-$100, color-ink cartridges are available for the Sharp and Canon models.

* Cordless telephones--If you're interested in a cordless telephone-answering device (TAD), Panasonic's KX-T4300 has a built-in auto-logic (four functions in one button) answering machine. The unit sells for around $189. Homeowners who want to separate personal and business lines, can check out the KX-T3880--one of a few cordless, two-line telephone answering machines. The $200 unit has a hands-fee speakerphone and automatic intercom.

* Home-office helpmates--Ironically, owners of one-or-two-person home businesses often need to spend time in the field meeting potential clients. To help you take care of business while you travel, IBM Corp. in Armonk, N.Y., offers the PS/2 L40 SX. This laptop PC sells for $3,995 and has a 60 MB hard drive and 2 MB of memory.

To give your files and client presentations a more professional look, consider the P-Touch III labeling system from Brothr International Corp., located in Somerset, N.J. The $150 unit resembles a tiny typewriter and prints out adhesive-backed labels in any of four type styles or five type sizes, as well as a variety of colors. It also prints in Spanish.

Rolodex Corp., Secaucus, N.J., offers the Electrodex Plus, an electronic desktop card file with 64 K of memory--capable of storing the equivalent of 1,000 business cards names and addresses. There's a pocket-size version of the Electrodex for use when traveling, enabling new data to be transferred to the desktop unit via infrared beam. An IBM PC link allows for uploading and downloading information. The units cost $199 and $176, respectively.

As the home office continues to be one of the faster-growing business industries, vendors are sure to flood the market with products that provide ease-of-use, affordability and technical support.

# posted by Medical Information : 6:18 AM  0 Comments