Up Front Limited

Lyn Hodges founded Up Front Limited in 1989 to train chief executives in how to present themselves effectively to staff, shareholders and the media.

Initially the company was based in plush offices in Tottenham Court Road, London in an era when it was considered important for clients to be able to experience smart company premises. In 1999, Lynn moved the company to Bermondsey to reduce overheads. During a one-year sabbatical in Spain, Lynn continued to run the company at arm’s length. It was during this time that she realised that she needed to re-evaluate the costs and benefits of having smart offices.

The outcome of Lynn’s re-evaluation was a transformation of Up Front into a home-based business, with her nine consultants (trainers) also home-based and self-employed. She retained only a PA, a part-time accountant and a salesperson as employed staff.

For three years Lynn ran the company from her conservatory and then decided to build a ‘chalet’ in the back garden to provide more separation between home and work. For Lynn, the ‘office in the back garden’ is the best possible solution. It provides the following benefits: clearer demarcation between home life and work than an office in the house; the cost savings of a home-based business; less travel time; complete flexibility (Lynn keeps one person on hand to man the phone for when she decides to pop out); and the ease of building a business using local talent.

Lynn advises anyone considering a home-based business to consider the following. You must be even clearer on your vision than with an office-based business because the boundary between business and personal life can easily become fuzzy and the business ethos can easily be lost. Regular weekly contact with your team will be important to maintain a feeling of inclusion.

Remember that you cannot call impromptu meetings for brainstorming etc as easily as in an office so you will need to make sure you are making the best use of the technology available to ‘virtual’ businesses. Beware constant distractions that the proximity of home can create: use planning and your diary rigorously and demarcate work and home time clearly. You will also need to manage client expectations carefully to prevent yourself from allowing work to creep into home life in the form of extended hours.

If Lyn was to create Up Front again she would by-pass the office-in-the-home (conservatory) phase and go straight for a chalet in the garden. At £18,000 this was costly but the hundred-fold increase in productivity has made it worthwhile and has allowed Lynn to develop Up Front into a profitable, home-based business with great prospects.

By Jonathan Peat
ActionCOACH Business Coaching