Image: iStockphoto

Did you know that more than 5.8 million of you do not go to work in an office? That’s the number of people working at home, says new data by  the U.S. Census Bureau. The figures are from 2010, the last year calculated, and the results are 4.2 million more people than a decade ago.

Makeda Smith has worked at home most of her career and remembers when it was not a widely-accepted concept. “I initially began working from home 25 years ago. It was not a very popular concept back then and office spaces were perceived as status symbols,” recalls Smith, owner of  Jazzmyne Public Relations, a boutique agency.  “But as a new agency owner two things were more important to me. One, I wanted to be able to spend more quality time with my daughter who was five years old at the time and two, I needed to streamline my finances. Ironically, people used to say things to me back then, ‘Don’t tell folks you work at home–they won’t take you seriously as a business owner!’”

The report, Home-Based Workers in the United States: 2010, found that the number of people who worked at home at least one day per week increased from 9.5 million in 1999 to 13.4 million in 2010, up 7  percent to 9.5 percent of all workers. Between 2005 and 2010 the share grew from 7.8 percent to 9.5 percent of all workers, an increase of more than 2 million. In all, 5.8 million or 4.3 percent of the U.S. workforce worked the majority of the week at home in 2010. “Home-based workers increased by 133 percent among state government workers and 88 percent among federal government workers. There was a 67 percent increase in home-based work for employees of private companies,” according to the report.

For Smith, the benefits of working at home more than outweigh the negatives. “You don’t have to get up to battle traffic in the morning, you don’t have to get dressed to go to work and you make your own hours,” she tells us. “And in terms of office politics and interacting with different personalities and people’s mood swings, there are none.”

One downside, says Smith, is the tendency to overwork. “I end up putting in far more than 40 hours a work week. I had to train myself to take ‘me’ time,” she says.

Smith shares her 5 tips  on how to work at home successfully:

1) Create an office space in your home.  An office space does not have to be an entire room but just an area dedicated to your work.

2) Make daily “to do lists” so you know you are accomplishing your goals and staying on track with work.

3) Be sure to take breaks.  Factor in lunch breaks, daily walks, or an exercise class, etc. Sometimes working at home can consume you.

4) Don’t let other people’s perception of your time and workspace adversely influence you.  If someone calls to chit-chat because they know you are at home, let them know that just because you are at home, it doesn’t mean you are not working.

5) Celebrate and give thanks daily. Working at home is a true blessing.

Every business starts somewhere and for many of us, it’s our home office, the kitchen table, or the local coffee shop. Even if you end up with a multi-million dollar company, it may be awhile before you can afford office space. So you use your home address until you can, right? Not if you can help it.

Using your home address as your business address can be a dangerous decision. In many situations, your business address is public. You might have it listed on your website or business card. If you’re incorporating, the address is on file at your Secretary of State’s office. Domain registrations require an address on file and just about anyone can find that looking it up online. When you register your business name with the county or buy your business license, these documents require your address and are on public record, too. The last thing you need is for customers, competitors, and just plain crazies to know exactly where you live if they have a deep need to find you at 3am.

Smart small business women use rented mailboxes as their business address whenever possible. The cheapest option is a post office box because they run about $50 every six months, depending on the size you choose. You can also access your mail at all hours of the day and night. You should remember that some companies won’t deliver to PO boxes and that most government licensing and registration processes won’t allow you to use them as your primary business address.

Renting a mailbox from a company that specializes in business mail services costs a little more but worth it. The UPS Store, PAK Mail, and many other independent companies have mail services that give you a real street address. They also forward mail when you’re away from home. You even have the option to check your mail by phone to avoid unnecessary trips to check your mailbox.

If the post office or a mailbox service isn’t convenient for you, consider piggybacking off another business’s address. For a monthly fee, someone with a dedicated office may let you use their office as a business mailing address. Negotiate or barter with local, independent businesses for the best results with this option.

Whether you’re a kitchen table CEO, a freelancer, or a work-at-home mom, you need somewhere to make the magic happen. Even if you don’t own your own business, you may need a place in your home where you can perform work for your employer. In some cases, that home office can make a difference on your taxes this year.

source: Elev8

The home office deduction is a popular way to decrease your tax bill. Like all deductions, you can subtract the amount you spent maintaining your home office from your total taxable income. The IRS applies your tax rate to your taxable income to determine how much you owe, so the less taxable income you have, the better your return looks.

Requirements

To qualify for the home office business deduction, you need to use that space as your primary and exclusive workspace. Primary means that this is where most of your business happens. Let’s say your employer has an office for you on his property and you have a home office. You can’t take the deduction because your boss already has a primary place for you to conduct business.

Exclusive means that you use this space only for your work. There should be a clearly defined separation between your personal space and your workspace. It doesn’t have to be a separate room or have a partition but it should be easily identifiable.

Percentages

Once you’ve determined that you can take this deduction, you need to figure out the amount of money you can subtract from your taxable income. It’s based on what percentage of your home is dedicated to your home office.

For example, let’s say that you have a 1000 square foot apartment and the room you use for your home office is about 450 square feet. That’s 45 percent of the total area and you can take 45 percent of the resources you spend on your home as a deduction. Now that includes the rent/mortgage of your home, the utilities, and the insurance on the home. Just remember that even if it’s a household expense, it must be used for business use to be deductible. If you have telephone service, you can’t claim a percentage of that service if you don’t use it to make business calls.

More on Madame Noire!

• Shequoiya, Cordozar And Other Amusing Middle Names Of Black CelebsII
• The Fashion Police’s Most Wanted: 6 Celebrities Whose Style Should Be A Crime
• Chaka Khan, Angela Bassett And Other Celebs Create ‘Super Life’ Video In Trayvon Martin’s Memory
• Tami Roman Suffers Mild Heart Attack
• Would You Let A Man Upgrade You?
• Allen Iverson Says No To Divorce Because He’s Still Getting It On With His Wife
• Introducing Caviar Nails-The Next Nail Trent You’ll Be Beading + How-To Video
• Style To Steal or Girl, Stop: June Ambrose, La La Anthony & Adrienne Bailon”

(Inc.) — Kene Turner understands the value of building a better business. After all, that’s his job. The mission of EpiLife is to help organizations achieve social responsibility by implementing special project-based initiatives within their communities. Before launching EpiLife, Kene worked for the YMCA of New York, where he taught youth entrepreneurial programs. EpiLife is based out of Turner’s home in New York City, and represents his desire to give back to the community that helped him in his own childhood. “When I was a teen I lost my mom to cancer,” he says. “I never knew my father. I was a child in transition. I had family, but not much. The ones that really helped me were members of the community…and it was that message that I want to implement into a venture or business.”

Read More…

Working from home can definitely be a blessing and a curse.

Read the rest of this entry »

(USA Today) — Work-at-home opportunities were supposed to help Chester Mazzoni, Susan Reid and Terry Yeast make ends meet. The only one who made money was Mazzoni — and that stopped when a court-appointed receiver shut him down. He used a work-at-home medical billing scam, EDI Healthclaims Network, to help fund his other businesses by persuading thousands of people to pay up to $6,000 for training and materials to start allegedly lucrative businesses.

Read More…

(USA Today) — Work-at-home opportunities were supposed to help Chester Mazzoni, Susan Reid and Terry Yeast make ends meet. The only one who made money was Mazzoni — and that stopped when a court-appointed receiver shut him down. He used a work-at-home medical billing scam, EDI Healthclaims Network, to help fund his other businesses by persuading thousands of people to pay up to $6,000 for training and materials to start allegedly lucrative businesses.

Read More…