As an entrepreneur, I always prefer face to face meetings within the office. Virtual can work but not with every type of business. I feel that being in the same office allows our teams to work quickly together and not have to wait on each other across multiple time zones and with other obstacles.
Darren Herman | Homepage | 01.08.07 - 11:23 pm | #

Adam,

I definetly prefer a in person work environment where I can instantly bounce ideas, ask opinions, and trouble shoot. Also, it keeps me motivated.

One word of advice. Don't hire anyone for as long as possible. Use contractors. They could have a full time schedule but keep them as a contractor for as long as you can to save money and headache.

Obviously if they are amazing you would want to consider bringing them on but many people are still content just being a contractor.
Aaron | Homepage | 01.08.07 - 11:57 pm | #

While I do agree that the face-to-face interactions are essential on building worthwhile relationships with clients as well as co-workers / employees.

But with the beauty of instant messaging and teleconferencing I think that the real time interaction can still be achieved while maintaining the virtual workspace.

I prefer the virtual workspace because it lets me work on my hours versus the typical 9-to-5. Of course my bosses require the actual workspace. So I lose.
Chris Johnson | Homepage | 01.09.07 - 5:34 am | #

Thanks for all the great feedback guys. I can certainly understand both sides of the equation, and to an extent I do miss the human element, but you don't lose as much of that as you think when talking on the phone/using Skype, etc. As I said, it's definitely not for everyone and I don't think at any point the majority of the workforce will work from home...I just think it could continue to work for us long term.

Aaron - I definitely agree with the contractor advice. When I say hire I don't mean on a full time basis - right now I envision hiring several college students to work part time. I would hire a comp-sci major who already can do the tech work better than I can, and just pay him/her by the project. They win b/c they probably end up making $20/hr as a college kid, and I win b/c I still make 70% of the revenue from just managing the project. No full time employees any time soon...
Adam | Homepage | 01.09.07 - 11:11 am | #

Adam, If you are seriously looking into picking up a part-time comp-sci "contractor" to work on some projects, I would be up for the challenge. Drop me a line if you want to talk about it.
Chris Johnson | Homepage | 01.09.07 - 10:24 pm | #

Great article. I like the home office and think it has many benefits as long as people can do it. Ofice space is costly and usually unecessary. There's an article on my blog about it. http://urbaneola.blogspot.com/20...e-in- world.html
Michael Tavani | Homepage | 01.09.07 - 11:49 pm | #

Interesting post. You'll find lots more about virtual offices, garden offices/sheds and homeworking in general at my blog at http://shedworking.blogspot.com
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