Looking Ahead in 2011: New Laboratory Informatics Businesses

Occasionally, people who are looking to start their own business will ask me for advice. Last January, I wrote a bit about some of the basic aspects of doing just that:
http://outonalims.com/2010/01/20/starting-your-own-laboratory-informatics-business/

If that is your goal for 2011, I’d like to add one more item for consideration – that of the place you will run your business. These days, even if you want to build a business with multiple employees, some people do that by building a virtual business. Yet others prefer to pay for office space. Some of this depends on whether the people will work together (when writing software, for example) or will be working on customer sites (such as a services consulting business). Then again, there are people that work alone that still hire office space rather than putting together a home office. Some people find that they need the structure of getting up and going somewhere else. Yet others either don’t have the space at home to have a dedicated office or where they believe they would have too many distractions. Creating a home office sounds easier than it is. You should plan to have a quiet, dedicated space where you can work and have phone calls, at the minimum. If you still think it’s easy to have a successful business run from your home, here’s an article from my local newspaper that illustrates some of the issues with it:
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/12/home-based_businesses_are_dema.html

One point the article makes is that you will put more time into your own business than would ever be required to do when you work for someone else. From my own experience and that of other people I speak with who have their own business, this is true. One struggle I had early in starting my business was in breaking myself away from my business. I still have a tendency to think about my business about 23.5 hours/day (yes, even in my sleep!).

Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/