Currently, there are many entrepreneurs who prefer to work from home rather than from the office, that is why more like-minded people are living and working together over the 21st century. It is a house in which small business owners live together and express their ideas, work, eat and go out together.
Berlin has been the pioneer city, in 2009 Palomar 5, the first “field of innovation” emerged, where 30 people under the age of 30 and from 17 different countries came together for seven weeks to live and work together, devising new technological projects towards “the future of work”.
Another place of coexistence of entrepreneurs in the city was the Housepreneurs. The residents were 12 small business owners, David de Ponte Lira, the CEO of the company Full Músculo was one of them. According to him, the project was a great opportunity to grow both personally and professionally. On the other hand, Housepreneurs co-founder Viktoria Töws, points out that “The main benefit is that like-minded people are living together, they have the same goal and support each other to achieve it. There are so many different projects being developed in the apartment that you can be inspired by the other residents and by how they work.” According to Töws, currently the majority of the applicants for these projects are men, as women account for less than 10%. She points out that it is the result of the technology industry being dominated by men, but more women are expected to soon begin to arrive.
This initiative has also be welcome in London, where Henry Blanchard, owner of a small business took the initiative. The plan was based on going for a group run in the mornings, then brainstorming during the breakfast and from there working in the office, which was a space shared by all the residents. Finally, in the evenings there were different learning events with guests. The project failed due to administrative issues so Blanchard decided to travel to Uganda. There, he gained experience sharing a house with other entrepreneurs, he realised that all work and not fun was not necessarily a recipe for innovation. He also notes that “at some point you have to accept the fact that people live and work and everyone wants a home and free time.”
Another example is Tom Penn, the founder of The Sales Hub. He shares a flat with another entrepreneur and for him it is a refreshing experience since just making a cup of tea can help him have a brainstorm about another new idea, as well as the late business talks at night. Tom adds, “I’ve been sharing houses before where no one was doing anything proactive. In most cases, you just watch tv and have a talk. However, when you’re living with an entrepreneur, he adds a new element to the conversations you may have.”
In Lisbon, Entrepreneur Houses co-living is also a project to share home, create and at the same time meet inspiring people. They optimized all the rooms to get a work and relaxation environment. They have their common areas cleaned and free laundry facilities. It is about having a balanced and healthy lifestyle mixing work, fun and relaxation.
How to build your entrepreneur house?
First of all, you must select the right entrepreneurs, as this is the most important decision. You must live with people with whom you can get along and who have clear ideas regarding their goals and housing arrangements. You must conduct group interviews and define the qualities you’re looking for in a housemate.
Secondly, you must create a structure for your entrepreneur house, to allocate a specific household task to each member, manage household staff, organize events, pay bills, obtain sponsors and facilitate internal communication. You can also use your home as your business headquarters in your city, to organize dinners or to invite different entrepreneurs who don’t know each other, etc.
Set goals and hold each other accountable. It is about having good communication with each housemate. The conversation should be open and clear, for example, it can be held at weekly meetings to share the best moments of the week.
Find the right house and invest in good furniture. The house should have a pleasant atmosphere that inspires to work and of course with a lot of space, as numerous business meetings and events will be held. You will also have to invest in whiteboards, screens and a common work area. An additional room for potential temporary residents or enterprising travellers may also be considered.
Finally, delegate what you can delegate. For example, in terms of doing the laundry, cleaning and cooking, since you should invest quite a few hours doing those tasks. Instead, you could invest that time expanding the business and getting more sales.
Attempting to demystifying the art of building a thriving business from home, the Sun Group Wealth Partners managing partner, Winnie Sun, conducted several interviews with different successful entrepreneurs with the aim of writing a book about best practices, The Modern Entrepreneur: Secrets to Building a Thriving Business from Home.
Here are 12 tips from successful entrepreneurs who have created businesses from home:
Adryenn Ashley, CEO de Crowded Reality:
- Focus on making money quickly. Ideas that do not need a lot of initial capital and that are profitable.
- Set up a frugal home office. It is not necessary to have a fancy office as it is better to invest that money in delivering the product or service.
- Deduct housing costs in the right way.
- Do not leave any commercial deductions.
Joyce Knudsen, PhD, founder of the communications group ImageMaker Inc.
- Skips the selling argument on social media
- Be authentic
- Communicate with people who share your interests
- Build relationships.
- Pay forward: “There are so many experts out there,” she says. ”But, they just really want to know what you can do for them. Instead, when you do something for other people, they in turn tend to do all sorts of things to you, even if that’s not why you did it.”
Jeb Blount, CEO de Sale Gravy
- Get out of your comfort zone
- Learn how to work the phone. ”Email can back that up, and certainly social selling is a big key, but if you don’t pick up the phone and call people, then you’ll probably fail,”
- You’re your best-selling tool. ”Sales are about transferring emotions,” Blount says. ”When your confidence and enthusiasm are transmitted through your voice, people are more likely to talk to you.”
Sources: Inc, The Guardian, Influencive, Entreperneur Houses
