Working At Home Better For Lifestyle

The British contractor who built the Estee Lauder showcases in Harrod’s London department store might be surprised to learn his construction drawings were drafted by Debra Orlando on a Macintosh computer in the attic studio of her Pelham, N.Y., home.

Orlando works about 30 hours a week designing new stores for the international division of the cosmetics company. She’s designed stores in Israel, Malaysia, Spain, Chile and Taiwan among others. Orlando started working at home five years ago when her daughter, Kara, was born. She wanted flexible hours as well as more time to spend with her 10-year-old son, Peter.

“The time goes by so quickly, I want to be the primary influence on my children’s lives,” said Orlando.

About 30 million American households are operating some sort of business, according to recent statistics released by IDC/LINK, a Manhattan-based research firm. By 2001, 44.5 million households are expected to be involved in a money-making venture, according to Loriann Hoff Oberlin, author of “Working at Home While the Kids Are There, Too,” (Career Press, $12.99).

“People look at a home-based business as a lifestyle change,” said Oberlin, a single mother of two young sons. “You can’t put a monetary value on when your son walks in the door after school and says, ‘Hi Mommy!”’

Oberlin and other experts in the field say affordable technology makes it possible to do professional work at home. Phones, e-mail, faxes, modems, printers and computers allow even the smallest business to compete for big projects. The challenge is balancing the demands of clients and children.

Nevena and Stuart Orbach, co-owners of The Orbach Company Inc. in Van Nuys, Calif., have managed their own financial public relations firm for 16 years. They represent a major accounting firm, investment bankers and a variety of public companies. The Orbachs moved their business into their home when their youngest son was born five years ago.

“When we made this move home, we thought we’d lose clients, but we didn’t,” said Nevena Orbach. “Clients today are looking for performance, not fancy offices.” In fact, Orbach said that during the 11 years they rented an office in Toluca Lake, only one client visited them.

Working at home enables them to avoid the Los Angeles traffic and adds several productive hours to their workday.

“The phone starts ringing at 6:30 a.m. with calls from our clients in New York,” said Orbach. “It’s still ringing at 8:30 p.m. because we have clients in Hawaii.”

No matter how crazy the day may be, the Orbachs take a break to visit with their two sons after school. The boys try to finish their homework before sitting down to dinner with their parents.

Nevena Orbach, who cooks the family meal with herbs from her garden, said she doesn’t mind being the cook because “cooking is relaxing for me.”

“The best thing about having a home office is that we can eat dinner together,” said Orbach. “We made the decision to set up a home office because family is No. 1.”

Managing family needs is still the greatest challenge for home-based mothers, according to Janet Drez, a Phoenix-based consultant who teaches workshops on how to run a home-based business. Having a distinct workspace is critical to success, Drez said.

“When my office door is shut, my family knows I’m working and they cannot disturb me,” said Drez, whose firm is called A Perfect Solution. “It’s taken me time to teach my children to respect my work and not interfere with it.”

One way to keep the kids out of your hair while you work at home is to give them chores to do. This not only helps maintain order but teaches them responsibility. Here are some tips from Oberlin’s new book: Children ages 3 to 6 can put away their own toys, put clean clothes away, set the table, dust the furniture (after you move the objects) and water outdoor plants.

Children ages 7 to 10 can feed the pets, unload the dishwasher, carry in and put away groceries, dust and vacuum.

Children ages 10 to 13 can wash the car, prepare simple meals, do the yard work and baby-sit younger brothers and sisters.

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