Grant Griffiths (home office lawyer) should appreciate the Mac like template. (I’m not Mac user myself, but I’ve always liked the interface). Furthermore, you can actually minimize the sidebar boxes by clicking on the green dot!

In any case, would love some comments (good or bad) if you have an opinion on the site design.

If you’ve never been here before, the site used to look like this:

p.s. Yes, those are my sweet new New Balance 504 cross trainers!

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Let’s reflect and refocus.

As you may recall, I don’t (yet) have a home office for my daily grind. I still sit in a traditional office space with huge filing cabinets, big desk etc. That said, since I launched this blog, many of you have noticed that I took a leap into the internet telephony world with an Asterisk PBX setup. It’s up and running but we’re still working out a few minor kinks.  When I’ve completely rid myself of the monster phone company that’s had me in a stranglehold, I’ll be saving approximately 80% a month!

I’ve also recently integrated a few other interoffice webtools that have kept us running like clockwork and up to date on all of our client files. I’ll be blogging more about it soon.

On the other hand, I still have a leased copier, yellow page ad (which has yielded NO CALLS since I launched the blog - 2 calls total, none of which were paying clients) and of course, a commercial/traditional office space. I do indeed still have “the presentation.”

So again, let’s reflect and refocus on what all of this technology means for the home office business.  More importantly, what does it mean to your business?

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Back in July 2005, Clay Center, Kansas attorney Grant D. Griffiths created an intriguing blog called “Home Office Lawyer” which as the title might imply, is about practicing law in the home office. I discovered his blog through one of the hundreds of Solosez listserv emails that I browse almost daily (Solosez is a listserv that allows solo and small firm attorneys to chat about their experiences in practice, marketing and pretty much anything else that lawyers find entertaining.) Grant’s blog got me thinking about my own home office aspirations, but more importantly, ways to streamline my office processes, protocols and operations.

When I went solo back in November of 2005, I hadn’t yet stumbled upon Grant’s blog, but other attorneys had already discussed the idea of a home office. Every couple of months or so, a new solo attorney would chime in (without searching the listserv archives) about whether or not they should pay top dollar for premium office space, share space with other lawyers, seek virtual office space or stay at home. The answers were virtually the same - Do what makes sense for your practice or your current financial situation. That said, just because you can afford to rent an fancy office, do you really need it?

Without further thinking about the possibilities of a home office, I had already committed myself to buying an office building.

Now, nearly two years later, I’m torn between the traditional offce and the home office concept.

The debate transcends deeper than just traditional vs. home office.

Turning a profit without a dumpster full of overhead is every business owner’s dream, but every professional service provider seems to believe that you need the 84″ desk, matching credenza, 5 drawer lateral filing cabinets, yellow pages ad, flat screen monitor, windows server, guest chairs, leased copier, full time administrative assistant and sandblasted office sign. I call all of that, “the presentation.”

I have “the presentation,” but do I really need it? Do my clients care? Does it justify my fees?

This blog will address every possible angle of going home to work, but more importantly, leveraging technology, the internet and common sense to maintain and grow any profesionnal service business. Maybe I, or other contributors to this site, will inspire not only lawyers, but other entrepreneurs in any professional service industry, to take a second look at their socially and professionally accepted business model, and discover new ways to make work more streamlined, efficient, well-marketed …. and comfortable.

I look forward to emails, questions and answers! I need all the answers I can get because I haven’t gotten out of my “presentation” yet. Perhaps I never will … but every lawyer has a right to dream.

I am, after all, full of home office envy.

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