Running a business from home has become increasingly popular in recent years, and it isn’t hard to see why. With advances in technology, the average laptop in 2021 has a similar amount of computing power and capability to that which an entire office’s worth of servers and desktops would have delivered at the turn of the century. Add to that the fact that there are far fewer overhead costs to be had when running a business from your kitchen table, and it all adds up to a great deal of opportunity for lifestyle businesses to grow.

Of course, there are those who would argue that if a business operates out of a person’s home, then it will never grow in reach beyond that of a typical home business. If it feels too much like a lifestyle business, the impression goes, then it will operate like one. Is that true? It might be – but maybe it is actually entirely possible to run a growth-ready business out of your house or apartment, and all it takes is the right decisions and enough ambition.

The public doesn’t need to see behind the curtain

If you’ve never seen The Wizard of Oz, here’s a spoiler: The wizard turns out to be a very ordinary man hidden behind a curtain, using levers and amplification to create the aura of a wizard. There’s no reason your home business can’t operate in a similar way. As long as you are professional with how you manufacture and store your products, scrupulous in following any safety and hygiene rules that might apply, and poised in how you deal with enquiries, you can create the aura of a larger business. You can even use a registered business address – so if anyone snoops your business on Google Earth, they won’t see your home.

Your quality control needs to be on point

If you are to create the impression of a larger, non-home based business, then quality control is of absolutely fundamental importance. This is not a problem when it comes to elements like design, research and communications, but some larger jobs and aspects of mass production will need to be outsourced. If you make and sell CBD products or charm bracelets, for example, then you can create the products themselves at your kitchen table, and code the website from there. The preroll packaging for the former or fancy bags for the latter may have to be sourced from elsewhere in order to maintain a high quality.

You’ll struggle as a one-person band

If you wish to run a home business but operate like a bigger business, then at some point you’ll need to accept that it’s not something that can be done by one person. The aura of a wizard would be quickly dissipated if your business can’t take a phone call and answer a live chat at the same time, so you will need to hire some help, particularly as your business grows. It can be friends or family, and depending on where you need help the arrangements don’t even need to be particularly formal – but sometimes a business needs to be in two places at once, and you can’t do that without help!

Running a home business that comes across as a bigger concern is more than possible, and can help boost your takings as it adds credibility. But do bear in mind that it takes careful planning and an acceptance of what is possible and what isn’t.