Authors Sunny and Kim Baker, in doing research for their book, Peterson's Ultimate Home Office Survival Guide (Peterson's, $18.95), interviewed hundreds of home-based entrepreneurs and telecommuters to determine what they have in common as a group and how they have fared.
Among the findings:
* The ideas for successful businesses ranged from ordinary to weird and mundane to extraordinary, but the business idea seemed to be less important than the entrepreneur's desire to succeed.
* Age, sex, and ethnic background were not relevant in forecasting the success of the ventures.
* Education also was not a predictable factor of success.
* Motivation and productivity levels of telecommuters often surpass the performance of their peers who work in an office.
* Many of the home-based entrepreneurs were unemployed when they started their businesses.
* Most of the entrepreneurs started with less than $5,000 in the bank, and some had no savings.
The Bakers' book covers topics as varied as developing plans and setting up operations and work zones, managing time to increase productivity, selecting furniture, making sales, and handling promotion and legal issues. The book comes with a CD-ROM containing information for the home-office worker, including printable forms, lists of home-based-business opportunities, a sample business plan, links to related World Wide Web sites, and Internet browser software. The guide is available in bookstores. It also can be purchased by calling Peterson's at 1-800-338-3282 or visiting the publisher's Web site, www.petersons.com.