For some, there’s no workplace like home

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The perception most people have of working from home is that it’s a bit of a contradiction in terms, especially if one happens to be self-employed. In that case, the prevailing image is of the pajama-clad entrepreneur with a schedule flexible enough to accommodate both random bouts of dog-walking and the odd “Oprah” rerun.

But the demands of a successful home business don’t leave much time for leisure pursuits — particularly when they are coupled with the demands of a busy family.

For Connie Sajer, a Hampden Township resident and mother of three young daughters, the unique rewards of an at-home business were thrown into high relief when her husband, Lt. Col. Frank Sajer, departed for an 18-month tour of duty last year. That came just months after she launched Indivijewels Inc. with a close friend, Ashley Turner, who is a mother of two and a former fashion executive for a German clothing label.

“The only way I really could have been involved in the business was with that flexibility,” Sajer said. “With Frank being away, I had to be available 100 percent for the kids, but I also gained something for myself that had an element of separation from the kids’ lives.”

Her jewelry business also helped ease the tensions of having a husband at war. “Having Ashley as a friend and business partner who understood my day-to-day challenges made them that much more bearable,” she said. ”Our business was a blessing in disguise. It gave me another element to focus on during Frank’s deployment.”

Working at home appeals to parents for a variety of reasons, said Dawn Brown, a business consultant based in Clinton County. For mothers who are the primary caregiver, working at home can help maintain an identity and sense of purpose that’s based on something outside the home.

“Identity is very important,” Brown said. “Not everyone wants to be locked into a 9-to-5 schedule, but you don’t want to lose touch with what you’ve done or who you’ve been in the past.”

Flexible hours are a big motivator for parents who start at-home businesses, although Brown cautions them.

“Flexibility doesn’t mean working fewer hours,” Brown said. “It means choosing hours that work around your spouse or family’s schedule, so that you can be there when your kids need you.”

Sajer typically works from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the school year, sometimes with her youngest daughter Katie, 4, sorting beads or other materials at her side. She and Turner also attend five or six in-home jewelry parties per month hosted by clients who receive $50 worth of Indivijewels pieces for every $500 sold. Sajer and Turner’s designs, which cost an average of $25 to $30, also can be found in the Sassy Boutique at the West Shore Farmer’s Market and Perfectly Pennsylvania, a gift shop at Harrisburg International Airport. They hope to expand their business to other retailers, as well as through representatives who will host private parties in the Philadelphia suburbs and in Maine, Illinois and New Jersey.

With his family recently in heavy-duty expansion mode, Deryck Henry isn’t looking to do the same for his 10-year-old business just yet. Henry, a Harrisburg-based structured settlement broker (a person who brokers the best rates for insurance settlements that are paid out over time), wife Mary-Kate and 3-year-old daughter Caitlin welcomed twins Julia and Sarah this past April. “I’ve made a conscious decision not to go after new clients or hire anyone to work with me,” said Henry. “I’ve limited my income, but I get to spend more time with the girls.”

Henry works from an office in a carriage house located behind his main residence. “Sometimes I pack a lunch to go to work; I leave the house, and I will not go back in the daytime,” Henry said. This noontime routine is typical of Henry’s disciplined approach to his business. “The biggest piece of advice I have for anyone starting a home business is that you must treat it as though you have a full corporation: You have your regular hours, you have your business plan, and you don’t waver from that,” Henry said. He describes his typical working hours as “very, very corporate,” lasting from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Henry holds himself to working a strict 40-hour workweek, meaning if he chooses to spend the day with his daughters, it often results in his pulling an all-nighter to stay on track. Similarly, he hews closely to his business plan, setting both monthly and annual goals and penalizing himself if he doesn’t meet them.

Formulating a business plan from the get-go is one thing Sajer says she and Turner would have done differently in founding Indivijewels, which started almost by accident when they showed off some pieces at a neighborhood Bunco game. Recently, the duo sketched out a plan that includes expanding Indivijewels’ retail base, launching a Web site where top-selling designs can be purchased, and increasing last-half 2005 sales by 25 percent during the same period this year.