Working from home for the first time? As a couple? Need some tips?

Ever since reading the first Rich Dad, Poor Dad book by Robert Kyosaki, Scott has been fascinated by the idea of working from home. The hardest part when you are the boss is getting people used to the idea that when the boss is away the employees don’t play.

With the upset technology of the gig economy, and ideas from people like Jason Fried at 37 Signals, The Bourquin Group is essentially run out of Scott’s home. So are the CoolToys.TV franchise and Custom PhotoCraft which is owned by his wife Kelly.

When employees are taken off of payroll, and paid for the job or task it changes the management style. You might need twice as many people and still have a 30% reduction in employee costs. Once people get used to working from home, they get more efficient and more effective at their jobs.

Working from home with a home studio
Bedroom Turned Home Studio

They also are willing to work for much less when they have total control. It is why über and lyft killed the taxi industry, and shut down companies like Super Shuttle. Let’s face facts, those companies are not “ride sharing”. All those drivers in line at LAX didn’t just get off a flight and decide to wait for someone to give a ride home too.

The Changing Landscape of Work

In early European Villages the shopkeepers lived above the shop. This separation of home and work space made it easy to differentiate and keep the family out of the shopkeepers hair.

When Scott first started working from home, his wife had a full time job and helped with the books in the evenings. She had a pile of work notes on her desk that she turned into invoices. When that was done they both left the office and it worked. It worked mostly because she wasn’t home all day.

Then Scott went a little crazy and bought a Home Theater Business in Texas. That required stores and direct employee management again. This he admits was as close to failure has he had ever been.

Once again Scott is running his business and his wife is running hers from their home. It took a lot of adjustment when his wife stopped leaving each day for her “regular” job. After years of practice they have found a way to make it work for both of them.

For the tips, tricks and ideas of how to work from home without killing each other and running separate companies, check out the live stream video Scott did while he was living the Quarantine Life.