Home-Based Operations ARE Legitimate

Since 2001, we have operated our businesses from locations in Carlsbad, CA and Wrentham MA. While we have a large internet presence, we also maintain a professional office with a full tecnical support staff.

We also feel very strongly that unless you need a retail storefront for walk-in traffic, there are several good reasons for people to work or run businesses from home:

• We get to see our kids off to school, and are here when they get home in the afternoon. We are more involved and enjoy more quality time with our children.
• We don't burn up gas and contribute to pollution by commuting. And, since we're very energy-conscious at home, we actually use less energy than working at an office.
• We're able to hire and contract with other professionals working at home or in offices using the Internet to communicate and collaborate.

Like any legitimate business, we have all the necessary permits for doing business at home.

However, some may feel that home-based businesses are somehow less legitimate than those with retail storefronts. We pondered this over the past three years we have operated NovuScript, our digital dictation and transcription equipment business. During these past three years we have had only two customers who have wanted to come to our "store" and personally view the equipment. It would have been a colossal waste of money to have had a retail storefront for only two customers. As it is, we have thousands of satisfied customers in all 50 states, and all of the US territories.

That's why I got a real kick when Martel Electronics, a competitor in Orange County, posted the following on one of their product pages:


I'm sure this is somehow aimed at us, since we're one of the largest in the country in this niche market. As a 10+ year Web engineer and a company that provides secure servers for physician dictations, we are certainly not any more prone to committing identity theft than Martel or any other company. Sure, there are always unscrupulous sellers in any business. Restaurants and retail stores are much more likely to have employees that steal credit card information than Web-based businesses.

We've had our identity stolen twice before and it was when we gave our credit card to someone else to make a purchase.

And, truth be known, Martel's "showroom" is really not much bigger than a good-sized walk-in closet.

My point here is that home-based businesses - particularly in this age of the Internet and tele-commuting - should not be looked down on by anyone, particularly businesses who don't provide the level of service, expertise and customer satisfaction we do.

We're proud of the fact we can work from home. We're also proud of the fact that we can ship from any of 8 well-stocked warehouses nationwide, and we have a highly trained and factory certified repair facility in the Midwest that supports our customers when they need fast, competent and reasonably-priced repairs.

Identity theft is NOT a problem created by Web-based businesses. Again, statistics show that more identity theft occurs at retail establishments.

In fact, as the article "Identity Theft Online: Debunking the Myths" points out, you're actually safer shopping online in many cases.

The Better Business Bureau concurs, based on the most recent, 2006 Identity Theft Survey.

It would be nice if more businesses were honest with customers and did not try to mislead them. I don't mind having competition; I do mind when it involves misleading customers through fear based on falsehoods. Martel Electronics should really be ashamed of themselves.

[PS: Go to www.olympusds4000.com. Misleading, eh? This domain is NOT operated by Olympus, but by a dealer who is contractually prohibited from using this domain name.]