Tom Harnish

After college and a stint as a Navy flyer, I "went to school" at Booz, Allen & Hamilton as a Consulting Scientist, and then became a Senior Scientist at OCLC, an amazing international computer services company. While I loved both jobs, I knew deep down I really wasn't cut out for the world of suits.

For the past 25 years, the entrepreneurial call of the wild defined my path. Some ventures worked. Some were, um, learning experiences. But after spending the last two decades working from home, I can't imagine ever going back to a 'real job.' Well, actually I did recently consider applying for what would be my dream job--running cameras on a spacecraft--but my game plan was to convince them to let me telecommute. What's another few miles compared to 142 million to Mars?

Now don't get me wrong, we may work in a comfortable setting (it's Southern California and we really do have an office with a hot tub in it--and an ocean view), but we work our butts off to earn a home-based living. The nice thing, they say, about running your own business is you only have to work half a day--the issue is which 12 hours. But we don't mind because both Kate and I love what we do, and we love working 6 feet from each other.

We even wrote the manuscript for Undress For Success without shedding any blood. But here's why we don't mind the long hours--we choose when, where, and how hard we work. No one watches us (except the cats). No one second guesses what we're doing. There are few meetings, and when there are, it's usually on the back patio or in the hot tub.