Welcome to Assocation of Home Businesses (AHB)

When Darcie Batcheler and I first discussed the possibility of forming a home business association in 1991, we were not alone. There were home business associations springing up all across the U.S. A movement was afoot — away from the corporate world and into one’s own micro-business, sole proprietorship venue, from home. To meet and share stories, to have a featured speaker of the evening, to pool interests and create new networks, to enlarge the power of one into the force of many, to have a meal, seemed like a good idea. After many conversations and months of coffee, we settled on April 21, 1992 as the date for the charter meeting of the Association of Home Businesses.

People who work from home are very special, indeed. They are not telecommuters or corporate refugees. They are not hobbyists or dabblers. They are a rugged lot of independent-minded, persevering, determined professionals — regardless of their enterprise — who know what it is to work long hours, to do it all, to risk everything for the “luxury” of working from home to pursue their dreams, passions, and driving force. A home entrepreneur has to make the sales call, close the deal, create the product and/or provide the service, do the (digital) paperwork, keep up with the trends, do the janitorial, answer the phone, pay the bills, and on and on, all in the company of their solitude. You get the picture.

AHB continues to be valid and vital because we fill enough essential needs and wants for the home business owner or for those seeking to form a home business. With a bit of flamboyance and hope we enunciated our future in a certificate given out to those attending our first meeting: “Purpose — Principles — Vision. The Association is founded for the purpose of fostering communication, camaraderie, and unity among its members. Members should be fair, ethical and cooperative in all business transactions and relations with other members. The Association honors the sanctity of individual initiative and seeks to unite this indivisible power — with a sense of humor, a sense of mission,and some hard work — for all.”

When the flush of founding settled down, we attended to the task of creating bylaws and such. The hardcore serious stuff, which included officers and a Board. The following bylaw language became part of AHB’s cornerstone principles and guiding light. It has bound us together and moved us forward to this day: “The purpose of AHB is to assist home-based businesses by: providing business and technical information that is current and practical; promoting professional standards and image; providing an advocacy; providing appropriate group services; providing a forum for socializing and networking.”

Please join us for dinner.

On behalf of all of us AHB …

Neal Lubow
Co-founder