Intrigued by the possibilities of two developing trends -- telecommuting and home-based businesses -- Gore enrolled as an online student at the New School of Social Research in New York to do graduate work focused on researching the trends. She took the knowledge gained form her studies and began assisting companies in establishing telecommuting programs within their businesses. This involved helping them to identify what functions could be done off-site and which employees were best-suited to work from a remote location, as well as to develop performance measurement standards for telecommuting employees. Business was good, but Gore soon realized that a growing number of her clients were more interested in working with home-based professionals on a project-by-project basis rather than in having them on the payroll. She promptly refocused her business to provide off-site, home-based workers for a variety of assignments.

"When people think of home-based businesses, most think that each operates totally independently. But many aren't as independent as you might think," Gore says, noting that home-based businesses commonly team up with one another to complete projects for clients. "So, I took that concept and said, 'Okay, I can have a home-based business, do the same thing for clients I've been doing but actually make it an agency. I can pull all these home-based business together.'"

In 1994, Gore did just that, founding the company now known as OffSite Works (formerly Office at Home Enterprises Inc.) The seven-year old company, which is the first to be recognized in the Small Business Administration's new Home-Based Business Advocate of the Year category, offers the latest in flexible workforce solutions by managing off-site professionals -- many of whom are themselves home-based businesses -- and their equipment. Local clients include BMI, Sunbelt Fulfillment, FISI-Madison and First Tennessee Bank.

Gore says a pool of about 200 home-based "teleworkers" is the lifeblood of OffSite Works. They include writers, data entry and word-processing specialists, graphic designers, programmers, Web developers and market researchers. For many, the relationship with OffSite Works is ideal, allowing them to utilize their skills without having to worry about administrative tasks, marketing and other core functions of running a business. OffSite Works' teleworkers are compensated financially based on the job. Gore says some project pay per unit produced while others pay by the hour or based on a flat fee.

Picking up new business often requires educating potential clients, and even existing clients, about the feasibility of outsourcing tasks that detract from the main focus of the business. Gore says this process becomes fairly easy when she points out how much money they can save by doing routine tasks off-site. Clerical work, mail merging, data entry, assembly work and survey/market research are among the most common jobs performed by home-based workers, she says.

Gore supervises OffSite's teleworkers to ensure that her company meets client-dictated deadlines. She emphasizes that clients pay for results rather than the number of hours worked. She bills some clients on an hourly basis, but most of the work is on a flat-fee or production basis, such as the number of forms or survey completed.

"We ask the client to tell us what they're paying for a service today and to let us provide an estimate for what we think we can do the job for," Gore says. "Then we do a pilot to see if it works because we don't want to pay our people below what they're worth. We want everyone to be happy with the end result, and it's worked out well in every case."