Make sure that your business has little if any impact on the people who live around you. For example, if all you do is convert one room to an office equipped for a consulting business, it's unlikely that anyone will complainas long as you have no employees and see only an occasional client or customer at your home. You'll also be in a better position if you cleared your plans with your neighbors or if several of them also have home-based businesses. Anything that a neighbor can see, hear or smell outside of your home that causes inconvenience or smacks of a commercial venture. Increased traffic, parking problems, signs, outside storage of supplies, noises or unpleasant odors emanating from your homeany of these can lead to neighborhood complaints.
Pollution is another red flag.
A craftsman who worked at home with stained glass and even taught classes there was doing quite well until he started dumping lead-laced fluids down a storm drain. The neighbors properly insisted that the city attorney put him out of business. Look for alternatives to frequentdeliveries . A daily procession of FedEx, UPS and U.S. Post Office trucks making deliveries to your house can annoy the neighbors. Consider having mail and packages sent to a private mailbox service such the one run by Mail Box Etc. or a similar operationespecially if there's one located nearby.