She had two more daughters, and the family moved about Japan, setting up home in four different cities around the country before settling in Hokkaido three years ago. Soho workers were typically women with children working from home using the Internet, doing relatively thankless tasks like data entry. The media hailed the phenomenon as a huge opportunity for former career women, but Mrs. Tazawa was hearing differently. Staff now has about 40 members whose skills range from Web page design and writing to fortune-telling. Staff each month, and 1 or 2 are accepted.
Staff are, essentially, an online office.
Small-business people, too, are out to use the Internet. Consider Niizuma, a prototype maker in Kamata, a district in Tokyo that is home to hundreds of tiny parts suppliers, machine tool makers and the like. He has long used a sales force to make sure Niizuma did not rely too heavily on any one company. But that is costly and time-consuming, since it takes roughly six months of wining, dining and meetings to secure an order. About 20 companies that Niizuma has never done business with have expressed interest in placing orders, and four have actually done so.