It’s important when running a business to make yourself available to clients and customers. Having things like basic contact information on your company website for all to see is just basic good business practice, and not having it makes you look unprofessional and less trustworthy as a business entity. So what happens when your business contact information is also your home contact information, because you work from home? Here are a few tips to help protect your privacy as a home business owner:

• Never use your personal email address for business use where you’ll be giving it away to strangers (especially of the potentially angry customer variety). Set up a separate email account for business purposes. Ideally, set it up on your own hosting account with your business website’s domain name instead of using a free email host (which look unprofessional and untrustworthy in and of themselves).
• If you’re worried about posting your home address on the Web or business correspondence, get a virtual address or PO box set up for your business.
• Set up a separate phone line in your home (if possible) for business use, or set up a virtual phone number (many are free or inexpensive – such as Skype or Aim Phoneline), where you can give out the phone number publicly, and either take calls through your computer or simply have the numbers lead to included voicemail services, where you’ll return the calls later.

These tips will help you get started in protecting your privacy as a home business owner. If you have other tips for protecting your privacy while working at home, feel free to share your suggestions.