Les Einhorn (click
here for Resume) is an ardent supporter of
home-based and small businesses.
With his wife and young daughter, he lives in Coopers Shoot and works from an office he built next to his home. Moving to the area from Melbourne in 1997, the family has settled in well to their three-acre rural property.
Sitting in a comfy armchair, looking out over the tennis court to views to Lennox Head and along the coast of North New South Wales , Les described the technology business, Logical Effective Solutions (or 'LES'), that he started in 1990 and which he enjoys running from home.
Les has four employees and some 30 sub-contractors to service hundreds of clients around Australia , providing information technology (I.T.) products and services, and offering software application design and support. Most of their business comes from companies ranging from small to medium businesses through to corporates and government departments located around Australia .
Translating needs into technology
Apart from distributing a vast range of I.T. products and services, LES solves technical problems and repairs IT goods, provides training in IT equipment and applications, and helps clients to productively use their technology. "We help translate people's needs into technology, where that's appropriate", Les began.
One segment of the business distributes a range of information technology. This might be hardware, such as servers and networks or digital cameras, scanners, colour printers; or software - such as security and anti virus products. Of particular relevance in this area are effective modems and uninterruptible power supplies.
The company also offers internet services and web-based applications. Then there's the Internet Content Security products for businesses which are connected to the internet, to help prevent unnecessary files coming in to that company, and to manage the private use of the internet. "As this system helps stop viruses entering a company at the point of the mail server, it's very appropriate these days", he explained.
Providing IT for a Melbourne Gallery
One client is a leading art gallery, located in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale. As their sole provider of information technology, LES supplied all their equipment and web applications when the gallery began. LES used three Byron Shire people to help write the gallery's software application, so LES is able to provide a certain amount of local employment.
Another LES client provides quality control of high level industrial chemicals. The pay of the 24 people providing the quality control is directly related to the work they do, but they didn't want to waste time filling in time sheets. Within two days, LES designed a practical, simple solution to the problem.
For a multi-national company which deals with 154 countries around the world, LES designed a web-based application for their thousands of employees and clients to handle tracking of the regulatory compliance and patents regulations for each of those countries around the world - a mammoth job in any language.
The company is "very strong" on documentation, looking for discipline and business maturity in their staff. Systems they design have to be "simple, and easy to use", Les says. "A user must want to use a system otherwise it's pointless."
Home Based Businesses
When asked about the Home Based Business Alliance of 70+ small companies which Les helped to start, Les waxes lyrical. "Increasingly, it's going to be the biggest source of income in our region, though of course there will always be retail offices," he says.
For Les, home businesses are the only way to go. Companies in the Alliance include plumbers, insurance companies, hospitality-related companies such as B&Bs, entrepreneurs, health based operators such as masseurs, consultants and educators, and farmers.
So what are the perils of working from home? Even Les acknowledges it requires "the discipline to say when you are at work, you are at work - and helping your loved ones and associates to realise that."
Networking for personal contact
Networking is a part of any home-based business, since there isn't the same people contact which working in an office provides. Les explains that this is part of the reason the Alliance was established, to provide "appropriate stimulating contact with others also working from home".
Is working from home seen as a negative by his clients? "My clients don't care where I am as long as they know their needs are being met, very quickly, and at a reasonable price".
A passionate believer in the community, Les volunteers a great deal of time with a number of community concerns, such as the establishment of a Community Technology Centre in Bangalow, Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads.
Contact Les on email
or by phoning 0412 03 03 66 or 02 6687 1919.
