Henry Ford Worked From Home
Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but he decided on the internal combustion engine (versus steam), engineered the modern production line and dreamed of building a car not just for the wealthy, but for common people. Like him.
And he created his billion-dollar industry by working from home.
Ford learned everything he could about electricity while working as an engineer at the Edison Plant in Detroit. In a time before spark plugs and carburetors, he knew that he needed an electrical spark to ignite the gas to create the explosion that moved the pistons, etcetera.
So Ford punched into work each morning at the new Edison Electrical Plant in Detroit, did his face time, then he turned around and went back home.
He worked steadfastly on the automobile he was building in the shed that stood behind his rented house. (Factoid: The garage had not been invented yet.)
This is outlined in Richard Snow’s book “I Invented The Modern World”.
Ford is not alone on the list of home startups.
Pierre Omidyar founded eBay in his home office space. (Factoid: WeWork co-working space had not been invented yet.)
Sarah Blakely got her idea for creating Spanx while sitting at home watching Oprah. When the show’s star mentioned that she cut…
