Tracy Press

For a growing number of area residents, the trip to the office is more a matter of mental than physical distance.

MOUNTAIN HOUSE — Like many moms, Nichica Smith starts her day before dawn.

She helps her husband get ready and out the door early for his commute to San Francisco. She makes her three children breakfast and sends them across the street to Bethany Elementary School with sack lunches.

Nichica Smith works out of her Mountain House home kitchen selling jewelry at various shows and through online sales. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press

Working out of the home has become more acceptable thanks to technology, said Shelley Puentes, who started the Mountain House Networking Group 2½ years ago.

Some start home-based businesses from scratch, while others telecommute — they work for a company from home via the Internet.

“In the past, people would say, ‘I’m working from home, wink wink,’” said Puentes, 36, who has worked out of her house as a certified mortgage planning specialist with Pacific Mortgage Consultants the past five years.

Not so now. Without the distractions of coworkers, she said, she gets more done at home.

Puentes’ alarm sings at 5 a.m. She gets ready for the day, walks to her office on the first floor of her home, closes the door and gets to work.

“I like that I can work whenever I need to get something done for a client, whether it’s during business hours or on weekends,” she said.

Home-based employees and employers might not have to punch a clock, dress to impress or mark their lunches with sticky notes, but their workplace has its own set of challenges.

“You have to be self-motivated,” said Josette Buriani of Tracy, who took a job as a consultant for Pure Romance, which sells sex toys and lingerie, after she was laid off from her job with a construction subcontractor in Livermore. “You don’t have someone telling you to work.”

In the midst of Smith’s workday, she feels the pull of dishes that need to be washed, laundry that needs to be folded and bills that need to be paid.

“You have to stay focused,” said Smith, 32. “I think more and more people who have the personality for it want to work from home. But the challenge is to find a job that can supplement your income.”

That was the struggle Dulcey Rood of Tracy couldn’t overcome.

She started to sell for Silpada Designs Sterling Silver Jewelry and Your Travel Business three years ago after she grew frustrated with her commute to San Francisco, where she worked as a deputy sheriff.

“It’s hard when you go from getting a confirmed pay check to sit there and wait for clients,” said Rood, 35, who took a full-time job three weeks ago at Versailles Salon and Day Spa in Tracy after the two consulting jobs failed to bring in enough money. “I want to be home for my kids, but I need money.”