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Start
A Home Business
Setting
Up a Work Space in Your Home
by Jeff Cohen
When you run a home business, one of the hardest
things to get right is knowing where to do your work. In your
bedroom? In a special home office? Well, here are a few suggestions.
A Dedicated Space is Best
I really believe that you won't get far unless you set aside
a space and use it for work only. Why? Well, if you use your
work space for things other than work, then you'll get distracted
by anything you leave there. Other people in the family might
become frustrated by not being able to use the space, or you
might find that you simply don't have anywhere to put all the
important pieces of paper you acquire, meaning that they get
lost.
The Art of the Home Office
A home office is really what you want -- this really needs
to be a dedicated room of a reasonable size. You shouldn't
have too much trouble if you convert a small bedroom, as most
bedrooms are actually surprisingly large once you take away
the bed.
The essentials for a home office are a desk, chair, computer,
filing cabinet and phone/fax. If you don't have spare ones
of these lying around then you should buy them used, or from
some kind of discount store -- don't spend a cent more than
you need to on your office furniture and equipment, at least
to begin with. Still, though, do try to find things that don't
look too bad, and that match.
Do make sure that you have everything in the room that you'll
need for your business, and that your equipment is good enough
that you'll be able to use it for long periods of time without
it becoming painful. If you plan to do a lot of phoning, for
example, buy a headset so that you can do it hands-free. It's
also worth spending just a little extra on that chair, if you're
going to be sitting on it a lot.
You should also make sure that the room is well-lit and decorated
in a style you like: one that says 'serious', but not 'dull,
terrible work'. Keep it at a comfortable temperature, with
good ventilation. Many people like to make their home office
visibly different to the rest of their house, by having a differently-colored
carpet or wooden floor, or painting the walls an entirely different
color. Whatever you do, though, I have no doubt that it'll
be better than 99% of the corporate offices out there. The
most important thing is that you don't spend too much, but
that you make sure to solve any problems you have with your
space as soon as they come up.
A Whole Other Building
One thing that some people like to do when they set up home
offices is to make it completely separate from their house:
a business annex. This could be expensive -- for goodness'
sake don't build a whole other building if you don't have something
like a shed or garage to convert -- but it is also one of the
most effective ways to work from home. It's not so much a 'home
office' as an office that you've built right next to your home
-- and it gives you a much clearer sense of when you're working
and when you're not.
This option is especially worth considering if you do a manual
trade, especially if you already have some kind of workshop
space. I knew a carpenter who saved himself all sorts of headaches
when he moved his home office away from his bedroom and into
his existing workshop in his garage.
A Question of Taxes
When you're organizing your home office, don't forget about
taxes. The area of your house that you do business in should
be tax-deductible, and so should any equipment you buy or other
work you have done. Don't use it as an excuse to get carried
away, but do remember that you're not spending quite as much
as you think. As long as you don't go overboard, your home
office will be one of the most important investments you will
make -- as anyone who's ever tried to work from home without
one can tell you.
# # # # # SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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