Working from home offers many advantages including the flexibility of setting your own schedule, saving time, and gas money by eliminating your daily commute. However, being successful in a home office requires creating an office space that promotes efficiency in a non-traditional work environment. Consider the following tips to help define a professional working space for your new business.
Make a List of Your Critical Home Office Needs
Before claiming a corner in one of your rooms and calling it an office, make a detailed list of your most basic needs for a home office or a "critical needs" list. Your needs list should include a desk, computer, printer, and telephone. If you are a graphic artist, for example, you may need both a small desk for your computer and a larger table or workspace for your artwork. However, if you are a consultant, you may need additional space for several locking, fireproof file cabinets, and possibly space for clients to meet with you. When making your list of critical needs, it is important to think about how you plan to use the home office.
Choose a Dedicated Area for Your Home Office Space
Once you have made your critical needs list, you have a better idea of how much space you need for the office and can set aside a dedicated area of your home. Ideally, the office should be in a quiet area with some level of privacy. This is especially important if you share the house with a spouse, children, or even a roommate. For example, a spare room with a door may be best because it can help filter noise from the rest of the house, particularly if you'll be on the phone frequently. Or, if you'll be meeting with clients in your home office, it may be more efficient to choose a room near the front entrance of the house.
Get Creative: Balance Workspace and Storage Requirements
Often, a home office has a limited amount of space and can feel cramped even with only a chair and desk in the room. However, maintaining a professional office is dependent upon good organization. That means planning a space that has plenty of room for both storage (files, supplies, etc.) and an ample work area. You may have to get creative. For example, build your own desk that uses file cabinets as the base with wood or a laminate countertop for the top. You may also have to store files in another room. A rule of thumb is that any files or supplies that you use frequently should be easily accessible. Again, the goal is to create an organized office space that meets all of your basic needs and allows you to function efficiently
Brighten Your Home Office With Proper Lighting
When possible, choose a space for your office that allows plenty of natural light. You can also enhance the area with direct lighting. Start by providing general, overhead lights that fill most of the work area. Next, consider adding task lighting, or desk lamps, and floor lamps that can give concentrated lighting to your specific work area. Finally, regardless of the type of lighting available, make sure that your computer screen is positioned so that it prevents a glare from occurring. The object is to create balanced lighting that minimizes eye strain.
Separate the Professional From the Personal
When working from home, it is important to keep your personal life from spilling over into your business life (and vice versa). Setting up a business bank account is the first step in helping you avoid mixing personal expenses with your business expenses. To further reduce confusion, try to store personal checks, records, and even mail in a room separate from your office. Fully segmenting these two parts of your lives may also help at tax time. Tax deductions related to home offices are increasingly scrutinized, and the more you can prove that the office is a completely separate and dedicated area, the better in terms of meeting IRS definitions of a home office.
Utilize Formal Processes and Procedures in Your Home Office
There is no need to write a formal employee handbook or publish a list of office rules, but determining a formal system of operations for your home office is useful. A handbook should include everything from standardizing record-keeping and paying invoices to logging time with customers and mileage for business trips. Keeping a few formal procedures in place for standard business functions will ensure your office stays organized, and that information is available where and when you need it.