Create a Dream Office You Will Love

All business owners create their niche in the world of free enterprise. They plant their steak in the American dream; however, the basics are the same for everyone. You must have advertising, you must take care of your bookkeeping, and you must acknowledge you employee’s needs. It all stems form one central point in your business, your office.

In order to keep those creative juices flowing, it is important to have an environment that is conducive to your business spirit. Your business spirit is how you see yourself in the business world. Sounds deep, doesn’t it? It simply means your office should be unique to your needs and it should reflect your personality as well as being practical. Once you put those three
characteristics into play, unique to you, reflect your personality, and practical, then you will be assured of having your dream office.

It can safely be assumed, if you are small business owner you spend more time in your office than anywhere else. The following information will help you to have the office you love.

Some planning is necessary to get to where you want to be. You must asses what your needs really are. Ask yourself the following questions?

• What type of storage is needed?
• What type of space do I have to work with?
• Are there things in my office that work well for me already?
• What items do I need to have easy and fast access to?
• What colors really do it for me?
• Can I consolidate my office equipment?

Those are few questions that will help to get you started.

The next step is inventorying your office to see what you are missing. You may require additional file space. In that case you need to add file cabinets to your list, at the same time keeping your space limitations in mind. Don’t be afraid to sketch your dream office on paper.

Now comes the good part. Repaint your office with your favorite colors. Make working in your office an enjoyable experience for you. Rearrange you workspace to be practical, but make sure you include things you love. That could include family photos, your mounted fish (the one that almost got away), the plaques you received for achievements and memberships, and your favorite paper weights. The ideas are endless. Make it your space. Just because it is an office doesn’t mean it can’t have personality.

On the technical side, you must have up to date equipment and required office supplies on hand at all times. Imagine printing several booklets at one page per minute verse 20 pages per minute or even waiting for your bank statement to load on your computer. Are you using dialup internet access or DSL? I won’t get into the technical terms, but the point is, you need to have state of the art equipment to get the job done in an efficient manner. That does not mean going out buying the most expensive equipment. Once you know exactly what your needs are, stick to your guns and get equipment to fill those
needs. Expansion is an important consideration, but make sure you are realistic.

Your office furniture also needs to ergonomic meaning it needs to be conducive to your body type. Is your computer monitor at an angle or directly at eye level in front of you? Is your keyboard so high up you look like you are waving to your monitor? If it is, you need to lower it so that your arms are in line with your elbows. Can you rest your feet in a comfortable position? Is your chair adjustable and comfortable? All your furniture should be tailored for you.

A great way to make sure you have the office of your dreams is to get reorganized. Clear your files, purge your databases, restock your supplies and get rid of items you no longer have a need for.

Don’t know where to begin? Well great ideas are lurking everywhere.

You can get great ideas for magazines, TV, the internet or your best friends, to die for, office.

Don’t limit yourself. You can change the look of your office at anytime. If you feel your time should be better spent making money, than outsource. There are companies that specialize in helping you have your dream space. Take the leap and have what you’ve dreamed of, your very own fantabulous office.

Elizabeth Hall, owner of Smart Office Help, Inc., offers ways for your business to save valuable time and money, by providing administrative and bookkeeping services to busy business owners. Contact Elizabeth Hall at 407-884-7755 for your personalized consultation. Sign up for your FREE Business Success Newsletter on our website http://www.smartofficehelp.com or subscribe by sending a blank email to PaperClip@getresonse.com

Home Office Furniture

How To Set Up A Professional Home Office

Each day, more and more people are getting caught in the ‘work from home’ fever. Government as well as companies is quickly embracing this type of ‘work from home’ scheme as there are many benefits such as employee being able to spend more time with the family and saving office space rental as well. Likewise, the explosion of the internet has created many internet entrepreneurs who just need a computer in their home to operate a home business.

As home office is getting more and more popular, it is important that you design and setup your home office in a manner that is conducive and productive for you to work in.
First of all, identify a location within your home where you can work conductively without any noise or distraction. Is there a spare room in the house or is there any place where you can create a space to work in? Make sure that there is sufficient lighting during the day time.

Once you have chosen that area, consider doing up wall shelves to put your stationery and office document to save space on the table. As table space is usually small, consider buying a ‘miniature’ desktop computer / laptop to put on the table. More spaces can be created by attaching the house phone to the wall as well.

If there are clients coming to your place, you might want to add in a sofa at a corner and a few magazine racks for them to browse through the magazine while they are waiting. To give your home office a ‘more professional’ look, you might want to get creative and decorate the wall with nice paintings or paint the wall with a nice color. Try adding some greenery such as potted plant or flowers as well. By taking the effort to spruce up your office, you can enhance a more professional company image when client steps into your office.

As you can see, the expenses really do add up when you spruce up your home office image. One cost saving idea is to buy used office furniture. Check out places like the classified section in your newspaper, flea market or bankruptcy sales as you can get great bargain for your office furniture.

Justin Koh is a freelance writer whose articles have appear in most major ezines. You can find his latest office furniture news and articles at http://www.officefurniturecenter.info

Tips For Designing Your Home Office

Setting up a home office is one of the most important tasks you will face when you make the decision to work from your own home. Your home office can be a corner of your kitchen or living room or, if space permits, a former spare bedroom.

Size is less important that functionality. When deciding on where to set up the nerve center of your business, there are some factors you need to consider.

Is the area well lit?

Proper lighting is extremely important. Spending hours at a time in a dimly lit work space can create eyestrain which, after long periods of time, could lead to more serious problems with your vision.

Are there plenty of electrical outlets?

Take into consideration what appliances you will have in your work space. Your computer system will require an outlet for your cpu, monitor, scanner, printer, speakers (sometimes) and other ancillary equipment you may have.

Is the area well ventilated and dust free?

All of that computer equipment needs to “breath” to remain cool and functioning properly. If you have ever “fried” a computer you know how important it is to keep the fan clean and dust free.

Do you have telephone access?

In addition to having a telephone handy for business purposes, you will also require telephone access for your modem. You may also consider a separate telephone line for your business. It is much easier to track telephone business expenses for tax purposes if you have a separate phone line. It’s also important that your clients can reach you. If your clients have to compete with your teenagers telephone habits, chances are they will call someone else. Make certain that this separate line is set up to receive phone calls while you are online. Most major telephone companies now offer that service. You may pay a few extra dollars a month for it, but it will pay for itself over the long haul.

How much ‘foot traffic” is there liable to be?

You want your office to be as isolated as possible. Can you imagine trying to speak with a client with kids screaming in the background? Not a very professional picture. If you have no choice but to have your office in a high traffic area, adjust your work schedule to coincide with family activities. Sit your family down and explain the importance of your work and why you need their cooperation. It won’t always work out that way but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

It goes without saying that you need to have normal office supplies. Even if your work is online you still need the pens, pencils, note pads and so on.

One of the stickiest challenges you may encounter comes from your friends. People who do not work from home seem to think that if you do, you have all the time in the world to visit. This can become a major problem if you do not set the parameters. Setting out the ground rules is important to the overall health and well being of your business. Let your friends and extended family know your business hours and explain to them that you are not available during those periods of time. The sooner you do this the better.

Conduct your business in a professional manner. Just because you work at home does not mean that you should throw out the rule book. Maybe you have read the humorous comment about “working in your pajamas”. It sounds good in sales messages, but the truth is you are much better off if you awaken in the morning and prepare yourself for your work day as if you were still trekking off to the office, because you are.

You will be much better prepared to focus and get down to business if you dress the part. That doesn’t mean that you need to squeeze into the normal “office” attire. It does mean that you set the standards for your business and much of that has to do with “mindset” and self-image. Dressing comfortably is a one of the serendipities of working at home, but you will be much better prepared for business if you dress the part.

I have one final word of advice for the new work at home entrepreneur. Having your office right down the hall can be a blessing, but it can also be a curse. Remember to take time out for yourself. Most people believe that working at home comes with certain privileges, and it does. However, it can also become all-consuming and take total control of your life.

Don’t allow that to happen. Create your schedule and live by it. Make sure you turn off the lights, shut down the computer and “go home” at the end of your work day.

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