Preparing to work from home

Setting up your home office may seem like a simple task after all when you begin a new job and set up your office for the first time it takes you about 10 minutes to do right? Wrong. Setting up a home office is completely different – first off in corporate America there was always someone there before you and they ultimately did most of the work for you, no such luck at home.

You will need to first decide whether you will be working in or from this office or if you just intend to pay the bills and surf the net. In the case of a fun home office you have a good deal of freedom and do not need as much. A simple desk with computer, a bookcase or two, maybe a radio or small television, and a simple printer will do, slap a rug on the floor and your office is done.

However, if you will be working from home then your office is of a serious nature and must be set up that way. Everything must be carefully decided because it is not an easy thing to work from home although most believe that it is. You should choose a soothing but lively color, in other words choosing a color that makes you antsy would be bad, but a color that is so soft it makes you sleepy would be worse. Believe it or not those little things can affect you. You will need a solid desk, a computer that can handle the load (you will need to store your own files so get a large external drive for backups), a good solid copier/printer (getting used copy machines will always save you money since pre owned copiers often carry the same guarantee or better than the original and have been checked out recently by a certified technician), a file cabinet, and the right supplies for your business. You should already know the tools that are specific to your industry, but chances are that all you need is the right software to do work at home.

Once you have set everything up and are ready to get to work make sure you run through a final checklist. Imagine preparing to set up your first meeting and not being able to find a pen or a notepad now that would be frustrating and very unprofessional.

Whatever you choose to do with your home office space just make sure to make it your own.

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