You Too Can Design the Home Office You Have Only Dreamed About
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.
The size of your home office is less about the size and more about functionality. When you are deciding where to put your office, think about places that lend itself to being set up as the nerve center of your business. There are many factors to take into consideration when charting your home office organization.
What about proper lighting?
Having the correct lighting is very important when setting up a home office. Eyestrain and eye problems can result if you spend long periods of time in a dimly lit room staring at papers or a computer screen. In order to avoid eventual vision problems, you will want to have a well-lit home office.
Check the Number of Electrical Outlets
You want to take into consideration electrical outlets available for the equipment that you will be using day-to-day. At the very least, today’s modern home office has a light, computer, telephone, answering machine, monitor, scanner, printer and speakers (optional but still nice to have). You may also add a radio/CD/MP3 player that will need to be powered. Make sure you have enough electrical outlets to power your home office adequately so that you do not have play plug switch on equipment.
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 your telephone business expenses for tax purposes if you have a separate phone line.
It is 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.
Do you have Internet access?
Most modern home offices will have a decent Internet connection - DSL or Broadband. Gone are the days when dialup access was sufficient, and while it can still be done, most home office business have a fast Internet connection. You may be already DSL-ready and only need to call your telephone company to get it started.
If you already have a broadband connection, make sure you have access to the cable connection where you are located. If you choose to go with a wireless connection to your broadband access, be sure and secure and encrypt it with WPA encryption and not WEP. WEP encryption was hacked about 10 years ago, and if you are doing secure transactions online, spring for a wireless modem/router with the latest encryption available. Better still, you might want to stick with straight cabling for faster speed and safety.
If you take advantage of a nearby WiFi hotspot where you can go wireless, be sure and avoid making purchases or conducting unencrypted transactions while wireless on a public wireless connection. If you go wireless at home, make sure you have encrypted your connection and you should be just fine. With all of these decisions made, you will have the basics for starting the setup of your home office organization.
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