Ready to Take the Leap into Self-Employment? Here’s How to Set up an Awesome Home Office

Published on: 20 December 2018 Last Updated on: 06 May 2021
Awesome Home Office

Working from a home office can be amazing. A study showed that 3.9 million Americans have gone the way of a home office. It can help you have a work-life balance, and you don’t have to commute anywhere. Dress codes are flexible too.

To maximize your efficiency, you need an awesome home office. Here are some helpful tips to make sure you create a space that inspires you to work.

Where Will You Have Your Office?

Decide what part of your home you will work in. For some, there aren’t many options, so it’s off to the sofa or kitchen table for work. For others, there is that perfect space that will minimize outside distractions, and let you move around freely.

Plan Your Awesome Home Office:

Now you need to plan how to make your space comfortable. If you live in an area where it gets cold, you want to be able to work without shivering. This is where you should consider your options for window coverings and flooring.

Painting, flooring, and the structures in your space are the canvas for a home office that will serve you best. Before you move anything in, see what you want to change first.

Prepare Your Seat:

It goes without saying that you need to be able to sit comfortably while you do your best work. A quality office chair with multiple adjustments, like the ones at winc.com.au, will allow you to find that sweet spot where you can focus for hours without any aches.

Have Good Lighting:

Set up your work area close to a window. You want to get your daily share of vitamin D from natural light. It will help your mood, and will also look great.

Don’t stop there. You need a few more lamps so that you can read and use other parts of your workspace when the sun isn’t shining.

Plan Against Clutter:

How much time do you spend per year searching for papers? You can plan to prevent that. Having stacks of books and paper around your desk will hamper your productivity.

Your things have to go somewhere, so decide how you will store them. Perhaps you have another room for that. What will you use for storage? A file cabinet or some modern looking boxes on a shelf?

If you have a lot of wires in your office, add cord holder under your desk and minimize how many extension cords you need.

Walking into a tidy home office setup feels great. It’s only one of the secrets of a productive home office.

Add Some Comfort:

You don’t need to do all work at a desk. Sometimes you need a space where you move, stretch, and have some time to think. A sitting area is great to have if your space allows for it.

Thinking about adding in a soft chair, leather ottoman, coffee table, rugs, and lamps. With a space like this, you will be happy to take a thinking break or invite clients over.

Personalize Your Space:

Now you can put your own special touch on your home office. Designer posters, personal photos, or one differently painted focus wall are only a few ways you can start to achieve this.

Do you have a style you love, but it’s not right for your entire home? Your home office could be the place for that. Remember to cater to you first. If you like your space, you’ll work better in it.

The Perfect Office Setup:

There is no one solution, but by knowing yourself and how you work, you can fit these tips into an awesome home office that suits your style.

If you’re starting to work from home this year, check out our small business section for more helpful posts.

Read Also:

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Leaving

The Need to Settle End of Tenancy Issues Before Leaving

Small businesses usually rent a small office space given the number of employees who need to work in the same place. If you decided to rent a small office in a popular commercial establishment, you could sign a lease for about a year. Once the contract is over, you can decide to continue it or not. After a year, if your business has already grown drastically, and you intend to hire more employees to join you, it does not make sense to stay in the same place. You need to find a bigger office where you can successfully conduct all your operations. Before you leave the current office, you need to deal with the end of tenancy issues. You don't want to have problems with the owner of the space and not get your deposit back. Read the contract: You need to go through the agreement again to determine what you need to do as your tenancy is about to end. You might have to inform the landlord a month or so in advance that you don't intend to continue your lease. There might also be other stipulations you need to be familiar with before you decide to pursue the next steps. Deal with repair issues: A part of the contract is to keep the place in good condition. Some contracts might have clauses about damage due to wear and tear, which is perfectly fine. However, there might be other severe damage that you need to repair before you leave. Otherwise, the landlord could charge the amount to your deposit, and you won’t get it back in full. Clean the office: If you intend to leave soon, you need to start looking for a new place at least three months in advance. You will then have enough time to ask your employees to pack their stuff and move to the new office. If they will be busy packing their things, you can’t expect them to deal with general cleaning too. Besides, they are also doing their regular job while moving. You need professional cleaners like the ones at www.twinkleclean.co to do the job. They will make sure that the place will look as good as new. When the landlord checks the site, it will feel like no one rented and used it. If you feel satisfied with the services provided by the cleaning company you choose, you can partner with them again when you move to your new office. Pay any outstanding bills: you won't leave, you need to settle all your bills. You might still have packing them to pay. Tell your employees to do the same if they borrowed something from nearby establishments. You don’t want to start in a new office elsewhere with issues still unresolved in your old office. Once you finish doing all these things, you will be ready for a fresh start. Keep in mind everything that you do when you leave the old office since you might go through the same process again in the future when your new lease expires. Read Also: Necessary Spaces To Include In Building Your Office Choosing Open Office Space Vs Cubicle Office Space

READ MOREDetails
massage

How to Start, Set Up, and Grow Your Own Massage Business

Becoming a massage therapist is an excellent way to be self-employed, earn a good living, and help others. Before you can start, though, you need to be trained, licensed, and certified. Each state has different requirements. At a minimum, you will need at least 500 hours of education and hands-on training from an accredited program. In many states, you will need more.  After you qualify as a massage therapist, you can work for a health practitioner or spa. However, you will earn the highest amount of money and get the most satisfaction from your career if you start your own business. You will need to find a suitable space to lease, conform to county and city government regulations, and legally form your own company. Funding Your Massage Therapy Business  There are a number of ways that you could fund your business. Even if you are unable to get a traditional bank loan because you are just starting out or have no business experience, you can often get funding from online lenders. Other choices for funding include angel investors, venture capitalists, factoring (getting invoice advances), crowdfunding, and small business grants.  Setting Up Your Massage Therapy Business  Here are a few things that you will need to furnish and equip your new space:  1.Basic Equipment.  At the very least, you will need to have a massage bed(s) to start your massage therapy business. Find one that suits your budget. Thankfully, there is a wide variety of choices when it comes to stationary or portable equipment. You may also want to consider getting a portable massage chair so that you can offer samples at health stores or other places where you can promote your business. Additionally, consider bringing in some additional equipment to improve the massage experience for your clients like adjustable headrests and neck bolsters.  2. Supplies.  Customarily, you will need an adequate stock of organic, hypoallergenic creams, lotions, and massage oils. You will also need towels, sheets, and pillows.  3. Décor  You should get a good music player, a nice selection of calming music, and aromatherapy candles. As your business grows, you can improve the décor, but you should offer a few things to provide your clients with a sensory, relaxing experience.  Finding Clients For Your Massage Therapy Business  1. Decide on your ideal clients.  Although you may be skilled in helping all sorts of people with a wide variety of needs, you do need to develop a focus. Decide if you want to specialize. For instance, you may only want to work with athletes, on one particular type of problem, or specialize in one particular school of therapy. By specializing, you will be able to fine-tune your marketing. Instead of being a generalist, you will be a specialist.  For instance, if you specialize in lower back pain or only work with athletes, then you will be the go-to-person for people who have those needs. Don't worry, you will have more than enough clients. Moreover, you will be able to charge a higher fee than massage therapists in your local area who have not specialized. You will attract clients who want to pay you for the quality of your work, and not clients who are looking for bargain-basement prices and discounts.  2. Learn how to advertise.  You must learn how to advertise. Create business cards, brochures, and flyers. Put ads in newspapers and magazines.  3. Get good at networking.  Go to health clubs, salons, etc. and talk to people who could recommend your services to others. You may also be able to meet people via business and networking events.  Although it may not seem so at the time, the most challenging part of your new career may not be the educational or business setup process. It may be finding new clients! Here's the thing, unless you get good at finding new clients, you will be unsuccessful, even if you did really well in school and have set up a well-equipped massage clinic. Your biggest challenge will not be becoming an excellent massage therapist, as that is a fairly structured process. It will be learning how to be a good business person, which is a highly creative, unstructured aspect of your new adventure.

READ MOREDetails
sell your small business

How To Sell A Small Business Without A Broker

Once you’re ready to sell your small business, hiring a business broker tops your list. An article from this perfectly defines the role of business brokers that is to act as “intermediaries between buyers and sellers of a business”. They are the equivalent of real estate brokers or agents who sell properties on behalf of property owners. Business brokers manage everything necessary to sell your small business, from planning to marketing to closing the deal. Some even assist during the transition process. Considering such an enormous task, enlisting a broker may seem the easiest and most convenient thing to do. However, their service comes with an outrageous fee, usually around 10% commission from the sale. This is certainly a huge cut from your profits. If you want to retain the full profit from the sale, you can opt to sell your small business sans middlemen. This is an excellent choice especially if you have previous experience selling a business, you know of prospective buyers, or you’re not in a hurry to sell-off. However, when you decide to sell your business on your own, you have to be ready for a tedious legwork. So, how do you go about the sale? Know your reason for selling the small business According to a business broker, the first thing that a buyer would want to know is why a business is being sold. For a business to attract a potential buyer, you need to have a good reason. Some of the common reasons are retirement, sudden changes in personal circumstances, illness or death, boredom, partnership disputes, and burnout. Prospective buyers find these as ‘attractive’ reasons to buy a business. It may be harder to sell a business if you tell the buyer that you’re selling the business due to its sorry financial state, persistent losses, lack of manpower, and changing market conditions and trends. Make your business easily marketable by timing your sale properly. Show positive attributes to make it more marketable such as a strong customer base, increased profitability, consistent good financials, well-defined business processes, and a good contract. Plan your sale Prepare your business at least two years ahead of the sale, especially if you won’t enlist a broker. Have an ample amount of time to improve your client base, business structure, and financial records. This will help improve the value of your business and make it more attractive to buyers. This should also help ease the transition process. Get your business appraised  Once you’re ready to sell, you need to decide on the worth of your business. It is best to work with a professional business appraiser to get a proper valuation. Often, business owners become illogical when it comes to evaluating their own business. Some price is too low in an attempt to make it more marketable but end up losing on potential profit. Others price it too high hence making it unattractive to potential buyers. A business appraiser will evaluate your business to determine its worth. He then prepares a detailed explanation to give credibility to the proposed price. Prepare all documents Give time in preparing the design or sales package for your business. This document represents your business in the best possible light to potential buyers. It should include financial, operational and marketing information. If you are not comfortable with your communication skills, you can enlist the help of professional business writers. Financial documents are an important part of the sale process. Gather your books of account, financial statements, and tax returns for the past four years. Review these documents with an accountant. In addition, develop a list of assets that are being sold along with the business. Include other necessary documents such as lease agreements, supplier contracts, and contact lists. Prepare an information packet or operating manual that provides an overview of your business processes. In addition, you want to add photographs of your business, testimonials, case studies, and customer profiles. Highlight accomplishments and milestones to make it more marketable and command better-asking price. Prepare your business on-site Alongside the documentary preparations, you should also make your business site presentable. Check your physical store, production site, warehouse, and other related locations. You might need to have some areas repainted or redeveloped. Check if equipment or machinery needs to be replaced or fixed before the sale. Investing in such developments can help improve the asking price. It might sound cliché but first impressions last. An unkempt and dilapidated business site might turn off a potential buyer. It pays to invest in your physical asset as soon as you decide to sell on your own. Look for a buyer to sell your small business Finding a buyer is difficult, but it becomes doubly challenging if you don’t have a business broker. Unless you have a ready buyer, it may take several months to years before you can find the right buyer. The advantage of hiring a business broker is that they have wide networks and established marketing methods. If you are working solo, you will need to compensate for these services. There are listing sites dedicated to businesses-on-sale. You only need to pay a one-time fee and your business becomes available to potential buyers. You can also tap your networks. Perhaps, a friend or an acquaintance (or someone they know) is planning to buy a business. You can check your local business clubs or chambers. Visit online forums and social networks. Don’t limit your advertising methods. Final Thoughts As you can see, if you sell your small business without a broker is possible. It can even be advantageous if you play an active role in the sales and negotiation process. Quite obviously, business owners are more passionate to sell their business to the right buyers. Of course, you just have to remain rational and avoid getting your emotions to affect your decisions. As a final caution, if you have no experience selling and buying a business, you should consider working with a business broker or someone who has experience in this field. Better yet, you can check with your local chamber of commerce for assistance and counseling. Read Also: How to Boost Traffic to your Small Business Cost Effective Custom Mobile Accessories Packaging for your Small Business How To Empower Your Small Business through Digital Marketing? 4 Simple And Cheap Methods To Attract More Customers For Your Small Business

READ MOREDetails