Many people underestimate how important their office is to their business. It can become a dumping ground for all sorts of things and this issue can be compounded when your business office is located in your home. If your office is not running smoothly, it can cost you in many ways – wasted time, money, productivity as well as creating stress and worry. So if you want to enjoy going in to your office, here are my top tips to help you get your home office SORTED!
1. Determine the purpose of your office. Will it need to accommodate a number of functions? How many people will be sharing the space? Will the office be exclusively for business or will you need to include space for hobbies and personal paperwork?
2. Once you have established what your office will be used for, try and create zones within the space. You should include space for technology such as a workstation, a reference library and storage for paperwork.
3. Now that you have established the layout of the office, your next step will be to examine the flow of work through your office. Do you need to rearrange furniture, add shelving or remove items to assist the flow?
4. What tools or items do you need in each zone? All activities carried out in that zone should be stored in that area for efficient use of space and time.
5. This is the most important tip for you. Don’t procrastinate, just because you can’t afford new furniture or everything that you need to make a space work, doesn’t mean you can’t start making it work better.
I hope you have enjoyed these tips and that you can implement some of them. Next month I will be looking at how to manage the balance between your home office and your life.