Creating a Home Office

Creating a home office should be as unique as you are. After all, you must tailor it to your needs and available resources. You must also take into consideration what type of work you will be doing.

What you will need to create your office:

A Place. Create a definite space where your work can be conducted with as few interruptions as possible. It should be as private as possible. Customize your home office space to fill your needs. Your space can be anywhere. Use an unused, converted closet. Use a large corner of any room. Use a spare bedroom, basement area, garage, or laundry room.

Some Furniture. Basically you need some type of desk and chair. You will probably need at least on filing cabinet as well. If room allows, you can also add shelves or bookshelves.

What you spend on these items is up to you. You can do any thing from build you own to purchasing it all from a retail store. Don't forget to look into buying used office furniture.

Plenty of it is around for the taking. Lighting is also important, so make sure your home office is well lit!

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Equipment. It is important today to be as up to date on technology as possible. Use the fastest and most powerful computer that you can afford. Again, assess your needs and move forward accordingly. You will most likely need a printer, copier and/ or fax machine. There are multi-purpose machines available at reasonable prices.

Ways to communicate. You should explore all of the options open in your area when it comes to telephone communication. It is probably best to have a designated phone line for your business. Cordless and/or hands free phones are best. You will need Internet access as well. Your choices there are to get another phone line, use broadband technology, or a DSL line (check for availability). It will be helpful if you can designate a separate email and/or Internet account from your personal one. With the advancement in technology, smartphones are also a great option for your office. Many of the Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile 4g phones have apps that can provide useful for your office, as well as keep yourself organized.

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Setting up your home office does not have to be anything fancy; it must only serve your purpose. Think about what YOU need and go from there. Start with the basics. As your business grows or if you travel from your home to client's offices, you might want to addadditional items. At some point you could add a scanner, a digital camera, conference call capability, a laptop computer and a PDA. Remember to make it your own home office.