Shifting Your Home Business out of the Bedroom
It takes an enterprising spirit to ditch the rat race for the self-employment sprint, and, as with charity, education and foreign policy, most small businesses begin at home. At first, this can feel like Christmas. After all, you can wear what you wish, neglect your personal hygiene, and binge on trashy morning television when embroiled in a dull spreadsheet. No-one need know. But as start-ups grow up, there comes a point on the business trajectory when getting living and working space entangled can be terminal for productivity, efficiency, and personal well-being.
Just as professional spaces nurture professional attitudes, when working from home it’s very easy to fester in the same grungy hoodie for days on end. Sane, sanitary rituals like flossing become but a distant memory if no-one’s stopping by your desk to shoot the minty breeze. It won’t matter if you cultivate a handlebar moustache or bombard your metabolism with precarious amounts of junk food and coffee. While it shouldn’t be said that nailing a conference call in your unicorn onesie isn’t a high point to look back on, if you’re becoming less self-aware, and spending more time slobbing out than realising your potential, it’s time to consider a move.
As with elegant branding, tasteful business cards and a dotcom website, an appropriate business setting makes you credible in the eyes of prospective clients and colleagues, whilst staking your territory in clear sight of any competition. And if your business is client facing, there’s no better way of interacting than eye to eye (especially true if you’re willing to decommission the onesie).
What’s problematic is that the cost of an office can be prohibitive for a start-up business or tenderfoot trader. Rent or purchase costs are a crippling reality, and figures can escalate from risky to preposterous when you factor in brass tacks like insurance, utilities, and taxes, not to mention more frivolous accessories like chairs, desks, and phones.
One silver lining on the receding recession thundercloud has been the superabundance of empty office space that it created. You probably don’t need the kind of floor space that’s only navigable by Segway, and there are plenty of small to medium offices, capsule units and even hot-desks that small businesses or individuals can lease on an hourly, weekly or long-term basis. These are usually equipped with everything you need to get to work, and bills are split into easily digestible morsels.
There may be a few bonus perks, too. Sharing an office floor with other businesses doesn’t just split outgoings and nurture professionalism, it delivers opportunities. Becoming part of a business community of like-minded people is bound to have its advantages, whether it’s a little friendly advice on how to use the franking machine, or the introduction of a worthwhile contact. Attitudes towards the workplace are changing, and working from home has its limitations. To take your business to the next level, it’s time to consider going back into the office.
