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Where to Put It Finding a place to put a business can be a challenge. It is something that is best if you can think about it ahead of time, because some types of business take more room than others. Even if you just need a computer and a filing cabinet, you have to figure out the best location for it. Manufacturing Production of anything takes more space than drop shipping, information, or services. If you manufacture anything you are going to need space in which to do it. Many manufacturing options require licensed facilities, and that usually means dedicated facilities - you cannot share space with your family for it. You may need storage space as well. Processing Repackaging, assessing and shipping, or other production tasks that are not strictly manufacturing may require a fair amount of space. Even if they do not require dedicated or licensed space, you may want to keep them isolated, especially if they are in danger of damage from small hands. You will pretty much either have the space or not, so consider this before you dive in. Shipping A shipping station can be set up fairly compactly. A utility desk or table with shelves below and above works well, and a small one can serve as a very efficient shipping station if you are doing auctions or other things which involve regular shipping. What takes space with shipping is storage of the items to be shipped, and the boxes. If you have a garage or back room where you can stack empty boxes or folded boxes it will be of great benefit. Office An office takes perhaps the least space. A desk, table, or other surface, and a chair can form a basic office. A filing cabinet is a plus. You can fit those into a livingroom or diningroom (though it is more hazardous in a diningroom). Some people do business from the corner of their bedroom, or even in a large laudryroom! My own office is sort of scattered throughout the house. A desk and computer, with a filing cabinet and trash can on one end of the room. A shelf to hold reference books, paper, shipping supplies, and my electronics toolbox is on another wall. I have two cupboards in the entryway. And I have two tables and a recliner where I do most of my work in another corner of the livingroom. An office can be designed any way that works for you, and put anywhere that works. And if it is small and cramped and scattered around due to a lack of space, you can work with it until you earn enough to do something better! And you may find, like I did, that just as you were able to afford a large workcenter, that your needs changed, and something else was better. I could have done a private office any time these last five years, but chose to keep my office in the center of the home instead, so I could always be aware of what my family is doing. When space is tight, a small fold out computer desk can conserve space. Make sure it has the space to put the items you need though. Crafting Crafting is just another form of manufacturing. It happens to require a lot of space though, both to construct, and to store supplies. You can piece this out through the house if you need to, though cupboards work better than shelves to keep the clutter contained. I know people who use closet shelves, linen cupboards, particle board cabinets, and other low cost options for storing their equipment. You'll also need a designated spot for finished product, and perhaps a shipping station. But all of this can come a bit at a time as your business grows. Storage Many businesses take storage space. And you can find storage in unexpected places. We placed a low shelf under a coffee table. We put another shelf over the top of it - they are all light wood colors, so they coordinate well. That goes against the wall next to my recliner and stores my frequent reference materials. I built a shelf unit out of 1X10 pine boards. It was designed to hold various types of paper and labels, reference books, and shipping materials. I built the shelves just how I wanted them. It was less expensive to do than to buy even a particleboard unit, and we just cut the boards to length, used power screws to put it together, and then a coat of paint to make it look good. I bought an ugly army green filing cabinet for $15 at the Salvation Army. It is old, and sturdy, and has just a single problem, in that the top drawer always sticks out about 1/2". I got it though because it was sturdy and solidly built. It has served me now for about 4 years. One of these days I'll spray it with a nicer color so it can last me another 10 years. I found that even cheap cuboards were better than shelves out here for storing things. I have some computer parts and some crafting items in some cupboards in the entryway. The cupboards keep things looking neater, plus they keep the dust off - out here, dust is a big deal. They also keep things out of sight of little eyes so the kids get into things less. One of them even has an option to lock it if I need it. You may need storage if you operate a re-ship business also, in which case you are going to need it to be organized, because you'll not want to lose track of inventory. It can still be put in multiple locations if you need to, but you should have a system for what goes where to avoid confusion. One of the biggest problems I had with repairing computers was where to put them with a home business. When we had separate office space in town it was simple, we just used shelves to organize repair items on, and had about three desks and tables that we repaired them on. We could have multiple systems set up simultaneously and it worked fine. Back at home though, it always seemed like the diningroom table ended up being the spot for repairs. Still is sometimes, even though I have phased out that part of my business - local people still bring them in because they trust me. A home will no doubt be fuller if you run a home business than if you don't, but with a little creativity you'll find places to put things, and efficient ways to do things until you can gradually upgrade to a better system.
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