Are you thinking about running your own business and unsure if you should set it up from home or an office?
Maybe right now you’re considering using a business office in your business model. If so please know that in most cases and situations a business office won’t be recommended or necessary.
In fact, these days it’s recommended you think about running your company from the comfort of your own home. If you do, I believe you’ll immediately access significant benefits with this option.
In case you’re new to my site, I am a bestselling author, entrepreneur of online video courses and online marketing consultant – who runs my business from home. But I used to do advertising consulting from an office. So I’m highly aware of the pros and cons of both different kinds of work set ups.
These days I recommend running your business from home for many reasons.
Regardless of whether you are thinking about buying or renting an office address, the cost is going to be high. It probably won’t fit the typical startup budget. Running your company from home makes things far cheaper.
You won’t have to worry about issues with the morning commute. This adds a lot of time onto your day and by the time you get to your office, you can feel absolutely exhausted. It’s also going to put more pressure on your personal life.
However, although there are countless benefits, that doesn’t mean that running a business from home is going to be completely smooth sailing.
You are also going to face challenges on the horizon.
This article explores the problems that you might encounter working from home – and the best ways to tackle them head on.
You might decide to run your business as a solopreneur without any outside help from colleagues or employees. If so, then you can skip over this hurdle completely.
But…do be aware though if you are not investing in employees, then you will need to make sure that you are using the right services in your business model. This could include outsourcing solutions from marketing to accounting.
If you don’t invest in these outsourced services, then you might find things start to slip through the cracks in your business model.
If you are hiring a business team, then you’re going to need to explore the right approach. For instance, you might decide to hire full time workers in your business. Even if you are running a company from home, this is still an option but it does make things a little more expensive.
This is one of the types of work schedules every manager needs to know. With this schedule, it’s important to realize that employees can work whenever they want as long as they complete work by a set deadline. You can set the deadline but this does pose risk. You have to watch out for employees potentially choosing to complete work at the last minute.
This is why you should make sure that you are investing in a shared platform. The right shared platform will allow you to keep track of the work team members are completing and ensure that they aren’t falling behind or rushing to the finish line.
Due to COVID it has become more common for every type of business to be set up with a home run model at the core and that’s understandable. After all, it’s a great way to ensure that social distancing standards can be maintained.
But there is a problem here. There’s still a stigma attached to this business model. Customers and clients might assume that your company is small and won’t be able to provide the high quality solution that they need.
First, you might want to think about using a virtual office address or a virtual phone number. This service can be worth the cost as it will make it seem as though your startup can afford to pay the cost for a major city address.
That’s useful because it will keep you inline with key competitors on the market. You can go further than this too. A virtual office can also provide you with a conference room where you will be able to meet clients in person and ensure that they are dazzled by what they discover when they make an appointment with your company.
Another thing that you can do is hire a company to look after your business image for you. For example, an online reputation management agency will be able to make your company look fantastic online. They know all the tricks in the book to ensure that people know how amazing your business is, and your brand will have such a good reputation in the end that people should be actively seeking you out for their needs. This, paired with using a virtual address and the next thing we are going to mention should be more than enough to solve the issue.
If you’re running your company from home, then this is often going to be the first impression that customers receive of your business.
My recommendation is that you take the time to completely customize your website. It’s absolutely vital that it does stand out from the rest of the possibilities online. And it just so happens I brand, write and design websites from scratch. Learn more here – and listen to my client’s reviews of my work!
Choose a good design for your website and logo that is professional and instantly recognizable for your brand. If you make a banner using your logo it can add a touch of finesse to an already good design and also lend itself to replicating across other mediums such as business cards, branded clothes, equipment, and more.
A good logo design instantly adds an extra level to your website and studies have shown people respond well to company logos and gives the appearance of an altogether more successful feel reducing the gap between smaller companies and their larger counterparts.
One challenge that you might have completely overlooked is tied to a benefit of working from a business office. If you work from a business office, you will be operating from an environment that is designed for productivity. Unfortunately, this won’t be the case with your home. You will have designed your home as a place for you to be comfortable and relax at the end of the day.
It’s important to make sure that you are taking steps to change your home and create an area where you can be productive through the business day.
This is going to drive productivity levels down as there will be too many distractions.
Don’t forget, when you work from a business office, you can’t just sit playing solitaire on your computer all day but you can at open. So, you may want to explore the best ways to eliminate tech distractions too. You can download software that will allow you to block sites where you constantly spend a lot of the day and waste numerous hours.
Finally, it’s quite common for people who work from home to develop issues with RSI.
RSI stands for repetitive strain injury. It’s caused by typing for long periods often without breaks and using the wrong posture.
If you’re worried about this issue, then you might have already felt pain in your upper limbs while typing or even on a break.
As mentioned, you do need the right environment to work from. This means that you should have a desk and office chair. It’s worth exploring the market for ergonomic examples of these possibilities rather than simply settling for the cheapest ones that you can find to buy.
You also need to make sure that you are taking regular breaks through the day. You might find that you struggle to find the time to take breaks. However, this will usually be because you haven’t set up the right business schedule.
If you don’t take this step, then you likely will be cramming work into just a couple of hours and this is going to cause you pain.
If you are already feeling pain from RSI, then there are solutions available on the market. Power balls are helpful to strengthen your wrists and ensure that pressure can be relieved. There are also personal massage items that can be highly effective at reducing both pain and discomfort too.
I hope this helps you understand some of the key issues that you can face when you are running your business from home and the steps that you should take to keep your company on the right track.
I have helped a wide range off solopreneurs, authors and small businesses to happily grow their audience and boost their profitability. Learn more here!
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