Dedicating a room of the house to be used as an office is a major step. It has tax consequences, (good and bad), and it takes up space that Braden may want for his Legos or Kayla wishes she had as a home theater to enjoy the latest flicks with her teen friends. What are the top ten signs that it's time to set up a home office?
- The files need to be moved off the bed each night to pull down the bedspread.
- The dining table can't be used from February to April while the income tax info is being organized.
- Clients can hear the rumblings of the dishwasher when you are setting up appointments by phone.
- The computer screen doubles as a tie rack when hubby undresses at night.
- There are sticky notes with clients' call-back information in every room of the house (and we thought Bluetooth was such a grand invention).
- Where, oh where has my receipt gone? Where, oh where can it be? With its paper so short and its $ so long, oh where, oh where can it be?
- A stack of books, test papers to be graded, documents to be faxed, forms to be filled in, orders to be processed, articles to be revised (name your favorite) surrounds every chair in the family room.
- Because of #7, vacuuming is likely to trigger an avalanche.
- Baby Britten learned how to receive a fax before he could say "Daddy".
- The cat, the dog and the hamster have all been involved in ‘processing' your paperwork in the last two months.
Seriously, though, what criteria should we use to determine it's time to set up a home office?
- Your ‘day job' requires night work that can be done at home (teachers, lawyers, ministers, etc.)
- You have no permanent desk of your own at your day job (realtors, salespeople, artists, musicians, etc.)
- You want to begin your own business entirely separate from your day job.
- You have an online business that is booming, creating a need for storage space to stock supplies or inventory.
These are all valid reasons for a home office. Sometimes life presents new opportunities that require more space to germinate and grow. Confining a project to an unsuitable space limits productivity and puts barriers in our path (sometimes literally - like tripping over the laundry basket on the way to answer the phone).
Unleash your business potential with a home office/library/study. Amazing results happen when a space is dedicated and organized for action.
www.homekey.org
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