When talking about how to setup your office these days, most often we’re talking about downsizing. Either companies are moving into smaller, more affordable work spaces, or people are leaving large companies to go out and work on their own.
People ask me all the time: “what do I need to do to setup my own small office?”. When you think about it, however your setup your office, it needs to perform a few essential functions. For example, you need to be able to communicate with customers and clients. You may need to be able to ship things depending on the nature of your business. You’ll have to bill customers and send invoices. You will most certainly need an internet connection to facilitate greater communication and information sharing.
In a nutshell, that’s what your office needs to be able to do. Now let’s think about the actual equipment you will need to perform those functions. You’ll need a computer or laptop to do your work. You’ll need a device for printing and scanning — you may even even need to fax as well. In this day and age you will most certainly need a device for scanning.
The scanner is the greatest device ever made for a small office because you can basically take a physical document you need to get to a client or customer, scan it, and then email it out to whoever needs it. A scanner is also a tremendous device when it comes to creating digital backups of your physical documents. For more information about why scanners deserve a home in your office, please see our article on small business document management.
Of course, before you can do anything you’ll need a space to work out of. Your space could either be a part of your home dedicated to work, a co-working space, or even a virtual office. These days if you’re working from home you can pay a monthly fee for a “virtual office”, which gives you a mailing address, phone answering services, and a space to meet with clients.
Setup Your Office for You
Above all you should consider your working area and what’s in your immediate vicinity. Consider what your typical work day is like and what items you will regularly need to have within arms reach to design your workspace around your workflow. Once you have a workspace for maximizing productivity, then you can consider the furniture and other decor you’d like to add to the room.
It should go without saying that any office also needs a coffee machine to keep you and your team running throughout the day. Other than that and a computer, one of our multifunctional machines can do the rest.
Conclusion
Setting up your office is as simple as considering what you’ll need in a day to perform your job and fitting that into a space that’s comfortable for you to work out of every day. It’s also important to have an appropriate solution for meeting with clients. If you have any other questions about how to setup your office, please leave a comment below.