Planning Your Office Space

Getting organized can be one of the most profitable and simplest things you can do in your business ...

IF YOU KNOW HOW

My articles tackle real problems and real questions from my clients and newsletter subscribers. In this article, I'll address Dan's question on how to begin to organize his home office.

Question: I'm just about to set up my new home-office. I've been waiting to have my own space in our home for years. What kinds of things do I need to think about when I'm planning my space?

Signed: Dan in Ashburn, VA

Answer: You don't mention what your space is like now, so for purposes of your question I'm going to assume you are starting from scratch. You also did not mention what kind of business you have, so I'll give a few options.

The most important thing, but unfortunately not the most obvious thing you want to keep in mind, is what you need to be able to do in the space. I understand wanting furniture and other things in your office to be attractive and nice to look at, but you also need to keep in mind their function.

If your business is product driven and your office is your storage space for product or even samples, you need to make sure you have proper storage. Keep in mind whether or not that particular storage also needs to be portable or do clients come to you?

(If clients come to you make sure you have plenty of comfortable chairs to accommodate them.)

Do you have an assistant or bookkeeper who will come in and need a desk to sit at? Do you need to be able to fit any kind of special equipment?

Do you work at the computer all day and not really need to be anywhere else in your office? Or do you need a large surface to use for working on projects?

Do you have a lot of reference materials for whatever you do? Then you might want to think about bookshelves. You will also need a place to store some office supplies.

How much paper do you have that needs to be kept? You want to think about how many file drawers you will need. Be sure and think about growth as well.

When you position the furniture think about what you want to look at all day long. Do you have a view that you could take advantage of by positioning your desk just right?

Remember to keep all of the things you need regularly nearby. So when you purchase a desk does it need drawers? How many? And what size?

And finally, but very important, keep in mind the flow of the office. You will be spending a lot of time in this space and when you can make it flow from one area to the next it is a happy place to work!

VERY IMPORTANT: Please don't forget to measure the room before you go shopping (graph paper is helpful to get it to scale) and then bring the tape measure with you!