Guest Post
This guest post is by John Brook. John knows just about everything there is to know about cheap office stationery for computer desks, because he’s thoroughly involved in writing reviews on those goods for his employer.
Sometimes it’s easier to bring the office home, and sometimes it’s more effective if your home is your office. But when you decide to invite your clients into your home and personal space, you’ll want to make sure that your home office doesn’t look too much like either a home or an office, but instead somewhere in between. Here are a few tips to strike just the right chord with your clients.
1. Keep It Child Free
For those of you with children, you’ll want to make sure that they aren’t around when you are conducting business. The sound and sight of rambunctious children can be distracting for both you and your clients and might actually hurt you in certain circumstances if you want to look like a true business professional. If you do decide to have a home office, be sure that your office is far away from the family room and the kids’ room. If this isn’t possible, then soundproofing may be just the option for you.
2. Make Sure Your Meeting Place Is Appropriately Decorated
If you don’t have a dedicated space for an office and would still like to work from home, then you may want to look at the dining room to serve as your business headquarters. Lining a wall with eye-appealing low lateral file cabinets is a great idea. Topping your filing cabinets with decorative lamps and accents will help to brighten your dining room and still make it look like part of your home. There are also certain designers that cater to those who want to bring their office home such as Indiana Furniture with inspirational chairs and case goods. For those who don’t mind splurging, Halcon has a line of architecturally-inspired home furnishings that can stand up to a critical office eye.
3. Keep It Clean
For those who do have a dedicated office space, you’ll want to make sure that clients don’t have to step over clutter and a jumbled mess to get there. It is helpful to have a home office space with an outside entrance, or one that is close to a room that is always kept clean and pristine. After all, a messy living space may send a message to clients that your business work is just as unorganized.
4. Safety Is Important
Single working women will want to be sure to carefully set up their home office, especially if you’re inviting a client that you’ve never met into your home. It’s not a very pleasant thought, but you may not know just who it is that you’re inviting into your home. Some things to keep in mind are to make your home office look and feel like a public place. When meeting with clients open the blinds so that people can see inside of your home. Try to set up your home office in a room where the windows look out on the streets. If you live with other people, make sure that they have a full and unobstructed view inside of your office. You may want to make sure that they can overhear you as well. Another thing to do for safety is to create barriers so that it’s more difficult for someone to spring across the distance and attack you. This can be done by having a table between yourself and the client.
5. Try Meeting In The Family Room
Setting up your family room to also serve as a conference room is another good idea. You already have plenty of seating room and the space is neither too lived in or too formal. Conducting meetings here might also make your clients feel as if they are part of your family while they are surrounded by pictures and mementos of your family. Feel free to share stories or images, but don’t forget that you are all there to conduct business.
Setting up your home office can be a great way to save time and money on the commute to work and some of the stress involved in working in a normal workspace. But you’ll also want to remember that your home is also where you go to unwind from the office, so you’ll also be inviting any work-related stress into your home as well. Plan carefully and you’re sure to love your new home office.
Hi Marlon,
John has written an amazing article on such an important aspect of home business. But he has not address the refreshment of clients and guests. And some of the factors are not for online businesses.
nazimwarriach recently posted…Get Lenses Coupon Codes
Nazim,
You said: “…Some of the factors are not for online businesses”. If you read the title it specifically address a particular issue: “Hosting Clients in Your Home Office”. As for the “refreshment”, it is customary to offer water or coffee to people visiting your office. I am not so sure about “refreshment”.
You would not think that these things would be so simple to overlook, but I think probably some of the best are keeping it child free and keeping it clean! Two big ones in my book!
You have to maintain the Professional feel of your home office. Although you don’t want to take away the “home” portion of the home office, it is still important not to make the home office your home. You must put a clear demarcation between the home and the home office.