I have had a home based company for over nearly seven years now, and I would probably die if any of my consumers were to contact my office. To say that system is not one of my talents would be putting it mildly. I went from one small desk, to two large tablet tops in order to spread out my papers. Now, my garbage has expanded to fill both tablet tops, and I am sure only a fire can clear up my problem.
When I started out, it appeared impossible operatiing a company based out of my house. Now I remember how things used to be and I can't envision working without the use of my office machiens and files. I went from organizing my working papers in a box, to a whole filing cabinet. Then I had to add a book cabinet for brochures and storage for miscellaneous trash. I have assembled enough stuff to the point where my home office was taking on a life of its own. Having your home office properly arranged can drastically improve your output; becase you are no longer digging around and tearing up your home office to find some work that you need when a customer is on the phone, or you are attempting to meet a due date.
Tangible system is of course critical; but these days, electronic organization can be ever more important. You have to have access to your business contacts, and be able to find their phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses at a moments notice. You will need both your Received e-mails and sent e-mails to prove who said what and when. You will have good financial records, and they must be kept in an intelligent filing system so that they can be useful and quickly obtainable. It is very relevant to have a structure that keeps track of working papers worked on and even projects that were lost. Know-how is the blueprint to potential sales and pricing strategy.
If you aren't very tech savvy, you can create Excel spreadsheets to keep track of pin numbers, contact info, project status and a myriad of other things. If you are more comfortable with computers and software, you can get specific programs that are made principally for organizing contacts and projects, etc. There are far too many to itemize here, and they are continuously being updated and new products are always entering the market. One disadvantage is that when you have so much of your organization on computer, you can not live without it. In my company, when the power goes out, the work day is over.
Structure is very principal for any business; but especially with the home business, housekeeping is very principal. Eating snacks at your workspace, spilling drinks and such can get in the way of your focus on job. Having the radio or TV or kids running around can also affect the quality of your work. It is desirable to eliminate any items or activities that are not job related from your home office. It will ruin your organization and affect your zen.
The persistent filing and arranging; both with Tangible reports and with electronic files can be really time consuming; but eventually it is worth it. Being able to find info to give to a shopper while they wait on the phone is very functional, and gives you an advantage over the competitor. Not being able to get you hands on tax information or not being able to know who you owe, or who needs to pay you can be really detrimental.
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