Six Reasons to Rent Your Own Office Space

Six Reasons to Rent Your Own Office Space

Working from home is great, but if it becomes an obsession, there will come a time when you crave your own space. Here are six reasons why having your own small office can bring you clarity and peace of mind in your independent consulting endeavors.

1. Separation of work life and home life.

One of the drawbacks of working from home is that you're permanently "on call." What starts innocently enough as a casual check of email from your home computer can snowball into thirteen work-related conversations.

How many times has this happened to you? You're about to sit down to watch a movie with your significant other, when all of a sudden the phone rings and it's one of your scheming cohorts with another crazy marketing plan. Awesome, but now once again the fun is on pause, the movie is on hold, and you've ditched your sweetie in favor of work YET AGAIN, you workaholic maniac. Is this any way to cultivate healthy relationships? No, and it's a great way to bring on guilt that you don't need to deal with.

Renting a small office near your home means you can turn off the computer, activate your voicemail away message; lock up, call it a night and then devote the rest of your evening to the people who are important to you. Not your clients, but real-time, real-life family members and friends who keep meaning and balance in your life.

2. Better organization.

What kind of business owner runs the show from their bedroom floor? Working from home offers convenience and flexibility, but if you're not a super-organized person to begin with, you'll find that things can go from moderately sloppy to downright out of control. File folders in the livingroom; cell phones in the kitchen. Is this any way to live?

Do yourself a favor; if you have the budget for it, pay a few hundred dollars a month for a small office close to home, where you can have things like real desks, file cabinets, a separate business phone, fax machine, copier and all of those other essentials that will help you run a tight ship and have easy access to the tools you need when you need them.

3. Possibility for expansion.

While working remotely is growing increasingly common, there are still some drawbacks to "not having the team under your watchful eye." Not to mention, if you're expanding rapidly, it's simply more convenient to have all of your files protected and accessible via one server on one premises that you can get to with as few complications as possible.

With any luck, your business will grow by leaps and bounds; and one day you'll find that having an accountant isn't an added perk; it's a necessity. If you're running several websites, a webmaster and/or programmer may be the order of the day as well. Why not solicit this type of help locally, and provide a small office quarters where your part-timers can drop in and out whenever it's convenient for them, sit down, put in a few hours and get things accomplished in a professional setting?

4. Greater productivity.

As motivated as you are 90% of the time, there will always be lazy days. Even though that computer is with easy reach... the refrigerator calls, the TV beckons, Mom's on the answering machine demanding that you call her back, and the kids are itching to head out to the playground. All of this amounts to lack of focus, lack of direction and general blurring of the lines between your home life and your career. And that equals big-time counterproductivity.

If the idea of procrastinating most of your daylight hours away and then toiling away until long after midnight doesn't appeal to you, think about getting your own office. A place to call "work" can be just the thing to keep you on a regular schedule, and as much as flexibility appeals to the freelancer, schedules are needed if we want to deliver the goods on time, both for our clients and in our personal projects. Plan your days; arrange for your spouse to watch the kids for a few hours while you get work done at the office; then switch roles. You'll feel so much better when you've done a job from start to finish in a productive setting!

5. Having control over your own territory.

How many times has this happened to you? You're in Heavy Concentration Mode, you're so into whatever you're working on that your eyes are practically boring holes into the monitor as your fingers fly around the keyboard. Woo hoo, you're in a groove and things are crackling! Then along comes your boyfriend/wife/husband/roommate. "Do you mind if I just jump on the computer for a second to check my email/scores/credit record/Friendster.com stats?"

NOOOO... GET AWAY FROM ME...

(Of course you're not really going to say this - but don't tell me you haven't thought it.) I don't know about you but interruptions are high on my list of annoyances. And no one wants to be rude to the people they love, so you just kind of suck it up and let them have their fun for a few minutes... meanwhile, those brilliant thoughts you were having just a few moments ago are slowing skittering away...

Why stop the flow? If you value your alone time spent deep in creation, you really need a sanctum of your own where you can birth those brainchildren in solitude. Or even if you're not alone but you have backup helpers, a professional environment that you control is essential for achieving your goals in a timely and efficient manner.

6. Having a place to inject your "whimsical work personality."

If you're a creative type, one of the best things about having your own workspace is decorating it with all of that goofy stuff that reminds you, Work Time = Fun Time! Do you enjoy blasting music while hammering out the details of a business proposal? Do you Photoshop wacky pictures of your colleagues as superheroes and other such weirdness and pin them up on the wall?

Working in "borrowed space" that's merely an extension of your home and the aura that pervades there, really limits you from expressing your work personality and the lighter side of Professional You. But an office that's filled with work-related whimsy can really spur you on to productivity and success.

If you're just starting out in the freelance world, an office may be something that's simply not in your price range right now. But if you have big visions for future expansion, keep it in the back of your head as something to invest in for the long-term success of your company.

Find out how crisp, targeted copywriting can make a world of difference for your business. Dina Giolitto is a Copywriting Consultant with ten years of experience. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for free tips on branding, copywriting, marketing and more.