Here is how to set up a freelance home office

If you are a full or part-time freelancer, one of the most challenging problems would be getting a convenient place to work. Most freelancers either work in public places such as malls or restaurants or some others prefer to work in an area of their home that is not specifically designed for work such as the kitchen or a random desk located in their bedroom.

Setting up a freelance home office where you work from has countless benefits from the reduced cost of transportation to the ease and comfortability of working under your own conditions. It also has disadvantages such as the tendency to relax while you are supposed to be working. Regardless of the disadvantages, a home office is a good idea if you want to improve productivity. Here are some tips that you should have in mind when setting up a freelance home office.

1. Find a convenient space to set up your office
   When setting up your freelance home office, the first thing you need to do is to find a convenient space to set up your office. You can decide to use a room that is unused in the house or any space that is unoccupied or you can free up space. When choosing the space some things are to be considered however. If your freelance business involves you receiving visitors constantly, a room close to the entrance of the house would be preferable. The room should also be located in an area where noise would be hard to reach. It should be distanced from where children, family members or roommates frequent. You don’t want a situation where your kids or family members intrude during working hours. If you stay alone this should be much easier to avoid.
2. Allocate working hours
   This might sound contradictory because one of the reasons most people dabble into freelancing is to have flexible working hours where you can get up to work anytime whether in the morning, afternoon or at night. Also setting up a freelance home office should naturally mean that there is much more flexibility with your time. However, it is not necessarily so. Allocating working hours to yourself is much more preferable because it would make your time management more efficient and also, a defined time for working would allow you to be more productive, it would also make clients able to predict times when they can reach out to you.
3. Design the room
   Now here is where the major work is. Designing the room can be difficult where you have little knowledge about design and you’ve not sought help from anywhere. But not to worry, I’ve got you covered. First, when planning the design of the room, some things need to be considered. (A) Lighting: the lighting of the room has to be adequate. The room should be properly ventilated to allow both light and air to enter properly. The desk should be located where adequate light can reach it. The light coming into the room should not be too bright that they blind the eyes and should not be too dim that it becomes hard to see. Also, an electric bulb should be placed in the room in case you want to work at night. (B) Furniture: For most freelance home offices, the most essential pieces of furniture are a desk and a chair. Many varieties of these two furniture pieces exist in the market and making the right choice might be a little difficult. Here are some things you should look out for when picking out furniture. (a) Ensure you choose a chair that’s comfortable and easy to work on. (b) Ensure your desk is wide enough to accommodate the equipment and appliances that you would be placed on it. (c) Ensure that it fits perfectly into the space you have chosen for your office. (d) When choosing a desk, try to pick one that has compartments where you can place your equipment and stationary in.
4. Maintain an office telephone
   Maintaining an office telephone is another way to maximize your home office. When you use a home phone for your freelance business, it gives the client an unprofessional impression and some may begin to question the legitimacy of your business. Also when you are using a home phone for your business, you run the probability of the phone being answered by another person and this cannot be a good thing for your business. It is much better to have a separate telephone designated to your office instead.