Our fully digitized and partly Coronaized society has set new standards for the office needs of a starting venture. Nowadays, the first reflex for start-ups in pursuit of their next adventure might be to just stay at home. Literally: why rent an office when your business is focused online?
But beware: if you’re looking at the potential of starting a business from home, you need to know that it’s vastly different from starting in an office and, as such, takes a little extra prep work to get it off the ground with the best possible chances. Here are some ways to give yourself the foot up that you might need.
Build a strong brand
When you don’t have an office or a storefront, then you don’t have some of the most widely used tools for establishing your business’s presence. To that end, you need to invest even more strongly in the tools that are available to you. This primarily means pumping up the marketing budget to make up for the deficit in other areas. The cost-saving nature of starting a home business should let you redirect to create a fantastic website, as well as advertising and organic marketing campaigns.
You need a space for work
A common mistake is trying to multi-purpose a part of the home. Instead, get inspired by teams like residential architects to create a home office space, if you can’t naturally convert one. It’s too easy to get distracted in a room that has a purpose other than being specifically for work. Being in an environment with a razor-sharp focus can help you stay focused, too.
You can still work with others
Feel like you need a few more hands on your deck? You don’t necessarily need an actual office space to make use of them. The home is the workplace of the future. Looking at remote working set-ups can help you get access to the labor that you need. You just need to get used to the tools that can help you communicate, track goals, and see results online rather than in-person. It’s exactly how we organize things here at Innovation Origins: our 30+ reporters are scattered all over Europe. They work from home and use our daily meetings on Google Meet, Slack, and Signal to share their thoughts and plans.
Have a proper start-of-day routine
The flexibility to work when you want is something worth taking advantage of. However, you should make sure that you still have a full morning routine, including getting dressed properly and getting a healthy breakfast. The little routines of the day can help us “shift gear” into work mode, making sure that we’re mentally ready for the day ahead. If you try to simply slink out of bed and into your office chair, you might find that you actually take more time to “boot up”.
Be sure to move around
There are a lot of benefits to working from home, but there are also risks. A sedentary lifestyle can end up affecting your health drastically which can, in turn, affect how productive you can be. Take the time to take breaks from your desk, get moving, and get a little lunchtime workout in. Not only will it help you stay safe and healthy, but it will improve your motivation and productivity.
Running a business from home is a challenge, but it also offers some of the best potentials for growth and for cutting the costs of business. Hopefully, the tips above help you find your feet before too long.