Aug

The Organized Virtual Office Worker

The trend is growing and I’ve seen stats that say 1 out of 2 workers will be either home based businesses owners- work at home contractors or small business owners by the year 2010. Wow- the corporate world is certainly shrinking, isn’t it?

You can see the trends before your eyes. Go to any small coffee shop or cafe. Look at all the people conducting meetings and working online. Just start asking the question- where is your office? You’ll be shocked how many times you here the answer- I work out of my home. What about the growing trend of home based business owners? When Warren Buffet starts acquiring network marketing companies and large corporations start using the same business model- take note.! What about the number of people starting small businesses these days. It’s staggering. How many people do you know that are with the same corporation that they were 5 years ago? What about 3?

What does this mean? It means a huge paradigm shift in the employment model. It raises questions about how one maintains efficiency and effectiveness while working from the home. How does one organize the office?

First, the most crucial thing you’ll need to think about is where is the office going to be?

Instead of telling you exactly what you should do, given that I don’t have any idea of your unique situation-all I can do is offer some very good thought provoking questions.

Do you have children.. do you plan to.. if so when.. if so how old are they .. if not do you have pets?

Assuming you have small children- what floor do they spend most time on while you “work”?

Does you work require phone conversations often?

Do you plan on having a high speed cable connection or a phone dsl?

Will you have a wireless network, a wired network or both?

Do you store many files? Should you?

Is your software tied to your PC or is most of it web-based?

Do you have good self discipline and self control?

Do you need separate phone or fax lines? Are you thinking about an alternative like Vonage? Or do you just use a cell phone?

Will there be others in the home using the Internet or sharing a printer?

Will your spouse share you office or will there be a separate office/home management area?

If these questions have your head spinning, give me a call. With our organizational coaching program we can save you time, money and frustration by taking time to plan upfront.