Finding a house that works for your home-based Job/Business

If you are looking to buy a new home or even fix up your old house so that you can run your freelance work and/or business in your home here is a few tips:

#1: Office Space-What kind of room do you need one that is very private or more public, what kinds of equipment is needed and will you need a place for clients to sit. These are a few questions you need to ask yourself when setting up your office. If you are planning to do a lot of customer service or phone work you will want to have a very private office away from any outside noise. You must even consider noise from a road that runs by a house. I live in a house that is next to a main highway so when putting in my office I had to be very careful so that the noise did not interrupt my phone calls. If you are meeting with clients you will need a place for them to sit down and be comfortable while you do business. Being in a cramped space in a hard folding chair may not make them feel comfortable to do business with you. Also to not cramp your office or make it crowded you need to consider what kind of equipment is needed. Do you need a lot of filing cabinets, a fax machine, printer, copier. All of these items can take up a lot of room on top of your desk with your computer.

#2: Parking Space: If you must have clients visiting your home you must have a place where they can park. You would want to consider this before buying or renting a home. If you lived in an apt. this might make it difficult for clients to be coming and going from your office and may be against the rules of your landlord. There are also places with zoning laws that will outline zoning restrictions. Each person can check with their cities rules and find this information usually on line or at your local office.

#3: Electricity in your home: Do you have enough outlets to plug in what is needed. Will your current breaker box carry all of the equipment you must have plugged in. This is something that you want to make sure of before starting your at home job or business also. I personally would have someone come out to check this out beforehand so that you are prepared and understand any costs it may take to update your office before moving in. I moved into an older home and it required a lot of rewiring to be able to run my office and it was quite costly.

#4: High-speed internet. Today more and more places are able to have some kind of DSL or high speed internet but there is still a lot of places that do not. I see many who have thought they had high-speed internet with a satellite system and with some work at home jobs this will not work. For one on some satellite systems once you use your services so much they slow you down to dial up speed and if you are taking calls this can keep you from working or running the required programs and I know this is something you don't want to happen.

#5: Phone System: What kind of phone is required. Do you need more then one phone line? Is unlimited long distance required? All of these are things and expenses you need to consider when putting in a phone. Do you need a land line phone or will a cell phone work for your business needs. What is going to be the cheapest system but still do the job that you need it to do.

This is just a few things that are going to be very important to setting up your new career and business. I hope in some way I have helped you think of some great ideas to get you going on your search for a new home or just setting up an office in your current home.
Help for Work at Home Parents
At one time I could have titled this work at home moms because it seemed that only moms looked to work from their homes but today both mom and dads are making the change to work from their homes. I think the economy has made this the best choice for so many parents plus allows us to be able to spend more time with our families.
Where the problems start is being able to give our time to both our families and our jobs because both will be in our homes full-time. You do not leave one behind to do the other and this is where I would like to offer some advice.
We know working from home you will love your job and you will love your family so how do you make both happy at all times?
One of the main things I would advice anyone who is working from home is to find a great support system. I think everyone needs this because your friends and colleagues working outside their homes will not understand exactly what we go through and when you need some at home support your on line friends are great help and support with all your work questions and concerns.
I have also set my house up on a routine because I think when you work from home it is more difficult to keep it clean then when I wasn't there all day because you have the kids and yourself making messes all day. I have given each person in my family special duties that they must do on a daily basis so that each night when we go to bed the house is picked up for the next day. If you have the extra income and can you might also consider a cleaning service to come in once a week to help out with deep cleaning.
Last but not least is childcare. I personally don't want to send my children to daycare when I am at home but some work at home moms do send their children to daycare or have a personal nanny for their young children while they are working. I feel this is a individual decision that each of us must make. I have established things that allow me to work with my kids at home. A lot of times I take on work while my husband is home so that he can help out with the children while I am working or I also have lots of activities that my kids do while I am working so that they can be with mommy but also allow me to do my job.
I think these ideas will make your work at home job and family very happy and allow you to make a great paycheck without sacrificing your job or family.