When it comes to growing and scaling your business, one of the biggest things you might start considering is whether or not the time has come to consider moving to a physical office instead of your home office.
Although this can be great for many reasons, it’s important to consider your decision carefully before jumping straight in because it really is a big step and one that shouldn’t taken lightly.
Certainly it’s a great idea from an investment perspective, but there are other ways you can invest in your business to help you grow to a stage where you can easily afford and where you’ll probably end up needing an outside office. If you’re looking for investment information and help for your business, then https://www.collinseow.com/cpf-investment is a good place to start.
In this post, we’re going to share with you some of the pros and cons of each option so that you can make the decision that works best for you and your needs right now.
Home office pros:
No commute:
This is probably one of the best aspects of working from home – not only do you get to avoid the stress and inconvenience that commuting brings, but you save yourself more time that can be used productively or just on other things you’d rather be doing, like getting an extra hour of sleep or taking a long breakfast, but you’ll save yourself a good amount of money as well by working from home.
Low overhead:
When working from home, you’re definitely going to incur less costs than you would if you had to buy or rent a premises outside, and although you’ll perhaps consume a bit more of things like electricity and water than you would if you weren’t running a home office, you can usually claim some of these things back as expenses when submitting your tax returns.
More flexibility:
When you work from home, you have more flexibility in how you work throughout the day and can decide if you want to work from your bed or your couch if you feel like it.
Home office cons:
It can be difficult to switch off:
A big struggle that many people who work from face is that they find it difficult to switch between work and home, and although this can be made easier by having an actual dedicated office space within your home that’s away from the main living or sleeping areas, it still requires a certain level of discipline to be able to separate the two from each other.
A lot of distractions:
Outside offices are typically designed in a way that’s meant to limit distractions, but when working from home then this isn’t going to be the case. You’ll be distracted by everything from the mailman, noises outside, the phone ringing, and even people in your family who think that just because you’re home that you’re available for them to come and talk or ask for favors like babysitting. When working from, it’s really important that you’re able to set boundaries around your time and find effective ways to keep yourself focused and minimize the distractions fighting for your attention.
It can be lonely:
As much as working from home can be great in the sense that you’re not going to be dealing with the same office politics and drama that you might if you had to go into an office each day, it can get lonely and even if you’re something of an introvert who prefers to work alone, it can still be quite isolating if you don’t have people to talk to sometimes.
Outside office pros:
You can build a team:
If one of your goals with your business is to hire and build a team, then having an office for them to work in is going to make this so much easier – especially if you actually want them to work in-house instead of remotely.
It makes you look more professional:
Having your own office for your company obviously positions you in a completely different way in the eyes of your ideal clients and even potential team members – it’s also really great if you want a place to conduct meetings since you’ll have your own office to help you look more professional and like a real business compared to when working in your home office and maybe having to hold meetings in places like coffee shops.
You can switch off at the end of the day:
Actually being able to leave your office at the end of the day is great for being able to switch off more effectively since you can leave your work in the office and go home and focus on your personal life. This isn’t so easy to do when working from home unless you have an effective system in place for helping you to manage this aspect of work/life balance.
Outside office cons:
It’s expensive:
It’s no secret that having your own office is going to be an expense. Whether you rent or buy a place for your office, it’s something you really need to make sure you can afford and that you truly need before taking the leap. If you’re not yet making enough to comfortably afford the extra cost of an office space, then it’s probably best to hold off for a while.
It’s a big responsibility:
Having your own office is a responsibility, so you should definitely make sure you’re ready for it and that you can take on all that it entails. For example, you may have to get the place renovated and decorated, you may have to hire people to come in and clean the office, and you may even be responsible for any repairs that need to be carried out, so this is also going to add up to your overall expenses.
You’ll have a commute:
Although it may not be a long commute, it’s certainly going to be farther away than your bedroom or home office would be, so taking this into consideration when looking at getting an outside office or even when looking at places to buy or rent is something that you should be doing because you don’t want to get a place and then realize that you’ve set yourself up for 4 hour commute each day.