Running a business from your home: What to consider

With the high cost of renting shops especially in cities like Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and others, many people are running their businesses from their homes.

If you are an event planner for instance, you can work from the comfort of your home. When you don’t want to bring clients to your home due to security reasons, you can book appointment with them at restaurants and gardens.

Here are tips to help run your business from home

Be flexible but disciplined

Working from home allows you greater flexibility. However you have to be disciplined to focus on business when you have a client and get someone else to attend to family issues. This will enable you to be more productive and run a successful business.

Create a space to work

When you need to do intellectual work, think about the best space to work in your home. Where will you be able to concentrate without any distractions? Is there an area where you will be able to focus on work and make phone calls without interruptions?

Invest in equipment

You can also invest in a good office chair to increase your productivity, effective storage solutions to keep organised and making sure you have reliable technology such as a computer, printer and scanner.

Get a Smartphone

A Smartphone can help you run your business from anywhere. Smartphones can create flexibility and accessibility to the internet where you can receive emails, Whatsapp messages and generally increase your online presence.

Get organised

The fact that you are at home does not mean you will not do paper work. So, get organised. Get a cupboard to keep hardcopy of documents. Also, organise your files on your computer. Statistics shows that the average executive spends three hours a week looking for things -that is more than 3.5 weeks a year. As your own boss, you cannot afford that. You can use colour coding for file folders and flash drives to keep important documents which will be handy when you need them.