What You Need in Your Home Office

The rooms in your house should be helping you achieve your goals. Don’t laugh – it’s true! Every room in your house should be functional in addition to being pleasing to the eye. But in no room is that more true than in your home office. The items in your home office really need to work for you – because they’ll be helping you work.

The style and tone of your home office can vary based on your tastes. But the main elements that make up a home office that really works tend to stay the same. If you work from home, here are the elements that can help you succeed.

5 Things you Need in your Home Office

1. Desk It may seem like a no brainer but choosing a desk can be an important part of making your office work for you. If all you need is somewhere to place your computer, you’ll likely select a different desk than if you need room to spread out and draw mock-ups by hand. Before you purchase a desk for your home office, make sure you take into consideration both your space and how you intend to use the desk. Also – it helps to be honest with yourself about your tidiness. If you’re unlikely to clean your desk regularly, you may want a little extra room for your extra notes and coffee mugs.
2. Chair Having a desk isn’t enough – you need a place to sit. Take the time to really understand what kind of office chair works best for you. With any luck, the time you dedicate to your growing business will have you sitting in that chair quite a lot. Don’t just go for looks here – pick a chair that you can sit in comfortably for hours at a time.
3. Storage Adding a file cabinet or bookcase to your office space can help you be more organized and efficient. Deciding between these two storage options can depend on your space. If you have an entire room, you may decide a bookshelf allows you more space to grow. Your business type also comes into play here. Lawyers likely need more reference materials than lawn care companies. Make whichever choice is ultimately right for your business but be sure you have storage. Any business in any industry has certain materials they need to maintain in order to run their business successfully.
4. Calendar Any successful business relies on meeting the deadlines they’ve set. Yet, we all have a day when we think it’s Wednesday but it’s actually Tuesday. Having a calendar can keep your appointments, To Do list and sanity. Make sure you find a calendar that fits your work style – too much or too little detail and you’ll be likely to stop updating it.
5. Chalkboard This could also be a whiteboard if you prefer. It can be helpful to be able to keep things you need to see regularly – like how close your sales are to your monthly quota – all in one place. Adding a chalkboard or whiteboard to your office means you can easily update this information where it’s always top of mind. Or, with newer paint options on the market, you can always make the entire wall in front of your desk into a chalkboard.

Keep in mind, a home office doesn’t need to take up an entire room. Home offices have been successfully created in kitchen nooks and even closets! As long as you have the right elements to help you manage your business, it doesn’t matter where in your house your home office is located.