Anyone working from home as a freelancer or private consultant knows just how hard it is to set up a home office in a limited amount of space and in a house where there are probably family members at home during the day. Not only is it necessary to set up a space that ‘feels’ professional but it needs to be a space where you can work freely and unobstructed. If you are tired of looking at all the clutter around where you are trying to work, here are a few decorating tips for the home office that should help you design the space you need in your line of work as a freelancer.
First Step – Get Rid of the Clutter
One of the biggest obstacles to getting rid of clutter in a home office is that feeling that you just might need to get your hands on that file or that piece of inventory and it won’t be readily accessible. That is the mentality of a ‘hoarder’ and one that you should break yourself of at the outset. You can get business self storage quite affordably in your area that can house all the files you aren’t working on, any pieces of inventory that you bring around to clients as demos and literally anything and everything that you don’t use on a daily basis. If the storage unit is close enough to your home, you could make weekly or bi-weekly trips to gather all the client files you will be working on and those will be the only ones in your office, thereby reducing at least 90% of the mess lying about.
Keep Personal Items to a Minimum
Every accountant, solicitor, doctor and business professional will always have a photo or two of the family on his or her desk. However, to line the walls with pictures and trophies the kids won each year is a bit overwhelming and quite a distraction. The object is to keep distractions to a minimum so it is suggested that you decorate your home office in the same way as you would if you were in a professional setting. This is, after all, your office that you work from. Keep it as professional as possible.
Diplomas, Degrees, Honorary Certificates and Awards
In lieu of all those personal photos and items you would normally have in your den or family room, why not order bespoke frames for all your credentials and awards? These would be nicely displayed on the wall behind your desk so that clients visiting you in your ‘office’ would feel the same air of professionalism as they would at a corporate office. If you don’t often meet with clients at your home office, this would still lend an air of formality that you need when freelancing from home.
The main point to consider when decorating a home office is to keep it as professional as possible. Whether or not you have clients in isn’t the main point. It’s all about staying on task in a professional manner so that you get your work done timely as you would ‘on the job.’ If it looks like an office, it must be an office! That’s what you’re going for and a bit of decorating can help you accomplish that.