Setting up a business at home isn’t easy. There are plenty of distractions and it can take time to build up an income that you can actually survive on. Having said that, you need to invest much money when you start a business from your own home. You don’t need to pay rent for another building, you have no extra electricity or internet costs and most people already have the essentials for setting up. So, what are the essential things you need to work from home?
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Laptop
If you’re working from home, you can’t survive without access to the internet. You’ll need to set up social media pages, websites, blogs and have quick access to customer e-mails. It’s impossible to do everything you need to on a smaller device, like a tablet, without affecting the quality of your work or communications. A laptop is the ideal way of doing everything you need to do on a decent sized screen and with a large enough amount of memory and data.
iPhone
Having an iPhone means you can talk your work on the go with you. If you have to leave your house for a while but you want to be reachable, an iPhone is the perfect option. You can answer e-mails, answer calls, reply to social media messages and if your clients have iPhones, you can even make use of FaceTime. Luckily, if you drop your phone, iPhone screen replacement is easily found. When you work from home, you need to encourage the sale of your services as quickly as possible. Waiting too long to reply can mean you miss out on potential income.
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Inspiration
Building any kind of business from scratch can be tough work. You may find there are times when you feel like giving up, but working from home can be rewarding and flexible. Stick to it by learning how to inspire yourself when you need it most. Put up inspirational pictures in your home office, search for success stories about similar people in similar situations and take a breather when you need to. Do whatever’s necessary to keep yourself going. It’s worth it!
Webcam
Depending on what type of business you’re setting up, a webcam is usually beneficial. You may need to talk to clients via Skype to establish some details. It’s often better than talking by phone because you can show each other visual ideas via webcam, rather than relying on descriptions. If you work with other people who are always at their computers, it’s often easier to get hold of them via a webcam than it is to e-mail or text.
Printer/Scanner
There will always be times when a printer or scanner comes in handy. One of those times will be when you need to do your taxes. It’s wise to keep digital and paper copies of your sales for your own peace of mind. You may also need to print out copies of your portfolio for potential clients or scan in drafted work to send for approval.