How to Upscale Your Home-Based Business

*This is a collaborative post on how to upscale your home-based business

Running a small business from home is a great idea when you first start out. It lets you concentrate on the creative side, on developing and honing your processes, and makes it relatively easy to fit the business around prior commitments.

Pretty soon, though, it’s likely you’ll want somewhere more professional or that offers more space. Maybe you need privacy and quiet, somewhere to meet clients face to face, or better storage for an expanding stock line.

Whatever the reason, upscaling is often a challenge with plenty of considerations including the financial side of things.

Upscale Up Your Home-Based Business Space

This is an option if you’re not quite ready to expand beyond your own four walls. Sometimes rejigging your home office space can give you some breathing space while you consider your next moves.

Meeting Clients – would a dining room work better than a spare bedroom? Yes, you’d lose the family dining area, but you might feel more confident meeting clients face to face if you don’t have to take them upstairs. Greater confidence could mean more clients which in turn means more profit which in turn could lead to more expansion.

More Space for Stock Storage – this is a tough one for retailers or resellers working from home. So, consider whether more shelving is possible so you can put wall areas to better use. Maybe look for different areas such as under the stairs, or in storage furniture if your items for sale are small.

When you’re searching for extra space at home, rule out anywhere that’s damp or hard to get to (such as the loft unless you have a sturdy, purpose-made ladder). Also, try not to ask family or friends to lend you some space. You’re sure to need something while they’re out at work or at other inconvenient times.

Searching Beyond Your Home

When it’s time to move the business out of your home, there are a few different options to think about regarding type of space:

• Warehouse Space – this probably won’t do unless you’re expanding massively or sharing some space with another business owner. You also face extra costs in the form of VAT, business rates, and utility bills as well as the rental charge.
• Self Storage Rooms – this is a serious option. These days facilities welcome business users, offer flexible terms, low rentals, and a variety of space sizes. Plus, there are staff on hand to receive deliveries when you’re not there. It’s well worth getting a self-storage quote.
• Rented Offices – if you’re looking more for office space than storage space, but standard terms may be too restrictive or expensive. There is an alternative in the form of flexible offices where you get the same high standard of service and facilities but on much more adaptable terms.

Upscale your Home-Based Business With A Combined Business Space

Something you might not have thought about is running most of your business from a self-storage room. Of course, it’s not ideal for lots of business types, but if you run an online shop, sell at markets, exhibitions, or shows, it could be the perfect answer. There are facilities all around the country so you should easily find self storage close by.

You can organise a storage room exactly as you like, with hanging rails, shelving units, cabinets, or a desk/table. As long as your furnishings are freestanding, you can do pretty much as you like. When you’re doing lots of packing, the table is a handy workstation, and you can even buy packaging materials from the facility if you run short.

When you need more business space, or even if you just want to reclaim your home and have a better work/life balance, self-storage units are an affordable, flexible, option.

Take a good look around at the various choices available before you make any upscaling decisions. There are always ways and means, some of them not so obvious at first, but which could be a sound solution to your business space dilemma.