Should you Rent an Office or Work from Home?

When you work from home, it can be challenging to separate your work and personal life. You may have kids running in to try to get you to play with toys, cook a meal or play outside. You may be tempted to accept personal calls, take a long lunch in front of the television or spend the day keeping up with the garden while putting off work.

While working from home can be a blessing to many, it can be a curse to others. It can also be challenging to those that sell retail and are currently using their typical living space to hold product inventory.

For many of these reasons, you may be wondering if you should rent an office or work from home. Or you could even consider setting up a virtual office that would allow you to work from just about anywhere. Here is a look at how to determine what would make the most sense for your situation.

Why you Should Work from Home

There are some great reasons to just work from home. One of the greatest is that you have the flexibility to be anywhere and everywhere; meaning you can work from your bedroom, your patio or even the beach. As long as you have internet access, most people working online can work just about anywhere. The internet is a quick and cheap tool that makes it simple to get your work done from just about anywhere you desire.

For those selling a product, it’s easy to get your product out immediately when all you’re waiting for is an online notification that a purchase was made. For jobs like transcription and authors, you can do research and type from just about anywhere.

For those that work from home with clients that want to meet in person, you can schedule meeting times in advance at coffee shops, conferences and trade shows. This way you are prepared to meet your clients while still having the luxury of staying home every day to do your regular work. Remember, however, that trade shows tend to have a massive turnout, and it’s important to stay a part of these when it applies to your business.

You’re also going to save money working from home. Spending money on a retail store or renting an office is expensive. You have to pay rent, utilities, security, staff and more just to keep it running. Your profit will end up going towards these bills instead of investing in more inventory. Big name stores occasionally run into this problem when they open too many stores that eat up the cash flow.

Why you Should Rent an Office

Sometimes it’s smarter to rent an office or open a retail store. For example, you’ll end up missing out on foot traffic when you try to do business from home. Sometimes all it takes to make a purchase is the right person walking by a store to be intrigued enough to stop in. You could miss out on lifelong customers because you did everything from home, online and without a store front.

When you work from home, you lose some anonymity. Some customers don’t want to purchase from businesses with a residential address and prefer a brick and mortar location. They may not feel safe stopping by your home or trying to access it when they could just go to a regular retail store to make a similar purchase.

Lastly, how do you separate your private life from business? It’s hard to make your work space look professional enough for clients while making it livable for your family. When it’s too comfortable and livable, you may struggle with productivity. It’s important to have that physical separation from work because it’s better for your mental and emotional health.

While there are pros and cons to both situations, consider the field you are in and what makes more sense for you when deciding if you should open a retail space or rent an office. Sometimes it comes down to the field you’re in, determining if it’s worth the expense, and looking at how both scenarios affect your productivity.