Checklist for Starting Up a New Business Office

Your small business office is important to the success of your company. Without a proper workspace, you and your employees will be unable to be efficient in your work tasks. Treat a checklist for setting up a small business office as one of the essential tasks in getting your business off the ground.

Choose Space

If you are starting a small business on your own, then you can get away with finding a corner of a room in your house and saving money on renting an office. If you will be hiring employees, and you do not have a full basement, attic or garage that you can use as an office, then you will need to rent a space. You should start out with something large enough to accommodate you and your employees, but keep the budget down to reduce startup costs.

Storage

Any long-term storage, such as warehousing product or storing archived documents, can be done at an inexpensive offsite storage facility. Check for a strong gate with a combination lock for security, and get a unit that is environmentally controlled if you will be storing important documents. For storage in the office you can use file cabinets, plastic storage cabinets and closet space. Maximize your storage space as much as possible by buying storage you can stack as opposed to anything that would take up extra floor space.

Workstations

You can purchase desks, chairs, chair mats and all of your other office furniture at a used office furniture store. You will also want to check the local newspaper for any businesses that may be closing up as they will be selling off their furniture as well. There is no need to purchase new office furniture during your startup phase. Utilize cabinets as tables to save on buying more tables. For example, place the printer on top of a file cabinet rather than buying a separate table for it.

Communications

You will need a phone system for your small business office. If you are working from home then get a separate line. Do not use your home phone as you want to keep the two separate so you can sound professional on your business phone. Look into voice over IP broadband phone systems as opposed to traditional phone systems. You may be able to save money. Check with used office furniture stores and online auctions to find a phone system. You would be surprised at what kinds of functioning phone systems you can find inexpensively on Internet auction websites.

Office Equipment

Lease as much office equipment as you can, including computers, copiers and fax machines. Try to get all-in-one units that can fax, copy, scan and print to reduce the amount of ink or toner you will have to buy. Large copy jobs can be outsourced inexpensively to your local office printing shop. Ask the print shop about a corporate account that may be able to get you discounts on your printing.

by George N. Root III, Demand Media

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