y Ella Hendrix

Every business needs somewhere to call home. Whether you employ dozens of people or you’re working by and for yourself, having a base is important. It helps to separate home and work lives, and it makes everything feel much more ‘real’ and professional for both you and everyone who interacts with you. Here are the top five start-up workplace solutions that will suit any business and any budget.

Work from home

One of the first places you might consider for your start-up is your own home. There are a number of benefits to this, not least of which is the low cost and the fact that you won’t need to tackle any form of commute. However, there are downsides too, and perhaps the most pressing is that fact that it is difficult to truly ‘switch off’ from work if it is there with you all the time.

One way to combat this is to keep your work in one room that is solely for your business. When you are finished for the day, leave, shut the door, and don’t go back in until work starts again the next day. This might be a difficult habit to get into, but it will help you have a better work/life balance in the end.

Coffee shop

If you want to work away from your home, but you don’t quite have the budget for a separate office, or you’re waiting until you have more employees to place somewhere, a coffee shop or café can be ideal. You don’t have to work there all day every day, but it does mean that you can leave your home behind, get some fresh air, and work somewhere that might be more conducive to your productivity levels. Some people thrive in a busy atmosphere, and a coffee shop might offer exactly that.

Renting an office

Experts at Cornerstone Office Search say that “if you are a freelancer or have a small team based from home, you may get to the stage of outgrowing that environment and require a more collaborative or less isolated solution.” So, once you are more established and there is a regular income coming in, you might prefer to rent a flexible office space.

Renting an office for your business is something that needs a lot of consideration given to it. The location, the size, the amount of money you can afford for rent and related costs, how it is set up, and what you need within it are all questions that should be answered before you commit to any one particular place. Make sure that wherever you choose is going to suit your business into the future as well as in the present.

Libraries

Libraries are for borrowing books and logging onto the internet if you don’t have access at home, aren’t they? That’s true – but libraries are so much more than this. They offer a fantastic space to get your work done in a quiet, peaceful environment where you can stay for as long as you need.

Find out where your nearest library is and how much space is within it (some are very small, but others are huge and have lots of desks and tables that you can settle yourself at and get on with your work). Remember, though, although silence in libraries is much less strict that it used to be, taking lots of phone calls will be frowned upon. If this is how you conduct your business, you might want to look elsewhere for a place to do it.

Co-working space

If you like the idea of having a dedicated office space for your business, but you’re not sure about the commitment levels or the costs of renting one yourself, why not consider one of the rapidly growing number of co-working facilities? This can be a fantastic way to ensure that there is always somewhere to hold meetings or talk to clients, but you can use it on an ‘as and when’ basis.

This gives you flexibility and ensures that you can keep your costs under control. If you need to change location it is easy, and you can keep clients and employees alike happy with the arrangements.

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Ella Hendrix is a versatile freelance writer, currently covering articles on office trends, workplace matters, energy efficiency and all things digital. In her spare time, you’ll find her hiking a hill with her dogs or in a coffee shop with her head in a book.