Home-based businesses have flourished in the last few years, with many people choosing to work for themselves for different reasons.

For some, it is a side hustle that is designed to make some money from a hobby like sewing, making candles or soaps, or providing services like social media management for other businesses.

Other people choose to work at home to make it easier to balance other commitments like families or health problems.

At the beginning of the business lifecycle, using a space at your home might seem like the best idea – offsetting some of the costs to ensure that profit is not lost. For many business owners, working from a room in their home makes sense financially while allowing them to be present with their family all the time.

When is it Time to Upgrade Your Space?

The catalyst for a move into bigger and better premises is not always just one issue – for some, it is simply an issue of space for products and stock, while for others it might be about needing to hire employees.

Lack of Space

Although truer of a product-based business than something virtual or service-based, lack of space is probably the most obvious reason that someone would start thinking about moving.

If products are taking over every conceivable surface and you are running out of room for creating, then you need somewhere bigger.

This is also true of paperwork and filing.

Staffing

As businesses grow, the need for an extra pair of hands might become apparent. Whether that is someone to help with administration or creation, if you need to employ more staff you need to have the room for them to work – and this is likely to mean that it cannot be in your spare room.

Clients

If you are a service-based business like a hairdresser or a beauty therapist, you will have clients visiting your home for their treatments. This becomes troublesome for obvious reasons.

If you want to operate as a retail business, you might want people to be able to come and browse your ‘shop.’

Trouble Focusing

Having your work all around you in the house can make it difficult to switch off at the end of the day – and harder to focus when you are working.

Can’t Grow

When you have to start making decisions that are limiting your growth because you don’t have the room to take on extra clients or store more products, then it might be the time to move into somewhere bigger.

Options For Growth

Making the leap to a specific premises for your home-based business can happen in several different ways, and the one that you choose will depend on what you need.

Use Your Outside Space

If you have a large enough plot of land surrounding your home, you might want to consider creating what is sometimes known as a ‘garden office.’ This is a type of outbuilding that is designed to offer you the right space for working in that suits your business.

These buildings are flexible so you can add partitions and create rooms for storage and for working in. They can be client-facing rooms like a shop floor or a treatment area as well as somewhere for extra employees to work, a back office, and plenty of room to keep physical products where necessary. Additionally, you may want to look into studio sheds, which will make good use of every bit of outdoor space you have.

Coworking

Getting out of the house to work might be a good idea if you work online and alone, as sometimes isolation can feel like the most important reason to get away from the home office.

Coworking spaces can be as simple as a hot desk situation, or you might want to share office space with some other small businesses to save on costs and give you somewhere to work that isn’t from your dining room table.

Rent Some Space

This might be a warehouse for storage, a distribution center for access to logistic help, or an office space.

Choosing to rent commercial premises might be an additional expense, but with some research you can choose a space that suits your business and can grow with you.

Growing your business is an exciting time, and you do not want to be limited on your choices because of space.

Jane