Essentials for your Home Office

Are you planning to start your own home based freelance / telecommute business? Do you work from home? Here a list of the essential equipment, which in my view, all home based professionals must have:

1. A scanner and a printer – Of course you may need to print out your invoices and other sundry paperwork. But why is a scanner necessary. Scanners are important so that you can keep virtual copies of everything that’s essential to your work. Has your client sent a bill? Why don’t we scan it instead of worrying about misplacing the stuff!

2. External Hard drive – No need to explain this one! Just refer to my other hub on a virtual storage option…

3. A good chair – Who wants a stiff back at the end of the day? No kidding! Proper chair is as essential to any home based freelance profession as any other item. And I am not talking about investing in a costly recliner or something, or any chair from your dining set, but I am talking about a chair that can support your back and thighs and allows you to work off those hours in a comfortable manner.

4. A proper desk – Yes, a desk that can accommodate all the essential hardware, right from your PC to your printer and scanner to your important files, while giving you enough space to do your writing work also. A couple of drawers for your stationery and some holes at the back to keep your wiring organized.

5. A website – Now that’s one essential item that is also your virtual identity. This is one thing that every website catering to freelancers and telecommuters is bound to talk about. Most people do away with keeping a blog. While that’s not a bad practice at all, keeping a website is still a necessity. Explain about yourself, your business and your work. Put out samples of your work – Videos, clips, articles, photos, anything.

6. Antivirus – Of course, the antivirus is the lifeline of your freelance business. Updated antivirus should take care of most common and unwanted, unwarranted problems of your PC. Team it up with a regular scanning of your PC and regular updates for your software to keep it safe from any potential virus threats.

I’ve heard from people that Business Cards should also be considered as one of the essentials. Your business card should contain the exact title of your profession, your website’s URL, your email address and at least one phone number.

What do you think? Drop in your comments.