Office space

[Mike]

I know some of you guys have (or have had) your own office, outside of your home. As someone who is going to be looking for space outside of the home:

1. What types of things should I be looking for?

2. Did you find that your productivity increased?

3. How much space do you currently have? (if you feel like sharing)

[Planet Mark]

Hey Mike

Go for it... really helped me to focus when we got an outside place in late 2008 - kind of broke out of the limbo of half-work-half-not which tends to happen to me at home.

3. How much space do you currently have? (if you feel like sharing)

No probs sharing this info (as long as noboby is asking what I earn?!?!?) it is a small apartment - 48 Square meters for 4 of us... not ideally configured, but comfortable enough for now. When we grow again we'll have to move, probably be sooner rather than later!

Mark

[Mike]

No probs sharing this info (as long as noboby is asking what I earn?!?!?)

that's why I wrote it, lol

Srsly though, what was the #1 thing you were looking for when shopping for your first office? Apart from obvious stuff, like solid internet connection. Is that #1 thing still #1?

[themike537]

Talk to the neighbors to get a feel for their business, just to make sure they won't be making noise or bugging you. If you are on the second floor or higher, make sure there's an elevator for moving furniture and stuff.

Also, if you work outside of normal business hours, make sure you can get a key to access the building late/early. And obviously figure out with the landlord if there are any extra costs like heat/electricity/whatever.

Oh, my new office is about 333 square feet which is more than enough.

[Mike]

Thanks, Mike. Great tips and a few I hadn't thought of.

+1

I'm gonna add one to this real quick. Security. When you mentioned after hours access, it occured to me that thousands of dollars worth of equipment will be sitting there unattended.

[Planet Mark]

Can not think of anything much to add that is not already obvious... flexible lease arrangements, aircon / heating (too hot for me, too cold for the better half was almost a given!) and decent security / alarm system. To be honest we found it through the ex-pat community here in Budapest and shared with an existing company, so it was right op at the right time for us... they went broke as it happens and offered to transfer me the lease, at the time it was too much space / money to justify - but wish I'd taken it now!

How many are you?? thinking back it was nice to have a few other people in the office back when it was just the 2 of us. Only other small thing I can think of is your nearby options for lunch... and supplies etc

Anyway, sure that there are several PAL members with experience of the US office options out there!

Mark

[Mike]

All great things, Mark, thanks for the advice. It's just me, right now and frankly, I'm in no rush to hire anyone on.

I guess, like everyone else, I have my own personal preferrences. I love the outdoors so a window is an absolute necessity. I'm also going to have to see how I react with the lack of social interaction, although it hasn't been a problem yet. I have my attempt at golf and other things to keep me socially engaged. If I find myself naming the light switch or something like that, I guess I have a problem, lol.

[Unknown Webmaster]

You may want to think about whether or not you want to be able to do a bit of cooking there. I really enjoy having the option to cook something, since it really cut down on the amount of takeaway I ate.

If there are a skylight odds are that you will have to block it off during the summer in order to see anything on your monitor.

[Mike]

You may want to think about whether or not you want to be able to do a bit of cooking there.

That's definitely something I haven't thought of yet, thanks. I'll keep it in mind.

Any other affiliates with some ideas, tips, horror stories, etc?

[suffolkpoker]

I have allways ran from a office, i will admint my main form of business is not affiliates, but i do everything under 1 roof. The main things to look for imo are;-

1 - does it have good car parking.
2 - am i in a good postion (in case u wanna start selling something else)
3 - are u able to sub-let (sitting rent free)
4 - is there potential to expand

I love commercial properties as a investment to residentual anyways, u can get much higher rent and, change of usuage (i.e. planning permission into resiedtual)
So i look for this qualitys in anything i buy commercial... i like ot buy yards with a office for example.