If you’re just starting out in business, the chances are you’re not going to be working from a plush, airy office with loads of space and the latest in designer office furniture. In the early days, most entrepreneurs work from the spare room or a small unit in a shared office where space is at a premium and it’s essential to be organized.
In order to make sure your office doesn’t start to feel cramped and cluttered it’s really important to try and keep on top of filing and make sure everything has its place. You don’t have to have fancy filing cabinets – leave those for when the business is really taking off – the humble cardboard box will be more than adequate, as long as everything is labelled properly. In this instance compact label printers will become your best friend. As the name suggests, they are neat and compact enough to sit on your desk and they are super easy to use, meaning you can add clean, easy to read labels to all your storage boxes and filing systems. They are particularly useful for anyone whose handwriting leaves a little to be desired! You might know exactly what you wrote on the box at the time that you wrote it, but come back to it a year later and you can be left scratching your head a little. With a clearly printed label, you’ll know exactly what is in your box or file. And of course, when it comes to sending out parcels or letters to your clients or customers, a printed label will always look much more professional than something hand written.
Another handy thing to have in a small office is a wireless printer. Wireless printers are available as both laser and inkjet models and range in price from about £99 or thereabouts for a fairly basic inkjet model up to about £900 for a laser printer that would suit between 1 and 10 users. Obviously the main advantage of a wireless printer is that you don’t have to connect it to your PC or Mac every time you want to print something, which means fewer wires for you to trip over. They are very easy to set up and also 100% secure so you should have no worries connecting them to your network. They can be placed pretty much anywhere in the office as well, so it’s not necessary to have the printer beside your desk in order to print.
Helpful equipment like this will make life in a small office so much easier. And who knows, in a couple of years’ time you could be enjoying the view from somewhere a little less ‘compact’.
