You’re ready to grow your own home business. That means two things — your business needs to grow and your home needs to grow. Whether you create and sell a product or provide consulting services to clients, your home serves two purposes. It’s important to make sure you find the right place where it is comfortable to both live and work.
Generally speaking, when you decide to work from home, you need to separate the two aspects of your life that will be shared in one space — your personal and professional lives. The ideal home will provide necessary space for your work and the right space for your family. It’s also critical for your home to meet your needs based on your business and what you provide.
Of course, once you find the right home, you want to make sure your investment pays off. Running your business like a well-oiled machine out of your home will take extra care and organization.
Unsure of where to start? Don’t worry. We have a few of the details you need to get the ball rolling.
What should I look for in a new house for my home business?
Different kinds of home businesses require different kinds of homes. If you are manufacturing something, you’ll need space to create your product, house your equipment and store your inventory. That might require that you look for a house with a large basement, attic or garage. You may even want a property with large acreage so you can work in a building separate from your home.
If you are selling a good or providing a service where you meet with clients face-to-face, like consulting, personal training, counseling, bookkeeping or massage therapy, a home with multiple entrances is a great option. For example, if you are starting a consulting business (which is defined as the business of giving expert advice to other professionals), you won’t want clients to see a messy breakfast table or piles of laundry as they make their way to your office. Having a separate entrance that leads clients directly to your professional and organized home office allows you to separate personal from professional and put your best foot forward.
If your business is one where you can conduct business primarily through conference calls and video meetings, a separate entrance may not be necessary, but an organized home office is. Your office should ideally be positioned away from the hustle and bustle of family life to keep noise during calls and meetings to a minimum.
Finding the right home that serves your family and your business is only half of the puzzle. The rest is keeping your business running and financing it accordingly. Oftentimes, upsizing requires taking out business loans after a careful review of revenue and expenditures. A loan can be the bridge you need to take your home-based business from good to great.
What should I look for in a business loan for my home business?
In the beginning, most startups can use an extra little push to kickstart an idea into a plan. There are many ways to achieve this momentum, but a business loan might be the right one for you. When starting your own business, you can look to your bank, credit card provider or a private lender to help finance your company. Here are a few of the small business loans on the table:
- Line-of-Credit: This is a short-term loan that extends the cash available in your business’s checking account, which is valuable when there is a stall in income. A line-of-credit loan shouldn’t be used for purchasing real estate or new equipment, but rather, keeping your business going forward when there is a slow down in cash flow.
- Installment: These loans are paid back through monthly installments and can be used in the beginning to set up your business. You may need a loan to buy equipment, real estate or marketing materials.
- Interim: This type of loan allows you to make periodic payments to the contractors you’ve hired to erect a new building or addition. You’ll use the mortgage on the building to pay off the interim loan.
- Collateral: If your lender offers you a secured loan, you’ll need to pledge some collateral as a secondary payment source. If you are awarded an unsecured loan, then no collateral is required.
Choosing to run a business from your home requires extra consideration and attention. It’s critical to find the right balance when you live where you work. This starts with finding the best home that meets your entrepreneurial needs and your personal needs. Once you have the right space, you’ll need to go the extra mile to make sure you can keep your business running smoothly, whether it’s through business loans or lines of credit. That extra push can be the juice you need to take your home-based business to the next level.