I was recently pointed to a blog post (via Freelance Switch) that proposes some of the most important things you can spring for in your home office. The logic on all of these is that you are spending a lot of time here and need to be able to work comfortably and efficiently.

I happen to agree with the items in that post, but using the same logic I have a couple more suggestions:

Desk

Your chair is a big piece of the ergonomic puzzle, but it isn’t the only piece. What are you sitting in front of? If your lap top rests on a TV tray, it’s going to be a little uncomfortable. You need some surface area to spread out. Where can you set a drink down? Is there a phone within easy reach? What about a printer? When need to look something up in your favorite web design reference book, where do you set the book down while you’re working?

Computer Hardware

This may seem obvious, but I mention it anyway. If you want to work efficiently, then you need a computer that can keep up with you. Does your machine take 3 minutes to open Photoshop? Maybe you should upgrade. Now it’s important to consider that you may not need to upgrade your entire machine. If you are not a hardware geek yourself, grab a friend geekier than you and ask them to help you diagnose what the weakest link is in your computer. Maybe you’ve got a lightening fast dual-processor, but you only have 512KB of RAM. There’s no need to buy a new computer. Just stick a couple of new sticks of RAM in, and you’ll notice immediate improvements in performance.

Of course everyone’s situation is unique. You should ask yourself these questions:

1. What wastes my time?
2. What would make me more comfortable?

Look at your answers and think about how expensive it would be to fix any of the issues you came up with. If you can afford to do it, then you should. The reward will be increased productivity. If you can’t afford it today, at least you’ll know how much you need to save up.

filed under: Running a Business