Most small business owners start working from their home office until the business gets on its feet. I started my commercial cleaning business three years ago. Two years later I started my online empire business, consisting of two blogs. Most of my work is done in my home office, which happens to be my second bedroom in my condo. I knew that to do my job efficiently I needed an ergonomic setup.

I renovated my second bedroom, painted some fresh colors and added some shelves on the walls. I also turned the other half of my next office into a gym, and to this day it turns out to be a brilliant idea. Whenever my brain gets tired, I jump on the bench to do some bench pressing, do some pull-ups, and most importantly, clear my mind. I am lucky to have an efficient workspace at home.

According to an article I found on the Toronto Star’s MoneyVille that talks about a survey conducted by business machine company Brother Canada, only 2 in 10 Canadians who work from home say they have an efficient workspace.

If you’re in the process of creating a home office or workspace, take the time to plan accordingly. This step becomes even more important, because it is you who will spend time in your office, so why not make it comfortable and cozy?

I came up with 10 tips to help you get the most out of your home office and get maximum productivity.

1. Separate office

The purpose of having a home office is to have privacy to do your work efficiently. We all know that an office in your living room just won’t do, especially if you live with someone or with a large family. Also, you want to keep your paperwork separate from the rest of your household items. Trust me, it will be easier to handle.

2.Generous work area

There will come a time when you will have multiple clients served at once and you need easy access to their files. Personally, I like to spread my paperwork all over my desk, I call this organized chaos.

3. Internet connection

We live in times where an Internet connection is a must, and you probably already have one at home. Instead of spending the money on another connection, just buy a router and direct the Internet connection to your office. Try not to spend money on the router, buy a wireless one, and when you buy a laptop in the future (or maybe you already have one) you will have a wireless Internet connection for your laptop.

4. Print/copy/scan device

I hardly send faxes, but my HP printer also prints in black and white and scans. If you need to fax quotes, for example, I’d advise getting a printer with a built-in fax. You’ll need to get a fax connection, but instead of getting a dedicated fax line, you can get a phantom fax line that runs off of your home phone connection. This ghost fax line is around $4/month with Bell or Rogers.

5. Desktop and/or laptop

I started with a desktop computer, which had a 21″ screen attached to it. At first I didn’t need a laptop, but after a year in my business, I went out and bought a laptop. The main reason I bought my laptop went because it’s handy to take on the go I try to attend a few conferences throughout the year so a laptop is handy however despite the fancy mid range laptop I still prefer to do my I work from my desktop computer.

6. Backup unit

By using a home backup hard drive, which can be purchased for around $100/500 GB, you will be able to keep a mirror of all the files on your computer. This way, in case your desktop hard drive crashes, you’ll have a backup.

Don’t spend money on cloud computing backups. They may not sound expensive per month, but it all adds up in the end.

7. Trusted IT

Being a business owner, I just can’t tackle everything. And despite being a pretty tech-savvy guy, I definitely don’t know all the ins and outs of computers. This is especially true with my online business empire, as I have scheduling issues.

Fortunately, I have a very reliable IT guy who has also become a good friend over the years. Most of my troubleshooting is fixed within 24-48 hours. Sometimes even faster.

8. A business phone line

Separating business and personal phone calls is a must for any serious small business owner. How do you think the customer would feel if they called your business phone number and their home voicemail answered, or worse, no voicemail at all? There are many different options for phone lines, so do your research. And don’t forget to consider VOIP phone options, you’d be surprised how much cheaper they can be than traditional phone lines.

9. Digital camera

One of my first purchases when I started my commercial cleaning business was a digital camera. This can be especially useful for showing before and after images of a specific job.

10. Digital recorder

I’ve never gotten used to doing this, but I know business owners who make a living off their digital recorders. They leave notes, record conversations, and most importantly, use the recorders as reminders for the next day, week, or month. Try it, you may end up liking it.