The Benefits of Working From Home

The Options

During an interesting 4sight from Otis Ogle at the Buckingham 4N meeting he stated that every business student in a project at Reading University, when given a virtual business to set up, immediately went out and spent a large amount of their capital on premises. Unnecessary expense was the lesson here as all most businesses need is a phone and Broadband access. Of course you also need somewhere to make and receive calls away from noisy family life, and ideally not in the local Costa...! You may also need a place to meet prospective clients and suppliers.
The options available to most of us include the spare bedroom, the dining table, or if money is freely available, an office in your local town/city. I have tried all of these options over the years, none of which are satisfactory.
There is another option which is to install an office in your garden. Garden offices come in many forms from the simple shed (think Dylan Thomas) through log cabins to elaborate, sustainable and very comfortable garden offices with en-suite facilities. Many multi-million pound businesses began life in the back garden, including Hewlett Packard which was started in a humble garden office in Palo Alto, California.

The Benefits of a Garden Office

If you are environmentally conscious you can minimise your carbon footprint. If you are cost conscious you can save money. If you are time conscious you can spend more of it with your family. Other benefits include:
no rent to pay
no commuting and no cost of getting to work
free up space in your home
the ability to fit family life into your schedule
obvious environmental benefits
you can increase the value of your home
you could offset all the costs of your office
you can have one installed in less than a week

There is extensive research on how maximising your exposure to daylight can increase your productivity and have a beneficial impact on your health and wellbeing.

Would you benefit from a garden office?