The Home Office: If you are going to spend most of your working day in your home office, make it a place you find comfortable and efficient. Invest in enough space to have room for equipment, storage of supplies, file cabinets and perhaps product. When shopping for a new home, consider the office as important a requirement as the kitchen. The office is important to your income and your ability to enjoy being able to work from home. If you collaborate face to face with others consider a room that will accommodate your collaborations. Many newer homes in La Jolla and the UTC area as well as other San Diego neighborhoods are being designed with home offices in the floor plans, or with a optional room that can be built out as an office.
Work computers: There are too many options to consider here in this short article to discuss which computer is best for individual needs. I suggest going to a computer review website or Google the computers you are interested in, and some of the different options and read the reviews and find which fits your needs best. Then shop the different computer resale websites, like Newegg.com and CNET.com or AMAZON.com, many time you can find very worthwhile savings over a custom built computer. Another place to look for big savings is for refurbished models of the computer model you are interested in look at TigerDirect.com and HP, Dell, Gateway and Sony all have refurbished computer websites.
Phone Systems: If you want to portray a big company image with your phone system consider voice over internet provider (VOIP) phone service. Some services like "Aptela", Ring Central", "Auto Access", "One Box", and Grasshopper will offer a complete system that will, answer your phone, follow you to any number you send it to, and offer you caller menus, and text your voice mail to your Smartphone and your email. Google "Auto Attendant Phones" for more specific information that each company offers.
Fax: You can get an independent fax line for as little as $10 a month, but if you are using a computer a variety of e-fax options will probably be more efficient than using telephone-fax machine, (see printers below). If you need an independent phone fax line Vonage and several other VOIP companies will offer a dedicated fax line at a discounted rate.
Printer: It will depend on what kind of printing you do at the home office, on which printer works best for your office. An "All-in-One" printer which includes (Print, Copy, Fax and Scanner functions) will save you a lot of extra steps if not trips to the copy store. HP, Xerox, Brothers and several other brands can be found on line at discounted prices for several different models. PC World magazine's top recommendation is for the HP Office Jet 8500 (priced at from $227.00 online). The 8500 has good speed, duplex printing and relatively inexpensive ink the first choice. For more specific information Google "all-in one printers" for reviews and pricing information.
For our business we need to print in an ink that will not run when we place flyers in outdoor locations. We also have a high volume of printing for such things as post cards, newsletters, and flyers with close to glossy photo quality. We use a Xerox Phaser 8560, which give us the high speed, duplex printing with the ability to print on paper up to an 85 lb. weight. This printer is priced from $499 online, and maybe an option if you need a high volume high speed printer.
Computer business applications: First you must have Anti-Virus software even if you are a MAC user, consider what your computer and data are worth for a minute and it becomes a first priority. If you are using windows 7 Microsoft has a FREE anti-virus that is comparable to the best paid for software available today. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials for a free download, or google Anti-Virus reviews and pick something that the reviewers have had a good look at and make a solid recommendation, it is important do your home work. Next you need a backup system period! My choice is to use "Carbonite". I like it because it is a constant data back up so each time I create a new file or make a change "Carbonite" is busy backing it up so backup is almost current in real time. The other advantage is that the backup is on the web and out of my office. I have had three hard drives crash in the last couple of years and have been able to restore all the data because of the back-up. If you haven't had a hard drive crash yet you are fortunate, but for the few dollars it costs it is a very good business decision to back up your data. Adobe Acrobat has been invaluable, in that we can create PDF files and email them for others to open with a free application they can download from Adobe. You will need a scanner to create a PDF from a hard copy document or image. If you do a lot of scanning the Fujitsu SnapScan is an excellent scanner it will scan and covert your documents with two sided scan and it comes with the Adobe Acrobat software. The Standard for business applications has been the Microsoft Office Suite for a long time and the applications are good and have been built on years of experience and software upgrades. There are other business software suites which may be worth investigating including the FREE "OpenOffice.org" produced by Oracle. Oracle is also involved in the leading edge of "Cloud" computing. "Cloud" software remains on the internet and is usable with your browser. The "Cloud" software is one of the options coming in which you will be able to subscribe to an application and use it on the web. Look for more information and promotion of cloud applications in 2011.
When looking for the home that is just right for you with or without a home office, the Ruth Mills Team can help you find that just right property. Contact the Ruth Mills Team at Ruth@MillsTeam.com or call 858-459-9109 or toll free at 1-888-450-6691.
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