How to run a home-based office

Although running an office from home may be convenient, there are many factors you need to consider before you bring your work home.

Gavin van Lelyveld, a Cape Town-based web developer, has the luxury of operating his office from home. Van Lelyveld shares the following tips he believes will aid other freelancers and entrepreneurs on how to run a home-based office:

- Focus on your core competencies. Don't be tempted to do everything yourself when you're trying to run a business with many facets. Rather utilise your main skills and outsource whatever else needs to be done.
- Figure out what distracts you and limit it. This could be anything from your Xbox to social networking sites, such as Twitter or Facebook.
- Don't just sit on the couch, go out there and find more work. You may get too comfortable working from home and just rely on one or two clients, when you should be looking to expand your client base constantly.
- Maintain a work-life balance. Work will consume all your time, unless you are strict with yourself. Give yourself a maximum amount of working hours per day/week.
- Get a tax consultant. Even if you're running a one-man army, you should still find someone to sort out all your tax requirements. After all, you don't want SARS knocking on your door at the end of the year.