Make a More Productive Home Based Business

A Home Business Article Contributed by Alina Sandor

Is Your Home Based Business As Productive As it Could Be?

At one time or another, every home based business owner has the sneaky suspicion that they could be more productive. Whether it is packaging products or keeping track of paperwork there is always a better way to make your business work better.

Taking Inventory: First Steps to Home Based Business Efficiency

The first step to making your home based business run as smoothly as possible is to take inventory.

For starters, take a close look at your office. Are there papers all over the desk? Are you storing your important documents in shoe boxes? If so, then you may want to start organizing your office. Having a well organized office is key to a more efficient home based business.

Buy filing cabinets and folders to organize all that loose paper and the stuff in boxes.

Label the folders:

Paid Bills

Customer profiles (You may need a whole filing cabinet for this.)

Bills Due

Ideas

Advertising

You can also add other categories as you progress though the pile, but this will get you started.

Also look into purchasing computer programs that can help you keep track of your budget, customer's addresses, electronically paying your bills, etc.

Now that your office is under control it is time to look at how you handle cusomer's orders.

If you handle all aspects of shipping products from your home, you may want to think about getting a prefabricated storage building just for your merchandise. These storage buildings come pre-built and can be set in your back yard, leaving more room in your home office for office work. It might be helpful to have a second computer set up in the storage building to keep track of orders, and it can network with your office computer.

If you don't handle merchandise in your business and offer services instead, take a look at what kind of services you offer. Do you offer too many services? Is there a way that you could streamline what you offer so that you could take care of clients orders more quickly?

Use Your Family for a More Efficient Home Based Business

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to make your home based business more productive is to employ your family members. Have the kids mail some letters or stuff envelopes. Have the spouse make a run to the post office or office supply store. Try having older children help you fill orders and get packages ready for shipping. Smaller kids can help make copies, after you teach them how.

Don't forget that sometimes it is more efficient to work when the family is not around. Work while the little ones take naps or while everyone else is at the movies. The quiet will enable your mind to work better, making work go more smoothly.

Also, make rules that the spouse and children are not to bother you during certain times of day and use this time to make phone calls, write emails to clients and fill orders.