Home Crafts Business – Working from Home

---

   
Until you start working from home in you home crafts business, you probably won't fully realize how much you rely on the administrative and technical support staff you normally have in a traditional office setting. In fact, the people I missed the most when I left my traditional 9 to 5 job and started working from home, were the amazing administrative and technical support staff that I used to work with.

I was accustomed to working with great administrative staff who somehow seemed to anticipate my every need. They did their jobs seamlessly; I was spoiled.

So the first time I ran out of printer ink in my home office, at 8:00pm, while I was printing an important report that I had to send out the next morning, I realized all of the ways administrative support staff used to make my life easier. I also came to the harsh realization that I'd have to do all of that work for myself from then on.

Then there was the time when my home office computer crashed. I was afraid I was going to lose weeks of crucial and some irreplaceable documents that I somehow failed to backup (oops). That's the day I realized how much I missed the technical support staff that I used to work with and realized that our office computer file backup procedures actually existed for a good reason.

The more you can implement and streamline your own home crafts business office procedures, the faster you'll finish your administrative work and get out of the office and into the studio.

• Plan in advance for repetitive tasks like ordering supplies. Look for ways to simplify and increase efficiency for repetitive processes.
  
• Keep your desk relatively well organized. The time spent filing paperwork properly now will save a lot of time looking for things later.
  
• Backup all of your computer files regularly. You will not be happy if you lose your customer list, applications to craft shows and your marketing materials because of a computer crash.
  
• Build a good business relationship with someone who meets your technical support needs.
  

The big challenges and small frustrations resulting from the lack of administrative and technical support in a home crafts business are something you don't typically consider until you actually start to work from home.

Most professional craft artists would prefer to spend their time in the studio and not in their home office. However, office tasks are unavoidable. Streamline your own home office tasks as much a possible to get yourself back into the studio as quickly as possible.

 
Return to Home Based Craft Business from Home Crafts Business
Return to Inspiri Art and Craft Business Resources home page