For week 2 of the Reorganize Your Doula Business for ‘09, we’ll be taking a look at all the ways you organize your office, paperwork, files and electronic data. Each day I’ll offer you some tips and resources to help you organize your office in some way. Today we will take a look at where you run your birth business.

Where In Your Home Will Your Office Be?

Do you have a room you can call your home office? A closet? A desk in your bedroom? Or the kitchen table? It doesn’t really matter where you work, but your efficiency will be at its best if you have a designated place work, set up your office equipment, and store your books, office supplies, files and birth supplies.

What You Need For Your Home Office

To run your business you it helps to have the following elements:

• Desk or table where your computer and papers you need can be spread out
• Good task light if overhead lighting isn’t good enough
• Comfortable chair to sit in. An office chair on wheels is great to have.
• Computer and printer, and a place for the printer and all necessary computer peripherals to be stored
• Telephone with answering machine or voicemail service
• Container to store files. A file cabinet is ideal, but there are many attractive portable file boxes you can purchase as well.
• Bookshelf to store birth books, 3-ring binders, magazines and videos. An option is to attach shelves to the wall above your work space or in another section of the room.
• Desk drawers or organizers to hold office supplies
• Closet or storage solution for your birth supplies
• Bulletin board if you like to display certain papers or lists
• Wall organizers, in/out boxes, or some way to store papers that need attention
• Trash can

If you need some pieces of furniture, first see if you can re-purpose something in your house that is not currently being used. If you do need to buy some furniture, before you buy new, see if you can get some pieces used. Sources can be friends and family, garage sales, thrift stores, used office furniture stores and Craigslist.

When looking at office furniture, make sure each piece works for you by ensuring it:

• fits in the space you have for it
• is comfortable and fits your body well
• has the minimum bells and whistles necessary to be functional for you. Do you access certain files often? Make sure your desk has at least one drawer for hanging files. Love your office supplies? Be sure the desk has another drawer to store supplies you use often such as a stapler, paper clips, pens, white-out and post-it notes. If your desk will be in a room you share with your family, can the desk be closed up when your work day is done?
• is attractive to you. You’ll want to feel good where you work, right?

It doesn’t make sense to buy something because it’s cheap if it doesn’t fit your needs, so please take your time in buying furniture for your home office. It might make sense to spend some time thinking about how you work best, what you reach for often, and what drives you crazy about your current workspace so you can change it.

When buying small office organization supplies, stores like Target, IKEA, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls, have inexpensive but pretty options. For standard office supplies like printer toner, paper, envelopes and various types of file folders, see if you have a used office supply store near you. Otherwise, look for the cheapest prices online. Many office supply stores have online coupons and free shipping with a minimum purchase available. eBay is another great source for office supplies, especially printer toner and higher priced supplies.

Setting Up Your Home Office

Once you have all the furniture and supplies you need for your home office, how will you arrange everything?

1. Imagine your desk and chair as the focal point in the room.
2. Think about how you work during the course of the day. What items do you access the most? Files? Certain books? Do you grab stuff off the printer often? What about paperclips and post-it notes?
3. Arrange the furniture around you based on how you will work best. Is the printer near enough so you can reach over and grab a printed sheet off it? Are your most current files in your desk drawer, or is the file cabinet/box in arms reach? Is your shelf close enough so you can grab that book you need?
4. If the space you’re using for your office is shared with another room, can everything be put away when you’re done working? Could a bookshelf be used to separate your workspace and the family space? Do you need a screen of some kind to separate the areas.
5. Make sure you have enough space around your desk to move around.
6. If you have young children, is your office setup ideal? Can your kids work around you easily? Perhaps set up their own little table and chair and they can play "office" with you.
7. Add some finishing touches to make your office feel good. In mine, I have a bubbling fountain, a beautiful watercolor print of a mother kissing her baby, and some beautiful plaques with inspirational sayings. Surround yourself with beauty where you work, and you’ll feel great.

As you become more at home in your office space, you’ll naturally develop a certain flow and will make adjustments as necessary.

If you really love your office setup, please share what has worked for you. Please also let us know if there are any nifty organizational products out there that have helped you become organized.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at handling paper. Have a great Monday!

Tags: doula business tips, home office organization, setting up home office, start your doula business

Other Savvy Posts You May Enjoy:

1. 5 Steps For Filing Business Paperwork
2. Day 14 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz – Books, Handouts and Birth Tools
3. Day 9 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz for ‘09 – 10 Tips for Taming That Paper
4. Day 11 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz – How to Organize Client Files
5. Day 13 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz – Backing Up Your Computer Files