Take a good look at your office equipment, the computer, printer, fax, phone line(s), and Internet connection among others because now the other member in your office, the IT person, is also you.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that working at home here in Boise has its perks. You set own dress code, make the coffee as strong as you want, and you can always pick a work area which is near a window. You do have to take a good look at your office
equipment, the computer, printer, fax, phone line(s), and Internet connection among others because now the other member in your office, the IT person, is also you.

There are probably not any personal quirks that you find hard to ignore or work around in this other person, but if you havent chosen good equipment with which to work youll probably be spending a lot of time working with them.

I have found that a laptop fits my needs. It is quick, light weight, able to handle everything I give it, and small enough to put in an out-of-the way spot. For the Internet access I have fiber-optic line installed into my home. DSL and Cable were other options, but when fiber-optic became available I jumped at it. I am able to use VOIP phones and I have a Fax/Scanner that will scan to my email, or anothers, in a PDF format; very handy for scanning documents of several pages. PDF documents through email is a much cleaner way of sending copies of copies. They are a little pricey, but well worth it if you send a large quantity of documents.

This brings us around to making a decision about all-in-ones or the use of individual components. I like the idea of all-in-ones. The difficulty I have with these in an office is the fact that if one part of the system is malfunctioning, then most likely all are malfunctioning. I do have one. It works well, but I dont use it on a regular basis. I have another stand alone printer and the Fax/Scanner I mentioned. My office closet looks like a little town with all the lights blinking in the dark and the hum of the machines cycling, but that is one reason to have a door.

All of these home office perks will be much more functional if there is a network inside your home. And the best time to put in the network is during the building process. Many builders in the Treasure Valley are having the wiring installed at the time the home is framed. Usually the wiring goes from the attachment point on the outside to a central location in the home and then from there radially out to the various locations in the home; office, bedrooms, media/den, and even the kitchen. Networks can also be added after the fact, so if you dont have one now dont despair there are a number of installers in the Treasure Valley that will be able to put your home office in tip-top shape.