Top 5 Tips To Moving Your Office

Last updated on April 2nd, 2012 at 03:12 pm

Where am I on my entrepreneurial quest for multiple streams of income?

You may remember my briefly mentioning one of our tasks recently was moving our office. It didn’t go far. . . moving from our top floor of the house to the bottom floor of the house. The move had several benefits including more than double the space, lots more windows and a complete separation from the living area.

The move had some ulterior motives too. Easier temperature control was a big one, although this latest cold front is proving that wrong. Another goal for me personally was to re-energize the office space. Have you ever felt more energy when you go in a room you recently cleaned up? In these dark winter months, I can use all the energy I can get.

With this theory, I should be rocking on my productivity. Depending on your outlook, a sign of productivity is either a clean desk OR a messy desk. You can tell from the photo where I stand on desk cleanliness.

So what makes an office more difficult to move? Trying to avoid downtime is the big goal. Finding stuff, especially important stuff is vital. Avoid throwing your back out so you can work in the office once it is set up again, but I’m skipping ahead.

Here are my tips to help you jump over the pitfalls we fell into during this process.

1. Prep the space:
This sounds so self explanatory but simply takes the longest. Where are things going? Did you measure the space? Did you leave enough room for everyone to walk around? Did you plan where all the cats will sleep? These may not all apply to your office.

2.  Prep the connections:
As most modern offices, we need connections. Power, network, phone. Since this space was in our home, we had the joy of finding out how few DSL lines were going into the house, and that none were headed in the right direction. If you don’t have a handy networking contact like my husband hanging around then best of luck. Did I mention this took the longest? Hint – check all the connections BEFORE disassembling the huge desk.

3.  Prep the stuff:
Yes, you can use your arm to simply swipe everything off your desk and into a box. My desk may look like I did that and dumped it right back out! We did lose a closet for storage in the move so re-evaluating what is a “daily” item was fun. So far we have been back up the old office about 3 times a week to get something still up there. With 2 flights of stairs, it counts as a cardio workout.

4.  Prep the people:
Have you ever noticed how most people don’t like change? This is just common courtesy to give those around you a heads up that “Hey! Your desk will be moving locations soon!”. Be ready to take action. Once you say you are changing things, get on it. Of course it’s nice to have group around you that remembers the stuff you casually mention 2 months before and comment “When are you moving the office?”  This can work in your favor as a motivator.

5.  Prep your back:
Do not work out 4 days before the move. The move will count as a workout. 2 flights of stairs, 3 cardio machines going upstairs; Heading downstairs were 2 desks, 3 computers, 6 monitors, 3 chairs, 3 boxes of files, 3 filing cabinets, then all their drawers, 2 printers, 2 boxes of stuff on top of desks and 1 ream of paper.

Moving is a pain, personal or business, but a small amount of preparation and a bottle of Aleeve makes things go smoother. I may see the top of my desk yet.

Have a productive week – Heather

(Heather’s dream is to have multiple streams of income, starting with launching an e-commerce website that showcases her one-of-a-kind designer jewelry, which are crafted by her. Heather’s post day is Thursday and her newly launched sites are couture jewelry available through For Your Adornment, and Twitter background design on Twitter And Beyond)

DREAM GOAL: $25,000 A MONTH FROM 6 SOURCES OF INCOME BY NOVEMBER 01, 2010