Starting your own business can be one of the most creative, exciting and invigorating phases of your life. You are constantly in a deep state of learning, from managing your accounts and invoicing to learning how to grow your businesses.

You are also developing work processes, networking with potential partners, creating marketing campaigns for social media all on top of actually doing what it is you set out to do in the first place.

For the sole trader, this is a lot to take in, since you are the primary employee in your business. It’s your job to deliver the work as well as finding time to implement those other essential business functions.

Keeping optimum professionalism at all times is the keystone of a successful business workflow. This is why you need space.

Lots of solopreneurs work from home. This is advantageous because you don’t have to pay extra money out each month renting business premises, you have tea and coffee on tap and you don’t have the stresses of the daily commute. All in all, this sounds like a win-win. It’s also fantastic if you have little ones who need taking and picking up from school.

Working from home every once in a while is a great idea, and we thoroughly recommend it. Having said that, there are lots of good reasons why working from home may not be the best thing for your thriving business, not to mention your wellbeing.

Work/life separation

Your home should be your home, and your work should be your work. If you have all the distractions of home, your head is not in the right gear and your attention may be splintered.

Of course, this applies the other way round: how can you settle down in the evening when your home environment reminds you of work? Getting a special office dedicated to your work means you can preserve your home for family time and relaxation.

A more professional environment for your clients and customers

Customers feel valued when they attend sleek working premises. Jen from Beauty by Jen saw her bookings increase as a result of moving her salon to professional premises at Rent A Space because her existing clients started recommending her more and more.

Having the right home for your business makes potential customers sit up and take you seriously as an entrepreneur, as it seems less likely you are winging it.

A better night’s sleep

Leaving the house means you immediately come into contact with more light in the mornings than you would staying indoors. Light helps regulate your melatonin levels and circadian rhythms which control when you sleep and wake up. So if you want a better night’s sleep, going out of your home into the daylight can help you achieve this.

More exercise

Since Fitbits, Apple Watches and mobile apps that count your steps became compulsory accessories for today’s motivated worker, we have become increasingly aware of how much movement we are actually doing and how much more we need to do. If you have a personal target of 10,000 steps a day, working from home will not get you anywhere near this unless you live in a mansion with only one bathroom on the furthest part of the house from your workstation. And even then, you’ll need to top it up with a long walk.

Being in an office outside your home entails more movement because you have to walk to the bus stop to get there, or even walk from a car park to the door of the building. Once you are in the office, you will walk to get cups of tea and for loo breaks. You may even walk across to the shops to pick up a sandwich at lunchtime.

Also, being out and about makes some of us lazy, cold-fearing creatures more likely to stop off on the way home to go to the gym. This is much easier than making an extra effort to go out in the evening away from the warm fire.

Opportunities to Socialise

While some worker bees thrive working at home because of their surplus of self-discipline and no annoying colleagues, (just kids, cats and the other half interrupting you every five minutes!), some people can find the isolation of being at home too much to handle, especially day after day. Taking out space where there are other sole traders and freelancers means you have all the benefits of a team dynamic while still maintaining your independence.  This means you’ve got other people to chat to and organise a Christmas meal out with so you never have to feel invisible at home.

If you’re looking to move out of your home office into a co-working space or business premises, Rent A Space can help you achieve the right business dynamic at an affordable cost.