Home And Garden Articles

Top Ten Tools for Your Comfortable, Efficient and Empowering Home Office

Having worked at home for over 20 years now, I am often asked what tools and resources are most necessary to run a efficientand successful home-business enterprise. Here are my top ten "Must Have's" for a comfortable, efficient and empowering home office.

1.) Desk & Comfortable Chair:

Your desk doesn't have to be fancy, just functional. Your home office may simply be a corner in your bedroom. That's OK as long as it's comfortable, quiet and clutter free. It's vital that you have a comfortable chair. If you don't you'll end up with back problems. Spending a little extra here will be well worth it and will save you on doctor bills in the long run!

2.) Computer

Get the best one you can afford with the fastest Internet connection available in your area. Being able to move around fast on the Internet will ease your frustration and save you valuable time!

3.) Fax Machine

These have really come down in price. You can pick up a simple fax machine for under one hundred bucks. It will easily pay for itself in trips saved to the office supply store to send or receive a fax!

4.) Good Telephone With Mutable Headset

This is a must! You need to have an excellent quality telephone with a headset! Often the first impression you give is over the phone and if your prospect can barely hear you over the snap crackles and pops, you're not going to sound very professional.

Also, you need to have your hands free so you can be taking notes. It's imperative that you be able to mute yourself out so your prospect doesn't hear you typing, and also to block out background noise on 3-way calls and conference calls. We use a Plantronics headset, Model M175, because it's affordable, comfortable and has a volume control and mute button right on the cord. In the U.S., You can pick one up at Radio Shack for about $39.

5.) File Cabinet

This doesn't have to be fancy. The important thing is tokeep it organized and up-to-date with vital records only!

6.) Contact Manager

If you're really serious about building a large business from home for the long term, we can't emphasize strongly enough the importance of a good data base contact manager. Over the years you are going to build a tremendous data base of contacts and to be effective, you need to organize and maintain records on those contacts.

Now, you can do it the old fashioned way (card file or Franklin planner), or you can move into the 21st century and with a computer-based contact manager. Granted, they're not the easiest software to master, but once you do, you'll wonder how you ever survived without it. We use a recommend a program called GoldMine. You can download a 30 day free trial at: http://www.frontrange.com.

(Note: We are so adamant that every entrepreneur must have and use a good Contact Management system that we include a web-based one in our WTPowers.com Membership Program. This one tool is more than worth the monthly membership fee).

7.) Tape Recorder

This is a great tool to have handy for taping conference calls and also for playing back testimonials to prospects. You can pick up a little "recording device" that plugs into your tape recorder and phone hand set very inexpensively at radio shack or other electronics stores.

8.) Mirror

No, this is not for primping! It's to remind yourself to SMILE! When you're prospecting via the phone, your voice is EVERYTHING! It's impossible not to sound enthusiastic if you're smiling! A mirror on the wall will also make your office look and feel bigger.

9.) Music Source

This is optional but having the ability to listen to music can be uplifting, motivating and/or relaxing.

10) Feel Good Or Motivational Items

Be sure to put some personality to your home office but do so thoughtfully, avoiding the tendency to add clutter. Photographs of family or company trips, motivational messages, awards plaques, a vase of flowers or live plants can add personality and creativity conducive to a productive work environment.

Bonus Tip: Keep you hoe office tidy! Put away all items at the end of the dy, dust off your desk and make your to-do list for the next day. Then take some well deserved "down time" outside of your office. Your future self will thank you!

A career network marketer for over 20 years, Tracy has been a leader in four international companies and serves as a master consultant to the industry. In June 2001 Tracy and her husband Patrick launched a revolutionary new trend in the home-based business industry when they founded WTPowers.com, an online, lead generating prospecting, follow-up, training and duplication system.

WTPowers has helped tens of thousands of network marketers in over sixty countries to succeed in their home-based businesses faster and more efficiently utilizing the power of the automation.

Tracy is the mother of two remarkable children, Caleb & Olivia, and lives and works from her dream home on the Northern California Coast. She is passionate about her mission to teach entrepreneurs how to truly work 100% from home using just the Internet and the telephone.

For more articles by Tracy, subscribe to her free PowerLine Newsletter at MLM recruiting tool,Network marketing tool -www.wtpowers.com or visit her blog at www.thepowerlineblog.com

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