As the economy gets tighter, many people in marketing industries find that they are being turned into freelancers. Big firms are still around, but the trend is heading towards hiring freelancers to work on a job or two as needed. I worked out of my home for a bit, but one day I got the bright idea that I needed a proper office space just in case a client wanted to stop by instead of email.
The decision to rent a space put me into great unrest. I was on the edge about it right up to the signing. What if I didn’t get enough work during the winter to pay the lease? What if I was hired across country and had to move? What if I got hired by a firm who wanted me to work in their office? I had dozens of uncertainties, but there were several that caught me off guard.
The big shock was the cost of internet. Many freelancers work at home, and thus pay the home rate for internet. If you rent a space in an office building, you will be considered a business. Consequently, you get to pay the business rate. Translation: you get to be robbed by ATT. If you get the top plan of ATT residential internet, you’ll pay around $35 per month (guarenteed for 2 years deal). Now, if you get the same service for a “business”, you are going to pay around $109 dollars for the same exact speed. I can’t be sure what “extra” I’m getting for paying triple the residential rate.
A very weird thing I didn’t account for was the south-western exposure of my office. You may want to consider that if your office has large windows. This is your space. You will be here 8 to 10 hours each day. If the sun is beating in full blast, then you will be roasting. Of course, if you live in a cool climate, this may be a good thing. My building is this old spooky hospital building left over from the first half of the last century. All I have to cool with is a window air conditioner.
Another thing that you should check out is how many nice restaurants are near by. I briefly thought about this during my research. My budget was so tight at the time that I thought I’d never want to eat lunch out. Now that I’ve received some extra work and income, I hate driving to get a lunch. Sometimes a client or friend may stop by. It’s always nice to be able to walk to a place to eat.
I thought a little about security, but since I didn’t have much of worth, I brushed it aside. Now that I have some nicer things, I wish that my building was a bit more secure. You may want to consider a space in a building that is active all day and all night. My building is spooky, deserted and haunted after dark. I went ahead and got renter’s insurance as the landlord suggested. Still, I don’t like to keep much of worth in my space.
Another thing that caught me off guard was how long the heat was kept on. If the building is old, you can be sure that the landlord will turn the heat off right at 5:00pm. If you like to work into the evening, you may find that you need plenty of hot coffee and soup.
I debated most of the other standard issues upfront. You should go to a perspective office several times a day to see if you have a noisy neighbor. You could get stuck with some gold-futures dealer who shouts into the phone all day. I got lucky with a stairway on one side and a bathroom on the other. I checked about hanging things on the wall and painting. My landlord was fine with either as long as I left it the way I found it. I also inquired about changing the lock. Most landlords will let you do this if you provide them with a key. You also want to ask the landlord if you can work late.
It’s nice to have a quiet space to work in, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue after the lease is up or not. This will be a one-year experiment for me. Many freelancers work at home just fine. We have a lot of dogs at home, so the environment is not always as quiet as I would like. I’ll have to follow up this article next March when the lease is up.
