My New Home Office!

Within the last few months I made the tough decision to opt out of renewing my lease on my downtown studio space. Although I loved the building & had a great landlord, after doing the math & thinking toward the future, I knew it was right. Consider this, I would say around 95% of my shoots are off location & about 90% of my clientele hear about me through word of mouth, internet or social media: Blog, Facebook, Twitter. To this day I’ve opted out of doing any traditional forms of advertising (besides biz cards): newspaper, brochures, billboard, etc. That isn’t to say that I won’t do such things but I knew to build a business through relational marketing is much slower in growth but more substantial in the long run… plus, it’s free! Therefore, my studio/office location wasn’t nearly as important as I originally thought. And, I made a decision from the beginning that both of my businesses would be run in a ‘Dave Ramsey’ kind of way… no debt, straight up cash. That has proved difficult sometimes! So… instead of sinking around $8000 annually into a building I have little return on, I chose a one-time investment of about 25% of that into my home & build an office/studio space. Now, I will begin to set aside little by little in the plan that one day I’ll build my dream studio space.

When we bought our house we loved the extra 160 square feet screened-in back porch just off the kitchen. But as I thought about bringing my office home, I knew this space would be ideal. With blazing hot summers & cold winters, I was going to have to close in the space. I began researching & designing the space, gathering materials, begging my Father-in-law & dad to help, & eventually beginning the renovation. We did all the renovation ourselves & saved a ton of money… you wouldn’t believe the final cost. I will spare some of the details but I designed the space to echo my Ben Finch Photography brand. There are a few things missing… I’m saving to add a couch & coffee table, signage, & a large plasma/LCD TV to show clients their session photos. Here it is so far with it’s wonderful natural light pouring in… drum roll please!!

One of the challenges & benefits of moving to such a small space is that it forces you to simplify. Everything in the office serves a purpose now. The suitcases & trunk both house photo equipment & office supplies. The couch & coffee table will serve as a workstation when I have meetings with my designers & photography associates. And I have areas for temporary & permanent filing… it’s an organizational dream!

Leave me a comment below & let me know what you think. If you have any questions about the benefits/challenges of running a business (or two) from home or feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment. Or, if you have any questions for that matter… I’ll be glad to try to answer.

Here are a few pics of the area beforehand as I was measuring for windows. These images remind me of how hard it was to keep the screened-in porch clean… it drove me crazy! Not any more!!