Hello everyone...

After an upside down, inside out year... I'm back right side up, mentally functioning at at least well over 50 % again... lol.. and ready to get serious about setting up my home office to run a party-plan type business.

 

I'd like advice about how to arrange the incoming/outgoing flow of things, wether it be papers, phone calls, or products that are received from the company or prepared to give to the customer or hostess.  (Even if I select a company that ships product directly to the hostess, I will still be ordering product for myself, or my kit or for gifts for my customers etc... so will need a plan for this kind of item.)

 

All the office organizing books I have... and there are many,  speak of the in/out flow on a business desk... left-right corners of desk etc. or stacking trays.  That does not apply here..because there is no secretary to outflow it too.  The in/out flow area is of a larger scope... and I will take care of all of it in this room.

 

I'm equipped to build or create just about any kind of organization plan that needs to be done.  I have the things etc. it takes to make a gazillion cubby holes for stuffing pending papers... plenty of file cabinets to handle any kind of filing system I could possibly need.  You name it, I can create it in some way.  I have a ton of organizing bins, trays, plastic box type things,.. I could open my own store probably.  I just need to set it up in the best, most efficient and orderly way that is possible.

 

And I have a whole room to do it in.  

 

The door to the room is in the left corner when walking in, so I have 3 solid walls to choose a flow pattern for.  When you walk in the room, the wall to the right has a closet door on the corner end from the entrance, to ones right.... so that one wall has two doors in it with a 4 ft wall section in between them.   Hope I'm explaining that well enough.  There is one window in the room, in a corner.  So two walls are totally solid and can accomdate any kind of shelves or bulletin board type things.

 

No matter where it will be in the room.. the main desk area is to be an L shape.. for in the corner of the L is where I have my tickler file set up... easy to get to wether I'm sitting at a section of desk to the left of it or to the right of it. 

 

Some other things besides sales work will be done in here... an 11 x 11 room.  

 

These are the basic work stations or types of things to be done in this room:

Computer area.. (I have to share the computer with my husband at least occassionally..lol. so it has to be separate from my other work desk areas.)

 

Personal Journaling/writing area

 

Newsletter writing/composing area

 

Shipping/Receiving/Mailing/Packaging

 

Scrapbooking (rubber stamps etc will be cross used for business things also)

 

Business/Customer:  incoming customers calls and orders, processing those orders, holding place for 'on order',

 

Business/Supplies:  basic company forms, customer/hostess records or files, party supplies, mail-outs or things to give customers hostess....etc etc

 

Also... a small place set aside for my sewing machine, and and small supply of misc. crafts things.  I've decided to cut back on this portion of use for the room.  Business has to come first.  

 

My goal is for one desktop somewhere in here to be ketp clear.. and to be interchangeablely used for checking in supplies/orders, working on printing out a newsletter, or cutting fabric...and for grandson to be able to sit at in here with me and color while I'm working on something else.. or use it to do a craft project with him.

 

Clothes are in the closet.  Craft things can be stored in there to get them out of here.. and I have my copy machine in there since it is not used enough to take up space out here.

 

My main hindrance/problem is paper flow.  I tend to just plop stuff down, and it accumulates.

 

Upon entering the room, I'm thinking a stack of a ton of trays or bins or an organizer of a whole bunch of cubby holes like a mail sorter type thing.. for having a place to put every single piece of paper until it gets processed.

 

I have the materials that I could build a slot organizer of at least 50 cubby holes... if that many were needed.  Whatever it would take to keep pending things from piling up on a desk.

I could them label them all kinds of ways....

 

I intend to build one for the computer area also... for all the computer related things I need to organize.  (using sturdy cardboard for the dividers)

 

I want to be able to lay out a flow system.. where when I come in, and orders or things are coming in with me.. I have a place to put them... and then the process would them flow around the room and circle back to 'out' by the door somehow. 

 

Incoming

Being processed/worked

On order.. waiting to be received

Received, to be taken out to customer

Storage files.. finished, completed

 

If I didn't have to share this computer, it would be much simpler.. because it could be blended into the flow better with my business etc. 

One thought I had about the computer recently is that it would be neat if I can come up with a way to use it from both sides of one desk top... turn it in to my work area for when I use it.. but if my husband or someone uses it.. it would get turned the opposite side.... so that they would not sit in my business work area.. and so that their using the computer would not prevent me from sitting in my business area at the same time they are using the computer.

 

Hmmmm... maybe I could make some kind of large lazy susan type thing to put the monitor on.. that would be cool....