Clients don’t ever come to my home office—not that they’re not invited. I need to be able to see their home before I can design a home office for them. Before clients visit your home office, keep a few things in mind:
- Put your stuff away. No one (especially clients) wants to see laundry baskets overflowing with dirty clothes, toys all over the floor, and newspapers that haven’t made it to the recycling bin. If you’re in a hurry, shove stuff in closets until you can put everything away where it belongs. I’m not advocating disorganization, but last-minute client meetings require desperate measures.
You may want to close off certain rooms before clients visit.
- Move your office to a space near your front door—a converted dining room or formal living room is ideal—to avoid dragging your clients all through your home. Before a client comes over, close the doors to any rooms you don’t want them to see. They may act like the mess doesn’t bother them, but it does.
- Create a space within or near your home office for client meetings. Make your dining room serve double duty as a conference room. If you followed the last tip and moved your office to the dining room, then problem solved. Within that space, consider adding a small kitchen area. A small cabinet stocked with a coffee maker, soft drinks, and water for meetings is all you need.
- Make sure your family knows when a client is coming over. It took me a week to get over seeing a sub-contractor’s husband in his Speedo as he was walking out to their pool. I was more disgusted than he was embarrassed!
