So there are all the wonderful benefits of running your business from home, but when 9 boxes show up at the door then it does remind you of the downside! Thankfully these boxes were able to be sorted out within 24 hours. Eight boxes were just picked up to be sent to Amazon's warehouse, and the remaining one has been put into our garage.
We sell maternity and baby clothes on ebay and Amazon so our entire garage is taken up with stock, and as you can see our hallway does suffer too!
If you are thinking of starting an online business you may need to consider storage. For a startup company you can probably fit stuff on a shelving unit in one of your bedrooms, or in a garage or shed. Don't forget to consider damp and also security. At some point you will need stock insurance and most insurers won't cover you for wooden structures like sheds.
On the plus side you can count the cost of your rent or mortgage for that portion of your property which is used for your business. So if like us your garage is used exclusively for your business then you can put a sensible price on that (as a percentage of your monthly rent / mortgage) and include it in your costs which in turn lowers your tax bill. You can also claim the same percentage of your council tax. Treat it just like you would if you were hiring a commercial unit for running your business.
We always assumed that as our business grew we would need to rent a storage unit or ideally buy a bigger house! But as it has turned out we now send a lot of our stock to Amazon who post it out for us. In our particular situation this has worked out well.
All in all though I'll happily take the inconvenience of having my hallway stuffed with boxes rather than have to pay for the children to go to nursery whilst I go out to work elsewhere. And look, I can even get them to help me with processing stock! (The one around her neck is our own... I am keeping a close eye on the stock!)
No comments:
Post a Comment