Starting a Business? Here’s your essential office checklist.

by Startacus Admin

3. Mailroom

No matter the size of your business, you will need a “mailroom”, even if that’s a corner of one of your cupboards. Having this set up from the start will save you a lot of time and frustration when you realise you need to send out some letters urgently.

• Franking machine and Scales

If you are likely to be sending out letters and parcels regularly, then you should seriously consider hiring or buying a franking machine. These can save you up to 30% of the cost of

postage stamps, as well as reduce the time you may waste queuing at the Post Office.

- Stamps

- Packaging

- Labels

- Paper

Crucially for the start up business owner, franking machines are easily accessible to the small business owner for a monthly fee – a large capital outlay is no longer required. They enable your postal communications to be more cost effective, personal and look more professional and if you setting up an e-commerce business then investing in Franking Machine technology is a must for saving time and money.

4. Equipment

This doesn’t need to be prohibitively expensive if you’re running on a tight budget, but having the basics in place from the start this will help you save both time and the frustration of not having access to required equipment – you’ll end up using your personal mobile phone instead of installing a business line, which we don’t advise. Business and personal should be kept entirely separate from the very beginning. Although it seems a bind setting up a land line for your business you’ll be grateful when you leave the office and let the answer phone step in and give you a night off, if you don’t want the hassle of setting up a completely new telephone line in your office then there are online services called VOIP that use your internet connection and stream your calls through your computer. Beware that calls can become broken if your internet connection isn’t fast enough but with superfast broadband reaching many parts of the UK VOIP telephone services are becoming increasingly popular for businesses.

• Business telephone

• Printer/Copier/Scanner

There are plenty of good and reasonably priced integrated printers on the market, which also allow you to photocopy, scan and even fax. This is particularly useful if you’re not going to be bulk printing or copying. However, we strongly advise you to check the price of the printer cartridges before making your final purchase, as a cheap printer could mean very expensive cartridges.

- Printer cartridges

- Telephone

- Shredder

Again, all of these items can be bought online or at supermarkets cost effectively. Or, if your requirements are particularly high volume and require more robust equipment, they can be leased or financed in much the same way as a franking machine.
This is your basic office equipment start up list but as your business gets going and finds its own path you will need to get item’s specific to your businesses needs but this checklist will get you up and running with minimal spend and allow you to successfully and professional get your new business off the ground.

Chinny is a Digital Marketer at Pitney Bowes UK. She is a tech savvy lady and loves finding solutions for small businesses to drive successful results. Chinny is an avid social media user, loves to travel and explore different cultures. Find her on Twitter and Google+.

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Published on: 28th May 2014