When your business is just starting out, you will be incredibly lucky if you are working from your own office space. However, although this is better than having to set yourself up in your spare room – it is unlikely to be very big.
Renting office space isn’t cheap and when your business is in the early stages, you simply don’t have the funds or stability to commit to a larger but more expensive space.
What you do need to do, however, is be clever with the limited space you do have because it needs to fit in your few employees as well as all your stock. Overfill it and your small space can quickly become much smaller!
So, read on and find out how to manage stock in a small space, before the clutter that surrounds you causes you to loose motivation.
Firstly you need to ensure that there is organisation in the office and that it remains this way. Use shelves, cupboards, multi-functional furniture (such as seating that doubles up as storage and desks with plenty of drawers.) You need as much room as you can get, so make sure you make use of all the space available to you – perhaps go for storage that fills the empty wall space, rather than the crowded floor space.
Next give everything a location and stick to it. You may want to sort your stock into section on shelving and then label each area with what should be there. For example, you could label up half the shelving for new stock coming in and the other half with the stock that needs to be shipped out. Make sure all your employees are aware of where everything should go – because if they aren’t, your organised office will quickly descend into chaos.
Then, you need to be rigorous with booking things in and out – have somewhere to log this, so you know exactly what you have and therefore don’t over order.
With a lack of space for stock it is also important that you anticipate demand so you order enough of what you do need and not too much of what you don’t.
But sometimes you need to buy storage – and actually, this is a good investment for a growing company. The average length of commercial property lease is between 5 and 10 years – this is a long-term commitment and a huge expense for a company with little money to play with. Storage, on the other hand, enables you to commit for as long as you wish and is a far cheaper option. You are also safe in the knowledge that it is safe and secure thanks to 24/7 CCTV. Plus, with 24-hour access available, you will be able to get to your stock in the same way you would if it was in another part of your own office.
Are you still unsure about storing your stock outside of your office space? Well, did you know that some small firms are actually run from self-storage! Many are attracted to the flexibility, short-notice period and low overheads.
See, managing stock in a small space is actually much easier than you first thought – just make sure you stay organised!
