For many of us, just finding a chair and a corner of the house to put something resembling a desk to dedicate to our home business operations is a challenge. For others, the very nature of their businesses demands that they have more space or even a separate room or office. If you see clients or do any sort of interaction with the public in your home business, the question may come up as to whether you should have a separate entrance or not.
There are a few reasons why you might want to have a separate entrance: if you have a shop or sell products from your business, it is nice to have a “retail”-type space where customers can come in and make purchases; it can be more professional if you have frequent visitors to your business than to have them enter through the kitchen or the living room—stepping over toys and pets along the way; if you do consulting or counseling or see clients and they would prefer more privacy in their coming and going; if it is more efficient and reasonable for you to have a separate room and entrance for your home work space.
For other types of businesses, having a separate entrance can just be inconvenient or unnecessary. If you do not see customers or clients and you prefer a more casual, relaxed way of working (a laptop at the coffee shop, for example) and the kids, pets and other household clutter do not have any influence on your work—a separate entrance is likely unnecessary. Consider not only how your business is today, but how you anticipate growing your business as you think about whether you need a separate entrance or not. If you only have a few customers now, but you plan to have a showroom and grow your business in the future, a separate entrance may help facilitate that growth.