Today’s blog is the first in a series where we will be discussing setting up a physical workplace for your contract paralegal business. One of the best benefits of being a freelance paralegal is that you are not tied to an office or desk. However, despite all that freedom, you can really benefit from having your own workspace. Now that could literally be a dedicated space in your home, an equipped laptop bag or an office share in your community somehow. 

First and foremost, I do not recommend you jump into any type of brick and mortar office rent. This is rarely necessary. Even if you cannot find your own space in your home, this blog will give you some other options without the overburdensome obligation of rent. However, if you insist on renting your own office, make sure you do your homework, and that it includes the math. 

If you are going to incur a rental expense, make sure that it will be covered by your income. If you don’t have any clients yet, really ask yourself why you feel a rental expense is necessary and read this entire blog series before you ultimately decide on that. 

Once you have done that and you still feel like renting an office is necessary for your contract paralegal service, look to modern office sharing first. Many areas offer access to office amenities for as little as $50 a month. If you live in Omaha, Nebraska you have access to a great deal of amazing technology and you can check-out rooms all for free. Do Space is a technology library open to everyone in Omaha with all the latest software, devices, and ultra-fast internet. 

In Tacoma, Washington we are fortunate to have Surge Tacoma. It is not free; however it offers a lot more amenities starting at $50.  Their facilities offer state of the art offices, coworking space, resources and networking opportunities with flexible options to fit any entrepreneur’s needs. 

To start finding options in your area I suggest you google “nonprofit shared workspace in my area.” You will obviously need to make sure that your location sharing services are on when you do this in order to get the best results. 

Do Space in Omaha offers computers for use while you are at their facility, as does your local library and some office sharing facilities; however, if you are doing actual legal work, you should not be working on public computers. This is very important. With everything that GSuite offers as far as storage for such a low monthly price, you can get by with any computer that gives you access to your Chrome browser. 

Don’t be pressured to by brand new. You can get a nice refurbished laptop with all the speed and capabilities you need to run your paralegal business from Refurbees.com. We purchased a refurbished computer for less than $250, that included shipping. It has been more than two years now and it still works great. 

In the next blog we will discuss setting up a truly mobile office.