Anyone with half a brain knows you can’t build a boat in a basement. Right? And yet, it happens all the time. Well, maybe not always boats. But certainly, things as big as boats. And they’re not all built in basements either. Sometimes it’s an attic room with steep winding stairs and at other times it’s an overfilled garage. But, in the end, all these boat sized projects have one thing in common. The ambition of their crafters outweighs their common sense. Or at least this appears to be the case.

Inventors and tinkerers, woodworkers and artists. They all share another common trait as well, or at least all the independent, non-wealthy thinkers I know share a common trait. A pecuniary one. And that is that the size and stature of their bank accounts is generally dwarfed by whatever project they’re currently working on.

So, just what do you need? How much space is required?

Our answer to this age old question boils down to just 3 tenets:

1). There is no silver bullet. No matter how much space you have, you will always want some more. And you will skin your shins every time you get more space and fill it right back up again.

2). Eking out 200 square feet of office space is just as fear-inspiring a barrier as surpassing the speed of sound. And just like a test pilot, you’ll be battered every time you try to cross this barrier, seen or unseen. Until the day you actually do acquire the minimum space you need and place half your fear behind you.

3). 200 square feet really is the minimum space an indie company needs, no two ways about it. And here’s the proof:

Point A – you will have the following 5 jobs to do:

  • plan (and plan some more)

  • communicate (inside your organization and with the outside world)

  • experiment (on multiple aspects of numerous projects)

  • create (which is what indie companies do in the first place) and

  • deliver (sometimes requiring even more space for storage)

and you would be very hard pressed to accomplish any one of these activities in any space smaller than a standard bathroom (about 40 square feet). And 5 times 40 = 200 square feet. 🙂

Point B – this does not include any space to manufacture (or really even to store) anything. So, even more than 200 square feet will be needed if you intend to manufacture.

Simple math. Common sense. And the voice of experience.

Trust me, you can’t do it very well or for very long (not uninterruptedly) without adequate space. So, if you’re gonna go indie, go get yourself 200 plus before you do.