Bowman, I'm self employed (read, poor lol) and work is only blocks from my house. I have to be here often, but I also get to be away alot as well, depending on who is working
I was lucky when I started, I had a friend who had a old burr king 2X72 grinder in storage and about 5 years ago he asked if he could put it my shop just so he had access to it when he needed it. I have used it for just about everything imaginable except knives. So when I started, I had a very nice grinder compared to most people. The only draw back was he left a full box of belts for it and told me to use anything I needed. Well the coarsest belt in the box was a 220 grit belt. I soon found that a 220 grit belt even on a 2x72 grinder took a LONG time to do any grinding. So I actually used an angle grinder to do the initial grind on probably the first 10 knives I made. Then I would clean up with the 2X72. Then I finally broke down and got some 80 grit belts. Nirvana! Soon, I went to 60 and then 36. Once I finally got 36 grit belt I stopped using the angle grinder to do the grinding.
Last month I moved into a rental, (we will be building soon) and about the same time my friend finally finished his own shed. He took his Burr king, and anticipating that I had already bought a coote 2X72 grinder. While not as versatile as the Burr king, it is better (for the sole reason that it has a better rest than the old BUrr kings had.) at doing primary grinds. I do need to modify the rest so that it can be adjusted closer to the belt and then I will be happy with it.
Since I had stored his equipment all those years, he happily let me set up the coote next to his burr king in his little 14X14 shed. It is cramped, has no doors on it yet and no heat, but at least I can still work on knives.
Since my wife is getting a new home, I get a new shed and I was able to upgrade from my 15X15 (in our town you don't need a building permit if the drip edges are under 16') for our new lot, (we buy 2 acres tomorrow) I ordered a 16X24 steel building which is bigger than I had, smaller than I'd like and more than I can afford. lol