The benefits of working at home are obvious. You may want to eliminate commuting and spend more time with your family, or start your own business, be your own boss, and make more money than a 9 to 5 job can offer.
I've been working from a home for over a decade, and though I wouldn't trade it for anything, it hasn't always been the office paradise I expected. When you work from home or work for yourself, you have complete control, which is great. But for those accustomed to being accountable to managers have to adapt to self-motivation. You need to be prudent with work habits. Over time, without accountability weak work habits will worsen and limit your business.
I had to learn how to make working from home effective and efficient, below are 7 tips from the lessons I learned.
Properly Plan Your Home Office
If you haven't set up your home office yet, think about the business activities your office needs to support. Will you have meetings, visitors, or is it just you? How much space do you need for office furniture and equipment? How much desk space will you need?
Once you have a list of what kind of space and equipment you need it will be much easier to begin arranging the area where you will work. Since you know the type of furniture and equipment you will have, you can determine how much minimum space you need to allocate. From there you can begin acquiring the right sized office furniture and equipment you don't have on hand already.
Equipment & supplies
Make a checklist of all the items your office will need to support your work. This article will have additional items you may want to consider for you home office.
If you have a desktop computer, consider adding a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) battery backup to your checklist. In case of a power outage, a UPS will keep your computer from shutting down at the worst time, and prevent you from losing any valuable work.
Prioritize your list and only get the essentials. There are many items in my home office I rarely use and probably didn't need to buy.
A room with a door
You'll likely need a workspace dedicated to your business activities. This means an area where you can work uninterrupted. It should be a quiet place where you have conversations and concentrate when you need to.
Bad examples for your workspace are areas that can't be closed off or multipurpose areas. It's best if you can have a room that no one else needs to use while you work and has a door you can close.
Bedrooms are a bad idea for a workspace. Your bedroom is a sanctuary; the place you go to rest and escape from your work.
If you set up a desk and plan to work in your bedroom you do two counterproductive things: you destroy your sanctuary and you create a work area in a place where your mind and body have been trained to relax.
A small designated and dedicated space is much more important than having a large multipurpose area to work in. Keep that in mind if you live in a place without much space to spare.
Good ergonomics
If you're just starting to work from home, consider that you're going to spend much more time in the space you currently have for your computer. You may already have a desk and chair for using your computer, but are these suitable for a full 6 to 8 hour workday?
Read up on recommended office ergonomics and make adjustments to your desk, chairs and computer monitor position.
Don't be upset if everything you want in your office doesn't fit at first. There are always different ways to arrange an office to make the space work. You can move items you won't use often, like a fax machine or filing cabinet, to another room. There is also a number of space-saving office furniture and storage units you can buy that will make your limited space look a lot more spacious.
Create a Positive Area for Your Workspace
Your office should be a pleasant place to spend time, conducive to your best work. The last thing you want is a space that makes you feel uninspired or weighed down while you work. Remember, it's now up to you to keep yourself motivated. These tips will help you maintain a positive work area that you enjoy spending time in.
- Keep clutter to a minimum. Don't have any lose items on your desk. Have an inbox for incoming items and an outbox for outgoing items.
- Make sure you have proper lighting. Natural light and simulated natural light is said to improve your mood. Position light sources to keep glare to a minimum.
- Have motivational music or speeches playing in the background while you work. Upbeat music can energize while you work, and an inspirational speech can rejuvenate your spirit on a slow afternoon. Only use audio stimulation when performing tasks you're not easily distracted from.
- Decorate your office with inspirational elements. Choose items that remind you of what you want to achieve in life, places you want to visit, your dream home, your children's future. These can make a big difference in your self-motivation.
Outfitted for Communications
In this day and age, you're likely to need a high-speed Internet connection to support your business and work. Be smart but don't skimp on your Internet service plan. You'll probably need enough bandwidth to support collaboration tools and materials such as:
- VoIP (Phone Power, GoToMeeting, Skype, Oovoo)
- Cloud services (Dropbox, Google Drive)
- Office, project management and CRM apps
- Downloading and uploading large graphics and media files
Consider upgrading your mobile phone plan. You may receive more calls on your phone if you have a new office number that's yet to be distributed. More importantly, if you have a good data plan, your phone can serve as a backup in case your home Internet goes down or if there is a power outage.
You may not need an expensive business landline. Your business voice needs may be covered by VoIP and your mobile phone.
Use Dual Monitors
Studies show that using more than one monitor increases productivity. Other studies show that having dual monitors does nothing to increase productivity.
I believe having two monitors will increase your productivity. I think the later studies that indicate otherwise show that some people don't know how to effectively use dual monitors.
The goal of having a second monitor is to avoid toggling between windows, resizing and scrolling. These micro-adjustments add up and waste time. It's far better to have what you need in front of you at all times without having to scroll or adjust.
For instance, say you're writing a report in a word processor. With dual monitors, you can type in MS Word in one monitor, while reading source materials in another monitor. Your hands stay on the keyboard typing away without having to reach for the mouse, or stop and minimize windows. This is the right way to use dual monitors.
The wrong way: working on a document or spreadsheet in one monitor, while having your inbox open in the other. This does nothing to help productivity, in fact, I think it hurts productivity. Each time a new message pops in your inbox, you'll automatically be drawn away from what you're working on to see what it is. And 9 times out of 10, it's probably not important.
If one of your monitors is dedicated to email or worse, your Facebook newsfeed, you're probably better off going back to a single monitor.
At one time I had two full sized 26 inch monitors on my desk. I loved this set up, but in recent years I've switched to having one 30 inch monitor and using my 17 inch laptop screen and a second monitor.
The move away from having two desktop monitors was because of travel. I stopped buying desktop computers because I need a good laptop for travel. Laptop's can be elevated on a stand so the bottom aligns with a larger desktop monitor.
I admit, my set up now is not as nice as having monitors of the same size, but the 30 inch is great and I do have a second monitor when needed.
Today's business laptops are just as powerful as desktops. The great thing about using a laptop instead of a desktop is that it gives you a second monitor and UPS with the built in battery for no additional cost. And you can take it with you on trips or meetings away from the office.
Stick to a Schedule
This is perhaps the most important tip in making your home office arrangement work. You need to decide on a schedule when you will work, and adhere to that schedule. It can be 8 hours each day or only 3, whatever it is you must stick to it!
Without a schedule you take seriously, you work will suffer and you'll develop a poor work ethic. The bottom line is that you'll make less money –a lot less!
You can think of it this way. If you held a traditional job, you would only spend lunch time taking care of personal business. If there are errands to run you would either do them before or after work. You would not drop your work and start doing a load of laundry in the break room. You don't sit on the phone talking to friends and family. You don't run to the hairdresser in mid-morning leaving work undone.
Your home business is your job whether you are doing it full or part time. You have to set a schedule which insures you spend the right amount of time on your business without being distracted by the personal surroundings you have at home.
You may think, "Hey! Where does the freedom of being an entrepreneur begin if I have to follow a schedule?"
The freedom is in the options you have and control of your income. For example, when you are working in an office for a corporation, your supervisor determines your hours. You are told when to be at work and when you can leave. Even if you are an executive, there are expectations as to when you are supposed to be in the office.
When you own a home based business, you can set a schedule, but you can determine your hours. For example, you may like to start work at 9 AM instead of 8 AM. You may prefer to work evenings instead of mornings.
One of the reasons home businesses fail is because there is no time schedule set. If you say you are going to work your business from 9AM until 5PM every day, then you need to be at your home office desk working by 9AM.
Managing time efficiently involves a lot more than just setting aside chunks of time. You also need to determine how much time you need to do particular tasks.
For example, you may need to allocate the start of your workday by respond to new customer inquiries so not to keep anyone waiting too long. Bookkeeping and other administration tasks not critical to revenue can be scheduled on days you're less likely to be busy.
For brainstorming sessions, find out which part of the day you're most creative. I've read books by CEO's and successful entrepreneurs who say they're most creative in the mornings before noon. Others say in the late afternoons when they begin to feel a little tired they've come up with great ideas. From what I gather everyone is different and it will be up to you to find your creative "zone" and schedule accordingly.
Use a calendar and populate it with your work schedule for the entire month. Towards the end of the month populate your work schedule for the next month. Be sure to include your personal activities so you're not blindsided by non-work appointments you forgot about.
If you follow this advice and use it to your advantage, you'll be able to reward yourself with one of the best benefits of being an entrepreneur: giving yourself a raise!
Take Advantage of Online Services
When you operate a home office you're responsible for your own equipment, which includes software. It's nice to have a work computer loaded with the latest Office suite supplied by your company, or rely on the legal department to take care of any paperwork that needs to be filed. If you're running your own home business you won't have that luxury anymore.
The good news is that the Internet is a DIYers paradise. This might be a techie insider's secret, but if you spent a little time looking you might shocked to learn how cheap professional services are online. Here are some examples:
- With WordPress, you can have a professional website complete with all functionality to supports your business online for few hundred dollars or less.
- You can hire people to do almost any design task, such as create a logo or advertising banner for as little as $5.
- Stockphoto sites can provide professional business graphics and imagery for as little as $1 each.
- Bookkeeping and accounting software that allow you to do your own business taxes for less than $100.
- There' s letter writing software, templates for professional documents, inventory management programs, or publishing software which can create newsletters or marketing material all at very reasonable prices.
These days, you can literally have all your administration and professional services taken care of for your business without any employees or consultants, and at a fraction of the cost.
Avoid Distractions
This is one of the biggest pitfalls of working at home. At home, the distractions are all around to trip you up: family, TV, even knowing you can crawl back into bed on a cold morning can be a distraction.
These are different distractions than the ones you faced at the company office. You need to prepare yourself for them or the distractions will turn into bad habits which will undermine your home operation.
Some of the tips I've already mentioned will help, especially having a designated work area and following a set work schedule.
The next step is to think about the possible situations that come up and prepare yourself to handle them. What will you do if you four year old walks in your office and wants you to find her shoes?
Your business is not a hobby. Have a talk with your spouse about your commitment to your work schedule, and explain that, unless it's an emergency those are not appropriate times to ask you to do something else.
There are also online distractions. Without anyone holding you accountable, you might waste time watching videos on YouTube or responding to messages on Facebook when you could be working.
Reward yourself with the distractions you avoided during your workday. After you've crossed every item off your daily work to-do list then allow yourself to indulge in some TV or that new viral kitten YouTube video.
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