For most people setting up their own business, working from home is the ideal solution as renting out office space is expensive and an unnecessary strain on your finances at the beginning. But, working from home is not without its own considerations, so here are my top tips on setting up your home office:
1. Plan your workspace. Ideally you need to have somewhere quiet where you can concentrate on focus on your business. If you have a spare bedroom that you can turn into an office, that’s ideal. If your only option however, is in a corner in your front room, then you need to plan your space as much as possible so that it feels like your working when you’re sat at your desk.
2. Have some rules. These are rules for yourself as well as your family. Set up some rules about when your day starts and when it ends and try to stick to this if at all possible. Have a rule that when you’re sat at your desk your family leave you alone, or if you’re in a separate room, make sure people know that when your door is closed, that means don’t disturb.
3. Be fair. It’s hard on everyone else when you’re working from home. Make sure you stick to your rules about when you start and finish – if you’re still working at 8pm, when the kids want some quality time, you can understand why they might get annoyed with you…
4. Minimise distractions. Sometimes (usually when you’ve got a difficult piece of work to do), the washing up looks much more attractive than actually doing some work. The easiest way to minimise distractions is to plan in regular breaks so that you can do these jobs during that time.
5. Make yourself feel like you’re working. A friend of mine who worked from home used to get up at 7am, get showered, dressed and then get in her car. She drove around the corner, parked and walked back to the house to her home office. Sounds mad, right – but she felt as though she was going to work. Do whatever trick works for you – if that’s getting dressed in a suit, do it. Believe me though, sitting there in your dressing gown won’t exactly make you feel like you’re working.
6. Cut down on the isolation. Working from home is hard work because it’s so isolating. If you’ve just left work, you will miss your colleagues – no matter how much you hated them while you were there. To cut down on the isolation, make sure you get yourself out and about as much as possible. Go to networking events and other business groups and meet business contacts for coffee and a chat (not for too long though)!
7. Time management. You’ll find it much easier if you have plan a to-do list each morning for you to work through during your day. If you know what work you have to do, it’s much easier to get on and do it. This is vital when you’re first starting up and may not have much actual work to do – your focus then should be on marketing as much as possible.
8. Check out the legal regulations. Do you need to notify your landlord or your mortgage provider? If you just have a desk and a computer you should be fine. Do you need to increase your home insurance? Do you need to notify your local council? You should only really need to if you’re inviting people into your home. Planning in advance though is the key to keeping you out of trouble.
Working from home is loads of fun – if you plan it properly to set up some guidelines for yourself. Good luck and let me know how you get on.
Working from Home - To learn more about this author, visit Helen Dowling's Website.
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