What do you do when you don’t cook or eat at home, but you need to set up a home office? You may do exactly what entrepreneur and author Mandy Williams (aka Black of Red & Black) did, and convert your dining room into a home office. [Read more...]
Making Your Guest Room Do Double Duty as a Home Office
November 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A guest room is ideal when family, friends and relatives stay with you, but what about the rest of the year when it sits empty? Depending on how often you have overnight guests, a guest bedroom can be the perfect room to set up a home office.
The three home offices below are small, but have enough space for a desk, a file cabinet or rolling file cart and a twin bed or a double bed. Throughout the years that I’ve been designing and organizing home offices, I’ve learned that size doesn’t matter. A 20’ x 20’ home office is just as functional as a 10’ x 10’ office. It’s all in the way you use the space. [Read more...]
How a Broken Fridge Can Motivate You to Reduce Home Office Papers
November 16, 2011 By
source: NatalieMaynor
A few days ago, my refrigerator stopped working.
When I opened the refrigerator door, the light turned on but everything felt a little warmer than it should. When I opened the freezer and squished an ice cream sandwich that should have been frozen solid, I knew I didn’t have much time to clear everything out.
While I cleared out my freezer, I tossed a few things I’d had a bit too long. I did the same thing with some of the food from my refrigerator. I was making a clean start (no pun intended).
My forced refrigerator and freezer purging and cleaning made me think about people who struggle to toss papers they don’t need. What if the papers scattered all over your home office were fruit, vegetables, or meat that had an expiration date? You’d be forced to deal with them within days instead of within weeks or months from when they hit your desk.
You may have stacks of papers on your desk that you want to get rid of, but don’t know how. There are a few ways to get started.
To read the rest of my guest post on Success Your Way, click here.
Just Published: Organize Your Home Office for Success
October 19, 2011 By 9 Comments
Today I’m excited to announce that after spending way too much time at Starbucks, on planes, and locked in my home office working on Organize Your Home Office for Success, the new and improved 4th edition is now available.
This is the ideal e-book (it’s also available in paperback) for entrepreneurs, home-based corporate employees, telecommuters, and stay-at-home moms and dads who need a space to manage a business or run a busy household.
How it all started
Eighteen years ago, I wrote the first edition of this book because I started getting two types of phone calls: one from business owners who wanted individual home office consultations, and the other from people who wanted suggestions for books they could use to organize their home offices on their own.
When I looked for a home office book to recommend, I couldn’t find one. It didn’t exist. There were plenty of home organizing books, but nothing that focused specifically on home offices and the challenges of working from home. [Read more...]
All Dressed Up: Creative and Clutter-Free
September 28, 2011 By 4 Comments
Some people think that if you’re creative, you can’t be organized. Watercolor artist Laura Trevey proves them wrong.
Her perfectly organized yet creative art studio/home office includes a custom island designed by Laura, with shelves wide enough to store 26” x 40” watercolor paper. Most of the time the island is in the center of the room, but casters on the bottom of the island make it easy for Laura to move it anywhere. [Read more...]
5 Ways to Fix Your Files
September 6, 2011 By 8 Comments
Have you ever noticed that filing a piece of paper is easy, but finding it later is a bit more challenging? If so, you’re not alone. Several of my clients tell me that they have no trouble tossing papers into files, but waste time trying to find the piece of paper again when they need it.
Does that sound familiar?
There’s always the option of having a completely paperless home office, but that may take time considering old habits are hard to break. Until you’re ready to go paperless, consider these common filing mistakes along with a few simple solutions:
Forgetting where you’ve filed something
Give your files names that you’ll remember by using word association. Whatever word will help you find a piece of paper when you need it is what you should name a file. Considering that you’re probably the only one [Read more...]
Change Your Home Office With the FREEDOM Plan
August 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Most of us who are self-employed agree that we’re unemployable. How could we ever take orders from a boss again, after we’ve enjoyed the freedom of being our own boss?
Whether you free yourself from the corporate world by choice, or by your (former) employer’s choice, you need to figure out the best place to set up a home office. The F-R-E-E-D-O-M plan (as in freedom from the corporate world) will get you started on the right track.
F=Find a good place for your home office
My philosophy is that no matter what size home you have, there’s always room for a home office. Try to avoid setting up a home office in your kitchen, because it tends to be a high-traffic area. Your bedroom is also a bad choice since it should be a place to relax and get away from your business.
Instead, find a place that’s not in a high traffic area, but not too isolated. A dining room or a living room is a good option for a home office, especially if it is rarely used.
I have the privilege of being a contributor for Success…Your Way. To read the rest of this blog post, please click here.
What I Learned by Setting up my Office in a Coffee Shop
August 23, 2011 By 15 Comments
Yesterday morning, I woke up drenched in sweat. Sometime during the night, my air conditioner quit working. I called the same company that fixed it last month, and they moved me ahead on the schedule. (My desperate phone call probably had something to do with it!)
After I dropped off my younger son at football practice, I went straight to a coffee shop around the corner. It had been a while since I had spent time working at a coffee shop. Usually I meet friends and clients for coffee, but this time was different…I needed to work.
There were a few things I figured out about while I sipped my cup of decaf.
Silence is golden
Bring headphones. During the first hour, the place was busy, but not too loud. During my second hour, three guys sat down and apparently their moms never taught them about “inside voices.” I pulled my headphones out of my laptop bag, listened to music on my iPhone, and then kept working. [Read more...]
Home Office Furniture Doesn’t Have to be Expensive
August 17, 2011 By 10 Comments
Photo courtesy of Sligh
When I bought my first home office desk several years ago, it fell apart after I moved it three times. I definitely got what I paid for…almost nothing. I replaced it with a desk that cost a bit more, but it was reliable and functional.
As the number of home offices has continued to grow, so has the quality of home office furniture. Finally, there are plenty of home office furniture options available and the days of dealing with cheap, flimsy home office furniture are over.
Whether you’re setting up a home office for the first time, or you’ve decided it’s time to replace your existing furniture, you don’t have to spend a fortune. In fact, you may not have to spend any money at all. [Read more...]
How to Tell Whether It’s Time to Leave Your Home Office
August 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As much as I enjoy working from home — I’m the first person to try to convince anyone to keep his or her overhead low and set up shop at home — I realize that a home office doesn’t work for every business.
At some point, for whatever reason, it may be time for you to move out of your home office. Consider whether any of these reasons for leaving home apply to you.
Lack of room
As your home-based business grows, you’ll probably need more employees (unless you want to use freelancers and virtual assistants instead of an in-house staff). That means you’ll need more space for everyone to work.
Sure, your staff could spread out in the chairs and sofas in your family room and work on their laptops, but that’s not an ideal situation.
One of my clients ran an Internet consulting business with a staff that filled his home office, overflowed into his dining room and took over his family room. His family finally convinced him to rent outside space for himself and his staff. [Read more...]
