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Stuff Happens When You Work From Home

January 17, 2013 By 7 Comments

home office challenges small business

A friend of mine I’ve known since grade school likes to say that “life is messy.” She’s right.

I like to say that home office life is messy, because it is. But it’s a life that few of us want to give up, because dealing with the messes outweighs the alternative: working in a corporate office.

Consider whether you’ve ever had one of those days when:

  • The dog gets sick. This time on the product samples you need to send to a client.
  • Your in-laws decide to visit you the same week your biggest project of the year is due.
  • Your child is home from school and in a lame attempt to entertain him, you show him how cool your new shredder is. Everything’s fine until you realize you’ve accidentally mixed up your “throw away” pile with your “extremely important” pile of paper.
  • You’re wearing a suit (finally) and as you’re ready to leave your car, it starts raining. That’s when you remember that you never replaced your broken umbrella.
  • Your printer runs out of ink when you need to print a proposal and you’re already running late.
  • Your smartphone quits working the week after the warranty runs out.
  • Your favorite client is laid off and now you have to deal with his boss who’s a jerk. It’s hard to take him seriously considering all that your client has told you about him, including what happened at the last company Christmas party.
  • You lose your Internet connection right before a videoconference call you’ve had to reschedule three times.
  • Your car is on empty, your meeting is across town, and you don’t have any time to spare.

Working from home has its challenges, and every day isn’t going to go as planned, but that’s true in a corporate office too. The difference is that when you work alone, you’re the one on clean-up duty.

So the next time anything listed above (or anything similar) happens to you, try not to get discouraged. Instead of working from the comfort of your home office, you could be stuck in traffic, cornered by a co-worker describing his latest surgery, or leading a boring corporate life.

 

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Corporate Employees See Benefits of Working From Home

January 10, 2013 By 4 Comments

working from home office surveyThose of us who have worked from home for years know the benefits of a home office and would have a tough time going back to a cubicle. Who needs a boss looming over your shoulder, or co-workers who can’t stop bothering you?

In the article Top 10 Benefits of Working From Home, Forbes shares the results of the Microsoft survey, Work without Walls. In the survey, corporate employees ranked what they consider the top benefits of working from home.

10) Environmentally friendly (23%)

9) More time with family (29%)

8) Less stressful environment (38%)

7) Quieter atmosphere (43%)

6) Eliminate long commute (44%)

5) Less distractions (44%)

4) More productive (45%)

3) Avoid traffic (47%)

2) Save gas (55%)

1) Work/home balance (60%)

Do you agree with this order?

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5 Steps for Accident-Proofing Your Home Office

December 26, 2012 By 6 Comments
source: ell brown

source: ell brown

When my sons were little, I baby-proofed my entire house. Between cabinet latches, toilet locks and baby gates, our house was safe. I realized it was time to remove the locks when my younger son showed his babysitter how to use them.

Taking the time to make your home safe for your kids is important, but who’s keeping your office safe for you? All it takes is one fall to break a leg and you’re out of commission for weeks. If you don’t have a staff or a virtual assistant, who will keep your office running smoothly?

Whether you work by yourself, or with others, an injury is still inconvenient. These five steps can help you make your home office safe.

1. Keep your path clear.

Avoid accidental falls by securing loose cables instead of letting them snake throughout your home office. Keep your home office from becoming an obstacle course by putting things away where they belong or close to where they belong. I used to put things on the floor “for now” and would forget I did that until I tripped over whatever it was I should have moved earlier. Graceful is not my middle name!

2. Place items strategically.

Set up your home office so you can reach the equipment and supplies you use often and reduce the strain on your back. You may not notice the effects of regular up, down, and twisting motions until you feel a sharp pain shooting up your spine or down your neck.

3. Strive for support.

Avoid neck, back, and even wrist injury by using a chair that supports your back while absorbing and distributing your weight. In other words, don’t use your kitchen chair or dining room table chair in place of an ergonomically correct chair. Sharp pains or a throbbing in your neck are a sure sign that your monitor is either too low or too high (usually it’s too high). When you use an adjustable chair, you can set it so the monitor is at the right height. Or you can use a monitor riser to help you reduce neck strain.

4. Manage stacks.

It’s easy to think you’ll be able to tackle the stacks of magazines you’ve saved all year, but who has the time to read everything? Instead of stepping over stacks, tripping over plies and seeing your blood pressure go up as your stacks rise, recycle them. If you want to read a certain article, you’ll be able to find it online. Also, not only will you be able to save space in your home office, you’ll be able to save money on subscriptions to magazines you’ll never read.

5. Ensure that you’re insured.

You may have homeowners insurance, but make sure that you know what it covers. Not all policies cover home office equipment. The time to find out that you’re not insured is before, not after, you have to turn in a claim.

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Working Naked Workout Tips

December 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

When you’re working for yourself and handling everything on your own, squeezing in a workout can be nearly impossible. Before you completely dump the idea of fitting a workout into your day, consider more tips from others who are working from home.

“For the greatest energy and focus, take a break from your desk every 90-120 minutes. Use the time to take a brisk 10-minute walk, do a few crunches and push-ups, or stretching exercises. You will return refreshed and rejuvenated.”
— Ellen G. Goldman, M.Ed., Cert. Wellness Coach

“Work out first thing in the morning. It motivates me to get up and get moving. Doing so sets me up for a better mood throughout the day and it’s already done and out of the way. One thing immediately knocked off the daily to-do list!”
—Melinda Massie, Melinda Massie Events and Consulting

“My problem has always been finding the time to work out as the days seem to fly by. My solution has been to buy a 1-hour kitchen timer. I set it for the amount of time I need for the task at hand and then when it rings, it’s enough to interrupt me from what I was concentrating on. I then set it for 10 minutes and do a short stretch or weight workout.”
—Jeffrey Strain, SavingAdvice.com

“Be realistic about the amount of time you have to devote to training and schedule realistic workouts that take only that amount of time. Avoid setting yourself up for failure with grandiose plans of multiple hour workout sessions, 7-day-a-week training and other plans that don’t fit your workload or schedule.”
—Charla McMillian, Fitness Expert

How do you work out when you’re working from home?

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Are You Working From Home or Just Pretending?

November 2, 2012 By 24 Comments

source: MEL810

Last week I figured out I’ve been pretending to work from home. I found out that my 20 years of working from home has been a sham.

Ouch.

Thanks to my friend’s husband who claims her work-from-home job doesn’t really count because she doesn’t drive to an office every day, I realized I’ve been living a lie. Her husband hasn’t taken into account that she earns more working from home than he does in his corporate job. I guess income doesn’t matter…it’s where you work.

The truth hurts.

Who am I to think that I’m actually working with clients, earning more money than I did in my corporate job, and making a difference in people’s lives? Apparently, everything related to my business isn’t real.

I was so upset when I discovered this lie I’ve been living, I drove to another friend’s high-rise office to see a “real job” in action. My friend was supposed to meet me at 9:00, but she was stuck in traffic. She finally made it to the office at 9:20, grabbed a cup of coffee, and then showed me her office. [Read more...]

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How to Avoid Being Up All Night While Working From Home

September 28, 2012 By 4 Comments

source:film.com

The NBC show Up All Night  features the experiences Chris and Reagan have as parents to baby Amy. In their second season, the parents have changed roles with Chris, the former stay-at-home dad, starting a contracting business from his garage, while Reagan leaves the corporate world to be a stay-at-home mom.

Throughout the episode, Chris struggles with focusing on his business but can’t help checking on his wife and daughter, sneaking in breaks to play with Amy and thinking of any reason to spend time inside the house instead of in his garage office. At the same time Reagan is trying to stay on schedule, keep her daughter entertained and get used to being home full time.

[Read more...]

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4 Ways to Avoid Home Office Stress

August 20, 2012 By 7 Comments

A few months ago, a friend of mine who has worked from home for years considered renting outside space. The fact that he didn’t have a daily commute didn’t outweigh the stress he felt every day.

When he finally made a list of his home office frustrations and realized he could fix them, he decided against renting outside space and stayed home. His family and his wallet were happy with his decision.

Working from home can be challenging and filled with stress. The key to reducing home office stress is to identify any issues you may have and then change what isn’t working. Start by avoiding these four stress-filled challenges. [Read more...]

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6 Tips for Staying Safe While Searching for Virtual Jobs

July 12, 2012 By 1 Comment

One of the questions people ask me often is whether or not to trust online job listings. My usual answer is to research any company before you respond to an ad. I know there are even more points to consider, so I asked Sara Sutton Fell, founder of FlexJobs, to share her advice.

Guest Post by Sara Sutton Fell

Almost 3 million Americans work from home (or telecommute) full-time, and another 15 to 20 million work from home at least one to two days each week, so it’s no surprise that interest in telecommuting jobs is growing. And with that growth comes an increasing number of work-from-home job scams prowling the Internet every day. It’s estimated that only one out of every 60-70 work-from-home jobs is legitimate and the remaining listings are scams.

But there is good news – you can find legitimate, professional-level telecommuting jobs if you know what to look for, and what to avoid. Here are 6 tips for what to look for when searching for telecommuting jobs and how to spot red flags and avoid scams.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Making money from home Tagged With: , , ,

Challenge Yourself To Do It Now

July 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

source: stevendepolo

The other day when I needed to work on a project but couldn’t get motivated, I remembered a speech I heard about the “Assoonas.” You know…as soon as I buy a different house, I’ll have the perfect home office. As soon as I buy a new computer, I’ll have more clients. You get the idea.

Sometimes it’s easier to put things off than to handle them right away. Get off your “buts” (I’ve attended way too many motivational seminars!) and follow these tips to help you jump-start your next project.

 

Use a to-do list

Whether you use a scheduling program, your Smartphone, or even a paper-based planner to record everything you need to do, find a planning system that works. A good system for keeping track of client information is one that’s functional and easy to use. The to-do list should be simple and you should be able to customize it. When you use a to-do list the right way, it can keep you on track and make projects more manageable.

Keep in mind that making a to-do list is easy, yet remembering to look at your list is the hard part. If you feel yourself getting sidetracked, go back to your list.

To read the rest of my guest post on Work Your Way, click here.

 

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Did You Hear? Listening Pays Off

June 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

source: ky_olsen

I come from a big, loud family so the word “quiet” isn’t in our vocabulary. We don’t believe in long pauses either. So when I jumped into the business world I figured out quickly that if I wanted to succeed in sales and grow my business, I’d have to learn to be quiet.

These four tips can help you make sure you don’t miss what your clients are saying.

Know when to stop talking.

When you’re selling, it’s natural to go on and on about why someone should buy your product or service, or to try to impress a prospect with everything you know about your product or industry. A prospect may start out interested in your sales pitch, but if you do all of the talking, don’t be surprised if they shut down as their eyes glaze over.

To read the rest of my guest post on Work Your Way, click here.

 

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