By Laura Gayle, Business Woman Guide
On his popular children’s TV show, Mr. Rogers used to walk through the door (singing), take off his jacket and throw on a sweater. This signified that the show had begun. If you work from home, you might want to create similar rituals for yourself to signify that your work session is starting or has ended. This marker can help you maintain discipline — and let anyone who lives with you know when you’re un/available for interruptions.
In a recent Gallup poll, 43 percent of employed Americans worked remotely at least part of the time. Any space is good enough in a pinch, but if you decide to work full-time from home, you need to set yourself up for success. The following tips should help you do just that.
Preparing Your Workspace
Designating a working area and keeping it as task-friendly as possible will help you focus on your work.
- Identify potential workspaces. Carve out the best possible workspace in your apartments for rent in charleston sc or studio. If you don’t have a spare room that will hold a desk and all the accessories, find or make an empty corner with enough space for you and your tech. Even a closet can make a great home office.
- Move unused furniture and belongings to storage. To maximize space in your small apartment/office, consider renting storage space to stow away belongings such as camping equipment, large furniture that’s rarely used, and seasonal clothing and outerwear.
- Soundproof a room for conference calls. To maintain focus and cut back on embarrassing distractions (dogs barking, kids going nuts in the next room), there’s an easy way to soundproof a room: Cover the door with a fiberglass blanket.
- Go wireless. If you want to maximize desktop space in a small apartment, wireless is the answer. A wireless connection lets you move around the apartment. You’ll need a wireless keyboard and mouse, for starters. Also, if you use a printer, connect wirelessly and put it somewhere else to preserve your valuable workspace. Bluetooth headphones work with your mobile phone to let you quickly accept incoming client calls without carrying around your phone.
Getting Outside
Even after making all these adjustments, you may find it’s too challenging to work from home 100% of the time. Here are some tips to get you out of the house and talking to people.
- Shared Office Space. Renting shared office space gives you the flexibility to work in a professional office building while retaining your freedom to work from home most of the time. The great news is that you don’t have to rent full-time office space for those critical conference calls and customer interactions. Shared office space is cheaper than renting space full-time in a commercial building; it also provides you valuable networking opportunities with others in your space.
- Trade Shows and Conferences. There are a lot of benefits to working from home, but when you don’t have a storefront, it can be harder to be seen and get your business noticed. One way to deal with that is to attend a trade show, conference, or convention related to your business. This will give you great face-time and exposure to potential clients.
Working Efficiently and Using Productivity Tools
Establishing a schedule helps you maintain equilibrium and separate your work life from your home life, even when they both happen in the same space. Meanwhile, gathering the right digital tools around you can help you keep track of projects and timeliness, increasing your productivity.
- Stick to a schedule. Make your workday as productive as you can without burning yourself out. Keeping a schedule might seem counterintuitive if you’re working from home to gain more personal freedom. However, knowing your working hours in advance helps you maintain a sense of professionalism. Also, when you know the clock is ticking, you may find yourself more motivated to finish tasks promptly rather than procrastinating.
- Take advantage of apps and programs. Computer and mobile apps help you keep in touch with clients and other business contacts around the world. You can do your marketing from your laptop and automate a lot of your customer interactions. Some of the most useful ones will soon become essentials in your work-at-home toolkit. For example, Skype and join.me let you conduct professional video calls and meetings. Other user-friendly at-home tools include Grasshopper, which answers client calls professionally, and Basecamp, a great project management tool. Google apps also provide a plethora of free tools you can use to take care of business from your home office. An added benefit: Using technology can boost your image to co-workers and clients and counteract any doubts about your technical capabilities while working at home. Lastly, if you’re self-employed, you can use a free tax calculator to estimate your taxes for the end of the year to avoid any surprises.
Creating a Collaborative Haven
If you have roommates — or even employees who sometimes need to work in the same space with you — running a business from your apartment can be a little more difficult. If you need to share your space for work, consider renting or creating a co-working space that’s inviting, relaxed and versatile.
- Open up the space. To foster communication and collaboration, create an open workspace. Psychologically, the shift from “my space” to the more collaborative “our space” helps each employee remember they’re part of something bigger, and bouncing ideas is easier.
- Envision a flexible work area. Modern employees carry mobile technology at all times, making it easy for millennials (and other generations!) to take their work to cafés, homes, or even local parks. Sometimes a change of scenery can help you come up with creative solutions to complex problems — even if you’re just moving from kitchen table to easy chair to desk. In this way, a variety of work areas can help increase overall productivity.
Working remotely is a great option for many workers, but navigating the necessities of remote “officing” is not necessarily intuitive from the beginning. However, with a little preparation and some thoughtful manipulation of technology, time and space, you can be organized and stay productive while working at home.