Hints and Tips for the Home Office

You are WORKING in your home office

Try to be disciplined in the same way as if you were at an office or other place of work. Constant interruptions from friends and family will eat into your working day. You will find yourself producing poor quality work, taking hours to do it and you won’t be giving your friends and family your full attention either.

Take yourself and your work seriously and they will too.

Find somewhere where you can work comfortably.

This is a personal thing, some people do best by locking themselves away from everything in an office at home, others find they are constantly wondering what is going on in the rest of the house.

You don’t have to have a fully equipped home office, a chair, a laptop and box or briefcase with your things in will do. But try to work in the same space this establishes in your mind that you are there to work.

Having trouble getting started?

Have a “To Do” list. Include everything you can think of break that huge project into minor steps. Pick out one tiny thing. Do it Tick it off your list go on to another thing you have now broken the inertia and can get going.

You deserve a break?

Tell yourself you’ll just put in half an hour. Or if you have been working non stop yes you do deserve a break. Take one and don’t feel guilty. Respect your leisure time as well as your working time. Finish for the day and turn to other things. You will be much more productive.

Fatal Distractions

Surfing the internet – this can eat up hours even days of your time and all the while you are kidding yourself that you are doing research/networking.

Tidying up – there is a point at which you are not creating an area where you can work efficiently you are avoiding work. Cleaning the oven will not make you more productive unless you are in catering.

Retail therapy – I would be more successful if only I had the right colour pen, latest mobile phone, new suit.

“To Do” lists – they are great but not if they are an alternative to doing.

Nothing to Do?

We all have quiet times where the phone isn’t ringing and the clients are not queuing up at the door. Take advantage of these to be ready for when they are

Get that information pack together so you are ready to respond to enquiries

Devise a presentation about your company and it's goods and services

Both the above can also trigger off ideas about how you can improve or add to the services you offer.

Learn something new - attend a workshop or seminar at your local Chamber of Commerce or enterprise organisation. Many are free and they cover subjects of interest to business people both new and experienced. It also gives you the opportunity to meet other business people in your area and maybe some prospective clients.