3 Tips When Your Home is Your Office

Business

Whether you have been working from home for years or this is something new to you, the goal is to be productive.

That said do you feel like working from home is in fact working out for you?

In the event you need to make improvements on your home working situation, it would be wise to review things.

So, what is working and not working for you when your home is your workplace?

Finding Success from Your Home Office

In working out of your home, here are three tips to make things work out better for you:

  1. Make organization a priority – You won’t find much success working at home if organization is an issue. With that in mind, take a look at your setup to see how organized it is. Can you find the items you need on a regular basis to get the job done? This can be not only technology items you need but also paperwork. Having your papers organized is critical to success. The last thing you want to do is having to oftentimes search for missing documents and more. Come up with a system that works for you and allows you to find what you need without any hassle.
  2. Make room to operate – If your home workspace is congested, odds are you could find it hard to get work done. Take a look around to see if you need to make more space for yourself. For example, is your desk always seemingly cluttered? If it is, now would be a good time to do some reorganizing. If you use headphones to talk to clients, do videoconferencing and more, a headphone stand is key. This not only frees up some space on your desk, it will better protect the equipment. Also look at making sure you have space for clients if they come to your home. Along with being organized, you want to be sure clients feel safe and secure in your workplace. If they do not, it could lead to some of them refusing to do business with you moving ahead.
  3. Make the schedule work for you – Some people get the notion that individuals working from home are on a call 24/7. Since you are likely not a doctor where you may well be on call, come up with the right schedule for your needs. Overdoing it can lead to making mistakes; have a negative impact on your health and so on. The key is to work in moderation and know when you need your breaks. When not having to report to an office, warehouse or be out on the road on a regular basis, you have more flexibility. Come up with the schedule that your body and mind adapt to. That schedule still makes you quite productive when all is said and done.

When it comes to working from home, consider it one of the perks of life.

Yes, while you may miss having others around at times, you may in fact be more productive. That is not having all the typical workplace distractions and so on.

So, is working from home working out for you?

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Four Tips that Will Help You to Settle Into Your New Office

Business

Settle Into Your New Office in London with these tips
Photo by CC user cgpgrey on Flickr and http://www.cgpgrey.com/

So, after all the legal and contractual hoops and hurdles, you’ve finally got your new lease and you’ve finally, actually, for real, moved into your new City of London office space. You’re really pleased with the deal you got, as well as the facilities, the amazing transport links and the quality of the coffee machine!

However, moving your business into a new office isn’t so far removed (geddit?) from moving house. Let’s face it, you spend upwards of eight hours a day there, five or six days a week, so it’s kind of like a home. You miss the creaky third stair, the friendly people in the newsagent next door… It’s a big deal to up sticks and start somewhere new and you can feel a bit disorientated for a while.

To help you with this feeling, here are four tips that will help you settle into your new office in no time.

Take some of your personal items with you to the new place

Moving office doesn’t mean a complete change of identity – you’re not going into a witness protection scheme! If there were some personal effects that you used a lot in the old place – a kettle, a set of mugs, a print or even some old furniture – take them with you if possible. You might find that the landlord of your old office is willing to sell or give you your old desk or chair. Don’t try to recreate your old place, though – you moved for a reason, even if it wasn’t your choice – you have to move on a bit. It’s a balancing act.

Buy some spanking new equipment and furniture

Chances are your new office might look a bit bare, despite your old mugs and prints. If you’re walking into a blank-looking, empty-feeling space every day, this isn’t going to help you feel settled. If you’ve got a bit of spare cash, buy some special “new office” items, like a new framed print, or a bright set of filing cabinets. A splash of colour will be welcoming and it’ll symbolise your bright new start.

Get to know the people who are sharing your new office building

One of the first things you should do once you’ve unpacked all your gubbins and plugged everything in is to go and knock on a few doors. Take some muffins or cakes and introduce yourself to your immediate neighbours. Some of them might be missing the old occupants of your office, so saying a friendly “Hi!” is a good way to build bridges. Not only that, but you could be making some important business contacts.

Get out and explore

You might have moved location as well as office space, so who knows what hidden treasures your new area has for you to uncover. There might be some brilliant delis, junk shops or a gym; who knows? Get out and do a recce or two and also explore the potential of your office space. It’s all good fun.

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