5 Tips For Setting Up Your Work At Home Space

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So you want to work from home? It’s a huge adjustment and a constant work in progress. You have so many things to juggle, so much to deal with. Believe me, as far as keeping the right environment, it’s easier to work at a traditional job…outside of your house! There’s a constant struggle in my house. However, if you can make it work, it’s a great experience. You have more time with your spouse and with your kids. You also have so much more flexibility in your life. Having a work from home space that encourages creativity, efficiency and productivity is vitally important in the sink or sail mission of your work from home position.

Here are some quick points I’ve learned over the 8 years I’ve been working at home. Some are still a daily work in progress. ;o)

You are better off with a dedicated space

Room to breath and utilize that creative mind you have. So the first step in setting up your work from home space is to make sure you actually have space! Be it the corner of a family room, the kitchen or an extra bedroom turned office, it doesn’t matter. You need space that is designated strictly for work from home and then proceed to setup this work from home space in a way that changes your mindset from family focused to work focused. The laptop on the couch is not always bad, but it’s not always ideal either.

If you are working from home with kids in tow, create a stop light

Yes, I said it, a stop light inside your home. Using cardboard, poster board and markers have a green, yellow and red light set just outside your work from home space. Teach your children that red means don’t enter or interrupt, yellow means interrupt quietly with caution and green means I am available, interrupt me as you wish. Good luck with this, but it does work at times. Keep pushing and make it happen, baby!

Your chair is more important than you may think

Pick out a comfortable and supportive office chair, something as simple as an office chair that makes you feel like you are actually at work will increase productivity. Setting up furniture that will encourage your work from home mindset to transition from family to work will only encourage more efficient working skills. The better your chair, the more awesome you will be.

Learn to minimize clutter

This can be a challenge, especially when you have kids to go with that home-based business. You wouldn’t have nick knacks all over your office at an employer location, right? Then don’t have them cluttering your work from home space either. Remember that minimal is best when setting up your work from home space like a pro, the less you have to make you feel cluttered, the more productive your work from home day will be. Don’t be a hoarder or a slob…you know better than that.

Work as if you were at a “real” office

The overall key to success when working from home is to setup your work from home office like a pro; assign a specific area in home for work only, create a stop light to deter children interruptions, have comfortable furniture and have minimal clutter in your work area. If you mold the above tips into your own work from home world, you will soon be the master of setting up your work from home office like a pro and grow your business.

Well, what do you think? Do you have some great tips for working at home? C’mon, I know you do…