Working from home. Get productive!

Working from home is becoming more and more common. With e-mail, social networking sites and online collaboration systems, its never been so easy to work from home but what can you do to make working from home more productive?

Here are some of my tips for working from home… something which I have done for many years now…

Workspace

Its important to have a separate workspace. You need somewhere where you can setup your business, ideally in a spare room. To me, this is one of the most important things! I have two small children and being able to close the door to block out the noise and distractions is very handy!

Try and make your workspace inspirational; somewhere where you want to work. Put up artwork or posters that you like. You will be spending a lot of time in your new office so you need to like your surroundings.

Plants are a worthy introduction too! Try and get something quite hardy as, if your like me, you will forget to water it!

Take a look at some of the images below for some inspiration workspaces:

Also, check out Flikr for loads more inspiration: http://www.flickr.com/groups/inspiringworkplaces/pool/

Keep Clutter Free

Try and keep clutter a minimum. Make sure you have proper usable storage in the form of filing cabinets. A simple ‘ins and outs’ tray is also a very handy addition.

Ditching the personal organiser may help too! There are tons of applications out there now that can work on iPhones, Macs and PCs alike that can manage your appointments - use them! It really will make your life easier and clutter free!

Being Productive

As potentially you are spending a lot of time on your own, you need to be quite disciplined. It can be so easy to waste a morning catching up on Facebook or using Twitter.

I have seen loads of tips in the past about working for 45 minutes then having a 10 minute break…You need to find something that works for you. Personally, I like to get my e-mailing out of the way in the morning followed by my least favourite job after that. You need to remember to take breaks though - it can be very easy to get tied up and spend hours working without stopping. You wont be doing yourself any favours there!

There are also programmes that you can use to help you be more productive…

• HighRise - Track communication and conversations with leads, employees, clients, colleagues, vendors
• Campfire - Real-time group chat and file sharing
• Zoho - Free business tools
• Ta-Da Lists - Free to use task manager
• ActiveCollab - Open source collaboration and project management tool
• Freshbooks - Tracks time, manages invoices
• MS Office Accounting Express (Free) - Free Microsoft Accounting (offline)
• Open Office - Open Source (and free) Office type suite (offline)

No Space?

Space can be tricky. If you don’t have a spare room, you may want to use a section of your dining room or conservatory. Another option, if you have the space in the garden, is to purchase a garden office. There are loads of really smart garden offices out there that are available from around £3000. Its also a great way of working from home… but kind of not!

Keeping Sane

Unless you are out an about with meetings and the like, spending 24 hours a day at home can eventually drive you up the wall. Its good to chat with people in the same situation as you. Use tools like Skype or Twitter to chat to friends and other ‘work from homers’. If you can, try and vary your work place a little. In the nice summer months you may want to spend a bit of time working outside. Quick tip for you… if you wear sunglasses, you can see laptop screens much better!

Thats it!

If you are part of a larger organisation and work from home most of the time, or if you a full time work from home freelancer, leave your tips and comments below.