I’ve been working as a solo professional for about 13 years.
When I started my first business, Blueberry Babies, it seemed only natural to get a “real” office, something out of the house and “legitimate.” And so I signed a lease that very first year.
Since then, I’ve had several offices and moved my businesses many times. And although it took me a little while, I finally realized that working at home is the place for me.
So about three and a half years ago, when I became RocketGirl (yea!), I got rid of the filing cabinets and clunky furniture in my office, shredded every piece of paper I didn’t need and moved back home.
And I’m staying, because I love it. I have no commute, I can wear whatever I want to and, not only do I not have to pay additionally for rent, phone, Internet, etc., I actually get to deduct part of my household expenses on my business taxes. How great is that?
But there’s a down side, too. When you work at home, if you’re not careful, you might start to actually live at work. Plus, there’s always something to distract you…dishes in the sink, dirty laundry, food in the fridge, or friends calling you on the phone to chat.
Over the years I’ve come up with some rules of the road to help keep me on track in my home office. Here are the three most important:
1. Establish Regular Work Hours. Decide when you’re going to start working in the morning and when you’ll end. I start work at 10 am every weekday and consider myself “at work” until 5 pm. Sometimes I’m there earlier, sometimes I’m there later and sometimes I need to leave for a personal appointment (same as I did when I had an outside office). But when I do, I’m conscious that I’m “leaving work.”
Decide if you’ll routinely work on the weekends. When I first started my business, I worked constantly. Now I only work on weekends if I want to, or so that I can take time off during the week to do something else.
As part of establishing work hours, you’ll also need to figure out when to turn off the computer and when to stop looking at your phone. My office is in the dining room, which means that I can see emails coming in while I’m having dinner…unless I turn off my monitors.
2. Clear Your Mind. I need to get a few things done before I sit down to work, or I’ll be distracted all day by what needs taking care of at home. So I start the day by cleaning the kitchen, making the bed, and answering all my personal emails. I go to the store to buy groceries, make my personal calls and run any necessary errands.
That way, when I sit down to work, I can focus entirely on my clients.
3. Clear Your Desk. It’s important to take all the non-essential or non-client work off your desk. Otherwise, it’s tempting to work on vacation plans, pay your personal bills or count up how many boxes of Girl Scout cookies your daughter has sold.
I think we’ve all experienced the phenomenon of the evaporating day. For those of us who work at home, it can feel as if we’re working because we’re sitting at our desks, but sometimes we realize that no client work has been accomplished at the end of the day. Clear all that personal stuff away.
There are endless benefits to working at home. I mostly love that when something does come up and I need to take a phone call or bring something to my daughter Emily’s school, I have the freedom to do so.
Now if only I had a solution for staying away from the fridge!