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Working From Home without the Distractions

July 2, 2014 by Thomas

woman-working-homeWho doesn’t dream of working in their pajamas at some point?

With the plethora of jobs these days that you can do at home, it’s not so unheard of.

Even if only part of your time is spent at home, many jobs offer the opportunity to do some or all of your work at home, and of course, there are the ones where you, yourself, are your very own boss.

Some Jobs Where You Can Work From Home

Not every job translates well to working from home, but you may be surprised at how many do.

Here are a few jobs that you can do in your pajamas:

  • Postsecondary or Virtual Teacher – If you have teaching in your background, think about being a virtual teacher. Whether it’s for postsecondary education or middle or high, there’s a demand for virtual teachers, even home school ones, and yes, you could work in your pj’s.
  • Writer or Editor – Whether freelance or working for someone in particular, there is a lot of work out there for writers or editors. You can be a guest blogger, newsletter editor, contributing writer … the list goes on. The more you get yourself out there, the more you’ll get noticed.
  • Transcriptionist – There’s a big demand here for medical transcriptionists. Other fields, like law, need transcriptionists as well, and this can be done easily at home.
  • Online reseller – You may or may not be able to make a living off of reselling, but working selling on sites such as eBay can bring in a lot of extra income. You’d be surprised what you can find around your own home, garage sales and thrift stores.

Be Your Own Boss

Maybe you don’t want to work for someone else, so think about being your own boss.

If you have specific skills, ranging from writing to decorating to a law degree, you can definitely work from home.

Sure, you may have to have a meeting every so often, but the majority of work can be done. Don’t discount the possibility of being your own boss at home.

Avoid the Distractions

A key to being successful at working from home is to avoid the distractions. Hmmm, you think, maybe easier said than done.

Here are a few tips for getting your work done sans distractions:

• Have a set area to work, and only work.

• Have set times to work. Sure, you may need to adjust them as needed, but don’t overlook the art of scheduling.

• Let the phone ring. If it’s your personal one, that is, and leave your personal email and Facebook page alone, too. Focus on work when you’re working and then you’ll have time for the other things, too.

• Maybe every so often, step into real clothes instead of your pajamas. If you have an important call or virtual meeting, brush your hair and put on some work clothes. It may inspire you to be more professional.

Though it may take some creativity, discipline and structure – you can probably find a way to work from home, at least some of the time.

Please share any tips and insight you have on this concept.

Photo credit: socialmoms.com

About the Author: Heather Legg is a work from home writer who covers topics on small business, social media, education and mindful living.

Filed Under: Business Life Tagged With: bc, home business, small business self-employed, telecommute

Is Your Home Office What You Want It to Be?

June 4, 2014 by Thomas

aofficeMore and more people are working from home.

Maybe it’s telecommuting for an international multi-billion dollar company, or it could be running your own small business from home where you are your only employee. Maybe sometimes you’re in a company’s office, other days you’re at home.

Whatever the case may be, it’s becoming more the norm for people to be working at home.

According to a Forbes piece, at least 30 million Americans work from home at least one day a week. This number is growing and is expected to continue to do so over the next few years.

One of the main reasons people do opt to work from home, and why companies are supportive, is because work productivity is shown to increase for those who work from home.

Not only do home officers save time (which means money) by skipping the commute, they also can be more productive at home by working in more personalized comfort.

When it comes to that personalized comfort, which is conducive to productivity, how do you get the optimal home office for an affordable price?

Take a look at some of these tips to find what works for you and enhances your own space:

• A designated space – It’s important to have a designated work space aside from your home life. Keep the doctor bills and PTA forms somewhere else. Make sure this space stays all business and your productivity will increase. It’s not cost prohibitive to do this, you just might need to do some organizing.

• A comfortable space – If you are at your desk for any extended time, you need to be comfortable. Major retailers, including Walmart, offer great specials on affordable and comfortable office desks to make working from home a positive, comfortable and productive experience. Along with the desk, you need a comfortable chair to keep your posture and back healthy.

• A well-lit space – You will be happier working in a space with good lighting. If you can’t have natural lighting, find some lamps that offer good light. Even the paint color on the wall adds to the lighting feel; choose a color that works well for you, makes you happy and that you find positive energy from. Paint is an affordable way to make a big change in a space.

• A clutter free space – Even if you’ve banished all your home clutter from your work space, make sure you continue to keep it clutter free. Toss or file old documents, organize material on a regular basis and keep what you can electronically, toss the hard copies.

If you can set up your work space when you first start your home office experience, your productivity will shine. It’s beneficial to do it the right way from the start so you don’t need use valuable time to make changes.

But if you do need to change something, do it – it will be worth it for your comfort and productivity.

Photo credit: decoist.com

About the Author: Heather Legg writes about small business, staying within a budget and making the most of what you have.

 

Filed Under: Business Life Tagged With: bc, customers, home, office, small business, telecommute

3 Killer Collaboration Tools

February 21, 2013 by Rosemary

Great collaboration is about sharing, accessibility, and trust. As more and more people are telecommuting and working with remote teams, it can be tricky trying to coordinate tasks and stay connected.

Today’s tip includes three of my favorite remote collaboration tools that I use every single day.

Flow by MetaLabs

Flow app

You know how, when you’re doing something you love, time just slips away unnoticed? They call that the state of flow, and this app is appropriately named. It’s available as a web interface as well as an iPhone app, and it keeps the whole team together.

I get notifications when someone posts to a Flow task, it kills the whole chain-of-emails torture, and everything syncs up nicely. It’s so easy and fast, I have been able to provide input on an urgent Flow task while standing in line at Disneyland.

HipChat by Atlassian

HipChat

When you’re working in the same office, you can yell through the wall when you have quick questions (or if you want to talk about the latest Survivor episode). HipChat gives you the same immediacy, with public and private text chat rooms, notifications, and file sharing. It’s totally cross-platform on mobile, and available as a web client or desktop app.

Picture this scenario…you are on the phone with a client and they ask a question you can’t answer. You pop into HipChat, and get the answer from another member of your team, without skipping a beat. You look like a genius.

Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangout

Sometimes text just isn’t enough. If you really want to build strong team relationships, there’s no substitute for face-to-face. Google+ Hangouts are a wonderful solution for remote teams to share project information and — hangout. They are so simple to set up and use that there’s no excuse for not trying it yet. How else are you going to bust that colleague you suspect is working in their pajamas?

How do you collaborate with remote colleagues? Share your favorite tools in the comments.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Filed Under: P2020, teamwork Tagged With: bc, collaborate, collaboration, Productivity, team, telecommute, tools

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