7 Winning Ways to Work Productively From Home
August 31, 2009 8:43 pm Business Strategies, Life Support, Management Strategies, Work + Family, productivityGuest Contributor: Lorraine Pirihi
One of my clients used to run his own successful accounting practice from home. With pre-school children and trying to grow his business, he and his wife used to get very frustrated with the fact that they could never remove themselves from the workplace. They felt their business totally overwhelmed them and caused many challenges which affected their personal relationships. We were able to identify exactly where their time was being spent and found that there were simple ways they could do more in growing their business and still have a life. Three years later with the growth of their practice they have had to move their business to new premises.
Here are seven ways you can successfully work from home and enjoy the benefits…
Establish a Routine: Structure your day so that it is both purposeful and productive. Decide on a starting and finishing time for your day; allow for breaks so that you work smarter, not harder. Doing this will also allow you to better differentiate between work and home, and will encourage you to be more professional.
Focus on Your Strengths, Outsource Your Weaknesses: Spend the maximum amount of time working on the parts of your business that you are best at. If your billable time is worth $200 an hour, then make sure you spend most of your time on the activities that will produce that for you. If you don’t want to employ an administrative assistant, invest in a virtual assistant who works off-site (see www.asecretary.com.au). Avoid filling up your day with non-productive activities. Invest your time and money into the right areas of your business, don’t just keep yourself busy.
Organise Your Environment: Have the right tools and systems to work with – an appropriate chair, desk, computer, filing system. This will make you look, feel and act more professionally. In addition, if a client comes to your home, your professionalism will inspire confidence in you.
Declutter the Clutter: A messy working environment which forces you to be continuously spending valuable time searching for things, whether files and emails on the computer or documents in filing cabinets and cupboards, cumulatively wastes hours a day. In fact, The Wall Street Journal found that the average white collar worker spends 6 weeks a year looking for things around the office! Clutter is distracting and causes stress and it is the primary enemy of productivity.
Learn to Say ‘NO’: Inform your family and friends of your working hours and that because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you’re ‘available’. If you were in a corporate office, you would not allow your friends to drop by. Enforce these same rules at your office at home.
Network to Expand Your Business and Your Mind: Join networking groups like Women’s Network Australia to meet other like-minded business people. Share knowledge and discover new ways of doing things. Check out your local council and chamber of commerce. Enquire about active small business networks. Join your own trade association and share ideas.
Take Time Out for YOU: It can be easy to lose yourself in your work. Take time to ‘smell the roses’ and to make human contact. When I’m spending the day working from home, I always go out for a walk at lunch time. Plan time to have coffee or lunch with a friend or colleague once a week. Go for a walk every day. Have a weekly or fortnightly massage. Visit the gym more often.
The Final Word: These ideas are simple…and guess what? It’s generally the simple ideas, when acted upon consistently, that will make a dramatic impact overall in your business and your life. You’ll feel happier and more fulfilled. You’ll also discover extra time in the day that you never had before.
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