Q: While I love the freedom and flexibility of working
from home, sometimes the distractions just drive me nuts. Between
the kids, the dog, the neighbors, the garbage truck, the TV and the
refrigerator, I often find myself longing for my old cubicle back
at the office. Please help!
A: First of all, relax! You're not the only homebased
business owner to face this problem. Especially for people
accustomed to working for a big company with bosses, meetings and
deadlines, it can be difficult to adjust to an environment where
you have complete and total freedom to do whatever you want
whenever you want to do it. In reality, of course, that freedom is
only an illusion. The truth is that you still need to feed your
family, pay your bills and turn out excellent work in a timely
manner. That's why it's essential to find a way to minimize
the distractions that keep you from accomplishing these important
goals.
Here are five of my favorite ways to stay focused in your home
office:
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1. Create a to-do list. The best way to impose order on
the chaos of running a business from home is to give your work some
structure. This is especially important when you're just
starting a business and you're waiting for sales to come in.
Whether you use a handheld PDA like a BlackBerry or a Palm Pilot, a
software program like Microsoft Outlook, a datebook or just a scrap
of paper, it's important to jot down your goals for the day,
week and month. Not only will you get more done, but you'll
also feel a sense of accomplishment every time you check off a task
on your to-do list.
2. Schedule your time. By the time you've made
yourself a cup of coffee, checked your e-mail, returned some calls
and surfed the Net for the latest news and stock quotes, it's
often time for lunch. That's why it's important to develop
a daily schedule to organize your time. If you're a morning
person, for example, you may want to hit the phones first thing in
the morning and start calling potential clients. My former partner,
a software developer, did his best work at 2 a.m. after the phones
stopped ringing and the rest of the world was asleep. How you
structure your schedule doesn't matter-as long as it works for
you.
3. Shut the door. This may sound obvious, but it's
hard to screen out distractions when your spouse, kids, pets and
neighbors can walk into your home office at any time and strike up
a conversation. That's why it's a good idea to set up shop
in a den or spare bedroom that has a door that you can close when
you need to make an important phone call or concentrate on your
work. If that's not possible, explain to your family that there
are certain hours during the day when you will be working and ask
them to respect your boundaries. (Of course, that's easier said
than done!)
4. Hire a babysitter. While it's tempting to think
that you can save money on child care by working when your kids
take a nap, that's generally just a fantasy. Not only is it
difficult to schedule your clients' needs around your
children's sleep patterns, but you will also find that you need
to spend more hours working as your business grows. If you
can't afford a babysitter, you should consider swapping
babysitting duties with another homebased parent, working weekends
or nights when your spouse is home to watch the kids or dropping
off your kids one or two days per week at a day-care center. While
none of these solutions is perfect, you'll get more done in
less time once you have some free time to concentrate.
5. Invest in a pair of headphones. If you can't
physically remove yourself from the noise and chaos of the world
around you, try to screen it out. My former partner, the
programmer, used to put on a pair of headphones when he was writing
code so that he could listen to his favorite electronic music. This
allowed me to play my country western CDs, which he absolutely
despised. Especially if you're working at home with a partner
or spouse, it's essential to find a way that both of you can
focus on getting the job done.
Rosalind Resnick is the founder and CEO of Axxess Business
Centers Inc., a storefront consulting firm for startups and
small businesses. She is a former business and computer journalist
who built her Internet marketing company,NetCreations
Inc., from a two-person homebased startup to a public company
with $58 million in annual sales.