High on the list is what has been the most important thing to you about working in an office or wherever you have worked outside the home? Is it the social interactivity? The logistical support? Working with teams?
Whatever was most important to you there will still be important at home, and you have to figure out how to meet the need. If social interaction is important to you, be sure you set up ways to get together with your peers and to network. Build activities into each day to assure you are getting your people fix. Have lunch with friends or colleagues, join networking groups, telecommute part-time and work in the office the other time. Technology is a wonderful way to stay connected, but it's also easy to get lost in it and miss out on real social interactions.
If you need logistical support, like IT support that you can't provide yourself, there are many companies (and other work-at-homers) who can provide this type of support. If this is important to your business, line up the support before you start so you don't have a crisis the first time your computer crashes.
If working in teams is important, there are many ways to do this using technology. Meet remotely using Go To Meeting or WebEx, chat and talk using Skype to others worldwide, and share files with tools like Dropbox and yousendit.com.
Another important thing to consider is what distractions you can expect at home. Are there others in the home during the hours you will be working? There's nothing harder than trying to talk on the phone to a customer while the kids are screaming at each other and the dog is barking in the background. If there are others around, set ground rules - be sure they know when you are 'at work' and when you can give them your full attention.
And that leads to the most important thing to figure out when deciding to work from home. How to find balance. Because work is always right there, it's easy to dedicate your time to building your business. This can be a great thing, because you can work at 2AM if necessary to get the job done. But sometimes it's hard to remember that it's ok not to work all the time. Be sure to have your own dedicated space and time for work and don't let it leak into the rest of your home and the rest of your life.
If you can achieve this balance, working from home can be the greatest gift you ever give yourself.
What challenges and opportunities have you found working from home?
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Kerry Brooks is Co-owner of ProfessionalEdge Associates, offering a wide range of marketing and support services to businesses that want to increase their success, but aren't in a position to add to their staff.
Kerry Brooks is Co-owner of ProfessionalEdge Associates, offering a wide range of marketing and support services to businesses that want to increase their success, but aren't in a position to add to their staff.
