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working from home effectively

Working from home effectively: advantages and tips for success

Guest Post by Catherine Burke

“Being self-employed means you work 12 hours a day for yourself so you don’t have to work 8 hours a day for someone else.” – Oliver Markus Malloy

Yes, it is true. Work is always enjoyable when you start working on what you want to do and not work just for money.

So, let us discuss how you can leave your job and start working from home to get job satisfaction.

Why and when you can think of starting to work from home

Before we share tips for working from home effectively, know the advantages or why you may opt for it. 

You want to work at your time and in the comfort of your home

“You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” – Charles Buxton

When you work from home, you can work as per your time. You can avoid distractions at work and give your full attention towards your work.

By choosing to do work from home, you can also save time and effort to go to the office. So, your work efficiency will increase.

You don’t like your present job but you need the money

Is it that you’re not getting job satisfaction in your present job or you don’t like your job altogether?

If so, think of starting a new venture from your home. Doing so, you can work as per your terms and enjoy your work too.

You want to have a perfect work-life balance

“Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management. Balance means making choices and enjoying those choices.” – Betsy Jacobson, Business Consultant

We all want to achieve a perfect work-life balance. But, it is a bit difficult when you work for a company and especially if you have to go to the office regularly and work at odd hours.

If you work from home, you can work at your time and strike a balance between your personal and professional life.

You can give time to your children when they need it the most and you can enjoy me-time and we-time too.

You can save a significant amount of money

You don’t have to commute to your work regularly when you decide to work from home. So, you can save a significant amount on gas.

Also, when you go to the office, even if not daily, you buy lunch and coffee from outside which costs much more.

So, by working from home, you can save that money too and enjoy home-cooked food. However, try to resist the temptation of ordering food from outside.

The money you save, you can use it to repay your debts, if any, or to build a good emergency fund. Make sure to deposit the saved amount into a different savings account, so that you don’t use it for any other purpose.

working from home professionally

Tips to leave your job and start working from home

Before you start working from home, give proper notice and quit your job gracefully. Meet your supervisor in person and explain why you want to quit your full-time job. Then, write a proper resignation letter.

It helps to maintain a positive relationship with your employer, and you also can join back in the future, if required. It is always better to have a good rapport with your employer.

One of the most difficult things which people face when working from home is that they can’t stick to a routine that they can do in office. It is a bit tough to stick to a schedule. Therefore, you need to develop that mindset early on to help with being successful.

Check out some valuable working from tips to succeed in your venture.

Have a strategic plan

First of all, you need to have a business plan. You have to decide whether you’ll start freelancing or start your home business. Whatever you do, you need to have a good plan.

Include these things in your business plan:

·         The target audience of your products and services

·         What you are going to offer

·         Your mission and vision

·         How you will market your product or service if starting a business

·         The business budget

Decide how your daily schedule will be

Everyone’s daily schedule is not the same. You will have to decide your best and most effective time to get work done. Setting schedules that work for you will help you to do your work more effectively and strike a good work-life balance too.

It is better if you set a time to work from home. It will increase your working from home productivity. However, if you have to start early or extend someday to accommodate some other person’s time zone, then make sure you try to wrap up earlier or work for less hours the next day.

Just as you have to do in the office, try to make a  list of ‘To Do’ for the next day or when you start working for the day. It will help you work better and meet your targets.

You have to create your plan of action with a timeline and try to achieve it. If you plan to have people work for you, then you’ll have to have a timeline so that you can measure whether or not you’re able to achieve your target within the set time.

PRO TIP: The experts suggest that you can’t be productive throughout the whole day. So, keep the difficult tasks for the time when you’re most productive. Schedule your work keeping that in mind.

Have a separate office space to work

First of all, have 2 computers if possible, one for personal use and others for office use. However, if it’s not possible and you have one laptop, at least designate a workplace. Sit there and work during your work time.

When you’re doing your personal work, do it from somewhere else.

Also, set up your office desk with office essentials like pen stand, notepad, etc. Have a separate phone number too. If it’s not a landline, have a separate mobile phone. You won’t believe having a separate phone helps to achieve work-life balance, too.

Another important thing, your family and pets may interrupt you when you’re working. Try to have a boundary to avoid distractions when you’re working. Initially, you might have to struggle a bit.

Adjusting to working from home requires some time; but, gradually you’ll get into the mode. This is one of the most valuable working from home tips to increase your efficiency.

Schedule break times

If you’re working for any company, then take breaks as per your company’s set break timings. If you’re self-employed, then schedule proper break times and try to follow that. It will increase your working from home productivity.

You can also plan to take a 15-min break and take a walk. Your body needs to move too. The fresh air outside can help you to concentrate on your work more.

Avoid social media distractions when you’re working

While working from home, often you may feel the urge to check out social media messages. Avoid doing that consciously.

It is advisable to remove them from your browser shortcuts. Always think that you’re not allowed to check social media messages unless it’s related to work or it’s important.

Motivate yourself to wrap up your work and then socialize. It will help you to enjoy your work and your personal life. It will help you to have a work-life balance too.

Make preparations the night before

When you are working from home, you might feel tempted to prepare a good breakfast and lunch. However, it is always better to prepare meals the night before.

It will save your work time and you can be more productive too.

Take leave when you’re sick

Even if you’re having your business, don’t hesitate to take leave when you’re not well. And, if you’re working for a company, know when you can take sick leaves. You’re entitled to take leave even if you’re working from home.

Do you know that you can be more productive if you give your body some rest from time to time?

Make a budget if you’re starting a business

It is very much essential. You need to have a budget and monitor it from time to time to track whether or not you’re in the right track. Do not mix your personal budget with your business. Otherwise, it will be difficult to keep your business finances separate.

When you are doing your freelance work or starting your own business set up, make sure you don’t incur much debt that you can’t pay off. You can avoid it to some extent if you keep your personal and business finances separately.

It is advisable not to take any payday loan for immediate help. However, if you ever have to take out a payday loan or you’re trying to pay it off, then don’t hesitate to seek payday loan debt assistance.

You can opt for professional debt relief programs to get rid of your payday loan dues or credit card debts if you can’t do it on your own.

So, what are you thinking? Make your plan and start working from home following the tips and enjoy work. Have a great life!

Author Bio: Catherine Burke is a financial writer for online payday loan consolidation. She provides information on successful cash loans and payday loan consolidation to help people get over a difficult patch. She lives in Kansas and has earned a frame in the matter of payday loans.

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