Working from home brings numerous benefits to your lifestyle, however, it can present two major challenges:
\n* Separating business and home life,
\n* Lack of stimulating social (business-related) interaction.<\/p>\n
1.\u00c2\u00a0 Plan for the Best Use of Your Home-office Space<\/strong> 2.\u00c2\u00a0 Decide How Much Room You Need for Your Office <\/strong> 3.\u00c2\u00a0 Let Your Home-office Reflect the Professional You<\/strong> 5.\u00c2\u00a0 Establish Office Hours<\/strong> I encourage you to use these tips over and over to make sure that your home-office experience is both rewarding and successful!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Working from home brings numerous benefits to your lifestyle, however, it can present two major challenges: (1) Separating business and home life; and (2) Lack of stimulating social (business-related) interaction. To learn how to make Your Home-Office a success, read this blog post, “Home-Office: Want a Home Office?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11,4],"tags":[12,8,9],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotional-healing","category-life-coaching","category-mental-healing","tag-life-coach","tag-mental-health","tag-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAlways make sure before you start working at home to make a plan for your home office, it will make working much easier and you will find it much less expensive when you have planned it out.<\/p>\n
\nHave it be a dedicated area — preferrably a space with quiet and privacy.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps, you might choose a room with a door, which can help filter noise from the rest of the house; or, you might select a room near the front entrance if you will be meeting with clients in your home office.<\/p>\n
\nPlan your home office with your well-being and productivity in mind. What colors, images, items make you feel happy, appreciated, successful, creative? What placement helps you to focus and be productive?\u00c2\u00a0 Consider your chosen field — what will most allow your home-office to reflect the feeling you want to project into the world.
\n4.\u00c2\u00a0 Separate Professional from Personal<\/strong>
\nIt is important to keep your personal life separate from your business life, and vice versa.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For example, create your home office as far from your bedroom as possible; and keep your business checking-account and office credit-card expenditures apart from your personal finances.\u00c2\u00a0 As an added benefit, you might be able to use your home-office as a tax deduction.\u00c2\u00a0 The more you can prove that the office is a completely separate and dedicated area, the better in terms of meeting IRS definitions of a home office.\u00c2\u00a0 [For specific questions about your own taxes, see IRS Publication 587 (Business Use of Your Home) or consult a tax specialist for details.]<\/p>\n
\nFlexibility is one of the key benefits of working in a home-office.\u00c2\u00a0 Setting a schedule for work in your office can help you stay focused. It can also help clients know when you are most apt to be available
\nand reachable for business.\u00c2\u00a0 Having routine office hours can help minimize distractions and unannounced “drop ins” by neighbors and friends.<\/p>\n