When you start working from home for the first time, after leaving your old office behind, you might wonder how to set up a remote office at home without spending too much money.
Here are some ideas.
Get a comfortable desk
It’s very important to have a desk where you can sit down and work comfortably, without distractions, noise, or other disturbances. Make sure your desk is well lit, but not too bright so it hurts your eyes.
You should also put your desk somewhere where the lights from outdoors don’t bother you. You don’t want to suffer from the heat, cold, and noise while doing your job, so think about installing air conditioning and a heater in your office. That way, you can adjust the room to fit your needs perfectly.
Get fast Internet access running
If you’re going to work from home regularly, it’s vital to have a fast and efficient Internet connection. If you constantly need to upload large files to your clients, or if you want to do some research online, it’s important that your Internet access is up to the job.
Before starting work from home regularly, check out what options are available in your area, and select the package that best suits your needs. If you can’t afford to pay for cable or DSL, perhaps you should think about dial-up access until you can save up enough money to get the faster packages.
Decorate your work space well
It’s vital that your home office looks nice and professional. Some people like to put posters of their favorite sports team on their walls, others like to make it look like a regular office with diplomas and certificates on the walls.
However, you decorate your space, make sure that when clients call you they won’t notice any difference between your remote office and an actual office. If they do notice, it might be embarrassing for you.
Make sure nobody disturbs you when you’re working
When you’re working from home, it’s really important that your family and friends know when to leave you alone while you work. For some people, this can be a challenge, since they have developed bad habits over the years.
What I recommend is talking to people in your household about how much time you need for yourself each day and instructing them to leave you in peace while you work. For example, if you want to be undisturbed for three hours each day, tell everyone that during those hours they can’t knock on your door or call you on the phone.
If they do, just explain that since you’re working from home now it’s important for you to have some time for yourself. Explain that you still love them and enjoy spending time with them, but your work is just as important to you as it was when you had an office downtown.
Without proper organization it’s impossible for anybody to stay focused on his or her job at home, so make sure you set the necessary limits before starting work from home.