Name and type of Business:

How long have you been in this business:
Since February 2008, so just a little over a year.

What is the biggest challenge about having your business and family under the same roof?
Creating boundaries around work time, so that I’m fully engaged and “all there” when I’m mama and home manager.  It’s my most important job, so I want to have the most energy for it.  It’s important to me that my business not deplete my health for the sake of my family.

How have you managed child care:
Good question that I’d like to find the answer to!  Right now, I’m the main childcare, sometimes holding a baby on my lap and typing one-handed, and other times reviewing my daughter’s reading lesson while on a Skype business chat.  My kids are 4 and 17 months, so it’s definitely a big challenge to working from home.  We’re also homeschooling, so I definitely don’t really have any down time – but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  There’s a possibility we might hire a young teenage girl this summer to be here one day a week while I work in the other room.

What is your favorite part about being in business for yourself? Least favorite?
Since we live overseas, I love that I can work from anywhere, on my own time, around my priorities.  If my family and I need to leave town for a week, I simply cater my business to my family life, and make it happen.  I love working on my own terms.  My least favorite part is the tendency to feel guilty, some of it confounded, some of it not.  There are times when I’m tempted to feel guilty, as though I should be playing with my kids all day.  But we all work, and we all need to – that’s how we’re created.  But there are other times when that voice in my head tells me I’ve been working too hard all day, and my kids need me.  So I listen.  But it’s still a challenge to have those reminders running under your feet all day.

What is your favorite part of working from home? Least favorite?
I love that I can work and still be around my kids all day.  I don’t miss their first steps, the everyday conversations, the raising them up in the work at home while earning income for my family.  Home is my favorite place to be.  And I can stay here as much as I want.  My least favorite part is that sometimes I get cabin fevered.  While I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else, there are those days where I’d like to have an adult conversation, or interact with other people.  Usually, my husband and I compensate by my working at a coffee shop for an afternoon while he stays home with the kids.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee?
Skewing my priorities so that I work to please other people instead of my family.  Saying yes to everything at the beginning.  You start getting PR requests, and you feel like you shouldn’t turn down anything, so that you can network and build relationships.  But then you lose sight of the reason you started working in the first place – which for me is to support my family from home.  Once I made a conscious decision to be more mindful of my main work goal throughout the work day, I started making wiser decisions about what to say yes and no to.  Now, I say yes to very little, but those things I do say yes to, they mean a lot.

What is the best decision you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee?
Outsourcing those things I just don’t have time for.  I recently “hired” my husband a few hours a week to handle my massive PR requests, email inbox, and the financial side of things.  He only does it 5-10 hours a week, but it’s such a load off not having to use precious brain cells on those things.  Now I can focus on my first love, and the reason I started blogging from the beginning:  writing.

What advice do you have for anyone considering starting a work at home business or job?
Don’t underestimate the amount of time it takes at the beginning to launch.  Blogging as a business takes a lot – a LOT – of hard work and long hours.  But don’t let that discourage you.  If God has this in mind for you, He’ll provide you the energy and time to make it happen.  Just don’t go in, blindly thinking blogging is a get-rich-quick scheme.  It’s a real job.

One of the issues that I deal with daily is keeping myself organized. I admit that this is a big struggle for me. If I don’t stay on top of it, I quickly fall into a mess of clutter. Working from home makes it tempting to turn your work area into a dumping spot, especially if it is in an out-in-the-open area. For example, my desk is in the dining room and you pass it on the way to the kitchen. It is easy for me set things down on it when I am picking up and moving from room to room. Before long, I can’t find my work items buried beneath the folded laundry and piles of magazines.

When you work from home, you are in charge of keeping yourself organized and motivated. Don’t fall victim to the idea that because you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck you can keep your area as messy as you want.

So how do you get your home office/work area organized?

First and foremost, de-clutter the spot. You can’t be well organized if you are having to sort through your kids homework and permission slips or old to-do lists. Step back from your work spot and take a good look at it. Often, we get so used to the unnecessary stuff being there that we don’t even realize it is there anymore. So look at it with a critical eye. Open your drawers. Bring the trash can over and start pitching anything that doesn’t need to be kept. And if it isn’t work related, put it somewhere else. Not only do those things cut into your work space, they serve as potential distractions when you sit down to work.

Once you have your space de-cluttered and cleared off, place your notepad in an open spot for writing out your to-do list. Even if you use your smartphone as your organizer and calendar, a notepad is indispensible for quickly writing down anything that comes to mind. If you are working and remember you need to add cream of tartar to the grocery list, write it down right then on that pad and move on with your work. Potential distraction diverted.

Purchase a couple of brightly colored file folders and use those to place important papers in. This will at least create a barrier between them and anything else you set on top of them, allowing you to still quickly locate what you are working on.

Continuing on with the file folders: as much as I love technology, I still find that the best way for me to stay organized is to print out paper copies of anything that I need to be working on. I am a tactile person, so holding the paper and writing directly on it helps me to internalize what I am doing and need to do. That is not to say that I don’t use my online calendar and reminder program to assist me, but having a paper copy also allows me to step away from my computer and still be able to keep my finger on what I am working on.

At the end of the day, straighten your desk. Don’t leave it a mess. When you sit down and face it the next morning, chances are you won’t remember whether those random papers are important or not. Don’t waste valuable time sorting and trying to recall something that wouldn’t have even been an issue had you just put it away the night before.

All of these suggestions are important, regardless of the size of your workspace. Having a large office space doesn’t mean you don’t have to be so stringent. It just means that you can create even more clutter.

There are plenty of ways to organize yourself. What works for you, may not work for the next person, so it is important to consider your work habits and styles as you get yourself set up. Keep these basics in mind and continue from there.

photo source: Stillframe

Sound off: How do you keep your home office space tidy and organized?

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DON’T FORGET to enter to win a FranklinCovey Planning System and free online session with LiveClick. Read more information and find out how to enter here.

Name and type of Business:

How long have you been in this business:
We started our stores early 2005 and 5 Minutes for Mom in early 2006.

What is the biggest challenge about having your business and family under the same roof?
Screaming kids while you’re on the phone! LOL
But no, seriously, it’s just as you’d imagine… work never ends and your family experiences you constantly running to your computer to do one more thing.

How have you managed child care (if applicable):
Until 2007, when Janice and I both had babies within 2 weeks of each other, we juggled our business and our kids with only a few teenage babysitters helping us. One of us would work while the other looked after Julia and Jackson.

Once Olivia and Sophia arrived, we knew we needed full time help. Now, we both have nannies that help with our children during work hours.

What is your favorite part about being in business for yourself? Least favorite?
For me the best part of being in business for myself is being able to think up an idea, decide to execute it, and then go for it! I’ve never considered myself creative in an artistic sense — I can barely draw a stickman. But I’ve discovered that I am creative after all.

The least favorite part of running my own business is the accounting. We have a bookkeeper, but still, the details of the financial side of the business bore me.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee?
My biggest mistake is one that, unfortunately, I am still making every day — not outsourcing effectively. It is a constant struggle to try to grow your business. You need people to help, but you need the cash flow to pay them. And not only is the cash flow tricky, trying to find the right new employees and contractors and manage their tasks is a full time job in itself. There are no easy answers to this challenge and we’re constantly struggling with it.

What is the best decision you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee?
To team up with my sister and my mother and create our Corporate structure right from the beginning.

What advice do you have for anyone considering starting a work at home business or job?
Decide up front if you are going to be in business for yourself or if you want partners. If you are considering a partnership, be very careful who you choose. Even if you are confident your relationship will never turn sour, set out the partnership details in writing and determine how you would proceed if one of you chooses to leave the business.

In 2006, identical twin sisters, Janice and Susan, created 5 Minutes for Mom and it quickly became an essential, go-to site for moms that entertains and informs, while promoting the online mom community.
Janice and Susan’s backgrounds in writing, software development, business consulting, and ecommerce store management, along with their experience as mothers of young children, help them deliver their high traffic mom blog.
The twin sisters work at home managing 5 Minutes for Mom and the network of sister blogs as well as their two online stores: Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles and A Rocking Horse To Love.

DONT’T FORGET to enter to win a FranklinCovey Planning System and free online session with LiveClick. Read more information and find out how to enter here.

This week we will be focusing on getting organized when working from home. And what’s a better way to kick that off than to give away some goodies from one of the leading daily planner companies?

There are lots of daily planners out there. But FranklinCovey has some of the most comprehensive planners on the market. Additionally, they offer webinar classes on organizing and planning.

I am so excited to be able to offer a planning system and online session to one lucky winner.

The winner of this giveaway will receive a FranklinCovey Complete Planning Kit and a session of LiveClicks of their choice.

The Kit includes includes all of the tools that the Focus Seminar Attendees receive when they go through the training course. It will has dated daily planning pages, tabs in the back to keep track of your goals, roles, values and finances, a storage piece to keep your extra pages and accessories and some other accessories as well as a vinyl binder.

About LiveClicks:

Now anyone can experience the world-renowned benefits of FranklinCovey training, no matter where they live or work around the globe. LiveClicks webinar workshops by FranklinCovey are one-to-two-hour online training sessions that offer compelling content award winning videos, and live engagement with expert consultants.

FOR YOURSELF

Are you trying to improve your abilities but can’t afford to take too much time away from your home or office? With our weekly schedule of LiveClicks webinars you’ll experience highly engaging training right from your desk on a wide variety of topics. Award winning videos, exciting activities and live communication with the instructor will help you learn better and retain the knowledge you’ve received.

• Save time and money
• Get trained without the obstacles or cost of traveling
• Increase your effectiveness and impact in your current roles
• Decrease time away from your office and your family

To enter to win:

Leave a comment on this post.

You can also receive additional entries for each of the following that you do:

1) Twitter about the contest and link to the actual twitter (not just your twitter account) Receive an additional entry for each day you twitter about it, as well.

2) Write about the contest and/or Modern Media Mom on your blog and link to it in comments.

3) Link to it on Facebook

Contest will run until Saturday, May 30th. I will announce the winner at 5pm.

Many thanks to FranklinCovey for this fantastic giveaway.

Name and type of Business:

How long have you been in this business:
I’ve been blogging for 3 years and designing blogs for 1.

What is the biggest challenge about having your business and family under the same roof?
Balance.   I fear I work too much.  Let me rephrase that.  I’m quite sure that I work too much!  But I love it.  I’m just not sure that my family loves it as much as I do.

How have you managed child care (if applicable):
I’m the childcare.  We don’t feel that at this point I’m making enough to allow for regular childcare, although that would be lovely.  My children are aged 9, 6, and 3.  My 9-year-old is in full day school, and my 6-year-old is in half-day school.  My 3-year-old attends preschool 2 mornings a week.  I try to use that time to work.  I would rather run errands in the afternoons with my girls; that way at least I’m interacting with them, even if we’re not doing activities that are FOR them.  I work at night after they go to bed.  And I do a lot of work when they are around, playing, watching TV, entertaining themselves.  They do that very well.

What is your favorite part about being in business for yourself? Least favorite?
I just love making my own hours and making my own rules.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee?
I don’t feel like I’ve made any grand mistakes yet.  I’m pleased with how things are going.  The only thing I could do better would be to have set working hours, but that’s very hard to do because our days are not highly structured so I just try to grab work time whenever I can.

What is the best decision you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee?
I keep meticulous records.  Come tax time, it’s complicated because I have so many different revenue streams, but I have good records so my accountant (i.e. my husband *grin*) can figure everything out.

What advice do you have for anyone considering starting a work at home business or job?
Have a plan.  Keep good records.  Love what you do.  And don’t let your work run your life!

Name and type of Business: Jenna McCarthy, freelance writer and author.

How long have you been in this business: I have been writing professionally for eighteen years, the last eleven of which have been from home as a freelance writer/author.

What is the biggest challenge about having your business and family under the same roof?
It is a daily challenge to try to separate the two. When you never “leave” your office, it’s hard to shut down your computer and turn off your Blackberry and just be present with your family.

How have you managed child care: When my kids were younger and not in school, I had help with the kids at home. At first I tried to schedule their hours selectively, but not much actual work was transpiring that way. I finally graduated to 35 hours a week of help—8 to 3, Monday through Friday, and carefully selected babysitters who were eager and willing to help with anything that needed to be done. If I had a light work day, I might play with the girls and the sitter would run errands—go to the grocery store, stand in line at the post office, whatever was necessary. It worked out great, and now that my girls are in school I actually miss having someone to help with those things!

What is your favorite part about being in business for yourself? Least favorite? I have absolutely no tolerance for long, laborious meetings and other office BS. I feel so blessed to be able to travel when I want, and not to have to worry about taking a “personal day” if one of my kids is sick or there’s a great sale at Nordstrom. I love not having to commute or frankly, even get dressed! (I work in my bathrobe most days. I am sure the neighbors think I’m some lush when they see me padding out to get the mail at noon in my robe!) The only thing I don’t like about working for myself is having to track payments. It can get uncomfortable when you develop this wonderful relationship with an editor, and then you have to call her and go, “So, any idea when I might get paid?”

What is your favorite part of working from home? Least favorite? I’m a total insomniac, so it’s nice to be able to get some work done during an otherwise frustrating midnight stint. Conversely, I’m also a bit of a neat-freak, so I can’t really sit down to work until the house is spotless. It’s a blessing and a curse.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee? Trying to do it without help. I mean, I work, and what I do is a job. You wouldn’t be expected to tote your kids to an office everyday and try to get anything done, would you?

What is the best decision you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee? It may sound ridiculous, but I finally switched from a laptop to a desktop computer, and it was the best thing I ever did. Now my computer lives in my office (what a concept!), and I can actually shut the door and walk away. It’s so liberating not having that laptop staring at me from the kitchen table or the corner of the living room!

What advice do you have for anyone considering starting a work at home business or job? Get help. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Make sure friends and family understand that while you may be doing it from home, you are still working. When I first started writing from home, I would get daily calls to go play tennis or have lunch or drive someone to the airport. I kept having to say, “Sorry, gotta work!” People eventually got it, but it took some time.

Jenna McCarthy is the internationally published author of The Parent Trip: From High Heels and Parties to Highchairs and Potties and Cheers to the New Mom/Dad! Her work has appeared in more than fifty national and international magazines, on dozens of web sites and several anthologies including the popular Chicken Soup series. She writes from her home in Santa Barbara, CA, where she enjoys sculpting Play-Doh and scrubbing crayon from her walls. In her spare time, she wonders what she used to do with all of her spare time. Visit her online at www.jennamccarthy.com.

For most people, working from home sounds like a dream come true – you can be available to the children and make money at the same time.

But as most parents quickly find out, it isn’t always that simple. There are many considerations when you work from home and child care is a big one.

Work time is not “Me Time”: When kids are with the nanny or at school, resist the temptation of using daytime hours for personal leisure. The days of leisure are generally gone when you have two kids and working from home. That said, it can be tempting to use work time as “me time.” In my personal case, this only leads to stress with work piling up and needing to be done off hours- hours that should be spent with your kids, your spouse, or yourself. My evening hours are sacred family time, so I do my work during the day and keep evening hours reserved.
Kirstin Sanders, Director of Public Relations, Orca Communications Unlimited, LLC

Inevitably, a child will have a blow up while you are on an important phone call. Your youngest will suddenly become clingy and need you to hold them non-stop, when what you really need to do is be typing up an important ‘emergency’ memo.

It will happen.

So the best plan of action is to have a plan in place BEFORE it happens.

How do moms and dads who don’t put their children in fulltime daycare, work from home and keep their children occupied or watched while they work? There are two options: have someone help, or do it all on your own.

When deciding which option to choose, consider your work habits and also how your child fits into this. You know your child best, so make the decision that is best for you and for them. Most people enjoy the thought of working from home because they like the flexibility of being able to be available for their children, when they are needed.

For some parents, they find that their children and/or their job create an environment where interruptions aren’t a big deal. If you aren’t on the phone with your job, there is no need to worry about the children’s noise level. If your child plays well independently, keeping them occupied while you work may come easily.

For other parents, they are lucky to find privacy in the bathroom, let alone when an important conference call is taking place.

Some suggestions and options others have made work:

The simplest answer, when you are facing it alone, is to schedule your work around the times that your child is napping, or playing quietly, or after they are in bed for the night.

Stay stocked on kid friendly activities: play-doh, crayons and paper etc. Set up a little table near your working space that your child can play office on. Give them their own “in-box” and add things for them to do into it. Check out: Independent Play Activities on about.com

Hire a part-time student If you live near a college, you might try finding a student who attends part time to come over during the day for a couple of hours. Be sure to use that time for those work items that demand your full uninterrupted attention. Other options: hire a neighborhood child after school, swap time with another mom one day a week to take care of pressing things

Set a timer for yourself and your child. Help your child to understand that when the timer is ticking, they need to work quietly. Once it has gone off, they may request help from you.

Keep favorite DVDs set aside for only those times when you need a distraction for your child (don’t hate. sometimes, it’s necessary – and besides, it allows me to still be available to my child)

Allow yourself flexibility. Things are going to come up. Children will get sick. Something will get broken. Know when you need to take some work time off.

And most importantly, don’t forget to stop and play. One of the many beauties and benefits of being a work at home parent is having a built in playmate. Take a break and play with your child. Go for a walk around the block. Put on some music and dance. Make a work of art out of play-doh.

Remember why you came home to work and learn what works best for your family.

Sound off: How do you work from home with children? With school almost out, older children will be home, which provides another issue – how to entertain them while you work.

photo source: alizzze

Name and type of Business:

How long have you been in this business: I’ve been in communications for about 7 years and in PR specifically for 3 years.

What is the biggest challenge about having your business and family under the same roof? Keeping things detached. Meaning, physically maintaining a completely separate workspace within the house where I am not to be bothered during designated work hours is difficult. Since my youngest daughter is home with my husband for most of the day, it’s often expected that since I’m home, I should help out, but in reality I need to be working. I feel pulled in multiple directions a lot and I have to be very organized and disciplined to avoid becoming overwhelmed completely. Still, I’d rather deal with this challenge than battle traffic every day.

How have you managed child care: My husband is home during the day and heads to work around 4:00, so we try to schedule naps around times when he isn’t here. It’s definitely a challenge! To compensate, I’ll work early in the morning or late in the evening, when the kids are asleep, if I have work that I need to catch up on.

What is your favorite part of working from home? Being immediately available if there’s a family emergency and not having to drive an hour plus to work every day.

Least favorite? Not having a need to ‘dress up’ to go to the office. I really love fashion and I find myself wearing sweats all the time! Not good, not good at all.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee? Not knowing when to ‘turn it off’. I find myself working constantly!

What is the best decision you’ve made as a work at home business owner/employee? Being flexible. I view working at home as a privilege, not a right. I’m always available to speak with a client or a co-worker. If needed, I’m willing to travel to the office on days that I normally work from home. You must be perceived as a team player—even when you aren’t in the office on a daily basis, and I work really hard to make this a reality.

What advice do you have for anyone considering starting a work at home business or job? Be flexible, dedicate a separate space only for work, actually get dressed every day—don’t roll out of bed and start working—and take breaks. This is one thing that I often forget to do!

Bio: Christine Randle works with DPR Group, Inc., a Washington, D.C. Metro-based public relations (PR) firm, as an account executive, serving some of the firm’s largest clients. She provides strategic PR counsel for companies in a wide range of industries including enterprise software developers, information technology (IT) management firms and government contracting agencies. Christine holds a bachelor’s in history from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington and a master’s in urban studies from Temple University in Philadelphia.

I received my copy, began to digest what I was reading and realized that there are many many of us out there who are truly struggling every day to balance our homes and our businesses. With blogging and all things related becoming a viable starting point for working at home, the numbers of people needing help in this area will only continue to grow.

Without some sort of assistance or mentoring from others who have lived it, most of us would surely lose our minds trying to balance it all. Either that, or we’d end up just giving it all up altogether.

Enter Making Work at Home Work. Inside the book you will find practical tips and useful advice. The information is easy to follow and realistic.

For instance: one of the points in the book that hit home for me is the need to acknowledge the difference between “At Home” and “Work at Home.” This is huge for me, because up until I read Mary’s book, I was still referring to myself as a stay-at-home mom. While to a degree this is true, – I’m a mom and I’m at home, I work at home in a business as well. I am a “work at home mom”.

If you haven’t already acknowledged that, take a moment, say it out loud and let it sink in.

This is a fabulous book for any mom already working from home – whether you are just starting out or have been doing it for years. It covers everything from:

• How to fit your business into your family life
• How much income is enough?
• What are your priorities?
• How to schedule your time effectively
• Manage your business expenses
• Know when and how to take a break
• Avoid strain on your relationships
• How to arrange effective child care when needed
• Plan for the future and retirement
• Work smarter and make more

This is definitely a book that should be kept on your work space desk and referred to often. It is that practical and useful.

I am excited to be able to offer a copy of this book to four lucky winners. To enter, please subscribe to this site (if you don’t already) and also, leave a comment telling me what work at home issue you need the most help with: organizing? prioritizing? the kids? Let ‘er fly.

Winners will be chosen using random number generator and will be announced Saturday May 16th by 5 pm

Also, If you’d like to win a copy of this book AND a $25 Amazon Gift Card, visit the blog tour post at Mary’s Blog and leave a comment.

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About Mary Byers: Mary M. Byers successfully juggles both a freelance corporate writing and speaking business and her responsibilities as a wife and mother of two school-aged children. She is the author of The Mother Load: How to Meet Your Own Needs While Caring for Your Family and How to Say No . . . And Live to Tell about It. Visit her website to learn more: www.marybyers.com or her blog www.makingworkathomework.com. Follow Mary on Twitter at @marybyers

Welcome to the Work from Home Productively and Keep Your Sanity series. For more information on what the series is about, please check out these posts: here and here.

While logically it might make sense to start this series with an article laying out what to consider before making the decision to work from home, I am saving that for later in the series. To start it off, I want to consider the space that you may already be working in.

Whether you live in a huge home with lots of extra rooms to choose from or a flat with limited space, it is still of utmost importance that you have the proper place set up for working at home.

If you simply plop down on the couch with your laptop when it is time to work, you aren’t allowing yourself the delineation between work and home. Even if it is just setting up your laptop at the table, you are a step closer to emulating a proper work space.

No two home offices are going to be set up the same. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t basic steps you should follow or consider when doing so. Here are some suggestions to get you started and thinking about your office space.

Make a list of everything that you need for your office space

Will you need a fax? A printer? A drafting board? These are things to consider as you look for your space within the home. Due to space limitations, you may have to settle for having some of these items in different places within the home. Have everything you need before you start prettying up your space. Get a dedicated computer, reliable internet and phone service (consider the possibility of a separate phone line if you will be making a lot of calls; Skype is a great option for being able to make phone calls without an extra line or extra charges.)

Find a quiet spot to set up your space

It may be a corner of a room. It may be an entire room. It may just be a closet. Whatever space it is, make sure that it is a spot that will allow for quiet at some point throughout the day. Try not to set it up right in the middle of the kitchen, where every dirty dish will scream your name and taunt your throughout the day. If this is your only option, then make it a priority to keep the kitchen as tidy and clean as possible, to alleviate that distraction.

Keep your office space dedicated to office items

Don’t place the laundry basket on your desk. Don’t even think about putting leisure reading material there either. Again, the potential for distraction is severely reduced if you de-clutter your working area. Toss out anything that you do not need in order to work. Throw it away or find another home for it. (for great de-cluttering tips, stop by Simple Mom)

Make sure that the area is well lit and well ventilated

Nothing will make you want to get up again and again faster than poor lighting around your work space. Not only is it hard to see what you are doing, but it fatigues the eyes. Good lighting and fresh air are a must.

No unoccupied room? No problem

Your home office doesn’t need to be in a room all to itself. Yes – this would be wonderful and ideal. But not all of us have that option available. Look around your home or apartment at the space you do have and consider the possibilities, even if it currently houses something else. Maybe it’s a closet. A space under the stairs. A corner of your living room. If you don’t have room at the moment, you will have to make room. You can’t run a business sitting on your couch. So clear out a space if need be. Donate items to charity or a needy family. Do something with it so that you can have your office space.

“Carving out a space that is designated as the business space is imperative.  This helps with work flow and focus.  Take into consideration your specific learning style. For example if you are easily distracted by noise or people then having your office in the middle of the den will not be very functional. Your space, just like your business may grow. Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon of God’s Word Sculpture Art,

Get organized early on

I will be dedicating an entire article to this topic, but start planning out your office organization and continually evaluate how well you are doing with it. Don’t let your work area messes get out of control. You don’t want to get caught wasting time searching for a pen every time you need to take notes during a phone conversation. Organize your space just like you would if you were at an out of the home office. Keep supplies handy and stocked. You will probably needs bookshelves, storage bins, filing cabinets and such as you go along. There are creative ways to make use of your space for organization that I will discuss in the upcoming article.

Have a comfortable seat to sit on and a desk that is the proper size

This may seem like obvious statement of the day, but you’d be amazed how quickly this can get backburned when all of the other issues related to getting started are considered. An improper seat will kill your bottom. And a desk that is the wrong size will kill your back and neck. Neither one of these issues will increase your productivity.

There are many options for setting up your office and how to do it, but it is so important to get yourself off on the right foot. Think through these basics and spend some time preparing for your space. It will make a huge difference if you do.

(photo source top image: .Fabio)
(photo source middle image: super-structure)
(photo source bottom image: dierken)