Is working from home and option for you?

People often ask me about working from home, it sounds ideal, no commuting, no need to worry about office attire, and you never have to smell that one co-workers perfume.  Sure there are perks of the job, but not everyone is suited for working from home, and it won’t always work for them. Below I have listed ten things I learned from working at home that you will need to know.

Is your job the right one for working from home?

Many jobs can be done from home, but not all of them. Some jobs require you to be in person with equipment or a team in order to get your job done.  Some jobs can be done with partial telecommuting, and if you work for a company that offers this, that’s the best way to see if it’s right for you. Most of my job can be done from my house on my computer, there are meetings I still have to travel for, and times when I need to be on site.  I know that I have to be flexible to make this work.

Do you have the right attitude to work from home?

Working from home needs just the right attitude. Someone who can work independently, able to focus on a task without over site, and the ability to plan their tasks in the order of urgency. For some people, working from home is easier because they don’t get distracted by people walking near their cubicle, or the constant sound of customers being put on hold. Yet for others working from home is too difficult, they can’t help but be distracted by the kitchen, or the TV, or they just don’t feel the pressure to work, since home is too comfortable.  For me one of my problems is losing track of time when working. When I was in an office I often was reminded that I needed to get ready to leave as the rest of my co-workers started leaving. They way I work is I’m focused on a task till it’s done.  Working from home lets me just power through projects, the downside is often I don’t know when to take a break.

Part of my job requires me to travel and be on site, and while I’m doing this, I need to make sure my other customers feel taken care of, so sometimes you need to be in two places at once. Sometimes you need to work from home and be in a real office or on site.

Do you have the right tools to work from home?

Working from home isn’t possible without the right tools.  Depending on your trade you will need different things. Almost every home office needs a computer, I choose a laptop since it allowed me to bring it with me when meeting clients. When I first started I had a desktop that I did bring with me for demonstrations, that was always fun. For me I need a computer with a lot of processing power, I make big images and work with video and sound, a chomebook isn’t going to work for me, this means my investment on my computer was pretty big. Some people can get away with cheaper machines, if you are doing solely data entry, or a job that consists of just using an internet application or word processing software, you can save yourself some cash.

Get yourself a work phone, a number that is different from your cell or private family line. Customers will be calling this number and when you are on that family vacation to Disney you don’t want to have a customer calling you as you are riding the tea cups. For me I have a Vonage line, you pay between $20-$30 a month depending on the plan, and this gives you calling to the US and Canada. They also have more international plans if that’s what you need. You can plug in a standard phone into the modem and it will work like any other land line, it just needs the internet to work. Your voicemails will be emailed to you, so you can get the message when you’re not at home. You can also take the modem with you, so you can bring that phone wherever you go. When I got mine I was in NY, I have moved states, and then to Canada since then, each time I have brought my vonage phone with me and never had to change my number. You can also set up call forwarding, so if you know you will be away but still want to get calls, just forward your calls to your cell or another number. One other thing you can do is set up do not disturb for hours you don’t want the phone to ring, or for days you know you will be away or are taking a staycation, do not disturb just sends the calls right to your voice mail. Another option out there is Google Voice, this does much of what vonage does only you don’t have a standard phone.  You can forward to any phone to make a standard phone that way, and you can also have it set to ring multiple phones so when someone calls if you are at home, an office, or on the move, all three phones ring at once and you can pick which to answer. Google voice also offers SMS (text messaging without pictures or multimedia) and you can answer or make calls from google hangouts or gmail. The one draw back is that you have to be in the United States for google voice, sorry Canada.

Don’t think you can get away without a printer and scanner. The myth of the paperless office is often stronger for the home office. While it’s true most of your work will be in and out on your computer, there are times when you will need to print something out, and often you need to sign those things and scan them to send them back. Sure there are apps that let you sign stuff, but trust me, you will need to print and scan. The good thing is this is cheap, you can get a good one for under $200, just make sure what you choose has easily accessible ink cartridges. Often you will see printers on clearance that use ink that isn’t made anymore, skip those.

Software is important, but can be expensive. Make sure that you have what you need to get the job done, but no more, and no less. Just because your program comes out with an updated doesn’t mean you need to buy it, check it out and see if it offers you any advantages to purchasing the update. I currently am using software that has had three version upgrades from mine and have not yet needed to upgrade. This particular software is very expensive and I plan to get my money’s worth out of it. Often you can work around compatibility issues when exchanging files so it hasn’t been a problem. If you’re working from home, but not working for yourself, see if your employer will buy your programs for you, if they are essential to your job odds are they will, especially if they buy a multiuser license. Still make sure you have what you need. I remember back in the day many graphic artists were using subpar software because it was cheaper or free, and while that can work for some things, not for all. When they sent in their files for print the printer was unable to use them, and charged them extra for the hassle. You don’t use a hammer to turn a screw, so use the right software for the right job.

Internet is key! Every office needs the internet, and if you chose google or vonage for your phone you need one with fairly good upload speeds. This doesn’t mean you have to sell the farm to pay for a business plan from your ISP, you just need to know what you need. Get a fast internet with suitable uploads speeds. Download speeds are nice, but for most of what you’re doing, if your upload is good your download is perfectly fine. I lived for a while in an area where my only option was DSL, and it was so far from the nearest access point it was slower DSL. It was still OK, but often my uploads would suffer. That’s when my phone acted wonky and uploading files meant going off to brew myself some tea. It was just adequate. If you have options, go for cable or fiber. Make sure you know how much you will use and if you need an unlimited plan or a capped plan. Now that I have cable (they call it hybrid, it’s just a marketing ploy, it’s not really fiber) my internet is wonderful again. I have the highest upload speeds package, which is the second cheapest since most packages are rated on the download speed. I also paid extra to convert my plan to an unlimited plan, so I don’t have to worry about a cap. I use the internet a lot, and not just for work, so it was better safe than sorry.

Ergonomic isn’t just a buzz word. You need to make sure your space works for you, and you need to take care of yourself. If you get carpal tunnel syndrome there is no one that can fill your spot while you recover. I will do a blog post in the future talking about all of the kinds of aids you can get, but for now just make sure your chair is good for your back, at the right height, your computer monitor is at the right height, and you have any aids you need to avoid a bad back, carpal tunnel, neck strain, or anything else. I have in the past used the split wave keyboard (not so much with the laptop), gel wrists rests, and lumbar support pillows on my chair. Lately my go to aids are my trackman mouse, my yoga ball in lieu of a chair, a 2″ binder that angles my laptop to a comfortable height and a good angle for my wrists, and file boxes for when I want to work at a standing desk.

Do you have the right space to work from home?

Remember how we talked about being able to focus at home? Well this is very important, even in a small living space you need a space that is just work. Don’t combine your play space and your working space, and definitely don’t combine your sleeping space and your work space. The end result is you don’t work very well, you don’t play very well, and you don’t sleep very well. Our brains need this kind of separation of space to operate in the right mode. Work mode won’t activate where you are normally in sleep mode. I started out working from home when I lived in a small one bedroom apartment in NY. There really weren’t any spaces that weren’t sleep or play areas. I set myself up in my living room, in order to be really productive I had to rearrange my whole apartment to create a nook that was just for work, the living room with the kitchen area over my shoulder and the TV right in front of me was too distracting. Had I lived with anyone else I never would have had a moment’s peace and my experiment of working from home would have failed. Later I lived with people who had created a three person office area, and that gave me much more of an office feel than my old arrangement and I realized I needed to do this in all of my living arrangements. Since then each place I have moved to have been large enough to have an office.  One house my husband and I shared an office and the other two house we each got our own office.  Either way having an office separate from everything else made it very easy to “go to work.” Not only do I feel like I am at work, but he realizes I am at work when I’m in there.

Can you set the proper boundaries in order to survive working from home?

Boundaries are important, not just for you, but for your customers, and your family. When you work from home it’s easy for outsiders to think “You’re off” when you are really working. Because you are at home they think they can interrupt you or ask for favors at any time.  While it is nice to be able to run out and do errands during work hours, or watch your sibling’s kid when they are in a jam, there is a limit. You need to be sure that when you do these things your workflow can allow it.  Do you have any big projects that need getting done? Can you work at other hours in the day to make up for it, or are you booked elsewhere? You need to know when to say “no” and mean it. You need to give your home office the same respect as you would if you drove into work. You need to keep reminding family of this too. Not only that, because you work all hours (and for me, sometimes I do. I’m a night owl and often can get things done very quickly if I work on them into the night. My brain gets very productive sometimes and I like to take advantage of those times.) doesn’t mean that you are available at all hours.  Respect your weekend, otherwise your family may disown you. Just because you can work on the weekend or late at night doesn’t mean you should.  You need to figure out how many hours you are going to work that week and stick to it. Unless it’s urgent, don’t plan a 16 hour word day on Saturday, your family that is normally at school or work during the week want to see you too.  You owe it to them to share that time. This is when the do not disturb feature on your phone is important, when you have planned family time, set the phone to do not disturb, the messages will be there when you get back. If it’s an emergency, you will see a voice mail in your inbox, but rarely is anything so dire that you have to handle it in the middle of dinner.

Do you have a routine?

Part of making sure that working from home is right for you is the proper routine, everyone’s will be a bit different. What do you need to get ready for work? Some people must get dressed before working from home, because working in their pajamas doesn’t feel like work. Others can be fine walking from their bed to the office. Some people need to have caffeine before working, some people need to mainline it all day. Whatever your routine is, stick to it.  If waking up at 9am and shambling to the office works for you then do that, do that every day. If waking up earlier and putting on clothes is what you need, then do that, even on days when you don’t feel so hot, especially on days when you don’t feel so hot. Make sure you take the same breaks you would at an office. Take a lunch break, take a coffee break, even if it’s not for coffee but to just get up and walk around the block to stretch your legs. And have a quitting time. Take your weekends, and follow your plan.

Do you know how to wear the many hats you’ll need to work from home?

Since you are working from home you don’t have all the neat support you have in an office.  You need to learn to be your own receptionist, you have to handle the phones while working. This also means being on top of conference calls and making sure you are ready and your home is quiet when you need to speak with customers on the phone. You need to be your own office manager and secretary, you need to track your hours so you can bill your customers or send it in to your employer. You need to be able to tell them how much time you spend on each project and be able to itemize it on request. You need to follow up on bills and quotes. You need to be your own IT expert. You don’t have the tech person coming in to fix your computer so you need to know how to handle it by yourself. This could require some special classes or workshop, depending on your skill level. If you own a mac but know nothing about it, check out your local mac store and sign up for workshops. Or if you own a PC or don’t have a mac store near you, search for some free online courses, just the basics, so you know how to trouble shoot.  Most of what you need to know you will discover when you have five minutes to deadline and the printer keeps giving you a PC load letter error. I learned most of what I know about computers from hands on experience. I can trouble shoot a Mac, PC, or Linix box, I’ve built computers in the past, still my best tool for IT is google. That’s right, I get an error and I google it, normally you will find others who have had the same problem and their solution to it. (Just don’t take any advice from reddit or 4chan, esp if they tell you to delete system32.dll)

Do you have a plan to take care of yourself if you work from home?

When you work for someone else they take care of things like health insurance, taxes, retirement savings plans, when you work for yourself that’s all up to you. It can be a nightmare figuring it all out. When I first started I thought I had found the right health care plan and was good to go, until I actually tried to use that health care plan and got a bill for $700 for my first doctor’s visit. I don’t have the best advice for this, everyone is different. For me, I put what I was paying for the scam health insurance into a medical savings account, when I needed to go to the doctor I paid from there. This isn’t ideal because if something catastrophic happened I wasn’t going to be in good shape, but it handled my regular needs. Now with the AHC act things are different, and I can’t speak to them since my situation is different too. Now I live in Canada and my health care is covered by my taxes. So my only advice here is to do your research before you make the plunge. As for taxes, this is something freelancers and home office people forget, don’t forget it. Each time you are paid take out what you need to take out for ALL taxes. Put it aside till it’s time to pay. If you are working for an employer, then lucky you, they can take out your taxes. Don’t forget your retirement plans too.

Do you have a way to fight the loneliness of working from home?

Working from home can be lonely, sometimes you just want human conversation. Make sure that you have activities that get you out and give you face to face time with people. In person meetings with customers are great, but so are weekly get togethers with friends. Join groups that have similar interests, making outside friends are key. When I lived in Nova Scotia my writing group was my life line. I’d meet with them weekly or biweekly and we’d talk about writing a lot, but also other things. It was great to get out and meet people and get that face to face time. I would meet with some of my friends from that group at coffee shops or we’d have supper together, it made working much easier.  When I lived in New Brunswick the group of friends I made had a weekly get together for chicken wings. While most of the time I didn’t order wings, it was never the wings I went for. That surge of social interaction was enough to get me over my isolation.

Can you sell yourself?

Whether it’s selling your trade to potential customers or current customers, or even selling yourself to your current employer you need to do it. Many people who work from home wish they could just be the talent, that looking for work and dealing with the business side is the hardest part.  It is, but it’s the most essential.  You need to convince customers that they want you over the guy in the shiny office. You need to convince your customers that you are doing a good job for them. Sure your work can speak for itself, but you still need to remind them what a personal touch does for them. How you taking care of their needs means nothing gets slipped through the cracks. If you’re working for an employer then you need to show your employer how you working from home is helping them, and is profitable for them. You have to always be cheery on the phone and you’re not allowed to have bad days. If you’re an introvert you need to pretend to be an extrovert.

What do you think the most challenging part of working from home is? Is it for you?