How to Set Up Your Home Office

There is no "one perfect way" to set up a home office since we are all a bit different in our organizing style, our circumstances, and space available. What we need to do is to cover the bases and enable you to determine YOUR perfect "Home Office Set Up" solution.

First, determine your organizing style for the office itself. Are you more of a Visual person, where you need to see everything as it pertains to your business? Are you more along the lines of a Logical organizer, where order and structure are the main focus of how you will work the most productively? Or, are you more Inspirational, needing to have all of your nick knacks around you in an aesthetically pleasing environment to help motivate you to work, free from all distractions?

Knowing WHAT your environment needs to be in order for you to be the most productive is the most important element of your office. Understanding and realizing this element, determines what your choices are for your base of operations.

Many people will only have one or two choices for their office. Although the ideal scenario is to have a room that is strictly used for your office, it is not always feasible, especially if you are just starting your home based business. However, it is important that you identify your choices and make a quick list of pros and cons using your organizing style as a guide.

Quickly make a list of your choices. Be sure that each area has the necessary equipment, and/or can have the necessary internet connections and phone lines needed to run your office.

Is it a spare bedroom?
Using the loft?
Perhaps even the attic?
How about ransforming the formal dining room into a makeshift office?
Dare I say, even your master bedroom…ONLY as a last resort. Try and keep your bedroom as YOUR room and sanctuary.

Once you have listed your choices, determine which category fits your organizing style the best.

If you are a logical organizer, you probably do not want to be in an open area where family and life can disrupt your business. If you are more inspirational, keep yourself away from distractions. Once you have decided on your perfect solution, you will need to lay down the ground rules.

For more information on how to set up your home office and to identify the basic ground rules every home office should have, check out our podcast.

Until then,

Happy Organizing!
Suzanne McLoone
Organizational Empowerment

http://www.LetsTalkOrganizing.com

For over 20 years, Suzanne has been helping corporations and small businesses organize their time so they can spend more time and energy doing the things that are most important to them. With a philosophy of "life is too short", she thrives on making the most of her time and trying to encourage those around her to do the same.

As an organizational consultant, public speaker, and former radio talk show host; Suzanne has been offering her Organizational Quick Tips to anyone and everyone who will stand still and listen for "30-seconds". For more information on how to set up your home office, please visit our Let's Talk Organizing Podcast. http://LetsTalkOrganizingPodcast.blogspot.com









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Minimizing Distractions in Your Home Office

Working from home is an ideal situation for some folks. From stay-at-home moms to those wanting to save on the high prices of gasoline these days, working out of a home office can be the right choice for many. There are, however, some pitfalls to working out of your own home. One of the biggest is the problem of distractions.

In a corporate environment, distractions, to a certain extent, are controlled by the employing company. The company might employ the use of cubicles, rules governing conversation or music, even desktop do's and don'ts to cut down on distractions.

In the home office, there's no such overseeing body to minimize the distractions that can potentially keep you from your work. In fact, when you work at home, distractions multiply. The phone rings with non-work-related calls. Salespeople and family knock on your door. The neighbors play music too loudly.

For some people, these distractions are a non-issue. They're able to focus regardless of where they work or what distractions present themselves. For others, however, these small distractions can mean trouble. There are, however, things you can do to minimize the distractions in your home office.

- Maintain a structured work area. Keep your desk and work area free of anything that might draw your attention: catalogs, magazines, household bills, or non-work-related mail, among other things.

- Set off-limits hours and ask friends and family to respect your working time (emergencies excepted, of course). Ask that they understand that you aren't home for leisure during these hours and that you'll be more than eager to speak with them either before or after your working hours.

- Set rules for yourself. These might such things as include: no television, no radio, no answering the phone, or no sneaking into the kitchen to find the sleeve of chocolate chip cookies you know is tucked at the back of the cupboard. More importantly, once you set the rules, stick to them. If you break a rule once, it's all that much easier to break it a second and a third and a fourth time.

- If you don't have a separate phone line for work, invest in Caller ID to save yourself answering those non-work-related calls.

- Buy yourself a set of noise-canceling headphones. For those who are easily distracted by noise, these can be a perfect solution. Put them on with soft, instrumental (i.e. non-distracting) music playing, and the world's noise disappears.

- Set structured break and lunch times and take those away from your workstation so that you can clearly separate work from home.

Most importantly, determine your own level of distractibility. For some people, some of these suggestions are entirely extreme while for others, they might be entirely necessary. Some people are all focus, no matter what. Others are susceptible to even small distractions such as the bird in the trees outside. Knowing yourself is the best way to start when considering distractions. For some, a TV playing in the background is simply background noise, something to make the environment more comfortable. For others it is a death knell for their workday. If you know yourself, you know what distractions you can tolerate and what you can't, and you can set yourself up to work accordingly.

Distractions don't have to be the bane of a home office. With a little work, your home office can be as comfortable and as distraction-free as possible.

This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.Facsimile.Com/ which is a site for Fax Machines


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Google is Using *Your* Computer to Spy on You With Their Desktop and Toolbar

First - if you are a blogger. If you need page rank, and if you want traffic, you must have a Google toolbar. It links you to yahoo, it has several of the main blog ping/directory tools, it has spell check, auto fills, and the new vote buttons - choose the smiley face if you like the page - choose the blue frown if you don't. I've been working with the latter tool for about 3 weeks and found that it is effecting Google's rating on web pages and blog posts.

However, when my hard drive crashed , and I had to go to data recovery, I found that Google's tracking feature and desk top had saved more than 1.2 gig of info on my hard drive. Now, this may not be alarming to you - except that I only had the desktop for about 70 - 90 days. In short - Google was eating up my hard drive, and slowing down my computer - all hidden so I couldn't clean it out - all protected so my spyware software couldn't find it.

Now, on a 250gig hard drive, the space really didn't matter, but on my other computer with only 20gig - that is 10% of the hard drive - and on my laptop - it is 20%.

I did download my Google bar after reinstalling the hard drive recovered data, but I checked 'no' when it asked me if I wanted to activate the advanced tracking tools, and I did not download the desktop at all.

I do not like the fact that my searches are being tracked to that extent. Remember a few months ago I mentioned that I felt Google's tool bar was targeting the spam I received? After all, I get an email to EDITOR with the subject line SUBMISSION and the ad is for viagra ... something is not right. I do a project for a client on property investing in Dubai, and next day I get 3 emails about Dubia! I am watching to see if this targeting slows down. I'll keep you posted.



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Home Decorating Trends

One of the topics I write about is home decorating trends. One of the hottest trends is building a home theater in the basement. A major trend in the UK is to build theaters, with staged seating or theater bar stools, surround sound, popcorn dispensers, theater lighting, and even velvet ropes.

The trend of bringing social life back into the home is a positive one. For too long, the home was a place to rest at the end of a hard day's work, entertain business colleagues, and hide. In the USA the trend to build the master bedroom into a complete, self contained, suite is troubling from a social and family point of view.

This is vital for work at home professionals. Most do not realize that they are locked into their homes, alone, until depression sets in. It is important to take advantage of the summer sun, and to have some fun. It is important to have friends and invite them over. If you are thinking about investing in home renovations, think about something that will open your home to family and friends, instead of a further way to sequester yourself.

New Gadgets

I never think about the home office without running into all sorts of decorative and interesting gadgets. At one time, any decoration in the home office was limited to those silver balls that swung back and forth, clicking rhythmically, and family pictures.

The office has evolved over the years. Windows replaced walls. Wide open spaces replaced cubicles. Soft sounds replaced the clatter of machinery. All of this had a positive effect on workers health and their emotional state of being.

Everything in the office has evolved - that is the workplace office. The home office is a different matter. People are crammed into corners, forced to try and manage a business from a dark basement room, or worse, the dinningroom table.

But, the fact is, if you poll work at home professionals, the successful ones will work from good equipment, and in a positive environment. It takes more than a good office. My office is not a stagnant place. I have candles and flowers, and sometimes I buy the new gadgets, digital frame, a black wire desk set. It isn't much, but it makes all the difference between how a person feels at the end of a long day's work.

Home Office Lighting

Home Office Creation is the most overlooked aspect of home office creation, while being the most important. Most people move an old desk into a corner, stick a computer on it, pull up a chair, and voila - their office is finished.

Many freelance writers do not understand that their office will directly affect how much work they can finish in a day, and how long they can work without burning out.

Burn out is a danger for all freelancers. The need to work long hours to help build a reputation can be emotionally draining. That is why the corner office spells doom for so many new work at home professionals. The failure rate is not due to their lack of skill and ability. But the layout of their office.

Space

Home offices need space. The freelancer cannot have their eyes blocked. They need color and 'personal items. They also need an office that is large enough to keep clean.

Light

Lighting is so important. It effects our health, our emotions, and our ability to handle stress. All home offices should have a good desk lamp that can be turned on behind the writer to give good back-light. Windows should be close to the work space, but not shine light directly on them. The light should be filtered.

Environment

Feng Shui is not important, but a good natural environment is. There are several ways to add life to an office without adding plants. One is to use natural textures like wood flooring, paneling, faux wood blinds, and to add texture to the walls. A small fountain, or a fish bowl with different colored sands will relax the mind.

Sound

Many home office professionals enjoy sound, but loud music, or music with a depressing message, will soon tell on the freelancer. Sometimes, just playing recorded television shows where people talk, or talk shows without anger, is a great way to create background noise.

All of these tips will help the freelancer stay emotionally healthy, mentally active, and feed their ambition.

Smart Computer Upgrading

I need a massive amount of computer power to maintain my work at home business. At any time of the day, or night, I could be trading massive documents across the globe, while in a web conference with five or six other editors from Enspiren Press.
I use to buy a new computer whenever I needed more power. Now I just upgrade.

The only reason I buy a computer now is so I can update all my software. In fact, my software is so expensive that I often get my computer for a couple hundred dollars.
One of the things I am always upgrading is my Dell Memory. I prefer Dell computers. Not only because they last forever, despite a few mishaps, but because Dell will go out of their way to support their customers.

I’ve had support on the line for 2 or 3 hours – even after my warranty is up.

The Home Office

As freelance writers step out of the house and venture into the world, via trade shows, conferences, workshops, and other venues, they quickly learn the importance of a viable contact management system.

About two years ago I purchased MS Office Suite, including the Business Contact Manager, and I've never regretted it.

The most important aspect of a freelance writer's job is finding people who need your writing. However, giving out business cards is a waste of time and money. Instead, freelance writers should collect business cards.

I tell writers that I collect cards and add them to my contact manager. Then, when I have articles that the client didn't want, I offer them, at a discounted rate. I promise not to send out more than 1 message a month. Freelance writers can collect countless new leads this way.

You don't even need to paste the contact information in. Just use a business card scanner to do the work for you, and enter the information into the contact manager.