Working From Home? Top 10 Things You Need To Know

Working from home. It’s out there. Or maybe in this case we can say it’s “in here!”

Propelled by the Corona virus, it’s now the world hottest topic and apparently the sexiest as well. 

Because I know how hot sex sizzles and then it fizzles, I wasn’t planning on “getting into this fray” as my grandmother would say.

But if I have to do one more eye roll, I’m really scared my eyes will stick in the back of my head.

You see, I have been working from my home for about 20 years now.

And when I hear some of the advice which some experts give about working from home, well…my eyes don’t wait on me, they just roll themselves.

So, I’m breaking my silence…

Not to undermine any of the information out there, oh no! Neither do I want to discourage you from working from your home.

Rather, I just want you to be aware of certain things, that you don’t even know you should know, as you set out on this journey.

That’s why I’m sharing MY top 10 things you need to know to help you manage this serious change. 

Here’s the list…then we can dive right in…

1. How you come to be working from home matters
2. You do not need a separate home office
3. Remember why you’re at home
4. There are hidden productivity pitfalls in your environment
5. Boundaries will save your sanity when you work from home
6. You don’t need lots of fancy high tech equipment
7. Be deliberate about social interaction and exercise
8. Find your productivity sweet spot
9. Learn to manage and lead while working from home
10. You will suffer from WFH burnout

1.  How you come to be working from home matters

Yeah…it really does.

All my life, I’ve always dreamed of working for myself but, fear and doubt prevented me.

About 20 years ago, my high-flying job disappeared, so I decided that for the rest of my life, home was where I would be working from.

But home wasn’t originally intended to be my place of work. And it certainly wasn’t ready for me to be working from there!

You see, up until then, work took place from many locations in the Caribbean, Europe and the USA.

Home was not even ready for me to live there, far less work from there.

So I struggled. With everything. Productivity, focus, when to eat, what to wear, which books to read, how to answer the phone, and the list went on…

That was not the case with my friend and colleague.

He decided to “fire de wuk” and set up his own business, operating from home.

He was able to renovate a room in his home to create an office. Added to this, he had a dedicated line, an assistant and set office hours.

He was able to hit the ground running while I had stumbled along like a certified drunk.

The point I am making is, how you come to be working from home really matters.

I find that when you make the conscious decision to do so, the journey and the process is completely different from when you have no choice.

And unfortunately, life and business circumstances can leave you with little choice.

When this is the case, you just have to embrace the change as fast as you can and try to make it work.

You have to make the mental and emotional shifts that you have to and get back to making the money you want to.

You might be happy to know that how you come to be working from home has no bearing on your long term business success.

I am still in business. my friend is not.

2.  You do not need a separate home office

 If you have a room to dedicate to an office, congrats! 

This is a recommendation I see all the time. But unless you live in some kind of mansion or have access to a deep well of renovation money, this is not always a viable option.

What you need instead is to work with what you have.

It might be half of your dining room table, a corner in your bedroom or some space on your kitchen counter.

If you are not fortunate to live alone, you also need a good pair of headphones. And you’d better make your family understand this is how you will be working going forward.

Look, the graphic above shows my work station, in a strategic corner of my living room. Over the years I have set up this station in several locations.

I have to tell you that I have made good money from here in good times. And equally, I have made little or no money from right here in challenging times. 

Now for those of you who are not as primitive as me, here are some practical accessories and gadgets that can really enhance how you work from home as well as your productivity.

3.  Remember why you’re at home

 Let me remind you. It’s to WORK! So how come everything else becomes more important?

I struggle with that for years.

I would wake up with my plans in place from the night before, ready to be super productive.

But then after 3 days of rain, the sun would be shining brightly. So I just had to do some laundry. (In the Caribbean we hang our clothes outside to dry.)

By the time I am finished, I am tired and I promise my carefully crafted schedule that it will happen tomorrow…

You cannot achieve your financial and peace-of-mind goals with this approach.

You have to make work your primary focus and fit everything else around it.

Productivity Author Darius Foroux calls it a “work first” mindset.

And let me hasten to add, I’m not suggesting you ignore the other important facets of your life.

Remember, a “work first” mindset will look different for each of us, and that’s alright.

For example, I don’t have set “work hours.” I set targets or deadlines that I have to meet and I just meet them.

I’m super flexible and super focused at the same time.

What you shouldn’t do, is to use your individual circumstances as a reason not to put work first.

You’re not at home to exclusively deal with kids or look after your aging parent, however important these are.

So make the shifts in your life you have to, so that you can put work at the centre of your…well…work. The earlier in the game, the better.

4.  There are hidden productivity pitfalls in your environment

When you are in a traditional workplace, you are in an environment that is controlled to meet your needs. Not so much when you work from home.

I discovered that there are some what I call, “hidden productivity pitfalls” just waiting for you.

So it’s best you try to find as many of them as you can BEFORE you try to establish any work routine (more on that later.)

What am I talking about?

The loud music that starts up every day around 11:30 a.m just across the street from you…say goodbye to any meetings during the “DJ’s” 2-hour spell.

Your dogs who are delighted to see so much of you, they bark their delight every time you appear…trying to keep out of their way only makes it worse.

Really? You never noticed before how hot that corner where you set up your office can get between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m…and the fan only circulates the heat?

And oh no! they are finally going to put up a block of apartments on that lot that has been vacant for the past 5 years…aah the drilling, the cement mixer, the dust and…

These are examples of pitfalls which are hiding in your environment that will impact your productivity.

It seems they are just waiting for you to show up. So you need to try to ferret out as many of them as you can before you move your work home.

What you should do, is try spending different days at home, and observe what’s happening in your internal and external environments, before you make your final move.

5.  Boundaries will save your sanity when working from home

Be warned! You family and friends will believe you’re available to them, at their will. I know this first hand.

For example, my brother will make an appointment or buy something bulky and since he does not drive, I am expected to be his transportation.

But here’s another example I saw coming and was able to prepare for it.

Recently, I moved very near to my 2 grandsons.

I knew that being 2.5 minutes by bike away from their favorite grandmother would be 7^th heaven for them. And “work from home” hell for me.

Pretty soon, we had to have  a signed agreement (I drew it up!) as to how and when visits would take place and be rewarded with favourite treats.

One of the very things that will help you to establish a “work first” mindset is to establish, and publish, some very clear boundaries and routines.

Yes, you have to let everyone know that they exist. This will save your sanity.

Working from home also requires other boundaries you seldom think of.

Your home is your home, and if you’re like me, it’s a fairly protected and private space.

So I have boundaries for which meetings I have there and with whom. For most meetings, I have them off site, in more mutual surroundings.

And please set boundaries for those people who, now you’re at “home” insist that you’re always available to listen to how mad their partner made them last night…

6.  You don’t need lots of fancy high tech equipment

 I hope I’ve gotten  to you with this one before you put a dent in your limited cash flow.

But you really don’t need loads of fancy equipment for “home work.” Most small business owners I know ain’t techie anyhow.

Yet, I get request like “can I come over and look at your set up?” all the time.

Oh! By all means…

One laptop, one desktop, a printer, a cell phone and a high speed wifi connection. Oh! And a backup internet cable.

Look, a standing desk might not be for you. You don’t need a fancy webcam.

But you do need to know how far away to sit from any camera, to place it at eye level and look into it as you speak on your online meetings.

Listen, whatever fancy equipment you have and your internet connection is poor, it will not help you.

I invested in highspeed internet and depending on what I want to do online, I plug a cable directly into a computer.

On the other hand, to stay connected with your team and to function effectively online, you should make use of some of the available tools to help you.

Knowing how to use meeting apps like Zoom or Google Meet and file sharing apps like OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox can greatly improve your productivity.

7.  Be deliberate about social interaction and exercise

When you work AWAY from home, you interact with many people in the course of a day.

Working from home is quite the opposite.

You can get caught up in work for days at a time especially if you’re trying to meet a deadline or finish a project.

But this is not good for you, your team or your customers.

To operate at your best, you need to deliberately include some social activity in your routine.

Your brain needs the break from your routine in much the same way that routine saves your sanity.

Just as you need social interaction, you need to exercise.

No, you don’t need a gym membership. You already know that exercise can take many forms.

What if you could combine your social activity with your exercise?

You know…like meet a friend and go for a walk or jog on a regular basis? You can even schedule this in your weekly planning.

Me, I hike once a week with friends and that ticks several boxes:

1.  I get a chance to have fun with a group of crazy friends

2.  It keeps me up to date with current affairs

3.  They serve as a sounding board for my ideas

4.  The actual hiking improves my focus and my physical health

5.  I’m out in the sun getting much needed vitamin D

6.  After the hike I am guaranteed a fresh and keen perspective on whatever I am working on

 Remember…if you’re not deliberate about your social interaction and your exercise, they may or may not happen. And so will your productivity.

8.  Find your productivity sweet spot

Being productive is a concern of everybody…well almost everybody who wants to be successful at what they do.

When work happens from your house, that concern becomes a need and you should really go in search of some productivity strategies that can work for you.

You are in luck because there are so many out there. Some are backed by science and even more just by experience.

The key here is to find those that hit your sweet spot and will not disrupt how you work with your team too much.

Here’s a strategy you can try.

I’m not a fan of to-do lists because I write down the things to do and then they overwhelm me.

What I do is have about 3 – 4 what I call “I will not go sleep until…” And then I don’t go to sleep unless I complete these carefully selected tasks.

However, if you like apps and you want to try a few, you can try Todoist if you use windows or Things if you use a Mac. And no! I’m not getting any commission, I’m just trying to help you out.

And just for you, here’s the #1 productivity question people often ask me:

What is your best productivity strategy?

It’s one of my most effective solutions really…

I wake up early and when I start to work, I begin with the thing on my “I-will-not-go-to-sleep-until” list that’s most important or that I like doing the least.

I work until my energy begins to wane and then I switch to support things such as errands, cooking, resting and my hobbies.

When the sun goes down, around 6 p.m. I start working again until it’s time for bed.

I also try not to mix work with household chores since that reduces my focus.

9.  Learn to manage and lead while working from home

In recent times, having to work from home is a sudden and unplanned event.

You get that.

What you don’t get is the size of the mindset shift that you have to make to manage and lead your team from home.

Here’s how this could play out.

You have problems with delegating.

It was bad enough when you and your team were in one place, but now you’re all in separate locations.

So how do you supervise them?

You expect them to follow set work hours and call you at specific intervals during the day, so you can convince yourself they’re working.

Really?!

A better approach would be to:

1. Understand that your employees will be having some of the same issues you are – especially less than ideal workplaces. Get to understand some of their more challenging circumstances.

2.  Forget about “set work hours” and set targets instead, allowing people to be flexible in how they achieve these. Do the same for yourself.

3.  Establish how information will be accessed and shared. This is a big problem when people have to suddenly work from home, especially in small businesses.

4.  Following from above, you need to find a way to be sure that your team’s computer and internet systems are able to protect your information. I’m still working out how best you can do this.

5.  Remember that working from home amplifies any disagreements among your team since they are now apart and don’t even have to pretend to get along. This will impact overall “working from home” productivity and you must find ways to guard against it.

6.  Don’t forget to establish a Team Communication System. This can comprise established regular team meetings as well as instructions on how and when you can be contacted outside these meetings.

10.  You will suffer from WFH burnout

 However much you love working from home, you will suffer from working from home(WFH) burnout. It’s human nature.

Let me make a comparison for you.

I once had a job that took me flying across the globe quite a bit.

It was so prestigious and powerful to be doing my work in so many countries and making a difference in the lives of so many people.

I was in hog heaven.

But as time went on, I begin to notice that it was taking me longer and longer to pack for the next trip.

It got so bad that the thought of another trip made me feel to throw up.

And I began to question what was the whole purpose of my work anyway…

You see, I was suffering from “missing home burn out.”

Working from home burnout is similar.

Do you have difficulty disconnecting from work?

 Are you ignoring your health?

Do you feel frazzled and sleep deprived?

 When you begin to ignore messages, procrastinate on projects or find yourself avoiding work altogether, you have a full blown case of “work from home” burnout.

So what can you do about all this?

Try everything in #7 above and include some time for a little harmless fun.

Share how you’re feeling with your family and your team.

My grandmother always said that a burden shared is a burden halved.

Take a vacation. I’m on holiday at least one day a week. At the moment it’s Fridays.

After my workout and a good long shower, I get all dressed up and go for a drive in the country.

Along the way, I take some of my “lick out” money and buy myself lunch.

By this process, I get as many as 50 days vacation a year, and a chance to avoid any kind of burnout.

How to make working from home work for you?

Simple. Or maybe not…

Your biggest problem will be the speed at which you embrace the fact that this is something over which you have no or very little control.

That’s why I shared this information to jump start your entrepreneurial consciousness.

But you’re a small business owner, remember?

Your success is based on your ability to be flexible and adaptable. You can rise to any occasion and win every time.

Just remember that, if you have one, your biggest responsibility is helping your team through this as well. 

It’s how you guarantee that you will have a business for the long haul…