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Swine Flu Makes Working From Home Appealing

April 28, 2009 By

For years I’ve advocated working from home and shared several reasons for leaving the corporate world behind including no commute, flexible hours, and the lack of a boss looming over your shoulder. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) however has an even more compelling reason to work naked: the swine flu. At last count there are 40 confirmed cases in the U.S., making working from home less of a luxury and more of a necessity. Reuters reported that an employee at Ernst & Young was diagnosed with the disease and staff members were given the option of working from home. For a detailed description of the disease and how to prevent it, check out an article in USA Today.Sick as a dog

Those of us already working naked won’t have to make any work adjustments because of the flu, but for those who commute to work every day and aren’t used to working alongside family members or the kitchen, working from home can be a big adjustment. There are a few ways to make a temporary work from home situation work:

  • Designate a specific place for your home office. Don’t locate your home office in a high-traffic area. The kitchen, family room or any other space that attracts your family on a regular basis isn’t ideal for working from home.
  • Use a laptop or a desktop with plenty or memory and storage capacity. If you can transfer data between your home office and work computer, you’ll save time and reduce the risk of losing valuable information. If not, keep backups of all your data so you can transfer the information to your desktop at your office.
  • Make sure you have a high-speed Internet connection. If your kids like to play online games, they may slow down your connection so you’ll need to work out some type of schedule. A little hint: work trumps computer games every time.
  • If your office can’t forward calls to you, consider leaving your cell phone number on your voice mail message. Otherwise, plan on checking your voice mail several times each hour.
Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office setup Tagged With: , , ,

Get Out of Office

April 28, 2009 By

n50192946784_6894If you have a few minutes to spare and need to take a short break, check out a new web sitcom called “Out of Office.” I wasn’t sure what to expect during the six minute webisode but I was pleasantly surprised. The show was funny and true to life, covering the problems of getting ready in the morning, keeping your workspace clean and actually being productive.

The premise of the show is that Jason and David each work in their own home offices and stay in touch through video conferencing. After watching a certain part of the show, you may want to pay attention to what part of your body is in front of the camera while you’re on a video conference call!

The next episode is Tuesday, May 5th. Check it out. Popcorn is optional.

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life Tagged With: ,

Time to Telecommute?

April 27, 2009 By

Not everyone who works from home is an entrepreneur. I know that’s obvious to some people but others don’t realize that corporate sales reps and other corporate employees are working from home too. Employers around the country finally are warming to the idea of letting employees telecommute—work from home a few days a week—instead of working in a corporate office every day. Ask yourself a few questions before you approach your boss about telecommuting. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office organizing, Time mgmt./Productivity Tagged With: , , , ,

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

April 24, 2009 By

I read a lot of business books—or start to read them—then put the book down, disappointed. There’s no new information, unique strategies, or tips for running a business first-hand. So when I ran across Mike Michalowicz’s book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (TPE), I was skeptical. Mike’s direct, to-the-point, and in-your-face writing style won me over. TPE is filled with insight Mike’s gained through buying and selling businesses and working with other entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses. These are some of my favorite nuggets of information from his book: 28546546

  • Capture your action items. As the ideas or thoughts of what you need to do cross your mind, write them down on a list. There is comfort in knowing you have a record of what needs to be done.
  • Prioritize. A lot of things you need to do are small, quick items, but they can swallow up time by wasting an eternity winding up and down from them. Prioritize a list of the important stuff first and group together the smaller stuff to be done in one shot later. Or better yet, have someone else do the smaller stuff.
  • If it only takes two, do. Sometimes tasks are so simple and quick that the time you would take to get them recorded and prioritized would take longer than just doing them in the first place.
  • Concentrate your thoughts. Instead of clouding your mind with rambling thoughts, stop for a moment and focus on one thing. Think about it repeatedly and then tear into it. This isn’t as hard as it sounds.
  • Go in spurts. Many people perform better by working in shorter segments taking a break from the action, and then starting up again.Try it. Go into a task with the promise that you will both take breaks as needed and get right back to it when break time is over.
Filed Under: Making money from home Tagged With: , , , ,

Going Green

April 22, 2009 By

Happy Earth Day! This is a good day to think about how you’re using energy and natural resources and how you could use less of both. My family finally unplugs items we’re not using and turns off lights when we leave the room. My sons even remember to put down the toilet seat which doesn’t conserve energy but it reduces my stress level. I’ve done a few things in my home office to make it more “green.”

  • Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. I know…those spirals look strange in fixtures but now you can get bulbs that resemble what we’re all used to yet they’re compact fluorescent. They’re more expensive than the traditional bulbs but they last longer and save energy.
  • Don’t print everything. If you print e-mails often, keep in mind that the “e” stands for electronic. Instead of printing every e-mail, take action or make a note in your planning system (paper-based or handheld) of what you need to do and then delete it or file it electronically, the same way you would a paper file.

    Going green can help you save money and the environment.

    Going green can help you save money and natural resources.

    • Recently I ran across a site called Retrevo, that offers more tips for going green:

  • Make sure devices are really off—use a power strip and flip the switch. Many products draw power after they’re turned off. If the charger in the wall socket is warm, it’s likely sucking power. Use a power strip and shut it down to ensure gadgets are really off.
  • If you’re going to leave your computer on, at least set it to Hibernate or Standby. Energy Star says the PC’s Hibernate or Standby mode can save up to $75 a year in electricity. And don’t be fooled by screen savers—they’re no help at all.
  • Unplug the gadgets you use only occasionally. If you use them only once in a while—fax machines, or peripherals attached to your computer such as USB hard drives for backup— unplugging guarantees they’re off.
Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life Tagged With: , , , ,

At the Sound of the Tone…

April 20, 2009 By

The other day when I called a client and the receptionist told me he wasn’t in, I asked her to transfer me to voice mail. She told me they didn’t have voice mail because they thought it was too impersonal. I wanted to ask her if she used an IBM Selectric instead of a computer or carbon paper instead of a copier but I kept my thoughts to myself. I think voice mail is invaluable—obviously not everyone does—but there are ways to make it more effective:

  • When recording your message, let the caller know within the first few seconds if they can bypass it. Long, boring messages are annoying so let callers get right to the beep.
  • Keep your outgoing message short, simple and professional. Don’t forget to include your Web site address so callers can get more information about your company and an e-mail address as another way to contact you.
  • Review your message after you’ve recorded it to make sure there aren’t any unwanted background noises and that your voice sounds clear.
  • Ask the caller for the best time to return his or her call (and do the same when you leave messages for others). This will help you avoid phone tag and if you don’t want to talk to that person, you can call when they’re not there.
  • Don’t save all of your messages. Instead, do something with them. After writing down or entering the message and number, erase it.
Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life Tagged With: , , ,

Sometimes You Can Be Too Organized

April 17, 2009 By

I’ve spent many years helping others organize their home offices, bring order to their chaotic lives and overcome information overload. Throughout the years of digging through mountains of paper, analyzing and solving time crunches and designing home office havens, I’ve reached one conclusion: sometimes you can be too organized.

At times I envy my clients, seminar attendees and people who send me e-mails telling me about their disorganized lives. When they miss a deadline, it’s expected and understood. If I were to miss a deadline, everyone would question my organizing skills.

Being disorganized is the next task on my to-do list.

Being disorganized is the next task on my to-do list.

When someone who is disorganizationally challenged locks his keys in his car, he’s absent-minded. When several years ago I locked my keys in the car with my kids inside—the air conditioner was on and in five minutes a friend arrived with a spare key—I heard the annoying phrase, “not too organized!”

If one of my associates were to drop the ball, the client would blame me for not doing a better job of screening my associates. The average disorganized person can do the same thing—quickly blame the associate in question—and everyone nods in agreement that you can’t find good help anymore.

While one of the highest rated New Year’s resolutions after losing weight and giving up smoking is getting organized, mine this year has been to be disorganized. I’ve decided to stop being so “Type A” and let a few things slip—just as soon as I finish two more columns, a proposal, and a few other pending projects. I’ll even note on my calendar the day I’m going to start my quest for disorganization. I just hope it fits into my schedule.

Filed Under: Home office organizing Tagged With: , , ,

Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman

April 16, 2009 By

Aside from getting Caller ID—the best invention since chocolate—one of the best business decisions I ever made was to rent a postal suite. When I quit my corporate job and started working from home, door-to-door sales people showed up at my house and called my personal line. Renting a postal suite stopped the drop-by sales calls and made me seem more professional at a time when working from home wasn’t as widely accepted as it is now. In fact, no one knew I worked from home until my first home office book came out—it was sort of a dead giveaway.

Getting business mail at home isn't always the best idea.

Getting business mail at home isn't always the best idea.

If you’ve been trying to decide whether you should use a postal suite, here are a few things to think about:

  • You can quit giving out your home address.
  • The mail center—I use The UPS Store—will accept packages for you so you don’t have to worry about missing a delivery. Fed Ex and UPS don’t deliver to PO Boxes, which could be a problem if you receive several packages each week.
  • You can keep your business and personal mail (and life) separate.
  • If you move (within the city), you won’t have to change your address or anything that has your business address on it.

The disadvantages of using a postal suite are:

  • You have to drive to pick up your mail. Rent one nearby and you’ll have a short commute.
  • It’s not free—I pay around $14 a month for rent.
  • Sometimes you have to wait in line for your mail but you can use that time to check your e-mail on your handheld.
Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life Tagged With: , , ,

Organizing products we’ll never see

April 14, 2009 By

Dan Brantley, a professional humorist and speaker, is one of the funniest people I know—aside from the salesperson at Nordstrom who asked if I wanted to try on swimsuits. So when he told me about some organizing products he knew would never be made, I was intrigued. After you read Dan’s descriptions, let me know which product is your favorite.


ACE “Always clean & empty” storage shed
This wonderful device is installed in your backyard and filled with all the stuff you want to keep, but don’t really need. At random intervals, a large dump truck comes along and empties your shed. The next time you go outside with Aunt Mabel’s Crock Pot, you’ll be amazed at how much space you have. Additionally the items are sold at local charity thrift stores. It’s recycling at its best!

“I’m not your mom” clothes organizer
This wonderful device looks complicated with its hooks and pockets, but each has a purpose. You hang a pair of pants on the lower hooks, the shirt goes on the upper hooks, socks clip at the bottom of the pants, underwear fits inside the pants on a special hook, and shoes slip in pockets under the socks. When you’re finished you have an entire suit that hangs in your closet, ready to wear!

Always-in-style closet
This great labor-saver uses a system of hanger conveyors like the ones in your local dry cleaners, except they have ten year’s worth of space on them and go up into your attic. By the time the first things you hung up make it back into your closet, they’re back in style. You’ll be the envy of your chic friends.

Neat home hologram
Just once, get everything neatly and perfectly arranged. Then install the Neat Home Projector in the ceilings of your rooms and take an archive picture of everything in perfect order. From then on, no matter what condition each room is in, people will only see the perfect hologram. This is especially helpful for teenage boys’ rooms. Just think, every time you pass by, their room is immaculate. Optional “Fresh Scent” hologram projectors really complete the picture and are well worth the extra cost.

Trash to treasure box
We’ve all heard the term “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Well this great device puts this into action. Place one of these boxes under the sink to catch kitchen garbage, trash from the bedrooms and bathrooms and any place you collect trash. Once the box is full, close the lid and Voila! it’s a pre-priced “mystery item” for your next garage sale. Now your trash really can lead to treasure! Encourage the purchasers to prolong the suspense by waiting until they get home to open their “treasure” box.

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life Tagged With: ,

Something to remember

April 13, 2009 By

Some people think I’m extra organized because I always enter notes in my iPhone. The truth is I have the world’s worst memory. I can remember faces not names, directions not addresses, cereal not the milk. I’ve finally taken a few steps to try to improve my memory or at least fake that I have a better memory than I do.

Red bow on fingerAdd an attachment to your e-mail before you write your message. I’ve tried this several times and so far, so good. At least my friends and clients have stopped sending me e-mails—some of them in an annoying tone—asking about attachments I was supposed to include.

Set a timer one to two hours before you need to leave for an appointment. I enter appointments—personal and business—in my iPhone but sometimes I forget to check my schedule first thing in the morning. The timer on my iPhone reminds me to get ready early so I’m not scrambling to leave.

Give yourself a two-day cushion for deadlines. You know that sinking feeling when you realize a deadline is minutes away and you’re not finished with a project? If you plan ahead, you can do a better job of scheduling your time and avoiding missed deadlines. And you can keep your stress level down.

At the beginning of the year, enter birthdays and other special occasions in whatever planning system you use. You’ll be less likely to forget important dates and offend your friends and clients. Have you ever called someone who thanks you for remembering his or her birthday—that’s not why you called because you forgot—then you quickly enter the date in your calendar for next year? I have, but I’m not going to admit which friend I’ve done that to. Several greeting card companies including Blue Mountain offer free, online reminder programs so you can send e-cards at the last minute.

Filed Under: Home office organizing, Time mgmt./Productivity Tagged With: , , , ,
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