Ready for a Home Office? 5 Tips and Your Opinion
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| Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash |
Hanifmr.com - Doesn't it matter where you work? That is certainly different. While some need a real office, others get along very well in the home office.
I have already been able to gain experience in the home office as well as in the external office and know the advantages and disadvantages.
In this article, I evaluate a survey, describe my experiences and give tips for your home office.
Ready for a Home Office?
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| Ready for a Home Office? 5 Tips and Your Opinion |
Those who start their own business do not always have enough money to be able to afford an external office.
However, it is not necessary, especially for self-employed people on the Internet, since a table, chair, and PC are enough to work.
In many cases, you can work from home. However, the question often arises of whether you can work well at home. There are many distractions and some of them suffer from motivation and discipline.
That's why I started a survey a while ago that was exactly about this question.
Who Can Work in the Home Office?
Almost 200 readers of Self-employed in the net took part in the survey.
Can you work in the home office?
- Yes, it works very well. (45%, 89 votes)
- I would like to work at home. (29%, 58 votes)
- No, that didn't work for me. (16%, 32 votes)
- I haven't tried it yet. (9%, 18 votes)
Number of participants: 197 (1 vote)
Almost half of the participants (45%) stated that working from home is not a problem for them. It works very well, which I can say about the almost 9 years that I've worked in the home office myself.
For me, it took a few weeks/months, but then I was able to deal with the distraction at home very well and keep a real working day. But it certainly helped that I set up my room as an office in my house.
After all, 29% of the survey participants would like to work from home, although it is not clear here whether they are employed and dissatisfied with it, or whether they are prospective founders who plan to work in the home office. It is clear, however, that not everyone is made for the home office and some imagine it to be easier than it is.
16% of the participants who did not work in the home office have already experienced this. This can have many different reasons, including the distraction by private things or the problematic separation of leisure and professional life.
9% have not yet had any experience.
5 Tips for the Home Office
Even though I've now moved to an external office and the separation of work and private life works better, I look back with satisfaction and pleasure on my (work) time at home.
It took me a while to get used to a strict day at the home office. In the beginning, it happened that I had lunch in the living room in front of the TV and then didn't come back up. But that wasn't a problem after a few months.
From my own experience, I can give the following 5 tips to everyone who wants to work in the home office:
1) Clear Separation
My biggest challenge when working in the home office was separating work and personal life. When these two worlds are so close together, it is difficult for many to switch off and to call it a day. For a long time, I thought that was good because I was with the family in the afternoon and could work again in the evening. However, I wasn't able to switch off so well and always thought that I could still do something instead of sitting on the couch.
It is time very important for the self-employed and should not be underestimated.
A separate room that is only used as an office is recommended in any case. If you have a work corner in your living room instead, it will be even more difficult to separate your personal and professional life.
2) Fixed Working Hours
A big advantage of a home office is flexibility. You can switch quickly and easily between private and professional life, which has led to the fact that I saw my children much more in self-employment than when I was employed. But this flexibility also has disadvantages. Many do not find a proper evening in the home office or can not bring themselves to get started early.
It is highly recommended to introduce a real working day to start work at certain times at the latest. It was relatively easy for me because the children always had to get up early and of course I got up there too.
After work, I found it much more difficult, but at some point, I realized that 14 hours a day is not good in the long run.
3) Good Ergonomics
As a self-employed person on the Internet, you don't need a lot of furnishings in your home office. Nevertheless, one should not save at the wrong end. So the table and the chair are of great importance. Anyone who works 8 or more hours a day should use a good office chair and a suitable desk. In the long run, you damage your health with the stool at the dining table.
Sufficient light is also important so as not to strain your eyes. And if you can look out the window at work, you're doing yourself a favor.
4) Technology
In addition to the above-mentioned office furniture, as a self-employed person on the Internet, of course, you need a computer. I always made sure that I had good, modern technology. You don't have to buy a new PC every year, but you shouldn't mess with a 10-year-old computer just because it's still running.
In my office technology, I always value speed and few waiting times. In addition, a lot of RAM and an SSD hard drive are now important. But of course, the other components should also match. However, it doesn't have to be a 500 euro graphics card.
My two monitors are also very important to me. It should work properly and be large enough (at least 24 inches). This is easy on the eyes and makes my work a lot easier.
The keyboard is underestimated by many. But if you type in thousands of words every day, like me, you should pay particular attention to quality.
5) Organization
Last but not least, as a self-employed home office worker you have to be a good organizer. Family, children, relatives, and friends often fail to understand that there is a difference between “working at home” and “working in the home office”. You have to communicate that clearly and draw boundaries. My own experiences with my family are very positive, as my wife in particular was very understanding.
Of course, there are always challenges like holidays or the like, but after a while, most of them understand that you are working.
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