Working from home has a number of very obvious advantages. You have no journey to or from the office, you have access to all your home amenities during working hours, and you have the flexibility of being your own boss.
However, there are also a number of disadvantages. It can be harder to stay focused on work, and your home may be unsuitable for some business purposes. However, if you have the chance to start your own business and work from home it is definitely worth taking the extra effort to conquer these problems.
Separating work from home life
A lot of people find it much harder to stay focused when working from home. Since they have not gone into the office, they find it hard to get into ‘work mode’ or feel like they are actually working. Homes are also full of distractions such as the TV, the radio, or that really good book you are struggling to put down.
However, some people have the opposite problem. Because they are still in the space they use for work outside of working hours, they find it hard to switch off. This can mean that anxieties about work creep into your home life and affect you outside of your office hours.
The best way to conquer both of these problems is to set aside a part of your home to serve as a dedicated office. Set this up strictly as an office with no distractions such as a TV or a case full of books that don’t relate to your work. This not only separates you from the distractions found in the rest of your house, but gives you a dedicated space that serves only for work. This makes it much easier to get in work mode and keep this separate from relaxing at home.
By the same token, this confines all your work matters to a single space. This makes it easier to separate yourself from them when you are not working and preventing them from intruding on your home life. When you leave your office, you can close the door on it and enter the parts of your home that have nothing to do with work.
Things your home is not suitable for
There are some things a home office will not be suitable for. This can be a challenge, because you may find it seems to cut off useful business activities or hinder the effective running of your business.
One of the key things a home office is not always suitable for is meeting with clients or customers. However, this is easily conquered by hiring a meeting room for these occasions. There is a wide range of affordable, well-equipped meeting room Cityspaces available for a range of business purposes.
Another, simpler, but often important issue with working from home is the fact that your business address is also your home address. This can make you reluctant to include your address on certain materials, or simply look unprofessional. This can be conquered by seeking out a local mail redirection service. These will provide a professional-looking address to receive mail for you, and it will then be forwarded to you at home.
