I was just talking with someone the other day about when I first started working primarily from my home office.  The adjustment period took at least 6 months for me to find my workflow and adjust to my space (or adjust my space to my work).  Ripley shares some essential strategies here to help make the transition easier.

Thanks for the great article Ripley . . . take it away . . .

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Being a telecommuter may seem like a dream come true but there are often many aspects of working from home that can cause tension, stress and even depression. For most people, transitioning from an office environment to a home office is both daunting and difficult. The office environment facilitates a social setting where you interact with your co-workers throughout the day. Working from home immediately limits your opportunity to socialize and at times can create a sense of isolation that can be hard to adjust to. Another possible change you will undergo is balancing your work and home life. This can be extremely challenging as working from home blurs the lines.

In order to get the most out of your telecommuting experience, it’s important to have a strategy. Here are some simple steps to help relieve the pressure and tension that working at home might create:

1. Create a specific work space. There is nothing more distracting than trying to work in front of the television or in a common area where the children might be playing or your spouse might be on the phone. If possible, turn a guest room into a home office where you can set up a desk, computer and other office supplies as well as where you can hold conference calls and teleconference calls without any distractions or disruptions. If you do not have an additional room or space, designate a space at your kitchen or dining room table so that you will not be tempted to work in front of your television set. Also, make sure to keep your space tidy and neat so that you can find any paperwork, projects or reports when needed. You don’t want to mix your work papers and information with bills, school projects and other personal items.
2. Figure out a work schedule. One of the biggest hassles when it comes to telecommuting is maintaining diligence and discipline. Although you are not tied to a clock like you might have been in an office environment, you are still responsible for getting your work done in a timely manner and being available for meetings or conference calls. You don’t want to ever appear unprofessional so pick a normal work schedule i.e. 8-5pm or 9-6pm so that you can get as much work done during the day time which will free up the evenings to spend time with friends and family as well as personal time to decompress and relax.
3. Leave work at work. In the past, this was an easy thing to do since work was at an office and you left it behind the second you headed home. Now that you work from home, this can be an easy mistake that can cost you and your family happiness and a sense of normalcy. As soon as your work day is over, get up from your desk or work space, shut off the computer, turn off the work phone and leave it all behind until the next work day. Be sure to spend time doing the things you love such as; working out, gardening, cooking, going to the movies, meeting friends for drinks or just watching television with your family. You will be more productive and be able to maintain a sense of organization when you implement this simple step.
4. Take scheduled breaks throughout the day. When working in an office environment, there are several scheduled and unscheduled breaks that one takes which helps break the monotony and gives you a quick breather. Working from home may seem like one long break as there are no co-workers or supervisors visiting your desk or demanding anything of you but you will still need to push away from your desk and give yourself a minute to clear your mind. Step outside and get some fresh air, go run an errand or just make a quick leisure call to a friend. These types of breaks really help round out your work day so that you don’t wind up feeling like you’re chained to your desk from morning till night.
5. Avoid working on the weekends. Working from home allows you a lot of freedom but it can also seem like a prison sentence since you are not getting out and about like you used to. That’s where the weekends come in. You need to utilize your weekends to the fullest by getting out and joining groups that interest you. Find organizations that cater to the types of activities you love. Schedule time with friends and family so that you are spending all of your weekends having fun rather than slaving away at your computer. Even though working from home allows you the opportunity to work seven days a week, is it really a healthy option? No. That’s why you need to treat your weekends the exact same way you did when you worked in an office setting.

Ripley Daniels is an editor at Without The Stress, which assists citizens by simplifying government-related tasks. Ripley writes about subjects dealing with passports, work visas, and many other topics.

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This mobility and anywhere access has caused the lines to blur between our work and personal lives. For most entrepreneurs and small business owners, the two are forever intermingled. If done right, mobile work should be empowering: providing you more freedom and flexibility than you ever imagined as you easily manage the shifting flow of tasks, responsibilities, and communication that are part of your daily life.

But it’s easy to let the technology, and our work, start to take over and demand more and more of our time.

I discovered that in today’s eBusiness world, pure “work/life balance” doesn’t seem to work (at least not for me). What seems a better, more dynamic, fit is a zen-like approach which aims for “work/life integration” instead. This quote called “Master the Art of Living” sums it up.

So how do you do it?  How do you handle the demands of today’s fast paced, 24/7 business environment, along with all of the commitments and enterprises in your personal and family life?

Here are my top 5 tips for a zen approach to mobile work. They will help you achieve “work/life integration,” and ensure that technology is your tool and not your master.

Know how your technology works. Turn off audible or visible notifications so they don’t provide unnecessary interruptions when you are not working or need single-minded focus on a particular project or task.

Setup clear communication guidelines. Make sure everyone knows what is expected of them with regard to accessibility. These include prioritizing communication channels and determining expected turnaround times for different modes of communication (ie. 3 hours for emails, 1 hour for voice mail).

Centralize email and social media messages. Find ways to filter these messages into as few programs as possible so you can easily and quickly check and reply to them without feeling overwhelmed by too many systems.

Consolidate Technology. Find one tool that can serve multiple purposes. Smartphones and tablets can take the place of many devices such as point and shoot cameras, video cameras, laptops, voice recorders, and more. Finding ways to consolidate several tools, and information, into one device lets you travel lighter and stop wasting time switching between multiple platforms or programs.

Unplug and Turn off. Just because you can work from any place at any time doesn’t mean you should. These tools have an off switch – use it! Give projects their proper focus and attention. And don’t be so distracted that you fail to stay present with family and friends.

Following these simple steps will help you navigate the flow of digital information in your life.

Do you have a great tips or suggestion for clearing digital clutter?  Don’t keep it a secret! Post a comment below and share it with the rest of the tribe here on The Anywhere Office.

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And this doesn’t even touch on all the useless meetings and other time sucks of office life – one more feather in the cap of working from The Anywhere Office!  It’s a wonder anything gets done at all. With a more flexible work schedule it’s easier to schedule some of these “distractions” into your day and still get solid work time in – but when you are in the cube farm from 9 – 5 it’s a different story.

What do you think are you surprised by any of these statistics?  Post a comment below and let us know!

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Here are links to the resources in case you want to check them out yourself:

Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition By David Pogue

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble

MacProVideo.com - Great video tutorials on Mac programs.  They are running a special sale until October 20th – use these special links to take advantage of these discounts:

• 33% off any HD downloadable tutorials
• 25% off subscriptions

I purchased 5 of the downloadable tutorials and I highly recommend them.

Have you found any great books, tutorials, or other resources that help cut your learning curve ?  Please share them in the comments below!

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I came across a recent blog post today from Glen Allsopp (@viperchill) “Living Self-Employed Online: The Manual They Forgot to Give You”.  Glen shares 13 lessons from his first 18 months of being self-employed:

As some people here don’t care about making their living from the internet, I understand that this post will not be for everybody. However, if you’ve just made the leap to working for yourself, currently run your own business, or you’re looking to make your money online in the future, this article may be just what you need.

Over the last 18 months of working for myself, I’ve learned a ton of things on my journey. Not every piece of advice I took on board has helped, with many ideas quickly being discarded. From reading dozens of books, speaking with hundreds of entrepreneurs, and living this life myself for a year and a half, there are a few lessons I would like to share.

I found this post to be full of wisdom and something I wish I had read when I first made the leap.  One tip that I really liked was about choosing the most important tasks to focus on:

Identify the Most Important Tasks That Will Grow Your Business

When you have all day to work on whatever you want, it’s very easy to get caught up in things which a) aren’t helping you grow and b) not as effective as other tasks. As early in your own business life as possible, define the most important things you can accomplish each day and give them utmost priority.

He then gives examples for what those tasks are for his business.  This was really powerful for me as I often find myself jumping around trying to do a lot of things rather than focusing on a core list as he suggests. I am making a list like that now and will keep it on the corkboard that sits above my desk. From now on whenever I begin to stray or get side tracked I can look at the list and refocus.

Whether you are a freelancer, entrepreneur, small business owner, or solo-professional I think you will find his article valuable as well as his website http://www.viperchill.com where he shares lots of information about marketing online and what has worked for him.

Let’s share some tribal knowledge here – please post a comment below with some of the biggest tips or lessons you’ve learned being self-employed!

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Chris is the CEO of the Live2Sell Group of Companies, a thriving Total Business Outsourcing corporation based in the Philippines where he lives.

Chris has developed systems and ideas to manage his time and make his business life easier and more productive. Watch this short video where he explains why multitasking actually makes you less productive and shares tips for staying focused and growing your business:

Please leave comments or questions for Chris or me below this post – or just share a productivity tip or strategy.

Also, check out Chris’s site – Virtual Business Lifestyle – where he writes about building a highly mobile, automated business lifestyle. The site is full of great articles and videos and has quickly become one of my favorite blogs. While you’re there, grab a copy of his free ebook, “Saving the Day, the Virtual Way”; with tips on how to find, train, and work with virtual assistants. I just finished reading it and learned some valuable strategies.

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The discussion centered around some of the findings from One Drum’s recent flexible work study.

We discussed a number of topics including:

• How can flexible/remote working can make you more productive?
• What are some of barriers to productive remote working?
• What should businesses consider when choosing tools to facilitate remote working?

View this post on the One Drum blog for a summary of some of the key points and a full transcription is available in PDF form here (Thanks Chip!).

It was fun, exciting, and informative and we are planning to make this a fairly regular event.  It looks like we will be doing one again next Wednesday so I hope you will join us!

What is a tweet chat?
For those of you unfamiliar with this online discussion format, a tweetchat is simply an organized group chat that takes place using the Twitter platform. Participants use an assigned hashtag (in our case #flexworkchat) for their tweets during the discussion. For more information on Tweet chats check out this short article.

You can follow along, or participate, by visiting http://tweetchat.com/room/flexworkchat or simply following the #flexworkchat hashtag on twitter.

If you want to know about upcoming chats (and other events) please subscribe to our email newsletter (on the right hand side of any page of this blog) or follow me on Twitter!

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Further research continues to indicate that focusing on more than one task at a time actually decreases productivity and may jeopardize the fundamental quality of our work and communication. But this data seems to contradict what many people hold as the vision of a fully engaged and adapted 21st century worker.

The people who engage in media “multitasking” are those least able to do so well, according to researchers. This recent BBC article examines the results of a study done at Stanford University.

And this NPR radio segment also highlights some enlightening research into multi-tasking.

But in today’s workplace, and even just in our day to day lives in the information age, a certain amount of multi-tasking is unavoidable. So it seems the skill to develop is knowing when, where, and what to multi-task. Ali Hale weighs in with what I feel is a reasonable and well thought out opinion in her article ‘Multi-Tasking vs. Mono-Tasking’:

So how do you know when you should “multi-task” and when you should “mono-task”? And how do you manage to do the latter? Some things lend themselves brilliantly to multi-tasking. These tend to be activities which are purely physical, or which by their nature take a set amount of time to complete – however well you focus.

All of this has given me food for thought – as I am a person who is prone to multi-tasking and have convinced myself that I am pretty good at the juggling routine. In fact, I half-jokingly said to my brother just the other day, ‘I’ve got to focus, no more multi-tasking, from now on I’m only going to do two or three things at a time.’

So, here’s a little eye-opening challenge if you feel the same way: try this online game called MULTITASK and see if it might start to change your opinion.

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Collette Schultz on October 26th, 2008 11:21 pm

As a new virtual assistant subcontractor I’m getting into researching the VA industry through podcasts. I listened to this one last week and am bound to hear more. What I find most frustrating is knowing where to start. Do you offer a beginners series to help getting started?

While we have never blogged or done a segment specifically on Virtual Assisting, I do not believe it differs greatly from other types of internet based businesses: that is to say that it relies mostly on abilities and training, networking, and marketing.

There are several places people can obtain training to become a virtual assistant or, as in Collette’s case, improve their existing skill base; some of them offer certification:

Certification Programs

• AssistU
• International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA)
• VA Certification
• Certified Virtual Professional (Thanks to Collette for this resource!)

Our Jumpstart Kit is also intended to improve people’s fundamental skills with virtual teamwork and remote work technology. Also, Phil wrote a book called Lose Your Commute about finding legitimate work-from-home opportunities in general and it contains a lot of insights and resources.

In terms of networking there are a growing number of professional organizations and communities for Virtual Assistants (this list is by no means exhaustive):

International Organizations

• Clayton’s Secretary
• Canadian Virtual Assistant Network
• International Association of Virtual Office Assistants (IAVOA)
• International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA)
• International Association of Virtual Assistants

Networking and Support Groups

• Virtual Assistant Networking Forum (VANF)
• Virtual Assistant Forums
• Virtual Business Group
• Virtual-Professionals.com
• Real Estate Virtual Assistant (REVA) Network
• Work-the-Web

When it comes to marketing a good starting point might simply be exploring some of the reputable freelance job sites. Guru.com and FreeAgent.com have specific categories for virtual assistants and IVAA affiliate Staffcentrix bills itself as a “Virtual Assistant Internet Portal.” Other directories exclusively for virtual assistants include:

Free Worldwide Directories

• Elite Office Support
• Specialist Virtual Assistants Club
• VA4U

Beyond that, once someone has their own site or VA business there is a remarkable amount of advice about internet marketing online. Just shooting from the hip I would put Marketing Sherpa out there as a place to start an eye-opening trip into THAT rabbit hole. We also have a site that is specifically focused on internet marketing and running an online business: www.smallbizemarketing.com.

(thanks to Carolyn Moncel for compiling many of the resources I’ve listed here in an excellent article called Starting a Virtual Assistant Business).

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What if I told you that you could have the equivalent of a team of researchers keeping their eye on the web for you and finding all of the latest information on all of the searches you need to do – and they would email this valuable data to you either weekly or daily right to your inbox – all for free? Interested?

Well I’m going to let you in on one of the most useful automation tools I’ve discovered – Google Alerts.  Google has expanded way beyond their normal basic search function.  They offer a staggering array of software, services, and online tools.  One often overlooked gem is Google Alerts – which is a service they offer that notifies you by email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Here’s how it works:

Google currently offers six types of alert searches: “News”, “Web”, “Blogs”, “Comprehensive”, “Video” and “Groups”. For example a Google Web Alert sends you an email each time a new page for your chosen term makes it in the top twenty results on Google’s web search. You can also have the alert check Google News and/or Google Groups.

To sign up for a Google Alert, all that you need to do is visit the Google Alerts homepage, enter the search term or topic you are interested in, choose the type of alert, frequency of emails (daily, as it happens, or weekly), and your email address.

You can set up alerts for as many terms as you like using a Google Account (which is also free). In October 2008 Google also made alerts available as RSS feeds.

I have several Google Alerts setup to send me daily updates.  I use it to find mentions of myself, our websites, and business (searching for “Phil Montero”, “YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com”, and “The Anywhere Office”).  I also have alerts setup for phrases like “virtual office”, “virtual team”, and other similar queries which help me keep tabs on what’s happening and find interesting topics to write about in this blog.

Of course your use of Google Alerts doesn’t have to be limited to business – you can use it to search for getting the latest on bands you like, an upcoming event, or keeping up with your favorite sports teams.

To get the most targeted information you want – I suggest reviewing Google’s Advanced Search Tips – these tips can make you an expert Google Searcher and help you create more effective alerts.

One of our core philosophies for working effectively in The Anywhere Office is finding small adjustments that lead to big results.  Google Alerts are the type of tool that achieve this and help you work smarter not harder.

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