Veteran work at home professionals have a lot of valuable experience to impart on making working from home an effective and productive way to earn a living.  There are lots of benefits - being able to work in your bathrobe, and deciding on taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon are just two of them, and they aren't even covering the benefits on your taxes.

However, getting the most out of working at home requires discipline, and keeping track of things you may not have considered before taking on the career choice.

First - time management is critical.  Start each day with a list of what must get done, and check things off the list as you complete them.  It may seem Mickey Mouse, but it's a very important motivational tool for boosting productivity, and keeping track of what you have (or have not) gotten done.

Second - set goals.  If you're a writer, set a daily word quota.  If you're doing marketing, set a client contact quota.  If you're doing graphic design, set a quota of work that needs to be done each day.  It's entirely too easy to slip into the "Oh, I'll just do that a little later..." while you check your email (nominally for work), surf the web (looking for information pertinent to your field or your current project) or work on your facebook page (to bring in new work, of course).

Third - your time is valuable, but only if you value it.  And by this, we mean that you make yourself aware of how many billable hours or billable projects you're doing each day. Schedule at least three hours on the computer where the Internet connection is turned off, so that you can minimize interruptions and distractions.  Your clients will understand if there's a regular time where you're not available.

Fourth - if everything is the top priority, nothing is.  You absolutely must prioritize your work each day; otherwise, you will procrastinate, or feel overwhelmed, and let projects slide from day to day.  When you make your daily list, put the small jobs at the top of it, so that you can make more progress (and build up a motivational head of steam) as you go through the day.

Fifth - organize everything.  Set up your work space and file carefully.  When you're done with something, put it away - the time you 'waste' doing this will more than make up for itself in being able to find things when you need them.  It also keeps your desk from getting horrifically cluttered, and keeps you in a better mental space for getting work done.

Sixth - at the end of the day, make a written record of accomplishments.  Have a scheduled end of day time; this is the time of the day when you stop working.  If there are things left undone, put them at the top of the list for tomorrow's tasks.  NOT doing this is the best way we know of to burn out, and burn out fast. 

Doing this also gives you a written record of what you learned, and every two weeks, you can go through your logs and notice patterns in what gets done when, and where, and how efficiently.

Tags: home business advice, home business freedom, home business tips, work at home business, working at home

posted by Chris Simpson