Do Business Well

The majority of people who work from home, whether they be working for giant corporations or in one-man bands, work by themselves. On the one hand, that means they are extremely efficient — no interruptions, no joking during meetings, no office politicking around the coffee machine, or gossiping in the lunch break — but it also means that homeworkers can feel terribly alone and isolated.

`I found that working six hours a day at home was worth more than eight in the office,’ says Emma Dally, now Publishing Director for The National Magazine Company. ‘There are so few interruptions that you are able to work very intensively.’ Continue Reading »

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A recent survey by the psychology department at Swansea University found that the major difficulty experienced by people who had just started working from home was the inability to separate their work and home life. That was not just because they themselves found it hard, but because family and friends found it equally hard to accept that the person who was previously ‘mum’ or ‘dad’ at home was now also a worker. ‘They found it very difficult to accept the change in roles,’ says Professor Osborne. ‘It was hard for partners and kids to comprehend that the person who had previously been available when at home, no longer was, and that they had a new role inside the home.’ Continue Reading »

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Before you even start working from home, it is vital to consider exactly where you will be working and to ensure that you have one space that is always used for your work. The setting up of a home office is considered fun, but some basic points are worth bearing in mind:

Having a space of your own makes it much easier to separate your work life from your home life.’ I tried working in the front room, but it meant that when I sat down to watch the TV, I couldn’t help seeing all my papers and all the things I was meant to be doing the next day,’ says May a medical secretary. ‘It became very hard not to take them up and just have a quick browse through. Once I transformed the back room into an office, I could at least shut the door on my work and walk away.’ Continue Reading »

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How often do you …

• Dawdle before work, causing frequent lateness?
• Forget things?
• Fidget around losing productive work time?
• Misunderstand instructions?
• Take extended coffee breaks?
• Get major assignments and projects in late?
• Feel at odds with your boss?
• Feel alienated from your workmates?
• Take sick leave when you are feeling ‘just a bit off’?
• Daydream about being elsewhere than at work?

The items above suggest a common picture—the non-productive worker. Of course, we all have bad days and even the occasional disastrous period, but if non-productive events crop up regularly in your day-to-day work, then you should do something about them. If you don’t, your boss might. Continue Reading »

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Retirement is a joy to some and a misery to others. The reaction for the latter group can be so extreme that retirement can almost be seen as a death sentence. Without getting too moribund, let me say that retirement is a concern which all too often is put on the shelf until the retirement period arrives. If not sufficient forethought has been given to this important period of one’s life, the retired individual can sit perplexed and despondent, wondering how to occupy each day.

The ideal preparation for retirement is performed during the working years when the vigour is there to establish hobbies and interests and make productive plans. Continue Reading »

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This is a brilliant promotion in itself. Whereas unhappy clients never stop telling other people how badly they were treated, happy clients barely murmur, unless it is an amazing case of ‘And they even…!’ If you are going to be talked about, let it be in the latter way.

You can do simple things, too, such as taking care of people’s parcels as a kind gesture and security measure. In New York you have to hand in any bag bigger than a small handbag and, even though it is an anti-theft measure, it allows you to shop hands- free.

Recently, in a well-respected department store, I tried to check in my overnight bag and was advised quite firmly that it was against security regulations. I could not carry the bag and shop at the same time, so I left. In this case ‘they even’ made it seem a criminal offence for me to have asked! I just do not feel like going back, despite having shopped there for many years. Continue Reading »

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