10 Tips To Make Working From Home More Productive

Working from home is a great thing, no doubt about it.  You can wear what you want.  Keep you own hours.  Eat and drink when you want.  Surf the net without feeling like your boss is going to bust you.  You don’t have to worry about commuting and all of the stress associated with bumper to bumper traffic.  No annoying bosses to deal with anymore and you can take breaks when it suits you.  In short, you control your own destiny. 

All of those things are fantastic pros to owning your own business and working from home.  However, there is a dark side.  There is the tendency to get sidetracked from the work that generates a profit and puts food on your table to the work you would maybe rather do at the moment like build that deck in your back yard, work on your car, or ugh…do the laundry.  There is also the tendency to lose track of time researching for your business or taking care of tasks that may be better suited for a different time or even handled by a different person.  All of these sidetracks, and many more, will take away from your daily productivity and essentially end up affecting your bottom line. 

Here are 10 tips to help you stay on track and heading toward the profits you desire and deserve.

1. Organize everything.  Having a system in place for your business, your home office, and your work time is essential to remain focused and productive.  Develop a system of organizing your office files and your computer files.  Make sure there is a place for everything including the stuff you got in the mail today.  Some common file categories are:

•Expenses
•Bank accounts
•Receipts
•Customer files
•Contracts
•Payables
•Receivables
•Taxes
•Business entity documentation
•Marketing
•Copywriting ideas

On your computer it is often helpful to have a folder for every major aspect of your business with separate smaller folders contained inside if necessary.  For example you could have a taxes folder on your computer with separate tax information stored in sub folders by date.  Al l the tax information and documentation for each year would be stored in that year’s folder.  The important thing to remember when developing a system of organization is to make sure that it is a system that will work for you, your business, lifestyle and needs.  If it doesn’t you wont use it and it won’t do you any good.

2. Plan.  Some people are planners and others are doers.  To be a successful business owner, you have to be both.  You have to plan it and then you have to do it.  Plan your business, plan your year, plan your month, plan your week, plan your day.  Task lists and project management systems are great tools for the day to day, month to month type planning.  For longer range annual planning you will want to go back to your business plan and review, revise, and reassess it annually. 

Goals are much easier achieved if you set out a plan to achieve them.  This includes the small daily goals like calling that contact about that new joint venture idea you have.  I’m sure you have already heard this, but good goals are measurable, relevant, timely, and attainable. 

3. To do lists.  To do lists or task lists as we talked about in #2 are essential to keep you on task and focused on your goal. Task lists also help keep you organized and they help you prioritize your day.  If you’re like me, then they help to motivate you too.  There’s something satisfying about crossing an item off of your task list, and conversely something terrifying about watching that task list grow and grow while doing nothing to shorten it and keep it under control. 

4. Automate what you can.  One of the fantastic things about working from home and owning an online business is that there are so many wonderful tools available to help make our lives easier.  There are autoresponders and electronic shopping carts.  Web tracking statistics and article submission software programs.  Heck, there are even task list programs that will email you your task list for the day!  Automating certain tasks will help take the burden off of your shoulders and free up your time to spend on more important tasks. 

5. Keep real hours.  One of the pitfalls of working from home is the tendency to work 12 hours a day.  I know you’re thinking no way, I wouldn’t do that, but it happens and your friends, family, and even your pets suffer the consequences.  You do too.  All work and no play makes ….well you know the rest.  Even if you LOVE your job, it is important to step away from it.  Keep real hours. 9-5, 8-4, 10-6 it doesn’t matter. Do whatever works best for you and your business but when it comes time to clock out and eat dinner with your family – do it.  Work isn’t going anywhere but your family is.

6. Let it go.  This goes back to #5.  When the horn blows and it’s time to turn off the computer and go to your child’s choir concert, be there with them in the moment.  If your mind is at home thinking about the task you didn’t quite finish or the project you’re starting tomorrow, you’re not truly with your child. 

7. Track your hours.  Tracking the hours you work and the time it takes to accomplish certain tasks can be an eye opening experience.  You may find that the copywriting you think is only taking you an hour a day is actually taking you two.  You may also find that your administrative tasks are taking significantly less time than you thought they were or that answering emails consumes half of your day.  Tracking your time is essential if you want to later determine the value of it.

8. Plan your admin time.  Use the time of day that you are most productive for the tasks that are important to your business.  You can easily handle your administrative tasks during the time of the day when you’re unable to focus as well or are likely to have more interruptions. 

9. Outsource what you can.  Since there are only 24 hours in a day and 5 days in a working week, it may not be possible to get everything done.  If you can fit it into your budget to outsource some of the more time consuming, and less appealing tasks, it may be worth your while to do so.  Particularly if your time would be better spent on tasks that generate revenue.

10. Identify your time stealers.  Everyone has time stealers.  Some get easily distracted by email.  Others find themselves spending too much time networking online or researching.  You likely know what your time stealers are.  If you don’t track what you do during the workday and how much time you spend doing it.  The results will be interesting. Once you know where you’re losing time, you can take measures to eliminate it.  For example, if email is stealing your time, schedule checking your email into your task list in the morning, at lunch and near the end of the day.  That way you’re not responding to every new email in your inbox.  

Working from home is a joy but it takes a bit of structure and discipline if you want to be productive.  Using these ten tips as guidelines, you’ll be well on your way to a productive, and profitable future.
 
>>If you have more ideas please post your comments.

Knowing What You Want.  How To Hire The Right People.

The first step in hiring the right person is to define what you are looking for and what responsibilities and tasks will be handled by the person in this position.  This means, to begin, you will need to compile a list of the job’s responsibilities, tasks, and communication needs.

This definition might include:

Desired business experience

Education requirements

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Tasks, Duties, and Responsibilities

Objectives and Accountabilities

Competencies

Work Schedule

Compensation and Benefits.

Each of these aspects involves some layers of definition and decision and I’d like to break them down individually and discuss each beginning with Business Experience.

Business Experience

Business experience is defined by experience in the work force and also experience in a particular industry and potentially in a similar position.  You must consider all facets.  Does your company want 15 years in the work force and 15 years of relevant industry experience and responsibility or is 10 years of relevant industry experience a must?  Keep in mind that none of them are default requirements.

Your position may require absolutely no industry experience but several years at an executive level.  Your position may also require 15 years of industry experience but no time at an executive level or if you’re filling an entry level position, maybe it doesn’t require any experience at all.

To determine the desired level of work experience for any position there are several questions you might consider:

1. Are the desired experience requirements consistent with the job’s responsibilities?

2. Can an employee perform the job with less experience? Why or why not?

3. Is the background of the incumbent employee influencing your experience requirements?

4. Are you being objective or subjective when determining experience requirements?  Meaning, are you comparing it to your own experience or what is actually necessary for a person to competently perform the job?

5. Are you compromising on experience requirements to fill the job quickly?

6. Are your requirements realistic?

7. Are your requirements in accordance with all employment laws and regulations?

By narrowing down exactly what you are looking for in an employee’s experience and understand exactly why you are establishing those parameters, you will be better able to focus your candidate search and better able to make a smart hiring decision.

Education Requirements

Your education requirements follow a similar pattern of questioning as your experience requirements.  Ask the following questions:

1. What education is necessary to successfully perform this job?

2. Why is this education necessary?

3. Can this position be performed by someone with less education?

4. Are the education requirements consistent with other positions inside the company and the industry?

5. Is the educational background of the incumbent employee influencing the decision?

6. Are you being objective or subjective with these requirements?

7. Are you compromising due to a need to quickly fill the opening?

8. Are your requirements realistic?

9. Are your requirements in accordance with employment laws and regulations?

These questions serve to clarify the position and the requirements.  It is easy to set too low or too high of standards and therefore possibly miss the perfect candidate.  Additionally, by being as specific as you can be, you’ll be that much faster at eliminating candidates that do not fit your profile and finding those candidates that do.

Objectives and Accountabilities.

What do you want your new employee to do for your company?  What are your goals for this position?  I don’t mean what are their responsibilities and duties.  This is where you’re setting the bar for your new employee.  Establish goals that you want to see them achieve and then set about to find an employee that can achieve them.

Along with a position’s desired objectives comes accountabilities.  How will the employee be held accountable for failures and rewarded for successes.  Who will determine failures and successes?  What is their reporting procedure and relationship with supervisors?  This structure is important because you need to look at a potential employee’s previous accountability structures and also discuss with them how they have been held accountable and how they prefer to be held accountable.

Make sure that their experience and successes match or mesh with the way that your company handles accountability.  For example, some companies prefer to offer financial rewards based on successes.  If that is your candidate’s experience and it is not how you plan on rewarding success then that needs to be addressed.  Additionally it is important to speak with references to find out if accountability measures were successful with that candidate and if not, why.

Answer the following questions to determine reporting relationships and accountability measures:

1. What position or positions does this job report to?

2. Where does this position appear on the department’s organization chart?

3. What employees or positions report directly to this job?

4. What is the relationship between this position and other positions within the company and within the department?

5. Will position and/or department be rewarded for accomplishing objectives?

6. If yes, then how will they be rewarded?

7. If no, then how will successes be acknowledged?

8. How will position be held accountable for not meeting set objectives?

By answering these questions and laying down a firm list of expectations, procedures, and policies, you’re eliminating doubt and indecision from the mix.  You’re optimizing your time spent searching for the right hire, and you’re potentially saving your company money.

Competencies

Competencies encompass many desired attributes that you want in an employee.  They can include:
Knowledge,
Skills,
Attitudes,
Actions.

For any position you would want to determine the candidate’s effectiveness on the job by evaluating their ability to:

Achieve Results
Communicate Effectively
Demonstrate dependability
Sustain a level of Organizational Knowledge
Make Effective Decisions
Plan and organize
Problem Solve and show good Judgment and decision making skills
Be Productive
Take Responsibility
 
Decide ahead of time how you want the position to accomplish and perform these behaviors, keeping in mind that this is not a comprehensive list of behaviors.  You may want to add, subtract or modify your behaviors to fit the specific position that you will be searching for.

For example, you want your employee to make effective decisions.  How will you go about determining if they are capable of making effective decisions?  First you need to determine how you will evaluate the effectiveness of a decision.  Next you will need to outline a few interview questions, and potential reference questions, that will address this specifically.  Continue this process for each of the required behaviors.

Next, you may want to determine what personal behaviors are desired, why they are necessary for the position and how you are going to evaluate a candidate’s competency in the following areas:

Ability to build trust
Honest
Excellent Interpersonal Skills
Positive Attitude
Able to recognize the achievements and contributions of others
Able to constructive resolve conflicts
Shows respect for others
Supports Diversity and Understands Related Issues
Understands Alternative Perspectives

You’ll also want to look at behaviors that center around the success of the organization including:

Commitment to Continuous Quality and Improvement
Continuous Learning and Development
Creativity and Innovation
Customer Orientation
Vision
Flexibility and Adaptability
Leadership and Initiative
Teamwork and Cooperation

When you’re hiring at the executive level there are additional behavior considerations including:

Evaluating Employees
Enable and Empower Employees
Encourage Teamwork and Group Achievement
Identifies and Supports opportunities for Employee Development
Leads Change / Achieves Support of Objectives
Embraces diversity

That’s a long list of behaviors to consider when you’re searching for the right employee but it’s not as difficult as it may seem.  Many of the behaviors are already defined in the basic job description that you have developed without even thinking about it in specifics.  Once you list the behaviors that are desired, why they’re desired, and how you plan on evaluating if a candidate possesses those behaviors then the last thing that you need to do is ask the questions at the interview. 

Work Schedule

This is an easier one to determine because policies are presumably already established.  If it is a new position then decide the work schedule, including the times of day that you want the employees to start, end, and how many hours a week you expect them to be there.  Also determine in advance which days, if any, are paid holidays, vacation days, personal days etc.  If alternative work schedules are available, like telecommuting or working four 10 hour days, then determine that as well.

Compensation and Benefits

You may not have any decisions to make here.  There may be a company wide benefits package and policy and your work here is done.  However if there is any leeway or decisions to be made here, like is there room to negotiate salary requirements with extra vacation, then those decisions need to be made in the beginning.  Before you start looking for your next star employee!  Know that benefits can be a prime negotiating tool and possible selling point for the right employee.

Once you know what you want in an employee and are committed to taking the necessary steps to find that person, you’ll need to know where to look.  The best people aren’t usually answering want ads placed in the local newspaper (though there are occasionally diamonds out there to be found). 

Tips and Strategies to Setting Up Your Company

Choosing the Business Entity

Once you’ve decided to start a business, you’ll need to decide whether to form your business as a separate legal entity, and if so, what that entity will be, and what are some of the other steps you’ll need to take to get up and running. This article is meant to be general business advice, though, so you should still obtain specific legal advice for your particular situation.

Sole Proprietorship

Single owner businesses sometimes choose to operate as a sole proprietorship. In this situation, the business essentially operates as an extension of the owner. The profits and losses of the businesses will be accounted for on the individual tax return of the owner. This form of business has the obvious advantage of simplicity in that there are no separate corporate or partnership formalities to be followed.

However, all liabilities of the business will also flow directly through to the business owner. This means, for example, that if a customer is injured on the business premises, or the business incurs debts beyond its ability to pay, then the personal assets of the business owner are legally available to satisfy those claims.

General Partnership

Two or more individuals who own a business may elect to form a General Partnership. In a general partnership, the general partners determine how they will share profits and losses of the business, and enter into a written partnership agreement documenting these shares. The profits and losses of the general partnership then flow to the tax returns of the individual partners in accordance with the ownership percentages that are set forth in the partnership agreement. The partnership itself is not subject to any separate income tax.

However, despite the agreement between the partners in how to share profits and losses, each and every partner is exposed to the full amount of all liabilities of the business. This means that a creditor or plaintiff can collect the full amount of any claim or judgment from any of the general partners.

Limited Partnership

The Limited Partnership form of business is similar to the General Partnership in that profits and losses are distributed to the partners and flow through to the tax returns of all partners in accordance with the percentages the partners determine in the partnership agreement.

However, some of the partners can be “limited” partners, meaning that they would not be subject to any personal liability for any of the debts or judgments against the partnership. There must be at least one general partner in the Limited Partnership, and this general partner will have unlimited personal liability. The general partner(s), but not the limited partner(s), will be responsible for management of the business.

Limited Liability Company

A Limited Liability Company (or “LLC”) is comprised of one or more “members.” The ownership percentages, profit and loss distributions, and voting powers of each LLC member are determined by an agreement between the parties, which is generally reduced to writing. When the LLC is formed, it elects whether to be taxed like a partnership with profits and losses flowing through to the owners’ tax returns (as discussed above), or taxed like a corporation (as discussed below). The members of the LLC are protected from the liabilities of the LLC.

Corporation

A corporation (perhaps the most well-known form of legal business organization) is owned by one or more “stockholders” and managed by a Board of Directors elected by the stockholders. The Board appoints officers who run the actual day-to-day business of the corporation. The stockholders, directors and officers of the company are generally protected from the liabilities of the company.

For tax purposes, there are two types of corporations: “C” Corporations and “S” Corporations. In a “C” corporation, the corporation is a separate tax entity, so the profits and losses of the corporation are taxed directly at the corporate level, and do not flow through to the tax returns of the stockholders. The “C” corporation may also be subject to a separate level of “franchise” tax at the state level. If the stockholders elect to be treated as an “S” corporation for tax purposes, then the corporation will be taxed as a partnership. This means that the profits and losses of the corporation will flow directly to the stockholders in accordance with their stock ownership.

There are also other differences between “C” corporations and “S” corporations, including the permissible number of stockholders for each.

How to Form

In many situations, it will make the most sense to form your entity (if you decide to form a separate legal entity and not operate as a sole proprietorship) in the state in which you will primarily operate. Since partnerships, LLCs and corporations are separate legal entities, they can generally be formed in any state, regardless of where the business actually operates. However, organizing under the laws of the state in which you primarily operate will save you the cost and administrative burden of maintaining a “registered agent” in the state of formation.

The websites of many Secretaries of State contain a great deal of additional information on how to form in their state. In some cases, downloadable forms are available to assist, and sometimes entities can be formed directly through an online interface.

Other Considerations

Depending on the type of business you’ll be operating, your state may require that you obtain and maintain certain additional licenses. Examples of these types of businesses can include daycare facilities, healthcare-related business, restaurants and catering businesses.

As your business grows, and you expand your operations into other states (including having employees in other states), you may need to “qualify” your business on those other states. This process is generally easier (and less costly) than forming the company, but you need to take care to do so correctly.

The Bottom Line

As you start your business, make sure to take the time to consider how your choice in business form will affect your personal tax situation. Consider seeking professional legal and tax guidance so that you are comfortable making the correct decision based on your needs and concerns.