5 Tips for Making Working from Home Work for You
Can you relate?
We have to admit we really love working from home!
Here are a few things that have helped us make it work for us and might help you too...
Create a Dedicated Space
That pile of clutter won’t stare at you so intently if you can’t see it!
Not everyone is going to be lucky enough to have an entire room to dedicate to their business as an office. If this is the case for you, try to at least carve out a nook where you keep all your work things. This not only helps it feel more official, it helps your brain focus on the task at hand — making your business run — and limits the transition time from work to home use at the end of the day. Plus, it’s always nice to know where your work things are when you need them!
2. Implement a Solid Workflow
While decorating a beautiful home office space may sound like more fun than designing a workflow for your client experience and back end business tasks, creating a well-designed workflow will save you countless hours of spinning wheels trying to think of what is next on the to-do list and/or keeping those important tasks top of mind.
We use Honeybook as our CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System. We can schedule reminders, take payments, send contracts, make notes, and review all communications and files sent between us our our photography clients. — All with a few clicks of our mouse.
If you are struggling to create a workflow that feels manageable with a full calendar of clients and ends in a five-star review from each one, you may benefit from our Workflow Class. The class is only available as one of 17 photography skill and business foundational classes in the LPS ONLINE Educational Hub for only $49/month (cancel anytime). In this class, Megan Hoffer shares her very successful workflow along with email templates and swipe files galore to help you implement the suggestions ASAP.
3. Schedule Dedicated Work Hours
Honor your business (and believe in yourself) enough to schedule dedicated working hours (rather than feeling like you "should" wash the dishes or clean up the house first). The cool part is that you don’t have to work a typical 9-5. You can choose to work from 12-4 p.m. and then 8-10 p.m., four days per week if you like!
We remember what it was like when we were just starting out: Afraid to call ourselves F — F—Photographers. “I mean, it’s just a side-gig so should’t the housework and childcare responsibilities come first?” We suggest you stop right there and give your business the time it needs to flourish. No one is going to tell you to sit down and get the work done for your business but YOU. So, hold your head high, leave those piles of laundry and dirty dishes where they are and give you and your dream some time and attention to succeed. If you’re lucky, your spouse might even be so impressed with your dedication that they start taking a more active role in helping with those chores.
What you do with your time is always a choice. Our favorite quote from our founder, Megan Hoffer: “The sun will rise and set regardless. What you do with its light is entirely up to you!”
4. Use a Coworking Space
If you are home working alone on the regular, let’s face it, it get’s lonely! The coworking space we use TCF in Lancaster is the best of both worlds in our opinion. You have the freedom of making your own hours without a boss telling you what to do, as well as the supportive social office environment that has the good internet, snacks and free coffee all day (without those piles of laundry)! This is a great option for the photographer who loves the freedom of being their own boss but really misses the camaraderie of being on a team and being around people who care.
5. Be Flexible
Owning your own small business is a rollercoaster of an experience on the daily. One minute you are doing a happy dance because you booked a dream client. The next, you are in the depths of despair over not understanding what just happened to your website. You must keep an open mind and a “keep chipping away at it” attitude. Celebrate the wins and use the face plants as learning experiences and consider your schedule a work in progress, always. If you have small children at home like we do, it constantly feels like one minute we have figured out a schedule that works for us…and then everything changes and we have to go back to the drawing board. Celebrate the ability to re-arrange your day rather than giving into the frustration of it all. And, don’t forget to smile! =)
We hope you found these 5 tips for making working from home work for you helpful. We believe making these shifts in your work space, schedule and mindset can make all the difference in how you feel about working from home and can be the deciding factor in the success of your small business. Good luck out there! And, remember, we’re here cheering for you!