Working from home tips

If you're new to remote working (working from home), here's a few tips that we use at starfish marketing.

Stay in your routine. Get up at the same time, get dressed for work (don't stay in your jammies), do same things you would do before heading into the office. The only thing you miss is the commute.
Create a dedicated workspace. If you have a home office area, use it. If you don't have a home office area, then create a workspace somewhere quiet, that doesn't have a lot of foot traffic, like a spare bedroom.
If you can create a dedicated “school space” for the kids too, we recommend trying that – it works for some families.
Set up your workspace as close to your work set up as possible. If you can replicate your 'desk' you will feel more like you're at work than at home.
Plan out your days. Have a to do list, allocate your tasks into your calendar, use a project management system. Whatever works for you, plan your day out to help you stay focused on what you need to achieve.
Make sure your systems and processes are up to date and accessible by all your team.
Take your breaks at the same time as usual. Keep the routine happening. Set the expectation with your family that you will be available at 10am for morning tea, at 12.30pm for lunch, at 3pm for afternoon tea (or whatever your normal break times are).
Turn off email notifications and check & respond to them at dedicated times during the day. It's easy to feel like you need to respond immediately to your emails. Set up your Out Of Office message and advise people that you'll check your emails at certain times and if they need a response before then to phone you.

At starfish marketing we've been working remotely since day 1. This is what works for us. These tips don't cover every scenario, however we hope they help you.

If you're a small business and you would like to connect with other small business people, we've set up a Facebook Group, Small Business Check-In. It's a space for small businesses to support each other, to check in in regularly to see how we're going, to ask questions, and share information and tips.

We're all there to help each other. If you're interested, you can join us here.

Download a copy of these working from home tips here