Nowadays, so many people are working from the comfort zone of their residence offering whatever services to anywhere around the globe without moving an inch away from their residence.
Some people believe that the popularity of work-from-home jobs is as a result of the downturn in the global economy where more and more staff are made redundant.
So rather than looking for jobs that are not there in the first place, many people have turned their residence to their offices offering all sorts of services to their huge number of clients.
5 Major Mistakes You Should Avoid When You Work From Home
However, even with all the needed technology in place, your work-from-home experience will still take discipline to materialise.
1). Forgetting or failing to set boundaries
It’s important to ensure friends, family, and neighbours know that just because you are at home doesn’t mean you have got time on your hands. You can’t be held responsible for all household maintenance just because you’re in the house.
2). Over working, working too much
As much as working from home is a great way to make money, one still must be able to try to create time for a break just like in normal office settings. Create time to truly disconnect away from your engagement for refreshments or other activities because if you’re not being careful, you can find yourself working 24 hours daily for seven days none stop.
3). Absent on calls, inability to keep appointments
So, the fact that you are working from home doesn’t give you the freedom to miss calls and appointments. You should always make sure that you work towards keeping the trust between you and your clients. Remember that if something goes wrong, it can be much more of a problem in the client’s eyes than if something goes wrong in the office.
4). Economising on family responsibilities such as childcare
Try to distribute parental responsibilities, and if you have a toddler, get a babysitter to help you look after your toddler. Your clients would never be happy with you if your toddler interrupt during a conference or a phone call. That means your clients loosing faith in you. Always try to portray yourself at all times as professional, and be prepared to sacrifice your time between home/family responsibilities and your work.
5). Procrastinating with housework
Just like working in a proper office setting, you should create a time table through which lines will be drawn what to do and when. Create time for your housekeeping, don’t throw the laundry in the dryer between calls, but be careful not to let distractions creep into time you planned to work.
Featured image: The myth of working from home (BBC)