Having a work process, method or habits can create a sense of routine in a chaotic work space or schedule. Here are some ideas and tips for establishing a healthy work system for your business.
It takes time to develop your personal style of work when you're a freelancer or an entrepreneur. You might find that the work habits you had as an employee do not apply anymore in a home office environment or a co-working space.
Working in a corporate office or creative studio offers you a given space and often a given workframe to align to when working with others. You may have had a desk, a cubicle, or even an office of your own when working for an employer. Now, all the logistics are up to you to design, so how do you plan to approach this?
Sitting down, standing up, walking back and forth, working from home, a studio or the coffee shop down the street, no matter what your work requires you to do, make sure you move comfortably in your space and create the best conditions to maximize your productivity. Here are some tips on how to make better choices for your ideal work environment:
WORKING OUT
Some people find working in a hectic café or a quiet library gives them a better setting for concentration than staying home. For some freelancers this is also a better option to combine client meetings and working hours. Keep in mind that in some places, you might not have control over things like lighting, noise and other distractions. There are some things you can do to minimize the environmental impacts and help you isolate yourself within your small working space.
Location
Find a place where you have multiple favorite seats, so you are not distracted when your favorite table is not available. Is there a designated area for laptops, a work booth or bar, look for all options before settling down.
Make sure you find a place where the staff is friendly and sitting down for long hours is acceptable and welcomed, and the menu allows you to take a refreshing break for a snack within your budget.
Working Outside
Equipment
Bring your own music or noise canceling headphones if you get easily distracted. Get minimalist equipment that doesn't require a lot of setting up, and have a long battery life, or a power bank so you don't rely on electricity outlets.
Wear comfortable clothes and shoes, don't forget to take any accessory you may need like your reading glasses, phone chargers, notepads, and your business cards in case you run into a potential client or a networking collaborator.
WORKING IN
Working at the comfort of your home gives you the option to design your own space, personalize it, and load it with inspiration and motivation. The biggest challenge of designing your home office is to balance your professional needs with the coziness of your home. One should complement the other without distracting you from work, or take away from your home styling choices. .
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the study of people's efficiency in their working environment, and you can find lots of valuable material on home office ergonomics to help you make better choices when selecting your home office equipment.
If you're working at a home office desk make sure it is deep enough, high enough, wide enough to contain all your environmental needs, including a neat filing system for paperwork, stationary and a secure spot for your favorite coffee/tea mug.
Pay attention to your seat height, your back position, your arm rest. Balance the display brightness of your screens, eliminate any reflections, check for your eye level and distance from your computer.
Inspirational
Where is your desk pointing to? Is it a wall? A window, a dining room or a bedroom setting?
Ergonomics research suggests to look up and stare at a distant object every 15-20 minutes to avoid eyestrain, so why not use this eye rest to have an inspirational moment in the form of visual art or an outdoor view. It also helps your creative brain to take occasional breaks, scratch your legs and refresh your mind before heading back to work.
Working Inside
Find a good balance between surrounding yourself with inspiring materials that are work related, like getting a mood board hanging on your wall, a physical planner placed on your desk, or an inspiring quote written somewhere visible. And then have a complete eye rest from your work by staring out the window, taking a break by your coffee table or kitchen counter, giving your eyes as well as your mind, a well earned rest.
Stimulate your senses
Do you work well with music? Create your own playlists that spark your creativity or let random music play in the background. Find the balance between inspiration and disruption for your work process.
Test different lighting, always prefer natural lighting, but if not possible, then a warm-yellow light is always better for the eye than a blue or white lighting source. Make sure your lighting source causes no reflections on your screen or makes your screen appear darker than the rest of the room brightness.
WORKING TOOLS
When you worked in an office, especially if in a corporate job, you had an entire IT department dedicated to your technological needs and a set of data processing systems, probably some licensed programs and all the equipment you need to get work done.
Congratulations, you are now the entire IT department too, and you need to figure out what are the best tools to keep your productivity at best and organization skills at a high level. How will you plan a project, big or small? How do you follow up with your customers, how do you summarize your work experience with them, what is your new filing system, how do you keep up with your business sales and expenses?
To every business there are numerous solutions, some are paid, some are free or have free limited versions, and there is no other way but testing them for a certain period of time to make sure whether they suit your business needs or not.
Here is a limited list of the areas you will need to find working tools that will support your business:
Admin tools
Even if you are assisted by a professional bookkeeper, to make your life easier, you can look up a free or affordable app to help you keep track of your sales and expenses, and issue your invoices.
Budget apps are also a very friendly way to keep track of your expected expenses and wish lists for your business.
Customer Relations
If you work with clients as a service provider, you may want to keep a database of your clients, with a short description of the previous work you've done for them in the past so you can have a follow up or a reminder of them if they contact you again in the future.
Task Manager
This is probably the one you should dedicate your best research on, because this will be the backbone of your entire operation behind the scenes. A good task manager will keep your work up to date and should be managed effortlessly and intuitively. A task manager should be a lot more than your 'to do' list. It should be your brain outside your brain, your private assistant and your journal at the same time. Take your time to explore an app that can keep up with your assignments and prioritize them in a way that is so clear to you, so you will never have to wonder “what do I do now?’’.
A task manager should be a lot more than your 'to do' list. It should be your brain outside your brain, your private assistant and your journal at the same time.
Content Manager
If the task manager is the brain of your operation, a content manager should be the heart. It will represent your Brand strategy in every marketing format you choose and will deliver your message to the world. Have a friendly app that's easy to use. More importantly, have access to it from every device you own, so you never miss a moment of creativity, and not have access to write down your thoughts instantly. I recommend having an app that can have attachments of different files to it, links and images, so you can create and share in every format.
Professional apps and programs
If you work professionally with an app or program, (as a designer, for instance), then you already know what you program of expertise is, but just to leave you with a professional tip, always keep your eyes open to the competition in your industry, the innovations and new invention that can enrich your work and provide you with more channels of production and creativity. Sometimes, the alternative is even better for some projects, sometimes it is significantly cheaper, and sometimes we get so used to working in a certain way that we miss out on great opportunities and offers. Let the competition compete over your business, and you might get a great deal for your tech needs.
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