How To Remain Professional From Your Home Office

We are experiencing a very different season right now because of the Corona Corid 19 Virus. Everyone around the world is isolating within their homes.  Children and animals are suddenly under foot, while parents try to work from home. I hope I can make a few helpful suggestions to help you get through this very difficult time.

You need to find a place to create your workspace. Suggestions for setting up a home office on the fly includes looking for the quietest place in your home. Some quick ideas might include emptying a closet, laundry room, storage room, garage or basement or even using an extra bathroom as an impromptu office! 

This is only temporary, so be creative. 

If it’s impossible to avoid the shouts of children, barking dogs, shrieking birds, flushing toilets and what-have-you; and you absolutely must make phone calls, consider going outside and away from these noises. Avoiding phone calls and using texts and emails is the first solution.

However, remote online meetings can be a different story.  While muting a microphone can help if you are not hosting a meeting, things are different if you are actually trying to host it. As the host, it might be helpful to schedule the meeting at the same time that kids are doing their online school or schedule the kids’ school time around your meeting. 

Spouses, older siblings and others in the household can help you, too. You might even be able to send “the noise” outside! But always remember to train your children to stay 6 feet away from others when they go outside. You might send them outside with some sort of adult supervision, if possible. Keep everyone safe!

As crazy as this seems, those of us who are used to being homebased in our businesses all recommend that you get up and get dressed just as if you were headed to the office.  This will help you psychologically prepare yourself for your workday.

Overall, this is a very difficult time for everyone, so I think most people will be tolerant if they do happen to hear some strange workplace noises.

For further suggestions please take a look at my recently released book See Dick and Jane Start a Homebased Business, now available on Amazon.com. https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B085XQSP2K&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_tILHEbDKJCYED I hope you find it helpful.

If you just have questions, please visit my website at https://www.jeannegormick.com and click on the Free Consultation button.  I would be happy to help you get through this in any way I can. I raised 3 kids in a homebased office environment, so I might be able to help.

Everyone stay safe!