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| -This post is in collaboration with Cartridge Save- |
Working from home sounds ideal to most people, however, there's a lot of things you should take into consideration before working from home. I've been self-employed and working from home since 2017 so I definitely feel like I've been doing this long enough now to talk about both the pros and the cons of working from the comfort of your own home.
Making sure you have a good internet connection is a must if you're working from home. Especially if you have multiple people in your household using the internet at different times of the day. If you feel like your internet connection is just "okay" then maybe it's time to switch to a different package or maybe have a shop around and look for a different provider who caters for your area.
I feel like having a work desk setup is a good way to disconnect yourself from your home life to work life. The ideal solution for this is having a spare room that you can turn into an office space. However, I personally don't have a spare room, so I just have a desk set up in my bedroom. I'd also highly recommend investing in a nice, comfortable chair that has a backrest so you don't hurt your back. I sometimes find sitting at a desk all day actually upsets my chronic back pain more so I do switch between the desk and my bed. I also like sitting in my garden on my laptop when the weather has been nice, just for a change of scenery.
Something that I never thought about before working from home is how much I would have to use my printer. It turns out, I have to use it a lot! From printing off invoices, work contracts, documents and more. This means that I get through ink pretty quickly, especially when other people in my household are also using my printer too. However, it's good to know that there are companies such as Cartridge Save that have all the printer supplies you need from genuine branded products to their own Cartridge Save premium products. They sell everything from ink, toner, label tape and paper and they offer free next day delivery on everything too!
Trying to avoid being distracted when you work from home is honestly so hard, especially when you first start out. If I have my TV on as background noise, I try to make sure it's either something quite boring or something I've seen before so I'm not easily distracted. I also make sure to have a few playlists updated on Spotify so that I'm not spending time searching for certain songs or artists/bands and wasting valuable work time. It's little things like that, that can make or break your workday.
I also try to have set work times most of the time, depending on how much work I have on. I tend to start working late morning so I usually try to stop working around 6-7pm. So then I still have my evenings to myself and can switch off from anything work-related. Getting motivated can be quite hard when you're working from home, especially if you're a freelancer and work comes in waves and can be a little hit and miss. I'll admit I do allow myself to take a few days off if I'm feeling a bit unmotivated and uninspired instead of trying to force myself to work or else I'll just end up burning myself out and producing content that I'm not happy with which obviously isn't good. So I'd just say to be prepared to feel unmotivated sometimes, it's totally normal and it will pass.
It is honestly my dream to be able to work from home but I know that their is a lot of pros and cons to weigh up. Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteChloe X https://www.chloepryce.com/