Operating your small business at home: How to set yourself up success

Tips for running a successful small-scale business from your home

How do you ensure success when running a small business from your home? Here are some helpful tips.

Although flexibility can be beneficial, it’s often all too easy to check emails during home or family time. This not only suffocates one’s attention, it creates expectations of availability. It can also be harder to relax and lessen stress.

How can you keep from all of this?

Be creative in your work space

One great work at home is to clearly define your home and office spaces.

A separate room or space specifically designed for work is crucial, as the physical distance could cause mental isolation, meaning it’s more easy to turn off your work when the day has ended. A desk, an appropriate office chair, and a storage system can set you up to be successful.

We also suggest taking the time to create a space that look and feel inviting. Research suggests that personalizing your workspace is a fantastic method to increase productivity.

"I have a massive cabin and a kitchen that provides plenty of space for my food and equipment. It’s my little sanctuary. It smells divine and I’m in full control over the music!"

Incorporating a bit of creativity into your work space can be a big difference.

"I’ve attempted to make my office an environment which I love being in. There’s a string of bright red roses arranged around the table behind my computer. I hang all our big feather costumes out in the open so that I can see them, and I have a quilted blanket that my mum made for me on my chair."

When you’re working at home when you’re in the middle of an outbreak, these tiny creature comforts can be the difference.

Mimic your normal work boundaries

While some people might allow work to infiltrate their lives at home a bit, it’s best to be cautious about letting this happen. It’s a good idea to keep a laptop off the kitchen table, and no packing of orders in the living room.

Set boundaries will help to maximize the value of your day when working from your home.

We should follow the same rules that we’d encounter in our regular workplace. As an example, you wouldn’t respond to email notifications popping up if you were having a face-to face meeting with a customer or an employee and you shouldn’t do it during the course of a Zoom meeting.

When working at home, it might be tempting to check every ping from your phone or email notification immediately but making this a habit will not help you in the in the long run.

Stop receiving email notifications to allow you to concentrate on the task at hand without distraction, then only check your inbox every half an hour or less.

Find a method that is a good fit for you and stick to it

The ability to establish a routine while working from home is very crucial.

A regular start time and breaks for physical activity throughout the working day and a set time at which is when work ends are all vital. Following a schedule and setting up a schedule around your day’s tasks will help you become more productive.

"If you have 3 massages booked, I will stop each one one after the next In addition, I’ll keep an established schedule that includes time for lunch breaks, coffee breaks and other needs."

Every day, she will ask yourself important questions like "What are my goals or milestones I need to be able to achieve today?" and "What’s in my head right now? ".

Certain people are drawn to routine and find practicing daily gratitude activities beneficial.

Write down three things that you are thankful for every day, and try to write your to-do list the night before or first thing in the morning. It will put you into a positive mindset and allow you to feel at relaxed.

Advocate to protect your mental health

When you’re at home working, you can go the whole day without seeing any other people, so you must learn to become an advocate for your own well-being by practicing self-care.

Be realistic about the work you can accomplish especially if you’re home schooling kids, and you should take the time to replenish your energy.

Studies showed that following the SARS quarantine period, people had signs of psychological stress. Taking the time to keep in touch with your family, friends , and clients is vital.