My son just took a job with a fast growing online firm where he and most of his colleagues work online from home. I had worked from my home office for a while with a company headquartered in Berkeley during the dot.bomb era. So naturally I offered him some unsolicited advice about being a “home warrior:”
- Network. Network. Network. Make it as personal as possible.
- Have clear OFFICE space.
- Locate that office space as far from fridge as possible.
I asked my tweeps for other suggestions. One Twitter friend, @sdtapex, warned me that flextime and telecommuting had led to near disaster in his company. Eight others added suggestions:
- Plan your day and stick to that schedule. (Am assuming that office space is without a TV!) — Raghunath Koduvayur (@MarketingRags) August 5, 2016
- When unmotivated, I wear business attire. Helps me feel more like I’m working, less like I’m lounging at home — Justin Campana (@Justin_Campana) August 5, 2016
- Develop a routine – perhaps clothing related – to clearly identify which identity is current. What says “I’m at work now?” — John Bordeaux (@jbordeaux) August 5, 2016
- Have clear office hours to go with clear space — Kris Bulmer (@jkbulmer) August 5, 2016
- Set regular “working hours,” get a good headset — ednoles (@ednoles) August 6, 2016
- Make sure that the family understands the rules. #WorkFromHome — Fatherhood Factor (@FatherFactor) August 6, 2016
- Get involved in a local professional organization to ensure F2F contact! — Amy Doonan Cronin (@AmyDCronin) August 6, 2016
- Set appropriate work hours. I started working from home & set my own hours. Ended up waking up late and staying up too late — Christopher Church (@chrishchurch)
So with the help of Twitter I am up to 11 suggestions for the home warrior!
Any more???
Social Media Marketing 4 Business 
I have worked ‘from home’ for years – but it depends if one would call that a home office or an office space that happens to be the second storey of my private home.
I have no little tricks and hacks to share – I think the most important thing is to shape that work style pro-actively: I had been travelling like crazy for a few years – working with another client every few days, very often firefighting or stressful go-lives. Then a roof repair project turned into a serious attic / house rebuild. I was forced to stay ‘at home’ for a few weeks – living in the middle / below the construction site and supervising contractors … and only then I realized that I can actually do most of the work remotely, after I absolutely had to tell clients I cannot travel. In addition, it felt weird to build a spacious office as a ‘home base’ and aim at leaving that all working days.
So I gradually transformed my own business (including finally a change of professions) based on my requirement that I absolutely wanted to avoid travelling and commuting no matter what that would entail. I never had issues with motivation – I just have to remember how it would feel to rush to the airport at 5:00 AM or to get stuck in traffic at the motorway, instead of commuting 5 seconds to my office 🙂
Your list sounds awesome! I actually picked up a few tips as well. 🙂 I’ve been working from home for over a year now and I started a blog focused on telecommuting and working nights. I have a post about ways to avoid social isolation while working from home. It might be too early in the game but your son may find this helpful for when he starts feeling a bit bummed out about telecommuting. 🙂 Here’s the link to my post- https://jennicatalks.wordpress.com/2016/10/18/10-ways-to-avoid-social-isolation-when-working-remotely/