How to Keep Home and Work Separate When Working Remote

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

The life of working-from-home is one that many people used to dream of but when COVID-19 came knocking on our doors and “sending us to our rooms,” many people realized it was a lot more difficult than they had ever imagined.

Back in the day, you used to leave work at work and came back to relax and chill, but now, everything makes you want to relax and chill while there is work to be done. Your bed calls to you, the dirty dishes scream your name, and your TV tells you there’s a new show on Netflix. Don’t worry; you’re stronger than this, but it will take some discipline to make the home and work life work while working remotely. We’ve got you. Look at our top tips for keeping home and work separate:

Reward yourself with some great downtime.

When you know you have a great date to look forward to or some gaming and some of the very best CBD tincture, it could be easier for you to stick to your schedule, knowing that once you’re finished, you have some great stuff waiting for you at the end of your workday.

Keep your office outside of your bedroom.

This can be challenging if you have roommates but if you can make it work, keep your office outside of your room. That bed you took your time picking out because it’s so comfortable? Well, it could be your work downfall, as it beckons you to just “come and take one nap.” Wherever your work area is, make sure that you keep it decluttered and “inspiring” so that it makes it easy to spend hours there working at your work-station.

Set breaks throughout the day.

To help you avoid burnout, it’s wise to make time for breaks throughout your day. It also helps your workflow. There comes a moment during the day when your brain just doesn’t seem to want to work anymore. If you’re feeling like that, go for a quick walk around the block. It helps if you have a pet, as they’ll make you take breaks. Or, do a guided meditation, or cook yourself a delicious meal. Whatever you do, breaks help you reset and get back to business.

Consider working half the day at a coffee shop.

Consider working a few hours at a coffee shop a day. While you could try to work there the whole day, you may overstay your welcome. Instead, consider going there for a specific block of work, so that when you’re finished, you can break up your work day to do the other half at home. Plus, it helps you to avoid going stir-crazy by being at home all day and plus, you’ll get a great cup of Joe.

Schedule your work in blocks of time.

As mentioned in the previous tip, it can help you to schedule your work. Do you have emails to send? You can set aside a block of work for sending emails. Take a break and then get on to the next thing. This allows you to focus on one kind of work demand at a time instead of trying to rush from one thing to the next and also allows you to do that pesky thing in your house that’s been weighing on your brain.

In Conclusion

Most people want to work from home, especially if their job requires specific focus on difficult tasks. This way, they are able to work without distractions—or so they think. The reality is that working from home is a lot more challenging, but with these simple steps, you can effectively achieve the work and home life balance.

How To Run Your Own Etsy Fashion Brand

If you are a creative clothing designer and have the passion to get others to wear what you make, you may want to start up your own Etsy fashion store selling your products. 

Etsy is an online e-commerce platform that specializes in handmade and creative items. You can open your own online store on the platform, and you could go on to make quite a lot of money if you market and manage your business well enough.  Your Etsy store could be a great jumping-off point for making a bigger and better business.  Here’s a short guide on how you can start and run your very own Etsy fashion brand. 

Register Your Small Business Store With Etsy 

The first thing that you’ll need to do is to set up your shop. This is a relatively simple process. Don’t worry too much about the name that you choose, you can always pick the right name once you start to build your store. The name that you choose now be changed up until you open your store. 

Make Your Brand Stand Out With On Brand Designs and Graphics

You may just be one person with a sewing machine and a dream, however, you can make your brand stand out. Etsy is the perfect place to do this because it is all about uniqueness. 

Use a sew in label to make your branding and merchandise looking professional. Try and make your clothes distinctive enough to consumers. If you can use the same prints or cuts across a number of garments, then you will start to get a feel of what the brand is about. 

Think about what makes your clothing unique. Is it the fabrics? Cuts? Silhouettes? Use this as a selling point for your products. 

Wherever possible, you should use your branding on your page. Make sure you take advantage of every opportunity to upload images. Make your store as visual as possible. 

Deliver Personal Service to All Customers

People shop on Etsy because they want the personal connection that they can get from sellers on there. For this reason, it is important that from the very outset, you engage with customers. Reply to messages directly and always take the time to thank people for their orders. When posting items out, you should add a handwritten note in the parcel. 

Have A Business Plan and Be Willing to Make Adjustments as Needed

Just because you are creating fashion items for sale on Etsy and not running a big business doesn’t mean that you don’t need a business plan. While you are may not need a formal business plan as you are not looking for external funding, you should have an idea of where you want to take your business and what you will need to do in order to get there. 

Start-up costs are fairly minimal in comparison to other businesses, however, you should always make sure that your prices reflect the cost of materials, the time it takes to make them, as well as any sellers fees that needed. You will also want to include profit on top of that. By understanding these numbers, you will be able to ensure your Etsy store is profitable. 

Taking The Next Step With A Home Business: What To Think About

Many businesses start from home, and it can often be the ideal scenario. Working from home gives you a chance to work on your ideas, fine-tune different things, and work at your own pace at times that suit you. But as your business progresses, so will your need to think about what might be the next step?

With that in mind, here are some of the situations and things to focus on to help you progress your home business to the next level of success.

Image source - Pixabay - CC0 License 

Upping your social media and business presence

One of the first things that you could consider would be to increase the digital presence your business has. We all know that there is huge power in building an organic audience and an engaged following, so you now need to grow that and build upon it so your business can reap the rewards. It could be that you need to change your social media strategy and the type of content that you share. Or maybe it is time to start thinking about mixing the content up so that you can encourage people to do business with you. 

Coming out of the home and into a business location 

Another thing that you could consider would be to come out of the home altogether and take that big step into a business location and premises. There could be different options that you consider, such as a place-based around needing storage, a shop where you can sell products, or a nice location to meet potential clients and customers. A look online will help you figure out if you can rent a commercial property and can also help you to determine things like leases, budget and any other considerations you may need to make. 

Expanding your products and/or services

Maybe the time is right to start thinking about expanding your products and services, and this can be an excellent way to make the most of popularity or an increase in digital presence through social media. There might be a natural expansion you can make, or it may mean introducing completely new products and services. But it could be the ideal way to grow your business and continue on the path to success. 

Outsourcing certain aspects of your business

Finally, when you start at home, you are responsible for every aspect of your business, and so it can become all-consuming when your business grows and you may not have the time to complete every task. This is when outsourcing can help. Think about areas of your business that might not be your strong point. It could be accounting, IT management, or website development, for example. There are dedicated agencies and individuals that work freelance that could take on those tasks and dedicate time to them. Helping you to focus on the areas of the business that you can make the most difference. 

Let’s hope these tips help you to take the next step with your home business.