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Last Updated on January 20, 2024 by Work In My Pajamas
When you’ve decided to work from home (pajamas optional) and it’s something you’re passionate about, then you want to set things up right. One aspect that doesn’t get much attention is the making sure you have a working space that’s optimal to focus on the business tasks and creating a good work-life separation. It’s an aspect that’s often neglected by home workers whose health sometimes suffers when they make the switch from a corporation to their home-based business.
Let’s look at other ways to set yourself up well from the start.
Clutter-free Work Environment
Instead of littering your workspace with personal knickknacks and keepsakes, it’s a good idea to err on the side of minimalism at the start. You need to focus on the task ahead and anything that takes your mind away from that goal isn’t supportive.
You’ll find that you don’t need most of the things that clutter up the typical office space. A smartphone can take the place of a flat-bed scanner. Your local FedEx Office (formerly Kinkos) can knock out the photocopies you need (if you ever need them). Even a high-powered office computer can be swapped out for a Chromebook or similar economy laptop that will do everything you need.
Get Your Web Site Online Properly
Assess your website needs. How much web hosting you require depends on how busy your site will be and how fast it should dish out web pages to visitors. If you’re going to be representing clients who move at lightning speed, then you probably will want at least a shared hosting plan from a provider that only uses solid-state drives for storage, and maybe you’ll want a managed virtual private server to speed things up even more.
On the other hand, you may not be expecting that many site visitors every day. In which case, a basic shared hosting plan as recommended by Hosting Kingdom is likely to be sufficient. It surely won’t deliver pages that quickly, but if the site is simple and the visitors are all U.S.-based, then that’ll probably be acceptable.
Ergonomic Seating
It is something of an afterthought to consider the chair that you’ll be sitting on, but once you’ve sat in a badly designed one for a couple of hours, you’ll understand why that’s a mistake. The most important feature is lumbar support in the lower back area, but office chairs should be fully adjustable for height, pitch and angle too.
Also, consider the amount of seat padding. If it’s insufficient, you’ll be uncomfortable within an hour or less. The back padding is less important. Most people will want armrests too, but that often comes down to what you’re used to and isn’t a prerequisite. If you’re expecting business clients to ever visit you at your home office, be sure to buy a second chair for them; it doesn’t have to be a fancy one.
Setting yourself up right the first time for working at home isn’t difficult. Ensuring a clutter-free environment and a clean desk policy is smart. And when you’re seated comfortably, you can do your best work. It just makes good sense whether you’re usually working in your pajamas or not.
