IS WORKING FROM HOME YOUR NEW NORMAL?

Good afternoon. Oh, morning. It's still morning. Good morning everyone talking about working from home today. Hopefully we can have a great conversation about this topic and answer some questions and give you some tips on how to make working from home efficient and productive and pleasurable. Hopefully you're going to have fun working from home. So I'm going to apologize for wearing the granny glasses today. I want to be able to read and comment on your comments and if I don't wear these, I can't read my screen. So that's just. It is what it is. So hello Lisa, thank you for joining us today. And hello, I've forgotten your first year Austin's mom to me. So thank you for joining me. Stacey. There it is. Thank you for joining me, Stacy. It's great to have you guys here. We're going to pause for just a couple more minutes and see if anyone else is free to join with the time and stage of where everything is at in our world today. I never know what's a good time to catch everyone to be able to do a live. So anyway, how are things in your world, Lisa? Is everything going okay for you guys? Are you keeping busy? Give you a minute to reply to me. So what this is going to look like today ladies is I have put together a list of things to help you get prepared and work on making things better for you working from home. So I have a good list here together. Some things we're going to go over. I don't know if you can see that. And I'm also going to post this in the thread afterwards so you can refer back to it later if we didn't get it all put together. So you know, one of the first things, let's just go ahead and get started. One of the first things that is so important when you are working from home. You know, many of us, you know, let me just backtrack a little bit. Sorry about that. I've been self employed for 31 years. 2020 marks my 31st year. My first business was in my home and I started off really, really disciplined and I have been working from home. You know, in the beginning of my career I started at 21 and worked in my home for about seven years and then I moved my first business into a commercial location and then I sold that business, moved to Oklahoma, was in a commercial location but did have a home office as well during that time frame and now I'm back to having a home office again. So you know, one of the very first things that I can remind you of is you have to have a really, really specific and rigid schedule for working from home. So whether you, you know, leave the house and punch the time clock somewhere else, you have to basically punch the time clock while you're at home. And I know that that seems a little bit strange, but I always look at it like this. You know, before I started my first business, I worked for a bank and I had to be clocked in by 8 o'. Clock. I had a one hour lunch and I left at five. That was every single day. I always got there about 10 minutes early and then left, you know, about five minutes after five. I was very, very rigid about that. Well, that same mindset I brought with me when I started working from home. Even though I had kids, I still took them to daycare, dropped them off and got back to the office by 9 so I could start my workday. And I didn't. I was not tempted to do laundry or to make lunch or get dinner ready, that kind of thing. I stayed very focused on what my schedule was for that day. And it's really important that even though you're at home right now, some of you may have home based businesses, other of you may be working from home because the current state, state of our, of our country and our world. Well, if that's the case, that's. It's hard to be thrown into a home environment if you are not used to it. And add on top of that your kids are there, which typically your kids aren't normally with you when you're working. So that just adds one more layer of things being more complex. So one of the first things that's really, really important is that you try to build a permanent or semi permanent workspace have designated area for you to be doing your work. Now I have a home office because I designed, you know, my home to have that. And that works really, really well for me. I posted some pictures yesterday so you could visualize what my home office space is. So your home office or your workspace at home is really, really important that you have a designated space to do it in. Now if you are someone who's now teleworking working from home, who normally goes into, into a business, it's going to be a little bit different because you haven't laid your house out or your home out to be able to be working from home. So the first thing is to designate a specific work area for you to be doing your homework in. So for instance, if you have a dining room that is set off from the rest of Your home, do it in the dining room. Even if you have to set a little table up in your bedroom so you have a door that you can close, that's really important. Now if you are in a situation where I have to work in the living room or I have to work in the kitchen, that's normal. I mean, that would be, you know, absolutely normal. If you're thrown into working at home and you've not prepared for that ahead of time. Well, here's the thing that I want to encourage you is while you're working in that space, that's kind of a high traffic area where your kids and your family is all around you at all times, try to position yourself so your back is to the traffic. If you're in the living room and the TV is on because the kids are home, position yourself so you can't see the TV because it's too easy for you to get distracted and get consumed with what they're all doing. So turn your back to where the activity is. And the second thing is put on some headphones, put some music on in your ears so you kind of can dilute all of that sound and all of that, that chaos around you. So you have to have designated permanent workspace. Now, with my home office, as you can see from the pictures that I posted yesterday, I have two very, very specific spaces to work. The space I'm in right now, this is my coaching area. This is where I do all of my coaching calls, all of my work on my coaching programs. This happens at this day, this desk area. And it's really, really a comfortable space for me. It's important that when I design this space that it fit and matched the brand of my business. My business for life coaching and business mentoring is I want to work with high level entrepreneurs, people that are very driven, that have a very high level of intensity and high level entrepreneurial shift. That's important to me. So my space reflects that. I also want it to be cozy and comfortable and beautiful, a place that I always want to come to work. Because if you have a workspace that is messy and dirty and cluttered, you are not going to want to go there in your home. You are going to think about going out on the back deck because it's a beautiful day. You're going to want to go to the kitchen and see what potentially you're going to make for dinner because you don't enjoy your workspace. So declutter your workspace. It's really, really important that you declutter your workspace And I was listening to a podcast today. It was so interesting because they talked about if you have a decluttered workspace, a decluttered home, it is a direct reflection to the thought process and the clutter that's going on upstairs. So if your, if your life is in chaos, a lot of times it's going to reflect in a physical form, whether it be messy desk, messy home, messy car, whatever that is. If you can rein all of that in and get yourself organized, it's just really important that you create a beautiful workspace, a place that you always want to go, especially if you're working in your home permanently. But if you're working in your home temporarily, create the best space possible for you to be successful. And get comfortable furniture, a comfortable chair. If you do set up a makeshift desk, make sure you have a comfy chair because you're going to be in there a lot. And just make sure it stays very, very comfy. Now, here's something that is really, really important and it takes some discipline to do. Set real work hours. So if you're working from home for the first time, you have to set real work hours. Pretend that you're clocking in, that you're going into your office and you're clocking in. You've got to have real work hours that are designated for you to get your work done. Really, really important that you do that and make a schedule for your day. I am a crazy schedule person. Everything is scheduled. And if it's something that's really, really important for you to accomplish, you have to make sure it's on the schedule. That is just 1,000% important. I want to welcome a few new people that are visiting and joined us. Lisa Rossman. Nikki, how are you? It's been so long since I've seen you. And Janine, thanks for joining us. Sherry, Cammie and Leslie, great to have you guys here. And I'm just going to apologize for wearing the granny glasses. Otherwise I can't see if you're here or not. So I apologize if they're reflecting. So we were talking about setting those real work hours. It's important that you do that, that if you have to work from 9 to 5, that you actually work from 9 to 5, that YOU take your 15 minute morning break, that you take your lunch hour, that you take your afternoon break. It's important that you follow what would be your normal path. And that is going to help increase your productivity. Now, there are certain times of the day that I am more productive than other times. Of the day. If you get me to the afternoon after 3 o', clock, I'm going to be a little bit more T. So for me, I get to my desk and do the most high intense work that has to be accomplished first thing in the morning. That's when I'm clearer, I have more energy, I'm more focused. If I wait till the end of the day to do critical things, I might get sloppy and I might miss details. So I would encourage you to figure out what your high productivity periods are in the day and see schedule your critical work to be done during the time of day that you are the most productive because that's different for everyone. I'm a morning person. I'm up around 5 o' clock every day and that's just my schedule that doesn't work for everyone. Not everybody is a morning person, but I am. I get a ton accomplished between 5 o' clock in the morning and 7 o' clock in the morning. It's amazing what you can do that time frame if you designate certain things to be done during that time. So discover what your productivity hours are, the best time of the day and make to do lists every single day. You have to know what your primary focuses are of the day. Now granted, things are going to pop up. You're going to have things creep up that were not on your schedule. That happens. That happened to me yesterday. Yesterday afternoon I had a few urgent things I needed to take care of care of for a couple of clients. So I was able to do those things no problem. But it did push some other things on my list to today, which is not the end of the world. But make your to do list out and put your high priority things first and work down that list and put the to do list on your calendar. Schedule appointments with yourself to do the certain things that you need to do and use a plan. I have a planner. I use Google Calendar to do the majority of my scheduling, but I also have a planner that I write my to do list down. It's really important that you have that every single day. Now that a lot of people are working at home that are not accustomed to working at home. Here is an absolute 1000% must. This is what you have to do. You cannot work in your jammies all day long. You can't. You have to get yourself ready just like you were leaving home to go to your job and be prepared to actually work. Because you're going to work better if you are dressed, hair done, makeup done, shower taken care of, all of that stuff than if you just try to work in your sweats or your jammies. And I really feel a firm believer in this. I know that we're, you know, you're thinking, well, I don't see anybody all day. What difference does it make? Well, the difference that it makes is up here, it's the mental difference that that makes. If you don't feel dressed for success, ready to create your day, ready to respond to your day because you don't have your hair done, you don't have your makeup done, you're still wearing your jammies, you're not going to be very productive. So get yourself up just like you were leaving the house to do your regular job and go to work mentally, you're going to get more, going to be way, way more efficient. It's important that you do that. And here's another thing to consider. So let's say you are, you know, sitting at home working remotely because you can't go into work right now. And your boss sends you a message or an email, I need to speak to you. I'm sending you a zoom link in five minutes. And what if you're not ready? What if you're not prepared? You're still in your jammies, you haven't put your makeup on yet. That is going to leave a lasting impression on your boss. You may not get that promotion. They may think, okay, so you're working from home, but are you really working? Because you don't look like you're working from home. So you have to be prepared for every opportunity that you might get. You never know what is going to come your way on a day. And I would rather be prepared and ready for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared or to be in a situation where, oh my gosh, I can't let them see me like this because I don't, I didn't do my hair, I haven't taken my shower yet. So you have to get yourself up and moving and ready for the day. Be ready for whatever opportunity might come your way. The next thing is try not to work in those high traffic areas like the living room where the TV is on. I know you may not have that choice or that option, but try not to try to designate a specific area that is set apart from anybody else in your home. And maybe you have to go the corner of your bedroom and create your workspace, but try to cut down on any potential distractions. And you know, I did a live a few weeks ago about your morning routine and how important their morning routine is, well, that is more important now than ever. You have to have a morning routine and you've got to stick to it every single day. Get up the same time every single day. Set two alarms if you have to. If you're someone who's going to click snooze, snooze, snooze. Set two alarms to get yourself up on time and get your day going at the same time every day. Exercise and stretch regularly. You know, to really have the stamina and the mindset to get through this difficult, challenging time, you have to be physically healthy and mentally healthy. And if you take some time out of every single day to get your exercise in and that might just be, you know, go for a mile walk or walk around the block, whatever that is for you, that is fine. But you have to do it every single day. Move your body and you know, I used to go to the gym every single day, but now that the gyms are closed, I'm having to work out at home. And I'm not going to lie, I don't enjoy working out at home. I don't feel like I get as much out of it. I really need and crave the community of the people I work out with. So that's been a challenge for me. I'm still doing it. I don't love it, whereas before I loved going to the gym. So it's just, it's taking an adjustment and it is, you know, been a little bit of a mental struggle from time to time. But I'm working through it, I'm staying committed and I'm sticking with that routine because it's so important. Okay. Following that is really going to be eating healthy snacks, healthy lunch, healthy breakfast. You have to keep your health up, avoid sugars because they're going to give you your high boost of energy and then you're going to crash after that sugar. And at about 3 o' clock you're going to want to take a nap. So you have to keep yourself fueled well, keep yourself healthy and take short breaks as you feel yourself getting tired and you just have to refocus and readjust. Hop up, go for a walk, step outside, get some fresh air, do something to move and shift your body because if you sit in the same place for too long, you will become very, very inefficient and non productive for sure. And create a reward system for yourself. So if you have your list of to do's that, you know, things that you've been working on okay, I'm going to get through my fifth thing on my to do list and I'm going to go for a quick walk or I'm going to take a break and go run an errand. Give yourself little rewards for accomplishing the things that you've accomplished. Okay. And stay off social media unless it's work related because you know as well as I do that if you get sucked into social media, my goodness, you will be in a rabbit hole before you know it. All of a sudden you're looking at recipes of things you're going to cook next week for Easter. You're looking at, you know, all of these things that are completely irrelevant and it completely screws up your day. So stay off social media or schedule yourself social media time throughout your day, especially if it's part of your job. If part of your job is social media marketing, schedule that that you give yourself from 12 to 1 every day to do social media marketing and contact content building. And then get off of it. Give it your hour, give it your all. Do everything you can in that hour and then get off social media because it is a rabbit hole and it will suck you in. You all know this. Okay. Listen to music. I know this is going to sound really foreign and strange. I'm a freak of nature sometimes, but a lot of times I have nothing on. I wear my earphones all the time in case I get a phone call. I can easily pick that up and I'm prepared to speak to a client or help someone out. But a lot of times I work in silence. Many people can't do that. So put some music on and keep yourself focused on your job. Step outside. I talked about that. Use video chat. Just because we have to practice social distancing right now doesn't mean we have to socially disconnect. Schedule social chat video chats with your co workers. Check in with your co workers. It's important that you do that. Check in with a co worker and say, hey, where are you at on this project that we are working on at work? Or how's your family doing? Schedule video chats, maybe two a day, Two video chats a day so you can stay connected. And if you are doing video chats a day with your co workers, you are going to want to make sure that you've got your hair done, your makeup on, your clothes are on, everything is just right. So make sure that you schedule some video chats and don't let yourself be too isolated. Use your lunch break to run an errand. Maybe you scheduled A grocery pickup over lunch. Give yourself a little time just to take a break and walk out of the office to get your car. Go grab your groceries through the drive through. Run some errands during that time. Time just to break up your day. I want you guys to be thinking about any questions you might have because we'll ask, try to answer some questions or if you have any specific struggles. Definitely, let's talk about those if you, if you would like to. And then during your day, try to avoid your family and your friends and your pets if you can. I know that's hard because they're all right there in your home, but you, you need to be disciplined about your work time. Teaching your children and your family to respect your work time is really, really important and is going to give them a good. Help them start building their own strong work ethic by understanding that Mom's at work, we have to leave her alone. We can't bug her right now because Mom's at work now. If you have younger children, obviously that's a different set of circumstances and scenarios, so you may have to, to try to schedule most of your work time while the kids are napping or whatever. So your situation obviously is different and unique to you. Create a vision board. It's not too late to create a vision board. That's something we really seem to hit hard right after the first of the year, at the beginning of a new year. Create your vision board of what you want to accomplish while you are working at home and what that looks like to you. Because with all of the chaos of the world, it's hard to stay focused, it's hard to stay positive, and it's hard to stay calm sometimes. So create that vision board of what you want to accomplish. So every day you have a visual reminder of your direction of where you're going. So it's important that you do that. Even though it's April, you can still create your vision board. I mentioned this earlier, but I'm going to say say it again. Check in with your co workers frequently. Touch base with them. Use your 15 minute morning break to call a coworker. Do a video chat with your co worker. Have your breaks together with your co workers via video chat and have them scheduled so you're looking at your calendar and know exactly what you can do and what time you're doing it, and get that video chat going with your co workers. It's important to stay connected, connected. You're not only going to stay connected during this difficult time, but it's Going to enhance your connection when you actually go back to your office. So make sure that you stay connected with your co workers and then make extra effort to connect beyond work. So if you are in a customer service business, let's say you have a boutique and you're obviously your boutique has been shut down because you're not essential, which seems ridiculous, but anyway, we all have a different, a different definition of non essential, right? So reach out to some of your good clients, send them links and pictures of some of the items that you have online. If you are that boutique that is struggling right now, well, now is a good time for you to start figuring out your online drop ship type of service you're ordering online if you've never done that before. So use this time to stay connected with your clients even though you can't be open per se. If you're a hairstylist, a nail technician, you know you do eyelashes, it doesn't matter. Whatever customer service business you're in, you have regular clients, you have a client base. So keep in contact with them, start calling them, saying, hey, I miss you. Let's get you scheduled in May. Because I'm thinking by May things are going to get back to normal or somewhat normal. So reach out to your clients, get them on the calendar, get your calendar full for starting the second week of May and start getting that calendar full again. Number one, it's going to give your clients hope and they are going to feel so good about that. Oh my gosh, my hairstylist reached out to me. My, you know, my gym coach reached out to me. Reach out to those people that you usually see every day and just say, hey, I'm thinking of you. Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do for you? So think about that with your customer service based business, how you can continue to stay connected with your clients. When I do my business mentoring and work with a customer service based business, one of the things and exercises that we do together is work on creating clients every single day. When you are a small business, you have to create clients every single day. And that can be done in many, many different forms. It can be done through social media, marketing, telemarketing, pick up your phone, reach out, make a conversation. There's a lot of different ways that you can be creating, creating clients and you have to continue to do that every single day to create clients and connect with your clients every single day. And the last thing I'm going to tell you is to invest in a good set of headphones, some noise cancellating headphones that if you do have your family around you and if things have gone a little bit chaotic and crazy, that you can put those headphones on and you can stay focused on your work. So, ladies, those are just some tips that I put together to give you some insight and some encouragement and some suggestions on how to be successful working from home. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to pop them in the chat. This is the little sheet that I put together for you and I'm going to post this in in the video comments. So if anyone wants to download that and print it, you're welcome to do that. That would be awesome. I would love to have you do it. And if you have any questions you want to ask outside of this live video, you're welcome to do that too. Send me a DM or just add something to the comments here. That would be great as well. So, you know, ladies, thank you so much for joining me. You know, we're going to get through this together. It takes a community to come together and get through these hard times. And this, a new life group is here for you. I am here for you. If there's anything that you guys need, any questions that you have, struggles you're having in your business, struggles you're having in your life, feel free to ask them in the group or send a private message. If you don't want do ask a public question, you're welcome to do that. So thank you so much. I hope everyone is staying healthy and doing well and living their very best life. And I will see you guys again very soon. Thanks for joining me, ladies.