Melissa Rich-Landis Author – Your Virtual Home Office Can Be a Reality!

Not everyone can work from home in a virtual situation successfully. What personality type is successful working from home? Answer:  People that have great time management skills and those that are organized and productive during working hours. Working from home is a great opportunity but not everyone can work without supervision or the flexibility that comes with working from home. If you need help with time management, read Melissa’s book-“ Your Virtual Home Office can be a Reality

In order to plan, you need to have the right tools at your fingertips including calendars (paper daytime planners or calendar applications) and an appropriate place to make solid to-do lists.   Start with an evaluation on what tools will help you and then using those tools to plan ahead.

If you are an independent contractor or employee working from your home office, it is generally your responsibility to keep up with equipment. Make sure you are updating virus protection as well as computer and software updates. Many things of those maintenance activities cost money but some of them are just a matter of completing the updates.

Some virus protections are free as well as Adobe reader products. I have found certain software will not function properly without all of the components which might mean windows updates or Microsoft office products. Keep a planner or notebook that gives dates of current updates to keep you on top of equipment and software. This will keep you up and running in your virtual home office.

For me, the view from the home office is so essential.  I recently moved my office from a small room without much of a view to a larger office with a great window and a great view.    For more tips on the ideal home office locations, please review chapter ten of the book.

I love my career working virtually from my  home office. It gives me the flexibility to contribute an income to our household, as well as enjoying life along the way. In my position as a Program Consultant, we have hired many people that share the same attitude towards working from home except for one small thing..they really don’t want to work. People that think they want to want to work from home will find many reasons to keep them from doing their job:

The cable man is coming; I need to take off the day.

The kids have a dentist appointment; I can’t work today.

I am just not feeling well.

How about if I get started on that tomorrow?  Or next week?

Working from home is very flexible and that same flexibility is one of the greatest reasons to work from home; but working from home is still work. If I don’t complete my scheduled working hours, I will not have a job or future work.  If you need help with time management, check out Melissa’s book:“Your Virtual Home Office can be a Reality”

I have worked from home for 12 years, but I have recently made a very positive change within my working environment.  I have made the transition from a home office to a portable office.   With my new laptop and a briefcase filled with necessary files, I am ready to work from any location with wifi.

The transition has been quite rewarding and I frequently find myself working while  waiting for appointments or killing time between appointments.