Seven Steps to Successful Online Working

The ideal commute to the office would be to roll out of bed 10 minutes before you are due to start work, go to the kitchen, grab some toast and a cup of your favourite hot drink and then head into the spare room at the end of the hallway. Turn on your computer and you're at work!

Working from home, whether it's your successful home business, or you have an agreement with your employer where some of your job functions can be done online, is an ideal way to add quality to both your professional life and your home life.

But, if not planned and implemented with care, working online or working from home, which ever you do, can go very wrong. Here are seven things you should do to make working from home a success:

1. Have a dedicated room or space you use as your office

You need to have a dedicated room or space where you can use as an office for working at home. Preferably, the room should have a door which you can close and a window which lets in natural light. If you don't have a spare room, designate a quiet "space" as your working area.

Having a room with a door or a dedicated work zone lets anyone in the house know that you are "at work" and should not be disturbed.

2. Set your normal working hours

Working at home allows you to not be constrained to the 9-5 routine, but work when you feel most productive. This could be first thing in the morning into late afternoon or in the evening if you get energised later in the day. If you are working at home for an employer, you may need to be available during the hours they stipulate, but you still need to have set working hours.

3. Equip your office or work space with office essentials

You need to have the basics so that your work space or office is productive. A computer is essential to communicate with the office or your customers, a phone and maybe a fax machine if needed. Stationery items, a filing tray to stay organised and a comfortable chair and desk are all basic office necessities. Also, make sure the space or room has adequate lighting.

4. Have an end to your day

It is quite an easy temptation to always do more when working from home. Because work is always there, time you would have usually spent relaxing in front of the television or catching up on some reading will now be taken up with work. Establish a set time when your work day ends and be sure to get out of the house and see friends or just have a walk. And, if you have an office with a door, make sure it gets locked on the weekends. If you are using a dedicated space, file away work items out of site to avoid the temptation of doing "just another five minutes".

5. Separate work from home chores

Have a specific time when you break away from work and attend to any chores or errands which may be required to be done during the day. If you have set definite working times, don't fit chores in when you're supposed to be working. Be very disciplined in keeping work and home chores separate.

6. Maintain a daily work journal

As you did a time sheet when you worked in an office environment, you must keep a log or journal of your time spent and tasks completed. This will help you to see how productive you are or not. If you are running a successful home business, a log of time spent is important when invoicing clients for your services.

7. Meet with friends and colleagues regularly

If you enjoy working on your own and find that you don't miss the after work get together with office colleagues, then home work is for you. But, it is very easy to become cocooned and not venture out of the home as often as when you commuted to work. It's still important to maintain the social interaction with former colleagues and friends and the after work drinks should still continue.

You get the advantage of working from home, and you also get to stay in touch with your network of friends. The best of both worlds really.