Working from home tips from a wonder woman

In today’s guest post seasoned home worker Emer McCourt describes how she tackled the challenges we’re all so familiar with.

She came up with a list of working from home tips fit for a superhero:

Before starting my fab new job as digital marketing strategist at meetingrooms.com, I worked from home for many years, both as a freelancer, and a tech startup founder.

Working from home has major pluses, but I found potential pitfalls too, which required the enhanced strength of a superhero to avoid.

Without Wonder Woman’s indestructible gauntlets to hand, I developed fail-safe strategies to bring fun, laughter and productivity into my office. Strategies that enabled me to tick more ‘to dos’ off my list than any Amazonian goddess could zap in a day.

I’d like to share some of my top working from home tips with you. I hope they help to inspire you to fly through your day.

1.      Knock off any tricky emails before the kids are up e.g. 5:30 am – 7:30 am.

2.      Have a great selection of drinks on offer for yours truly – teas of all flavours, cups of all shapes and sizes, and juices of many colours to make any office-based worker cry with envy.

3.      Immediate penalty if kids decide to start a war when you are on Skype calls to clients.

4.      Have emergency lipstick and small mirror on the desk for unexpected but important Skype calls.

5.      Have a list of home-based working friends who you meet once a week for coffee to discuss how fabulous it is to work from home.

6. Throw out all comfy PJs and build up a collection of fabulous sleepwear – ones you’d never dream of hanging out in all day! (* kids will always know what to buy you for birthdays 🙂 )

7.      Enjoy being part of your community: get out for a daily purchase – milk, paper, coffee, whatever – and chat to shopkeepers. I’ve been blown away getting to know how kind, funny and cool my locals are in London, N10.

8.      Only eat sugary treats out of the house. Why? a) It gets you out and b) if they’re in the cupboard, chances are you’ll eat them all at once!

9.      Laugh out loud daily. Regardless. How? Work with at least one client just because they have a great sense of humour. Watch a YouTube clip. If you have to tell yourself a joke, do it.

10.  The most important tip (your bookkeeper is the only exception) – all meetings should be out of the house. (Reasons include having to clean the bathroom, taking down all motivational quotes from walls, doors and mirrors, and having to clear all laundry from the radiators if you meet at home. Even Wonder Woman doesn’t have time for all that!)
 
This brings me to meetings. I was lucky to have a great job working from home. I managed a brilliant team of creatives and developers. I was in regular contact – via email, con calls, and Skype – to clients in Japan and Dublin, as well as a PR team in the USA. It was all ‘go’ and I loved it.

But when I looked around – it was just me and my bedroom on the 4th floor overlooking the North London skyline. At times, I pined for the buzz of Soho, and the rush of the morning Underground, so I adored getting out for meetings.
 
Meetings in coffee shops, hotel lobbies, restaurants, pubs, stations, petrol stations and trains – I’ve had them all. Not so long ago, I had to interview a very successful choirmaster for a book I was working on for a client.

I thought it best to find a quiet corner in a cosy gastro pub early in the morning. The light is beautiful there and it seemed like a perfect choice. As soon as I got out my tape recorder, two electricians set up their ladder and started hammering, singing and shouting across the room. I couldn’t believe it.

We moved to another room when suddenly a group of mums with babies and prams poured in, chatting, babbling and laughing. It was hilarious. My interviewee was a total joy ‘battling with the orchestra of life!’ he quipped, as only a choirmaster could. 

After this, I decided to book a meeting room for the next interview. That’s how I came across meetingrooms.com. And the rest is history!

Emer McCourt is an award-winning producer, published author and the new digital marketing strategist at meetingrooms.com.