8 Benefits Of Turning A Large Room In Your Home Into A Home Office

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Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, once gave the advice, “A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.” This is perhaps most accurate for those who work from a home office.

Whether the company you work for is downsizing or you are just looking to trade your commute in for the comfort of working from your own home, there are so many benefits to working from home.

Listing the Advantages

People who work from home have more balanced lives. They get to spend more time with their friends and family. When I started working from home, I had no idea how many benefits were involved. Here are a few of the ones I’ve enjoyed over the years.

  • TAX WRITE OFFS – The United States Internal Revenue Service, otherwise known as the IRS, allows lucrative tax breaks for those who designated a space in their home exclusively for business purposes. An accountant can outline all the deductions possible in regards to home offices.
  • PRIVACY – Unlike working in a corporate setting where people are constantly stopping by your cubicle or asking you to join them at the water cooler, working from home allows you the freedom to close the door on distractions.
  • CHILD CARE – Those who work from home often have the benefit of keeping young children at home with them. Even if your children are school aged, you are less likely to take a sick day just because your child is home sick from school.
  • ENVIRONMENT – Because you don’t have to share the office with anyone, you get to set the environment for what you find most relaxing. For example, if you want to use small recliners chairs or a loveseat instead of office furniture, there is no one to disagree with you.
  • COMMUTE – When you work from home, you do not have to worry about the high cost of commuting. There are not only the financial and environmental costs of driving to and from work, but also the high cost on your time.
  • PRODUCTIVITY – Those who work from home are generally more productive. This is because when they finish their work, they have the rest of the day free to do with as they please. This is also because they have fewer distractions during the day.
  • HOURS – Working from home often means setting your own hours. If you are a night owl who does your best work after most people are in bed then you can enjoy sleeping while everyone else is trying to make it into the office on time the next morning.
  • EFFICIENCY – Working from home is more cost-efficient. In addition to not paying commuting costs, you can save the price and trouble of getting business clothes cleaned and pressed on a regular basis as well.

Keeping Your Home Office Organized

When working from home, it is important to avoid slipping into a level of relaxation that borders on sloppiness. Just because your new workspace is in your home is no excuse for being disorganized.

Writing telephone numbers on the backs of junk mail envelopes, taking notes on the bottom of your grocery list, and finding crumbs in your computer keyboard can wreck your whole day if you aren’t careful.
However if you set guidelines then you can maintain a high level of productivity and stay organized. Even if your home office looks like Hurricane Harriet swept through and rearranged things into a chaotic mess, there is still hope for you to get your office in tip top shape.

For example never eat lunch inside your home office. That is why you have a kitchen. Better yet, take your lunch out on the front porch or back deck and eat outside where you can soak up some Vitamin D courtesy of the sun.

At the End of the Day

When you are finished working, shut your laptop or turn off your computer. Clean off your desk and put anything that will need your attention first thing tomorrow out where you can easily find it. When you come back, you can get to work with fewer distractions.

Then, walk out of your office and shut the door. Then take the rest of the day for yourself. Enjoy spending time with your family and friends, or take some time to keep up with your hobbies. You will come back the next day relaxed, refreshed, and ready to work again!

About the Author:

Freelance writer Benjamin Baker loves working from his home in Denver, Colorado. It allows him to spend more time with his wife and their three teenage children. When setting up his home office he visited sites like www.reclinerchairreviews.com for the best advice about making the space his own. In his spare time, Benjamin enjoys activities like camping, fly fishing, and playing guitar.

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Steelcase Gesture: The Office Chair Made for Mobile

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You just got a Skype message from a client on your iPhone, and this isn’t going to be a short chat. Where do you put your elbows? How do you hold up the phone, type, and move around your office or cubicles the way you need to?

Steelcase thinks they’ve found an answer with their newest office chair design: The Gesture. Billed as the Office Chair Made For Mobile, Steelcase is attempting to answer workers who have traded in their traditional desk-based computer usage with mobile devices and smart phones.

office chair

Steelcase Gesture – Coming Fall 2013

Mobile device usage has indeed skyrocketed over the last 3-4 years, but most office chairs are still designed to support a specific pose. One where the worker is pushed right up to the desk for direct access to the keyboard, mouse, and other office desk items.

According to Steelcase, they conducted a world-wide test by monitoring mobile and smart phone users in their working environments and discovered nine new postures that hadn’t previously been recorded or addressed in any office chair design. These new postures are dramatically different than the typical “hunch over the keyboard” posture so many of us are familiar with.

The 9 Mobile Device Office Chair Postures:

    • The Draw: an inclined position where the user can look up at the device and make draw motions.
    • The Multi-Device: using 2 or more devices at the same time.
    • The Text: thumbing out your messages.
    • The Cocoon: drawing up your knees to chest in order to use your device.
    • The Swipe: Lightly leaning over the device to move between screens.
    • The “Smart” Lean: a reclined seating using one hand to access the mobile device.
    • The Trance: The bent over, totally absorbed position.
    • The Take It In: Complete recline to get the whole picture.
  • The Strunch: chair pushed back full stretch into the video display for intense reading.

Using this new seating data as a baseline, Steelcase went to the drawing board to design a seating solution that those of us who iPad more than we desktop can comfortably integrate into our workplace without feeling like we’re slouching, or being placed in an awkward position. What they came out with was a posture fluid office chair that will bend to the needs of the user, rather than the other way around.

How The Gesture Office Chair Works

Steelcase designed the chair by creating a synchronized system between the back and the seat to provide continuous and persistent support. The back actually cradles the body regardless of their position. The arms are designed to moved exactly the way a seated persons arms move, whether you’re texting, using a mobile device, or even typing on a keyboard at the desk.

The Gesture is customizable to each individual user.

There’s no price tag yet, but the good news is that the Gesture has gone beyond prototype and is slated to be released early in the Fall of 2013. Until then, you’ll just have to use your knees to hold up your mobile devices while you work.

About The Author:
Jeremy Estes is the editor at Cubicles.me – a cubicles and office furniture review site designed to keep office managers and executives informed of new designs, technical specifications, and changes in the way dealers, manufacturers, and designers are affecting the industry.

Follow @cubiclesme to stay up-to date on all cubicle and office furniture trends.

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Creating a Productive Office Environment

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Today, increasing productivity at work is one of the most valuable goals in business. In order to increase their productivity, many modern companies develop their strategies and techniques based on the corporate context. By office environment we mean “working environment” in which employees perform services and particular tasks. At this point, some organizations experiment to create teamwork within the system of the office environment. Actually, workplace productivity is the third essential feature after salary and benefits for workers. There are many different approaches in creating an efficient office environment; some of them are workable, while some are not. The benefits of a good office environment are the following:

  • Simplicity at work
  • Improvement of relationships between workers
  • Productivity increasing
  • Efficiency improvement

productive office

It is a known fact that the office accommodation is one of the most powerful tools for efficient work and communication. In order to provide a great working atmosphere, there are a lot of points should be considered by office managers:

  • Light
  • Office desks
  • Office chairs
  • Floor covering
  • Wall hangings
  • Air conditioning or ventilation which is very important for breathing
  • Background noise reduction
  • Cleanliness
  • Safety and security of all workers
  • Sanitary arrangements
  • Water drinking
  • Canteen
  • Rest rooms
  • Fire precautions
  • Furniture
  • Design
  • Comfort

Any office must be well evaluated, tested and adapted. Perhaps, it would be hard to accomplish this task with a minimum of effort, as every point must be considered and included. According to experiments, the effect of the continuous development finally leads to less waste and better quality.

Office desks are used in an office setting for a wide range of activities that are simplifying better communication between people. They are the most valuable in a productive office environment.  Thus, it is very important to find a desk which will be appropriate for every individual. To make working productive, a proper desk must be chosen. And, of course, a dining table won’t be perfectly suited in this case. Choosing an office desk, your special attention should be paid to the material it is made of (laminate, steel, wood, fiberglass), size, color, shape, quality, and cost. Desk materials have their own advantages and disadvantages:

  1. Metal is cold and heavy to carry out
  2. Wood is quite attractive but not fire resistant
  3. Fiberglass is fire resistant, but easily scratched

A properly selected office desk it is first of all a tool that enhances your creativeness and efficiency. As it turned out, the right desk can make your busy day productive and organized. The office desk must be well-sized if using a personal computer. Make sure it has enough space to accommodate paper sheets or piles of other papers. When selecting an office desk, your personal work style habits must be considered as well.

Overall, you need to completely understand the importance of the correctly chosen furniture as it will impact the efficiency and productivity of your work. I wish you the best of luck in selecting proper furniture for your office.

About the Author: Paul Smith, the author of the given article, works at http://researchessay.org/. He loves to discover new things and learns a lot from communication with smart and well-educated people.

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6 Ways To Make A Desk Your Own

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Image by: Phillie Casablanca

When you consider the fact that approximately twenty-five per cent of the working population are employed in what is generally categorised as office work, you’ll understand how important it is for staff to make their workstations an amenable combination of private, pleasant and personal.

If you’re going to spend the best part of eight hours a days, five days a week on the same spot of carpet within the same few square feet sat at the same desk, it makes sense to make your workstation as comfy as possible – think of it as a home from home.

Studies have shown that transforming your desk into a well-crafted workspace can have a marked physical and psychological benefit – it makes our feel better (you want that) and improves productivity (your employer wants that).

Have Your Own Screensaver

As long as it’s not a download from a dubious source, most employers are happy to let employees have their own screensavers. Whether it’s an image from your favourite film or a humorous pic to boost your mood on those days you roll out of bed the wrong way, it’s a small but important way of personalising your desk when you switch on your PC.

Pin Up Some Pics

Sat at your desk in your own cubicle busying yourself with your everyday tasks is inclined to make you feel al bit isolated. Photos of friends and family are a great way of reminding you of the world outside of work and your loved ones. If things are proving stressy or you’re feeling a bit down, a quick glance up at that impromptu snap taken of you and your friends after a few ales at The Old Pipe and Gusset is guaranteed to raise your spirits and bring a smile to your face.

Plants

Studies have repeatedly shown that having plants in the office is beneficial to staff in a number of was. For example, plants reduce stress, fatigue, headaches, dry throats and coughs. They give off oxygen, therefore making staff more alert and focused. These things combined also reduce levels of absenteeism. So what are you waiting for? Put a pot plant on your desk and feel the benefits.

Office Partitions

If you work in a busy office then you’ll know how difficult it can sometimes be to get on with your daily activities with the minimum amount of distraction. In an open-plan office you’re exposed to everything going on around you and there’s little scope for privacy or personal space.

Office partitions, however, are an ideal solution to getting your head down and getting your work done within an enclosed space of your own without the inevitable disturbances and distractions associated with office life. As convivial as it is to chatter with your colleagues, it’s also crucial to maintain a certain level of isolation and privacy to do the task at hand, and office partitions are invaluable additions to any office when it comes to cracking on with your workload unimpeded.

Organise And De-Clutter

Despite modern businesses dogged determination to help save the planet and the tendency for offices to proudly proclaim they’re strictly paper-free zones, we all know the day of working in an environment without spotting a single sheet of A4 remains something of a futuristic fantasy.

So it’s easy for your workstation to get clogged up with paperwork, files, pens, stationery, old polystyrene lunchboxes, plastic coffee cups, gloves and scarves, sweet wrappers, and….well, you get the picture. In fact, your own desk might not sound a million miles from the bomb-zone I’ve just described.

By de-cluttering all the rubbish and detritus that’s accumulated over a period of time you’re giving your desk – and you – a cleaner, fresher slate on which to work, physically and psychologically.

Ergonomics

Unless you’ve got a hankering to appear on a First4Lawyers ad as an embittered ex-employee suing your old boss for arthritis brought on by an ill-fitting mouse mat, then there are a few simple things you can do to make your workstation a more ergonomically sound environment. If you’re sitting at a desk for prolonged periods, it’s important you take a break every now and again to give your eyes a rest from the monitor and stretch your arms, legs, body and muscles. Here are a few useful and practical exercises that all of us desk jockeys can
benefit from.

These are just a few ways you can make your desk your own by adding a few personal flourishes. Have you got any other suggestions?

Bio:
James Duval is an IT geek who spends the majority of his working day desk-bound. He writes for Applied Workplace.

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What Does Your Boardroom Table Say About Your Company?

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Whether you operate a small one-man enterprise from the intimate comfort of a tiny room or are in charge of a huge office with hundreds of employees, the interiors of our workplaces are very important, and can make a huge impact on the success of a business.

Just like someone’s home, the furniture and interiors of an office will speak volumes about a company’s individual personality – even when we don’t want it to.

And one of the most important rooms for the majority of businesses is the boardroom. Often described as the central nervous system of a company, key players and clients congregate in the boardroom and make key decisions that can affect thousands of people, so it’s vital that it gives the right atmosphere. And as a boardroom table is the centrepiece of a company’s most important room, it can be quite hard to overstate its significance. So what does your boardroom table say about your company?

A Touch of Glass

For many forward-thinking companies they will choose a modern, light boardroom table to show themselves to be their industry’s daring, up-and-coming contender. Marrying sleek, definite lines with metallic colour schemes and plenty of glass to welcome in light and emphasise space, modern boardroom tables will hint at an impressively progressive company, with plenty of scope to grow in the future.

Exude Executive Class

However, there are also some other companies who, whether young or old, are always looking to exude an aura of classic executive class in their workplace. Those businesses will utilise the ever-popular wooden boardroom table, which will usually enjoy a deep brown colour scheme, perhaps pair it with excellent, ergonomic green or red leather seating. Employing a classy table such as this will hint at a company with a permanent sense of class.

Brightly Does It

There’s modern, and then there’s the ultra-modern. For creative, 21st century workplaces, many companies will use bright, bold primary colours for its boardroom’s tables and chairs – which bring great levels of enthusiasm, creativity and energy to a room.  Perky blues, reds and yellows aren’t for everyone as a colour scheme of course, but put in the right hands they can really suit the ambition and drive of an exciting employer – and make a company an incredibly interesting place to work.

Sparse and Simple

But, we all know that there are some fast-paced companies who are just moving too quickly and without the forethought to think about their boardroom’s décor, for better or worse. Their ‘boardroom’ will be permanently mobile, moving to wherever a room is free in the building. And while this approach may suit some hectic businesses, there comes a time when both clients and employees will seek a permanent home for the top brass to chew the fat in peace in an arena that suits them.

Author – D&G Office Interiors provide high-class office furniture, from stylish boardroom tables and chairs to partitions, desks and a bespoke office interior design service. For quality executive office furniture at highly competitive prices, visit D&G Office Interiors online today.

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Social Media Legal Issues For Retailers

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If you are a retailer, then you have most likely thought about utilizing social media to interact with and reach new customers. Social media offers you benefits that few traditional advertising mediums can match, which is why all kinds of businesses (both large and small) have embraced services like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube, and Pinterest, that allow them to interact with potential customers and followers in a more personal way.

However, if you are anything like me, than you are also concerned about the legalities of using social media for your own business purposes. While it often seems like ‘anything goes’ when it comes to social media, there are actually quite a few rules that you need to abide by. For retailers, it can be easy to accidentally step over the lines when it comes to advertising their products or doing business online, which is exactly why I am writing this article.

For the most part, abiding by the laws when it comes to social media is fairly straightforward and common sense-centered… but we are going to cover some of the most important areas in this post so that you can get a better idea of how the rules work.

Knowing exactly what is and is not allowed might help you to avoid accidentally breaking a rule that you didn’t think about before, which can help you to run your business with fewer issues and, hopefully, no negative ‘legal’ entanglements!

Do Not Falsely Advertise

This might seem like advice that you have heard over and over again, but it bears repeating as it pertains to the online marketplace. It has become so easy for small business owners to update statuses and ‘tweet’ information to their customers that they can often make mistakes in their advertising.

For example, when you post a special on Facebook, make sure that it is a special that you intend on running for as long as the status says that it will run. If you normally sell shirts for $8 in your store, but you run a Facebook special that says $6, you should definitely be willing to commit to selling them for $6 all night long, even if it means that you lose money as a result! If you don’t, it would be relatively easy for a customer to complain that you didn’t honor your advertisements, which could open you to an entire slew of legal problems.

Do Not Use Trademarked Names In Your Marketing

This might seem like a no-brainer, but it is INCREDIBLY important. Never use another trademarked business name in your content, especially to put that company down or to say something that makes it sound like you have an affiliation with the company that you do not have. Not even the Digital Millennium Copyright Act will protect you from all of the legalities you could face for bringing another company’s trademarked name into your marketing campaign!

Always Disclose Paid Reviews About Your Business

There is nothing wrong with paying someone to review or advertise your business… just make sure that they disclose the fact that their post is paid or sponsored every time they advertise. If they don’t, it can come back to you… and while you might not necessarily need a criminal defense attorney to sort the problem out (although you COULD need one, if the problem were bad enough), it can definitely cost you!

Now, it is important to note that advertising your own business on your own business page is NOT illegal or wrong in any way, and here is why…

  • You are not attempting to mislead customers by posing as a customer yourself
  • You are using your BUSINESS page to do BUSINESS, which is absolutely legal
  • When you are advertising as a business, it is pretty obvious that you are doing so for profit, so no disclosure is needed.

Operating a retail marketing campaign on social media websites can be a very effective way to reach customers… so just make sure that you are not hurting or misleading anyone with your posts, and you should have no trouble! If you do your best to keep your practices fair and honest, there is no reason why you cannot utilize social media to increase your sales and to network with potential customers. A lot of businesses are doing it legally, and succeeding every day… there is no reason why you shouldn’t as well!

Author Bio:

Benjamin Baker is a professional content writer, avid research hound, and amateur guitar player who enjoys spending time with his family and hiking outdoors near his Denver, Colorado home when he is not busy working. Ben regularly utilizes websites such as www.bgs.com when he is researching and writing about ways to legally advertise a business on social media websites. He believes that following the rules for such advertising is important, and has always had good luck when following the laws with his own business.

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Press Releases That Get Noticed – 6 Tips For Making the Front Page

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I’m fortunate to have a wonderful wife who puts up with my quirky requests. As I was putting together the course materials for my SUPER BootCamp – an easy-to-follow course for Non-Techies who want to get started in the business of working online – my lovely wife, Arlene, agreed to be my test subject. That’s how www.epilepsymoms.com came to be. Though Arlene says it was really a press release that launched her site.

Whether it was a great press release, or the guidance of a great husband, remains to be seen, but the subject of press releases came up recently in the podcast I host entitled, “Coffee Talk”. I was talking with my friend Mario Bonilla, formerly of PRWeb.

As a platform trainer and customer delight specialist for PRWeb, Mario had the pleasure of teaching business owners from all walks of life how to successfully promote their business with press releases. He told listeners, SUPER BootCamp graduates, and myself how he enjoyed teaching from PRWeb’s home office in Ferndale Washington.

Not All Press Releases Are Good Press Releases

Mario explained that PRWeb does offer some help with the formatting and writing of a press release, but ultimately it’s up to the individual when it comes to the final product. Since a press release can have such a strong impact on the success of your business, you owe it to yourself to know how to create a press release that gets attention.

Avoid These Common Mistakes When Formatting Your Press Release

  • Voice Matters – Press Releases require the short, unbiased third voice of journalism to be most successful. This isn’t the time for the breezy, neighborly tone you use in your blog. For best results, stick to the facts and only the facts.
  •  Focus on the Target – A great press release packs quite a bit of content into one single page, that’s not a lot of room to make an appeal to a broad spectrum so keep your focus tight and specific. If you want to attract attendees to a teleconference then make that part of your announcement, along with time, date, location, and registration details.
  •  Hit Them With a Strong Headline – News editors are no different than you and I, they skim headlines looking for something that seems interesting, then stop and read when something grabs their attention. Use this to your advantage when coming up with great headlines, the first three to five words are where the magic happens.
  • Leave the Sales Pitch At Home – You may have a fantastic sale going on that’s worth crowing over, but your press release is not the time or the place to do it. Instead, offer up some reasons why your site and services are relevant to your audience and let your resulting visitors decide for themselves.
  • Stick to Announcements – Great press releases are about announcing a happening of some sort. Either something about to happen, something happening now, or something that has happened recently. No matter what you’re announcing, include a kernel of news and remember to use an objective, third voice.
  • Give them Content to Sink Their Teeth Into – The greatest press release in the world won’t mean a thing if you haven’t developed any valuable content for your site. As my friend Mario says, “Content is King and will continue to be King”. Google and news publications alike thrive on fresh, interesting content daily. Focus on providing informative content that people want to talk about and traffic will converge at your location as a result.

When in Doubt, Contract Out!

I’ll be the first to admit that I outsource as much of my day-to-day work as possible. Having found great success with Elance.com, I encouraged Arlene to hire a contractor with help formatting her press release.

For a very reasonable price of $100.00, Arlene got a beautiful press release that she was able to circulate to many publications with the help of press release coupons. Arlene was also impressed with how quick and easy it was to submit her press release to PRWeb. A week after submitting that press release my beautiful wife was on the front page of our local paper and at the top of Yahoo news!

About the author:

James Martell is recognized as an industry expert in affiliate training. He is the author of the top-selling “Affiliate Marketer’s Handbook”, and has given presentations at the Commission Junction University, the Affiliate Summit, Digital River Lab, and more. When James needs to read up on the latest news in economics he uses online resources such as http://www.forexdice.com.

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3 Budget-Friendly Tips to Work Smarter in a Home Office

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If you are thinking about turning in the keys to the traditional office and creating a home office, you are not alone. Many people are turning in their keys, or at least not using them as often. And, it really doesn’t matter if you are going to be your own boss now, or your current boss is allowing you to work from the comfort of your own home. You have to work smart to stay on top of your game.

However, it can be intimidating to have a home office and environment all come together and make it work on a budget.

So, I am going to share some ideas on how you can create a functional office at home, work more efficiently, and reach your goals…on a budget.

1. Ergonomics for Maximum Production

When you are setting up your office, the main idea is to make it a healthy environment with ergonomics in mind. This will help you keep your body more energized, and therefore, more days with quality production. Face it; if you come down with a bad case of carpal tunnel or a bad back, you have a problem.

I learned from a friend, who was in an accident recently, that ergonomics can enhance your work environment. She was seeing a chiropractor for the pain she had after the accident, and this chiropractor recommended that she invest in a quality chair with lumbar support, and to make sure her monitor is raised to eye level.

Other things to look out for are a keyboard that is ergonomically designed to relieve stress on the wrists, and a desk and chair that is the proper height for you. In other words, make sure your feet are resting flat on the floor while sitting…and your elbows are resting comfortably at your side while typing on your keyboard.

To save money, you could do a couple of things. First, buy second hand. There is no reason why your furniture has to be brand new. Look to Craigslist and eBay to see what you can find on those sites. Also, use a couple books to raise your monitor, rather than buying a stand. Second, if you prefer to buy new, but don’t want to pay full price, look at clearance centers.

2. Be Smart with Technology

When working from home, it typically requires a fair amount of technology such as a computer, phone, and perhaps a printer. Unfortunately, this can be rather costly to splurge for everything at once. However, you also want to make sure your technology is running smoothly and quickly enough that it doesn’t drag you down.

The best thing you can do is to know what you need before you even begin to shop for equipment. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • How much memory does my computer need?
  • What bells and whistles do I need on my cell phone?
  • Do I need both a desktop and laptop?
  • How many monitors will I be using?
  • Do I really need a printer?

After you get your answers, you can then start shopping. However, I always do some research online before I ever go to any store. Technology is the area that I would budget the most money for, but you don’t have to pay more than you need to either.

A little research online will help you to know what pieces of equipment are right for you, and where you can find the best deals on each one. You might be surprised and find it for far less on eBay, or an ‘older’ model at a store that is still great technology, but maybe they are making room for the newest toy.

3. Maintain a Healthy Mind and Body

Recently, I had been looking through a website by a personal injury/bankruptcy attorney in Sacramento and was saddened by the need for such a specialty. Between that and the headlines we often see, it’s apparent that many people have suffered with both physical and mental ailments, which can often lead to less work and financial difficulty.

I think we need to pay close attention to our physical and mental health, so we can best fend off troubled times. It’s nice to know there is help available in case it does happen. However, we should do what we can to avoid it in the first place. And, taking care of ourselves will help a great deal.

The good news is that we can do a lot of good for ourselves without costing much, if anything. It starts with getting up and moving occasionally. Take the time during the day…schedule a couple breaks to go for a walk, or pop in a cardio video.

Staying physically active will help in warding off some of the aches and pains associated with sitting all day can bring. If your back is aching by noon, how productive are you going to be halfway through the afternoon? Not very, actually. I speak from experience and know that by stretching a few times a day, walking around the block…or even the house during my breaks doesn’t mean that I can work longer (even though I can). It means that I am more productive and alert when I am working.

Also, make sure you don’t fill up on sweets, junk, and caffeine, which will only give you false sense of energy that will result in a midday ‘crash’. The healthier you eat, the better you will feel and more energy you will have. And, as a result…be able to work smarter.

About the Author

Rick Mercado is a successful online marketer and freelance writer, working from his home office. He looks for inspiration everywhere, including the Internet. For example, his current series on personal injury law stemmed from a visit to http://www.travisblacklaw.com/. When Rick is not working he enjoys the great outdoors by hiking, kayaking, and fishing. His goal is to become a helicopter pilot.

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3 Small-Space Home Office Ideas For Big Creativity

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If you’re a person who works from home, distinguishing the boundaries between home life and work life can be difficult. We all try to advocate the work-life balance but it can be increasingly difficult when both activities take place in the same domain. Due to this, it’s important for both concentration and separation to establish a working space which can be segregated from family life, allowing you to be prevented from distractions during work hours and shut work away the rest of the time.

Although this is the idea most people would like to achieve, if you have a small home, it can be difficult to find space to achieve a separate home office away from your day to day creature comforts. But if you are someone who can’t help but flick on the TV when you’re working on the sofa, it’s important to think creatively to find that isolated workspace to increase creativity and concentration.

If you’re stuck, here are a few ideas:

1. A Closet Office

Do you have an old closet that’s full of junk? Just like time, using your space efficiently is the best way to get high quality results with your work. If you need a space to work and you’re cluttering a useable space with your junk, you’re wasting an opportunity.
Firstly, you need to think of it as less of a cupboard, and more of a working space, so remove the pole if there is one. This lets you see the space as a brand new working area.

You need to have a desk and the best thing to do is to find a piece of countertop or work surface and use this as the basis for your desk. Attaching this to the back wall gives you a space to use. If you’re using a closet, one of the great things about it is that you can shut it away when you’re finished, so ensure you don’t make the desk too deep in case you want to fit a chair in too with the door closed.

If, however, you need as much workspace as possible, consider placing the countertop on hinges as this will enable you to fold the desk up and place the chair in the space. Additionally, having a chair which is good enough to accommodate long periods of time without hurting your back is important. Dr. Moore, a well known Chiropractor in Brighton, MI, says that back pain can be caused by the stress of sitting in bad chairs so having an ergonomically well-designed chair is important; however, they’re often bulky so shutting them away may require the folding desk option.

Secondly, you need to consider storage. Building shelves into the cupboard, with mini cupboards allows you to store away books and folders you may need to work.

Also think of the finishing touches such as a lamp for good lighting, as the cupboard may be dark. A bin also never goes amiss for the inevitable errors we make in our writing.

2. A Foldaway Office

If you don’t have access to an old cupboard, perhaps you need to look for a space within your home that’s not being fully utilised. Perhaps there is some spare wall in the kitchen or the dining room but you want to work away from the family life tables.

A small desk that screws onto the wall with hinges can be folded away when not in use. Placing shelves directly above means you have a place for storing all the things you would ordinarily keep on a desk.

You can even have a fold down chair which could slide onto the shelf as well to be hidden away when not in use.

3. A Garden Office

What do we keep in our sheds? The lawnmower, old garden towels we never use, broken plant pots etc. What a waste of space.

Why not get a little more creative with this area and turn it into an isolated work area. It’s not difficult to run electricity through the garden which can power your lights, computers and printers. From there, adding a desk and a few homely touches, such as pictures, a lick of paint on the walls, and perhaps a comfortable chair and you’re good to go!

The great thing about this option is that it not only saves space in your home and suits places that have limited availability for an office, it also gives you the detachment and concentration of being in a separate location to your personal life.

Finding space for a home office doesn’t have to be difficult, you just have to look in alternate locations. Once you’ve found the space you need you’ll understand the benefits on your creativity which will blossom in a more professional environment, and the advantages to your health.

Author Bio

Freelance writer Mark Harris is a keen kayaker with a passion for finding new places for kayaking every day. Following advice from http://www.awesomedr.com, he tries to be as active as possible as he understands the dangers of sitting in one spot constantly at home. He says that if he would, he’d write from his kayak, but thinks it might be a little hard on his back!

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Home Office Tagged With: , , ,

Lessons in Data Security from Hacking Experts

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Nobody likes to think that their site could be hacked. But it happens to the best of use (I am speaking from experience here!). In this guest post Patty Whelan tells the inside story and explains what you can do to prevent it from happening to you….

Sometimes we can learn as much from “the bad guys” as we can from “the good guys” when it comes to data security. Take for example the story of two men, Mike Calce and Mat Honan. These days they may find themselves moving in the same circles but it wasn’t always that way.

Hacker turned Security Consultant

A little more than a decade ago, Mike Calce was a hacker who went by the name ‘mafiaboy.’ He committed major denial-of-service attacks on several prominent tech companies, including Dell, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay and CNN at the ripe young age of 15. He then served eight months in a group facility after being caught and arrested for the attacks. For many years he kept a low profile until 2008 at which time he wrote a book about his experiences, “Mafiaboy: How I Cracked the Internet and Why It’s Still Broken.”
Now Calce works as a digital security consultant and has regular engagements as a keynote speaker at a variety of IT conferences. Calce says that along with the motives of hackers shifting from mischief to financial gain, comes the shifting of targets at risk of data breach and loss. Ten years ago targets of hacking tended to be large companies with big online operations, whereas now small businesses and individuals are in the crosshairs of cybercriminals.

The Motivation of Hackers

In an interview with Mashable writer, Peter Pachal, Calce discussed how the motivations of hackers circa 2000 were very different from hackers of today. Back then, he said, was about “pushing the status quo” whereas now the hacker motivation is “much more about monetary gain”.
Pachal asked Calce about what he thought motivated hackers such as the ones that hacked Wired writer Mat Honan, who claimed they wanted to get access to his three-character Twitter handle. Calce couldn’t see a clear financial reason for that particular hack, but he said that’s often the case.
“There’s a lot of reasons people hack Twitter accounts,” he said. “Some are into skewing data to their advantage. A lot of hacks don’t even look like there is monetary gain involved, but normally that’s the alterior motive.”

How Security Flaws Impact You

Honan’s devastating hacking came about with perpetrators using public information and light social engineering to get access to his accounts. Because security flaws in Apple and Amazon were to blame these companies are changing their security policies. Once the hackers got into iCloud they were able take over all of Honan’s digital devices and data.
Honan also takes some of the responsibility for his losses. He’s said, “In many ways, this was all my fault. My accounts were daisy-chained together. Getting into Amazon let my hackers get into my Apple ID account, which helped them get into Gmail, which gave them access to Twitter.

Get Secured

Had I used two-factor authentication for my Google account, it’s possible that none of this would have happened, because their ultimate goal was always to take over my Twitter account and wreak havoc. Had I been regularly backing up the data on my MacBook, I wouldn’t have had to worry about losing more than a year’s worth of photos, covering the entire lifespan of my daughter, or documents and e-mails that I had stored in no other location. Those security lapses are my fault, and I deeply, deeply regret them.”
Calce also recommends basic safety precautions for individuals to take to reduce their risk of security breaches and loss. They include setting up a two-way firewall on their computers, turning off Bluetooth on phones and personal computers when it’s not in use and to be cautious about the type of data and information they put online. Calce says that password managers are also a good idea since hackers still use “brute force” techniques, which often work on weak passwords.

About the Author

Patty Whelan is a seasoned copywriter with significant experience producing original content in all facets of online and offline marketing communications, with specialties in all aspects of Search Engine Optimization copy writing. Her work has covered a broad range of topics for varying industries and has been published in print and electronic media. The focus of her current work concentrates on the electronic payment processing industry and small businesses. Read more of Patty’s writing on www.merchantexpress.com.

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