Have you ever received a written document in handwriting and had no idea what the person had written? This is a common problem for a lot of people who aren’t composing all of their documents by computer. Although you may be set up to type and print almost everything, every now and then you’ll fill out an estimate or similar form in your own writing. Can the client read it? Here’s how you can make sure they do.

Choose the Right Implement
There is a right pen for anyone. If you haven’t found it yet, it’s time to keep looking. Some people prefer pens with ink that dry virtually on contact. If you’re finding that your handwriting smears easily, you may need to take this route. Other people feel that cheap pens quit on them too easily or force them to press much harder than they would otherwise. In this case, a pen with free-flowing ink may help you to relax your grip and write with greater ease. Invest $10 or $20 in a handful of choices, and test them out for more than just a scribble. This process will help you narrow it down to a few options.

Take Your Time
If you look at someone’s handwriting, you can usually tell when they are taking their time and when they’re in a hurry. Someone who is writing very quickly makes more mistakes and may press too hard. Good handwriting takes practice, but it also takes focus. If you are trying to fill out a detailed page in only five or 10 minutes, it’s much more likely to come out looking like chicken scratch. Instead, give yourself the time to focus on the words and numbers that you’re writing, especially on the parts that require absolute clarity. Think about it as you would signing a deed or writing a check. Money may be involved here, so it’s worth the wait.

Relax Your Grip
Many people who struggle with their handwriting realize that they are holding onto the pen for dear life. Like any other tool you use for your contracting business, a pen is a device that you must handle correctly. If you’re gripping it tight enough to snap it in two, your hand will wear out and you’ll be more likely to punch through the paper. Instead, try a few different ways to grip the pen and not just the one that your primary school teachers told you to use. Find one that feels comfortable and natural to you. You’ll be able to keep going on longer forms this way.

Write on a Stable Platform
Practically everyone has had an experience of trying to write down some important information on a piece of paper against a car‘s windshield. This is not the ideal surface on which to write, which is why it’s not surprising that you may find information written in this way hard to read. You need a stable platform that isn’t likely to shift unexpectedly. Of course, writing at a desk is ideal, but not every contractor has this option. If you’re writing on the jobsite, consider asking to sit down at a desk or table to fill out the relevant information. If you’re writing in your car, look for portable writing desks that don’t require you to lay them across the steering wheel.

Practice, Practice, Practice
The best way you can improve your handwriting in a way that will stick is to build a habit. In order to build a habit that improves upon your previous handwriting, you’ll need to practice. Once you reach a point where your handwriting is consistent, clear and easy to read, continue working at that pace. Over time, you may be able to build up a little more speed. Since clarity is the goal, keep in mind that rushing your practice is more likely to re-introduce the bad habits you worked so hard to get rid of.

Having good professional communication can help you run a successful contracting business. So does a thorough grounding in the knowledge you need to pass your contractor licensing exam. To find out more about your options, contact CSLS today!

When you run a business, you need to make sure that your income stays ahead of your expenses. The trouble is that there are a variety of hidden costs that you might not know about, and they can certainly add up. Be sure to factor in these unexpected fees or charges, so that you can form a plan to keep your accounts in the black.

Permits, Licenses and Insurance
The ability to conduct business depends on the type of licenses you have and how you maintain them. For example, you’ll need to pay a fee every couple of years to renew your contractor’s license. This license is not the same thing as your business license, which you will also need to renew regularly through the state. Given the type of work contractors do, you should also plan to carry insurance to protect yourself, your equipment and your clients, where applicable. These fees may need to be paid once a year, twice a year or more frequently. You may need to save up so that you can pay them in a lump sum on the month that they are due.

Credit Processing Fees
Credit processing fees usually take a small percentage of each transaction that you accept by credit card. It typically amounts to 3-4% of the transaction, and may not necessarily have a maximum dollar amount per transaction. If you sign up for one of the many payment-handling platforms like PayPal or Square, you’ll still need to pay the transaction fees. You can avoid this problem by deciding not to accept credit cards, but that depends on the way you plan to run your business. Contractors who work primarily with residential customers and not businesses may find it very difficult to do business without accepting credit cards.

Interest on Debts
It’s not uncommon for business owners to carry at least a small amount of debt in the form of small business loans or a line of credit. Before you apply for loans like this, you should consider the interest rates and how quickly you will be able to pay them off. For example, a fixed-rate loan at a low rate gives you a predictable payment you can plan for until it’s paid off. A line of credit or a business credit card offers you flexibility in determining how much money you need. In exchange, you may have to deal with an adjustable interest rate. Keep in mind that credit card companies aren’t necessarily required to keep a fixed-rate credit card at the same rate after the initial term. With advance notice, they may be able to raise the interest rate over time.

Late Fees or Extensions on Rentals
Many contractors find that renting equipment is often quite a bit cheaper than buying it. After all, if you don’t use the equipment daily, you don’t want to pay more to have it sitting in a warehouse most of the time. When you reserve the equipment, you should pay attention to the rental interval and what happens if you’re not able to return it at the right time. Getting charged for an extra day of use or a late fee could double the cost, which may amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars that you did not expect.

Employee Benefits
You offer employee benefits as a way to keep good workers and entice more to join your team. Even if those benefits aren’t tangible, they still typically come at some kind of cost. For example, if you offer employees a few weeks of paid leave each year, you must expect them to take it. If you only have a few employees, you may not be able to maintain the same level of productivity while they are taking a day off. It is wise to consider your cash flow so that you can always cover payroll, regardless of the project that you are working on this week.

Running a contracting business may cost more than you think. If you pay attention to these hidden costs, you’ll have a better idea of what you can expect. For a great investment to help you prepare for the contractor licensing exam, visit CSLS today!

On occasion, you’ll have people who help you out with your contracting business. From your first mentors to the reliable employees you can hire to make your business a success, you definitely don’t do it alone. It’s a good idea to thank them, but you should do it in the right way. Here are a few ways you can thank the people who paved the way for your business to thrive.

Thank Mentors
Many contracting business owners have a better experience if they can rely on a mentor to help them get started. Mentors give you valuable information about your field or how to succeed in business. They can serve in a variety of roles, including:

• Teachers
• Former bosses
• Older family members
• Colleagues

The way that you thank a mentor depends on the position that they play in your business life currently. For many people, an earnest thank-you note is much appreciated. Be wary of giving gifts unless you know that the person will be able to accept them without worrying about a conflict of interest.

Refer Subcontractors
Subcontractors who do great work and provide a reliable service can be difficult to find and even harder to keep. Most of the time, professionals who are that good at what they do are well aware of it. But sometimes, you’ll find someone who is just starting out and hasn’t realized their own potential. In that case, one of the best things that you can do to thank them is to give them the benefit of word-of-mouth recommendations. Let other contractors in the area know of your high opinion of the subcontractor’s work, so that they can grow their own business as well.

Reward Employees
When you find a good employee, you should go out of your way to let them know how much you appreciate them. In the past, business owners might be wary of thanking employees too much out of fear that it changes the balance of power in the company. On the other hand, in the midst of an unprecedented labor shortage, you need all the good workers you can get. Employees who feel valued by the business that they work for are more likely to do good work and even more likely to stay with the company. If you have the capacity, reward your employees in the form of higher pay, better benefits or more time off.

Cultivate Relationships With Colleagues
There’s a reason that networking is so high on the list of what you need to do to succeed in a business. Forming long-lasting, rewarding relationships with other people in the industry can ensure that you have more access to opportunities to grow your business. Of course, not everybody enjoys networking, and you may have to work with people with whom you don’t want to build a relationship. But when you do, it’s worthwhile for both parties to invest in it. Keep in contact with colleagues you like, who do good work in your community. You’ll be able to continue helping each other out that way.

Create Referral Programs for Clients
When you start a contracting business, you might think of your relationship with your clients as a simple one. You provide a service, and they pay for it. But on occasion, you’ll have a client who expands your opportunities for projects. For example, a well-connected client might recommend your services to other potential clients. You can always thank them personally or in writing for the effort. If you’d like to take it to the next level, you could consider creating a referral program. Referral programs provide a small incentive to clients for referring new customers to your door.

Knowing how to thank people is one way to create a positive business ethic. To learn more about what you’ll need to run a contracting business, contact CSLS today!

Every now and then, something is going to happen in your personal life that may put your contracting business at risk. Crises like a family illness or major car accident could divide your attention and most importantly, your time. Here are a few things you can do to ease your stress when you’re trying to manage a difficult load.

Set Priorities
People sometimes get into trouble when they try to balance too many things at once during a crisis. It’s not difficult to imagine. You try to make sure that you handle everything in normal order, even when your personal life is in chaos. This can lead to burn out, which increases the likelihood of mistakes. Instead, you should set the most basic priorities that will keep your business functioning, such as:

• Completing pressing work
• Notifying clients of delays
• Paying bills
• Paying employees

These are the tasks that help you keep the lights on while you devote time to more important matters.

Determine Likely Points of Failure
One of the first things you have to learn as a business owner is risk management. Risk management is a business practice that encourages you to evaluate the risks you’re likely to encounter with a project or approach. When you reach a point where you can’t keep running your business as you have been, it’s time to do some analysis on the most likely points of failure. This can be difficult for business owners to do because it requires you to admit honestly what you are most likely to do wrong or incompletely. But making a list can help. These points of failure are the ones that you need to plan for in advance, so that they don’t sink you.

Designate Checkpoints
Some people find themselves in a situation where they will be in a crisis for the next week or so. For others, it might be a month or two. In either case, you want to set a handful of checkpoints that allow you to evaluate your situation and decide if you need to make changes. This step is important because you may not need to operate at the same diminished capacity for the entire duration. There may be points where you can do more work, and days or weeks when you will need to do less. You can ask a friend, relative or business partner to help you remember to check-in. Otherwise, even a reminder on your smartphone may be enough to help you dedicate that time.

Delegate
The way you run your business depends a lot on your personality. Some people like to do the vast majority of the work by themselves, so that they don’t have to answer to anyone or delegate. Others prefer to lead by example and build a team of employees who can support them as fully as possible. When you find that you’re stuck in a bad situation, being able to delegate is a very useful skill. Assigning tasks to someone who is willing and able to perform at full capacity can help to ensure that they get done on time and according to specifications. If you don’t have employees, this might be a good time to research a few options for outsourcing that you can call upon when you need it.

Avoid Overextending Yourself
You know that meme about the dog that is sitting and drinking coffee inside a building that’s on fire? You definitely don’t want that to become your business. Overextending yourself is a quick way to lead to burnout, especially when you are having personal issues. If you build your business on the premise that people want to hire a contractor who will get the job done right the first time, you can understand the damage that can be caused when you’re so overcommitted that you start to cut corners. Instead, try to under-budget your time, assigning yourself less work than you think you can handle. That way, you can always give someone a pleasant surprise instead of disappointment.

Personal crises are likely to come up sometimes. How you manage them can help you keep your business afloat. For more information about building your contracting career, contact CSLS today!

The virtual meeting seemed like something that construction professionals were only going to need for a few months. Now it looks like they are here to stay. And really, it makes sense. If you need to give an update to a client who is hundreds of miles away, virtual is the way to go. But it isn’t always easy. Here are a few tips to simplify the process.

Learn How to Use the Platform
One of the biggest nightmares of virtual meetings in 2020 is the high number of people who do not know how to use the platform. Although it seems like there ought to be a great deal of similarity between platforms like Google Meet or Zoom, there can still be a steep learning curve. Most people who end up doing something ridiculous or embarrassing in the middle of a virtual meeting found themselves in the predicament due to a lack of understanding. If you’re considering new platforms for virtual meetings, set up a few meetings with employees or even friends who can help you test it out. That way, by the time you’re ready to meet with clients, you’ll have more expertise.

Find Tutorials for Clients and Employees
Part of the reason that hearing about virtual meeting horror stories has been so entertaining is that it’s a combination of shared experience and a high unlikelihood likelihood of occurrence. In short, lots of people are still struggling to use these programs effectively, largely because they didn’t get time to learn them in the first place. If you find a good tutorial with information that your clients and employees can use to help them master the platform, share it with them. Don’t worry that they’re going to think you assume they’re ignorant. If they don’t need the information, they’ll just disregard the attachment.

Send Documents in Advance
Meetings tend to take much longer than they should, and this is more likely to happen when people don’t get a chance to prepare in advance. When you’re meeting with clients, you may need them to sign a contract or review a design plan in order for you to be able to proceed on the project. One of the best things you can do to smooth out the meeting process is to send these documents in advance. Give other participants of the meeting at least 1-2 business days to take a look at the documentation and prepare questions. This will save you a lot of time spent waiting while they read the document.

Follow Meeting Etiquette
As a general rule, behaviors that you would never do in a meeting in person should also be avoided for virtual meetings. Many people get into the habit of thinking that meeting on a virtual device allows them the freedom to act as if they are not in a meeting at all. But even if your camera is off while the sound is on, you can still end up in odd or annoying situations. For example, if someone takes a device outside next to a busy road, you may not be able to hear them over the sounds of traffic. Keep in mind that sound travels differently through speakers than it does in a room. If you’re doing a lunch meeting, keep the speaker away from your face so that no one has to hear chewing.

If All Else Fails, Send an Email
In all the rush to stay connected despite remote work, many people seem to have forgotten the old wisdom that technology is only necessary when it can be useful. The fact is that there are many meetings that never needed to happen if the relevant parties were simply willing to communicate by email. Meetings aren’t bad, and there are times when you can accomplish much more by meeting face-to-face even virtually than you could in writing. But it’s worth investigating whether the time you spend collaborating is actually getting you closer to the solutions that you need.

Maintaining communication with clients is part of running a successful contracting business. A good education is another. To learn more about our contractor licensing exam preparation options, contact CSLS today!

Back in the spring, lots of people thought that COVID-19 was going to have short-term effects on the world, and then everyone would move on. As it turns out, systemic changes in business practices will continue into the new year and beyond. Companies are thinking about how to use commercial spaces when they don’t necessarily want people to come in. With this information, you’ll have a sense of what’s coming, and how your contracting business can get involved.

Separate Workspaces
For the last 10-15 years, office spaces have emphasized an open floorplan as much as possible. Even the idea of the cubicle, with the half walls that are easy to adjust, feels like a relic of the previous century. The pandemic has changed the way people think about working in a crowded office space with only a couple of feet between themselves and their coworkers. This is creating a rise in demand for separate workspaces, places where people can be productive outside of the home without putting themselves at additional risk for the spread of airborne diseases.

Efficient Building Spaces
Since people are predictably wary of gathering together, businesses that are likely to occupy commercial spaces are looking for high levels of efficiency in the use of buildings. There might be a new trend bringing everyone back together in five or 10 years, but right now, people prefer to be apart. For office spaces, this means keeping individual offices but allowing multiple people to use them in tandem. Such a design makes it easier to maintain office space for a workforce that is mostly remote. In the retail and service industries, you may notice much less indoor space for congregating. That leaves more room for outdoor interactions and parking.

Outdoor Meeting Areas
Parts of the country with mild winters have long relied on open outdoor spaces to minimize the need for structures. After all, if you live in a part of California that isn’t buried in snow four months of the year, you might easily be able to meet outside. The difference is that the rest of the country is catching up, and they are less worried about avoiding inclement weather. You’ll see an increased emphasis on large, outdoor spaces with seating that is spread out instead of crowded together. This allows people to get together, collaborate or simply enjoy each other‘s company, without the same risk they would face if they were meeting inside. The landscaping industry is likely to see a jump in demand as a result.

Drive-Thru Service
One benefit of the pandemic has been a re-conceiving of the idea of quick service. Businesses now understand that getting people the things they need as quickly and efficiently as possible, with as little contact as possible, is the safest method for everyone. Drive-thru service is becoming an increasingly popular type of building design, and it’s not just for fast food anymore. Industries that already relied on a drive-thru are expanding those systems, with multiple lanes in exchange for the large parking lots they used to keep for indoor, seated customers. Industries that never relied on drive-thru service or now re-examining their options to see how they can make it work.

New Concepts in Hospitality
Although the hospitality industry has been hit hardest by the pandemic, it will bounce back. People will eventually want to take vacations again, and business trips will once again become common. This is relevant because the hospitality industry is an important part of new construction starts and renovations. After all, if no one wants to build a new hotel, they won’t be hiring anyone to build it. New concepts in hospitality rely on some of the same themes in other commercial spaces, including fewer indoor meeting areas, opportunities to minimize contact from the point of entering the building to entering a hotel room, and greater visibility for sanitation tasks.

Starting a career in construction is easier when you can tell how the pandemic is likely to change the industry. To get started, contact CSLS today!

Toward the end of last year, industry experts were predicting a slowdown in new construction starts. What they saw is much different than what they expected. Although construction management throughout the pandemic has taken up most of the attention, the industry continues to move forward. Here are a few advantages and concerns that professionals in the industry are likely to see in 2021.

Construction Is an Important Part of the “New Normal”
Starting to get tired of all the people talking about the new normal? You’re not alone. But it’s also worth remembering that the new normal involves lots of opportunities and not just opportunities for anxiety. This year has taught people that the way that they were occupying buildings caused problems for themselves and others. It took a pandemic with a set of frightening symptoms and unpredictable targets to make people rethink the way they do things. They’ll do them differently in the future, and they will need buildings that are set up to allow them to do this. That’s one reason the construction industry hasn’t been hit as hard as others have this year.

Construction Industry Work Is Rebounding
If you consulted experts in 2019, they would have told you to expect a slowdown in construction. These predictions are heavily dependent on the region, but they were also predicated on the assumption that the industry couldn’t keep its high pace after so many years. It’s not surprising that the spring of 2020 brought a lot of chaos to construction projects, just as it did for everything else in the world. But in the midst of an unpredictable world, the need for building continues. And the proof lies in the fact that there are more construction jobs at the end of the year than there were at the beginning of the pandemic.

The Labor Shortage Is Still a Big Problem
It’s tempting to see construction labor shortage within the context of supply and demand, but that’s an oversimplification of the problem. The truth of the matter is that construction doesn’t have enough trained experts in certain fields. As someone leaves a career after decades invested in it, there must be someone who can come into the field to take their place. The problem is that this hasn’t been happening. If a general contractor can’t hire an electrician to help them complete their project, they won’t be able to finish the project. At best, they’ll come in late and over budget. As the number of projects rebounds, the demand for highly-skilled professionals may rise to the levels seen in previous years.

Periodic Restrictions Likely Throughout 2021
It would be nice to close 2020 with a sense that the pandemic is over. After all, there is a vaccine to help prevent people from getting it, and it is now available. Yet, it may be months or more than a year before the majority of the population has access to it, and even longer before the vast majority of the population has received it. This means that state and local governments will continue to keep an eye on the spread of the virus, with periodic shutdowns or limitations on activities as needed. Although construction has been labeled an essential service, it’s not always easy to tell how it will affect adjacent industries or the supply chain. Construction professionals should keep that in mind for the next year.

Construction Is a Strong Career Choice
All signs point to a bright but cautious future for the construction industry in the years to come. There is a lot of work to do, and there still aren’t enough people with the right training and skills to complete it. If you’ve been thinking about starting a career in construction and 2020 has made you wonder if it’s still a good idea, you should know that it is. Your investment now will create benefits that could last your whole career.

The last year has been a whirlwind for many industries, including construction. The good news is that there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future. To discover how you can become a licensed contractor, contact CSLS today!

Like some industries, construction has a tendency to put people at risk for illness or injury. This is why so many tasks require personal protective equipment (PPE). There are many types of PPE you may need, depending on your field and the kind of work you do. Here’s what to expect from headgear, masks, gloves, boots and more.

Masks
The recent pandemic has made masks a topic of national attention. The right kind of mask for the construction job depends on what you’re trying to prevent. In the normal case, you’re looking to minimize what you inhale. Masks that are designed for disease prevention filter what you breathe out as well as what you breathe in. For most jobs, using a standard N95 mask may be sufficient. For jobs involving hazardous chemicals or inhalants, you may need a respirator with a filtration device. Face shields can also minimize your exposure, but unless they provide a tight seal around your head, they’re usually meant to be used along with masks and protective eyewear.

Eyewear
The type of protective eyewear that you should use depends on the task at hand. For example, someone who is simply trying to avoid a minimal amount of dust in the air may be able to get away with a basic pair of protective glasses. People who are working with hazardous materials may need to use goggles that surround their eyes and create a tight seal to completely prevent any contamination. Working outside during daylight hours may require you to use tinted eyewear to minimize sunburns and increase visibility. If you’re working with equipment like welding, you might need to wear a specialized protective helmet or shield with a certain type of tinted glass.

Footwear
For most jobs in construction, you need footwear that covers the entire foot and is comfortable to wear for long periods of time. As a general rule, you may also want to purchase boots with ankle support and a slip-resistant sole. This helps you to avoid falls, particularly if you are working above the ground in an exposed area. For use with certain types of tools, you may consider boots with a puncture-resistant upper. This can prevent you from hitting yourself in the foot with a nail, or puncturing your foot by stepping on something sharp.

Body Protection
Although many forms of PPE focus on protecting your eyes and nose, there are a variety of equipment choices you may want to make as well. For example, you may want to invest in:

• Protective, durable outerwear that covers the body and can go over your regular clothing
• Gloves that protect your hands from freezing, burning or cuts, depending on the task
• Hard hats that minimize the risk of injury from falls or from falling debris
• Hearing protection when you are working with or nearby equipment that causes loud noises

These tools are highly specific to the job at hand. You may need some or all of them.

Fall Protection
In most cases, your protection against falls comes from the layout of your working space and additional equipment installed. This means that you should look for things like guard rails and safety nets if you’re going to be working in an exposed area above ground. Otherwise, there are systems that you can use to minimize your risk. For example, you may wear a safety harness connected to a cable that will prevent you from hitting the ground if you fall. You may also wear a monitoring device that can alert you or someone else that you may be about to fall.

In an industry like construction where you work on your feet and spend time with heavy equipment, the right kind of PPE is key. So is a thorough grounding in your field. For more information, contact CSLS today!

In order to have customers, they have to be able to find your business. For that, you’re probably going to need some marketing. While you might have been able to rely on word of mouth decades ago, these days, you need to get your name out there. But can you do it on your own, or should you hire someone else to do it? Here are a few reasons to consider outsourcing the marketing for your contracting business.

You Need Marketing to Get More Sales
If you want income, you have to have sales. And as a general rule, to get sales you must engage in some form of marketing. During the early years of your business, you may be marketing to help all potential customers discover your services. Once you’re established, you may be able to rely on partnerships with other businesses or simply recommendations from previous clients. It depends heavily on your field. Many business owners with decades of experience continue to need advertising and marketing strategies to help them maintain a steady flow of new clients.

Marketing Techniques Take Time
Although there are a lot of tried-and-true marketing approaches, figuring out which ones work best for your business takes some trial and error. If you’ve ever seen an ad campaign that completely fell flat, you understand. Marketing isn’t something that you can set once a year and forget it until it comes time again. The best marketing tactics require feedback, and in order to get feedback, you have to keep an eye on it. Hiring someone to help out with your marketing strategy allows you to receive the benefits without having to monitor it as often.

Good Marketing Takes Expertise
There’s a reason that people go to college to study marketing. It’s a complicated field that is constantly changing. Ad campaigns that you saw a few years ago may have been popular then, but they might not work at all now. A solid marketing strategy takes current trends into consideration while ensuring that every piece is likely to reach and resonate with your target demographic. If you don’t know much about marketing, you may have a hard time understanding how to market to your most likely customers. And once you’ve tried a few different approaches, you’ll have a hard time processing feedback to determine what to do next. An expert can do all of these things in much less time.

DIY Doesn’t Always Save Money
As many construction professionals will tell you, DIY may seem like it will save money, but that isn’t necessarily true. This wise piece of advice relates to all kinds of industries providing services that you need for your business. Mess up on your taxes and you’ll pay penalties or possibly face an audit. Mess up in your contracts for your business and you may end up in court. Both of these things could end up being far more expensive than you expected. Marketing is similar. If you try your own approaches and they don’t work, you’ll end up paying much more to hire someone to rush through the process just to help you get clients.

It’s Hard to Do Everything Yourself
As a business owner, there will be times when you feel like you’re pulled in a million directions. Everyone expects you to be an expert and they won’t accept that you can’t do all of these jobs by yourself. Sometimes, it makes the most sense to recognize which tasks are a good fit for you, and which ones are best to outsource. Marketing is important to your business success in the long-term, because it helps to provide a steady stream of new sales leads. Investing in the right marketing strategy in the first place can save you a lot of time and stress later on.

To set up your business for the highest likelihood of success, you’ll need good marketing support. To find out more about starting your own contracting business, contact CSLS today!

These days, practically everyone does a little working from home. And if you have the right approach, you might actually be able to make it work. The trouble is that a lot of people struggle to set up the space so that they can live a regular home life and be able to get work done as well. With these tips, you can make working from home more productive and less stressful.

Designate a Separate Workspace
The dramatic rise in the number of people doing work from home has brought the concept into the mainstream like never before. People who were always able to leave work at their workplace find it more difficult to do so when they spend virtually all of their time at home. One of the best ways to ensure that your workspace remains productive is to separate it from the rest of your home. Designating a separate room is ideal, but not everyone has the square footage to dedicate. Even setting aside a desk that is exclusively for work can make a difference in what you’re able to do while you’re there.

Minimize Distractions
While you’re working on a handful of administrative tasks, it’s tempting to set yourself up in the middle of your living area. That way, you can keep an eye on everything while you’re productive. Unfortunately, for a lot of home-based professionals, this just becomes one distraction after another. Most people aren’t that great at multitasking, even if they think they are. Instead, select a part of the house that you can guarantee will be relatively quiet and inactive while you’re trying to get work done. This helps to ensure each task gets your full focus.

Improve Alertness
People who work from home in houses that aren’t set up for it find unusual places to put an office:

• Walk-in closet
• Basement
• Garage

These areas might be the only place you have to get work done, but they’re not explicitly set up for productivity. For example, a lack of sufficient lighting or ventilation can make it harder for you to see or make you feel tired at the end of a long day. If you can, set up your workspace in a room with at least some natural lighting and perhaps a fan, if you don’t have a vent nearby. Otherwise, add task lighting and floor lamps as needed.

Keep Work at Work
It’s crucial to figure out ways to be productive while you’re working from home, but the reverse is just as important. If you feel like working from home means that you are living at work, you need to make a different distinction. Running a business from home allows you to set your own hours. Sometimes that means you end up working longer than you should. To help ensure that you can have a life outside of work, designate specific working hours that you can manage and still get all the important tasks completed. Once that time is up, you can enjoy your home life once again.

Be Realistic About Productivity
The fact is that most people aren’t going to maintain the same level of productivity while they are working from home than they would in a separate workspace. You should be realistic about the goals that you set, and try to avoid criticizing yourself too much if you don’t meet them. Learning to eke out productivity at home is a skill that you can develop. It’s not necessarily going to happen overnight. Start small, and increase your goals as your ability to focus improves. You might be surprised how much more you can get done with six months of practice.

Working from home can be a great way to catch up on your administrative tasks, leaving your other work time free for projects. For more information about starting your own contracting business, visit CSLS today!