I am not quite so sure I am so amenable anymore to the idea of having the house as an office at the same time. In the new place where we just moved to now looked like a cramped cage with not much space to move around. Imagine having to compete for space with the girls with all their whining and raised voices. I almost feel desperate already that I am beginning to entertain the idea of moving my office to a backyard studio, but I have no idea whether it will work

According to the latest survey published in Understanding Micro Business, 2008 survey showed that 69% of the people work home based. But there is no clear indications just what part of the house are they having as their office.
During weekends I even try to look for backyard studios or cubby houses just to weigh my options and to see if it suits my taste if ever indeed I’ll turn it into an office. I even take the liberty of trying to paint a picture in my mind of how exactly it will look like; complete with all utilities of comfort and entertainment. I even began adding details to my imaginary picture. I have already decided what kind of style it will take after, the cladding material, flooring materials among other things. All the more, I found out that backyard studios are not as expensive as I thought it would be, and as I began contemplating on these things, some questions emerged from my consciousness, like:

• Is it really worth to separate my office from home?
• Will it bring comfort or the other way around?
• Will things run differently from before?
• Will I enjoy the change?
• Will I be able to see the benefits rather than the shortcomings?

I’m quite sure there are a number of choices other than backyard studios. The choices just seem so endless where the options could be as tamed as the usual cubicle of a normal job and could also be as exciting as on the porch of a beachfront house.

I will really appreciate your input. Please let me hear your story especially if you have gone through the phases of working in a cramped space shared by your loved ones and if your office is somehow a little unusual. Your ideas will really help me see things in an entirely new perspective. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

When you write a book, you could dramatically revolutionize your business, and consequently enhance you profile and augment your profits. In this article, I am about to correct the common misconception that any new author should know and think about.

1. The real money is not in royalties

Sometimes when we think of authors, we think of success, fame and adoration. Consequently, when we think of book writing, we imagine fortune, huge amounts of crisp bills. We love to think of all the things royalty checks can buy, but honestly if it is just royalty you are after, well, you can only buy so many. If only you knew just how little your cut is in every book sold, you’ll be surprised to learn that it’s just a penny compared to your mind’s creation. For a book sold at $20 dollars, you will only get a measly 80 cents, is it not heart rending? Did it break your heart huh? Well, this only shows that the real money in book writing does not come from royalty, it comes somewhere else.

2. Publishing contract is not necessarily needed

If you are a fiction writer, then you might need the resources of an established publishing company to ensure your success, but if you think about business development, your book’s publisher will not even count. I mean in business development, who would even care to know who printed the book. The target audience here are not teenagers but mature business individuals who are more interested in the context of the book than its publisher. I’ve been around the circuit of book writing and I found this principle to be exactly true over and over again. There is no clear indication that when you published with a known publisher, the outcome of developing your business is more dramatically influenced than when you chose to publish in a lesser known company. In the advent of the new technology in publishing, people could already publish to order through print-on-demand which is more practical in terms of usage, cost and artistic effect. Books published through print-on-demand (POD) technology have basically the same features as with the ones published traditionally.

3. You do not need to be a best seller

You are not under any obligation to be a best seller. Forget about selling your books “like pancakes”. As far as I know, I have a friend who sold out only as little as 200 books but has an equivalent impact of a million bucks. Your book could be your introductory guide and your avenue where you could freely introduce your ideas and products.

4. You do not have to be a naturally gifted writer.

Writing needs skill, for that I agree. But skill alone does not guarantee success especially if you intend to make a positive impact on your business. What you need to have is just being able to write it in a marketing point of view. Your book does not necessarily be of the same quality as that of poetry, as long as you know how to use it as a marketing tool to launch and jumpstart your own business.

Writing a book does not automatically make you rich, but its impact will resonate into the realm of businesses and change your life forever, for the better.

There seems to be a number of cases which prove that indeed working from home works. Having a home office may not be for everybody, but for some who are doing it, the possibilities are boundless. You get to do more work with efficiency due to the absence of the unnecessary interruptions inherent in any regular offices.

There are countless advantages of having your office in the comfort of your home. You get to work at your own pace and manner while at the same time spending quality time with your family. The arrangement is a lot easier compared to working in a regular office with regular 8 to 5 job.

The real challenge with this set-up is in coming up with clear boundaries between office hours and family time. There must be a distinction of the two for it to work. Otherwise you might be caught up with the common loopholes most people make. Below are 10 of the practical ways to have an effective home office:

1. Make it a point to set your office physically separated from the comfortable places of the house. It is much easier to make a distinction between office and home if you will dress up your office in its appropriate tone.
2. Dress as if you’re not working from home. Working in your Pajamas will certainly not work. Act like you are actually working in a regular office.
3. Draw a clear line of the separation of your office, make it known to your family and loved ones and ask that they respect it for what it is.
4. Avoid the pitfall of overwork. Do your activities in a normal pace, without overworking or procrastination.
5. Set up decent furniture so as to create a comfortable, professional and conducive environment.
6. Acquire the best essential facilities and amenities for your office, ones that could help you become more efficient with your work.
7. Your home office must have its own communication facilities and make sure it is used only for official transactions.
8. Meet your clients somewhere else. As much as possible, do not schedule a meeting in your home office.
9. Do not hide in your office all the time; spend time outside every now and then. It keeps you refreshed and active.
10. Make sure to facilitate a proper storage for all the documents and any other office materials. This will help you keep an office with a touch of order in it.

A home office works if only you know how to make it work.