How do you make your office run more efficiently, especially if you work from home?

That is such a great question, Angie. As someone who has run their business from home since 1978 (does that give my age away? ) I've found that focusing on managing my goals rather than managing my time has helped me run my business, not only more efficiently, but more importantly, effectively.

All the smart stuff has already been posted. I have officed out of my home for over 30 years--back when it was considered odd! A few things I have learned are:

* Put all your key tools within four feet of your desk (copier, printer, mail machine, fax (what's that?), scanner, etc.
* Place frequently used tools within arm's reach (rubber stamps, stapler, Roledex, stationary, paper clips, checkbook, key files in a standup, etc.)
* Place a work table at a 45 degree angle to your computer table so you can simply turn in your chair for reading, writing, etc.
* Spend extra bucks on a great desk chair (like Herman Miller Aeron), a great work lamp, a high-end printer, and a big screen for your laptop.
* Have great music, live plants, lots of books and cool pictures in your office.
* Establish "rules" to insure your work time can be productive and focused. If the family room and office blur, you will pay a price!
* Work as much as possible in your pajamas!
* Ignore all the advice about work-life balance! Find work you truly love and then it will become play-life balance!

When I was first learning to work from home, I would sit and work in 45-minute intervals, trying to get through my most important tasks first. Over time, I learned to ignore distractions that present themselves when at home. I sit at a desk to work also, and this helps.

Truthfully, working from home (definition as working from the kitchen or other "high" traffic area), from a home office (definition is a room specifically designated at an office) or in a real office makes no difference.

Once I go into the office, I work. The distractions (based on locale), while maybe of a different nature are still distractions, need to be dealt with, and then back to the "ol' grind".

As far as just making it more efficient, there are tasks that are daily tasks and then their are tasks that I want to accomplish and those that just arise (distractions?). I just deal with them and move on.

Remember, in this life, for almost everything we do, there is tomorrow, and if doesn't come, oops.

Time management and prioritization are key elements to working efficiently. Communication is also crucial to efficiency and productivity.

I'm a firm believer in 'making things real' by writing them down. A weekly calendar with notations of deadlines, meetings, phone calls, networking events, client milestone events (owner or contact's birthday, company anniversary, etc.) is the basis for a functional To Do list. Client commitments should be the top priority followed by those obligations relating to your business (i.e. marketing, bookkeeping, etc.). It's important to be realistic though, when writing your weekly schedule and To Do list. If you know that on Wednesday the children are only in school for a 1/2 day, or your business partner likes to leave the office early on Friday, it would be reasonable to expect that you won't be as productive as usual because distractions and other responsibilities are likely to interfere. This brings us to communication.

Regardless of where you work, there are at least tangentially, actions of others that affect your productivity. Utilize a Do Not Disturb sign on your office door. Better than that, post a sign with a clock on it that indicates when you'll be available for interaction with your office mates or family members. It's perfectly acceptable to say, "I'm sorry I'm working against a deadline. Let's do this ______." When you're proactive about scheduling your responsibilities and communicating those commitments to those around you, you eliminate much of the frustration and lost time that can occur in the work place.

I've worked from 'home' since 1986 and have come up with a few musts that help me be both more effective and efficient.

1 - your home office is your office. My business is shown at suite 1001 (the garage is 1002) and I treat my office as just that. To you it might be a spare bedroom but to me and my family it's my office and once I enter it I'm working.

2 - the old axiom of plan your work and work your plan applies. I live and breathe by my calendar and between my Mac and my iPhone my calendar and GTD software keeps me on track and sane. If it's not written down it's just not real and everything I do or plan to do is in the calendar or Things (GTD) software. It's all synced so in or out of my office I know where I'm going and what needs to be done.

3 - strive for balance. One of the problems of a home office is the temptation or work and work and work because there is always something to that can be done. I plan (again my calendar or things app) on work time and personal time as well as down time.

4 - use technology wisely. Its too easy to be seduced by the latest shinny new thing. Use technology but don't let it become the time suck it can. I personally have a tendency to try new applications, many of which are redundant, so my goal is once a month to simplify and eliminate those that are not central to my business.

I think the advice so far is excellent and my hats off to Dale Little, Wayne Spivack, Catherine Brown for the tips and to Barbara Wilbur for the question.

I love working from home. I prefer to work from home especially when I need to do "thinking" work or have a fast-approaching deadline. When I start my day, I think about what my goals are for the day and what I'm going to do. Then all I need is a quiet room, an Internet connection, a working laptop, a phone and food every couple of hours and I'm set. And focus. I can focus much better and stay focused much longer due to lack of interruptions and side conversations/noise. Staying focused on the goals and task at hand helps me greatly. I sometimes even log off from email for a few hours to avoid any distractions. I do so when I really need to concentrate on something. And hey, if in the middle of the day I feel the urge to push myself up into a handstand to get my blood flowing in the opposite direction, I can do that too at home.

I do agree with Bill on the work, work, work aspect though - balance is important.

If I were to advise someone just starting their first home office the best tip I could give you is to form good work habits.

For the beginner it's too easy to walk out of the office, get some coffee, remember some errand and leave the house. None of those things create income. You would not leave a regular job to run errands so do those things as you would if you had a normal off site job.

I live in the Mountain time zone. That means that the East Coast is open for business at 6 AM my time and the west coast is still open at 6PM my time so it can make for some long days.

Before stopping work at the end of the day I make a list of what needs to be done tomorrow. If possible I knock out the majority of that list before noon. If not the list just gets longer.

Be disciplined in spending your time productively. Don't do things in the light that you should be doing in the dark. That means that during daylight selling hours you should not be doing anything other than creating income. When businesses are closed then you can do estimates, write letters, do emails, proposals, etc.

Working the same schedule is hard enough at an offsite job and even harder at home. Create variety in how you do things. If it's Wednesday then you do some of this. It also helps keep track of the days and keeps your mind fresh.

Get the understanding of your family. Spending time at home for you may be very different from what your family imagines you are doing. They see it as an easy non-stressful job unlike their daily life. So talk about what you did, the problems you overcame and projects you have in place. Much like you would do in a conventional job. Not having support at home will be a hard obstacle to overcome on your road to success.

We all have times of day when focus is sharp and energy is high and times when focus is harder to hold or energy sags.

Know your cycle and plan the big project, high thinking, focused work with focus and energy are strong and leave the small but important tasks for the times when focus and energy are low.

By matching the work to your natural cycle you leverage and maximize outcomes.