What are your tips for effectively working from home?

In addition to the key points contributed above, I would also like to add:
1. Establish routines
2. Respect your home-based business and work as if you worked in a high-rise in your downtown area with a staff of 50.
3.Educate others around you (family, friends, visiting relatives) that you're working as some seem to believe because you have a home-based business, you have unlimited flexibility.

In addition to the already stated and absolutely critical suggestions I would add a couple.
1. Segment your day / week to focus on what is important and stick to it.
I made sales calls between 7 and 9 in the morning, then again between 12 and 1 and the third time after 5 - I had a high hit ratio of contacts versus voice mail machines
I spent morning hours working on complex projects that required focus and concentration
I spent afternoon hours networking, social media building, marketing, advertising, and keeping my personal knowledge and skills up to date.

2. This almost the opposite side of the first suggestion
I never took a full hour for lunch when in the home office
I never read for pleasure during a work day
I closed all doors to my office when spouse or children were home for the day and turned on office music to block out potential interruptions

3. I use an Ott Lite to give me full spectrum light all day long in the office - it keeps me from experiencing the winter doldrums due to too little sun light.

4. Of course, the days I maintained this schedule were when I wasn't out at a client site.
Aim to fill three days of every week in sales meetings, delivering billable work, and/or networking with clients (gold mining) such that you spend a maximum of 2 days per week doing all the accounting, invoicing, paying, etc. along with the above 3 suggestions.

Lastly, don't expect to work 40 hours per week and make a great living as an entrepreneurial consultant - it just doesn't happen for the vast majority of one-alone consultants.

Act as if you are actually in a real office environment, not working at home.

Some of the key considerations have been mentioned by other experts, any way I will summariza those which have proved efficiency in my own experience:

1. Get up early , take a shower, dress etc. for work. Do not work in pijamas.

2. Stick to your WORKING schedule. This includes starting on time, attend conferences on time and why not? taking well deserved breaks.

3. Physical infrastructure/environment are VERY important.
Having an ergonomic seat, table, keyboard, mouse, monitor etc. is a must. Also, appropriate lighting and a quiet home office must be ensured. You don´t want your customers or partners listening a crying baby or a barking dog while you're on the phone.

4. Finally, I'd recommend to keep face to face contact with other humans, whenever is needed and/or possible. In addition to skype, bridge conference lines etc, going out and having a coffee with a stakeholder and forgetting about technology in between (for a while) is a healthy practice.

I agree with the need for a dedicated work-space providing not only the infrastructure, but the look-and-feel of an office environment.

The advice to "shower and dress for work" may be required for some folks to get into "work-mode" but I don't find it necessary at all. Jumping right out of bed and staying in comfy clothes enables me to get a very early start on the day. I spend those early hours catching up and cleaning out my email inBox. I have almost no interruptions given the time of day and immersing myself in email and online activity puts me right into a work state-of-mind.

I realize that this may not be an answer as much as a sharing of what I expereinced. My family was trained, when I was in my office, I was at work and my boss(me) would have me fired and my clients taken away if I wasn't working. It still didn't stop the accessiblity they felt they had.

DO NOT have barking dogs or crying baby's in the background when on a call.

Frequently I would stop work at 3:30 when my son got home; focus on homework, sports and food, reboot at 9:00 and work for another few hours.

A lot of great advice here. I do also find that building and sticking to a schedule is very helpful when working from home.

However, you also want to consider the benefits of working from home and be sure you build in access to some of them. After all, it is different than working in an office.

I build time into my day to work out. This means I do not get dressed and shower immediately. As long as your are focused and directed, building appropriate breaks into your schedule and working in your PJs is not going to kill the routine.

I also build in occasional outings, such as lunch with friends. My work day extends 12-13 hours, so these breaks are more than made up for on the other ends.

I agree, schedule out your time, prioritize, and deliver on your commitments. Treat your work and your office with respect. Get yourself the tools you need to be successful (phone, computer, internet, chair, desk, and organization system).

But don't forget that you've earned yourself a luxury and take advantage of it from time to time. Otherwise, what's it worth to you?

I have actually found that productivity can be achieved while working from home. Yes, as mentioned by everyone before me, it is critical that you should have an office area with a door.
Make sure that you are accessible either through IM or telephone be it cell or landline. Post your number on your communicator or send out an email to your colleagues who work on location advising them of how you can be reached. This will also help you stay in contact with your colleagues for those individuals that miss the social interaction part of the job. By this, I don't mean chatting away on Facebook or emailing your colleagues at work about personal matters, use your communication tools to stay in touch as an active team member.
If you treat working from home as if you were on site with your boss' office right next to yours, you should have no problems!

Stay away from the refrigerator.

It took me a good 5 months to get into the right habits working from home. The dishes, laundry, even vacuuming can look appealing when you're having a tough day.

My tips are:
Get a skype number that can be forwarded to your mobile
Get a wireless headset with a mute function
Set up your office in the spare bedroom rather than your lounge so you have a distinct separation between work and leisure space for you and your family.
Keep a todo list, even if you dont work a normal 8 hrs you should still achieve your outcomes.
Dont allow friends to visit while you are working.
DO spend time making yourself a nice lunch
Break up your day with a run, walk or bike ride
Create reoccurring ical or goggle calender events to pop up and remind you when you should start working on the next task or phase of your day.

I tried moving to a hot desk in town a few days a week and it sucked. I could not bear wasting an hour a day traveling after being used to walking across the hallway to start work

As a mother, I find that some sort of child care is essential. Does that defeat the purpose of working from home? Not necessarily. Now my son is in school, but before he was in school, I had him child care. When he was really young, it was only twice a week for three hours a day (6 hours total). As he grew older, I increased the time. His last year of preschool, before kindergarten, he was up to three hours a day 5 days a week (15 hours).

Pick the most important tasks, and get those done while your kids are in child care. The other things can be shuffled around as needed. I was surprised at what I could get done, with focus and attention, during the time my son was being cared for by someone else. It provided my son with socialization, and me with time to work more efficiently. And it was better than having a job where I had to have him in day care 30 hours a week.

Love what everyone had to say, as there is truth in every statement above. I think when I first began working from home the biggest obstacle to overcome was over-working. It is natural for an entrepreneur to be a bit of a go getter and always strive for the best, but the long hours were definitely taking its toll.

My solution was to set up a regimented schedule where I did certain things at certain times. Rather than watch the time dwindle away in the morning being sucked up into email, I stopped opening my email first thing and worked on shifts responding and writing new ones. I did this with my out-going sales calls, meetings, radio show, webinars, blog writing, etc. And what I found out was not too surprising....I just needed a schedule to follow.

Although it was hard to stick to at first, after time it stuck. Whenever I feel the urge to stray, I just go back and revitalize it.

It starts with knowing exactly why you are working from home. For most, at least part of the reason is the flexibility it offers. Which means you've made a choice to unplug from the 9-5 industrial age workday model.

1. Be clear with yourself about the design of the new model. What days and hours of the day do you want or need to work? Is it even tied to time or just to productivity - completing set chunks of work - daily goals if you will.

2. Know yourself. 'Work' involves different types of activities - repetitive tasks, large projects that require focus, creative idea/thinking/design work and more. You have times when you are best at each type so plan accordingly. Don't spend your best creative time doing routine. You'll maximize your energy and output when the work matches up with your natural energy patterns.

3. Have an accountability partner or mastermind group. Sharing a goal strengthens the commitment. Put in a systematic process for getting the social support and it will help you - when you won't do it for yourself, you may find you can because you promised someone else you would.

If you wanted to unplug from the 9-5 then do it - don't just move the 9-5 model home. It requires a working model, a clear commitment of what you will do and a social replacement for the watercooler discussions.

I'm in agreement with a lot of the advice above. I have a couple other things I do on days when I'm working from home.

To those who said create an offices space with a door - Amen! Use that door :) It keeps out pets, spouses, kids, etc. when you are in the middle of things.

Get an unlimited long distance plan. My office supplied me with an IP phone that they've never been able to connect. I only work from home a few days a month but we support 850 end users across the US and Canada. Those charges add up.

Keep your usual hours. Many of us are committed to good customer service - that can become detrimental to your home life and health if you are a type A personality. I have, in the past, found that if I start early or work late people will take advantage of it.

As many before me have said - stay in touch with the outside world in some way. I have IMs going all day with co-workers who are either in the office or are at a site elsewhere in the US. It not only helps us stay on the same page - it gives you a bit of interaction should you be working alone.

Just have to say these are GREAT answers! But most important (to me): NOTHING happens until somebody makes the sale! If that person is you, then use your best hours - segment, set aside, close off yourself, whatever -- to MAKE THE SALES part work.

You can water plants, check emails, do Quickbooks, whatever -- later. Hold your selling time as the MOST important segment of your day, because it is.

And, this seems silly, but when a client/customer/someone compliments you in writing, print it out and keep it in a file folder to psych yourself up when you begin selling again tomorrow. It's like having your boss say, "You did a great job on that Johnson account" except you can repeat it daily.

I work from home, but not as an entrepreneur or home-based business - I telecommute. I find myself working the same hours as I did when I was in the office, which is still more than 40 a week. It's ok though, as I love what I do. I do have a good balance, and that is what is most key. Everyone's idea of balance is different, and only you can make time for things you deem important.

I agree on pretty much everything else posted here. I'd add one thing. Get a Google Voice number and learn how to use it right. My office extension is forwarded to my GV number, and I can selectively answer calls after hours, etc. It can also save you a bundle if you have it integrated with a "friends and family" plan. I only need my cell phone now, whether I am home, in the office, or on the road.

As for me I actually have an office that I go to every day because when I worked at home I found that the day was going by and I was still in my night clothes. My wife also suggested that I needed to get out of the house and be around other business people, so I have done that and I must say there is something about getting up and getting dressed to go into the office. OK, enough about working at the office, I have found that when I do work from home I love the "Go to My PC" product that allows me to dial into my computer at the office and work from it just like I was there! I love this tool and it is very inexpensive to use and if gives you the flexibility of being able to dial in from anywhere you have access to the internet from any computer. So, for me when I do work from home this allows me to dial in and see what's going on just as if I was in the office.

I've been running a consulting practice from a home office since 1990. My wife also works from a home office. We have an S Corp, a Sole Propreitorship a Partnership and a Marriage, all under one roof.

The single most important piece of advice I can give anyone considering working from home is to put a door on the office. Make it one you can close. Open it and close it at reasonable hours each day. Close it on weekends. Go have a life when the door is closed.

If you don't you will work longer and longer hours. You will fnd yourself tiring out, losing focus and pondering why you ever did this.

Coming out of your office and closing the door signals your spouse and your family that you are home. Puttng the office behind you is like giving yourself permission to do the things you enjoy doing.

Get a door.

Make a contract with friends and family that recognises that when you are at work, YOU ARE AT WORK. Not available for chats, coffee or any other kind of intruption.

I think they have covered it all so I agree and there is one other thing I do daily that I have done for 30 years working from home.
1. Meditate and say my morning prayers,
2. Plan my day with Activities - there is NO time management only activity management.
3. Have a egg for breakfast..Protein.
4. Make my calls in MY PRIME TIME NOT THEIRS. I am smartest and clearest in the AM so I always make my calls then.
5. I operate out of INTENTION not dials or goals.
6. If business ever gets slow, I do 15 things; I call it 5-5-5.
7. I call 5 new people, - 5 very old (Lazarus calls, raise from the dead) 5 follow ups
8. Then I go to lunch or shopping or park or play tennis.
9. I try to remember that I am never separate from my goals or substance.
10. I also have 5 friends to call if I ever get down and they will remind me of who I am.

"The Universe Always Says YES." I work about 6 hours a day in my office, EARLY to 2-3 - Then I shine it! I go back when the muse appears to need to write.

~Judy

Paula Rosenblum got it right!!!!!!!!

In addition to all of this. If you have a dog, walk it for about 30 minutes 3 times a day. It'll be good for you, good for the dog and good for your business.

I agree that a dedicated work space and a schedule are both very important. If you are working when family is around then having a schedule that you stick to will make your schedule predictable to them as well and give them expectations for when you are working.