#WorkingfromHome

Home Office Review: Weak wireless signals solved by ethernet over the mains

| Technology

If you’re like me – a freelancer who occasionally works from home and who happens to live in an old, listed or converted flat – you’re no stranger to fluctuating wireless signals, and the headache they can cause when you’re trying to work.

Thick concrete walls, organic (horsehair) insulation and poor telephone infrastructure make working from home in these types of flats something of a struggle. It makes matters worse when the one room in your flat where you get the most work done just happens to be out of range from your wireless router. So, when you run a business that relies heavily on a stable internet connection, what’s a freelancer to do?

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“Home business of the year” award added to Startups Awards 2010

| Getting a Job,News

Despite cuts across the board, overall, UK business is seeing a positive change thanks to the new Government. Tax breaks, including extended relief on the increase in Capital Gains Tax and National Insurance have been introduced and support for SMEs has been very positive.

To mark the importance of SMEs, The Startups Awards 2010 have added a Home Business of the Year category to their annual awards.

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Compare broadband options for working at home

| Technology,Working From Home

If you occasionally work from home then getting a decent broadband connection can really help you get your work done effectively.

Thanks to modern-day technology, working from home is no longer a second-rate way of staying in touch with clients and colleagues and broadband has become a vital lifeline for many home workers, allowing them to email or browse the web in comfort while also being able to send and receive large files with ease.

If you’re not up to speed with Broadband at home Chris Marling of Broadband Genie gives you a a few things to consider.

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The Death of the Office?

| Working From Home

Who needs an office? Well, the Prime Minister I guess. Your accountant, perhaps. The CEO of a corporation with multiple divisions for sure. But if you’re an agile company producing web-content, applications or software do you really need to have all your troops all lined up ready for battle at 9am every morning five days a week?

Freelance Advisor has always tried to promote home working as a flexible, sustainable and more productive option for 21st century working and this week Seth Godin, Hive Logic and Chris Ashworth all made excellent points about the failings of the traditional office.

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Relationships in a freelancer’s world

| Lifestyle & Time out

Relationships are more important for a freelancer than for any other individual.

That’s a pretty bold statement and I’m bracing myself for a wave of incredulity articulated by examples of people going through any sort of emotional or physical trauma. Ok, leaving that probably overwhelming group aside… here’s why

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Getting things done: The freelancer’s timetable

| Working From Home

You gave up working for someone else for a reason. More than one in all likelihood, but one stood bold and proud: freedom.

Such a noble word; such a bright and sparkling principle; such a statement of hope and promise.

Such a lie

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Link list: Grand Designs, Shed-working & Receipts

| Lifestyle & Time out

Dribble.com – what are you working on?: Part game, part forum, part image library designers will find a lot of inspiration here and, if you’re really inspired you can bounce a piece of work to riff off the creation and join discussions about how to code the design in CSS — design geeks will LOVE it.

Shedworking.co.uk: Garden offices look set to become the next big thing in backyards this summer and with some beautiful off-the-lorry designs if you’ve got some money to throw at the problem it needn’t involve to much DIY.

Keebo promise to have your receipts online within 72 hours and offer a no quibble 90 day money back guarantee if you want to try their new service.

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Working from home — Avoiding isolation and finding motivation

| Lifestyle & Time out

When freelancing or starting a small business and looking to keep costs down working from home is the obvious solution.

There’s also a downside, though, and that’s the risk of becoming lonely and isolated, with its knock-on effect on self-confidence and motivation.

Continuing our #WorkingFromHome series Judy Heminsley shares her hard-won tips for overcoming the gloom of isolation and how to get motivated in the mid-afternoon slump…

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Procrastination – the energy leech

| Lifestyle & Time out

When I talk about home working to someone who is office-based, they reply, ‘I could never work from home. I’d spend all day in my pyjamas watching daytime TV.’ What they mean is that they’re afraid that away from the eyes of bosses and colleagues they’d never get anything done, that they would procrastinate.

The trouble with procrastination is that it drains energy from us every time we think about that dreaded task and then stuff it to the back of our minds again. Far more energy than it would take to complete.

So why do you procrastinate?

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BBC’s Dr Aleks Krotoski on Working For Yourself & Working From Home

| Getting a Job

Yesterday Brighton’s Media Jobs and Skills fair was a huge success we talked to hundreds of potential freelancers from the recently redundant and looking to start a new career to students wanting to go straight into freelance — avoiding the traditional desk job altogether. It was really inspiring to see so many people interested in freelancing and we had over 100 new freelancers sign up for our ‘Go Freelance’ guide during the event.

The day was rounded off perfectly by academic, BBC filmmaker and Guardian journalist Dr Alek’s Krotoski talking to an audience of students and staff at the Sussex University Enterprise Thursday’s event — and the good Doctor was very happy to extol the virtues of Working for Yourself and Working from Home.

Read on for a video clip of Dr Krotoski and the perils of pyjamas.

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Freelance Review: Pretty pink Pogoplug powers unprecedented personal productivity

| Technology

The guys and girls at Cloud Engines are my new best friends! As a roaming freelancer (working on contracts in other people’s offices, working from home and, sometimes, working from bed) the problem of where to keep my data has always been a difficult one to solve. Not any more.

Pogoplug is a great solution. It’s got 4 USB slots and it connects to a home WiFi router and, yes it really is that simple, now I have access to my portable hard drives wherever I am in the world.

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The 10 golden rules of home business

| Working From Home

If you’re new to home business in 2010, or considering starting out in freelancing, working for yourself or working from home, these 10 golden rules from Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones are are great place to start.

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Cartoon: The Advantages of Working from Home

| Working From Home

Working from home is a great idea. Here’s why. Brilliant cartoon from Johnny Contractor: http://www.johnnycontractor.com/

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How are you coping in the snow?

| Working From Home

As Britain shivers though the coldest night this Winter, with local government offices reporting road grit supplies are dangerously low and the MetOffice predicting more snow on the way, we’re wondering how everyone is doing out there. Are you able to make it into the office? Are you working from home? Or are you just glad you’re a freelancer with everything you need in your home office?

We’d love to know how you’re working throughout this week.

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Setting up a home office: Look no wires!

| Technology,Working From Home

Having your own home office, or a small rented place to do you work is fantastic. It sets you up for the day, helping you create a distraction-free space and a professional venue to meet your clients.

As your business grows, however, unless you are lucky enough to be able to afford new premises then space may get tight, and, if you like gadgets and gizmos then it won’t be long before you’ve got wires all over the place, dangling from your desk and tying themselves in knots.

There are two simple solutions… go wireless… or, when you need power, hide the wires.

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Home working: Spending your time wisely

| Lifestyle & Time out,Working From Home

Recent research has show that home workers and freelancers are more productive than their 9-5, desk-bound colleagues.

Freelance Advisor and Home Business expert Emma Jones takes a quick, efficient look at how you can make the most of your time in the home office.

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Do what you do best and outsource the rest

| Getting a Job,Working From Home

Never has this piece of advice been more relevant. You went in to business to do the things you most enjoy. When you enjoy something, you’re good at it and that, in turn, attracts loyal customers. Keep hold of those customers by sticking to your knitting and find other experts to take on the tasks [...]

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Working from home: creating the perfect home office

| Technology,Working From Home

If you’re freelancing from home on a regular basis a well-lit, well kitted-out office is essential – not just a luxury. Freelance Advisor’s resident gadget guru Jim Hatley takes a look at some home office must-haves. Home office heaven: Screens, scanners, DAB and desk-lamps Last year I have covered a few bits of kit to [...]

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Home office: One size doesn’t fit all

| Lifestyle & Time out,Working From Home

It’s no fun being average… but at least your desk and workstation have been designed with you in mind. If you’re above-average height you will know that it’s not quite so easy. Posture professional Jo Blood gives tall guys and gals a few hints on how to make their working environment work for them. Tall [...]

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Create a professional welcome while working from home

| Working From Home

Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones offers us the first in a new series of pieces for our Working from Home section. Here she takes a looks at what freelancers with a home office can do to create a professional image for clients and a great first impression for customers [...]

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