You Can Have Fun At Work And Increase Effectiveness

Would you believe that you can have fun at work and increase your effectiveness? The happy fact is that this is true.

In the offices and often even at home, we make notes on small pieces of paper, use paper clips, staplers and other stationery. The standard stationery comes in boring standard colors and implies boring work.

You can easily make a few changes to make this fun and yet get your work done. Get different colored post-it notes, colorful folders, colored clips amongst other things. Make a visit to the stationery supply store and you will be amazed at the number of fun things you can use at work and at home.

Your to-do items can be written on post-it notes. You can use different colors for different projects. Prioritizing is easier with post-it notes as you can physically arrange and re-arrange post-it notes when prioritizing them. If you wrote a list, then you may need to rewrite when re-prioritizing.

It will also be fun, if you can have a clipboard that stands on a base. You can stick the post-it notes on it and it will stand up above any clutter that may be on the table. It can also be moved around.

The post-it notes should be organized in a certain pattern. One way can be the most important ones go on the top left hand corner and the least to the bottom right corner.

Add drawing to the notes. If you are writing a report, then draw a symbol that indicates a report. A drawing of a personal computer can indicate that you need to do some computer related work. There is no fixed picture to indicate each of these activities that need to be done. Let your creative self have fun with this.

What will really make a great impact is to celebrate the completion of each activity. Normally, people will just draw a line across to indicate that an activity is completed. You can draw a star to indicate a job well done. Draw a champagne bottle being opened. Be like a child and you can have great fun with this.

A physical calendar is another item that you can have lots of fun with. Use different colored highlighters to differentiate activities.

Choose a vibrant color for holidays. Stick some pictures based on where you will be going for your holidays.

Allocate different colors for different projects. Here again you can draw pictures or use stickers. Writing can be in different sizes and styles and also in different colors.

Celebrate work finished by giving yourself stars. This way, when you look back, you can easily see the successes that you have enjoyed and feel good about them.

Remember, just completing a job is successful. If you finish it ahead of time and get very positive feedback, then give yourself more stars and accolades.

Do not be overly tough on your self, and give yourself a star only on a rare occasion. Remember that you are doing all this to motivate yourself and have fun on the job.

Are you one of those type of people who like to leave piles of papers, related files on your table or on the locker beside you? Meaning you do not organize them and put them away and only take them out when you need them.

There is good news for you. Apparently, there are some of us who work best in this way. Although papers and materials are scattered, these people are able to scan quickly and pick up exactly what they want.

Beware anyone who tries to help by organizing the materials. You are in for trouble as the clutter is needed for these people to perform the activities well.

So, if you are one of those people who has a messy workplace and finds it difficult to keep things organized, it may not be a bad thing.

You can also have fun at work by having a few of your personal items that might make you feel good. It could be a photo of your loved ones, it could be a little gadget that you like to play with to get your creativity going or just some goofy toy that brings a smile to your face.

Being in a place that reflects you and your personality helps you to feel at home and deliver better work than in a sterile office environment.

Just look around your workplace and you will be able to find some ways to have fun at work. Effectiveness and productivity increases as a result of having fun at the workplace.

Is Working At Home Right For You?

To many the idea of working from home is very attractive, especially if you have young children or are in any way immobile. But working at home does not suit everybody and there are some questions you need to ask yourself before you commit to work from home.

First of all there are a number of ways you could work from home. Many big companies encourage it these days, especially if you are in a job which can be performed from anywhere. Equally you could setup your own business working from home supplying services to your local area, or you could go online with your own internet business.

First consider where you will work. Is there a spare room or a room you could set aside as an office where you could set yourself up and not be disturbed, or distracted, from normal family life? If not, make sure you set aside your own workspace and that your loved ones know it is where you work.

Next think about what equipment you will need to work from home, whether you can afford it, and how and where you will set it up. It is likely you will need a computer, printer, a desk, an office chair and a reliable internet connection as a minimum. It is as important to consider Health and Safety implications as it would be in a regular office environment.

Next consider the impact on the family or those around you. Set down some ground rules so your loved ones know when you are working and therefore can't be disturbed. Equally let them know your working hours and stick to them. Working from home has many advantages, but it can sometimes be difficult to switch off at the end of the day, so set your boundaries, including what you are prepared to do, make sure they are fair to everyone and meet everyone's needs, and stick to them.

Finally, and most importantly, ask yourself whether you have the temperament to work effectively from home. Are you the sort of person who needs the buzz of the office, or do you prefer to get your head down and get on with it. Do you need to get out of the house in the morning, or are you happy to stay within your own four walls every day? Asking yourself these questions will determine whether you will be happy working from home. If you are at all doubtful, don't despair, are there things you could do to make it work? For instance you may need to work harder on your social life, join a gym or a local networking group.

Asking yourself the above questions before you embark on your working at home will really help you determine whether it will suit you or not, and therefore whether it will work for you.

The Importance of Planning For Your New Home Business

You've decided to start your own home business, perhaps because you hate your current job and loathe getting up early in the morning to travel to work every day, or maybe because you regret not being there to see all the milestones in your children's growth. You could be approaching retirement and worrying about the lifestyle you will be forced into.

Whatever your reason, starting your own home business will give you flexibility and if done well, will bring in that extra income you are after. Even if your funds are very limited, you can still get going by starting part-time while you work your regular job. The important thing is to plan, know what you want to do and then get started. Plenty of other people have built a very profitable online business working from home and so can you!

Be aware that almost half of all small businesses fail in the first five year of operation and that your profits may not come as quickly as some advertisements would have you believe, but if you plan well, are committed to action and just keep following the steps, you will make it happen.

The following are basic steps to follow that will help you keep on the path to success with your own home business:

1. Vision

Know the big picture of where you want to go, what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it. See it in your mind, imagine that you have already reached your goal and feel how that would feel. The more emotion you put into your vision, the more likely you are to succeed. Most entrepreneurs have had such a clear vision.

2. Planning

This is where you set your goals; make them:

(a) specific

(b) measurable

(c) achievable

(d) timely, meaning they must have a deadline

3. Options

Consider all your options then decide on one course of action that suits you best right now. Some things to consider are:

(a) What kind of work can you do from home?

(b) Suitability - What fits with your skills and your interests?

(c) Costs - Work out what you can afford to spend to get your new business established and then see what home business model fits within this budget and your interests.

(d) Business structure - You can be a sole trader, form a partnership, a company/corporation or perhaps just start out as a hobby. Some of these structures cost money to set up, but may suit your personal circumstances better. As always, understand the options, then decide what is best for you.

(e) Registrations, tax and other legalities - These will depend on local regulations and the business structure you choose, but whatever they are, you need to make yourself familiar with them.

(f) Personal and family issues - It's always best to discuss your business plans with your family, even when they will not be involved in the business side. You may need to share resources, such as computer/internet time, perhaps desk or table space if you will not have a separate office, you will probably have family commitments, but you also need to make sure you will be able to have quality time to work on your business and not be expected to drop it for other family matters just because you are at home. It's important that everyone in the family acknowledges that you are running a business and not just toying with it.

(g) Enjoyment - You have to like this work! You will appreciate (and studies have proven) that when people really enjoy their work, are even passionate about it, they willingly put more time in, are less likely to give up and therefore are more likely to succeed.

4. Action

Consistent ongoing action, small steps + consistency = success

(a) Do something on your business every day for 21 days. This will form a habit of doing it and make it easier for you to commit your time.


(b) Prepare a brief outline for each day of the week. This lets you start right in on the task planned when you might otherwise be tempted to spend time reading emails or web surfing. The outline can be very brief, just one line for each day is OK. Your list will depend on your business and the time you have available, but could be something like this:

i. Monday - write a draft for an article

ii. Tuesday - post to your blog, send an email follow-up to your list or submit comments on someone else's blog or a forum

iii. Wednesday - polish your article and submit to article sites

iv. Thursday - list another product on eBay or on your website

v. Friday - research for new products, articles etc

(c) The weekly planning session is also a good time to evaluate how the previous week went. If things did not go as well as you hoped, don't be disheartened, see how you can do it better next time.

5. Repeat this cycle over and over. You do not always have to have the same business model, but the steps will apply to any model you choose.

6. Success will come inevitably when you follow this pattern.

To make it easy to remember, these steps are labelled WHY, WHAT, HOW, NOW steps (where Now means Action or DO IT!)

The importance of planning sufficiently or effectively cannot be stressed enough. If you want your business to be successful (and you do, or else why bother to start at all?), make sure you plan well and then keep taking action based on your plans.

Stop and reassess your progress periodically, make changes where you can see a better way, but keep the momentum rolling and your home business will be a success.

4 Ways To Use Social Media Marketing To Make Money Online

Social media marketing is a way to promote your business on the internet via social networking. This has grown to encompass a very large number of websites and methods.

The savvy internet marketer is learning how to use this powerful marketing method to grow their business and make valuable contacts for the future.

Of course this also means making more money if you do it right. Let's take a look at 4 ways to use social media marketing to make money online.

1. Blogging is a very strong way to combine various forms of social media marketing all in one place. If you do not have a blog you are losing ground to your competitors who do.

2. Social bookmark your blog posts to create traffic from social directories and as search engine bait for search engine traffic.

Be sure and use a quality blogging platform such as WordPress. They offer a terrific plug-in that makes social bookmarking a blog post very simple.

Social bookmarking gives you a way to get backlinks to your blog very quickly. You should be bookmarking to social directories such as Technorati, Digg, Stumbleupon, and Propeller.

Also go get a Twitter account and learn how to make friends and use it to drive traffic to your blog. This is fast becoming one of the top social sites online.

3. Video such as You Tube is becoming a favorite way for bloggers to add some excitement to their blogs, but it is also much more than that.

For example many affiliate marketing programs now offer videos embedded with your affiliate i.d. that you can use to pre-sell a visitor before sending them to your affiliate website.

Many bloggers are also easily creating videos and putting them online on their blog. This is a very powerful form of social media that is giving your visitor what they want. Many people are a product of the TV generation and like to learn by watching as opposed to reading.

4. Discussion forums are a great place to make friends and sell products if you do it right. They can also be an excellent place to create joint ventures and millions of dollars are sold online now because of these.

There is much more we could say about social media including social networking in places such as FaceBook, My Space, and many others. The bottom line is making money online via social media all comes down to finding a way you enjoy and then mastering how to use it to your business and personal advantage.