It seems that when women work at home, some people don’t really think they are really working. Ok, ok, yes, I experienced this personally before I got a 'reall office. It seems that because I was at home, people (friends, family, etc.) thought it was ok to bug me. Short of turning off my phone, I had to stop answering my personal phone phone during my working hours, what else could I do?

After doing some research on the topic and finding out how other people handle working @ home, I came up  up with a few other tips that might help those of you who work from home.

- don’t mix personal tasks with business. I was guilty as charged on this one; I often tried to fit in a load of laundry plus I checked emails and grabbed a snack (the perils of working so near the kitchen).

- learn the fine art of saying ‘no’ to family members or others that may not take your job seriously.

- organize because clutter and a lack of system (whether it be filing, the ‘in’ ‘out’ trays, or whatever) can waste a lot of time. Schedule a few minutes a day to go through paper, check your emails etc.

- if you can, have a separate office for you work that you can be away from the main part of the house when you are working. Also, get dressed for work, even if it jeans and a t-shirt. 

There are a thousand little time stealers that can happen throughout a home worker’s day, the trick is to keep on top of it and work with your eyes wide open.