You’ve let your nine-to-five go and dove head first into your new venture as an entrepreneur. There’s nobody to tell you what to do or when to do it. You are your own boss and ready to take on the world.

but…

There’s nobody to tell you what to do or when to do it. You’re responsible for everything now. Before your tract to self-employment, you walked into an office that was neatly organized and ergonomically designed. Now your home is your office and it is far from office-ready.

So what are some basic things to do to keep you sane while working at home?

Declutter

Remove clutter; Not just from your work area but from your entire house. Your home is not just a living area anymore. It is also your workplace. I know we have all heard the saying “a cluttered space is a cluttered mind”. It is difficult to focus when the area around you has so many focal points. Your mind is concentrating on the clutter instead of more important business matters.

An area without clutter relaxes your mind. You’ll be amazed at the amount of peace you will reach simply by removing and neatly arranging items around you.

Designate Your Work Space

Now that you have you have decluttered, decide where your work area will be. Whether your office is an entire room or a small corner, you want to make sure that space is your designated area.

Since you are now working from home, there is nowhere to escape to when the 5 o’clock whistle blows. For this reason it is important to keep your work and play area as separate as possible. Your first instinct is to carry  your work from room to room. You will want to use the entire house as your office. It is important not to do this. Why not? Because when it is time to escape at the end of your workday you want to have somewhere to escape to. If you have work spread throughout the house you won’t have that section of your home to go to in order to relax.

Let The Sun Shine Through

Studies show that people who work and live in spaces that are well lit with natural light are happier, healthier and more productive. Now that you have your home-based business set up you’ll more than likely be spending a great deal of time at home. Having your blinds drawn and working in a dark gloomy environment is not the most effective way to spend your work day.

Sunlight is also a good source of Vitamin D which increases energy levels. Allowing the sun to shine through will improve your attitude and stimulate your creative juices.

Can yo0u think of other ways to create the right home office working environment?

Traci A. Smith, CEO and founder of The S.H.E. Agency, requested I do a blog that focused on how business owners can communicate with their clients without giving out their personal phone number.

This is especially a concern for entrepreneurs who work out of their homes.

While we need to be visible and accessible in order to earn a living, our safety is a real concern.

I felt this was a great opportunity to present a few business tools and options that will allow the self-employed to be fully accessible without total disclosure.

Google Voice

I did an article on Google Voice but did not fully touch upon its ability to allow you to communicate with your client-base without disclosing an already established phone number.

Google voice will let you set a phone number that will forward callers to one or more of your telephones simultaneously or one after the other.

The benefit of this is that while clients have a business phone number where they can always reach you, the number(s) that are actually ringing are unknown to the caller.

A second benefit is that when a caller becomes an issue or an irritant, you can use Google Voice to block that number or adjust the settings to always send calls from that number directly to voice mail.

Features like these on traditional land lines and/or cellphones can be expensive and burdensome. However, it’s extremely easy to manage them with a few customization choices of your Google Voice account.

P.O. Box / Private Mail Box 

Most business owners like to have an address to use on their stationary and promotional materials. When you have a home-based business, your mailing address is typically the place where you (or you and your family) live.

To avoid giving out your home address, you can set up a post office (P.O.) box. Your mail can be sent to a remote location away from your home, avoiding the chance of anyone finding out your actual whereabouts.

While a P.O. box has its place, it is not necessarily the ideal solution for entrepreneurs in certain industries.

Some companies will not deliver to a P.O. box, because P.O. boxes no longer instill the type of trust they once did. Also, there’s no one to sign for packages with a P.O. box.

Another option is a private mail box.

Unlike a P.O. box, facilities that offer private mail boxes also offer you a physical address, a staff to sign for your packages and a more secure location to retrieve your mail.

Shared Office Space

Home-based entrepreneurs whose livelihood depends on meeting with clients face-to-face are obviously concerned about clients coming into their homes.

It is also a concern for a small, home-based business to keep a professional appearance while keeping overhead low.

Shared office space provides you with a safe and professional place to meet with your clients without the costs of renting full-blown, commercial space.

Some of the services virtual offices provide are receptionists to answer your calls, meeting rooms to meet with your clients, a professional business address with mail delivery, wi-fi and ultimately personal safety.

Do you know of any other ways to maintain accessibility while staying safe in a work-from-home environment?