Human contact

Social cushion

When you start working from home you often miss the group of people asking how you are, sharing their gossip and generally providing a work social life. Don't despair, you can do things to re-create some parts of this. Some ways of doing this are:

• organise regular meetings with others who are not competing, but who work in the same sector, for comparing notes;
• do some regular working together on projects with other people;
• use the phone to "chat the business";
• set up an "advisory board" of people who know what you are trying to do – they can advise on direction and help you to feel you are "not alone". These boards work well if they meet up over a coffee or glass of wine every 2-3 months. The people you have in that board will usually ask you how things are going between meet-up and this gives great support.

Finding places to meet up with customers and suppliers

Sometimes you will probably want somewhere to meet your newer or bigger customers or suppliers, so you need to have a few local places you can meet. These can be local hotels, conference rooms, a nice pub or a restaurant. In my experience, most people who meet up are most concerned about being able to set out papers and hear what is said and least concerned about eating exotic food.

Make the most of it!

You are saving vast costs, giving yourself lots of freedom but you are still a social animal and easily distracted. You need to work on creating structures that make it easy to work happily and effectively. Good luck!

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