The primary benefits of working from home seem to be geared towards worker satisfaction. Studies have shown that telecommuting has direct benefits for employers as well. In a study from Brown University, researchers showed that home-based workers had a 12 percent increase in performance compared to on-site workers, including 8.5 percent due to fewer sick-days and breaks and 3.5 percent as a result of higher performance per minute, thanks to having fewer distractions.

If you have the chance to work from home or even if you just want to become more productive in your home life, setting aside space dedicated to a home office can seem like a dream come true. On the surface, a home office may seem like little more than a few extra square feet containing a desk, a chair and a file cabinet; but in fact, designing a space that suits your needs and increases productivity can take a little doing. Here are a few guidelines for designing a space that works for your needs.

Image of office by …love Maegan via Flickr.

Seating

You know those ultra-cheap and super-cool-looking chairs sold by discount home furnishing companies? Don’t go there. When it’s time to choose seating for your home office, you need to avoid the glitz and go for the comfort and support of an ergonomically designed chair that offers plenty of back support. Avoid buying online; go into a store so you can try before you buy. Especially if you spend a significant time sitting, good support can go a long way towards eliminating back pain.

Desk

As with chairs, it’s best to try desks out before plunking down your cash. If you buy your desk at the same place where you buy your chair, you can see how the two work together. Otherwise, make sure the surface offers adequate space for all your needs and the desk has enough drawer space to hold everything you need near.

Lightning

Both electric and natural lights can have a significant impact on your workflow and your mood. Ideally, using a mix of both task lighting and general room lighting will help you avoid eye strain and switch from one task to another with ease. Spaces that aren’t well lit or are unevenly lit can cause eye strain and fatigue, so make sure you have plenty of watts. Natural light is a mood-booster; use roller blinds to prevent glare and control the amount of light coming in and to provide privacy at night.

Storage

The best time to buy file cabinets, folders and other storage supplies is after you’ve been working in your space for a few weeks. By then you’ll have a routine and a much better idea of what types of supplies and accessories will work best for your tasks.

Colour

This is where you can really get creative. Pastels, primary colours, earth tones, black and white or monochromatic — choose the colours, patterns and textures that energize you without making you feel frenetic. Go slowly, adding colour first in accessories — a throw rug, lampshade or filing accessories — before making major changes like wall color or wall-to-wall carpeting. Adding colour with accessories also allows you to change your style so you don’t become bored. When your space lacks variety, your work can feel stale too.

Having a space set aside solely for work is the first step towards a more productive, organized and stress-free life. Avoid falling for here-today-gone-tomorrow trends and work towards developing a work space that will last a long time.

Author Bio: Javier Sanchez                                                      

Javier works from home as a software engineer so he can spend more time with his kids. Writing about cloud technology and advancements in the digital world are his specialties.

]]> http://www.mumplusbusiness.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2&p=672 0 http://www.mumplusbusiness.co.uk/blog/?p=657 http://www.mumplusbusiness.co.uk/blog/?p=657#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:59:15 +0000 admin http://www.mumplusbusiness.co.uk/blog/?p=657 Continue reading →]]> It’s almost father’s day and we are celebrating the special man in your child’s life! Share your child’s story describing what it is that they love about their *Dad.

To enter please visit our fan page. All stories will be displayed on our fan page and the story with the most votes will win a fabulous prize. The prize includes personalised t-shirts for the whole family with your favourite photo displayed on it. We will also feature the stories with the most votes on the news section of our website. This is a unique and special way to put dads/uncles/grandfathers in the spotlight.

About the sponsor: Radwear designs unique custom made clothes. The winner will win a bundle of uniquely designed t-shirts. You can choose the text and have your favourite photo displayed on the t-shirt. You can send in a cute picture with your child and daddy and for the kids you will receive uniquely designed t- shirts too.

In other words, between the year 2000 and 2012, the population grew from 6 billion people to 7 billion – an increase of about 17%. The number of internet users, on the other hand, grew from 361 million in 2000 to more than 2.4 billion in 2012, which is an increase of 566%. It may also be important to note that most of this growth took place in the developing areas of the world.

While North America certainly has the highest percentage of people online (around 79%), with Europe and Australia/Oceania not too far behind, there will probably be a lot of growth in many other regions around the world. Already, a quarter of the population in Asia is online, and the numbers are growing in other places as well.

One of the possible reasons for the increased growth in these areas is the increase in smartphones, Windows tablets, and other mobile devices. Often, in developing areas, getting on the internet through tablets and smartphones is a more accessible option in places where internet infrastructure is limited or where PCs are harder to access. This means that in Asia and Africa the mobile internet percentage of all web traffic is much higher than it is in other places.

Worldwide, mobile internet accounts for just 10% of the total internet usage, which could be just the start. As more areas start to rely on the mobile web, we may start to see a lot more people using these devices, rather than traditional computers, to get online and be part of the global community.

Author Bio: Alan McMahon works for Dell and is involved in marketing consumer and enterprise solutions, across a range for products from tablet pc’s, servers, storage to virtualization. Alan McMahon is based in Ireland and enjoys sailing as a past time.

Over the next 6 months we will be featuring regular articles on helpful and informative topics. This will form part of a new campaign with a view to reaching out and engaging with the wider online community.

We currently offer the opportunity to become involved and we would love you to share some of your experiences with others. The benefits include self-promotion (indirectly), educating others and inspiration.

We are open to anything that is relevant. This could be about your area of expertise, how you dealt with the initial financing of your business or even how you started a new degree/course to change career. We leave this up to you!

If you are interested in contributing please contact us at info@mumplusbusiness.co.uk.

The sponsorship would entail offering a prize for our competition. We will advertise your business on:

1. The ‘news’ section of our website
2. Newsletter
3. Social Media Sites (Facebook, Twitter and MPB group on Linkedin)
4. Competition websites

If this sounds of interest please contact us at info@mumplusbusiness.co.uk.

STAND BACK KIDS, we’ve got a fantastic competition coming to a station near you.  This year’s hottest play tent – the London Underground Tube & Station Tent from www.themonsterfactory.com/tube-and-station-play-tent.html could be yours. There’s hours of fun to be had playing trains – just buy a ticket and get ready to hop on. The tent, which is made with UV protective fabric, is also easy to assemble and transport so you can take it almost anywhere.

The tents are suitable for children aged 3yrs and above, it weighs 2.85kg and when set up, the tube measures 150cm (L) x 46cm (W) x 46cm (H) and the Station measures 900cm (L) x 900cm (W) x 1000cm (H).

Like The Mum Plus Business fanpage for the chance to win this fantastic Play Tent.  

Of course there are lots of good reasons to join the Mum Plus Business Fanpage anyway

• Be the first to hear about any new business partnership opportunities and read expert articles
• If you run a business you can advertise every Friday on our fanpage – watch out for the Friday thread

Our sponsor: LittleBird

The UK’s No. 1 Award-winning Daily Deals site for mums and families, By Mums, For Mums.

LittleBird was started by two mums, Sarah and Naomi, both with school age children. Knowing how expensive family life is, it is LittleBirds mission to offer daily saving’s and ideas on the best things for your family, this could be a great family day out or a really useful product.

LittleBird partner with well know high street names, brands and quality independent businesses, to offer great deals on family days out, theatre shows, kids activities, events, products, services and more. All with up to 80% off!

SAVE TIME

Simply sign up for free and receive a daily email alert straight into your inbox, giving you great ideas of things to do with your family.

SAVE MONEY

Each deal offers up to 80% off family days out, theatre shows, events, family breaks, education services and so much more!

BE INSPIRED

Want some inspiration on where to go and what to do. LittleBird gives you tons of ideas on things you might never have known about!

This competition is kindly hosted for free at The Prize Finder.

A logo and business card must portray the essence of your company. Limitless Graphics does this by working closely with their clients to understand the values they wish to convey, and how they want to be perceived. Together with you, they create the logo you want, giving your business a unique, modern and dynamic look. For your chance to win a new business card and logo all you have to do is become a member of the Mum Plus Business Linkedin group.

Good luck!

Full terms and conditions

1. The contest is open to UK residents only

2. Entry to the contest is by joining the Mum Plus Business Linkedin Group

3. The contest is free to enter

4. Anyone found to use multiple accounts to enter will be ineligible

5. Multiple entries in a day will not be accepted

4. Entries must be submitted no later than Friday the 12th of April. Entries received after this time will not be entered in our contest.

5. The prize will be as stated. The prize cannot be transferred and there is no cash alternative.

6. The winners will be notified within 14 days of the close of the contest by email, as per the contact details provided in their entry. Please make sure the email address provided is correct. After being contacted by email the winner will have 30 days to claim their prize. If no claim is received then another winner will be selected at random.

8. Mum Plus Business Ltd. reserves the right to cancel the contest or any of these rules at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control.

9. Mum Plus Business Ltd. will not publish your personal details or provide them to anyone without your permission. Read more at http://www.mumplusbusiness.co.uk/terms-conditions/info_3.html

Legal structure

You will need to decide on a legal format for your business. For example, this could be as a limited company, a partnership, or a sole trader.

Your choice will have big effects on the business. This includes tax liabilities, responsibility for the business’ debts; how you can receive income; and whether you can sell the business.

It is important to consider the options carefully and think about the long and short-term implications. Starting out as a sole trader could be tempting if you are in a hurry to get your business up and running. However this could be risky as it means you can be personally liable if the business loses money.

Protecting your ideas

You might have based your business on one big idea; for example, a catchy name; an invention; or a stylish design. It could be a disaster if another business uses your idea.

There are a number of legal ways to protect your intellectual property. These include trademarks; patents and copyright. It is important to think about this from the very start.

You also need to check that you are not using a name or design that has already been legally protected by another business. It could be time consuming and costly for you if the other business takes action to enforce their intellectual property.

Premises and Staffing

When it comes to getting commercial premises you will need to negotiate a lease agreement. It is important to consider the ongoing effects of the lease on your business. This includes whether there are any covenants affecting the use of the premises and the terms for ending the lease.

Things may be more straightforward if you run your business from home. However, you still need to consider the legalities of using your home as a business premises. For example, whether you need to pay business rates; renegotiating your mortgage and insurance; and health and safety issues.

Staffing throws up many legal matters. You will need to understand what your employees’ rights are. Employees have a large number of rights, including things like the minimum wage; protection from discrimination; working time restrictions; and parental leave.

When it comes to disciplinary matters you have certain obligations regarding the process to be followed before firing or making sanctions against an employee. It is important to be aware of these procedural requirements as failure to comply with them could mean that you are breaching the law, even if morally you are in the right.

Money is tight for most small businesses. This is especially so if you have limited business experience in the past as it can be harder to get funding. However, getting legal advice is an excellent investment. As well as helping you comply with the law, solicitors can assist you to negotiate good agreements and set up your business in the most advantageous way.

To find out more on starting and running a small business please visit Contact Law.

Mum Plus Business are delighted to announce a new contest in association with Cute Cute Boutique.

“Cute Cute” is an online Boutique run by a full time Mum based in Wilmslow, Cheshire.

Our shop is full of items which have been lovingly handmade and make a perfect gift for all occasions or if you fancy to spoil yourself. We have a wide selection of hair accessories, tutu’s, onesies, baby sandals and room plaques. After receiving many requests from mum’s we have recently opened a boys section with personalised tops and accessories. Please feel free to have a browse and if you would like something bespoke to be designed especially for you to match an outfit please contact us, as we love to get creative. Find out more at www.cutecute.co.uk.

For a chance to win these gorgeous baby hairbands simply follow Mum Plus Business on Twitter and Retweet our contest post.

(The tweet will be posted once a day and notes will be made of anyone who RT’s the post, winners will then be selected at random.)

Good luck to all who enter!

Full terms and conditions

1. The contest is open to UK residents only

2. Entry to the contest is by following Mum Plus Business on Twitter and Retweeting our contest post

3. The contest is free to enter

4. Anyone found to use multiple accounts to enter will be ineligible

5. Multiple entries in a day will not be accepted

4. Entries must be submitted no later than Monday the 18th of February. Entries received after this time will not be entered in our contest

5. The prize will be as stated. The prize cannot be transferred and there is no cash alternative. The prize includes P&P.

6. The winners will be notified within 14 days of the close of the contest by email, as per the contact details provided in their entry. Please make sure the email address provided is correct. After being contacted by email the winner will have 30 days to claim their prize. If no claim is received then another winner will be selected at random.

8. Mum Plus Business Ltd. reserves the right to cancel the contest or any of these rules at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control.

9. Mum Plus Business Ltd. will not publish your personal details or provide them to anyone without your permission. Read more at http://www.mumplusbusiness.co.uk/terms-conditions/info_3.html

The start of a new year presents a wonderful opportunity to set goals and targets for the year ahead. Your batteries have been recharged and you are brimming with energy. You may be one of those people who decided that this year is your year, the year you will setup your own business. Like the vast majority of New Year resolutions, start-ups have a high failure rate. Getting it right can be incredibly satisfying and profitable, changing your life irreversibly, but you will have to work exceptionally hard and pace yourself. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Here are some pointers for those pioneers who chose the path to independence:

Break it down

Make a plan that is achievable. When you are a mum there are so many things to think of, school runs, feeds, nappy changes, you finish one and three pop up in its place! Planning is more important than ever in order to keep your fledgling business on track. Have a longer term plan, but break this down into mini plans to accomplish each week. This will stop you feeling overwhelmed, and also helps keep you disciplined – crucial when running a business.

Just do it!

Simply Start! There could be days where you don’t feel like doing any work, or reasons to wait for people to get back to you. Maybe you are tired or preoccupied with other commitments. The best tip to overcome this quicksand is to start – as you start working you will find that that you will become more motivated and generate energy. Being opportunistic is also vital, as you never know when your little one will sleep 4 hours straight again, letting you finalise your business plan, or complete your research on the legalities of limited companies. Like any opportunity, if you don’t seize it, you never know when your next chance will come.

Focus on the benefits

Remind yourself why you are doing this. Think of what you will gain from setting up your business and write it down so you can review it from time to time, when you need that boost. With so many small tasks to take care of it is easy to go off track. What made you want to start the business? How will your life change once you have set up the business? Keep on focussing on the vision.

Reflect on your progress

Take notes of the steps you make when setting up the business. The challenges and how you overcame them. This has many benefits from both an operational perspective of being organised, but also motivational. Maybe it’s a first blog you have written, your first sale or even a successful telephone call with a potential client.  All these little achievements will add up and lead you closer to achieving your goal. By keeping a record, you are not only remaining positive but adding depth to the process and being mindful of the path you are taking.

Persevere

As long as you keep on moving forward you will eventually achieve your goal. There will be parts of the journey that progress far quicker than you imagined, and equally stages that will take longer than anticipated. Your job is to persevere, stick to your goals, adapt them if necessary, delegate if more efficient…as long as you are making progress, keeping flexible, and have the determination to succeed, you will!