Running Your Business From Home: Venture Outside!

You climb out of bed at 6 AM to start your daily workday ritual. After jumping in the shower, brushing your teeth and getting dressed, you eat some breakfast on the way to work. . . which is steps from your kitchen.

Working from home is beneficial for individuals running small businesses or telecommuting from work. It also offers a range of benefits like saving money on gas, lowering your clothing expenses and giving your schedule flexibility. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 24 percent of employed persons worked from home in 2010.

To keep your work and personal lives from becoming a blur of paperwork, Post-it notes and never ending business calls, find a place outside your home that will still inspire productivity (and will give you a chance to pass out all those small business cards you had made last year). Here's a look at some alternatives to working from home:

Libraries

Most public libraries offer tables, Wi-Fi and computer stations to work from, which makes the perfect office space when you're away from the office. You won't find many distractions at the library, as anyone who comes here wants to study, work or find a quiet place to read.

Hotel Lobbies

Often times, hotel lobbies are filled with business men traveling for work, briskly walking to and fro. But they're also peaceful and serene during slow-season. If you see a hotel lobby with a lot of power outlets and workstations, then you're most likely welcome to work there. It seems more and more entrepreneurs and creative people are attracted to the newer urban hotels, which are filled with oversized chairs, free Wi-Fi and other amenities.

Coffee Shops

One of the most recognizable work from home stations are the Starbucks coffee shops around the world. This coffee shop is known for having business people of all kinds using their comfortable couches and chairs, sipping on hot cups of coffee while working, working, WORKING! Most coffee shops provide a welcoming experience, allowing anyone to use their free Wi-Fi and work all day on their computers in their shops.

Lesser-Known Parks

Soak up some sunshine and take advantage of a nice day. If you don't need to rely on internet, bring your laptop with you to complete Powerpoint presentations. If needed, you can use your smartphone to check your emails and manage phone calls.

How to Successfully Work From Home

When working away from your office, it's easy to become distracted, so the best way to keep focused and productive is to follow these tips. Courtesy of Forbes.com:

• Get organized. Balancing work away from the office is hard to do because work is constantly screaming your name. To keep yourself on track, get organized by making daily schedules and to-do lists for the day.
• Plan your day. Just like getting organized, you should plan your day accordingly. This will help you maximize your productivity and minimize all those distractions.
• Limit email. When you're away from the office you might find yourself checking emails more and more frequently because you might feel out of the loop. Remember, it's important to stay connected but don't spend too much time checking your inbox.
• Set your work hours. Make yourself a time slot for all your daily activities. If you're working from your home office, you might need to schedule around your child's nap time. Just make sure you have a good chunk of time scheduled to accomplish work uninterrupted.
• Set up meetings outside at a local coffee shop or lunch spot. This will give you a mental break all while creating a "sense of business community."