Conveying a Level of Professionalism From Home

For some, working for home is a license to be totally comfortable and have a lax attitude. While working from home is indeed very flexible, you also have to be careful to not come across as “too” casual and give your clients a sense that you’re not serious about their business. It’s important to convey a level of professionalism in all situations whether that’s in handling phone calls or in billing clients. The comforts of home can sometimes creep up on the homeworker and make them feel as if they don’t have to try as hard or do as much as the corporate worker. Not so! As a matter-of-fact, you must try even harder because you need to be taken seriously as a business person. Here are some things to do to ensure that you stay professional:

1. Answer the phone in a professional manner. Even if you don’t have a separate phone line between home and work, you can still be professional. Instead of the basic “hello”, try answering with, “this is ____”. This will make you sound professional and as if you’re answering the phone at your desk (which you are). I’ve gotten into the habit of doing this both with my business line and with my cell phone. I often do business on my cell phone and when I answer with “this is Bridget”, it changes the entire tone of the phone call and we can conduct business in a professional manner.

2. Eliminate background noise. This goes in line with the phone answering, but this primarily means to eliminate distractions so that you can focus. Now I love to crank up Fergie about as much as the next person, but be careful that you don’t bob and weave your head so much that you type in the wrong information on your proposal. Let Fergie loose AFTER you’ve sent the email off.

3. Display and enforce your office hours. Wait, that’s only if you’ve established office hours, which I hope you have. When you keep office hours, it keeps you organized and keeps (hopefully) others from distracting you when you’re not “working”. This is a huge deal for those who work from home, so look for a lot more posts from me on how to establish and keep your office hours firm. It’s very important for your professional image and keeps you from worker burnout.

What other things can you do to stay professional?

- Dress for work every morning.

- Put on makeup (for ladies…and men too if you roll like that!)

- Be at your desk at the starting time of your office hours.

- Take a designated lunch break.

- Look in a mirror while you’re on the phone. Image is everything!

Stay tuned for LOTS more tips and advice on how you can stay professional working from home and other great information about the work-from-home lifestyle. This is going to be a fun ride!