4. If getting after-hours business calls or work day personal calls is a problem, it helps to have a separate business phone line, or at least an answering machine or voice mail, to take incoming calls. This also gives your business a more professional appearance to clients than if you and your family make and receive calls from same phone line.

5. If at all possible, try to separate your “home office” from rest of your home. If you don’t have luxury of a separate room, a room partition or screen can be just as helpful. This also serves as a visual cue to family that you’re working and shouldn’t be bothered.

6. Dress and act professionally while working. Some people find it helpful to dress in casual business attire during their working hours. This reinforces that just because you’re working from home doesn’t make you any less of a professional. Answer phone with your name, or business name, and keep your children off phone during business hours. Also, spend money investing in tools you need to do your job right. A cell phone, fax machine or even a budget computer can help turn your home office into a true workspace.

If you follow all of these tips and stick with them, chances are you’ll find a routine that not only makes you feel productive and active in your business, but also projects message that you mean business – literally!

Just use your head before you lend knowledge to others. If there is a certain way you do business that is out of norm, something that is tailored to your business, or something you had to figure out a solution to on your own, it’s probably best you don’t go around making posts about it on internet.

With saying that, I feel so much better now. This probably saved someone from getting a spanking.

Tia is CEO of Client Centers, LLC, an internet and graphic service business based in Florida since 2000. She is also the editor and founder of www.NerdByte.com

This article is free for reprint without the permission of the author as long as proper credits are left intact.