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20 Ways to Avoid Distractions While Working from Home by @DrRKayGreen

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by Dr. R. Kay Green | Featured Contributor

Working from home presents a unique set of challenges, as many are finding out for the first time during this COVID-19 crisis. One of the main issues people face is maintaining focus during work hours, even though they are surrounded by at-home distractions like chores and family members. Here are 20 tips for avoiding distractions while working from home during the shelter-in-place.

  1. Maintain a strong work/life balance. It is easier to focus on work when you give yourself enough time to focus on your life. While working from home, it is tempting to let one bleed into the other, but this can lead to procrastination and difficulty in maintaining boundaries.
  2. Prioritize your to-do list. Distractions often happen because we are not sure what we are meant to be doing. Get rid of this confusion by knowing which items on your to-do list are the highest priority, and tackle those first.
  3. Download social media blockers on your computer. If you find yourself scrolling through Twitter or Facebook during work hours just a bit too much, there are extensions you can use to block these sites during work.
  4. Put your phone away. Scrolling through your phone is an easy way to lose time. While you do need it nearby to field work calls, putting it somewhere where it is not easy to reach but still easy to hear is ideal.
  5. Take scheduled breaks. Breaks help you stay motivated during the time that you are actually working. Letting your brain rest also improves focus and overall morale. Try getting up and stretching every hour or so.
  6. Get noise-cancelling headphones. If your home is a louder one, this is a must. Keep your focus by playing music, or rain/nature noises to block out sounds. The headphones will also be a signal to others in the house not to bother you.
  7. Keep up good diet and exercise. Diet and exercise play a huge part in focus. If your body is in poor condition, your brain will be, too, and it is a lot harder to stay focused when you feel ill. Make sure to eat foods that keep you focused, and exercise regularly.
  8. Work away from chores and clutter. It is harder to focus when you are surrounded by clutter. If you can see the laundry that needs doing, the kitchen that needs cleaning, or the floor that needs sweeping, it will be harder to focus on work.
  9. Get an accountability partner. If you struggle with staying self-motivated, having someone that you check in with regularly can be a huge help. Let them know what you intend to accomplish for the day, and have them do the same to you in return!
  10. Play background music. As mentioned earlier, music can help block out unwanted noises. But the right music can also help improve focus on general. This is different for everyone, so experiment with the sort of music you listen to.
  11. Offer yourself rewards when staying focused. If your deadlines seem less pressing than usual, use rewards to motivate yourself. This will keep you on task and will make things much easier for you in the long run.
  12. Break up large tasks into smaller ones. It can be tough to stay motivated on long tasks, which leads to us getting distracted. But breaking them up into smaller tasks makes it easier to feel accomplished, which improves momentum.
  13. Turn off all non-essential notifications. Every time your phone buzzes, you lose your focus. Turn off notifications for apps that are not essential. This way, you are only looking at your phone for things that actually matter.
  14. Do not keep an email tab open. We lose a lot of time to our inboxes. Unless you are expecting something urgent, try not to have your email open all the time. This way, you can focus on the task at hand and only the task at hand.
  15. Use the Pomodoro technique. It can be hard to focus when you feel overwhelmed, or if you do not give your brain regular breaks. The pomodoro method or a similar way of working helps to mitigate this. Set a timer and work through it, then give yourself a short break.
  16. Schedule updates with your coworkers. If you are used to keeping up-to-date with coworkers, this transition can have a negative affect on your focus. Using a platform like Zoom for scheduled check-ins keeps everyone motivated and on the same page.
  17. Make sure your technology is right for the job. If your computer is slow, it is harder to keep your momentum and easier to give into distraction. Invest in a good, fast computer for work, and it will be much easier to keep up.
  18. Set long-term goals. Sometimes, we give into distraction because we are not sure why we are doing something. Having longterm goals and making sure your daily tasks relate to them in some way will help with this.
  19. Create a family plan. There are some distractions that we cannot control: things like family. But talking with them and making them understand your schedule can be a great first step in minimizing the amount of distraction you have.
  20. Use a separate browser profile for work. Browsers like Google Chrome allow you to have different profiles, which affect things like search history, saved passwords and bookmarks. Separating work from your usual profile is a good way to minimize online distractions.

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Dr. R. Kay Green – Marketing Expert from RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. from Atlanta, GA.

Dr. KayDr. R. Kay Green is the CEO/President of RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. With over 190,000+ Twitter followers, 35,000+ Facebook Likes, and the Top 1% LinkedIn profile designation, Dr. Kay, a self-motivated trailblazer, is the Quintessential “New-Age” Professional Woman, and PhD Marketing Pro. She earned a Doctorate of Business Administration in Marketing, and has completed PhD coursework in Leadership and Organization Change. She also holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Management, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, and an Associate of Arts in Marketing Management.

She is affiliated with several prestigious universities and has instructed over 350 courses online. A popular speaker on Marketing and Business topics, Dr. Green is currently featured on Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, Black News, The Network Journal, Business Review USA, Digital Journal, College View, Business New Hampshire Magazine, Bay State Banner, Reader’s Circle, North Dallas Gazette, Harlem News, Top News Today, One News Page, NE Informer, Women in Business PR News, Consumer News Today, Women PR News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Daily Herald, The Miami Herald, and Book News Articles.

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The Coronavirus Will Change the Future of Working from Home by @juliekminer

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by Julie K. Miner

If the last few weeks have taught us anything instructive, and may even contain a silver lining, it’s that telecommuting – working from home – is here to stay and will most likely increase in scope and frequency in the years to come as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Twenty or thirty years ago, working from home was code for not doing any work while being arms-length from a phone just in case it happened to ring. But with cell phones, email, WiFi, text messaging, facetime, Skype, and now Zoom, working remotely has become easier and more prevalent in our society as employees and employers continue to struggle with the ongoing quest to find a competitive work/life balance. It has helped employees cope with the growing demands of being on the clock at all hours of the day and has allowed employers like my partner and me to offer a competitive leg-up with little to no downside to our employees.

In 2012, Gallup reported that 39 percent of Americans worked from home during some portion of their workweek. Eight years later, that number is closer to 45 percent of the national workforce operating from places other than a traditional office space one or more days a week. In less than a decade, many have replaced water coolers for kitchen sinks and suit pants for sweatpants.

Given the impact of the last two weeks – and most likely the next few weeks or months – that trend is only likely to increase as more and more companies, regardless of size, have enacted a work from home policy at the behest of mayors, governors and the federal government. Especially now with many shelter-in-place orders and closure of non-essential businesses throughout the country, almost every job that can be done from home is being done from home.

Perhaps, just as suddenly, many CEOs have discovered their businesses keep on functioning and (with the exception of the last week) prospering, even when their employees are out of the office. Conference calls still go on as planned, meetings (the ones that couldn’t be emails, of course) are now held online, and documents are reviewed and edited just as they were two weeks ago. Business is going on as normal as it can, given the circumstances.

When we started J Strategies, a full-service communications and public affairs consulting firm, my partner and I worked exclusively from our homes. Over time, as we added staff and clients, we maintained that ability, realizing it helped financially as well as emotionally.

Even as we grew, adding more employees and leasing office space, we ensured the ability of our staff to work from home at least one day a week (more if needed) would be preserved. Now, with approximately 20 employees in New York City, Albany, and Boston, the entire firm works from home every Friday, 52 weeks a year, answering emails and phone calls, and remaining just as available to clients as we would in an office environment during business hours (and beyond).

The rest of the week, if our employees have legitimate reasons (such as a doctor’s appointment or childcare issue) that would keep them from commuting into the office, we make every attempt to comply. We have found that by saying yes to these requests, it has made our staff more responsive to the demands of the job, not less. Emails and calls from managers are answered almost immediately when employees are home and client communications are tended to just as fast.

We are living in stressful times, to be sure. With the experiences of the last 10 years working from home, our firm is at a competitive advantage when it comes to weathering the storm in which we all now find ourselves. Many will not be as lucky.

Now, thousands of American companies are finding through a kind of baptism by fire that employees working from home is more than just tenable – it’s just as productive as it could be in another environment.

One day, weeks or maybe even months from now, the American workforce will come out of this experience stronger and more resilient than ever before. Hopefully, the stereotypes about working from home will be gone and employers will have more open minds about what constitutes a productive workday – regardless of location.

 

 

 

Julie K. Miner is a Managing Partner and CEO of J Strategies, a communications and government relations firm with offices in Albany, New York City, and Boston. She previously served as a regional director to US Senator Charles E. Schumer.

The Secret To Thriving In Your Daily Routine by Meg Rohs of @nine56_studio

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by Meg Rohs

Maybe it was the postpartum hormones or the fact that I was in quarantine while being on maternity leave making me a little crazy, but I was determined to do more than just survive my days working from home. I wanted to thrive in them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge believer in not trying to do it all or be it all during the postpartum period. After all, the most important thing is to focus on healing your body and taking care of your baby. But for me, creating an intentional daily routine wasn’t about getting more done, it was about showing up as my best to do the things I needed to do well. And more than just hurrying through them to move onto the next thing, actually enjoying them (answering emails, changing diapers, and cleaning the kitchen included).

The secret to thriving in your daily routine isn’t just for postpartum mamas. I built a work-from-home routine that not only allowed me take care of my baby, but also myself, and my business. Here’s how:

Design your day in blocks.

Our days can lose purpose and direction when they don’t have structure but we can also get really discouraged and frustrated when we try to adhere to a strict schedule that we can’t keep up with. Blocking is a technique I use to create both structure and flexibility in my routine.

The technique of blocking consists of dividing your day into blocks of similar amounts of time and filling those blocks of time with activities that work well together. This is a great way to bring both variety and structure to every day. The magic of blocking is that it allows you to easily adapt to different needs the day brings without losing your rhythm.

Here’s an example of how I block my days taking care of a new baby and running a business.

Block one. I’m focused on getting some work done for my business. I love sipping my morning coffee, creating content for my brand, and snuggly my babe next to my chest as he snoozes in his wrap (of course sometimes he’s screaming and I don’t get any work done, but those moments are going to happen too). I write the top three things that I want to get done for my business the night before so I can dive right in and make the most of these morning hours.

Block two. Here’s when we usually go on a walk and I’ll try to get a short exercise in. I also make myself a smoothie during this time (yes, even something as small as making a healthy smoothie for myself is part of my routine because otherwise I don’t take the time to do it). I found I’m much more likely to enjoy exercise after having a slow morning first. I tried to be the gal who jumped out of bed and got her workout in right away but it just didn’t feel productive to me. To block your routine in an effective way, you need to pay attention to which tasks flow best for you in which parts of your day.

Block three. This time I spend on miscellaneous tasks that I want to get done. This can look like bath time, taking photos for Instagram content, cleaning the house, ordering household supplies, anything that needs to get done. It’s important for me to block time for this kind of stuff every day. Otherwise they sit at the bottom of my to-do list and accumulate until I’m really bogged down.

Block four. I’m focused on getting dinner ready, cleaning the kitchen from the day, and getting ready for the next day. After I nurse my baby around 8pm we start our bedtime routine and are sleeping as soon as we can be after that. What I love about building my routine with blocks is that it keeps me focused on my priorities for this season but it’s also designed to evolve. So as my baby gets older and and our priorities change, our rhythm can easily change with them.

 

 

Meg Rohs is a small town mama, loungewear enthusiast, and total homebody who gives women tools to own their worth. She’s the founder of Nine56 Studio, a luxury loungewear brand for work-from-home mamas, dream builders, and homebodies like herself. Sign up for her weekly tips on connecting your clothing to your lifestyle and stories from her simple life in rural Wisconsin.

20 Tips for Optimizing Your Home Office in 2020 by @DrRKayGreen

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by Dr. R. Kay Green | Featured Contributor

Amidst this pandemic, many people are working from home for the first time. This means that people who otherwise would not give much thought to their home offices are being forced to look at them in a more constructive light. There are ways to set up a home office for success, and small details can make a big difference. Here are 20 ways you can improve and optimize your home office for a productive work day during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  1. It is all about location. Make sure your office is in a convenient location. It should be somewhere where you do not do anything else — if possible, avoid spaces where you eat and sleep. Try to limit activity there to work activity only.
  2. Pay attention to which way your desk is facing. Some people prefer to have their desks facing the window, while other people feel more comfortable facing the door. You may want to experiment to see what makes the most sense for you.
  3. Make sure distractions are out of sight. It will be hard to focus on work if you can see the pile of dirty laundry that needs to be done, or the dirty dishes in the sink. Take an “out of sight, out of mind” approach and make sure that the only things you need are within view.
  4. Minimize email checking. It is easy to lose entire hours to answering emails and following up on projects. Try to minimize the amount of times you check your email per day. If possible, consider turning off notifications as well.
  5. Keep supplies stocked. In order to set yourself up for success, you should have everything you need. Keep a running tally of when you are getting low on things. Now more than ever, conserve resources where possible so that you can minimize the amount of times you go out.
  6. Add some personalization. Your home office should be a comfortable place for you. So do not be afraid to add some pictures or decorations that make you happy and inspire you.
  7. Be aware of what is behind you. While remote working, you will probably have video conferences. That means that everyone will be able to see what is behind you. Take the time to keep that area clean and clutter-free.
  8. Invest in good headphones. Headphones help minimize distractions, especially in multi-person households. For very noisy locations, invest in noise cancelling headphones.
  9. Keep track of your coworkers. It is harder to know what is going on in your coworkers lives when you cannot talk to them regularly in person. Try to stay updated personally as well as professionally with regular texts or a chat room.
  10. Make your office suit your needs. Your work is unique, so it makes sense that your home office should be unique, too. Consider what you get out of your work office and how you can recreate that at home.
  11. Do not be afraid to move things around. Keeping things fresh will help you stay motivated and productive throughout the day. If you think your furniture might look better arranged differently, take the time to do that.
  12. Keep your desk “off-limits.” If you have children or roommates, make sure they know not to move things around. Your desk should also be off-limits to you when it is not “work time.” This will make sure that you stay focused when you are actually at your desk.
  13. Use natural lighting. When possible, use natural light from outside as opposed to artificial light. Also try to be aware of how much screen time you are getting, and try to take care of your eyes as much as possible.
  14. Have a source of fresh air. Just something as simple as opening a window can improve your mood and make it easier to focus. Identify any sources of fresh air in your office and take advantage of them.
  15. Brighten up the room with plants. Plants add a bit of color to otherwise plain rooms, and can provide a healthier atmosphere.
  16. Have everything you need within reach. This will minimize the temptation to get distracted by searching for something. It will also make sure that you are able to stay organized.
  17. Keep a “catch-all” drawer. To avoid your desk getting too cluttered, have a drawer to put anything that you do not know what to do with in the moment. Then, schedule some time to clean out that drawer regularly.
  18. Have a designated place for your phone. With no one around, the temptation to scroll through social media on your phone is a bit higher. Minimize this by putting your phone somewhere where you can hear it in an emergency, but not reach it.
  19. Make sure technology is taken care of. Nothing will kill your motivation faster than a malfunctioning computer or spotty wifi. Also, make sure you invest in whatever you need to be productive, whether that is a printer, a scanner, or whatever you use regular in your office.
  20. Clean regularly. Clutter can lead to anxiety and distraction. Schedule regular cleaning times for your office space.

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Dr. R. Kay Green – Marketing Expert from RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. from Atlanta, GA.

Dr. KayDr. R. Kay Green is the CEO/President of RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. With over 190,000+ Twitter followers, 35,000+ Facebook Likes, and the Top 1% LinkedIn profile designation, Dr. Kay, a self-motivated trailblazer, is the Quintessential “New-Age” Professional Woman, and PhD Marketing Pro. She earned a Doctorate of Business Administration in Marketing, and has completed PhD coursework in Leadership and Organization Change. She also holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Management, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, and an Associate of Arts in Marketing Management.

She is affiliated with several prestigious universities and has instructed over 350 courses online. A popular speaker on Marketing and Business topics, Dr. Green is currently featured on Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, Black News, The Network Journal, Business Review USA, Digital Journal, College View, Business New Hampshire Magazine, Bay State Banner, Reader’s Circle, North Dallas Gazette, Harlem News, Top News Today, One News Page, NE Informer, Women in Business PR News, Consumer News Today, Women PR News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Daily Herald, The Miami Herald, and Book News Articles.

Twitter – Facebook – LinkedIn

Working From Home? 3 Easy Ways to Level Up Your Loungewear by Sandra Martinelli of @shopdelicora

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by Sandra Martinelli

Calling all quaran-queens: It’s time to level up your loungewear. We’ve all heard it before… “Dressing up makes you feel better.” I agree. However, if you are one of the millions currently working from home during the shelter in place, you know how difficult it is to get out of your yoga pants. If you haven’t put on a pair of jeans in weeks, I’m here to say “that’s okay!” This is coming from someone who struts into the office in her cheetah print Giuseppe Zanotti stilettos on a random Tuesday. I’ll never knock dressing up, but a happy medium exists!

Here are 3 easy ways to level up your loungewear and become the athleisure boss I know you are.

1. Adopt a long sweater

Find a long sweater to pull together to your everyday top and yoga pants. Not only will the perfect sweater keep you cozy, but playing around with different lengths will add dimension to your whole look. I found my long sweater through a local boutique currently making deliveries.

If you have a favorite local boutique, I’d highly recommend giving them a follow via Instagram or Facebook and supporting them in any way you can. Chances are that they are experiencing challenges due to COVID-19. This is especially true if they don’t have an e-commerce presence, so be sure to reach out if possible! If you’d prefer to shop online, here are some online retailers I absolutely love.
Choosy
Poshmark (I love shopping consignment!)
Vici Dolls
Nordstrom
Lulus
Asos

 

 

2. Keep your jewelry game on point

As a jewelry designer, I simply believe jewelry gives you superpowers. Have you ever felt naked without earrings or your favorite necklace? Have you ever put on your jewelry ensemble and your reflection does a double take? Of course you have! It is time to layer, sister girl. Lay out your collection and start wearing your go to pieces. In the mood to treat yourself? Head to Delicora and find your next favorite piece of jewelry. I founded Delicora to offer fun, unique, lightweight, and high quality jewelry at fair prices. I have incredibly sensitive skin with an aggressive allergic reaction to nickel, so I built a line that is 100% nickel free. You’ll find 14k gold filled, sterling silver, and gold vermeil options throughout the site.

These are the pieces I’m rocking in this leveled up loungewear look.
Laguna Hoops ($48)
Sandra Necklace ($48)
Lanikai Looped Lariat ($98)

Starting June 2019, we began a partnership with the Feeding America non-profit supporting children and families suffering from food scarcity. Every Delicora item sold also contributes 20 meals to Feeding America. During this time of sheltering in place, families will be depending on local food banks more than ever. Consider making a donation to Feeding America and learn about the programs set to help those in need during this time.

3. Bring on the lipstick

Someone once told me, “All a girl ever really needs is a great pair of earrings and her lipstick.” This strikes a chord. I completely agree! Top your entire look off by wearing a little lipstick! Many of you may be giving your skin some breathing time, and I think that is simply fabulous. I believe great skin starts with a discipline routine and going light on your foundation. While you let your skin breathe, add just a touch of lip color to brighten your face. I personally love Nars Cosmetics. I’m wearing the Nars Lipstick in Tolede and the Nars Precision Lip Liner in Vence.

I also love Nars:
Satin Lip Pencils (I have 8 different colors I play around with!)
Afterglow Lip Balm (for the ladies who don’t do lipstick)

I hope you found this helpful, and level up your look without compromising comfort! Just remember, there’s a happy medium out there and you and strike the perfect balance.

 

 

 

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Sandra Martinelli is the founder and designer of Delicora Jewelry based in Northern California who has been featured in PopSugar, Reader’s Digest, and more. Delicora is dedicated to offering high quality jewelry keeping sensitive skin in mind. ​Sign up​ for Delicora’s VIP list and be the first to find out about new releases and receive special promos

20 Tips for Working from Home during the COVID-19 Outbreak in 2020 by @DrRKayGreen

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by Dr. R. Kay Green | Featured Contributor

During this unprecedented pandemic, many people are working remote for the first time. For some, this can be very difficult to adjust to, especially since it was so unexpected. But having a productive day from a remote office is possible! Here are twenty tips for working through the COVID-19 pandemic while staying safe and protecting your mental health.

  1. Get dressed in fresh clothes. This does not mean that you have to get fully dressed in the same clothing you would wear into the office. But you should not be wearing the same clothes that you wore into the office, either. At a bare minimum, change into fresh pajamas.
  2. Keep to a regular schedule. It can be tempting to sleep in and make up the lost hours later in the day. But keeping to a routine can help your mental health in these trying times. Do your best to work at the same time you would during a regular work day.
  3. Exercise regularly. Exercise keeps your mind sharp, and your mood stable. This is actually one of the benefits of working from home, because you can take a break to exercise whenever is most convenient for you.
  4. Eat healthy. This is another way to manage stress in these times. Often, we only feel as good as we eat. If you are consuming a lot of junk food, it can lead to lowered mood and motivation to work. Do your best to prepare healthy meals instead.
  5. Schedule your meals in advance. Since you are working from home, you have your whole kitchen to work with. This is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. You can become paralyzed by choice and wind up falling back on easy but unhealthy options. Planning in advance helps to avoid this.
  6. Try to limit snacking. There is nothing wrong with snacking. But, again, when your whole kitchen is open to you, it pays to be cautious. Mindless snacking can lead to overeating, which causes fatigue and lack of motivation. Just be mindful of how much you are eating.
  7. Connect with co-workers regularly. Isolation is poor for your mental health, and isolation from co-workers specifically can be detrimental to teamwork and progress. Make sure you are regularly connecting with coworkers or employees to keep track of each other.
  8. Keep updated on project status. When everyone is separate, it is easy to lose track of where everyone is on a project. A platform like Asana or Proofhub can help assure that nothing is getting lost in the shuffle.
  9. Use video conferencing. While it can be tempting to just email or call, a video conference adds a more personal touch. It also helps to encourage team members to get dressed and keep up on their hygiene, which can be easy to forget in stressful times.
  10. Invest in good technology. There is nothing more frustrating than technological errors when you are trying to work. So if you are going to be remote for any extended period of time, it is important to invest in the best technology possible for your industry.
  11. Be protective of your work time. Interruptions will want to come up. Chores will need to be done, family will want your attention, and more. While this is not always possible to ignore, try to make work time dedicated to work only.
  12. Reduce distractions with headphones. If you live with roommates or people who are also trying to navigate quarantine, asking for quiet hours is not always possible. Instead, invest in a good pair of noise cancelling headphones. Sites like mynoise offer a range of white noise options.
  13. Have a designated work space. Working from bed is tempting, but is not always the recipe to being as productive as possible. If you have a desk, this is a good time to use it. If not, try working at your kitchen table, using a different seat than the one you eat at. Just do your best to have a separate “work” station to get you in the right mindset.
  14. Move around. When you work remote, you are missing out on a lot of the usual movement, from walking to a neighbor’s desk for questions to moving for lunch. Do your best to get up and stretch for 5 minutes occasionally.
  15. Make lists. These are frightening, overwhelming times, and even people who are good at prioritizing might be struggling right now. Getting what you need to do done in writing helps to prioritize and make sure that nothing is getting forgotten.
  16. Set deadlines when they aren’t available. Sometimes, our response to stress is to procrastinate. And this can be troublesome when a job has no specific deadline. So set one and make sure that you do not just ignore tasks entirely.
  17. Ask for feedback. Because you aren’t just a cubicle away, people may not as readily offer feedback in these times. Make sure you are doing the best job possible by reaching out to ask for it. This also ties back into keeping connected!
  18. Be kind to yourself. Since you have all of this “free time,” you might feel obligated to be “more productive.” But that is not sustainable, especially when you are dealing with fear and stress from a pandemic. Do not worry if you are not being productive every moment of every day.
  19. Do not work after hours. Sometimes, emergencies happen and working after hours is unavoidable. But, in general, try to keep to set work hours. This will keep you from getting burnt out or overworking yourself.
  20. Keep up on education. If you find that your work is dwindling, now could be a good time to revisit classes that you have not had time to take. This will allow you to come back from this pandemic with a new and revitalized vision for your business.

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Dr. R. Kay Green – Marketing Expert from RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. from Atlanta, GA.

Dr. KayDr. R. Kay Green is the CEO/President of RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. With over 190,000+ Twitter followers, 35,000+ Facebook Likes, and the Top 1% LinkedIn profile designation, Dr. Kay, a self-motivated trailblazer, is the Quintessential “New-Age” Professional Woman, and PhD Marketing Pro. She earned a Doctorate of Business Administration in Marketing, and has completed PhD coursework in Leadership and Organization Change. She also holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Management, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, and an Associate of Arts in Marketing Management.

She is affiliated with several prestigious universities and has instructed over 350 courses online. A popular speaker on Marketing and Business topics, Dr. Green is currently featured on Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, Black News, The Network Journal, Business Review USA, Digital Journal, College View, Business New Hampshire Magazine, Bay State Banner, Reader’s Circle, North Dallas Gazette, Harlem News, Top News Today, One News Page, NE Informer, Women in Business PR News, Consumer News Today, Women PR News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Daily Herald, The Miami Herald, and Book News Articles.

Twitter – Facebook – LinkedIn

How To Successfully Work From Home and Be Effective in the Global Lockdown by @Surbhi_Bhatia

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by Surbhi Bhatia

The global lockdown due to the Coronavirus spread (often referred to as Covid-19) in many countries has forced people indoors and compelled businesses to completely shut down their office spaces and encourage their employees to work from home. This situation may not go away anytime soon, and hence organizations and their employees need to figure out new ways of working remotely.

At our e-commerce company, The Mom Store, we too had to figure out and reinvent our ways of working given the Government of India’s restrictions and a 21 day lockdown imposed on all citizens. We have had to close down our warehouse operations which are so critical to any e-commerce company, but we are still running our business with employees working from home and building a business continuity plan that will help us get back on track as soon as restrictions are lifted.

Following are some of the steps we have undertaken to ensure that our staff can effectively work from home and also ensure that we are able to salvage this situation and minimize the loss to business:

 

1. Instill Discipline in Day to Day Work From Home:

Encourage your staff to start their day on time as a regular working day. To ensure this have a daily stand-up video call with all team members (depending on team size, this can be done by each of the team leads). This will ensure that people will take the effort to dress up in the morning and not just start working in their PJs. This will encourage the team to wake up on time, get ready and get into work mode more seriously.

Delegate work with clarity and set suitable deadlines. Follow up on all the tasks so that the rigour of work from home is maintained. At our company, all employees send a list of To-Do-Tasks in the morning by 9AM and update against each of those by 6:30PM as they finish their day.

 

2. Take Help of Technology to Effectively Communicate with the Team:

Take use of existing free technologies to easily communicate- whether its Whatsapp groups, Slack, Hangouts or Zoom for Video Calls, AnyDesk for remote screen sharing, there are lots of easy options available to facilitate remote working. It is also a good idea to do weekly Virtual All Hands Meet to keep the tempo going among team members.

 

3. Use this Time to Do All the Work that Had been Pushed back in Normal Course of Business:

If you are a product company, regular day to day operations in a normal case scenario are heavily focused on driving sales through various channels. But with all sales channels virtually shut down including marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Firstcry etc. and all deliveries through your own website on hold, there is nothing one can do except wait. Why not use this time to focus on activities that were pushed back on the regular course of business? These could be building that blog that you were not getting time to focus on, improving the SEO of your website by undertaking those mundane steps that your team was not getting time for or creating the reporting dashboards which were pending all in the rigamarole of driving sales. Bring in all the steps and build processes that seemed too time consuming to do when everyone was busy chasing numbers. Take a step back and study how improvements can be made in current ways of working and bring in those processes.

 

4. Keep Up the Engagement with the Customer

Out of sight is out of mind. You can slow down on the campaigns given the conversions will be low, quite understandably, but use your social media handles to have a constant conversation/engagement with your customers. This could be information on how you are handling the orders given the lockdown, what would be expected delivery dates, or create content that they would be interested during this time. We published a guest blog on how what pregnant women and nursing mothers need to know about coronavirus and instantly got more than 5000+ views on the article in a single day.

 

5. Keep a Plan Ready to Scale Fast Once Things Return to Normal

Things will return to normalcy sooner or later, and the ad campaign costs, bids for customers will rise astronomically within a few days. Keep a plan ready on how you will woo customers back to business at this time without further burning a hole in your pocket on ad spends. Figure out how much discounting will be viable given that you’ve already had employee, rent, and other fixed costs piled up which may not have justified your revenues in the lockdown. Think of innovative approaches to beat the market frenzy once things come to normal.

 

Finally, this imposed remote working scenario has its own benefits. You don’t get stuck in traffic, your are closer to family and get a lot more time on personal development to pursue a hobby, do an online course which you hadn’t got time to enrol for, and finish that unfinished book that you have been trying to. Stay Safe, Reinvent Yourself and Gear Up to be Back with a Bang.

5 Tools to Improve Remote Team Management by @DrRKayGreen

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by Dr. R. Kay Green | Featured Contributor

Remote businesses and telecommuting options for employees are becoming more popular. A recent study has found that 3.9 million Americans work from home for at least half the week. This includes freelance workers and small businesses as well as large corporations.

On the surface, it is easy to understand why so many professionals find remote work appealing. Remote work is not necessarily confined to a nine-to-five schedule, and can be done in the comfort of one’s own private space. In addition, working from home removes hassles such as commute and car trouble entirely.

While some employers may be concerned about the productivity of a remote employee, studies seem to indicate that remote workers can actually be more productive than workers in an office, assuming that the job is one that can be done from home effectively.

However, when building a remote workforce, there is one hurdle that needs to be addressed: team management.

Traditional business spaces offer the opportunity for quick, face-to-face interactions for questions that need immediate answers. Remote businesses, on the other hand, are reliant on emails that may go unanswered or phones that may not be picked up. These methods also aren’t great for team-wide communication, as people can easily be left off of conference calls or email chains.

In addition, remote businesses with many clients may also struggle to manage tasks where multiple people are working on the same project. It can be difficult to tell who is on what part of the task when employees are not necessarily working together at the same time.

That said, the rise in popularity for remote businesses means that more tools are being developed to serve the needs of coworkers that are not necessarily working in the same room. Here are just five of the tools that many virtual businesses use:

1. Asana

Asana is a popular, versatile project management program. It is often even used in traditional workspaces to manage projects across large teams, and its features make it uniquely suited to remote teams. Projects are sorted, assigned to employees. Comments can be added and files can be uploaded directly to the tasks to mark the progress.

2. Slack

Slack is a favorite for many remote workers when it comes to communications. Message logs are separated into channels, making it easy to focus on one conversation at a time. Files can be uploaded and discussed in real time, and there is a private message feature for when co-workers want to talk one-on-one.

3. Proofhub

Proofhub is another project management site, but with a slightly more compartmentalized layout than Asana. There are overarching “projects,” which can then be separated into lists. Tasks can be put into lists, and can be further separated into subtasks. This platform can be very effective for businesses with many clients.

4. Join.me

Join.me is a free screen sharing and online conferencing platform. A voice chat function allows for communication when demonstrating whatever is on your screen. This can be a powerful tool for discussing projects with coworkers or presenting ideas to clients.

5. Zoom

Zoom is a video conferencing tool that allows remote workers to meet “face to face.” Boasting quality audio and video, Zoom is a favorite among many remote workers. It allows for a more authentic team meeting feel, without having to find an in-person location that is central to where everyone is located.

These are just five of the tools that are popular among remote workers. There are several more available, and more will continue to be created. When picking the right tools for your business, it is important to consider your own unique culture and needs.

By picking the right remote teamwork tools for you, you will ensure a more productive and happy workforce.

———————————————————————-

Dr. R. Kay Green – Marketing Expert from RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. from Atlanta, GA.

Dr. KayDr. R. Kay Green is the CEO/President of RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. With over 190,000+ Twitter followers, 35,000+ Facebook Likes, and the Top 1% LinkedIn profile designation, Dr. Kay, a self-motivated trailblazer, is the Quintessential “New-Age” Professional Woman, and PhD Marketing Pro. She earned a Doctorate of Business Administration in Marketing, and has completed PhD coursework in Leadership and Organization Change. She also holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Management, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, and an Associate of Arts in Marketing Management.

She is affiliated with several prestigious universities and has instructed over 350 courses online. A popular speaker on Marketing and Business topics, Dr. Green is currently featured on Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, Black News, The Network Journal, Business Review USA, Digital Journal, College View, Business New Hampshire Magazine, Bay State Banner, Reader’s Circle, North Dallas Gazette, Harlem News, Top News Today, One News Page, NE Informer, Women in Business PR News, Consumer News Today, Women PR News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Daily Herald, The Miami Herald, and Book News Articles.

Twitter – Facebook – LinkedIn

How to have a strong and effective remote team. by @sheclimbsladder

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by Linda Huth | Featured Contributor 

The days I work from home are usually some of the best days. I am comfortable, working on my own time schedule, and am more productive (since I have fewer interruptions). I will even find myself working a little longer than normal since I’m not worried about fighting traffic on the way home.

It’s pretty common these days to see flex time or options to work from home. Just last year, 43% of employed Americans said they spent some time working remotely. This is great as it allows workers to be more productive and give them the flexibility they need with their families.

With the shift to working remotely, teams are having to collaborate differently. When you work out of your home you aren’t able to lean over to the person next to you to ask a question. You have to call, IM, or screen share. This type of collaboration is a different mindset and I’ve collected a few tips on how to collaborate effectively with a remote team.

Establish Communication Norms

One of the best things you can do for a remote team is to establish communication norms. As a manager or leader of the team, you need to also practice what you preach.

I recommend using IM for a quick response to urgent items, however, the phone can be even faster. Is the production system down? Then get on the phone. Have a question when writing up a document? An IM will suffice. Use email for things that aren’t urgent and that need official documentation (like collecting approvals for a document).

Another thing that I have found helpful is to establish team working times. This lets everyone know when to expect others to be available. If I know that Sarah only works 6 am to 3 pm I won’t schedule a meeting at 4 pm and expect her to attend. It can also be helpful to establish team hours where it is expected that everyone will be available.

It can also help keep teams aligned to schedule quick check-ins during projects. This helps everyone stay grounded and up to speed on what everyone else is working on. It also gives people a place to bring up any issues or roadblocks that they have encountered.

Communicate Clearly

When you and your team members are working remotely communication is even more important. You don’t always have the visual cues that you would have if you were working together in an office.

This means that all written communication needs to be clear and concise. You need to include enough detail so that the person receiving the communication knows exactly what you want and when you want it.

Documentation is even more important for remote teams. Team norms, standards, best practices – these all need to be written down. Having this written down gives your team a baseline on how work should be done.

Build a Connection

It’s much harder to build a connection and camaraderie between team members when you aren’t able to meet face to face. Building a connection is crucial to making sure your team trusts each other and will allow them to become a more cohesive group.

This is why it’s important to use video conference whenever it is available. It allows the people on the phone to visually see the other groups. This allows for facial cues and body language to be communicated as well as what is verbally said. If possible, I also recommend trying to meet each other face to face at least once. This allows you to quickly build a connection and strengthen your working relationship.

You can also bring some fun and interaction to your meetings by using icebreakers and team building activities. These can be done remotely with a little creativity. This past month I helped organize a team building activity for my team (that is spread out among 4 different states). The activity involved dividing members in each location into different simulation groups. The groups were then given different rules on how they were to build a LEGO car. Each location had facilitators and a script. We kept the phone on speaker so everyone could hear each other and it was almost like we were all in the same room. The activity definitely increased morale and was something fun in place of a normal staff meeting.

Final Thoughts

Remote teams definitely have to collaborate differently than teams that work out of an office. Team norms, the way you communicate, and the connection you build can help you create a successful and efficient team.

Do you work remotely? How do you collaborate with your team?

Meaningful Work We Can Do From Home? This Entrepreneur Is Making It Happen—And Saving the Environment at the Same Time by @ChristyCareer

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by Christy Williams | Featured Contributor

She’s been called the queen of remote work.

And she knows that finding meaningful work that actually fits in with our lives and allows us the flexibility we need on a daily basis can feel almost impossible.

She would also be the first person to tell you that it’s not.

Sara Sutton Fell is the founder and CEO of FlexJobs. And this woman is fierce.

She has founded not one, but four companies—one of them when she was eight-months pregnant with her first baby. And she does it all with a constant focus on the “why” behind what she’s doing.

If there is an entrepreneur who inspires me to focus on my “why” and do what I can for others, this woman is it.

For those who may not have heard of the website, what is FlexJobs?

FlexJobs is the leading online service for professionals seeking telecommuting, flexible schedule, part-time, and freelance jobs. With flexible job listings in over 50 career categories, and opportunities ranging from entry-level to executive, freelance to full-time, FlexJobs offers job-seekers a safe, easy, and efficient way to find professional and legitimate flexible job listings.

What makes FlexJobs different than other job search websites?

First, FlexJobs’ mission is to help people find jobs that make their lives better, jobs that specifically offer flexible work options.  And we are committed to doing this with integrity, intelligence, balance, communication, and care.

Secondly, we pre-screen every job and company before posting them to our site. This allows us to weed out the scams, shady business opportunities, and other less-than-ideal jobs that are so pervasive on other job boards.

Also, our primary clients are job seekers—not advertisers or employers—and so our goal is really to create a better job search experience for them. In order to do that, we are a membership site, so job seekers pay a small subscription fee to access our database of clean, flexible jobs. In return, we offer a top quality, clean, friendly site with great flexible jobs, excellent customer support, and a satisfaction guarantee.

What, in your own life, led you to come up with the idea for starting FlexJobs?

I founded FlexJobs in 2007 while I was pregnant with my first son, after I experienced first-hand the frustrating search for professional jobs that also offered flexible work options. I knew that I wanted to continue on my career path, but it was important to me to have more flexibility than a traditional full-time, on-site job would typically allow, so that I could better juggle the responsibilities of work and a family.

I wished that a trustworthy site existed that would have done the legwork of screening these jobs!  But in looking thoroughly through the competitive landscape, I realized it didn’t, and so my wheels started turning.

But starting a company with a newborn wasn’t to be taken lightly, and in my own soul-searching, I just realized that I so deeply believed in the importance of flexible work—and having a baby simply reinforced that in a powerful way.  Overall, I believe that a modern workplace should address the needs of today’s workforce, and that utilizing workplace technology to support telecommuting and flexible work will achieve societal, environmental, and economic benefits for both employees and employers.

How do you think flexible work can help people to create meaningful work in their own lives?

Flexible work can allow people to live lives where their responsibilities aren’t constantly in direct competition, and it enables people to have more control over how best to accomplish their goals. For example, for me, working from home and having a flexible schedule has allowed me to be more fully present with what I am doing at the moment—whether it’s at work or at home—because I don’t feel as anxious, stressed, or even angry I’m missing out on the other.

I believe flexible work options can help empower people to be more honest with their priorities, and that honesty, in turn, supports being mindful of what makes us happy, fulfilled, and proud of our decisions.

What does meaningful work look like in your own life?

I believe that no matter what job I have, or anyone has, that you can have meaningful work, at least in elements.  I’m lucky in that I believe in the mission of my job, and I love what I do.  But I also try my best to make my colleagues and our customers happy—as well as try to improve my abilities and skills to continue to do both better. So having meaningful work means choosing to put good into the world in whatever ways you can even if it’s not obvious.

As a side note, these videos highlight that what I’m talking about can be done in all kinds of ways!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLIdz_Zl1zQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr4vO2ri1yw

 

When you were formulating the idea of FlexJobs in the beginning, did it occur to you that helping people find flexible work could also have a positive impact on our environment, or was that just a welcome side effect?

That was definitely part of my thinking when I founded FlexJobs. I hold a BA degree with the focus of Society, Technology, and the Environment from the University of California at Berkeley, so I’ve long thought about ways to have a positive environmental impact through my work, and I knew the environmental benefits of flexible work, as well as the many societal and personal benefits.

Flexible work can be inherently environmentally-friendly. Telecommuting helps people consume less gas or oil, put less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and better control their own home’s environmental impact because they aren’t commuting to an office every day.

Flexible schedules also reduce commuting times, helping people avoid peak rush-hour traffic jams. And flexible work helps companies reduce their environmental impact by reshaping the way business is done: less office space, less equipment, and less energy to heat, cool, and maintain the infrastructure that traditional offices require.

As a 100% virtual organization, and one that is committed to environmental sustainability, how do you support and/or encourage your employees to commit to that sustainability, too?

FlexJobs is dedicated to making environmentally aware decisions for how we run our company and our individual home offices. We consider the environmental impact that our decisions have, and we commit to trying to lessen the impact wherever reasonably possible.

One initiative we have helps employees maintain a green home office by reimbursing them for houseplants to offset VOCs and CO2, and for CFL or LED light bulbs used in their home offices. We are also a carbon-balanced company through TerraPass. Through this partnership, FlexJobs has reduced its carbon emissions by sponsoring clean energy and carbon reduction projects.

As an entrepreneur and busy mother of two young children, how do you stay mindful and find balance on a daily basis?

Practicing mindfulness is definitely something I try to do daily, starting with the simple moments. Whether it’s feeling the sun on my face as we walk to the car to take my kids to school, taking an extra deep breath before responding to one of them asking a question for the 3rd time (without listening to the first or second response!), or hugging them for an extra few seconds before bed. I always try to be mindful that every moment has meaning, and that I have the opportunity to appreciate that in a way that makes me happier rather than unhappier.

Also, although it’s not daily, I practice Bikram yoga, and have for almost 20 years. Doing Bikram has grounded me incredibly in my life as a busy working mom, and quite honestly, is a sanity-saver for me. I also try to meditate regularly, either when I wake up or before I go to sleep.

Finally, I try to be very mindful of my focus during the day as it relates to whether I’m working or whether I’m with my kids. Because I work from home, it’s easy to blur the lines between work time and personal time, letting them creep into each other, which I don’t believe is a good thing. So I aim to have clear boundaries on when I’m working, as well as to give myself permission to unplug from work when I’m done and focus on my family and personal life.

As a successful entrepreneur and founder of several different organizations, what’s next for you?

In addition to FlexJobs, over the last few years, I’ve founded 1 Million for Work Flexibility, which is right in line with my belief that everyone should have access to flexible work options, and that both companies and individuals (and the environment!) benefit from work flexibility. I’ve also started Remote.co, a one-stop resource for people and companies to learn best practices for remote work so that we can all benefit.

We also recently hosted our second annual TRaD*Works Forum, which brings together the best and brightest minds in the telecommuting, remote, and distributed (TRaD) work community. It’s a great gathering of individuals from the corporate, government, and nonprofit worlds who all see remote work as a huge opportunity with awesome social, business, and environmental benefits.

If you could give our readers one piece of advice for finding or creating their own meaningful work as entrepreneurs, what would that advice be?

Trust your instincts as a very valid part of the equation. It’s important to be responsible and consider your instincts along with other priorities, information, and factors. But I have learned that my core intuition is often a more reliable guide to how I can find my own happiness and authenticity in my career (and life), and so I am very conscientious with it.

Sara and FlexJobs would like to offer you a chance to try their service and find your own meaningful work that you can do from home in your pajamas. As a reader of She Owns It, please use the code SAVE30 to receive up to 30% off your subscription to FlexJobs.com.

Photo credit: Sara Sutton Fell/FlexJobs