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Guest Article: Three Keys to Achieving Balance Between Your Home Office and Your Family Life

© Bonny Albo

do the dishes, laundry or whatever during your work time. Avoid those frequent mini-raids of the refrigerator during work time. These types of distractions will only help keep you in your office much longer than necessary.

Second, make sure you have a business telephone line, a separate fax line, and a third modem line, if you use the Internet for long periods of time. Your business line should have an answering machine, voice-mail system, or an answering service's live operator that answers your phone in a professional manner when you are not available. Remember that your goal is not to sound like a home office, so the more professional you can sound on the telephone, the better.

Third, keep yourself as organized as if your were working in a corporate office. Organization prevents contracts and other important documents from getting buried under piles of files, newspapers, or even last night's dinner! Just because you work from your home doesn't mean you are any less of a professional - so act like one and treat important documents with respect.

As part of keeping organized, do everything you can to keep food and drinks away from your desk! Spills cost you many hours of work, and can even cost you thousands of dollars if they were to damage any of your delicate electronic equipment. My motto is simple: "Food stays in the kitchen, and paperwork stays in the office."

In all cases working from home, use common sense. Your business depends on you being organized and keeping your personal and business lives separate, even though they co-exist under the same roof. Get in the habit of turning off your computer at a reasonable hour and use that time to be with your family, relax and enjoy your life. Although it may be tempting to get right back to work after dinner, remember that your work will be there for you in the morning, just as it would if you left it back at the corporate office. HBM

Mr. Imbriale is a nationally recognized business coach specializing in business development. He is an accomplished author and copywriter and his work has been published nationally in both consumer and trade publications. For a free telephone coaching session with Mr. Imbriale, send your name, address and telephone number to him at: 203 Commack Road, Suite 135, Commack, NY 11725-3437 or fax it to