Working from home: the reality

Get equipped
If you're working from home with your employer's blessing, investigate the help they're prepared to give with furniture and other equipment. If you're self-employed, regard equipping yourself properly as an essential investment.

• Don't settle for something that will do for now. If you work at the kitchen table you'll waste a lot of time clearing it all away and getting it out again
  
  
• Aim for a definable, permanent workspace. One with a door that you can close when you want the rest of the world to leave you alone is best
  
  
• Installing a separate telephone line is an effective way of making clear distinctions between your work and home life. When you finish working let a machine answer business calls for you, likewise for personal calls while you're at work
  
  
• Timetable breaks - include sessions away from your work to eat, get some exercise and socialise. Although it can be tempting to get your head down and keep going, periods away will help you work more effectively

Shift your attitude
As well as modifying other people's perceptions of what home working involves take a look at your own. Many women undervalue and underestimate the demands of simultaneously running a home and a business when the two happen to be in the same place. You wouldn't dream of defrosting the fridge while talking on the phone in your office so why try that sort of thing at home? If you're tempted by the idea of combining working from home with looking after a young family think again. There's little else you can give full attention to if you've got a pre-school child in the house. The solution? Believing that it's just as valid to use childcare if you're working at home as it would be if you were out.