Jun24

How to Set Up a Home Office without Breaking the Bank

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How to Set Up a Home Office without Breaking the Bank

Most of today’s companies offer their employees the ability to telecommute or work from home for a few days a week. This has been a recent trend in multinational companies and is offered as one of the perks depending on your position in the company. Companies like Oracle, Deloitte, IBM, CBS Interactive, and Viacom are some of the companies that have flexible work from home policies.

This is why more and more people are carving out spaces in their homes to serve as their mini home offices. It’s no fun and it’s not very professional to work off of the dining table or on a laptop on your bed. So a lot of work from home professionals have opted to create a dedicated space at home for a mini office.

You don’t have to completely renovate your house to include a home office. You don’t even have to add another room. You can work with what you have to create a great space for working from home without having to spend a lot of money. Here are a few tips on how to set up a home office without breaking the bank.

Look for unused space
Do you have a guest room? Is there a walk-in closet roomy enough to fit a chair? Is the space underneath the stairs usable? What about the huge landing between the first and second floor, can you use that?

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a spare room so we have to use our creativity and look for areas in the house where we can fit a desk and an office chair in. It has to be a dedicated workspace though. It’s hard to concentrate on work when you work off the kitchen table and the kids are eating. Carve out space where you don’t have to move your stuff for around, like when baby needs a diaper change and you have to use the same table you work on.

Minimalist requirements
Think about what you need. Do you need a desk? How about a chair? Does it have to be big and bulky? Will a simple chair do or do you need an ergonomic chair? Do you need file cabinets or display cabinets?

Pare down your requirements to just the basics so that you can fit them into the spaces in your home. For example, my setup is just a simple desk with a 2 layer side shelf and an ergonomic chair that isn’t very big and imposing. It is in a small quiet corner of the living room, next to the sliding doors that lead to the garden. It’s a small space that has natural lighting and a great view of plants and pets.

Be a DIY fan
You don’t have to hire a contractor for things you can do yourself. If you want to have an accent wall for a beautiful background during video conference calls you can probably get away with painting the wall yourself. You can also hang a pretty framed photo or some artworks in the background. You can even put decals or wallpaper to define the space as a workspace.

You can also build your own desk. Take 3 side cabinets of the same height and connect them by putting a board across. Be sure to measure your space first so that you know that the desk will fit. You can paint or stain them to be a uniform color and look like 1 desk instead of 3 different furniture pieces.

What about you? What are your DIY home office tips? Share them with us in the comments Stay humble and hustle hard!

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Jun17

5 Nifty Google Chrome Extensions to Make Life Easier

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5 Nifty Google Chrome Extensions to Make Life Easier

My favorite web browser is Google Chrome. It is secure, easy to navigate and compatible with almost all OS and mobile devices. You can sync your preferences and bookmarks across all devices, making it easier to access your accounts on different devices. I especially like the extensions available in the Chrome Web Store. Extensions make my job easier. If you haven’t tried extensions or don’t know where to start, please read on.

Browser extensions are small software modules used to customize the web browser. They do a host of tasks that help people out with productivity, tracking, management, information wrangling, etc. To get them, you go to the Chrome Web Store to see a large selection of browser extensions. Here are 5 of my favorite and most used ones.

Adobe Acrobat – This extension makes it possible for you to convert current web page to an Adobe PDF file (Windows only) and easier to do so because you no longer have to open and load up Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat XI. You can convert web pages to rich, high-quality PDF files that maintain the look and feel of the original content straight from the website. You can find the Adobe Acrobat browser extension here.

Asana – This extension makes it possible for you to quickly add and search for Asana tasks from any webpage. Other features include: putting tasks directly in any project, quickly adding a task description and assign to a teammate, selecting the appropriate assignee from a dropdown menu, inputting custom fields to your new tasks, and adding the current URL as a task, so you can read articles later or share them with teammates. You can find the Asana browser extension here.

Google Docs Offline – This extension makes it possible for you to get things done offline with the Google Docs family of products. Sometimes we have problems with an intermittent internet connection, or sometimes we may have NO internet connection at all. You can still access Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive without connecting to the internet with this extension. You can find the Google Docs Offline browser extension here.

Grammarly – This extension makes it possible for you to make sure your messages, documents, and social media posts are clear, mistake-free, and impactful. It is a contextual spelling checker and grammar checker that detects misspelled words, correctly spelled words used in the wrong context, and fix hundreds of complex grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement, article use, and modifier placement, among others. You can find the Grammarly browser extension here.

Speedtest – This extension makes it possible for you to take a Speedtest directly from our Google Chrome toolbar to quickly test the internet performance without interruption and measure how fast the pages load with Web Speed. You can get ping, download, and upload speeds within seconds through this browser extension. You can find the Speedtest browser extension here.

What are your favorite browser extensions? Share them with us in the comments section. Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Jun10

How to Stop Being a Workplace Doormat

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How to Stop Being a Workplace Doormat

Imagine you are sitting at your desk, hard at work on today’s reports and daily tasks, trying to finish your self-imposed work deadlines by the end of the working day. A colleague saunters on to your desk and “cheerfully” asks you to “help” do something that isn’t on your task list or even remotely your priority. In fact, this is something that your colleague has to be doing themselves, but for some reason, they need your expertise, and they need it now.

When you work at an office, there will always be interruptions, it’s just inevitable. Most of the time, we don’t mind being interrupted and gladly welcome a quick break. If it’s just a small favor and an easy one, I’m sure most people won’t mind helping out a colleague. However, if you’re working as an assistant some people will see you as a shared resource and would capitalize on the fact that you have access to any and all resources in the office. Some are even annoyingly in your face, asking you to simply do the work that they should be doing themselves. How do you deal with colleagues who think you are their assistant when you’re just clearly not?

Stop helping them:
You are reinforcing bad (and very lazy) behavior by trying to “help them out.” Clearly one of you is relying heavily on the other to do their job. If they keep asking you for help, remember that NO is a full sentence. Don’t promise to help them, out some other time.

Here are a few helpful and tactful answers you can use for “can you help me with this?”
• Sorry but I am busy with tasks for (executive/client/customer/boss) and I won’t be able to handle your request.
• What are the things you have tried so far?
• I am on a tight deadline and won’t be free to work with you on that anytime soon.
• I can’t help with that right now.
• Can you ask (suggest the name of the expert)? I’m sure they’d be happy to help you.
• Sorry but I’m working on a priority project and need to focus on this for the next few (days/weeks/months).

Set expectations:
Make sure it is clear that you are an Executive Assistant or an assistant to this and that client, and not a general office assistant – which means that you are not there to serve them with work that they are paid to do by themselves. You answer to one person and are there to assist this person strategically. If you spend your time, shuffling between your immediate task and trying to help others finish theirs, you are not maximizing valuable time helping your boss or client become more successful. You are also doing your colleagues a disservice by not letting them learn new skills on their own. Your refusal to do their work is a teaching opportunity, not a selfish move.

Seek a meeting with your executive, boss or client:
Sometimes we are too careful to come across as snarky – and we’re careful about our image at the office. Nobody wants to be portrayed as the bad guy. If you can’t confront your colleagues or have a hard time saying no, you can enlist the help of your executive, boss, or client. Explain that your colleagues or that the team is going to you as a resource person for their individual projects and task and that “helping them out” is taking a lot of your time that would have otherwise been spent working on your priority projects. Check with your boss if they agreed that this is an okay practice. In most cases, your boss would have no idea that this is happening – this will give you more leverage to push back. If a colleague gets pushy, you can refer them back to your boss.

It’s time to set clear boundaries so that you get to do what you love and not live your life pleasing others. What is your go-to pushback line? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Jun3

How to be more confident even if you don’t really feel like it

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How to be more confident even if you don’t really feel like it

We all get a bad case of the nerves sometimes. I’d say, probably just before a presentation, an interview, or a public speaking engagement, is when you need a sudden boost of confidence the most. While confidence is a really great personality trait to have, we don’t need this superpower all the time. But it’s great to know that you have it when the situation calls for it. So here are 5 tips to boost your confidence on days when you really need it.

Be your own hype man.
According to Wikipedia “a hype man/hype gall, in hip hop music and rapping, is a backup rapper and/or singer who supports the primary rappers with exclamations and interjections and who attempts to increase the audience’s excitement with call-and-response chants [1]”. That’s how you should talk to yourself. No, seriously. Talk to yourself in your head (or out loud if you want to). Tell yourself that you’ve got this! You’ll do great at this presentation! You’ll nail this report! You’ll give an awesome and empowering speech! You need these validations in order to get yourself into a more confident state of mind. Whatever you do, avoid the negative talk.

Be conscious of your body language
Do a power pose before a presentation or a speech. You know how superheroes have their hands on their hips, their feet apart and their chest out as they proclaim that they’re here to save the day? Do your own power pose. When you walk up to the front, have confident and steady strides. Don’t slouch. Keep your posture proper and your head held up. Get some tips from Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk on Power Posing. Stand tall and smile.

Imagine your audience
Take a look at your audience and imagine what they’re like. We fear being judged more so than we fear to give a bad presentation. But if you think about it, most of the time your audience reserves any judgment until after you finish your presentation. People are usually friendly and respect others who step out of their comfort zones. They are not the ones holding you back, you are.

Visualize the end
Imagine people clapping after you give your speech. Imagine yourself celebrating for a job well done. Imagine your audience learning something new from the report you just gave. Imagine the most optimum results that you can get and keep that thought in your head. It will give you the confidence to get through the presentation.

Come prepared
This is probably the most important step of them all. 100% of the time, lack of confidence stems from being unprepared. Being armed with skills, knowledge, and expertise to back you up is the best way to feel confident. When you know that you have mastered your speech or your presentation and that you can answer any question thrown your way, you know you’ve got this!

What is your confidence boosting tips? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help

May28

How not to need a vacation after being on vacation

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How not to need a vacation after being on vacation

The long weekend is over and so are the days of lounging on a recliner chair while binge-watching a recently concluded Netflix series. Even though you wish that the food, fun, and festivities would never end, it’s back to work for most of us.

Going back to work shouldn’t be a dreaded thing. Sure, we all wish the long weekend would draw out longer, but the thought of an exploding inbox and looming work deadlines is enough to make you have anxiety attacks over what is supposed to be a holiday break. You’re supposed to be enjoying the long weekend and not counting down the hours till it’s over.

Here, let me help you ease back into the work week coming from the holiday break. I have 3 tips for you.

Schedule a cushion.
You need some time to ease back into your groove thang. If you can take another day off for a 1-day extension of your holiday break, then do that. If you can’t afford to take an extra day off, then wind down a few hours earlier so you can relax and get your work mindset on. Do something relaxing like taking a long bath or baking a treat. These and similar activities will give you a few hours to chill and take your mind off impending work for a while.

Once you get back to work, don’t dive into a major project right away. Give yourself time to get back into a sense of normalcy. Start with small tasks, then work your way up.

Take yourself back with a souvenir
Avoiding a burnout can be as simple as reminiscing. If you have something to remember your vacation by, then you can take a quick mental break by going back to that place. Pictures, souvenirs, or even scents can take you back to your vacation. You may find that essential and diffuser oils come in handy when taking you back to a place. I have one friend who, whenever she’s on vacation, ask the spa where they’re getting a massage what scent is diffusing in the background and asks to buy a small bottle of it.

Take mini breaks
Do not go into full beast mode at work right after you get back from break. If you’re the boss, nobody likes a slave driver. If you’re an employee, you’re going to work yourself to the ground and face a burnout. Like I said earlier, the trick is to ease into it slowly. People don’t expect you to be caught up in one day. Take mini breaks. Ask around for updates on existing projects. Ask about news on pipeline projects. Get as much information and updates as you can before you die head first into work.

What about you? What are your tips for easing back into work from a vacation? We’d love for you to share them with us in the comments. Remember to stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help