BEST PRACTICES FOR WORKING AT HOME, PART II
Manage Your Work Environment and Yourself for CLNC® Success
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second part of our article on best practices for managing yourself and your CLNC® success from home. (see Part I, Legal Nurse Consulting Ezine, Vol. 14, No. 4). Our CLNC® Pros with first-hand experience in working at home share more of their practical strategies for making working at home fun and easy.
– Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
Put the Kids on Your Staff
If you have children at home, give them age-appropriate office jobs such as copying, stapling, stuffing and filing to keep them busy. Feeling they are helping you will boost their self-esteem, and you'll have the needed peace and quiet to work. Pay them for their time. Give your children a list of what needs to be done that day. When they complete their tasks, reward them by doing something fun together, like going swimming.
Manage Your Professional Image to Boost Productivity
Get ready psychologically to go to work. It's okay to dress comfortably at home but don't wear your pajamas. It doesn't matter if you're in shorts, jeans, sweats or without makeup. Clients only see your great work product.
Some CLNC®s do dress just as if they were going out to meet with a client. They put on makeup and professional attire. This helps them project a more professional image when communicating with a client, whether by telephone or electronically.
Manage Your Work Space and Your Paperwork for Maximum Productivity
Create an organized, functional work space dedicated to your home-based business and use it only for business. Keep it clean and well-lit. This doesn't mean you must have a formal office, but a designated work area, preferably with a door you can close to reduce noise and other distractions. The area should include your computer, printer, fax machine and phone. Invest in DSL service so you can multi-task on the same phone line and maintain efficient Internet access. This saves valuable time and energy when you're doing online research and downloading references.
Make sure the layout of your office supports your productivity. For example, are the fax, phone and office supplies within easy reach? Do you have enough room to work? A space for collating copies? Can you find things easily in the file cabinet? Because you'll spend a great deal of time in your office, make sure you enjoy the environment.
Keep your business files and personal files separate, and keep your desk orderly. It's important to stay extra-organized at home since space is more limited than in a big office. Find an organizational system that works for you. Use several day-to-day filing systems, a PDA and your computer to stay organized.
Streamline paperwork whenever possible. Keeping in mind that documentation is essential, make sure all forms have a purpose and are as concise as possible without sacrificing critical information. This requires periodic evaluation and revision.
Manage Technology to Maintain the Competitive Advantage
If you want attorney-prospects to take your business seriously, nothing speaks louder about your professionalism than having a separate business telephone line. When you're away on vacation, remember to change your voice message or hire an answering service. Always leave a telephone number, such as your cell phone number, where you can be reached in emergencies.
Take advantage of the latest home-office technology products to maximize your efficiency, decrease stress and save time. Purchase the best computer, word processing software, fax and copy machine that fit your business needs and budget. Subscribe to online medical and nursing literature resources to save valuable time traveling to and from medical libraries. The convenience of being able to log on and research a topic or an expert at any time has been a huge time and energy saver for me.
Get an efax number to avoid interruptions during business hours. This also allows you to save incoming faxes as electronic files. Get an 800 number that is billed per use and selectively give it out to your clients.
Make your computer work for you. Purchase a laptop computer so you do not have to transfer files when you travel. This also gives you the flexibility to work outside or in another part of the house. This setup saves valuable time and, ultimately, money.
Prepare in Advance for Growth
Create an informal board of directors of professional business experts you can go to for questions and advice. Sign up for a SCORE counselor from the Small Business Association (it's free).
Even if you don't need help managing your office now, begin writing up job descriptions. This will help you do things more efficiently and will also help you assess when, how often and what type of help you do need.
Know When to Quit and Take Care of Yourself
If you're going to work at home, you need strong boundaries between home and office. Make sure your office is just for work. When you leave work, it should be like leaving an outside office and going home. If you choose to work late hours or on weekends, that's fine. But when you walk out of that office, close the door and GO HOME! This makes your work day more productive and your home life more pleasant.
Be realistic. Don't plan eight billable hours per day and get discouraged because you only worked six. When scheduling your work, include fun time, family time and quiet personal time. Allow for taking the kids to school, helping with homework, preparing meals, taking breaks and unscheduled interruptions. Use your time wisely. Don't accept more work than you can handle. If your attorney-client expects your report by a deadline that requires you to work 24-7 for the next three days, forget it. You cannot produce a quality work product this way. Maintain good communication with your client to avoid this kind of scenario. You want to be successful, but you must maintain the integrity of your work product as well as your sanity.
Make a commitment to own the business and not allow it to own you. Don't allow work to flow over into family time. Walking away from a project can be difficult, but keeping on schedule allows you the freedom to do this. Develop a business plan and follow it, stay organized and allow yourself plenty of time to play.
Have an office door you can close at the end of the business day. The ceremonial opening and closing of the door is important. Otherwise you'll become addicted to the space and find some reason to be in there at all hours, including the weekend.
Set limits. Go home at a certain time. If you want to work out on your lunch hour, do it. This is your business; no one is going to set your boundaries for you. Use ritual to differentiate between work and personal time. Work out, change clothes or play a game of solitaire to transition from work to play. Take days off, and take vacations. Put them in your calendar at the beginning of the year, and stick with this. Schedule a family day. Above all, have fun!
Be flexible and laugh often!
Suzanne E. Arragg, RN, BSN, CDONA/LTC, CLNC is the owner of SEA Consultant Company in California, specializing in long term care cases.
Dale Barnes, RN, MSN, CLNC, owner of Barnes Medical Legal Services, has been an independent CLNC® consulting on medical malpractice, bad faith insurance, general personal injury, home care, elder abuse and research services since 1999.
Gloria A. Blackmon, RNC, BSN, LNHA is the CEO of Blackmon & Associates Medical-Legal Consulting in Kansas, specializing in long term care issues.
Susan J. Burnham, RNC, CLNC, the sole proprietor of Burnham and Associates in Washington state, has been an independent legal nurse consultant specializing in quality of care issues since 1996.
Nancy Dion, RN, MSM, CLNC, CPHQ, CHCRM, LNHA, with more than 35 years as a healthcare professional, is a Florida-based CLNC® with expertise in clinical services, organizational redesign, quality improvement, risk management and executive team building and management.
Joan M. Gower, RN, CLNC is an independent CLNC® and owner of Florida Medical
Legal Consultants, Inc.
Pam Hollsten, RN, BSN, DABFN, CLNC, an independent LNC in Georgia, owns Hollsten & Associates, specializing in medical malpractice.
Patsy Howard, RN, CLNC is the owner of Metro Legal Nurse Consulting in Missouri and the in-house legal nurse consultant for Hinshaw & Culbertson, a large medical and legal malpractice firm.
Colleen Lindell, RN, MHSA, CNOR, CLNC, Wisconsin, is CEO of Med-Legal.net, Inc., a nurse-owned firm providing U.S. attorneys and healthcare consumers with research, expert case review and opinion.
Gina I. Rogers, RN, BNS, CLNC is the founder of Medical Review Consulting, LLC in Kentucky. She consults with plaintiff and defense attorneys and insurance companies nationwide.
– Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
