Marcel van Marrewijk's Blog, page 32

Six Brand Building Strategies for Startups

American business is overwhelmed by the small business. There are about 28.8 million small businesses in the US, and they account for almost 99.7% of all the business in US.

Although these organizations provide ample employment opportunities to the youth and account for 44% of the US economic activity, they have a tough time building the right brand strategy for their business.

This is because small businesses are at a growing phase, and they struggle to compete with the business giants of the same industry who have established themselves in the market. In such scenarios, as a small business, you should know the right branding tactics to shoot up your popularity among the customers and increase revenue.

Branding is necessary to have the right impact on the customers. A report by Accenture stated:

• 63% of the surveyed consumers preferred to purchase the services from businesses whose purpose reflects their own beliefs and values.

• 62% stated that their purchase decision is driven by the ethical values and authenticity of the organization.

Branding creates the right aura around the product, for which customers would even pay extra for that product. So, if a small business can build the right brand strategy, it can reap huge revenues and profits, with increased sales.

Find some of the effective brand building strategies for your small business:

1. Developing the visual identity:

You must know 65% of the population are visual learners. They learn and remember via visual communication. As per the Forbes article, this is the reason that infographics rule and give better results than other content.

So, while developing a brand strategy, you have to think of creating a separate identity using colors, logo, and others that aligns with the services of your organization.

A logo is much more than an ordinary image, it differentiates your business from others. It has a visual impact, and people can recall the brand by seeing the logo itself.

Take this example:

Can you recall the brand?

Yes, all of us would!!!!!

Apple has created a brand of itself. Most of the tech geeks, even common people, would like to purchase the Apple product. This is the power of branding. Customers can immediately associate the logo with the brand and recall the latest products which they know from the brand.

2. Triggering the right emotion:

Triggering the right emotion can affect how a person remembers a thing. The way you evoke emotion in your target customers can influence their perception towards your brand. This can further help in the brand-building efforts of your organization.

As per a study by psychology today, it was found that customers will use emotions rather than the information for evaluating a brand.

Another study even found that advertising campaigns based on the emotional content are twice more successful than the advertising campaign based on rational content, i.e., (31% vs.16%)

Check the below YouTube how Lean Cuisine, a brand of frozen entrees and dinners sold in US and Canada by Nestle, used emotional trigger:

3. Aligning your website with the identity of your brand:

Conveying the identity of your brand via your website can significantly help your brand strategy.

Make sure that the website looks consistent, has meaningful content with current information, and accessible contact information. The website should look updated with clear information, as too much information can be overwhelming for the visitors.

4. A good social media presence:

Before implementing the social media strategy, you should have the answer for the below questions:

• What do you think of achieving through social media branding?

• Who is the target audience for your service?

• What message you want to send to your audience?

If you are confused about the answers then you can find the right one below:

It has been seen that social media branding makes it easy to get relevant customers into the sales funnel by making them trust your brand. The social media platforms help the consumers share their views, opinions about the brand leading to a healthy and useful interaction process with the organization.

You can post visually compelling content, with uncluttered images to make your feed a polished and coherent one. The audience on all social media platforms is different. Depending on the service of your business, you can choose the one which will help achieve your goal. For example, Twitter is more of a conversational type platform. It is regarded as one of the effective ones for sharing topics and industry news related to your brand. If you are a visual brand, then Instagram can help you to target the right audience.

Check the below image from Instagram of GoPro, an American technology which manufactures action cameras and develops mobile apps, which got many likes:

The next crucial thing which you can achieve through these platforms is you can connect with the high-profile influencers of your industry. Through online connection, you can get them to like and comment on your post, giving exposure to your brand to a wider audience.

5. Developing your brand voice:

Developing brand recognition requires consistency and repeated information. If your message seems to change very often, it might confuse the customer.

So, develop the voice describing your brand personality, which does not change very often with consistent information.

Duluth trading company, which is specialized in appealing clothing for the working population clearly mentions the benefits with the right humor.

6. Be unique and keep promises:

The most important you should be unique to stand out from your competitors. As a small business, your customers will remember you because of your unique and good service. This is how Apple, one of the innovative companies, came into existence.

Conclusion:

Brand building is a continuous process and can take months when you see the right results. Your ongoing effort helps to build long-lasting relationships with the customers, which further helps in a steady increase in sales, and facilitating advocacy of your services to new potential customers.

As a small business, investment on the right tactics can help in building your brand and acquiring a similar reputation which a premium organization has in the market. When you win the trust of your customers, then it becomes a seamless process to attract new prospects and increase sales.

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Seats2meet.com trekt zich terug als partner van SIF030.

Per 1 januari 2020 heeft Seats2meet.com de samenwerking met de Social Impact Factory in Utrecht (SIF030) beëindigd.

Reden daarvoor is de aanhoudende afwijking van het Seats2meet-concept, alsmede het verschil van inzicht tussen de aandeelhouders over de doelstelling van dit bedrijf, waardoor de eigenaren van Seats2meet (Mariëlle Sijgers en Ronald van den Hoff) niet langer betrokken willen zijn bij de SIF.

Zij trekken zich ook terug uit het bestuur van SIF International BV en dragen hun aandelen over aan de overige aandeelhouders.

“Mede door de actieve betrokkenheid van Seats2meet staat er bij SIF030 een gezonde basis en daarmee wensen wij de overige aandeelhouders veel succes in de toekomst!”, aldus Van den Hoff.

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Foutenfestival 2.0

“Wees mild voor jezelf”, dat was één van de vele adviezen die 16 november op het Foutenfestival 2.0 door Seats2meet.com Utrecht CS klonken, een evenement dat werd georganiseerd door De Jonge Dokter. Een hartchirurg die openlijk vertelde over de fouten die zij had gemaakt tijdens haar werk. Over een kleine misstap, die direct leidde tot het overlijden van een patiënt. De gevolgen die dit had voor haar als arts en als mens en hoe ze hier jaren later nog steeds veel mee bezig was. Zij vertelde dit openhartig ten overstaande van 130 jonge artsen met maar één doel: fouten in de zorg bespreekbaar maken.

Niet alleen Shirin Bemelmans, de hartchirurg in kwestie, maar ook Dirk Houtman, spoedeisende hulp arts, stond op het podium om zijn verhaal te delen. Hij vertelde over een fout die blijvend letsel bij een patiënt tot gevolg had en de impact die dit lang hierna nog op hem had. Zijn advies: vraag op tijd om hulp en probeer het niet in je eentje op te lossen.

De twee sprekers inspireerden alle aanwezige jonge artsen om zelf ook openlijk te spreken over hun eigen ervaringen. In de groepssessie van Screw Up die volgde en ook in de afzonderlijke workshops, werd veel gesproken over ervaringen die de artsen in hun (vaak pas korte) carrière hadden opgedaan. Over gemaakte fouten en ook over de angst om fouten te maken. Over de werkdruk, over de steun die soms wel en ook vaak niet door collega’s en bazen wordt gegeven. Over hoe een ‘laten we even een kopje koffie gaan drinken’, al veel steun kan bieden aan een collega die zojuist iets heftigs heeft meegemaakt.

Het doel van de dag was niet om te zeuren over hoe het nou allemaal misgaat in de zorg, maar om herkenbaarheid te creëren. Om als dokter om je heen te kijken en te denken: goddank ben ik niet de enige die dit doormaakt. De sfeer van openheid en herkenbaarheid werd enorm ondersteund door de locatie van Seats2meet.com in Utrecht, waarmee de Jonge Dokter het voorrecht had om te mogen samenwerken. Want wat is een betere locatie voor een evenement als dit dan bij een organisatie die volledig gestoeld is op het samenbrengen van mensen door kennis te delen en van elkaar te leren?

Wat nemen we nu mee van deze dag? In de woorden van Ian Leistikow, inspecteur bij de Inspectie Gezondheidszorg en Jeugd en één van de drie hoofdsprekers die sprak over een growth mindset: ‘Zeg niet dat je iets niet kunt, maar dat je iets nóg niet kunt. Want met die mindset, kun je uiteindelijk van fouten alleen maar leren.’

De Jonge Dokter

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Webdevelopers opgelet: werken bij Seats2meet.com?

Webdevelopers Dennis en Wouter van Seats2meet zoeken een collega!

Dennis en Wouter zijn verantwoordelijk voor het digitale deel van de Seats2meet.com organisatie. En ze zoeken een collega!

Wat doen jullie de hele dag? 

“Wij zijn continu bezig met het verbeteren, onderhouden en uitbreiden van de website van Seats2meet maar ook het Seats2meet paspoort, het webportal voor ‘powered by S2M’-locaties en de bijbehorende widgets.” 

Waarom zoeken jullie een collega?

Seats2meet.com groeit en daarmee ook de wensen en eisen voor het gebruik van de website en de andere digitale onderdelen. Samen bedenken en bepalen we wat er verbeterd of gebouwd moet worden. En vervolgens zijn we ook zelf verantwoordelijk voor het bouwen, testen en live gaan en houden. Inclusief een stukje support.” 

Wat moet die collega kunnen?

“We zoeken dan een allrounder, iemand die al een paar jaar werkt als webdeveloper en ervaring heeft opgedaan met bijvoorbeeld frontend development, ontwikkelen van javascript en/of frontend ontwikkeling. Kennis van VueJS, CSS, styling en opmaak is ook fijn.

Je doet hier eigenlijk alles, van begin tot eind. Je eigen ideeën kun je helemaal zelf realiseren, natuurlijk met steun van je collega’s.”

Inhoudelijk leuk werk maar hoe is de organisatie verder?

“We zijn als Cyberdigma* zelfstandig binnen dezelfde overkoepelende holding waar ook de Seat2meet-organisatie onder valt. Het is een open bedrijf met weinig hiërarchie en flexibel. Zelf verantwoordelijkheid nemen en krijgen hoort bij ons. Dat geldt ook voor het serieus nemen van je inbreng en het delen van succes.”

 *Cyberdigma is dé techpartner van Seats2meet.com

En hoe kan je jullie collega worden?

“Gewoon voor 10 januari een mailtje sturen naar wvannigtevegt@cyberdigma.nl. met je motivatie en cv, dan hoor je zo snel mogelijk van ons! En als je eerst meer wil weten dan kan je natuurlijk altijd even bellen of mailen.”

Mail: wvannigtevegt@cyberdigma.nl

Telefoon: (+31)30-7400033

Nog even samenvattend, we zoeken:

Een webdeveloper:

met zo’n 2-3 jaar ervaring (bijvoorbeeld frontend web development, javascript ontwikkeling, VueJS, CSS, styling en opmaak)
die het leuk vindt om verantwoordelijkheid te nemen en te krijgen
die het leuk vindt om iets te bedenken én uit te voeren
die houdt van de dynamiek van een klein team en flexibele, open organisatie

Hoe en waar werken we?

We zijn een open en flexibele organisatie, met korte en directe lijntjes en de inbreng van iedereen wordt serieus genomen. 

Wij werken vanuit een kantoor in Hoog Catherijne, met prachtig uitzicht op de binnenstad. Vanaf Utrecht CS is het nog geen 5 minuten lopen.

Contact en solliciteren

Wil je meer informatie over de functie, het werk en de organisatie? Neem dan contact op met onze CTO Wouter Nigtevegt via wvannigtevegt@cyberdigma.nl.

Solliciteren kan door je motivatie en cv te mailen naar wvannigtevegt@cyberdigma.nl.

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De nieuwe kleine ondernemersregeling vanaf 2020

Het is jou als ondernemer vast niet ontgaan: vanaf 2020 geldt er een nieuw kleine ondernemersregeling. Wat gaat er precies veranderen en wat heeft dit voor invloed op jou als ondernemer?

De huidige kleine ondernemersregeling in 2019 (KOR)

De Kleine ondernemersregeling is een mogelijke vermindering van het BTW-bedrag dat je af dient te dragen als ondernemer. Als je aan de voorwaarden voldoet van de kleine ondernemersregeling dan mag je deze regeling (BTW-vermindering) toepassen.

Als je in een jaar minder dan € 1.883 btw moet betalen dan kom je in aanmerking voor BTW-vermindering.
Moet je € 1.345 of minder btw betalen, dan betaal je door de kleine ondernemersregeling helemaal geen BTW.

De nieuwe kleine ondernemersregeling in 2020

De nieuwe regeling vanaf 1 januari 2020 werkt niet meer met BTW-vermindering, maar geeft je vrijstelling van BTW-afdracht en administratieve verplichtingen als je omzet niet hoger is dan €20.000 per kalender jaar.

De nieuwe regeling houdt in dat als je ervoor kiest om deze regeling toe te passen (en je voldoet aan de voorwaarden) dat je vrijgesteld bent van de administratieve verplichtingen. Dit betekent dat je geen BTW meer afdraagt en dus geen BTW doorberekent aan jouw klanten, maar dit betekent ook dat je van je kosten jouw BTW niet meer terug kunt vragen.

Als je al gebruik maakte van de BTW-vrijstelling in de oude KOR, dan hoef je je niet aan te melden voor de nieuwe KOR. Dit wordt dan automatisch voor je gedaan.

Je vindt hier meer informatie over de nieuwe regeling, hoe je je aanmeldt en of je in aanmerking komt.

Is de nieuwe regeling gunstig voor jou?

In sommige gevallen zal het dus gunstig zijn om de KOR regeling toe te passen, maar in sommige gevallen niet. Om in te schatten of de nieuwe KOR regeling gunstig is voor jou als ondernemer, kan je je een paar dingen afvragen.

Lees in dit blog artikel hoe je kunt bepalen wat de nieuwe KOR regeling in jouw situatie doet.

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Growth Hacking Strategies to Use in Your Startup

The world of digital is fast, and the same things which worked before may not work the same way anymore. Therefore, there is no standard guide on how to take a new enterprise off the ground. Growth hacking helps to achieve that with the help of rapid experimentation, which helps to determine the fastest ways to grow business. The process is a combination of marketing, business development, UX and data analytics. The difference between growth hacking and traditional marketing is the emphasis on rapid growth and data and testing over assumptions and opinions. There are some growth hacking tips we would like to share with you to help you ensure that initial traction, crucial at first stages of every startup.

Build your email list before the launch.

Email is still a  strong channel for many organisations both in terms of lead creation and conversion. Moreover, pre-launch stage is a great time to collect emails of your prospective customers with the help of pre-launch hype. Create a sense of exclusivity, such as an opportunity to be among the first ones to use the product, a free limited time access or an invitation for a launch party. This way, you will acquire potential clients before you even start.

Work out your top of the funnel first.

Before you develop detailed strategies on converting your leads into sales, ensure that you have enough people at the beginning of your funnel first.   Until enough people are aware about your company and what your offer, don’t focus too much effort on sales and retention. At the beginning, you can work that manually, meanwhile focusing on brand recognition. Therefore, with the large numbers you will gather enough data to be able to see which part of the funnel is the weakest one and to improve it accordingly. 

Research less saturated platforms.

While social media is still a good platform to interact with your audience, it’s getting more and more difficulty to compete for consumer attention there. Think if there are platforms less explored by competition. Maybe your audience is active on forums, i.e. Quora? This kind of platforms, outside of the domain of the major social media, can be a way for your organisation to engage your target audience cheaper and easier.

A/B testing is everything.

We get it – A/B testing eventually gets tedious and extra time you spend on it is often not obvious to others within your team, However, A/B testing is the most effective way to learn what works in the case of your particular business. Try to A/B test as much of your digital activities as possible – landing pages, email headings, images used in advertising, etc. This way, over time you will collect enough data on what works and what doesn’t for your startup to base your future strategy on. 

Use full potential of the referral programs.

These programs have a double benefit for your company. First, you get high quality leads, since friends and family are much more trustworthy in the eyes of consumer than an organisation. Second, this customers are not just more likely to be retained, they also buy more – their LTV is on average 16% higher. So focus on customers who are so satisfied with your offering so they would be willing to bring their friends along.

Hope that with the help of these growth hacking tactics you will be able to achieve all your company’s goals and grow exponentially! and Wishing you happy growth hacking!

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Coworking and Youth Development in a Remote Village of Bangladesh, Part-2

Some time ago we shared the story of the opening of a new powered by Seats2meet location and the first coworking space in Bangladesh run by Fahad Bin Husne Ali.

Today Fahad wants to share some of his further progress. 

Fahad Bin Husne Ali: “After a successful opening event, it’s our time to start a real action. We begin visiting schools to grow awareness about future opportunities, ICT education, women empowerment and so on. Trust me, all these words are new to my people and sound complex to them. I know it will take time for them to absorb my ideas.

3 of my cousins are also working hard on this mission together with me. All of them are students studying in different universities. I love their passion and the way they help me with everything.

We are now teaching computer science to over a hundred students, 7 days a week in many shifts a day as only 12 people can sit in our location at a time. Also, we only have 3 personal computers, which is far not enough. But we are doing our bests.

We have several programs for raising awareness for women empowerment as well. Working with girls and women is a tough job to do in Bangladesh as we are a Muslim-majority country. But we are doing it by knowing our limits.

We are also campaigning schools to train students about IoT, some cool gadget and entrepreneurship. Below you can find some pictures from our last school campaigns.

We have more than 50 volunteers who are helping us with our work and projects. Our upcoming project called “Clean campus”. That’s when our volunteer staff will help us cleaning up schools around the village since sanitation and hygienic conditions there are really bad.

Seats2meet Bangladesh is on fire. Local newspapers already showed our activities many times. Hope one day we will be featured in a National newspaper too!

I will end my writing by saying: let’s make this world a better place.”

Thank you, Fahad! You are doing a great job, best of luck to you and your team!

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Kenniswerkers weten het niet

Wat doe jij nou eigenlijk? Heel veel zelfstandig professionals zijn kenniswerkers en hebben best wel moeite met het beantwoorden van deze vraag. Want wat doet een kenniswerker nou eigenlijk? ‘We hebben geen flauw benul wat kenniswerk eigenlijk is’, zo zegt Martijn Aslander, ‘En dat is dus best wel een probleem’.

Gelukkig heeft hij er een project van gemaakt om daar meer duidelijkheid in te krijgen. In een aantal video’s komen verschillende experts aan het woord die over het fenomeen ‘kenniswerk’ hebben nagedacht.

Het is een trilogie over informatie, toegang tot informatie en het werken met informatie. Ik bekeek het derde deel over Kenniswerk.

Confronterend

En eerlijk gezegd: het is best confronterend. Tijdens de video merkte ikzelf hoe snel je wordt afgeleid. Door nog meer informatie. Een appje op mijn telefoon. Even naar mijn mail kijken. Instagram checken. Twitter updaten. En al ben ik dan een vrouw: multitasken bestaat niet.

Voor het benutten van informatie en kennis en daar mooie, interessante en nuttige dingen mee doen is concentratie nodig. En tijd. En rust. Het is niet voor niets dat je onder de douche de beste ideeën krijgt. Omdat je dan niets anders doet.

Selectief

Dus een beetje kenniswerker is selectief in het toelaten van informatie.

Een beetje kenniswerker verzamelt informatie en neemt dan de tijd en rust om er mooie, nieuwe dingen uit te laten ontstaan.

Telefoon weg, alerts uit, email dicht en dan genieten van de resultaten.

Maar natuurlijk eerst deze video kijken.

 

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The Experience Economy in 2019: Takeaways from Joe Pine’s Book Launch

On November 25th, American best-selling author, keynote speaker and coach Joe Pine presented a new edition of an infamous Experience Economy. Almost 25 years ago, Joe and James Gilmore started their journey on education on new type of economy – the experience economy. Fast forwarding to the year 2019, we see that his theory is still relevant for many businesses who look into the future. In a modern fast-paced environment, companies must compete for the customer attention first and foremost, with time becoming the experience economy’s true currency. This transforms the way experiences take place. Therefore, we would like to share some of the major insights by an infamous writer, with the new edition reviewing the business situation at the current moment and and providing ever more examples of businesses in the experience economy.

For a vital business, there are three questions you always need to ask yourself: Are you customers increasing or decreasing the amount of time they spend with you? Do you have to exert ever more marketing and sales efforts to gain the attention of your customers, or do the experiences you offer create robust demand in and of themselves? Is the money customers pay you derived entirely from the sale of commodities, goods and services, or have you found ways to explicitly charge fees for various experiences? Once you have a clear answer to all these three questions, you can adjust your strategy accordingly, ensuring that you’re offering an experience, instead of just a product, and as a result win a fight for customer attention and money.
The five steps to cohesive experience include: 1. Theme the experience. Offerings with a clear  theme attract more attention and engage customers more. Moreover, this kind of offerings keeps them interested to explore further in subsequent visits or purchases. 2. Harmonise impressions. Ensure that the whole experience flows smoothly and is coherent in the eyes of your clients. 3. Eliminate negative cues. The experience should be positive and relevant for the consumer. 4. Mix in memorabilia and media. By providing something as a memory, you help to further the experience and help to replay it in consumers’ minds long time after it’s over. 5. Engage or evoke all five senses. Can you make your experience more memorable by alternating it in such a way which would allow customers to interact with it differently?

Mass customisation is the future of business. All customers are unique, and it’s important for businesses to recognise their uniqueness, instead of trying to target them in standard way.  This is achieved with customisation. Joe Pine predicts that organisations of the future will shift from Marketing to Customering – meaning focusing on individuals instead of markets.
Create dramatic experiences. Don’t be afraid of drama – that’s the only way to be memorable. Dramatic experiences follow a specific structure: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, crisis, climax, falling action and denouement. Crisis should be the major part of your experience. Focus on creating suspense and anticipation, leading up to a climax. The customers are driven by the desire to reach the unknown, hence anticipation of the climax will make the experience memorable. Your signature moment is the one customer are going to remember when the experience is over. Think about what is the enticing part of the experience? How do you draw them in? What happens upon entry? Focus on the peak of the experience and the end of it, since these are the parts which stick in the hearts and minds of the consumers.
The future of the experience is admission-based fee. Try to think, if you had to charge admission fee, what would you change? How would you achieve that? Think about the value component in your business which is large enough for customers to pay admission fee for. This will provide you with a new angle on your business and help you find out how you can become an experience business. Since you are what you charge for, the end goal of a forward-thinking company is to charge for experiences, instead of a product.

Therefore, in order to tackle the challenges of a fast-paced consumer society, start thinking experience now.

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5 Ways to Boost Productivity While Working at Home

There is an emerging trend in the workforce where people aren’t really going to the office as much. With the rise in telecommunications and the internet has come an entirely new way to have a career and work from home. You no longer have to be chained to a desk all day and can get your work done at your own pace. There is one major drawback to this approach though; you are responsible for your own productivity and time management.

If you are going to take the opportunity to work from home it is necessary to make your workspace as productive as possible. Don’t even consider working from home if you cannot have a dedicated space for your professional life. It is going to require some determination and responsibility, but there are ways you can ensure yourself a better at-home workspace. With some research, a little hard work, and a small investment you can make yourself an effective and efficient home workspace to make you as productive as possible.

A Professional Style With Comfort Added

One of the best things about transferring your career to a home-focused approach is being able to set up your workspace exactly as you need it, barring financial constraints. While you may be considering some outlandish designs in your head, you need to keep in mind that this is still going to be a professional setting. You want to keep everything comfortable, of course, but the main focus should be on being more productive with your work.

You want to make sure you have the proper equipment for your everyday work, which will most likely include a desk and computer. Great investment here is a high-end office chair for proper support. Sitting all day can be tough on your back and legs, and the right chair can make a huge difference and boost productivity. Make your office furniture functional but comfortable enough that you enjoy using it.

Set A Strict Schedule

Yes, you got out of the office because you didn’t want to be chained to a desk, but routine is still going to be paramount to productivity at home. Treat your home office just like work, but be a little easier on the schedule and the breaks. Have a goal of setting a certain amount of office hours per day, or per week, and schedule them around everything else in your life.

By scheduling and keeping track of your time in your home office you will be held more accountable for your own productivity. Even better is the fact that you won’t get reprimanded if you are late from a lunch break or oversleep a bit in the morning.

“As long as you can keep enough productive office hours per week you will see results and not need to stress. You will find it much easier to keep track of your time when using a schedule at home. This is especially relevant if you’re writing” — Estelle Leotard, a writer at BeGraded and Subjecto.

Music Helps Focus

Sometimes the most important piece of equipment any home professional can own is a quality pair of headphones. There are always going to be distractions in life, whether it is your own family, people on the street, neighbors, or anyone else. Everyone can find a style and genre of music they relate to, it has been bringing people together for a very long time. Keep some of your favorite tracks on standby and get ready to zone out if the noise or stress is starting to creep in.

Not everyone is going to want music blaring in their ears while trying to work, which is understandable, but there is more than just music to use headphones for. Whether it be talk radio, podcasts, novels, or any other audio mediums, there is going to be something you can use to bring focus to your mind. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, irritated, distracted, or stressed, just pop on those headphones and forget about the outside world.

Take Recess Outside

There are millions of people around the country who are stuck in the same routine every week and they don’t get outside nearly enough. Since you are accountable for your own hours and efforts you must make time to get outside in the fresh air. Just getting out for a short walk can have amazing effects on your entire body. Your brain produces some amazing chemicals to help boost your productivity levels but you need to put the work in to get them going.

Fresh air and a bit of exercise may seem like expending needed energy but you need to look at it as an investment in the rest of the day. It is also a great opportunity to unwind or process any difficult things you have been dealing with for work.

“It will surprise you at how much a little bit of outdoor time throughout the workday can do for you. Try adding recess to your work schedule and you will soon see your productivity soaring.” — Angela Baker, a lifestyle blogger, and writer at TopEssayWriting and  ClassyEssay.

Choose A Room With Windows

While this option is just not going to be available for every person who works from home, if possible, it is of the utmost importance to choose a room with a window. Fresh air and exercise isn’t the only thing that mother nature is going to provide you during the workday. Natural light has been studied for many years and there is proof that it has a positive effect on the human body. There is a reason that so many people clamor to get to the beaches as soon as the weather permits.

You can absorb vitamin D through sunlight, which is actually the number one way to get your recommended daily amount. Vitamin D is essential for giving your body a boost when absorbing calcium from food sources. There are also claims to be made about natural light helping to produce positive chemicals in the brain, such as serotonin, and therefore increasing your mood and productivity. Regardless of the science behind it, natural light is something most people enjoy, and keeping yourself happy is a big part of being productive.

Productivity Is Going To Come From Your Efforts

No one will claim that it is simple to transition to working at home. For years the office was the only place people knew, and the thought of working anywhere else was a foreign concept. The world is changing and becoming more connected, this means that opportunities are going to be presenting themselves that weren’t there before. If you have been given a chance to start working from home it is well worth looking into. You have many advantages to setting your own schedule, but it takes some work to get it right.

Working from home provides new freedom that you will not have experience before, and it can be a liberating experience. Make sure you follow the above tips and get your home office up to the standard before you start. You are still a professional that is going to be doing their job. Just because you are going to be in the comfort of your own home gives you no reason to get lazy. Put in the effort to make your office the best it can be and it will pay dividends out with productivity and efficiency.

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