The Office Gal

The one bad part about having a great job that you love is the décor of your office your cubicle; basically the cubicle itself. A boring shade of gray or blue, a cubicle is a company’s cheapest route when it comes to making sure everyone has some privacy without having to rebuild the already formatted office. Cubicles are also a god-send for those offices lacking in space, but needing room for many more.

Past experience working in cubicles has left a sour taste in my mouth. A 3 foot by 3 foot area to call my own, with a depressing shade of blue or gray, sometimes both, that can leave you very depressed about going into work. The hardest part about working in a cubicle setting, everyone knows your business, leaving you with a feeling of your personal space being violated.

Well, over the past few years cubicles have taken the high road. Designers are giving the old cubicle a face lift, coming out with energetic looks that will give you reason to wake up and sprint off to work. OK, maybe not that great, but still awesome none the less.

I could definitely work in this cubicle setting, could you? Designed by Douglas Ball the cubicle offers a workspace worth working in; privacy, but still able to communicate with your team, and an added feature, a closing door for added privacy or a notice that you are busy at work.

I like the look of this cubicle because it has a very clean appealing look. Plus, an easy to clean feel so that you can easily clean the cubicle walls, something a bit difficult to do if you were ever lucky enough to spend time inside a blue or gray carpeted cubicle. You know what I’m talking about – shredding fabric that everything clung to.

Another cubicle that I found a bit interesting and that you have to see is by Knoll A3 Office. A design of what many think looks like the “furniture of the future”, takes on a whole new concept in workstations.

Really not seeing much privacy offered by this creation, but I find it to be a stylish way to go for a cubicle. A smart idea! Do you live in a loft setting? Use this cubicle to separate your office from the rest of your home.

Regardless of how you work – corporate, home office, or freelancer – the following items will be positive tools to add to your arsenal of productivity weapons.  I use each item on the list and together they perform to give me a solid foundation to handle projects and clients.

1. A must for a home office or freelancer – PC and Internet. I use a laptop and wireless cable. This gives me the most flexibility, so that I am able to move about in my home, as well as the advantage of taking my laptop on the go so that I can blog while I travel.

2. The loud thinker is what I call this tool, you know it as a whiteboard. Have you ever seen House? Well, Dr. House thinks out loud – he uses the whiteboard to write out thoughts and then creates a sort of flow chart with them. I use the same concept.

3. With the amount of blogs I work on, I have to keep a calendar of my schedule, what is being written, and deadlines. You can call it a planning calendar, many call it an editorial calendar, regardless of the name you want to use, the purpose is to keep track of every project going on.

4. Laugh all you want, but a simple notepad and pen is an awesome tool. When I am on the go, I usually have an idea, see something, or have people throw information at me, so I take out the notepad and jot it down. 

5. Another tool that I should use more than what I do is a timer. Timing is priority when you have deadlines to meet. Morning planning, reviewing e-mails, making telephone calls, reading sites and blogs, these are all things that need to be timed and monitored so that most of your time goes to producing quality projects for your clients or company.

Now of course these are my top 5, but a top 5 that many others may be using. What is your top 5?

The blogging world has tremendous amounts of options sprouting daily for bloggers of all levels to showcase their talent and reap the rewards with social networking. You post on mine, if I post on yours. Basically, that is exactly how it works, from new additions like Sk-rt, Mom Blog Network, and Cre8buzz, these communities allow you to read an article or blog and then give you the opportunity to vote for those you like – post, blog, or both.

Want to know another great way for bloggers to network? A blog party! That is exactly what 5 Minutes for Mom is offering to other bloggers, a blog party that could potentially lead thousands of readers to your blog, flourishing you with comments and feedback. Then all you need to do is return the favor.

The concept behind the blog party is for bloggers to create a post on their blog showcasing the person they truly are. Add poems, pictures, funny stories, jokes – well, you get the idea – spruce up your place. Then for one week, bloggers will travel the list of those bloggers that have joined, reviewing their blog, reading their posts, and making comments. Then the following week, you post on your blog about your experience and share some of your favorite blogs, linking back to them. Viola!

This opportunity is a fun approach to meeting others in the blogging world. Not only might you find some loyal readers of your blog, but you could make life-long friends as well. Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom and review the instructions for the 2008 Ultimate Blog party. This party is just not for moms, but it is only for women – sorry guys.

Take a peek at other ways to network.

Time is everything when you work independently from a corporate office or as a freelancer. Home offices can be scrutinized tremendously for being lax, having more free time, and just not being under the same regiment that a corporate office is. Entrepreneurs may also find it difficult to keep documentation on hours worked for a client by logging manually.

What is the best way to squash the rumors? Track the time to better serve your company, or for entrepreneurs, serve yourself. Tracking is as simple as downloading software onto your computer that will automatically log your work and associated time. In turn, logged information will benefit personnel for payroll and attendance; for freelancers, it will help with billing clients correct hours spent on projects.

There are several companies that offer tracking software. Two that I found are TimeClock Plus and Time Sprite. Both are very easy to install and use, and will offer a great reporting system for attendance, payroll, project time, taxes; just a variety of tasks that will keep both the corporate office or freelancer on track and on time.

The following screenshots will give you an idea of what each application will look like during use.

TimeClock Plus

Time Sprite

Other suggestions to stay organized and on track – The BusyBodyBook®