TaraI’ve been working from home for six years now. Six! I can’t believe it’s been that long already…
Not all of those six years was smooth sailing in terms of my productivity (or my ability to wear real clothes on a regular basis). It took me quite a while to get into a working-from-home groove. It’s miles different than a commute into a traditional office and takes some adjusting, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Now that I have so much experience working from home, I’ve learned a few key strategies to staying productive. In order to get stuff done and stay organized, you MUST use tools that make your life easier.
Here are some of my all-time fave work-from-home tools I use to keep my business chugging along at top speed.
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Trello
I have a serious obsession with Trello. Ever since I discovered this gem of a tool about a year ago, it has been life-changing for both my business and my personal lives. That’s a big statement, but it’s totally true!
I’m an organizer, a planner, a to-do list maker extraordinaire, and Trello is my favorite organization tool. It’s SO easy to use (which is very important for this not-so-tech-savvy girl) and intuitive to learn.
Maybe best of all, it’s totally and completely free!
You can check out sample Trello boards here and here to get a glimpse of the look and feel. Isn’t it pretty?!
I could go on and on and ON about Trello, but for now you should check it out for yourself and give it a try. And don’t forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter below to get more organization tips and tricks using Trello.
G Suite
I’ve been using Gmail and Google Docs since…the beginning of time. Joking! But it’s been a really long time, and it’s served me well.
You can use the free versions of Gmail and Google Docs, which is what I did up until recently. I wanted more storage and a custom email address for my business, so I upgraded to a G Suite account. It’s only $5/month per user and it’s totally worth it.
I absolutely love that Google Docs is cloud-based and I can access my documents from anywhere. I don’t know how many times I’ve been away from my laptop and peeved off because a doc I needed was on my hard drive and not in Google Docs. Not anymore!
LastPass
How many times have you forgotten a password? Or have you ever been hacked because you use the same password for eleventy-billion different websites?
::raises hand in shame::
We’re all guilty of being lazy with our password security, but it’s time to step it up. With LastPass, you can securely store all of your passwords in one central location for free. You can even share your logins with other people while still keeping your password hidden!
Real talk: LastPass can be finicky. Sometimes it can be a royal pain in the you-know-what, especially if you forget your master password (I speak from experience). However, it’s still a MAJOR step up from using the same password repeatedly or constantly forgetting which password goes with which site.
Loom
If you’ve ever tried to explain something to someone and thought, “Ugh, this would be so much easier if I could just show them my screen and walk them through it,” Loom is your jam.
Loom allows you to “capture your screen, record your front-facing camera, and narrate it all at once, then instantly share with a simple link.”
I’ve used this countless times to walk through step-by-step instructions for tech stuff. Seeing a process visually can be SO much easier than reading a text-heavy help doc.
Give it a try for free and see for yourself how simple and easy it is to use!
Headspace
Working from home and running your own business can be stress-ful. We all know we need to eat healthy and exercise to maintain our physical health, but our mental health can get put on the back burner all too easily.
That’s where Headspace comes in. Headspace is a meditation and sleep app that has been a game changer for me. It has hundreds of guided meditations, animations, and videos to help you with a variety of things: stress, focus, sleep, productivity, and more.
My favorites are the sleep meditations and the short 1-3 minute SOS meditations for things like overwhelm, panic, losing your temper, and pain.
You can check out the free Basics course and see if it’s right for you. From there you can buy a monthly, yearly, or even a family plan for pretty affordable rates.
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Without these five work-from-home tools, I’d be lost and floundering in my business (no joke). And best of all, most of them have robust free versions you can use until you grow enough to need the paid upgrades.
If you’re on the hunt for more ways to stay productive and organized while working from home, be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter below!
