Working from home brings lots of perks — you don’t have a stressful commute, you can have a relaxing coffee break, and you can wear pajama pants all day. It also has some unique problems.
Here is what you can do about three of these problems:
Computer Breakdowns
You need your computer. Without it, you can’t attend virtual meetings, answer your emails or tackle any of your projects. The moment that it breaks down, your work goes on hold.
How can you prepare for your computer to stop working? First, backup everything. You don’t want to lose all of your hard work because your computer freezes, glitches or shuts down unexpectedly. Turn on “Autosave” for your programs so that your progress on documents doesn’t get lost in these moments. You can also avoid losing your work when you use cloud storage systems like DropBox, OneDrive and GoogleDrive.
You will also need to prepare to get your computer fixed as soon as possible. How? You should set aside some emergency savings to cover the repair or replacement costs — this will be especially important when your tech is out of warranty. With an emergency fund, you can pay to fix your computer right away without putting a strain on your budget.
If you don’t have enough savings, you could apply for a personal loan online. A personal loan can help you cover an emergency expense in a short amount of time and give you the opportunity to handle repayments later.
Make sure to narrow your personal loan search to your state. So, you would look to borrow cash online in Kansas City to make sure that the loan was accessible in your home-state of Missouri. You don’t want to waste your time looking into loans that aren’t even available to you.
Bad Internet
A working computer is not very helpful when it doesn’t have a strong internet connection. So, you need to plan for moments when your internet service is slow — or worse, not working at all.
First, you should take steps to make sure that your connection is as strong as possible:
- Update the router’s firmware.
- Move your router close to your workstation.
- Create a strong password to prevent anyone from jumping onto your connection.
- Disconnect other devices that use your WiFi.
Another thing that you should do is learn how to troubleshoot internet problems so that you can narrow down the solutions.
You should also have back-up plans for when your internet isn’t working at all. It can be as simple as turning your smartphone into a temporary hotspot or going to an alternative work location with freeWiFi, like a library or café.
Noise
You can hear barking dogs, crying babies, arguing neighbors, loud music and honking cars from your home office. You can’t shush your whole neighborhood into silence! So, what can you do about this problem? Get a pair of high-quality noise-canceling headphones. These can put the outside world on mute during your work hours.
If sitting in complete silence doesn’t feel much better, you should download white noise apps and listen to relaxing sounds like falling rain, crackling bonfires or rustling leaves as you type away. Not only can these help you focus on your tasks, but they can also melt away your stress.
And, if worse comes to worst, you can try to soundproof your home office and block out any distraction outside of its walls. It will take money and effort, but the results could be worth it.
Don’t let these problems ruin your time working from home. With these tips, you can shrug off these problems and go back to enjoying the perks.
