Jody Hall is the owner of Seattle’s popular Cupcake Royale. With six locations and praise from the likes of O Magazine, The New York Times, and Real Simple, she knows a thing or two about mastering her art. And as the owner of a small business, Jody has two major roles within the company: she is the leader among employees and customers in establishing the culture of her cupcake shops, but she also needs to be able to provide strategic plans for keeping the business growing. And while she is able to handle both of these aspects of being a business owner, two very different environments are needed so that she can make each a success.
The active pace of her shops makes it tough to do big, focused thinking while she’s there, so Jody will work from home when she really needs to give her full attention to something. And with a customer flow that doesn’t stop, she’s clearly doing something right, so we asked her to share some of her secrets about how to work from home effectively.
Jody’s 5 tips for mastering working from home:
- “Find a place that’s clean and clutter-free. Your brain will thank you.”
- “Turn off your WiFi connection when you need to focus. Technology, while helpful, can be so distracting.”
- “Work at home when you can be solo or are free of the distractions from home. I can’t have kids running around—they want to play with me, not have me holed up to work. I don’t have an office at home, so this is key for me.”
- “Work from a coffee shop! I love doing this, because, well, I love coffee. (I’ll often work from Cupcake Royale, but that too can be distracting, as I’ll want to catch up with our crew or our customers.) I tend to find this is one of best places to get work done and I like visiting other cafes in our city to understand what the customer flow, product offerings, and competitive landscape looks like.”
- “Give yourself a timeline. I find if I say I’m going to work for an hour and then have plans to play with the kids, or head to a meeting, I can cram and get a whole bunch done. I need goals and timelines, and then I can be more focused and effective!”
Use these tips to find out how to work from home for yourself.
