Creativity While Working from Home

Introduction

Working from home has become an increasingly common reality, especially after the pandemic. Lara Parodi, founder of Cookie Art Show and Sweet Bite, shares her experience of over a decade working from home, both in the IT world and in cookie decorating. This article explores how to maintain and cultivate creativity while working from home, understanding the challenges, and learning strategies to organize your home workspace, maintaining a healthy balance between personal and professional life.

The Importance of Organization

Organizing your home workspace is crucial for increasing productivity and minimizing distractions. Lara emphasizes the need to have a dedicated workspace, even if it’s small. Initially, she decorated cookies in the dining room, which required setting up and taking down her “circus” every time she needed to serve a meal. Acquiring a table for the kitchen was a significant step for her, allowing a dedicated area where she could work without constant interruptions.

Separating Personal and Professional Life

One of the main challenges of working from home is separating personal life from professional life. Lara suggests establishing fixed working hours and communicating these hours to the family. This helps create an environment of mutual respect, where everyone understands when it’s time to focus on work and when it’s time to be available for the family.

Tools and Techniques to Improve Productivity

Using WhatsApp Business

Lara recommends using WhatsApp Business to manage communication with clients. This tool allows you to set business hours, automatic messages, and facilitates the separation between personal and professional life. Having two phone numbers or using an eSIM to separate personal and professional contacts can also be very useful.

More about WhatsAPP Business

Time Management

Understanding your weekly production capacity is essential to avoid overload. Lara suggests calculating how many cookies you can produce per week without compromising the quality of the work or your health. This includes time for preparation, decoration, packaging, and customer service.

Strategies to Maintain Quality

Dedicated Workspace

Having a dedicated workspace, whether in the kitchen or a home office, is essential. This avoids the need to constantly set up and take down the workspace. Lara transformed a room in her apartment into a studio, where she has a desk for the computer and another for cookie decorating, as well as keeping all materials organized in carts.

Maintaining Hygiene and Quality

Working with food requires extra care with hygiene. Lara mentions the importance of storing all decorating materials when cooking meals to avoid cross-contamination and maintain the quality of the cookies.

Dealing with Clients

Setting Expectations

Establishing clear expectations with clients about response times and delivery deadlines is fundamental. Lara recommends informing clients about average response times and business hours, thus avoiding misunderstandings and ensuring efficient communication.

Accepting Limitations

It is important to accept that it is not possible to meet all demands, especially last-minute ones. Being honest about production capacity and respecting your own limits is crucial to maintaining mental health and work quality.

Conclusion

Working from home presents many challenges, but with proper organization and strategies, it is possible to create a productive and balanced environment. Lara Parodi shares valuable lessons from her experience, emphasizing the importance of separating personal and professional life, organizing the workspace, and using tools that facilitate client communication. With these practices, it is possible not only to work efficiently but also to ensure product quality and personal well-being.

By following these tips and maintaining a structured approach to your work-from-home routine, you can foster creativity and productivity, ensuring that your business thrives even in a home setting. Remember, the key is to stay organized, set clear boundaries, and continuously seek ways to improve both your work processes and your creative output. This way, you can enjoy the benefits of working from home while maintaining high standards in your professional endeavors.