Ask HN: Any tips for someone working from home for the first time?

I've been working at a variety of companies over the past five years and I've always worked in-house. I've just started as the Director of Sales and Marketing for a small startup with seven employees spread across the USA; we are all freelancers.

Some stuff about me:

- I'm 26 and live in the Bay Area

- Just moved into a new apartment with lots of natural light

- I have a decent desk but my chair is not ideal. Suggestions for office chair solution would be awesome.

- I will be doing a lot of conference calls and demos with clients

- We use Asana and HipChat for internal company communication

Advice I'm looking for:

- Productivity tips

- Organizational tips

- How to separate work from real life (one of the first things I've done is set up VirtuaWin with two desktops: "Work" and "Play" to have a physical separation)

- Setting up a home office

- Tools/hacks/applications you guys use

- Taxes/deductions/how to handle being a 1099-MISC employee

And basically any other advice you guys can give out. Thanks in advance!

It helps me to maintain a fairly inflexible work schedule along with a dedicated space free of outside distractions (ability to close door is a must). Since you don't mention having kids/spouse living with you, this will be easier. I've worked from home for the better part of almost 15 years now, both with and without kids, and I will say that kids change everything! I'm glad I learned how to work independently without kids because trying to do it with young ones around is a challenge.

I like the idea of just replicating "my desk" from my job at home and just "pretending" I'm actually at work.

Rather than having two physically separate computers, just having a work "user account" on the single computer might be enough.

* Define office hours for yourself. They don't have to be traditional ones, but knowing when you are 'on' and 'off' helps you stick to that. Enforcing 'not working' is as important as working.

* If you share your home, make sure that your cohabitors understand you really are working when at home. While that may sound obvious, it will help you draw a line in the sand should they ask you to be in for a delivery or repair person, etc - those things can be a real flow killer.

* Make your home office a separate room, if at all possible. If the door locks, so much the better: there will be times when a locked door will help you (either keeping others out or giving you that extra subtle indicator that stuff needs to get done).

* Have a clock on the wall - it's a cheap, simple, subtle way to increase the 'work' feel of the room you're in, plus it's a change in the depth of focus after hours of screen-distance reading.

* Take breaks, get out of the house.

* Participate in some kind of community chat (IRC, HipChat, Campfire whatever) to prevent going insane. Consider rationing your time on that chat, rather than having it as an open channel.

I just started working from home in January.

My suggestions:

* A dedicated space is a nice to have. It helps separate the work/not-work relationship

* I have two computers for 3 reasons. First is work/not-work balance. Second is related but there's a clause in my employment contract that's basically "work done on company's computer is owned by work". Lastly, the company paid for the computer.

* I have a Herman Miller Embody chair though I've also used a Steelcase Leap (v1, v2) in my last job. Regardless of what anyone tells you, go sit in the chairs at a store. I found the Aeron to be uncomfortable for myself, even though everyone seems to love them.

* On setting up the office, make sure it's ergonomic. Get a monitor riser, laptop riser, footrest, or whatever else you need to avoid destroying your body while sitting all day.

* Make sure you take breaks. My last workplace used "Wellnomics" on Windows for break alerts, but it gets moderately annoying at times.

* I've been meaning to get a whiteboard for myself, just to get some doodling space. A notebook or similar would probably also be fine if you work with images or anything spacial.