elizabeth: Number One with a bullet: For the love of God and everything we hold dear in this world, do not, I repeat, do not buy sweat pants for comfort while working. You can be just as brilliant in your own damn trousers! I fell under the spell of “well, they are kind of cool black sweats and I did not buy them at Wal-Mart and I could even go walking with them on” line of crap. I don’t care if Giorgio Armani designed sweats for his couture line. Do not wear them at home while working. They do have their place – putting laundry in, cleaning out a litter box or 5 but if you sit in front of your computer for 8 to 12 hours a day, you will have develop a HUGE butt and don’t get me started on the land where small waistlines go. You need to feel the cold, hard metal of a zipper against your flesh each day of your life.

Laurie: Number Two: Caller ID is a must. Tell people that you are working from home and suddenly you become the perfect candidate to wait for the cable guy, meet little Johnny after school because he got detention, take the car to the garage, the pants to the cleaners, and any other job that no one else wants to do. Don’t pick up the phone until you see who is calling. Unless it’s Publisher’s Clearing House telling you that you’ve won, let the answering machine get it.

elizabeth: Number Three: Get outside everyday. Regardless of the weather, open the front door, crack open a window and escape. Don’t put it off until later in the day because you know damn well you won’t do it. Don’t wait till the cops show up because the neighbors thought they smelled something funky coming from your house. You don’t need to read your obituary in the paper. They always put a picture of you with in your eyes closed. Take the cat for a walk.

Laurie: Number Four: Make sure your Mute button works. In case you didn’t follow advice in Tip Number Two and picked up the phone, you may as well use the time productively. You can wash dishes, empty garbage cans, shred documents, and take bathroom breaks while you’re on the phone getting your next assignment from those who think working at home = free time. Just make sure you ask a question that requires a long answer and then mute while you flush.

elizabeth: Number Five: Cleanliness is next to impossible if you don’t bathe.
I could write a book, but I am in the shower.

Laurie: Number Six: Remove all computer games from your desktop. Yes, that includes Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Free Cell, and any other mind-numbing, totally useless, and always addictive entertainment that makes you sit for hours in front of your screen manipulating your mouse (doesn’t that sound slightly dirty?)
.
elizabeth: Number Seven: If the green mold on the bread starts to bubble, call the Hazardous Materials hotline number. These guys could use a good laugh and who knows maybe you’ll get invited out to lunch. I would just suggest that someone else taste the food first.

Laurie: Number Eight: No eating in front of the computer. Jelly in the keyboard is impossible to remove, as is oatmeal, salad dressing, and powdered sugar from a doughnut. The plus side of this is you will have friends during what could be a solitary day – ants, roaches, and if you’re lucky, a mouse (we’re not talking digital) or two.

elizabeth: Number Nine: Oprah’s 24th Season started. And try as you may, you can’t just unplug your computer and move it to the bedroom. Why don’t I have a lap top? Silly, I work at home now and my 401K just had last rites...again. Plus it is good to see how Oprah makes her billions. So I will keep on working in heels with a fully made up face and 2 pairs of Spanx.

Laurie: Number 10 and the most obvious of all: DO NOT tell anyone, including your husband and kids, that you are working from home! It’s none of their business, and how are you ever supposed to get any work done if people know where you are?

Author's Bio: 

As the founding members of Coaches on the Edge, Laurie and elizabeth incorporate humor into their coaching and writing. Their belief is that laughter can smooth some of the mental, emotional and spiritual turmoil that life seems to throw our way.

Coaches on the Edge are national bloggers for Skirt! http://www.skirt.com/user/6273/view . Their blogs have been featured on USA Today.com. Daylife.com and the India Times. They also have their own radio Show called Coaches on the Edge on Blog Talk Radio.

As Laurie and elizabeth like to say, “We're Coaches on the Edge: Life Coaching at its finest … peppered with humor, sliced with sarcasm, tainted with truth and we're able to leap tall buildings in heels.

Both coaches promise to keep their advice solid and their tongues lodged securely in the cheeks.

Laurie Lawson’s philosophy: Coaching is life-changing business but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun while you’re doing it. She is a Certified Empowerment Coach, a Professional Credentialed Coach, a Certified EQ Mentor, Vice President for the Board of the International Coach Federation in New York City, and Co-Producer of Life Coach TV (In addition to innovative, over-the-top, awe-inspiring, butt-kicking coaching, she dabbles in numerology.

Certified Life and Career Coach, elizabeth cassidy, is the founder of Branching Out Life Coaching, Development Director for the International Coaching Federation on Long Island, Lifestyle Columnist for Boomer Authority and national blogger for skirt! and Vibrant Nation.elizabeth is a Reiki Practitioner.
She showers her clients with support, motivation and chocolate when needed. elizabeth is a former comedy writer/comic for WNBC Radio in Manhattan. She is circulating a book proposal about midlife women living their best lives without the use of Botox. If it works, elizabeth will have enough Botox well into her nineties.