I have been my own boss and employee as a freelancer for a few years now and there are definitely some benefits to working from home but there are also many pitfalls to working outside of an office environment. Here’s some information to consider in order to get the most out of working in your PJ’s.

In 2014 roughly 83 percent of people worked from home throughout some part of the day or most of the day. This means that you have the ability to manage your own hours but as I can tell you first hand that there are many distractions in working from home. Try to find some quiet space to designate for work only; this will greatly help your productivity.

Working from home can be divided into 41 percent of managing time better, 29 percent increase in productivity, and finally 10 percent increase in focus on work instead of “office politics”. An important takeaway from those numbers is that you still have 20 percent of your at home work day to designate to a break, exercise, or maybe some time on the phone with a colleague to brainstorm new ideas and innovations.

The at home workplace is growing so rapidly that the government has saved over 32 million in costs during a four day “snow day” office shutdown. Also, expect a higher percentage of ROI for the employer and a very happy employee which means that the quality of work coming from home is actually better on all accounts.

In addition the estimated ROI would roughly save the average business $11,000 a year while also saving the business person an average of $7,000 a year in commuting costs etc. So the next time someone gives you a hard time about working from home hit them with your $7,000 bonus attributed to telecommuting.

Bear with me here, all of this information is great but part of my job is acquiring new clients which means selling my companies’ services and products. You might be thinking how the hell do you stay strong in sales from home?! To that I say pay attention to the facts. 40% of Salespeople give up after one follow up email. ONE. That’s it?! The same article that 80% of all sales are closed after five points of contact. That means you have basically no chance of selling anything if you give up after one email.

I worked in door-to-door sales for a couple of years and one of the best things that kept me going even though I was having doors slammed in my face house after house was the little victories and having someone to share them with. Sales are an uphill battle and require you to fight the urge to give up from step to step.

If you’re having trouble staying focused on sales when working from home, call someone you’re close to at work and talk to them about how bad it’s going. Let some steam go and who knows they might even help you find a solution.

Another great way to blow off some frustrations is to fit in a workout into your at home work routine. In the office you might not find the time to grab a quick workout but when working from home it should be a staple in your day. One study about health in the workplace presented findings that were pretty incredible. Long story short, they interviewed people with high stress jobs on days that they worked out while working and days that they didn’t get a workout in at work.

The study showed that, even though limited, any sort of yoga, pickup game, stretching, or simply walking around helped not only people’s health but gave them the ability to work harder and at a higher quality. It left people who were feeling discouraged at their work beforehand, leaving the workplace feeling accomplished. So take a break and find the time for some exercise, your back and your boss will thank you!

I hope this was helpful in some way to increase productivity for those of you working from home, and for those considering working from home, I highly suggest it. For more information on working from home and as a freelancer check out this EPIC guide from our invoicing friends Invoice Ninja.