Obviously not everyone can work remotely as some vocations require people to be at their employers premises or travel to undertake their work face to face. But for those of us who can or want to work remotely then I thought it would be useful to share what I have learned and share some practical wisdom by putting it on the net with the sole objective of providing useful timesavers for adapting to remote working or managing remote workers.
I would caution you that there are groups of self proclaimed ‘gurus’ online who will try and get you to buy information for preposterous sums of cash, take my word for it you don’t need to do this.
I am lucky enough to be allowed to work wherever I choose and just about everyone who asks me what I do for a living wants to get an idea of how I am able to work remotely. Don’t be mislead here I am still improving the art of remote working as each day I meet people on the net who show me new tricks and I am repeatedly uncovering new software and ways that make my life simpler and increase my productivity.
During the past seven years I have substantially adapted my working practices to enable me to do most of my work remotely with a mixture of internet tools and robust self discipline. One lunchtime whilst exploring the Internet I came across Quickbooks online and this made me aware of what just might be possible. The discovery of ’cloud’ based ‘on demand’ small business accounting software was inspiration for me and the launch pad of my ‘remote working life.
I have to mention up front that successfully working remotely is as much about the software as it is about self management. Working remotely also means informing your co-workers, superiors and clients as to what they can expect and how they will interact with you.
In ‘Remote Working Part 2 – Fundamental behaviours – Basic discipline’ I write about how to focus.