How did you get started with remote work?
Interview with Wilbert, an ESL teacher that remotely teaches English to kids
I’ve just started doing remote work again after God knows how long. Before I decided to go back to do remote work, I previously worked in an office based setting for the past 10 years. 8 years of that were more on the BPO industry while the remaining 2 years or so as an office based ESL teacher.
Everything was all good while I was working in an office setting, you get up in the morning then go to work, and afterwards you go home and rest. Then you do the same thing all over again on the next day and get paid each month. Sounds easy right? Since most of us have done this kind of thing in our everyday life.
However, after doing the same thing over and over again for the past 10 years, you would soon realize that what you were doing was kind of boring and tiring at the same time.
Especially the daily commute going back and forth from the office. Sure the advantages for working in an office setting is that you get paid for sure by just being in the office as well as getting health benefits. But sometimes, that’s just not enough and you don’t get much free time in doing things that you want to do.
That is why I decided to go back in doing remote work again just to have that extra freedom. Though it wasn’t easy considering I don’t have much feedback or experience to show to online companies when I would apply for a job. Luckily there was a lot of opening for online ESL tutor and it was easy for me to get hired considering it was related to my last job.
Usual challenges at first is that you tend to get lazy when you're at home or you get preoccupied because of family matters or housework. It took a while to get used to, but after a few weeks, that’s when I started to get serious with my daily routine.
Wilbert is an ESL (English as a Second Language) Teacher that made the jump to remote work to gain more freedom from his office job.
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Interview with Erin, a videographer who found her freelancing niche
I worked as an in-house videographer for a year or so in a D.C. office. Even though I loved the people and the work, I couldn’t get my mind off of creating my own business.
Eventually, I decided that if I wasn’t content with a great in-house job like that, freelancing was really where I needed to be. So when my now fiancé moved down to Atlanta for work, I decided to take the jump and leave the office to move down with him.
It ended up working out great because I was able to keep working remotely with my old job for a while, and also build up my business in Atlanta.
Erin is a videographer who carved out a successful freelancing niche—see how she optimizes her time and plans for the ups and downs of freelance work.
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Interview with Hrishikesh, an entrepreneur helping to shape remote work
We started building Flexiple, a community of top freelance developers and designers, towards the later part of 2016 and ever since we have been big proponents of remote work.
Staying true to our model, we have been working extensively with freelance developers and designers located across the world over the course of the past three years.
Our current marketing website, remote.tools, Resume app and a host of other apps have been designed and developed by remote freelancers. One of the three co-founders is at least always involved in coordinating with remote developers and designers.
Additionally, I was working remotely for over six months, post-marriage, as a remote co-founder until recently.
Hrishikesh's platforms are helping to shape the world of remote work and the gig economy—see how he mobilizes his remote teams to facilitate this new future of work.
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Interview with Mary, a remote senior marketing content writer who maximizes downtime
For a past job at a B2B tech marketing company, I worked remotely for five years out of my house in Massachusetts, with occasional visits to the headquarters on Long Island in New York. That experience taught me habits on what to do and what not to do when remote working, which I've used at jobs since when working from home.
In my current position at ConnectLeader, I have a commute of five miles, but we've all been remote working for the past weeks. Luckily, it's something that's not new to me—minus my son, who's a junior in high school, also being here at the same time and doing remote schoolwork.
With the help of a Franklin Covey Notebook & a few rounds of Candy Crush—Mary shows how important downtime is to remote work. See how she maximizes her time and puts work-life balance first.
Read full interview from Interview with Mary, a remote senior marketing content writer who maximizes downtime.