What do you not like about remote work?
Interview with Kirsten and Jay-Allen, remote team coaches & collaboration experts
Disconnecting is really hard: Because work is 100% accessed through your computer and your computer is always there, work is always there. It’s very easy to work much longer hours than you would when work is bounded by a physical location that you literally enter and exit.
Physical aspects: Staring at a screen all day and sitting in a chair can take a toll on you physically, and you have to force yourself to go for walks and take breaks, etc.
Remote team coaches, Kirsten and Jay-Allen, offer three pieces of advice for new remote workers and reveal the one question every remote job seeker should prepare to answer.
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Interview with Patric, a UX designer and usability engineer that works from home
Not having multiple colleagues around to just fool around or have a chat about random things...
Having to sit in front of the computer all the time and mostly not being able to "walk through the meeting room while drawing on a whiteboard and discussing stuff"
Not being able to gauge the actual emotional state of my colleagues / team members / employees when I talk to them or write emails back and forth.
Sometimes a 10 minute face-to-face meeting would be 10x as productive as having to set up a call, video-sharing, explaining, etc.
Patric works on his own projects while also consulting for medium sized software companies, learn how he works remotely.
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Interview with Melissa, a co-founder and remote work champion
I have the same answer. The flip side of the above is that sometimes I have a hard time taking breaks because there’s so little distraction when you can totally control your surroundings.
I think five-minute breaks every hour are important to stay energized and also healthy (get water, get out of PJs, go to the bathroom, stretch).
Sometimes it will be noon, and I haven’t moved from one position, hunched over my computer.
Working in an office sometimes forces you to get up and move around and engage with others.
Melissa started Work Well Wherever to help individuals & companies embrace remote work—see how she balances entrepreneurship, parenthood, & self-care.
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Interview with Vivek, an entrepreneur building a virtual office for remote teams
Social isolation has been the most challenging aspect of remote work. As much as I hate the dynamics of office culture, working remotely made me realize how much I missed the passive social contact that you get in an office. Human contact is critical for work fulfillment.
I work around the isolation by using Pragli to stay present with my team and replicate the impromptu conversations that happen naturally in offices. But, developing relationships outside of virtual settings has been the most important for me to prevent loneliness.
Being diligent about scheduling time to hang out with friends 2 to 3 times throughout the week has been great for my mental health.
The long San Francisco commute sent Vivek into remote work—hear about his three strategies for eliminating distractions & his must-have tools.
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Interview with Tyler, a director of customer success models how to start a remote work career
I still feel like I'm in a honeymoon period with it; check back with me in another 18 months? The only frustrations I've felt so far are mostly unrelated to remote as a mode of business.
From networking to land a remote work gig, to building out an exceptional remote work tool stack, Tyler has quickly figured out how to thrive in remote work. See his tips for starting strong.
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Interview with Kay, an independent software consultant who found freedom in remote work
Nothing much. The only annoyances are people I have to work with, who don't like remote work. They bother me with phone calls or synchronous communication in general and find strange reasons, why I should be "in office" right now.
Often this boils down that the management is bad and don't takes time to setup some processes.
Companies that rely on water-cooler-talk to spread critical information are the worst.
Learn how Kay made the jump from full-time employee to full-time remote consultant
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Interview with Michael about being an entrepreneur and freelancer
There isn't much I don't like about remote work.
Sometimes I have to force myself to stop working because I can get very involved and feel like there is always something to be done. Occasionally it would be nice to work with like-minded people and have been making a much better effort to network with others.
I would say is that not everyone is cut out for a remote working job. It takes a lot of discipline and drive to make it happen. It could be easy to get lonely as you are largely isolated and might not fit everyone's lifestyle.
Michael is an online entrepreneur, author, and freelance writer who specializes in self-improvement and personal finance.
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Interview with Michelle, an organizer of digital nomad experiences
It is challenging to deal with the fact that people come and go. I am quite social and mostly work in coworking spaces, but people travel, so it is hard to really get to know people.
A solo backpacking trip led to Michelle organizing co-travel experiences for digital nomads—hear how she manages working while traveling.
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Interview with Chloe, a customer support freelancer and multi-project expert
Getting immediate responses can sometimes cause delays which in turn leads to frustrated customers, but overall, I have no complaints.
Chloe uses the flexibility of freelancing to her advantage—see how she successfully manages multiple projects at one time.
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Interview with Andrew, a freelance writer who works remotely
The discipline required to work remotely is far more taxing than the discipline to work at an actual location.
Without having anyone breathing over your neck, there’s considerably less anxiety, but there’s also more temptation to slack off.
If you aren’t rigorous and disciplined with yourself, you could potentially end up wasting precious time or even days, putting you behind. While a regular job has guaranteed income, all you have to do is show up, remote work comes with a heavy burden, if you don’t finish your contracts, you don’t get paid. Sometimes that can get to me.
And then of course, probably the thing I like the least is the lack of socialization. Working in an office has a lot of negatives to it, but the thing I miss the most was having people that you could work with and talk to on a daily basis. Working remote is a lonely life. But like all tradeoffs, the question comes down to does the pros outweigh the cons? And in the case of freelance work, the cons are absolutely worth it.
Andrew became a full-time freelance writer after experimenting with freelance marketplaces. After the first month, he was already earning more than his full-time job.
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