Remote Working – The Joys

Remote Working – The Joys 

remote workingLast time I mentioned that I was catching up with some inspiring colleagues who had been taking a break up North in the lovely town of Inveraray. Since they were passing Glasgow on the way home they took a quick detour into the town centre and we spent an hour or so chatting about, amongst other things, remote working and recording a quick video.

Its always a bit of a surprise to me when people visiting Glasgow for the first time (the centre of town at least) comment on what a beautiful city is. Must admit I don’t always see that but on a sunny day, sat at an outside table in front of the gallery of modern art at one of the many pavement cafes that line Royal Exchange square I had to agree.

You could be almost anywhere in Europe in fact – only the famous statue of the Duke of Wellington with his now obligatory traffic cone hat gives the game away. Possibly the accents as well, although those are as varied these days as they are anywhere else.

 

 

 

Working Remotely In Busy Places

It’s a sign of the times also that 3 guys can sit in a busy café recording a video on an Ipad without attracting a single glance. When you look around in any wifi enabled café you’ll see a lot of people working remotely on laptops or tablets. Some. Like my friend Louis who happened to be there yesterday, are sending emails or their accounts but others like myself, Mark and Dave, are fully fledged members of the digital economy. Working from home or wherever else we want to.

One of the things we talked about was the fact that it takes a while to fully embrace this whole “laptop lifestyle” thing. If you’ve spent most of your life in the traditional 9-5 scenario it’s quite tricky to shake off when you start working from home. To some extent you swap the commute and the work regime for something similar albeit in your home office with no boss, commuting or office politics and cliques.

As Mark says in the video, he’s only just starting to get with the program (as in – there is no program) himself, and the break in Argyll was his first real taste of the remote working anywhere reality. He plans to work from Gran Canaria for a while next.

Working From Home – From anywhere

So like the modern nomad that I wrote about a while ago, this ability to just pick up and go whenever and wherever the mood takes you, safe in the knowledge that with remote working you can still run your business, is addictive stuff. Even if it’s just to get out of the house and work from a café somewhere it’s an amazing way to live.

Sure you can do this with some fairly traditional work. I have a friend who is a translator for example. She has worked remotely for years but like many occupations, the reimbursement has dropped in recent years and she has turned to the digital world and SFM to replace that income and maintain that freedom.

So next time you drop into a Costa for your morning caffeine fix or lunch hour have a look at the people sat there with their laptops, wearing what they like and in no hurry whatsoever. It’s a very achievable lifestyle now – it’s no longer only possible for the chosen few – the lucky ba*t*rds who’ve “escaped” the rat race.

All they’ve done is taken a big decision, learned some new skills and got stuck in. There is nothing in the world stopping you from doing the same and working remotely as your own boss– except you.