Over 12 years ago I started telecommuting a couple of days a week. Working from home was great! No more long bus ride to and from the office. And with less distractions, I was able to get more work done. Then 7 years ago my job changed and I was able to setup a permanent remote office.
I work for a global communications company and interact with customers and colleagues from around the world. To stay in touch with everyone I use a lot of different tools and technologies. The quality and variety of remote communications tools has really improved over the last last 7 years. 7 years ago I was paying over $2000 a month for my cell phone bill. Now I'm using Skype and I pay less than $200 a month for my cell phone bill. That's a huge savings!
Working remotely or from home also reduces my impact on the environment. Which is great!
I use to drive 60 miles a day, 5 days a week to and from the office. That's 300 miles a week and a lot of miles in one year. Now I'm saving money on gas, maintenance and I'm still driving my 95 Corolla. So no new car payments. I'm saving money and helping out the air we breathe.
Even if you can save one or two trips into the office a week you can help out with the environment and save yourself some money.
When you are working in a remote office or from home you need to be self reliant. You can't go and knock on the IT door for help. You will also have extra challenges that you won't have if you're in a corporate office. The big ones are staying in touch with your co-workers and accessing files and information on the office servers. The other thing you may find is that you are missing important pieces of information that are shared in the office, i.e. the water cooler chats.
So what's this site about? This site will discuss the tools and technologies I use as a remote worker to effectively work from home and on the road to stay in touch. I think the site will be relevant for: remote workers, telecommuters, small business and people that work from home on a regular basis.
I hope you find my blog helpful in setting up and running your remote office. Here's a few ways we can to stay in touch:
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