Working remote can be a win-win for everyone if done right. Most people rant and rave about how awesome working remotely can be, but few really talk about the reality of working remotely.

When you do get the opportunity to start working without an office, you’ll honestly be glad you can. I just want to make sure you’ve got an eye out for the downsides of working remote.

There are usually three things you’ll want to consider when making your remote workspace easier to work in: Equipment, Software, and Location. Let’s get you set up working outside of an office a little easier.

Benefits

Where do I begin! Working remote is a new level of freedom to get the job done. You’re able to work wherever you’d like and usually whenever you’d like as well. Being a freelancer or Entrepreneur already give you a lot of freedom to make your own rules. Being able to work remotely adds another layer onto that delicious cake.

• You decide WHERE your office is
• You decide your own schedule because you can start and stop when needed
• You save a good amount of money by not having to rent a space
• You can have more effective meetings
• You can network more effectively because you value connections more
• You can become more focused with less distractions that happen within an office
• You can avoid office politics

Drawbacks

You have to also realize that working remote is not 100% roses. With anything that you’ll experience, remote working has a few drawbacks. They honestly are not show stoppers, but you’ll have to be aware of them.

• Sometimes you’ll feel left out but keeping yourself involved helps reduce this feeling
• Networking with other people may be harder and may require you to find other groups
• You’ll have to be a self starter and focused on the task at hand. Distractions are real
• You have to self motivate as there really isn’t anyone checking in on you
• You’ll have to keep up with your own training
• It can get lonely sometimes if you’re a social butterfly

Equipment

Working remotely often means that you’re literally working from anywhere you choose to! You are not tied down to a specific location and can roam wherever you’d like. What type of equipment you’d be looking for almost always boils down to something that is going to power up your different devices.

High Capacity Charger

When out and about, you’ll need to have a way to juice back up your devices. One of my favorite devices to use is the Anker High Capacity Portable Charger ($42 on Amazon.com) to keep your devices charged when need.

Portable/Light Laptop

When you’re on the go, smaller and lighter is better. Ounces add up really quickly and device that can shave off ½ an ounce will be appreciated. Look into getting a light Chromebook such as the Asus Chromebook Flip ($497.50 on Amazon) that can be a table or a laptop when needed to reduce that weight. If you’re a developer, you’ll need a more horsepower to keep your build time down. I personally like the Dell XPS laptops that are carbon fiber bodies.

Check your Sack

Lugging your devices and work around is important when working remotely. Get yourself a backpack or satchel that is comfortable and can carry your work with you. I’ve checked out the 17.3 Inch Laptop Convertible Backpack ($45 on Amazon.com) as a great middle-ground for backpacks or over the shoulder.

Software

When you’re working on the road or if you’re a nomadic worker, there are a plethora of software and apps that you’ll use to keep your day streamline. Since you’ll be working from almost anywhere, your software should be able to be accessible from anywhere as well.

Dropbox – Free for 2GB. Up to 1TB of space on paid plan

Dropbox is a dynamic synchronizing file stored on your devices. It automatically back things up to the cloud and allows you the ability to access the files and content from anywhere you want or need.

Dropbox is my main work space because it allows me grab files, share content, and move things around multiple machines whenever i need. I also use Dropbox to allow my clients a quick and easy way to send me files if needed.

Check it out here: https://db.tt/i1gKYQepsg

Google Drive – Free

Google is my workhorse, honestly. I use Inbox for my emails but Google Drive for my bulk work. I love the integrated office tools such as the ability to create documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and PDFs. All within the cloud.

If I need to send or create a document on the go, Google Drive a quick solution for me.

SharePoint – ~$5/month

SharePoint is another workhorse that can get a lot of things done for you. It’s a platform built by Microsoft that allows you to use almost any Microsoft Office program you need. You can configure and manage SharePoint to do almost any business operations you need to do. It does take a little bit of configuration to get done, but SharePoint is my go-to for behind the scenes business processes.

Need a way to streamline our social media postings? Bam, SharePoint can do it for you. Have clients you need to keep track of? SharePoint. Keeping track of your expense and taxes a pain in the butt? SharePoints got your back.  

Evernote – Free

Evernote is an awesome note taking solution that allows you to save all of your notes online. You can jump onto your phone, laptop, tablet, or whatever device you choose. You can easily do search across all of your notes to find that information you’ve been looking for. For the paid version, you’ll have the option of OCR (optical character recognition; fancy way of saying it reads your handwriting)

Rescue Time – Free

Rescue Time is a tool i use to help me focus on my day. You install it on your computer or phone and it keeps track of the things you do. You have two main categories: Work and Entertainment. You get graded for how long you work versus play. You can set goals for yourself and RescueTime will keep track of what you’re actually doing.

It can measure how long you play games on your computer, how long you’re on Netflix, on Reddit, or any other sites. You can also set parameters such as your working hours and what programs constitute as “fun” versus “work”.

I love metrics and what better way to see where you’re leaking productivity than RescueTime.

Slack – Free

Slack is a collaborative chatroom for your workspace. You can create private chat rooms for your productivity team to talk about your project, deadlines, or general information. You can also create or join groups that have different topics or ideas. Create your own or join in on an existing group.

I use it to keep tab of my industry, connect with colleagues, or chit-chat with friends. Slack is great for working on and keeping tabs on projects that take a lot of people and a lot of moving parts. The ability to communicate in a chat room setting, and have offshoot private conversations, is what won me over.

Skype – Free Skype-to-Skype

If you’ve never heard of Skype, then I feel bad for you. Skype is a great video and chat took that you can use to conduct conference calls. You can have a lot of people on a single call and see little to no degradation of performance. The ability to join from any device such as your phone, laptop, or table is a great way to let you work from anywhere.

Just slap in some headphones and you can jump into the call anywhere you want!

Locations

Don’t discount the notion of working in a shared work space with other Freelancers or professionals. You have the options of working for anywhere you choose from. The major point that I learned when it comes to working remotely is to make sure that you keep your work location separate from your fun location.

If you play video games, don’t work in the same location you have your game system. If you’re a book lover, work in a separate location from where you love to read.

Its very easy to blur the lines and get distracted by the “fun” activities. You’ll also notice that your productivity increase and distractions decrease if you keep the two locations separate.

Suggested places to work to reduce distractions:

• CoOp work space
• Library study rooms
• Coffee house (headphones)
• Home Office
• Desk in your bedroom
• Front porch or back deck

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