Archive for Remote Work
The Grim Reality of Selling Content Online
Posted by: | CommentsOften times it can be difficult to sell digital content online. Over the years I’ve had a heck of time trying to sell guitar lessons. This could be because of a variety of reasons: they don’t like what I’m selling (even though they like my YouTube videos and have watched 1.5 million times), they don’t have the money (young people on the Internet), they don’t want to pay for content, there’s too much competition, lack of follow up by yours truly, etc. I can’t pin all the blame on the consumers but the bottom line is I haven’t been able to make enough sales. I’ll say more on this a bit later.
Truthfully I’ve made the vast majority of my money from IT consulting. Businesses have the means (money) and desire to improve their business via technology. So sometimes you have to face facts and go where the money is. Luckily over the past couple of years I’ve been able to land remote, work from home contracts from my country home on the east coast. Technology allows us to work from anywhere nowadays (Skype, VPN software, email, Desktop sharing such as Webex, Live Meeting and even Google+ Hangouts.
I’m getting calls almost daily for integration projects using webMethods and turning them down since I’m finishing up a contract as we speak. I feel bad turning down projects with millions of people unemployed (at least in the US) but I need a bit of a break after this project. Also I’m getting into mobile development (phones/tablets, etc) so there is some potential there to go into that business.
People around the world are sharing content as part of the social experience. We can learn from each other so the teacher/student barrier is becoming blurred. I enjoy sharing what I learn, as I learn jazz guitar or mobile phone development for example. Selling content and knowledge is pretty difficult these days, although I think it can be done. The people I know that are successful seem to be mostly focused on internet marketing or things for enterpreneurs (ie things that have a financial motivating factor).
So the basic question is can digital content continue to be sold or will the prices tend to zero? Many people use the content to market their services, since that is a live, personal experience that can’t be digitized.
Let me know your thoughts below in the comments.
The High Cost of Travel – Good for Telecommuting Trends?
Posted by: | CommentsWe moved from Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Sackville, New Brunswick in June 2010 and finally sold our house in March 2011. It took 9 months to sell so I guess the economy isn’t that great. So I just had to book flights, hotel and rental car for a few days while we move stuff out of our house.
The return flight for 2 people was about $2,000, the hotel is over $100 per night and the rental is a few hundred dollars. The flights in particular are a lot more than they were a few years ago, probably in part due to higher fuel prices. There were no WestJet flights on Saturday out of Moncton and most of the flights leave at 6:30am. Plus there are no direct flights to Calgary, so we will be stopping in Toronto on the way. Needless to say flying has become an expensive, annoying pain in the butt, and I haven’t even talked about US security pat downs!
When I travel for an IT contract I either charge an increased hourly fee or add the travel costs (flight, hotel, car rental, meals) to the invoice. So the client ends up paying more money which is bad, right?
With all this annoyance and cost I hope that employers will start to take advantage of all the available technology such as Webex (for virtual meetings, desktop sharing), Skype (basically free long distance, desktop sharing, video chats), VPN connections (for secure connection to network) and of course email and phone.
The Good and Bad About Working from Home
Posted by: | CommentsThe funniest comic strip ever about the good and bad about working from home compared to commuting to the office. Made me laugh!
How I Went from Cubicle to Cabana
Posted by: | CommentsWell I’ve really outdone myself this time! Not only did I get a record hourly rate on this current contract in this horrible recession, but within 3 weeks I managed to get a remote key fob so I can work remotely. I now just booked a flight to Florida to visit my family who’s vacationing there! Great stuff because it’s very cold up here in Calgary, Alberta!
After a couple weeks of stressing out because I didn’t have network access, had insane deadlines and so on, one of the projects I was working on moved out of my scope. So I then only had about 50% workload and upcoming work nowhere in sight at the moment. So I mentioned this to some of the managers. ‘We’ came up with the idea that I work from home part-time and wait out the upcoming work, which they couldn’t say when would happen exactly. The key takeaways are that I mentioned I didn’t have enough work (which many people don’t want to admit at their job) and secondly that you present it in a way where they can come up with the idea themselves.
So on friday I just picked up the key fob (for remote vpn access) and today I just booked a flight to Florida! After I got the key fob it suddenly hit me: Once you are able to work remotely you can basically work anywhere in the world! My family (mom, 2 sisters and brother-in-law) is renting a house in Palm Beach for the month of February.
It’s hard to believe but I’ve actually talked to people who would rather go to an office to work so they don’t have to do work at home. They forget about getting dressed for work, commuting, buying lunch, dealing with annoying co-workers, cubicle hell, meetings, parking and so on!
So plan to start working remotely. Ask the boss to work one day a week from home or find another job that let’s you work from home one or more days a week. I recently applied for a job that is completely virtual. And read the book ‘The Four Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferris. Time to live the dream baby!
The Dot Com Lifestyle
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a great video by John Chow. The Internet provides a way to gain freedom, it’s not all about the money! I myself am sitting on my deck right now writing this – the community is quiet as everyone’s downtown working!
Getting Remote IT Contracts
Posted by: | CommentsLooks like I’m going to be doing a part-time remote IT support contract for about 6 weeks starting in late september. The main reasons I am able to get this kind of work are:
-This is for a previous client of mine (from which it is often easier to get remote work)
-I asked to work remotely over time
-Job was in another city so I became tired of travelling
-Lack of available talent in area (due to my choice of niche which I talk about in my ebook)
If you would like to know my secrets to making more money as an IT consultant and working remotely check out my e-book on secrets to getting high hourly rates as an IT subcontractor.