Virtual Vocation – 5 Ways You Can Free Yourself From The Office By Working Online
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Do you find yourself regularly distracted by a desire to escape the confines of your office, free yourself from the daily commute, and have the ability to work from anywhere in the world? While this can seem like an impossible dream at first, there has never been a better time to make it a reality. The internet’s virtual soil is fertile with online opportunities, whether you’re looking for employment or planning to shift your business operations to a virtual office. While your route to freedom will be unique to you, there are some key guideposts along the way that will help you achieve your dream. Read on to discover the most important tips to keep in mind when stepping out of the office for good and into a virtual workplace.
1. Find the right space
Ditching the physical office isn’t just for freelancers and solo entrepreneurs. Whatever your business size, you can take your operations online, allowing both you and your employees to enjoy flexible hours and the ability to work from wherever you happen to be. All this can be orchestrated either entirely from home, or with the assistance of a virtual office. Not only do these ingenious digital spaces delete your commute time, but they also nix your technology costs and generally lower your overheads. Studies have also shown the virtual office switch boosts productivity and reduces staff turnover.
2. Stay connected
While a quality virtual office package will have you well-placed to make a splash in the online market, there are some more tech tools you’ll need to ensure you have a smooth transition. Working from home (or a beach in Thailand) might give you a short-term productivity boost, but as it becomes your new norm, those happy chemicals will chill out and you (and/or your employees) may even find yourself feeling isolated. Here, a stellar communications package featuring instant messaging and video-conferencing applications will allow you to stay connected with coworkers and keep everyone’s eyes focussed on the bigger picture.
3. Look for passive income potential
Since the objective here is to free you up as much as possible, it’s worth taking some time to work out whether your business has passive income potential. This is the holy grail of online income, unrivaled in its ability to fund a free and nomadic lifestyle. As the name suggests, passive income is money that comes in without you having to invest any ongoing effort. These ventures all require an upfront time investment but little to no ongoing maintenance. Some examples include creating online courses relevant to your field, writing e-books, making YouTube videos, and an oldie but a goodie: investing.
4. Nix social media during work hours
Social media is designed to be addictive, and what it drains from you is one of your most valuable resources: time. As a worker or business owner in the online world, this is one commodity you cannot afford to give away so lightly. To rescue your productivity and pull yourself back from the brink of the endless scrolling rabbit hole, start by removing all social media accounts from your browser shortcuts. Turn off all notifications so you aren’t tempted to respond instantly and allocate a certain time of the day for your social check-ins.
The idea of being one of those rare creatures who can flit off to Mexico on a whim and work from a palapa on the beach may seem like a pipedream when you’re still bound by the walls of your old-school office. However, if you follow the steps above, this could genuinely be your (virtual) reality.
