A round-up of everything you need to know when considering the shift into full-time remote work.

I started my remote work journey 2 years ago as a freelance ghostwriter for screenplays. Since then, I’ve grown my portfolio into creative coaching, content writing, and blogging, working full-time from my current home in Tokyo.

Learn More About My Story

I love to share my frameworks, advice, and freelancing tools with you here on this blog. In this round-up post, you’ll find absolutely everything you need to know how to work from anywhere.

In this post, we’ll cover:

1. Is Remote Work Right for You?
2. Where to Find Remote Work Jobs
3. How to Launch a Freelancing Business
4. Side Hustles from Home
5. Skills for Remote Workers
6. Best Remote Work Spots
7. Digital Nomad Visas

Ready? Let’s dive in…

Is Remote Work Right for You?

If you’ve found yourself on this page, there’s a reasonable chance that you’re thinking about, or even wanting, to move towards a remote work career. Before we dive into everything you might need to make that change, it’s important to first consider whether a non-traditional work style is right for you.

Exploring New Career Paths: A Step-by-Step Guide

Making the shift to remote work often means quitting your current job, taking a huge leap of faith, and committing to a whole different lifestyle. It’s important to consider the good and the bad sides of working remotely, making sure to be honest with yourself about what you hope your professional future might look like.

The Advantages of Remote Work

1. Flexibility: It goes without saying that the flexibility of working remotely is an incredible benefit. The level of flexibility will depend on the job itself, but regardless of exact restrictions, working remotely can allow you to work from anywhere. Your schedule is no longer ruled by being in an office for 8 hours a day, and instead, you have control over your daily work environment as well as the time and space for socialising and travel.
2. Time Efficiency: Remote Work removes so many time wasters like commuting, getting ready in the morning, and small talk with colleagues you’d rather not be around. You now get to design your days to prioritise efficiency and productivity in whatever way suits you.
3. Improved Work-Life Balance: Many remote workers report that they see a markable improvement in their work-life balance after stopping reporting to a physical office. Working from home (or from the road) can relieve work-related stress, improve mental health, and help encourage healthier boundaries between your professional and personal life.

The Disadvantages of Remote Work

1. Social Isolation: Without a centralised office space and working full-time from home can lead to a major drop in opportunities to socialise. Working from home makes it all too easy to slip into social isolation if you don’t make an active effort to make plans with friends, find remote work spots outside of the house, and build a remote work community.
2. Lack of Motivation: It is not uncommon to quickly discover that without the constraints of normal working hours and a supervisor next door, your productivity struggles. Most people are not used to self-lead motivation and discipline and perfecting these skills can take time.
3. Burnout: For some people, remote work is an opportunity to rebalance their work-life balance, but for others, the lack of stringent start and end work hours can cause a worker to never ‘switch off’. Instead of taking your work home with you, you’re home is where you work, and so creating professional boundaries is more important than ever.

Where to Find Remote Work Jobs

You’ve decided that Remote Work is the right move for you – congratulations! Now, we need to decide exactly how to achieve your new dream lifestyle.

In 2024, there are more remote work opportunities than ever before. More and more companies are offering fully remote positions locally, nationwide, or even internationally.

Four Jobs Boards for Remote Job Opportunities

• WeWorkRemotely.com
• nodesk.co
• Remote.co
• FlexJobs.com

What to Consider when Looking at Remote Work Roles:

• Company Culture: Does the company’s values and working preferences align with your own? Look for indications of strong communication practices, support for remote employees, and opportunities for collaboration. Research the company to ensure it is not only reputable but respected as a remote work employer.
• Remote Work Policies: Understand the company’s remote work policies, including expectations for work hours, communication channels, and performance metrics.
• Job Responsibilities: Review the job description carefully to ensure it outlines clear expectations for your role, including tasks, projects, and deliverables. Consider whether the responsibilities match your skills, interests, and career goals, and assess if the workload is manageable in a remote environment.

How to Launch a Freelancing Business

Remote jobs are not the only avenue to full-time working from home (or anywhere other than the office). Freelancing is a great option for any skilled worker who wants to prioritise flexibility in their working life.

Instead of being a salaried employee, freelancers work with a multitude of clients typically within a project-based capacity. Here are some of the biggest hurdles freelancers face, particularly at the start of their career, as well as how to tackle them:

Gaining Clients

Digital Connections: Networking Strategies for Creatives

Creating a consistent client base can be tricky for any new freelancer. In order to set yourself up for success, make sure to create a comprehensive portfolio of work, list your services on multiple freelancer platforms, and reach out to friends and colleagues for testimonials on the quality of your work.

Burnout

How to Recover from Burnout (while still working)

How to Disconnect from Work and Start Living in the Moment

From the very start of freelancing, it’s important to put in place firm boundaries. No one can work 24/7 and without intentional time off and away from work (that means no work emails, client messaging, or content scheduling), you are going to burn out.

Inconsistent Income

The Truth About SWOT Analysis for Freelancers

Be prepared to face ups and downs in freelancing. Your best month might be directly followed by your worst, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Techniques like SWOT analysis can be powerful tools to help you battle the tides of a fluctuating market and inconsistent income.

Side Hustles from Home

In addition to your full-time job, working remotely can also offer the ability to take on new side hustles from home to make some extra income.

Real Side Hustles to Make Money from Home in 2024

Five Steps to Start a Side Hustle From Home

1. Find Your Niche: Begin by identifying your skills, passions, and areas of expertise. Consider what you enjoy doing in your spare time and where your talents lie. This will help you choose a side hustle that aligns with your interests and strengths.
2. Research: Once you have an idea of your skills and passions, research potential opportunities. Reach out to those already in the niche for advice, find success stories on blogs and YouTube, and dedicate as much time to preparation as possible.
3. Create a Business Plan: Develop a business plan outlining your goals, target market, pricing strategy, and marketing plan. Consider how you will differentiate yourself from competitors and attract customers. You should be clear in the time and financial investment needed for overhead and start-up costs and set up a realistic timeline for when you will start to see returns. This should not be a get-rich-quick scheme but an intentional and prepared plan for authentic growth and an extra income stream.
4. Reach out to Friends and Peers: The first client is likely to be someone you know. Share your new venture with your peers and offer work at a reduced rate in exchange for feedback and reviews. Use this time to iron out any issues and become comfortable with the work and payment processes.
5. Start Small and Scale Up: Focus on delivering high-quality products or services to your clients and seek feedback to continually improve. Remember that building a successful side hustle takes time, patience, and dedication, so stay persistent and keep pushing forward towards your goals.

Side Hustles vary hugely in their time commitments, turnaround, and upfront costs. To help you on this journey, check out my step-by-step guides on getting your side hustle started:

How to Start Blogging in One Month

How to Get Your First Fiverr Order

How to Get Your First Upwork Order

Skills for Remote Workers

Even if your job description doesn’t change, moving from working in an office to a fully remote position will require new skills that you may or may not expect.

Self-Discipline

5 Easy Habits to Improve Self-Discipline for Freelancers

Whether you’re working from home or as a digital nomad on the road, there are going to be distractions all around you. From your bed, a new adventure, or friends calling for a chat, learning to block out the noise and focus on work can be a challenge.

Productivity

30 Ways to Immediately Improve Your Productivity

Remote work has the capacity to revolutionise your productivity – if you’re ready to put in the work. Remote work productivity is a learning curve as without your office cubicle and the watchful eyes of a boss, the motivation to get things done is all down to you.

Multitasking

How to Seamlessly Work and Travel at the Same Time

The Truth About Travel Burnout (and how to get through it)

I love working remotely from cafes, planes, and even hostel sofas. The flexibility of freelancing means that as long as I have my laptop, anywhere can be my office for a day. This is an incredible privilege, but does not come without the pressure to multitask. Learn how to work and travel at the same time without making a sacrifice to either.

Best Remote Work Spots

I’ve been lucky enough to work remotely for the past two years and when I’m sick of my at-home desk, I love to experiment with new remote work spots, here are some ideas:

• Coffee Shops
• Co-Work Spaces
• A Friend’s Apartment
• A Shady Spot at the Park
• Quiet Pubs

Don’t be caught off-guard, working from a public place can be tricky. Click the link below to learn how to navigate working from outside the house, what to bring, and hacks for productivity:

How to Work from a Coffee Shop (and actually be productive)

Don’t know where to start? Luck for you, I have a series of guides on remote work-friendly cafes all around the world:

Best Tokyo Cafes Perfect for Remote Work

The Five Greatest Work-Friendly Auckland Cafes

Five Ultimate Work-Friendly Cafes in Hanoi’s West Lake

Digital Nomad Visas

Working from home or a cafe not interesting enough for you? Me neither. I’m lucky enough to have travelled and worked all around the world using Working Holiday Visas.

How to Move to New Zealand (and why I left)

Why You Should be a Digital Nomad in Tokyo

If you are not eligible for a Working Holiday, or your dream destination doesn’t offer them, then fear not! More and more countries are introducing Digital Nomad visas every single day, inviting remote workers to come and work from so many cities and locations worldwide.

What have I missed? If there’s a topic or question not covered in this post, leave it in a comment down below or Get In Touch for a direct response.