Working remotely was something I discovered during my career, which has now lasted eight years, (man, am I getting old). I never thought that there were full-time positions available where you could work from home.
My first experience with this came right after I was laid off in December 2014. Before that layoff I did some marketing and web work for a friend’s company. This work was done from home, after my full-time job ($ide hu$tlin’ baby).
Once I was fired, the part-time remote position became my lifeline as I worked out what to do next. This led to me getting a remote job at a California-based music startup.
This was supposed to be, for several reasons.
These two positions made me realize how much I love remote work
I fell in love with start-ups after both of these positions
These two positions led to an increased interest in marketing
Both of those positions came at a time that I was feeling down about losing my work and just beginning to plan my finances.
This last point is very important, because I can attest to the fact that working remotely has helped me organize my finances better and get me on the right track with money.
I was able to manage my time better by working remotely
You can easily become distracted when you are working at home, or anywhere else that isn’t an office. You can easily get distracted by watching YouTube videos when you have internet access without anyone around.
Also, you can watch TV, read books or magazines and even do chores around the house or apartment. It is fine to take a short break to do these things. However, you should also value the time of your employees and yourself.
Remote work allows you to be in control of the tasks and your time. You must be very independent.
No one will tell you how to proceed if you are learning about finances and money.
It taught me how to value my time. Although I am young, time does fly.
Will I want to work for such a large percentage of my lifetime, even well into my sixties? No thanks.
Working remotely taught me how to work, make money and manage my time more efficiently.
Prioritizing what is important to achieve the best results
Prioritizing is one of the most crucial aspects in career, finances or pretty much any other aspect.
You’ll have a lot of work to do, some of which are more important than others. You learn to prioritize, focus, and get the best results from your job.
As the sole marketer and head of marketing, I am faced with a lot of different marketing tasks. After working with the company closely for more than a year I learned what would move the needle and how to prioritize these tasks.
This is how I began to educate myself about finances and investing.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of information available. If you focus on what you want to learn in order to reach a specific goal, you will learn to ignore other financial noise.
To me, it was important to know how to invest and make money work for me. Understanding how to invest in real estate and stocks was important for me. When I searched for books and websites, I knew exactly what I was looking for to get the best results for my financial education.
I became a leader rather than a follower
You become a more effective leader, whether you are working remotely for someone else or yourself.
You learn to be in charge because there is no manager or supervisor right next to you. You may ask fewer questions that would otherwise slow down your work.
In my remote job, I’m responsible for deciding what to do to make the most of it. Except for a few 1:1 meetings every week, I make most of the decisions in marketing. In the past, I would follow my boss, ask for directions or wait to be told what to do. This delayed getting things done.
Being a leader helped me to take control of my finances. Nobody is going to tell you to grab it. You need to be the one to lead and take initiative if you want to learn and succeed.
No, I would not do what other people tell me or say. Anyone can blindly listen to someone else’s advice.
Leaders take the time to research and understand both the pros and the cons of a situation. This is exactly how I think about where to invest my money and how to earn more money.
Self-control is something I learned from remote work
Remote work, as I said in the first point can lead to distractions on the Internet and other things. When I first started working remotely, it was tempting to waste time.
I would play a video of a song, click on another and then that led me to Dumb & Dumber’s blooper. Then I spent over an hour doing nothing. It doesn’t have to be web surfing (people still use that term, right?). It could be anything (books, magazines, phones, TV, etc.). ).
It became easier and easier not to get distracted by developing a routine at work and setting myself boundaries. It helped me develop my self-control.
Why was this important for finances, you may ask? Self-control has helped me save a lot of money.
When I start to get impatient, I immediately stop. Instead of spending money on a momentary happiness, I think about my financial goals.
It’s now so automatic that it only takes a few moments to deduct something and instead save money. I learned self-control from remote work and used it to make purchases that were not in my best interest.
Final Thoughts
It is not possible to get a job as a remote worker if you are not interested in it. There are also a lot of remote contract and freelance jobs you can try out if you’re thinking about working remotely.
While everyone’s situation is different, I learned a lot from remote work that has helped me achieve success in my career and financial well-being.
Remote work helped me develop the skills I needed to be successful in my finances and save money.
These sites have job listings and other resources that can help you succeed if you’re interested in remote work:
Remote.co
Remoteok.io
We Work Remotely
JobSpresso
AngelList
