RWL015 How to Revolutionize Your Lifestyle with Remote Work Perks and Productivity Tips

Benefits of Remote Work Lifestyle

Speaker 1

0:00

Hey, it's Alex again from the Remote Work Live podcast. Welcome and thank you for joining me. The Remote Work Live podcast is all about helping you to thrive and really sort of connect in the world of remote work, and the reason I set it up is because I wanted to share with you interviews, feedback, advice that I'd learned from people who are in the world of remote work, including myself. So CEOs who have successfully started and grown their own businesses and, like I said, individuals like myself who I've worked myself remotely for the last 10 years. I want to tell you how I've grown personally as a remote worker. So it's all about helping not just remote individuals but also businesses who also want to learn to grow and thrive in the world of remote work. And I received a question from Carl inside our Facebook group and, carl, I just want to say thank you so much for your question and if you haven't joined the group as yet, please have a look at the show notes. I'll leave a link at the bottom of the show notes for you to join. It's free to join and it's it's a growing, um, it's a growing group. It's a small group, but it's a. It's a great space for asking questions because, as I said, I will use the group. I use the questions in podcasts like this to try and help you out as much as possible. And Carl's question uh, thank you, carl, if you are listening. I hope you are listening. I really appreciate your question. Carl says I'm currently taking a break from the nine to five rat race world of IT. I know I want to be my own boss and work remotely, primarily from home, and he says he's not really sure how and I think what he's saying here. He's not sure how he's going to go about doing it, but he loves some real world world feedback and advice on this lifestyle, either positive or negative. Any comments would be much appreciated. He says his research, blogs, podcasts etc. But would love to engage with real people living this life. Well, yep, call you in the right place.

Speaker 1

2:09

I myself, as I said, I've been working remotely for the last 10 years and just recently I was host at the Remote Work Life Summit, where I interviewed a number of prominent CEOs, leaders, founders, etc. From the world of remote work CEOs, leaders, founders, etc. From the world of remote work. I've also interviewed people as well who are CEOs of co-located businesses, but they have also had experience, obviously, of growing their own personal brands, of their own businesses, and in some cases they've also worked remotely. So what I'm going to try and do is combine all of that experience, all that insight, all that knowledge to answer any questions that you have, including yours, carl.

Speaker 1

2:49

And Carl's first question. He says what are the unexpected benefits you found from working from home? Well, and again, when I answer these questions, I'm going to give you a mixture of things that I've experienced personally and also things that people have said to me about benefits, etc. Or about working remotely. So one of the first things the environmental benefit. Obviously, if you're working remotely, you're probably not using transport public transport or your own car as much as you used to, and obviously, if you're not using your car as much as you used to, you're not using as much fuel. Maybe there's not as much wear and tear on your car as well. So that is. You know, it's a pretty, pretty simple sort of concept to understand that the environmental benefits are are to be seen. If, if more and more people were working remotely even if it was for like a couple of days a week and, for example, if you had a commute, it would take lots more people off the road, wouldn't it? I would have thought, and I? I personally, don't use my car anywhere near as much, I don't use public transport anywhere near as much, and in fact, when I'm trying to choose places to work, I often choose places that are within walking distance or places that I can reach really easily, places that I don't need to use my car to get to. So the environmental benefits is something that I perhaps hadn't anticipated when I started working remotely first of all and these are things that other people have said to me as well. So that's one thing.

Speaker 1

4:32

Another thing, another unexpected benefit of working remotely so you get to network eventually with people in the same situation as you. You begin to understand what it takes to work remotely. You can learn from their experiences, because it is a different mindset, it's a different type of person that works remotely. So it's carl was doing the right thing by asking these questions of people who work remotely, such as myself. You get to network and understand that a lot more. Um, you, because you're obviously going through the same challenges on a day-to-day basis. You, you have the same pain points. So that's another unexpected benefit that I noticed. But I think that benefit only comes from deliberately putting yourself out there, deliberately talking to people in the remote space to understand you know what they're going through to understand anything that um, that they've done, that that can help you. So, as much as it's, you know, that unexpected benefit has been growing my network in this space. I've been deliberate about doing that.

Speaker 1

5:36

Okay, another one. So another sort of unexpected benefit is that saving time, commuting. I mean, that is something personally I didn't really think about when I started working remotely. My, my, my whole um, I suppose idea or my whole sort of reasons for working remotely weren't necessarily for the commute, because I quite enjoy, I quite enjoyed the commute. I, I was living in central London. The commute for me was really really very, very easy. So I didn't really think about that at that particular time. But as I sort of started to work more and more from home and as I sort of moved towards more the outskirts of London, that's when the commute became a bit more, a bit more arduous. That's when the commute became a bit more, a bit more arduous, a bit more sort of um, something I didn't look forward to, especially on a on a sunday evening. So that was something that for me was unexpected. For you it may not be for other remote workers, it may not be maybe the reason why a lot of people decide not to um work in a co-located space and decide to work from home or from sort of anywhere they want to to avoid the commute. But for me that was quite unexpected and saving money.

Speaker 1

6:52

There was so many things that I personally saved money on. So, for example, when I worked in central london, I would, you know, spend anywhere between seven and ten pounds a day on on lunch, because obviously you're going to places that are again within central london you're going to pay, pay premium prices for for your lunch. You're going to pay, obviously for your commute as well, whether that be in your car or your, your season ticket or your daily commute by train as well. So there are, there are things to be saved, even even maybe the the cost of buying shoes, because I worked in pretty corporate settings, you know, settings that were that required me to sort of have a certain way of dressing. So I would buy, you know, pretty, and I still do. To be honest, I still buy expensive shoes, or at least shoes that aren't cheap, because I find that those fit my feet better. But what I find is I don't wear them out as much as I used to and I could get make them last longer, because when I'm working from home I tend to, you know, I tend to sort of go to work in in trainers, for example, and every other day I might wear my shoes, for example. So, um, that's something was quite unexpected for me, saving money in that regard at least, anyway.

Speaker 1

8:24

Another unexpected benefit for me, and something perhaps I didn't think about when I was working in an office, was that the, the office space itself, the people who configured the office and bought the furniture weren't necessarily always thinking about well-being. But when I started to work from home, I started to really think about my comfort, because I was sitting down. For a number of hours a day I was sitting down and I was getting back pain. So you know, it was very much upon my shoulders to make sure that I was as comfortable as possible. So that started through me getting an ergonomic chair so that, you know, my back could be supported as much as possible.

Speaker 1

9:14

And actually I interviewed somebody from TopTal, the VP of sales. He's a pretty senior figure within TopTal, mark mark bosman. Listen out for that interview in another episode. But one of the things that he has, he has like a treadmill desk. So he's gone really sort of stepped up to the next level in terms of configuring his office space to make sure that he not only is working but he's also working out at the same time and sort of um, working his body, stretching etc. And it's great. It's great. I mean, you probably wouldn't be able to do that in the space that you work in, your co-located space. So you can configure your desk as well to the height that you want it to. You can I don't know the aesthetics of the office you can shape it in the way that you want it so that you feel most comfortable in that particular space.

Speaker 1

10:10

So that's something that was unexpected for me. This is something that perhaps for me, I it sort of developed over time as my needs for my own well-being became apparent to me. So what else? Eating foods that are more healthy. So, again, perhaps I'm a bit more deliberate about the sorts of foods that I eat. I can go to the supermarket down the road, get my fruits and vegetables and make my lunch nice and fresh, nothing from, you know, from the freezer or from the fridge for me, I'd make it nice and fresh. So, you know, from the freezer or from the fridge for me, I'd make it nice and fresh. So that that's. That's another unexpected benefit that perhaps I hadn't thought about or maybe I've taken that one for granted. And there's also less aggro in the morning as well. That's another unexpected benefit for me. Um, I probably took it for granted again that, you know, that was when I woke up in the morning to sort of start my day when I worked in a collocated office. I took it for granted that that is how it should be or that's how it was and that was the norm. But again, the more you work from home is, the more you realize that that's not the norm at all. It can be, you can shape it. Um, you can shape your morning routine as you want it to be. It's probably a little less stressful because you don't have to face that commute. It's less stressful because you you know that you're going into a space that you've created yourself that's in line with what you want and it's sort of shaped to the way you want to work. So that is another unexpected benefit that I've experienced.

Speaker 1

11:51

On to Mark's second question what are the biggest issues or challenges you have found from working from home. Well, when I first began working from home back in 2008-2009, there was all that temptation for me to do things, perhaps, that I wouldn't normally do so. For example, when I'd finished with my lunch or my breakfast, I would wash the bowl or wash the plate, and that would take up valuable time in my day, and that's something I wouldn't advise that you do. Don't don't get sucked into doing things that are not related to your, to your work. So that was something that was an issue for me at the very beginning when I started, back in 2009, 2000 and well, 2008, 2009, around that time. So, temptation to do things that were outside of work. What are the big issues?

Speaker 1

12:49

Time seemed to go really, really quickly because I was enjoying myself so much more being my own boss, essentially being my own space, doing things how I wanted to do them in a productive way. So that kind of like follows on from the first point that because time goes so much more quickly well, at least it seems to go so much more quickly you must just dedicate yourself to doing everything that you need to do in that, inside that that time, without sort of being distracted. I'm not, I'm gonna another one of mark's questions, sorry, um, carl's questions was around distraction, so I'm going to talk about that a little bit later on, but time goes so quickly so that that for me was a big challenge in terms of making sure that I made the very, very most of the time that I had. Another challenge for me, um, and again for other people, is managing other people's expectations. People who don't work remotely don't necessarily understand that time. You know, your time must be dedicated to your work, and I mean I don't think deliberately that's deliberate. It's not something that they do deliberately on their part. But, um, for example, you may, for me, I got um a neighbor coming knocking on the door, knowing that I work from home, asking me to do them a favor, and I had to make it clear to them that during my, during my, my day, I'm dedicating myself to do my work. Um, it's very difficult for me to do other things. They soon understood, and perhaps they probably didn't realise themselves, you know, that I was so limited in time, as much as they knew that I did actually work from home. So, managing other people's expectations, you have to make those, set those boundaries and you know, make sure that people understand that between this time and this time I am working Another one.

Speaker 1

14:50

So another one for you is building a network to avoid isolation. You know you need that network to have, you know to call upon if you have questions that you need answering. You need that community to understand that well, not to understand but to sort of be a stimulus in in some ways for for ideas to, to help you to have some variety as well, because what you don't want is it to become is monotonous, and you don't want to isolate yourself from people, and I mean working remotely. You are going to perhaps be. You know it's less likely that you're going to be in contact with people on a day-to-day basis, and when I say that I mean in the flesh, I suppose. So it's a good idea to have to create those networks for yourself.

Speaker 1

15:46

As I said, be deliberate about that when it comes to actually building your own networks. And it can be a challenge, because what you've got to do is seek out the people who work remotely as well, not just the people who work remotely, but also people who you know, because your networks don't just have to be about your work, it can also be about other things outside of work. So, for example, you know if you have friends who have similar interests to you, you have to be deliberate about seeking them out or, you know, knowing what they're doing. They're doing because it's not like being in a, in a, in an office, where you're sitting next to somebody or you're in your team and they say to you do you want to go out for a drink or do you want to go out and watch something at the cinemas? It's not that it's not as easy as that. It's about actually, as I said, being more deliberate and perhaps even being that person who connects with people by the phone or sky, skype or wherever it may be, and suggesting that you all go out for a particular event or occasion. So, yeah, keeping your networks there to avoid isolation, dealing with issues outside of my comfort zone.

Speaker 1

17:03

So, for me, the main issues that were outside my comfort zone were the IT issues, and this is probably a common one Because, again, if you're in a co-located space, then you're going to have an IT support system, it support desk. You're going to have people who can help you with any HR issues, for example, any legal issues. But if you're working remotely, again, by setting up your networks, by sort of connecting with people who can give you that kind of support. Unless you've done that, then it's likely that you're probably going to have to do it yourself. So the things that are outside your comfort zone, you have to be deliberate about connecting with people who can give you that support. Right, another one for you working too much.

Speaker 1

17:58

So what I found was because I made my office space so comfortable that I was sitting down for too long. I was just sort of sitting down in front of my computer for two, three, four hours at a time, without getting up, without moving my eyes away from the screen, and that is just not healthy at all. I mean, right now I get up every hour on the hour to do stretching or to go get some water or just to just sort of rest my eyes from the glare of the computer screen. You have to do that because if you don't do that you'll end up just, I suppose, creaking with aches and pains. You'll you'll damage your eyes, you know. And you don't have somebody to start standing there or you don't have a colleague saying to you let's go for a walk or let's go and get lunch. You've got to go and you've got to do that yourself. So, yeah, dealing with, well, yeah, working too much, and that working too much actually also extended to working when my kids come home. That just wasn't on. You know, again, if you listen to um a podcast that I did with mark bosma, who's the vp of sales for top towel, you will, um, you'll hear how he goes about um, actually balancing his work and his, his personal life, and that involves getting up really, really early. But listen out for that podcast to see how he does that. Uh, what else do we have?

Speaker 1

19:30

Creating a comfortable and healthy workspace, so that you know that was that, as much as that was a benefit at the very beginning. It was really difficult because and it was quite expensive because, you know, these ergonomic chairs are not cheap um, it was difficult to find the right chair. It was difficult, expensive, because these ergonomic chairs are not cheap. It was difficult to find the right chair. It was difficult to find the right desk. I went through probably two or three different desks, two or three different chairs, before I came to the one that I found most suitable for me. So, yeah, as much as that was a big issue, it was a big challenge for me. It also became an unexpected benefit as time went on and as I became more familiar as to what was out there.

Speaker 1

20:26

Or challenge that I found again at the beginning was finding other spaces to work that were comfortable for me, because as much as working from home, it's quiet and it's you've got the home comforts or the office comforts there that you've set up in your lightness, you've configured it the way you want to configure it, etc. When it comes to finding another space to work and I highly recommend that you do, even if you do like working from home, I think it's it's a must to find a different place to work. So you know, um, some of these shared office spaces the library, a cafe, for example but as much as it is important to do that, it's it is a challenge. It is a challenge to do that because, again, you just got to feel comfortable, not just physically in where you're sitting, but with the people who are around you, because sometimes, when I go to certain sections of the library where I sometimes work, there are people making lots of unnecessary noise or you know it. Just the chairs are just not comfortable, for example, in some areas of the library.

Speaker 1

21:29

So I found this particular space in the library that I do find comfortable and that I do find, you know, it's suitable enough for me just to do the work that I need to do within the time that I need to do it. I've also found just the other day I found another space that it doesn't have Wi-Fi. But I have quite a lot of data on my phone and I can sort of I can tether my computer to my laptop to make sure that I've got internet. I've got Wi-Fi coverage to my laptop to make sure that I've got internet, I've got Wi-Fi coverage. So all of these things you have to really sort of put into place before you begin to really sort of go all out.

Speaker 1

22:12

You have to understand where you can work that's comfortable for you outside of your workspace. And the reason I say it's so comfortable to sorry, it's so important to have more than one space to work is because there may be a time where your internet goes down or you you just need somewhere else. That's different. You need a change of scene. I think that's so important just to have a change of scene, just to, you know, be able to, to be in a situation where you can meet other people, so you can talk to other people. You can talk to people who are in a similar situation to you. It's another way to network, by going in and working in a different space. So, yeah, finding other spaces to work. As much as it's a challenge, it it can reap benefits, you know, and it's not something that take will take you long to do. I wouldn't have thought so not too much of a challenge, okay.

Speaker 1

23:02

So another question from carl was how do you avoid becoming distracted? Well, that's all about setting boundaries, clear boundaries, boundaries for yourself, so that you know. You know you'll be on this particular day, you'll be working on this project between these times and you can sort of focus on that particular um, that particular period of time and what you'll be doing. So, having those clear boundaries for yourself, but also letting everybody else know the boundaries as well, so that they know what time you'll be starting work, what time you'll be finishing work, and between this time, please don't interrupt me because I'm busy, that's. I mean, that's how deliberate you have to be, especially if you're working from home. And again, it may extend to telling your neighbours as well, you know, not to sort of disturb you between those times because you're working from home, or at least find a way of communicating that to your neighbours that you work from home and these are the times that are critical for you.

Speaker 1

24:06

Planning ahead as well. I mean, I don't know about you, but lists, uh, help me quite a lot. Um, I make sure I have a list for the day ahead so that, that, so that I understand what I need to do. I think I'm the kind of person if I have to sort of do you know, create lists on the spot, I suppose. Well, not create lists on the spot, but just do things from memory.

Speaker 1

24:31

It doesn't always work out for me and I can sometimes perhaps get not necessarily distracted, but I'm not as focused. I don't work as efficiently if I don't have a list of things to do for that day and I actually focus on one thing at a time rather than actually multitasking. It doesn't work for me multitasking, although I can do it, it's something that I can do. I think I work better when I focus on a particular task, and that's all about understanding what your priorities are. I know what my priorities are for that particular day, so I focus on those things and I find that I get work done much more effectively, much more efficiently, if I've got my stuff planned out for that day and I have my priorities in mind. Another thing is I work in sort of like blocks or sprints. I suppose you could say so for a certain amount of time, for an hour, for example, I'll be working on this and then I'll have a little break, not just so I can move around and stretch etc but and get some water, but also so that I can make sure that you know, so that I'm not get I don't get distracted from the work that I'm doing on that particular time. So that's another way in which you can handle it.

Speaker 1

25:43

I think you've also got to make sure you have a clear workspace. So another answer here for you, carl. I mean I'm sure you do this already, but just in case anybody else who's listening is looking for a similar sorts of advice but having a clear workspace. There's nothing worse, for me at least anyway, than having all sorts of things letters, books, my phone all around my desk and around my computer when I'm trying to work, because that can just be a distraction, especially your phone. I mean, if the phone keeps buzzing, what you'll find is every minute. Maybe you'll be checking the phone to see who's ringing or to see you know what notification is being delivered to you, um, you know, all those sorts of things are things that can be distracting, and if you've got lots of clutter letters, papers around you, it just reminds you that you need to tidy up, and it can be sort of it can be just a one of these subliminal sort of pressures that you don't need so clear your desk of all all that clutter, all the letters, all the books that you may have. Keep your phone, um, separate from from where your desk is, or at least away from where your desk is, so you can just focus on the tasks that you're doing and get them done ASAP, really, and from the standpoint as well of your desk as well. Your computer desktop, similarly to your phone. Don't have all sorts of tabs and browsers open. Just focus on the tabs and browsers that you need, that are related to the work that you are you're doing at that particular time, because, again, that can just distract you and lead you to other things. You know, if you've got facebook open or instagram, and you've got notifications popping up here, there and everywhere, the temptation is is always to look at that notification or look at that sort of message from that's just come through from your friend or your mom or whoever it may be. So keep those sorts of things shut down as well. Keep your, your sort of work or your computer desktop as clear as possible to avoid those distractions.

Achieving Work-Life Balance in Remote Work

Speaker 1

27:58

So on to another of carl's questions, and this is a big one um, how do you manage work-life integration and and balance? And just to sort of preface this by saying that I think work-life balance is probably a little bit misunderstood. I'm not saying this is the case for you at all, carl, but um, I think people imagine that work-life balance is just like a perfect sort of if. If you're looking, if you're imagining a scale, for example, when you're thinking about balance, the analogy you're imagining your work-life balance for there to be a perfect balance on your scale so that each one is balanced perfectly. But I don't think that is necessarily the case, especially if you're developing your career. Anyway, balance is all about making sure that you commit enough time to work and enough time to your family life and your family activities. And that's kind of a very subjective thing, because the amount of time that I want to spend with my kids and my family may be different to you and it may be different you. You know, the balance that you seek may be different to my balance. So work-life balance is very much a personal, a personal thing, and I mean, how do you achieve that? Well, that's about.

Speaker 1

29:15

Again, it's related to some of the things that we've already talked about is having, uh, you know, communication channels and devices that are dedicated to work. So, for example, don't have your phone, your personal phone, don't have emails and notifications and messages coming from your work to your personal phone. You know, make sure you have a phone that is dedicated to work. Make sure you have a computer that's dedicated to work. Make sure you have a computer that's dedicated to work and once you've finished work, you can put that phone down. You can put that computer away and just focus on your personal business, your family, your personal communications on your phone, etc. So just make a complete cut off from work when that time comes. Another way is to kind of shut down once your priorities are done, all your goals for that particular day are achieved. You know, deal with all those things in the time that you've allocated for yourself. Make sure you've got your list and you check through everything that you've done on your list and cross it off as you go. And again, once you've done that, once everybody you know, you've updated everybody in your team as to what you've done and you've communicated everything that you need to communicate, you've done everything that you need to do, shut down, leave your work computer in your office, close the door behind you, leave the phone in there as well, and then go and do the other things that you need to do.

Speaker 1

30:49

It does take a while to achieve the right balance, and I think communicating with your family is an important thing, because there may be times when you have to work a little bit later than you normally would. There may be times when you have to start a bit earlier than you normally would as well. So I think that communication, um with people who you live with your family, your children, your, you know, your partner, your wife, whoever it may be um make sure that they are aware of what you're doing, when and when you need to do it, so that they are a bit more empathetic, a bit more sympathetic, and they expect you more sympathetic and they expect you at a certain time, so that communication can help you with the work-life balance that you need to achieve, and that is if you're working. What I mean by that is if you're working towards that. You need to keep those communication channels open to reassure people around you that you know I might be working late at this day, but or this stage in my career, but as I go through work, this is what I want to do, so keeping those open throughout your career development. Okay, so there's another thing that I want to mention. That was that I was made aware of by somebody who I interviewed from Top Talent.

Speaker 1

32:05

I keep mentioning Mark Bosma from Top Talent. Again, I think you should listen out for his interview because he has his own way of making sure that he has that balance himself. He starts work very, very early in the morning Well, yeah, pretty early in the morning, and I won't go into all the details of what he does, but he starts work at around about 5 or 5.30 in the morning, and I won't go into all the details of what he does, but he starts work at around about 5 or 5 30 in the morning before his children wake up. So he does put a couple of hours in before the children wake up, then he deals with the things that he needs to do with his children, whether that be dropping them off at school or seeing them after school and then, once they're off to school, he starts again and he works through the day and gets those things done until his children get back at a certain time in the afternoon. So that's that's how he achieves his balance, because once he's finished, he then goes and does what he needs to do with his children for the rest of the day, with his family for the rest of the day. So that's how he does it and, like I said, it's not a one size fits all.

Speaker 1

33:05

It's something that you will perhaps need to experiment with yourself to achieve that balance that's right for you and your family. And the other thing is you don't want to put too much strain, not just on your family but on yourself. So you need to listen to yourself, to your body, to your, to your mind, to understand how much stress I suppose you can put upon yourself to do the work that you need to do, and if that stress is perhaps not manageable for you, you need to figure out how you can sort of turn that around and make that a bit more manageable for yourself. So, yeah, those are just a few things, things, a few tips for you there in terms of achieving that, that balance, that work-life balance.

Speaker 1

33:51

And on to the next question that carl asks and he says what is a remote work pain point and how do you address it? Again, again, I think I've covered a lot of pain points there and I think most of the pain points that I've covered are related to health, to well-being, to community, to networking, all those kinds of things, and I think that's how you know those are the overarching themes of the things that we've talked about. So there's a few pain points in there. I hope they've helped you to understand how you can overcome some of yours. But a couple of more specific pain points that people have shared with me in the group but also in conversations that I've had with people who are either in the remote space or looking to get into the remote world of work.

Speaker 1

34:45

So, if you're an entrepreneur, if you have your own business, one thing that I think people find quite difficult is finding clients on a consistent basis. You know that whole thing about cash flow, making sure that the clients that you have are clients that you can work with clients that you can get on, with, clients that you can add value to, but clients that are coming through on a consistent basis for you, I mean, that's obviously a lot to do with your business development, especially if you're new. It may be that you may have work for one month and then for a couple of weeks you may not have work. So finding a way to consistently get that workflow coming through, to get your pipeline of work as consistent as possible, that's a pain point that I come across quite often, especially for those of you who are taking sort of the entrepreneurial route to remote work. But if you're looking to get into a remote business as an employee, another sort of pain point that I've come across is finding suitable legitimate work, because I've seen online quite a number of people who want to hire remote workers across the world remote workers across the world and they tend to either be just downright really sort of bogus scammy type job posts or they're a bit dubious in the way that they sort of advertise their roles that they have. So finding those sort of legitimate work opportunities is one thing that I hope to help you to achieve in this podcast and within the community because I want to share with you legitimate, you know roles from businesses that are thriving, and TopTal is one of those TopTalcom. As I said, look out for the podcast that I'm going to be publishing very soon from TopTal. Yeah, finding those legitimate businesses and those legitimate jobs can be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be, and I want to try and help you out with that. So that's another big pain point that I come across often. I want to try and help you out with that. So that's another big pain point that I come across often.

Speaker 1

37:06

Another thing is finding. Well, the whole remote workspace is highly, highly competitive. You know they get hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants per role, and one of the things that I want to help you with as well is to, you know, put yourself in the best possible position in order to sort of communicate and sort of connect with those who are hiring people like you and I'll discuss how you do that in later podcasts and, in fact, I've discussed it in previous podcasts. The one thing that you shouldn't do is, you know, when you're applying for these kinds of roles is lead with the fact that you're looking for a remote role. That will be something that really sort of put people off, put the hiring managers off, put the decision makers off, all those people who are recruiting for remote workers. It will put them off. So don't lead with that, whatever you do them off. So don't lead with that, whatever you do. Um, but yeah, they're highly competitive and I hope to help you to understand how you can overcome those uh you know well, not necessarily overcome, but sort of put yourself in the best possible position to, you know, to be a standout candidate for that particular role.

Speaker 1

38:21

Well, carl, everybody else who may be listening, I hope that's helped answer your question.

Speaker 1

38:28

As ever, if you have any more questions, please let me know. Join the group. That's the best place to post your questions, because I will produce more podcasts like this, which hopefully are helpful. I will also post answers and I'll do lives as well in the Facebook group to answer the questions that you may have about working remotely. Given that I've done it for so long, and also because I've spoke to so many other people who've been doing it for quite a while as well, I just want to share that all with you. So, thank you for listening this time around, post your questions inside the group or drop me a line and have a look at remoteworklifeio to see you know just to sort of check out our website and understand how you know you can build your remote work life as well and look at the show notes to see how you you know if there's any questions for you and how you can actually or any answers to any questions that you may have, and I hope to see you again soon.