view, with some additional elements to consider. Your lighting, background, and camera position all contribute to your overall image, so ensuring you have a clean backdrop and good natural lighting is essential. In addition, take time to test your video beforehand so that you can ensure your camera angle presents you in the best way. WORKING REMOTELY 101 Optimizing your Wi-Fi If you’re finding that your home Wi-Fi connection isn’t as stable as you’d like, there are some easy fixes you can try. If you can’t move your router closer to your workspace, consider installing a Wi-Fi range extender to gain a stronger connec- tion. Wifi Security On the topic of Wi-Fi, be wary of working from coffee shops and other public Wi-Fi networks. The security is minimal, and you risk having sensitive data stolen from your laptop. Research the dif- ferent alternatives to protect personal data when working in public Wi-Fi networks and remember that unless you can connect to a private VPN, it’s best to only work from secure networks. Creating a schedule Creating and sticking to a schedule is critical for people who work from home to maintain pro- ductivity and consistency. Chances are, whatever worked best for you in the office to organize your day will also work best for you when you’re working from home. Routines help us structure our days, which applies whether you’re working in an office setting or at home. Establishing a schedule will help you to be present while remote team meetings are taking place. Take some time and experiment with what type of routine works the best for you and what helps you stay consis- tently productive throughout each day and make an effort to stick to that. It can be tempting to stray from routines when working from home because of the increased amount of flexibility. However, doing this can result in a varying level of productivity which usually spells trouble.
Setting boundaries For other work-from-home employees, setting boundaries is incredibly important. It’s an easy habit to fall into to let random and spontaneous plans guide your day, but it rarely leads to good outcomes in your work life. Whether it’s letting your family know that just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you’re available to them throughout the day or enforcing a schedule for yourself, it’s essential to set boundaries. To prevent this from happening, some types of routine scrum processes can be automated in virtual project management assistants. So set routine but crucial processes on autopilot, and you Being a freelance employee means you work for yourself and contract out timelines or projects with clients instead of working for one employer full-time. There are many benefits to freelancing, including scheduling flexibility, choosing projects that interest you, and having the freedom to work where and when suits your lifestyle the best. This isn’t to say that being a freelancer is all rainbows and puppy dogs, though. It comes with an increased risk of uncertainty and where your future income will come from, as well as the trials and tribulations of dealing with clients as a business owner daily. Learning to deal with demanding clients is a part of the freelance learning curve and you will make some mistakes and learn from them along the way, eventually finding your groove if you decide that freelance is the way to go for you. BECOMING A DIGITAL NOMAD only look at statistics and prioritize tasks. MAKING IT BIG AS A FREELANCER People often mistake remote jobs for a digital nomad lifestyle, but the two aren’t necessarily the same. Well, digital nomads do technically work from home — home can be wherever they find themselves at the moment. Typical work-from-home employees do actually work from their homes. They have an address and a more traditional lifestyle that just happens to include working from home instead of a classic in-office space. Digital nomads, on the other hand, travel the globe while also working. This isn’t to say that they don’t have a fixed address, but they find themselves on the road in foreign countries more often than at home. In the same way, it is important to consider travel insurance while traveling as a digital nomad, which assists you in case of unfore- seen events during the trip. It’s important if you want to be a digital nomad to ensure that you have a solid understanding of what you need to function efficiently and productively while traveling. Things like ensuring a con - sistent Wi-Fi connection, run effect and knowing your travel schedule will let you be there for your clients and your team while also getting to experience different countries and adventures. There’s no doubt that there are different points of view on the value of remote jobs. While some take the dim view that employees are less productive and take advantage of employers in a remote work set up, what is increasingly being seen is that people are getting to experience life more fully, spend their time where it means the most to them, and live life in a way that makes them happy. It’s hard to deny that those are great benefits, but they mean that you’ll have to make sure you do your due diligence and are organized, responsible, and reliable. Once you’ve sorted out how that looks for you, there’s no reason that you can’t have an adventurous and fulfilling career working remotely.
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FALL/WINTER 2022 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • FALL/WINTER 2022
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