Remotely Working Remotely

No longer is it necessarily "the norm" to give up your job to become a farming couple. Options abound if you use a little imagination....


Farming could be considered the ultimate work from home profession, although this lifestyle is sometimes at the cost of a partner needing to leave a full-time profession elsewhere. 

With internet services (sometimes) improving, the rise of remotely accessing workplaces has certainly opened up options for rural and remote dwellers to pursue careers previously only available in the cities.  It’s believed that in the US alone, remote positions have increased in availability by 110% over the past 10 years.

The idea of your office being a short stroll from the kitchen once seemed far-fetched, but 2018 data suggests that companies are now realising the benefits of remote workers, including that they are happier, more productive and more loyal to their company.

Remote positions include professional services such as accounting, bookkeeping, copywriting, editing or even personal assistant roles.  For any profession where a component can be done on a computer, there are companies considering employees who are based at home.  Some roles may require trips to clients or intermittent trips to an office but by and large, many companies are satisfied for a worker to set up shop in their home office and take on the world from a laptop.

Another option is social media management, whether as a freelancer or as a part of social media mentoring groups (if you’re on Facebook and haven’t been asked to join an amazing collective of people creating their own path yet, you’re doing well).

Home-made businesses also seem to be making a comeback. Handcrafted jewellery, cooking, hair thing-a-majigs, industrial artwork and furniture are beginning to flood Instagram and Facebook. When you take a closer look, many of their creators are work from home (either full-time or on the side) rural dwellers.

So where do you find these opportunities (if you don’t make them yourself)? The big hitters in the online job sites will quickly pull up many options when you search for “work from home” or “remote”.  More specific sites include Pointer Remote Roles and Upwork for freelance roles.

Regardless of where you find them, the possibility of working from your own piece of paradise is no longer as far-fetched as it once seemed to be. 


Posted on Saturday, 26 January 2019
in Latest News