Obviously not everybody can work remotely as lots of careers require individuals to go to their office or travel to undertake their tasks in person. But for those of us given the opportunity to work remotely then I thought it would be useful to share my experiences and present some practical advice by writing and publishing it online in the hope that I could give others valuable ways for adapting to remote working or supervising remote workers.

I should warn you that there are a lot of people out there who will try and make you purchase courses for vast sums of cash, take my word for it you don’t have to do this.

I am lucky enough to be permitted to work wherever I choose and just about everybody who asks me what I do for a living wants to get an idea of how I manage to work remotely. Don’t misinterpret me I am still learning about the art of remote working as all of the time I discover tribes online who teach me new tricks and I am repeatedly finding new technologies and methods that make my life easier and make me more effective.

In the past 7 years I have substantially adapted my working processes to let me to do just about all of my work remotely with a kit of web tools and rigid self discipline. One day whilst browsing the net I found Quickbooks online and this opened my eyes to what just might be possible. My discovery of ’hosted’ ‘on demand’ small business accounting software was a ‘light bulb’ moment for me and the start of my ‘remote working history.

I should tell you up front that productively working remotely is as much about the systems as it is about self discipline. Working remotely also means informing your colleagues, managers and clients as to what they can expect and how they will stay in touch with you.

In ‘Remote Working Part 2 – Fundamental behaviours – Basic discipline’ I talk about how to focus.