About 10 years ago, I met for the first time someone who was working remotely. I hate commuting (As an employee, I have always lived close to my office) and at that point, I had decided this was what I wanted. It took me about 3 years to get to that point. Here is how it worked for me:
- Start freelancing. I started by negotiating with my employer to transform a full-time job into a part-time one. This is a great way to start.
- Accept what you find until you can get 100% freelance, but have a preference for remote work. Be ready to cut your rates to work remotely.
- Grow your network and reputation until you can have 100% of remote work at a decent rate.
Now we moved to a countryside we like with my wife, we have a house for half the price of an apartment in the city we used to live. I now say upfront to clients that I can only work remotely. I occasionally go to meetings in Tokyo (which is a bit less than 2h away from where I live) but Skype works most of the time.
Be available. Be reactive. Be ready to make mistakes that will cost you time and stress. Be ready to have some shitty clients that will bitch and won't pay. It takes a few years before you get to a level where the stress is lower than an employee job but it is worth it IMHO.
A very practical piece of advice! Thanks. This is roughly the picture I had in my mind about how to progress. My mother (who is a full-time consultant now) did this. She'd work at the government office during the first half of the day, then offer consultations during the rest of the day at a private establishment. She carried this on for several years and finally, when she retired from government service, she went into full-time practice and that seems to be working very well for her. The time-line of this is much longer than what you managed but I think her focus was never to quit government service asap.
Congratulations on where you are! I'd love for something like this in my career.
To give you an idea of the kind of freedom you get, I am actually French, used to live in Lyon, and married a Japanese woman. When I reached 100% of remote work, I told my wife "say, wanna go live in Japan?". When I told my clients I was moving, so they should expect a 1-2 weeks of downtime on my side, I had an important client in Australia. His reaction was "Cool! Our timezones will be closer!"
My situation is very similar, actually. My wife and I are of different nationalities and would ideally like to have the flexibility to move to each others home countries when needed and still be able to work without much hassle. She's making an effort on her part, and this is a part of my effort :).
I didn't enjoy working part time only because I felt like I fell out of the loop.
I'd come to work and a bunch of stuff was already done, etc.
So I'd say, try and make sure that you don't get so caught up in new stuff that you're no longer productive with old stuff. That can also be very frustrating.
- Start freelancing. I started by negotiating with my employer to transform a full-time job into a part-time one. This is a great way to start.
- Accept what you find until you can get 100% freelance, but have a preference for remote work. Be ready to cut your rates to work remotely.
- Grow your network and reputation until you can have 100% of remote work at a decent rate.
Now we moved to a countryside we like with my wife, we have a house for half the price of an apartment in the city we used to live. I now say upfront to clients that I can only work remotely. I occasionally go to meetings in Tokyo (which is a bit less than 2h away from where I live) but Skype works most of the time.
Be available. Be reactive. Be ready to make mistakes that will cost you time and stress. Be ready to have some shitty clients that will bitch and won't pay. It takes a few years before you get to a level where the stress is lower than an employee job but it is worth it IMHO.