Jobs you can do with a laptop and internet connection?
Discussion
As well as sales, probably recruitment as well.
A few years ago, I took a job in recruitment. Never done it before, but I was invited for an interview by the owners of the company. Reason being I was registered with them, so that they might find me a job in my sector of printing and publishing.
However, after a couple of weeks of me fairly constantly calling them and being a bit of a pain, constantly asking if they'd found me a suitable position yet, they said 'actually do you know what - you have exactly the kind of tenacity and personality that would fit in here!'
Turned out I was quite good at it - despite not being given any accounts, and having to find my own new leads, which were also not any of the biggest companies that all the other staff already there had sewn up.
Anyway, I digress. The only problem was that this company was a solid 2.5 hour train and tube commute from my house. So all a bit of a drag. Interestingly, some of the biggest and highest-earning deals I did were when I wasn't actually in the office.
On a few occasions, I left the office around 6pm, and went to a local pub or restaurant for some drinks and dinner, and got on the phone then. The evenings are really the best time to catch either employees I was trying to head-hunt, or Directors still at work, but after most of the other staff (and most importantly their PA or Receptionists) had gone home.
I was also really ill with a horrendous cold for a few days once, so I carried on working from home. Strangely (probably because I was in my own home environment, comfortable and un-stressed) in those few days, I also did some of my biggest deals, in fact I did one every day. The guys at the company were amazed when I wasn't in the office but I kept calling in a deal and asking them to invoice this / that client for £0000's...
So it grated a bit when, even after all that, when I asked to start working from home permanently, they turned me down flat. Apparrently they were so paranoid about their customer database, they didn't trust anyone having access to it from home all the time, in case I 'nicked' all their clients and set up on my own.
Ok, some would maybe, but I wouldn't have done.
A few years ago, I took a job in recruitment. Never done it before, but I was invited for an interview by the owners of the company. Reason being I was registered with them, so that they might find me a job in my sector of printing and publishing.
However, after a couple of weeks of me fairly constantly calling them and being a bit of a pain, constantly asking if they'd found me a suitable position yet, they said 'actually do you know what - you have exactly the kind of tenacity and personality that would fit in here!'
Turned out I was quite good at it - despite not being given any accounts, and having to find my own new leads, which were also not any of the biggest companies that all the other staff already there had sewn up.
Anyway, I digress. The only problem was that this company was a solid 2.5 hour train and tube commute from my house. So all a bit of a drag. Interestingly, some of the biggest and highest-earning deals I did were when I wasn't actually in the office.
On a few occasions, I left the office around 6pm, and went to a local pub or restaurant for some drinks and dinner, and got on the phone then. The evenings are really the best time to catch either employees I was trying to head-hunt, or Directors still at work, but after most of the other staff (and most importantly their PA or Receptionists) had gone home.
I was also really ill with a horrendous cold for a few days once, so I carried on working from home. Strangely (probably because I was in my own home environment, comfortable and un-stressed) in those few days, I also did some of my biggest deals, in fact I did one every day. The guys at the company were amazed when I wasn't in the office but I kept calling in a deal and asking them to invoice this / that client for £0000's...
So it grated a bit when, even after all that, when I asked to start working from home permanently, they turned me down flat. Apparrently they were so paranoid about their customer database, they didn't trust anyone having access to it from home all the time, in case I 'nicked' all their clients and set up on my own.
Ok, some would maybe, but I wouldn't have done.
Interesting stuff.
I've been a graphic designer for 20 years but pay is abysmal, at least when you stack it up against UK living costs, so I need to find a solution. Last October I was in Fuerteventura where you can buy a nice, two bed villa with a pool for £80k, you never need to turn the heating on, petrol is 80p per litre and their equivalent of council tax is £100 per year. Basically, the cost of living there is about in line with ordinary wages in the UK, and their internet is plenty good enough, hence my curiosity.
Obviously if I moved there I'd struggle to find decent paying work locally, but if I could take my work with me from the UK it would be a different story. Plus, I have an online business idea which I'm exploring so a job where I'm allowed to work the hours I choose as long as the work gets done would provide some useful flexibility.
I've been a graphic designer for 20 years but pay is abysmal, at least when you stack it up against UK living costs, so I need to find a solution. Last October I was in Fuerteventura where you can buy a nice, two bed villa with a pool for £80k, you never need to turn the heating on, petrol is 80p per litre and their equivalent of council tax is £100 per year. Basically, the cost of living there is about in line with ordinary wages in the UK, and their internet is plenty good enough, hence my curiosity.
Obviously if I moved there I'd struggle to find decent paying work locally, but if I could take my work with me from the UK it would be a different story. Plus, I have an online business idea which I'm exploring so a job where I'm allowed to work the hours I choose as long as the work gets done would provide some useful flexibility.
Jasandjules said:
Hoofy said:
Indeed. I don't know why so many people still commute to work.
Because many employers think that working from home means their staff will simply watch daytime TV etc. The fact that it is easy to check because the work wouldn't be done, doesn't seem to cross their minds.trackdemon said:
Translator. My girlfriend speaks 6 languages and could work from a beach in Indonesia, whilst charging rates that give a decent € income. We'd live like lords over there. That gives me an idea! 
Up to a point. This is what I do for a living (and in theory I could do this job with just a laptop and an Internet connection, but there's a bit more to it than that), but simply speaking a variety of languages isn't enough to cut it as a translator. You also have to understand various cultural concepts in your source language and, most importantly, be able to express yourself clearly, accurately and correctly in your native language. It's not the simple job people seem to think it is. Sure, there are easy texts and there are hard texts, but overall I'd say most of them are a bit harder than "easy". I've just completed a project which was painfully slow and difficult - and that's with 23 years of professional translation experience behind me.The beach in Indonesia sounds like a plan though, the only problem is the time difference. It'd be rubbish having to work all night and sleep on the beach all day.
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff