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6 tips to succeed in freelancing and remote work

Diego Eis on November 02, 2017

Oppositely to what many believe, remote work and freelance projects are not easy. I know it's everyone's dreams to stay at home, organize their own...
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Camilo

Good tips.
One I think it´s super important too is.

  1. Have a proper work environment

Before taking any client work ensure that your work environment is fully equiped with good internet, great computer, proper mic and webcam and devices for testing (if you are a mobile dev) and proper communication, project and time management tools.

Also look for a quiet place. If you work from home maybe the people you live with will ask you for chores and other house related tasks while you are working.

If it´s difficult to separate work and house tasks it´s better that you work somewhere else. Like a library, coffee shops or a dedicated office (co-working or small office). This will also help mitigating the psicological issues that emerges when working in the same room you sleep in.

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Ted Hagos

The separation of "where you live" and "where you work", I think, should be pretty high-up in the considerations for remote-work. When you get distracted, you can't focus, when you can't focus, you won't finish; and there goes your word-of -mouth marketing.

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Diego Eis

Yeah!
Usually, companies that have a good remote culture in action, help the employee with hardware, internet, accessories etc, to create a good equipped place to work. If is not the case, take some money to invest in a good computer, monitor, keyboard, chair and a better internet is a must to have.

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Max

Any got a good tutorial on morse code? It has gotten kinda rusty over time

:P

I will be doing more remote work in 2018, since i'm making the transition from a regular job to freelance. These things apply to normal jobs too, but for some this might be good info.

Being honest is very important. If you cannot do a task, or it's taking too much time, just say so. Your team will help you out. And if you don't, you will only waste more time and everyone will know eventually.

I've seen colleagues struggling with tasks who just kept trying and trying (and thus wasting time) until the point i couldn't stand it any longer (both seeing them struggle and losing resources) and helped them out, or connected them to someone who could help them. I don't know if it's pride or something else, but it's no shame to ask for help, or just talk to someone.

The rubber duck is underrated ;)

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Der Sascha

This article explain not only the remote work. I think this will be the same for all workers, it dies not matter if he is a onsite or offsite worker.

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Diego Eis

You are right, Sascha. Many of these problems happen even the dev are working face to face with the team. I don't know how many times someone goes out to lunch and forgets to commit some important code. :-\

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Der Sascha

Yes for sure, the lunchtime commit is very important I think. But the most developers are scared about the "Do not commit stuff that is not working" so they don't do it. I think that it is OK when someone commit not fully working stuff, but he must inform the coworkers about, or do a push in a separate branch. :)

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Michael Orji • Edited

Great write up. Thank you for putting this down. One of my best reads so far. This should be made into an official manual for freelancers and remote workers. Maybe create a GitHub project for this? Others could contribute to it. I'm available for co-operation, or if you're time-constrained, with your permission, I could create a repository for this.

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Worksnaps

These are useful tips, Diego! Our followers would find it useful, definitely sharing!

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Diego Eis

Ow! Thanks for sharing! <3

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Alonso Ato Neyra

Great article. I worked in an office for 3 years and now I'm working from remote as freelancer. This is really helpful to me.

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Kwabena Bio Berko

Very useful
Thanks!

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Diego Eis

Thx! :-)

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Khurshid Alam Jony

Very useful and helpful

Thanks

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Diego Eis

Good to know, Khurshid!

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Samuyi

Great article. One question though, how does one market himself to get remote work?

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Diego Eis

I think is more important to find a company that have the a remote culture in action. The point is: usually theses companies look to a great dev with great skills with a big sense of responsibility.

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FallingBrick

That's very useful. Thanks!

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Bytegasm!

I've decided to work remotely in 2018. My first week felt a bit weirdly different than regular office hours, but I'm getting the hang of it. Well be using your tips in the coming month.

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Diego Eis

Great!
Good luck and go on!

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IbnuAmin

Yay, the "always repo up to date" tips is very useful. I remember that I must re work a feature because i delete the folder before i push it i to repo