​If you ever wanted to find an opportunity to work remotely, there is no time like right now to explore your options both outside your current organization and also for where you are at now. In the past working remotely was viewed as less productive and not for those who were serious about whir jobs and careers. Since most employers in the past were not very flexible in providing opportunities for folks to try out remote work and demonstrate that this does work well, there was no real evidence to point to for justifying remote work as legitimate value-added service to the organization. And for many of us, we might not have been sure this would work since were never given the opportunity to work remotely. But all that changed since the global pandemic. For many of us, we now have over one year plus of real-world experience to justify our performance working remotely and provide hard data to show the many benefits of working remotely, either part time in a hybrid mode or full time.
And it turns out that there are just many benefits to the employers as there are to employees for working remotely.  Specifically, these relate to the bottom-line profits, which is welcome news for those who wish to justify continuing to work remotely. This really ids a win:win situation and now we can prove it.
Benefits to the Employer
So here are some data points which provide justification of the benefits to employers and organizations for supporting remote work:

• Cost Savings: Companies are saving over $10,000 per employee per year working remotely due to reduced real estate, utilities and maintenance costs. Office space is expensive, so are utility costs for heating, cooling and costs for cleaning and maintenance services.
• Additional Work Hours: By saving on commuting time and now being available during this time, employees have an average of two or more additional hours per day to be productive at work activities and/or actively participating in meetings. Even if the total work day is limited to 8 hours, this means employees have a larger window of availability to engage in activities outside of normal hours, such as meetings with colleagues in other time zones.

• Attracting Workers: Recruiting is easier when remote work is an option. This is seen as a valuable benefit to job seekers. It may convince some to switch employers if they currently do not have this option.
• Low-Cost Benefit: Working remotely, even part of the time (1 or 2 days a week and/or having a flexible schedule) is valued as a real benefit. This costs a lot less than signing bonuses, increased pay or club memberships.

• Resource Savings: People are more likely to accept jobs with lower pay rates than they currently earn in order to enable them to be able to work remotely.  
• Limitless Geography: Employers can attract and recruit people from diverse geographical areas without having to pay relocation costs. More job applicants will be willing to apply for jobs in other areas if they can live where they want.
• Retaining Talent: Turnover rates are lower by more than 20% when employees have flexible work options, including remote work.
• More Efficient Meetings: Remote meetings can be arranged to include people from different locations, there is no need to allow for travel time nor have to find an available conference room. Presentations can be shared and viewed equally by all participants (there is no one closer or farther from the projector or screen).
• Lower Absenteeism: Employees can continue to work remotely if school is closed or children are sick or roads are unsafe to travel on due to bad weather.
• Business Continuity Planning (BCP): Remote work provides for business continuity in the event of bad weather, local outages or limited access to the office such as fire, flood or road closures.
• Lower Carbon Footprint: With less employees needing to travel by car or bus, this reduces fuel consumption and reduces exhaust and carbon emissions. More companies are looking to address environmental concerns and remote work is a quick, effective and less expensive alternative to purchasing carbon offsets and credits.

Benefits to the Employee
For employees working remotely, here are some of the key benefits:

• Resolves Work-Life Issues: Having flexibility allows for managing family commitments and appointments and other life issues in tandem with meeting objectives at work ,versus having the two in conflict. This is a win:win situation rather than choosing one at the expense of the other.
• Reduced Stress: Working in comfortable surroundings and not having to deal with traffic, crowded and delayed transportation and rushing to get out the door is more conducive to taking a calmer more logical proactive approach to work situations versus being stressed out and over reactive.
• Greater Productivity: With a flexible schedule, some work can be done during peak productivity times, i.e., some folks do their best work in the early hours of the morning while others work well late at night.
• More Energy Spent on Working: Less energy spent on getting ready, beating the traffic and commuting. This energy can then be focused on mor valuable endeavors such as problem solving, writing proposals, analyzing data, publishing presentations or completing budgets.
• More Time Available for Self-Care: When time exists for exercise, meditation, medical appointments, connection with family and friends, etc., this results in greater happiness and contentment which leads to improved performance at work.

Hesitations To Overcome / Perceived Obstacles (Not Necessarily Real Ones)
In the past, remote work was seen as play-working, hanging out at home all day in pajamas and having a vacation while getting paid. Remote workers were generally viewed as less productive and less serious about their jobs than workers who came in to the office. A lot of that perception has changed since the great pandemic-induced remote working experiment of 2020, however there are still some lingering doubts and hesitations to address an overcome to change this mindset. Here are some common perceived obstacles to working remotely.

• Lack of Focus: It is perceived that remote workers will be less productive due to the distractions of being at home, like children, household chores, personal errands, etc. Yes, this is possible however this situation also exists in an office setting as folks are on their phones or chit-chatting by the break room or taking long lunches or coming in late and leaving early. The fact is, there some people who will take advantage of the work environment no matter what or where it is located so working remotely is not really the root cause of this problem. The solution to this is good oversight and management of peoples work and holding them accountable for producing the deliverables needed at the time needed. Managers need to judge by results, not by whether someone is sitting at their desk from 8 to 5 every day. If the work is getting done well and on time, then that is what is really important regardless of where the person is.
• Lack of Trust: Some employers just do not trust that their employees will be working unless they are physically watching them. And typically, if you expect the worst from people, they won’t disappoint you. Employees who are treated like irresponsible kids will not feel valued nor motivated to prove themselves as it will not matter to management anyway. Likewise, if you expect the best out of folks and trust them to do the right things more often than not, they will live up to your expectations. Yes, again there are always people who find ways to take advantage and once again the answer to this is good management and holding everyone accountable for their responsibilities. If work is being done well and on time, then this is what really matters. If not, then this is a performance issue to be dealt with and will likely be the same person and same issue even if they are in the office full time.  
• Lack of Collaboration: Remote workers are viewed as working in isolation and lacking in interactions with coworkers. Interaction is key to collaborative problem solving and good teamwork.  The fact is, that when remote employees or teams need to communicate or collaborate, there are more options ad tools available for collaborating than ever before. We now have instant messaging, collaborative document editing, screen sharing, whiteboard exercises, online training, and mobile devices which enable us to be in touch any time from anywhere. Yes, there are some times when it is preferable to be at a live in-person meeting, such as for demonstrating new devices and training new employees, and these are situations where a hybrid approach, such as working at the office part of the day or week as needed.  This hybrid approach results in more focused and value-added time at the office where the important tasks requiring in person attendance get done efficiently and very little time is spent on routine tasks like reading emails or writing documents or data analysis as these can be accomplished remotely.
• Information Security Risk: Remote workers are viewed as a security risk to the information systems and IT infrastructure as it is more challenging to enforce IT security protocols, software patches and information protection plans when people are remotely connected to company networks. This is more challenging but far from impossible. Many organizations have faced these challenges and have developed and implemented workable security solutions. Think about the banking and financial industries. Not too long ago, if you wanted to manage money (something very important to the functioning of our society) you had to physically visit a bank during “banking hours” and meet with a person and sign paper documents to ensure “security”. But now we can log into our accounts remotely online, even on our phones, and perform many banking functions even depositing checks online 24 hours a day. This was considered “insecure” until recently. Now online banking is a workable solution. When there is a will there is a way.

In conclusion, for those employees who want to work remotely, there is real business driven data which supports remote and/or hybrid flexible work arrangements as viable solutions moving forward to support business objectives and improve employee morale, without incurring significant costs. People are the most valuable assets to an organization, a win:win solution on the working environment which satisfies everyone’s needs will separate the top tier organizations attracting the best talent from the rest of the pack looking to go back to the old times. 

How many times have you struggled with trying to come up with a good idea? An idea for a business, for the perfect gift for someone, what to make for dinner, or what craft projects will keep the kids entertained. It often feels like the more effort and focus on coming up with the idea, the more out of reach it becomes. “Wracking your brain” is what my grade school teacher used to call this process, and it never really yielded great results then or now.   

Information overload from reading through ad-laden internet posts does not usually provide ideas which inspire any confidence, as the resulting answers are random and impersonal, or may simply reflect the opinions of a few superusers of the site.

A new startup has taken ideation to the tech-age by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze prompted information supplied by the requester to generate ideas specifically tailored to each request, thereby instilling a level of confidence not possible with random searches. Artificial intelligence has been on the horizon for many years but is now reaching a level of maturity making it a valuable and legitimate tool to solve real world issues and support human decision-making endeavors.

Give it a try for FREE at https://thought-ideas.com/home

Find the perfect gift idea, what to make for dinner, what books are recommended for you to read, business ideas and now You Tube Video ideas.

Feedback is always appreciated as the site is being perfected. 

In these days of remote working and online interactions it is more important than ever to keep your mind active and engaged in something which will drive you forward. Many studies have confirmed that as we get older, it is vital to exercise our minds as well as our bodies in order to sustain our health and well-being. Continuous learning is the ley to maintain an active positive mind and continual growth of skills and confidence, even as we reach what most consider to be the tail end of our careers. The truth is that it’s not too late and yes you can teach an old dog new tricks. Keeping you mind challenged by learning something new has many immediate benefits, including: reduced stress, a more positive outlook, more confidence, a sharper mind, and even better performance at your job or possibly a new job or career altogether. 
Now is an ideal time to explore the many options of online learning and developing new skills for the new economy or just for your personal satisfaction. Isn’t there something you always wanted to learn but never had the opportunity or the time? With the shift to virtual learning and remote work, there are many more options available to you that you never had before. You now have a world where you have some extra time by not commuting and you have more courses and certification programs online that ever before.
For me what I always wished learned when I was younger is coding and programming. This is a very dynamic filed which is constantly evolving and impacts all areas of our current society and economy. I always wanted to learn how things work and become a contributor to developing better technologies, not just a user of technology. I ended up in an engineering field and while this has bene good over the years, I will have a keen interest in learning the new and latest technology skills. This stuff makes me feel like a kid again and it also helps me contribute valuable ideas in my current engineering role. Lately I have stumbled upon a series of online programs designed to be engaging, fun, challenging and efficient in developing new coding and programming skills. All at a reasonable cost, and some it free! https://stude.co/1031503/coding-and-programming  (disclosure: affiliate link). And now that I have just a bit more time…I am taking the plunge.  There are so may compelling reasons to keep on learning and developing your mind and skills. You never know where this will take you.

Until next time...

There are many options for side income streams that can  supplement your current income or provide a platform for a part-time side business that you cold eventually grow into a full-time venture (i.e. quit your day job).  You must have seen many ads and webinars for “Affiliate Marketing”, “Taking Surveys”, “Franchising”, “Freelancing”, “Day Trading”, and the list goes on… All of these have the potential to make you some money but they do require an investment and commitment of time and/or money.  If you are currently holding a fulltime job, and need it to pay for things like housing, health insurance, college, groceries, utilities etc., you likely do not have much of either of these to spare on a business venture that might or might not work. So what do you do?

First, you must decide on your life’s priorities. For me, yes I could spend all my non-working hours working on a side business, and I started out this way years ago, but soon realized that this would lead to giving up on things that were more important to me, like getting married and stating a family.

So the second step is to define just how much time you have available for a side business, and when you actually write it all down, it is more than you might think. You need to think of time outside the box of large dedicated hours and hours. For busy working adults, this time is more spread out; think about how I am writing this post now while waiting for the dentist. If someone asked me “you should think about starting a blog”, I would probably reply “I don’t have the time needed for that”. But somehow I do. Last weekend I reworked the website while waiting for 6 hours at DMV to get my license renewed. I have also gotten up just 20 minutes early to follow up on orders of my online products and hired writers to help with book manuscripts. Maybe free time is available during the commercials, or skipping a TV show now and then, it’s different for everyone but its within your control to identify and focus on the time you do have.

The third step is to define how much money you are willing to invest. If you are going for a franchise, you might need $200,000+. If you need specialized training or a certification you might need $5,000+. If you are starting a freelance writing business or blog you might need $50. It’s all up to you, but be clear up front so you don’t end up pouring more and more money into one idea when it might be better to reevaluate and change direction. For me, the time limitation dictated the money limitation. There was no way I would invest over $5000 in a business that I could only afford to spend a few hours a month on. I would surely end up losing this investment.

Last, you need to define a business that you will enjoy doing or one that gives you a purpose, something that drives you forward. If you start a side business that is pure drudgery, you will reach a point where it’s just not worth it to continue, even if you are making some money it will just not be worth the pain to push harder to grow it. More likely you will drop it or let is tail off.

​So given all those considerations what types of side business will work? It will be different for each person and situation, but for me it became clear that producing a product which I had control over and selling it on an established marketplace was the right place to start. My product of choice was information products, namely eBooks, Print Books, Manuals and Business Templates. I took a few online courses to learn about this business and then hit the ground running. I create these products myself and I sell them on the following marketplaces, check these out:

• Amazon 
• Fiverr 
• Smashwords 

It is definitely possible to startup and run a side business, even when “responsibilities” limit your time, funding and flexibility. It only become impossible when you give up or when you believe it impossible. Never give ever ever up!

Until next time.
All the best,

​Erik

​We are starting a forum for folks thinking about or running a side business. Check out our LinkedIn survey here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6729871963050921984
There are endless programs and courses out there which claim to make you tons of money. You’ve seen headlines like this right? “In fact, I earned over $20k in royalties in a single day”, “…pushing a button, and watching earnings simply pour into your account…”, or “no experience, no selling, no website, no investment needed…”. 
​I have tried some of these myself (more than I care to admit) and while they do contain some valuable insights, none have lived up to the claims presented in the marketing ads. Has that discouraged me from continuing down the path of part-time entrepreneurship? Not at all. In fact what I have learned from this journey is that the reasons for having a side business are more than just making tons of money, and the reasons that most of these programs fall short is that they do not address the key requirements needed to be successful, and these are different for each of us and every situation is different, so there is no “one size fits all” program that works for anyone. But that should not stop nor discourage you from exploring and burning desire you have to make a side business work, which you just can’t shake. There are many good reasons for having a side business, besides getting rich, which are of different relative importance for each of us. Here are a few:

• Diversification of income, not putting all your eggs in one basket.
• Builds self confidence to be able to create and manage a business without having the safety network of an employer.  
• Control of your time and efforts, not being directed by a boss or dealing with organizational politics.
• Learning new skills that motivate you and keep your mind active (very important as you get older).
• Provides options to stay active and engaged after retirement, or when between jobs.
• Possibility of making this a full-time occupation, when you are ready.
• Gives you an opportunity to solve a problem that is meaningful to you and help people overcome this.
• Provides work for others, can hire employees or enlist the service of others.
• Creates a value-added entity that you can pass along to your children / heirs etc. or sell.

Now, as for reasons for being hesitant and/or not moving ahead with starting and/or growing a side business, be aware of these but DO NOT feel like having these concerns = failure, absolutely not! Use these concerns to help guide you in making more informed decisions. Keep forging ahead, you have more expertise, insights and good sense that you likely give yourself credit for. Don’t get discouraged by the disappointing get-rich plans that have not worked out in the past.
More to come on this topic – until next time.
All the best,
Erik

​In the midst of all the uncertainty, fear and confusion going on right now in the world, it is important to hold onto the things that are within your control and and focus on what you can do right now to lift yourself up and look forward to a brighter and better future.
You’ve always wanted to be able to work from home or work remotely right?  But most organizations have been very resistant to allowing remote work because remote workers are viewed as less productive or lazy or just taking a vacation and pretending to work (translation “If we can't see you and look over your shoulder, we don’t trust you to be responsible”).

But now all the rules have suddenly changed.  No, this isn’t the way that I or anyone would have ever wanted it to be, but since we are forced to be in this situation anyway, why not use this opportunity (if we can call it that) to prove that working remotely from home really does work and it works very well.  

Now that many of us are participating in this mandatory study of the effects for working remotely, the data is showing that people are actually more productive and effective in producing more work and engaging in more working hours during the day versus commuting into the office or work location each day.  In fact, recent data shows people are 55-70% more productive in terms of work output per day now that they are working remotely.  The apparent reasons for this are many, including the following:

• No time spent commuting to and from work. This includes reduced stress of driving in heavy traffic and/or mass transit delays,, in addition to time saved. This could add up to 2 or more hours per day that can now be used for productive work time.
• Fewer distractions from “informal meetings” (people popping into your workspace, conversations in the break room, Hallway conversations and getting pulled into meetings by chance encounters).
• Increased flexibility lets you work when you are most productive and maximizes greatest results in least time.
• Greater freedom of time enables proper balancing of work and personal/family time leading to less stress, greater focus when at work and increased loyalty of employees to the organization that is supportive of their efforts.

Now is the time to keep this momentum moving forward.  We have all the tools we need to be able to connect and collaborate remotely and we can make this work, now and into the future as needed.  This time and situation will pass but let’s hold onto all the valuable lessons learned.Bottom line is that this is really working and now there is real data to back this up. And answer all the doubters out there.  Working from home is real work and gets real results, sop let’s not go back to looking down upon those who desire to work remotely, they are very valuable contributors and need to be supported.

Look for more articles on how to maximize efficiency working remotely, what tools work well for remote work and more to come...

​A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a roadmap to enable a business to continue operations under adverse conditions, such as an unforeseen disaster or other unplanned interruption to the business.  This includes:
Natural Disasters, such as: bad weather, flooding, earthquake, disease, etc.

​In the modern business world, we have lots of quick and easy channels of communication.  Remember the old days when we used to actually have to write a memo (on paper) and actually send it to someone?  Now we have instant communications with email, IM, text…  Things should get done faster and better now right?  Well that’s not exactly how things have evolved.  

​One of the biggest ticket items in being successful in anything you do is making effective decisions.  If you want to go somewhere, you need to decide where you want to go and follow a consistent set of directions.   Remember, the most efficient way to get there is in a straight line.  Same is true for projects, goals, objectives, dreams….anything you want to do.  The challenge is to make an effective decision which will accomplish the objective in the least amount of time and effort and this requires the following:

​A common gripe in every organization I have been associated with is “we need more people” or “we have too much to do and not enough hours in the day”.  Have you heard these things?  It seems to be a common theme no matter how many people there are because there are always more ideas out there and it is always much faster to think or re-think of things that need to be done much faster than anyone can possibly do them.