For our generation of parents, the world of work was very simple: they woke up with an alarm clock, took a shower, had a quick breakfast, and started the arduous morning commute to their offices, factories, or stores. The schedule was always the same, from Monday to Friday, with a blessed break in the daily routine for a weekend that was too short.
But today… well, today is a little different. Millions of people around the world now live from home. They wake up when they are ready. They drink coffee (or champagne, as my wife does occasionally) while attending a conference call across the ocean while checking client and client emails from Sydney to Singapore. They only work what their lifestyle requires, and the weekend can be moved to Tuesday afternoons on a whim. In reality, of course, it’s not that simple. Working from home can be tough and requires endless motivation to get up and get the job done without a boss looking over your shoulder. However, in recent years we have seen the development of many technologies that make work from home in Singapore easier; wonderful futuristic gadgets that help us manage our work with the latest apps, structure our day and propel us toward greater achievements.
Until recently, home workers who needed Internet access were tethered to their bulky desktops or laptops. It wasn’t until Apple launched the iPhone and iPad that online work became truly mobile, allowing us to conveniently connect with the world from any room in the house and get our work done on the go if needed. The impact of the iPhone and iPad, along with competing tablets, on homeworkers should not be underestimated. What started as a novelty has been very well received, and today, home workers use tablets for everything from creating spreadsheets and invoices, to contacting and finding new clients and even watching the occasional movie during breaks.
Before Skype came along, there were two ways to communicate with clients while working from home: call them on the phone or send them an email. The former could be costly, especially when our clients were abroad, while the latter wasted valuable time waiting hours or days for a response.
Services like Skype have done nothing less than revolutionizing the way homeworkers communicate. Calls that used to cost dollars now sometimes cost pennies or nothing, and now we can share ideas and find new customers at the touch of a button, reaching anyone in the world without checking a phone bill.
Skype may be the best example of an app that makes working from home easier in Singapore, but it’s far from the only one. As technology advances at a rapid pace, we find new ways to be more productive and organized every day. Antivirus software and improved firewalls make our (and our customers’) data more secure every day. Online apps and resources like Google Docs and Apple’s Numbers app help us plan our finances. Advances in hardware offer more powerful computers and faster Internet at a better price than ever before, giving us features that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.
As you can see, there has never been a better time to work from home. More than ever in our history, we all have the tools to succeed on our own. All it takes is hard work, persistence, ambition, and vision, and while there’s no app for that, hopefully, you’ll find it within you to enjoy all the benefits of working from home.