A few weeks ago, employment site flexjobs performed one of the most in-depth analyses ever of the growing trend in remote working.

The findings cast a new perspective on the topic of remote work – intriguingly, they showed that being able to work remotely does not necessarily mean you can work from anywhere.

In fact, around 95 percent of remote employment opportunities still had a geographic requirement, and the research identified the 15 states that have the most remote working opportunities, with California taking pride of place at the top of the pile.

How remote is remote?

It might sound counter-intuitive – after all, surely the whole point of hiring remote workers is that they can be home based and will telecommute using online tools such as email, Skype, Messenger, teleconferencing and shared online work platforms. By that logic, it really shouldn’t matter if you are in California, New Mexico or indeed the depths of Africa as long as you have a reliable internet connection.

The reasons employers still adopt some form of geographical requirements are various. Sometimes it is for purely practical reasons relating to taxation, professional licensing and so on. In other cases, while the employee can be routinely home-based, there is the need for periodic meetings and face-to-face interaction. Clearly, if someone has to attend an office in California once or twice a month, the employer will not want to have to fly them in from hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Types of remote work

The concept of remote working is certainly changing our whole conception of the 21st century workplace, and nowhere more so than in California. Most people would assume that this is because of Silicon Valley and that the major remote employers are in the tech industries. This is only partially true.

The report listed the top three remote employers in California, and only one, Red Hat was in the tech sector. The other two were Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a provider of educational resources with a history dating back 180 years, and ULTA, a beauty retailer.

Ironically enough, the theme of remote working is not restricted to the employees. Anyone with an eagle eye might notice that while these three companies are the top employers of remote workers in California, they are, themselves, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Boston, Massachusetts and Bolingbroke, Illinois respectively.

Taking remote work into your own hands

Remote work providers greater flexibility and the opportunity to attain that commonly cited “holy grail,” the work/life balance. Years ago, a successful career meant long hours, and parents (typically fathers, but also mothers) who left the house early, got home late and only saw their kids at weekends.

Being a remote worker doesn’t just reduce the cost, stress, time and environmental impact of the commute. It also means you can dovetail work and family commitments far more easily. Busy executives can take a 30 minute time-out morning and afternoon to do the school run, or if they wish, they can start work at 6AM and finish early afternoon, spending the rest of the day on leisure activities.

For ultimate control over your own life and career, however, there is nothing like being your own boss, and this is a road being trodden by a larger proportion of the population with every passing year. From freelance writers to independent financial advisers and from web designers to window cleaners, there are more opportunities than ever. But perhaps the most interesting sub-sector here is the explosion in individuals setting up as private traders and investors.

Forex trading – the ultimate stay at home career?

Whatever our employment status, we’ve all had to become a lot more financially literate over recent years. Investment strategies have, by necessity, become more complex as we seek out ways to get some sort of yield in tough economic conditions.

Forex has become an obvious choice for many. The markets never sleep and the fact that they are in constant motion, like the rising and falling tides, means there is always money to be made as long as you know the best Forex currency pairs to trade. That in itself is something of an art form, but growing popularity has meant an abundance of resources popping up offering advice and training.

What is interesting is that for those who develop an aptitude for trading, it can rapidly evolve from what many call a side hustle into a full time career. As traders get more knowledgeable, so they make better trades, and so they generate more money. It is a simple enough equation and it is one that is hard to argue with.

In that context, it is no surprise that amateurs are taking up Forex trading in their droves. In many ways, it provides the perfect remote working freedom, and the more you put in, the more you can get out. Ultimately, it’s the 21st century take on the American Dream.

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