2nd Annual Telework Week March 5-9, 2012: Highlights in The Anywhere Office
March 5, 2012 by Phil Montero · Leave a Comment
Today marks the beginning of the second annual Telework Week hosted by Telework Exchange. The goal is to encourage people and organizations to pledge to telework during this week in order to get a first hand account of just how flexible, simple, and economical it can be to work in this mode. Already, more than 64,000 pledges have signed up for Telework Week, collectively saving more than $4.7 million in commuting costs in just one week.
I thought this event was a great opportunity to look back on my own year and review what we have accomplished to champion telework here in The Anywhere Office. Early in the year we published a free white paper called, WORK UNCHAINED: Workshifting and the Competitive Edge of The Anywhere Office®‘- this 16 page special report details:
Why workshifting provides a critical competitive edge- Common mistakes to avoid when enabling a mobile workforce
- Best practices for evaluating your organization before implementing a workshifting strategy
- How to assess information, communication and collaboration needs
- Key tools to consider when implementing a workshifting program
Then I was fortunate to be included on a panel of experts along with Jeff Zbar and Rachel Hastings to produce a teleseminar entitled, Telecommuting in the 21st Century: How to Implement or Improve Virtual Teams and Flexible Work in Your Organization which I turned into a free 13 part audio series. These 13 sessions comprise over an hour of informative content and will provide you with all the information you need to help you evaluate if telecommuting is a good fit for your business and how to get started or improve your virtual team work.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly for me, I redeveloped my virtual team leadership webinar – The Art of Virtual Leadership. It now contains new and updated material and for the first time it’s available on-demand on any device that has Internet access. This 3-hour concise go-at-your-own pace course is packed with easy-to-understand overviews, key takeaways, action plans, checklists, tips, audio interviews, best practices, steps to take, proven strategies and more.
So, I’m proud of what we’ve created and contributed this year – and I hope you all can find some useful guidance and advice in this information. In order to celebrate Telework Week 2012 in the hopes that more organazations and individuals will realize the tremendous benefits of telecommuting, workshifting, and virtual teamwork, I am going to give away 2 FREE enrollments to The Art of Virtual Leadership webinar (registration is currently $157).
In order to enter the contest and be eligible to win your free enrollment you must do the following 2 steps:
- Follow me on Twitter – @philmontero (I share information on telework, virtual teams, mobile technology, and tips on how to work in The Anywhere Office so I promise it’ll be worth it!)
- Send out the following Tweet (you can copy and paste it into twitter or use the tweet button below):
RT @philmontero: It’s #telework week – visit The Anywhere Office for free resources – win a $157 webinar. http://bit.ly/twk2012 #tlwk2012
To make it even easier simply click this tweet button Tweet
and you will be taken to your twitter page with the text already in place so you can just click SEND.
I am also offering a 20% discount to anyone who enrolls for The Art of Virtual Leadership during Telework Week 2012 (let’s say through Sunday March 11th). Use coupon code telework2012 in the shopping cart while registering for the webinar to receive an additional 20% off of the already discounted $197 registration fee.
Have a great Telework Week, let’s shoot for a telework MONTH next year…
Phil Montero
Founder of TheAnywhereOffice.com
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Links to Resources Mentioned Above:
Work Unchained Report: http://youcanworkfromanywhere.com/workunchained-specialreport.htm
Telecommuting in the 21st Century Audio: http://www.theanywhereoffice.com/telecommuting-in-the-21st-century
Art of Virtual Leadership Webinar: http://www.youcanworkfromanywhere.com/avl/
Why You Should Pay Attention to the Growth of Online Education
February 17, 2012 by Phil Montero · 2 Comments
If you’re like me, then the idea of online education occupies a precarious position in your mind. While you fully support and believe in the prospects of an online education, you have reservations as to how many people actually get one. Sure, you figure that some people need online education because of the same stock reasons: they can’t afford the average college tuition; they’re tied down by a rigorous day job; or they want to pursue an education in a vocational field. Basically you feel like online education is a good idea, but something that’s not meant for everyone, right?
Not so fast. As a recent study from College Board and the Babson Survey Research Group shows, online education is growing at a fast clip, with more students enrolled in online courses now than ever before. The online college student has essentially become a key demographic in higher education. So what does that mean for web-based entrepreneurs?
More people are taking online courses
Firstly, the rate of growth in the online student demographic points to the growing trend of online education. As I said before, people had previously thought of online education with skepticism, assuming that it only fit certain lifestyles. But the College Board study suggested that as many as 6.1 million people enrolled in online classes in the fall semester of 2010 alone—that’s no small figure. What’s happening is that more and more people (students, teachers, and administrators alike) are realizing first-hand that online education has potential for all students, not just people forced into a distance education experience. The College Board also stated that 65% of higher education schools implement online education into their degree programs. Online education has merits for everyone, and more teachers are designing their courses to accommodate the online model for their students.
A new kind of workforce
Imagine how a legion of online college graduates will impact the workforce. Online college students could completely change the landscape of their professions, boasting an entirely different set of skills they learned through their schooling. Not only will they know the fundamentals in their profession, these prospective employees will also bring an impressive array of web experience and computer savvy.
Think about it: many of these students spent the majority of their education doing readings, projects, tests, correspondence and more over the web, relying entirely on their computers to help them learn and absorb lesson materials. Graduates from online college programs would be a great addition to any web-centered enterprise because they’ve spent their undergraduate career using the web as a learning tool. They’ve relied on the web as their number one resource.
Moreover, graduates of an online education understand the power of the internet, that the web is something more than a series of YouTube videos and tweets. More than anyone else, a person with an online degree could grasp the potential behind a new online business venture because they’ve already experienced firsthand the revolutionary effects of the web. To put it another way: if a person put their trust in the web for higher education, you can bet that they would do the same for a professional career.
Author Bio: This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who regularly writes for Accredited Online Colleges (http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/). She welcomes your comments at her email Id: blauren99 @gmail.com.
The True Cost of Commuting (Infographic)
February 9, 2012 by Phil Montero · Leave a Comment
The infographic below shows the cost of commuting in both finances and time – then extrapolates the cost over a 10 year period for an eye-opening revelation. Thanks to Jessica Anderson for sharing this infographic she helped to create.
The numbers on this graphic remind me of a lightbulb moment I had many years ago while sitting in traffic during my daily commute to my job in New Jersey. I, also, took a moment to do the math and realized how much time I was losing just getting back and forth to my physical office.
That realization was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” which has led to over 18 years of me helping people be more mobile and work in The Anywhere Office.
Take a look and be prepared for a shock:
Click image to enlarge
Via: Streamline Refinance
A bit sickening when you think about it, huh? Amazing that so many companies still insist on having everyone in a central office when it really isn’t necessary considering these costs.
Post a comment below and share your thoughts!
3 Secrets to Turning Your Office Into The Anywhere Office – webinar replay & follow-up Q&A post
January 25, 2012 by Phil Montero · 1 Comment
Late last year, I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar for Cisco where I shared my three secrets for turning your office into The Anywhere Office®. In the presentation I discussed how the world of work has changed and that whether you’re a freelancer, entrepreneur, telecommuter or remote worker, there are smart ways to work without an office.
In case you missed it – you can watch the replay of 3 Secrets to Turning Your Office Into The Anywhere Office®. In this webinar I share three secrets to mobilize your workstyle and make your business and projects more flexible. These simple steps will allow you to work wherever and whenever you want.
We had a lot of questions during the webinar and not all were answered, so I answered the bulk of them in a 2 part guest blog post I did for the WebEx blog. There were some excellent questions – here are the links so you can check it out:
The Anywhere Office: Collaborating While Working Remotely (Part 1)
In this post I answer these questions:
- How can you stay connected with workmates and interact with your team in a virtual office while avoiding feeling isolated?
- What is the best way to convince ‘old school’ management that this will better for yourself and the company?
- How do you keep the team spirit and consistency in the quality of work when everyone is working from home?
- How do you convince a customer to trust in remote management of his/her data?
The Anywhere Office: The Best Tools for Working Remotely (Part 2)
In part two of this Q&A I answer these questions:
- What is the best way for a few employees to keep a task list for their boss that we can all access remotely?
- Do you have some basic tools that you think are absolutely “must haves” for a virtual team?
- I share some of the best free and low-cost tools available for keeping teams connected and productive.
If you’re currently a mobile worker, or you’re starting to get more involved with virtual teamwork and remote collaboration the tools and strategies I discuss in this Q&A will help. The key to success is embracing the change about what defines work and taking the time to really think about how business gets done.
So check out the webinar and part 1 and part 2 of my Q&A blogpost on the Webex blog.
If you have further questions, you can post them as comments below or over at the webex blog and I’ll answer them there.
3 Secrets to Turning Your Office Into The Anywhere Office – FREE Webinar
November 3, 2011 by Phil Montero · 2 Comments
I’m excited to be hosting a free webinar with Cisco/Webex on November 17th titled “3 Secrets to Turning Your Office Into The Anywhere Office®“ as part of their No Office Required series.
Business as usual no longer involves working in a centralized office at set times. Whether you’re a freelancer, entrepreneur, telecommuter or remote worker, modern workflow is far more dynamic and individual. There are smart ways to work without an office.
As you know, as a reader of this blog, I’ve created a blueprint for virtual work that I call The Anywhere Office®. In this webinar I’ll shares three secrets to mobilize your workstyle and make your business and projects more flexible. These simple steps will allow you to work wherever and whenever you want.
I’ll show you how to:
- Make your work location independent
- Improve communication and keep people connected
- Manage a virtual team, distributed project group, or ebusiness across time and distance
Click here to view Cisco's Interactive Infographic - The Future of Workplace Mobility
This recent Cisco interactive infographic serves as a great visual representation of The Anywhere Office® concept I’ve been talking about for the last decade and will be discussing on this upcoming webinar. It shows the current and future state of workplace mobility. As Cisco states “Long commutes and being in an office at a certain time with limited flexibility is gradually becoming a thing of the past. The future will see an increase in workplace mobility creating the “anywhere office,” a place where employees can work anytime from anywhere.” By 2013, mobile workers will make up 35 percent of the worldwide workforce. While that leaves out over half of the global workforce, it shows us a new world of opportunity. Are you shifting your business to “The Anywhere Office®?”
Who should attend
This webinar is perfect for anyone who must coordinate with co-workers, clients, vendors, or contractors across time and distance: project managers, program directors, team leaders, project coordinators, or anyone in a leadership role for a virtual team or distributed project group. This includes freelancers, entrepreneurs, telecommuters and remote workers.
Make sure to signup today and reserve your spot. Even if you can’t make the live event you will be emailed a link to the recording so you can still benefit from all the tips and strategies I’ll be sharing.
I’m looking forward to a fun webinar and I hope to see you there!
