Author Topic: Working and Traveling? Part time / Casual / Contract? Ideal hours?  (Read 2319 times)

limeandpepper

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So I'm thinking about potentially moving interstate with my boyfriend, and then potentially traveling overseas quite extensively and becoming a digital nomad. There is the possibility that this is quite doable for me, as I've had colleagues move overseas and still continue to work remotely for the company. But before I suggest anything to my manager, I would like to have a better idea of what would be an ideal working situation for people who work from home (or from anywhere) instead of being onsite.

I guess there are quite a few choices:

- Continue to work full time, remotely. I'm not sure how keen I am on continuing to do full time, especially if I want to fit in travel. But I guess I can always request to cut down my hours later, if I think it's too much.

- Cut down to part time. If so, how many hours a week? I'm thinking 20 - 30 hours could be good. I wonder if I could negotiate for even more flexibility, too? For example, if I work, say, 25 hours a week, I would love it if I can do the 25 hours at whatever times and for both short or long stretches, depending on what suits me, as long as I get the work done. Not sure if my company would be happy with that, however.

- Cut down to casual. The company can give me work whenever they feel like they need an extra hand. The downside is, the number of hours I get will be variable so I won't get a steady paycheck, and they can cut me loose at any time. It could be feast or famine. The hourly rate will be higher, though.

- Contract my services out according to the tasks they want me to do. Instead of getting paid hourly, which will be hard to monitor if I'm working remotely, perhaps I could quote a sum for each task, or a collection of tasks for each week / month. Not sure if this is feasible, though, the quoting could be a pain, and I don't know if anyone's gone this route in our company before.

- Quit my job entirely. Go explore other options! Indulge in my hobbies and see if I can make money from them instead. Write e-books. Start a travel blog with the boyfriend and see if we can successfully monetize it. This would probably be the ideal path, but there is no guarantee of making enough money to cover living costs. I can possibly try to do all this while going part time, though, so quitting isn't necessary, it's just nice to think about!

Thoughts?