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What if you could live wherever you wanted, regardless of where your job is?
Matt Kempner, business reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, tells the story of a couple who work for Atlanta companies, but live outside of Nashville, Tenn., some 240 miles away.
His article was published May 2, 2021.
The story of Emily Weddington and her husband goes like this: she works in marketing for one company, he in finance for another.
They had a house with a small yard in Brookhaven, Ga., just outside Atlanta. Now, they own and live in a bigger house on five acres outside Nashville. Each has his and her own office. They have the same jobs they had living in Atlanta.
But, in Tennessee, they are closer to his parents and their dogs have more room to run.
When the pandemic hit, employers became more open to allowing people to work from home and avoid close contact in offices.
In fact, a headline on Nedra Rhone’s “RealLife” column in the Sept. 2, 2021, edition of the Atlanta paper, says: “Why no one wants to go back to the office.”
Rhone’s column talks about Zeena Regis, who, though she loves the personal contact of working outside the home, loves the flexibility of having multiple ways of doing her job.
Some stats from Rhone’s column: An April survey from FlexJobs says 60 percent of women and 52 percent of men said they would quit their jobs if they couldn’t continue to work from home at least part of the time. Some employers aren’t on the same page. In a digital.com survey, only 10 percent of employers surveyed said they would make remote work mandatory, while only 17 percent said they would follow a hybrid schedule.
Experts expect these relaxed standards to persist well after the threat of spreading disease has subsided, Kempner writes.
This opens up many possibilities for many working adults. First and foremost, the cost of going to work – the commute, beverages and lunch at work (unless you brown-bag), work clothes etc. – will be lessened.
Secondly, you don’t have to live in a high-tax, high-expense area where your company may be located. You can lower your cost of living without giving up your job.
Thirdly, you can live in, say, your favorite vacation spot without having to be on vacation.
In short, this trend has endless possibilities and choices for those able to take advantage of them.
Certainly, there are disadvantages. As Regis points out in Rhone’s column, personal interaction with colleagues is greatly reduced. Secondly, staying in your house all day, or all night, depending on the hours you work, can be limiting. That’s why you are seeing more folks trick out their houses because they are spending so much time there.
There can also be some tax consequences working in one state and living in another. Those could potentially wash out with the savings in the other areas.
The other disadvantage – some may see it only as a tradeoff – is that you could be available to your employer 24/7. Chances are, though, if you have a job that allows you to work remotely, you have always been available to your employer 24/7.
What can you do if you don’t have a job that gives you such flexibility? There are many programs out there that, by spending a few, part-time off-work hours a week to start, could provide you an income that could allow you eventually to say goodbye to that burdensome employment.
Yes, these programs can be done from anywhere, under any circumstances. And, you don’t need specific education, experience or background to pursue them. You just need a mind open enough to check them out.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
The pandemic is changing many work environments. Not everyone is benefiting from these changes. If you are not, you have options. If you are, take full advantage.
Sometimes, progress results from catastrophe. It’s up to each person to make lemonade from lemons and adapt to the changes that have come, or will come.
Peter