Carlo Borja: Telecommuting

Showing posts with label Telecommuting. Show all posts

I consider myself a digital nomad.

Though I don't really travel from one country to another, I enjoy working remotely in restaurants, coffee shops and wherever there is Internet connection.

As of this writing, Cagayan de Oro has no co-working space yet. I've always wanted to be a member of one. It's like the haven of remote workers.

Enter Study Nook.

It's Cagayan de Oro's newest place for students who want to study in silence and comfort.

For 25 pesos for the first hour and 20 pesos for each succeeding hour, you get a dedicated table, a complimentary coffee and a decent wifi. This is an incredibly affordable rate.

The place is posh and it is the closest thing to a co-working space that I could have at the moment.

It's pretty awesome. In the 4 hours that I tested the place, I was able to do more work. I also enjoyed the silence. It's a breath of fresh air from all the noise I encounter when I work at home.

I'm so glad to have something like Study Nook at the heart of Cagayan de Oro City. I now have a go-to place for working remotely on a tight budget. The place is insanely cheap compared to the coffee shops I frequent on.

I hope this idea becomes successful and will pave way to full co-working spaces here in the city.

I'd be a really happy digital nomad when that time comes.

UPDATE:

Study Nook just closed it doors. In their Facebook page, they said it is because of the "high economy."

I respect and understand that. The news just makes me sad. I loved the place and I had some good memories in there.

Whatever they decide on, I'm sure it is for the best though.

Last weekend, I was at Manila to attend two important events for the Google Business Group communities. As the Community Co-Manager of GBG Cagayan de Oro, I represented our chapter there.

First was the GBG Community Managers' Business Summit.

All the challenges faced by the GBG communities this year were discussed and a lot of exciting stuff were planned for the next year.

The day after that, we all attended gDayX Philippines at Xavier School, San Juan City.

Like all the other Google events, it was filled with so much learning and networking. Not only was I able to meet people from Google, I also got to talk to experts from different fields. It is pretty amazing to see how all these people use Google technologies for business success.

It is definitely exciting to live in such times where technology is playing a great part in making businesses and industries succeed. I am glad to be part of a community that helps people understand this.

It was indeed a memorable weekend. I am now back in Cagayan de Oro City and for sure, I will be sharing all the knowledge and experiences I acquired there to our very own community here.

As an Online Marketing Specialist, one of the most important things I need to be constantly doing is studying what is going on around the industry of Digital Marketing and SEO.

I go through a ton of news sites and marketing blogs on a daily basis just to do this. Juggling through different sites in one browser could be overwhelming though. So, I decided to use Flipboard.

I understand that there are a lot of other feed readers that I can use for this matter. But, with Flipboard on my iPad mini, I can view my reading list in a beautifully designed magazine-like interface. I believe it could not get any better than that.

When Flipboard started introducing the feature to create your own magazine, I created my own "Marketing & SEO Articles" magazine. It started out as just my personal collection of articles that are useful for studying topics around online/inbound marketing.

But, to my surprise the readership grew. Flipboard users started subscribing to my magazine. It was then that I realized that there were only a few magazines about SEO on the app. It just so happened that I was one of those who created one.

In this magazine, I basically just "flip" useful articles from all the trusted blogs I read on a regular basis. I will be constantly updating this magazine as I continue to study different topics around it.

You can check out my magazine here: Marketing & SEO Articles.

Flipboard can now be opened via the web so you can still view this if you are on your desktop web browser.

If you also want to study Marketing and SEO (or if you are just interested in these topics) , you might want to subscribe.

I hope you will find this magazine useful.

If you love Flipboard or you have a magazine to recommend, let me know in the comments.

Happy flipping!

Google business Group Cagayan de Oro Google Drive Talk

Last week, Google Business Group - Cagayan de Oro was formally launched. It was attended by a number of business minded individuals who were interested by the power of Google Apps and I am glad to be the co-manager of the said community. As part of the group's vision to spread awareness of the usefulness of Google Apps in Business, I was assigned to do a talk on how Google Drive could be a powerful tool in the office. I use Google Drive every single day in my line of work. So, I was really excited to share my thoughts to everyone.

I presented three main issues with using Microsoft Office before. This was followed by how Google Drive was able to solve all of these issues that is why I decided to stick with it.

I. Accessibility

How many times have you found yourself not being able to work because you left your files at your home computer? Have you been using thumb drives to store your files so you could bring it anywhere? This is the common scenario for people who rely on Microsoft Office for all their documents and spreadsheets. Access to their files is limited to where their documents are. These files are usually just available on a specific computer.

This kind of setup has probably grown on you. But, I think you would agree with me that this is such a hassle.

With Documents and Spreadsheets in Google Drive, you experience the versatility of having your documents, spreadsheets and even presentations in the cloud. There is no need for data storage or backup since everything is handled by Google. If you have a smart phone, a tablet or a desktop computer, you just open your browser or the Google Drive app and then you can start creating and editing your documents on-the-go!

II. Stability

The blue screen of death, computer viruses, reformatting your computer, failing to backup, forgot to save. Are those situations familiar to you? I've experienced all of them too. They could make you lose hours, days or even years of hard work in just a single snap.

With Google Drive, you are guaranteed not to lose your data. It is completely powered by the Web. It even has an offline mode so you won't worry if your internet connection is acting up.

For instance, I lost my computer when typhoon Sendong totally washed out our area. Though I had to buy a new computer, I did not worry about my files. Everything was there in my Google account. I was able to access them immediately after logging in Google Drive on my new computer. Pretty awesome.

III. Collaboration

In an office setting, collaboration is very important. If you can make collaboration more efficient in business, the more productive people become.

Back when I was using Microsoft Office for my files, I had to make hard copies if I decide to have them reviewed by other people. Another alternative was to email copies to those people and have them send those back to me so I could finalize everything. It was a time consuming process and is definitely not efficient.

Documents and Spreadsheets on Google Drive were built for collaboration. This is where these apps stand out. They make collaboration easy and very efficient. Multiple users on different locations can edit sheets and documents in real time. Sharing is as easy as adding user accounts. Discussions on revisions are very efficient as you can easily put in notes and comments that notify the necessary people immediately. Revision history can also be seen so you will know who edited which and on what time. Those and a lot more. Collaboration becomes twice or thrice as fast. This equates to a boost in productivity! It's a win for businesses.

Wrapping it up...

Those three issues were from my own personal experiences. I've found that Google Drive has solved all of them. It has made me and my team of remote workers more productive than ever. In fact, we've already streamlined a lot of our processes (schedules, to-do lists, plans, etc) on Google Documents and Spreadsheets. It definitely made everything easier especially that I work in a virtual setting.

This is also an exciting time in technology. We are witnessing the transition from a desktop installed software to software hosted in the cloud. A lot of the programs we are now using are powered by the web. We may not notice it but we are already using a number of them (Facebook games, email). It just so happened that Google is one of those that provided such powerful tools that greatly help people in business.

Google Drive contains a fully functional word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application. With the added benefit of accessibility, stability and collaboration that gives a productivity boost, it is definitely worth trying.

Let me know if you have your experiences with using Google Drive! I would love to hear those.

Image (c) Jon Doblados

Back in 2009, I got hired to be part of a marketing team of a certain online company. I was hesitant at first since it's not the usual office job that I know of. They allowed me to work from home, on my own flexible time and on my own computer. To be honest, it was too good to be true. So, I had doubts and questions on my mind. But, I still went for it anyway.

Fast forward to today, I am now leading the Online Marketing Team of Staff.com and I have been working with mostly the same people for around 4 years already. If at first I had doubts, today I must say that I am comfortable and happy with the work that I do.

The path I took with my career is not as easy as it seems though. Along the way, I learned some important lessons that helped me last long and feel comfortable in this online industry. I will be sharing them so the people who are just starting out doing online work (or those who are just curious about what we do) could learn some valuable things too.

1. Discipline

This is probably the most essential skill to have when you are working from home. In an office setting, you can be bound by the rules of your boss or your employer. But, when you are at home you have control over all the stuff going on. You have to be able to discipline yourself to focus on work and do all the necessary stuff without getting distracted.

Since you are working at home, it is important to kind of isolate yourself from all the things that make you feel right at home (household chores, TV, etc). In my case, I have set up my own home office at a small corner in my room. When I am in here, I close the door and everyone in this house knows that they cannot disturb me.

This is actually easier said than done. I still kind of struggle with this sometimes. But, I am doing my best to keep myself focused all the time.

2. Time Management

When you have established discipline with yourself, time management follows naturally. I work on my own flexible time. I do not follow the 9 to 5 rule in an office setting. So, I need to schedule my own tasks daily or else things will get cluttered and I will end up not doing anything really productive throughout the day.

What helped me a lot was using a number of productivity apps to help me schedule my activities. A simple Calendar and Reminders list will do. You can go for a more dedicated app. But, both those stock iOS apps work fine for me.

I always schedule my work week in advance and I keep a list of the daily tasks that I need to accomplish. I list down every single task that I need to do. That doesn't just end with work. I also list down the personal stuff that need my time (appointments, going out with friends, date nights, etc). I've learned that listing them down really helps keep me focused. Without a schedule or a list, I tend to mix up my priorities and sometimes work could eat up a lot of the important personal time that I also need to attend to.

3. Work/Life Balance

When I started working from home, I got too excited with the idea of being able to work in my computer at my own home on my own flexible working time. It was the most ideal setup for work. So, I immersed myself with work. I took on a number of part time online jobs that allowed me to earn extra income. After all, I have a lot of time here at home. I do not commute. Instead of watching TV at night, why not devote it to work?

Later on, I realized that what I was not doing was not really healthy. I got burnout with work and I needed a 'life.' Although I was sitting at home all day and making money, I found myself missing my friends and the people around me. So, I slowly got rid of the extra stuff I have been doing and focused back on the work that I started with.

From then on, I tried to keep that balance between 'life' and work. I regularly go out and have fun with my girlfriend, I travel, I spend time with my family and I've kept that time doing some of the things I love the most (e.g I am a musician leading the worship team at church). I always find time to do these important things other than work. These are the things that keep me sane and happy.

It is indeed exciting to be in this kind of industry where I get to work virtually anywhere. My friends tell me I am lucky enough to have a job like this. I think so too. But, it is not fair enough to think that just because I work this way, I live an easy and high paying career. That is not necessarily true and I believe everyone who works online will agree with me on that one. That is a common misconception.

Just like every other occupation, it takes a lot of hard work and investment to survive and get comfortable with this industry. I learned those lessons the hard way. But, that was what it took to help me get to where I am right now.

As an online marketing specialist working from home, I need to have that sacred office space where I can do all my work. That is the only way I can separate work from personal life at home.

I just have a simple "table and chair" office set up. Recently though, I broke my old office chair. It probably had something to do with the way I sat down for the past few months. Most of the time I tend to sit like I'm already lying down (I guess you already know what I mean). That eventually broke my chair.

I had to deal with that for a while. But, recently during our anniversary my girlfriend bought me this lovely new office chair! She knew exactly what I wanted. I need this for work and I am really happy she bought me this. It is way more comfortable than the previous one. This one has an arm rest and I feel like I can sit like a boss.

This is definitely one of the essential things I need to have on my own home office. I'm glad my old broken chair is now replaced with a much better one. A better chair will probably equate to more productivity. I just have to make sure I will sit properly this time so this will last longer.

Part of starting from scratch after typhoon Sendong hit us was trying to set up a new workspace. I work from home and I need that private space/office where I could organize all my thoughts.

So, I decided to buy a new office table and chair. This table took me 4 hours to assemble. It was quite stressful but worth it.

Having both these office furniture should be a good start. I can now comfortably work on my own cool desk and comfy chair. After one day of using it, I noticed the slight increase in productivity.

Looking forward to more improvements to my home office soon. Maybe an air conditioner perhaps? We'll see.

Recently, we have been experiencing a very unfortunate circumstance. As to what I have understood, due to the current El Nino phenomenon, our power sources like the Maria Cristina Falls, etc, etc have gone short. That only means one thing: There will also be a short supply of electricity too.

This is where it gets worse. Everyday, we are experiencing blackouts that last for around 5 hours. Aside from the fact that it gets pretty annoying and hot everyday, this situation is so not favorable for me.

My job is online. It requires the use of computers and the internet and basically being able to work 8 hours a day. Taking 5 hours of my day for a power outage is such a really big deal for that matter. Sad fact is we still don't know when this will end. It seems like every week there is a new schedule of power interruption from Cepalco. :(

Well, in line with this, to give a little bit of a solution to this problem, I immediately decided to buy a new laptop/netbook. This was really out of my plan but it turned out to be a necessity these past few days. I can make good use of it anyway. This will be a great investment I presume.

I bought this HP Mini 311 netbook (on the left side of the pic). 2GB of RAM, Intel Atom Processor, NVIDIA Graphics with Windows 7 starter OS. I thought I would not be able to use it that much so I just settled for those specs. Not bad for a netbook anyway. It fits my extra needs. So far, so good. It even exceeded my expectations :)

Having this laptop allows me to work anywhere where there is a good wireless connection (SM City CDO is one of my favorite places..pretty good connection). That would be much cheaper than constantly going to an internet shop and pay for the hours of the limited work I can actually do there. I also even bought a Smart Bro Prepaid Plug-in Kit for an extra mobile internet connection.

At this point, I have been constantly making up for the hours I need to work. That means working late at night just to be able to finish and accomplish things. Pretty tiring but I really have to do it. There is no other way. This makes me stuck in this workplace almost all day.. taking advantage of the time when there still is power/electricity.

All of these circumstances actually gave me a good realization. We all have to conserve energy before it is too late. This lesson just doesn't apply to electricity and power. It can also be applied in real life right? It's like teaching us to cherish what we currently have because we never really know how important they are unless they are gone. :)

I'm Carlo Borja

Education

Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan

Experience

Head of Online Marketing

Marketing Staff

Youth Pastor

SEO and Online Marketing Consultant

Community Manager

My Skills

SEO

Content Marketing

Leadership

Organization and Management

THE WORK I DO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Outreach and Link Building

Content Marketing

General Virtual Assistance

Pastoral Work

Leadership and Management

Is Time Management Taking Too Much Time To Manage?

7 Tools for Managing Remote Teams

The Art of Managing Remote Teams and Working Remotely as an Individual

JOURNAL

I. Accessibility

II. Stability

III. Collaboration

Wrapping it up...

Popular Posts

Need help with SEO for your website?

Contact Details