If You Could Manage Projects from Anywhere, Where Would that Be?
Posted by Brad Egeland
This is a topic I have been thinking about for awhile. I’m an independent consultant so theoretically, I could manage projects and consult from anywhere. Being near a major airport is somewhat necessary. I’m in Las Vegas, so the airport thing is covered. In fact, it’s hard to find a locale with cheaper airfare options than Las Vegas.
The Local Market
One problem with consulting in Las Vegas is the local economy. Unemployment is high, businesses are disappearing, and those clients that used to have money to spend are trying to do everything themselves or putting off some needed work. It’s that where everywhere, I realize, but it’s fairly pronounced in Las Vegas. Casinos always have some money to spend, but they’re not often the ones that seek out consulting services.
So, your local market becomes a concern no matter what, unless your plate is already full with clients in other locations. Then, it’s just a matter of staying close to an airport you utilize regularly.
If my wife had her preference, I’d probably be consulting from Maui. We use to live in Iowa and she told me that was as far north as she wanted live. And we’d generally like to remain in the US, so that limits me to the southern states, but we’d probably go wherever for the right situation. Likewise, I’d stop consulting for the right situation, too. Just today I was on a call with an organization in New York. What I didn’t immediately realize was that the job would actually be in New York, not remote with travel. New York is not in our relocation plans right now so that one wasn’t going to work.
Warm Weather!
I’m with my wife – if I have a choice – which I currently do, warm weather is the way to go. I lived in Iowa for 40 years. Enough snow and rain to last a couple of lifetimes. I love the weather in Las Vegas – even when the temperature reaches 110-115? in July and August since it’s only for two months.
Once you’re set up with a remote office, flexible software like Seavus’ Project Viewer or similar tool – either desktop or web-based, and a cell plan that covers everything, you can truly go just about anywhere if you can survive the moving process!
The only weather that both my wife and I like better right now is the San Diego or Orange County climate (we’re Disney fans and have small children). Anyone in San Diego or Los Angeles in need of an experienced Project Manager/IT Consultant/Business Strategistic with an entrepreneurial flair?
What’s Your Ideal Locale?
It’s your turn to chime in now. What’s your ideal work location? Right where you are? If so, tell me why. If not, where would you like to call your business home if you had your choice of anywhere…and why? What’s stopping you? Let me know….send a comment to this article. Thanks!
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Tags: consulting, independent, project management, project manager, remote, virtual
2 Comments to “If You Could Manage Projects from Anywhere, Where Would that Be?”
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Dave Gordon says:
Like you, I live in Las Vegas. Over the last twenty-five years, I’ve also been based in northern Virginia and the metro Portland – Vancouver area. In all three locations, I took advantage of the flexibility to both work from a home office and “travel to distant office buildings.” The two most important things I’ve learned from all of that is that 1) your home base is far more important to your family than it is to your customers, and 2) your home office needs to facilitate concentration, or you’re not going to succeed. Any location that won’t give you both a happy family and a productive work environment should be dismissed out of hand.
As much as we’d love to live on the central coast of Oregon, I need a major airport less than thirty minutes away. As centrally located as I’d be in Denver, my wife can’t stand the climate. So we live by a golf course in southwest Las Vegas, and if we need a “beach fix,” we take a short vacation.
Sara Schneider says:
I have the blessing of working at home so my current work location is definitely better than a lot of others. I would; however, love to move to Seattle. There’s just something about the city that makes it home for me in spite of being 1800 miles from my current residence. My amazing friends, breathtaking scenery, great food and coffee- and no snow! I’m currently putting myself thru undergrad school to get my B.S. in PM so I can get my CAPM certification so money is definitely hindering me right now. But the up side is, when I move I can keep my current job!