Today we have a guest post from Andrew Mahaney.  Andy is a contact center solution architect and consultant at eLoyalty Corp specializing in the deployment of Cisco Unified Communication technologies. He has been workshifting for 6 years from hotels, airports and client sites around the world. He now works from his home office in South Florida.  You can catch up with Andy on Twitter and LinkedIn.  He blogs over at [andymahaney.com] and is currently blogging his activities at CiscoLive this week.

The #workshiftingqotd for Thursday, June 25th 2009 asked: "How do you ask your boss for a raise?"  I responded with a series of answers to this question and the nice folks at workshifting asked me to formulate a guest post on the subject.  This post reflects my personal experience working my way up through a variety of IT roles over a 15 year period. During that time I have asked for raises several times, and these general guidelines have always served me well.

Determine why you want a raise in the first place.

Are you asking for a raise because you are stressed out at work, exhausted and undervalued? If this is the case, stop here and think about what you really want. Getting a raise, although an ego boost in the short term, cannot make your job better. A raise alone is rarely a long term solution for dissatisfaction at work. Perhaps you should discuss your work/life balance with your boss before you talk about a raise. It may be possible that your boss is unaware of the situation that is causing your stress. Especially in the case of workshifters who may not meet with their boss in person for months (or sometimes years) at a time, it is critical that you maintain an open, ongoing conversation with your manager. You may be surprised to find that actively communicating with your boss may result in positive changes.

Make yourself invaluable every day.

The most important part of the process is earning the raise. In my experience the best way to do this is to work like you already received the raise that you want. That may mean volunteering for that tough assignment or going above and beyond to make a project successful. This is not something that you can do in the two weeks leading up to your request for a raise. Make sure that you build your rapport internally and externally early on and then continue to maintain it.  This step takes time and consistent effort.

Keep track of your efforts over a 12 to 24 month period.

This step is critical if you are asking for a large raise or promotion. You must be able to quantify your contributions. This may mean tracking your sales closure rate, your consistent achievement of a top-tier service level, your personal contribution to the company's bottom line, or whatever key metric is appropriate for your job. Companies reward continuous, consistent effort.  There are also plenty of other reasons why tracking your time and effort will prove valuable to you.

Determine your market value.

The third step is sometimes the most difficult. In this step you must determine your own value. If you are asking for a raise, it is incumbent upon you to ask for the amount you feel is reasonable and appropriate. You don't want to go into the raise negotiation without a clear idea of the amount you are willing to accept and the position of that amount within the market range for your position. You can start with research online at sites like salary.com, where you can input your industry, title and zip code to find a salary range for your position. There are also numerous salary surveys available online for a wide range of industries, either for free or for a fee. Ultimately, you may need to interview (discreetly) with other companies in your industry to determine your current market value. Use common sense when interviewing for this purpose, since your co-workers may be applying and interviewing for the same positions. This is particularly true in niche industries or for jobs that require post-graduate education or extensive professional certifications.

Negotiate for a raise, don't beg. Justify with evidence.

Asking for a raise is a negotiation. Successful negotiators know what they want, provide supporting evidence to support their position and are willing to compromise in order to achieve a solution that allows all parties to get what they need. Never threaten to quit unless you have already secured another job. A good policy is "Don't quit unless you mean it." Have you ever heard a story about someone who resigned specifically so they have leverage with their current employer? Admittedly, this last-resort tactic may work with some companies but it may also burn your bridge with the new company who has invested time and money to recruit, interview and process you for hire. You never know what the future will hold. Sometimes competitors become partners and vice versa. Be aware of the long term impact of your decisions. Is this raise worth it?

Understand how timing affects your request

If your company just made a strategic sale, closed new business that you helped to secure, is performing well financially, and you have contributed consistently to that success; then it may be an appropriate time to ask for a raise. If on the other hand your company is drowning in red ink and considering layoffs, you may want to wait for a more opportune moment. The approval or denial of your request may simply come down to a matter of budgets and accounting. Don't set yourself up for disappointment. Understand the landscape before you enter negotiations.

My final thought for all the raise seekers out there is simple. "Know the chain of command." Sometimes your boss doesn't make the final decision about raises. It is critical that you understand the chain of command within your company and that you make your value known to senior managers who may actually have the authority to approve your raise. If you perform consistently, keep an open channel of communication with management, perform as though you already received the raise you are seeking, and understand the strategies of successful negotiators, you may just get that raise. Good luck.

Disclaimer: I am currently a Sr. Principal with eLoyalty Corporation (a Cisco partner). The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent eLoyalty's positions, strategies or opinions.

Photo by: veken

Without a sale we're not in business and ongoing sales will spur the business to grow. Today I offer five steps on how to make a sale and keep the cash flowing.

Step 1: Prepare

Research supply and demand ie spend time looking at what the market wants and how you can supply this in a way that will set you apart from the crowd. Before making a first approach to the potential client, carry out a search (use both Google and Twitter Search) so you're happy you have the right person, their correct name, and possibly a news item highlighting their demand (eg a first note may be 'Dear Andrew, having seen you quoted in a recent article in ABC press, I understand you are looking to move to new office premises. I am writing to introduce you to my interiors company ....')

Step 2: Present

Present the client proposition in a professional manner. This applies whether it be sending a first email (as above), distributing flyers or making a call to a prospect. Present the benefits of buying you and your product/service. How will it make the client's life easier/who else has bought/what does it cost/who can they call if interested. These are all useful points to cover in a first approach.

Step 3: Persist

There's a delicate line between persistence and becoming a pest! Saying that, unless your potential customer has an immediate need for what you offer on the day on which you make the approach, then it's likely you'll present yourself and then have to spend a bit of time following up. Submit the proposal, follow-up with a delicate prompt a week later and, if still no response, keep in regular contact with friendly emails and calls along the lines of 'Hi, just like to keep you updated on what's happening here .. would love to do business with you when you're ready..'  

Step 4: Perform

You've won the gig! It's time to deliver on all the goodness sold and promises made. Perform to a high level so reality meets expectation. Along the way, check that the new client is happy with the service they're receiving.

Step 5: Promote

Sales means testimonials and this leads to credibility. A growing roster of quality clients will give others the confidence to trade with you. Promote new sales and client wins; through a press release, via testimonials on the site, or social media such as Twitter.  

Taking these steps can be eased by using software such as Salesforce.com which keeps track of sales leads and the business development pipeline. Or, do what I do, which is to use an Excel spreadsheet and a handwritten list that's regularly updated and always carried with me!

Do you follow a similar process flow as part of your sales cycle?

Photo by: thinkpanama

You have the ideal work life.

You hopped into your proverbial Argus and escaped from a ubiquitous Sea of Cubicles.

You work remotely for your employer or you run your own business.

You have the liberty to work when and where and in the manner you please.

You are free.

A few months down the road, bankrupt of the daily water cooler banter, you start talking to yourself in your home office, which evolves into full blown conversations with imaginary associates, which tumults into your recruitment into covert CIA assignments, and if you've watched A Beautiful Mind, you know how this story ends.

Whether you are working remotely for your employer, as a solopreneur, or running a small amorphous company, the prospect of working "alone" for a significant portion of the day, every day, can be daunting at times.  Having escaped the confines of a cubicle-ridden life about 18 months ago, and having my fair share of meetings with imaginary staff members, here are my 3 tips to stave off insanity as a power workshifter.

Work around people.

a couple times a week (at least)

 

Just because you are technically "on your own" now doesn't mean that you need to ostracize yourself from society in an underground bunker (aka your home office).  Meeting new people and engaging in small talk about current events, politics, culture, or what the hell the producers of "Lost" are smoking serves as a rejuvenating break during the workday.  The obsequious office chat that helped make days livable in your former life now serve a different purpose. 

If you work from home, find a cozy, little coffee shop near your house to work from twice a week.  If you travel a ton, work in the hotel bar or lobby area every now and then.  Although at times distracting, just working around people, engaging in the occasional casual  chit chat, keeps you from engulfing too far into the deep end of work.  I have some great conversations, meet several fellow workshifters, and have developed a couple business relationships simply by choosing to spend the majority of my workday in public places.

Find an inspirational spot.  

once a week

 

Remember when you were a kid, when you were in your treehouse or at the beach or at the park, those were the times when you were most creative.  You would figure out new uses for your toys.  You would make up new games. You would figure out how to cross the monkey bars using only one arm.  Nothing changes as we get older.  The toys are different, the games are a bit more complex, the monkey bar maneuvers have ROI considerations.  But our creativity is still predicated on our moments of inspiration. 

Find an inspirational place to work from just once a week.  Maybe just for a few hours.  It may seem weird and it's definitely unconventional, but there is something about being surrounded by inspiration that empowers your mind to go places it just can't go hunched in a corner looking at your wall all day.

Embrace the Twitterverse.  

every day

Presumably many people reading this are probably already on Twitter.  However, if you have not quite taken the sojourn to the Twitterverse, then allow me to be the first to formally invite you.  No matter what type of work you do, no matter where you are in the world, no matter how tech savvy you are or are not, you will find a community of Twitter peeps that are helpful and that want to engage with people like you. 

With all this talk about people leveraging Twitter as a marketing tool, it sometimes gets lost, that at it's core, Twitter is a community of real people, not just company logos and celebrities.  There are weirdos everywhere, but in my three years on Twitter, I have found that by and large, the Twitter community is represented by kind and caring individuals that are simply seeking and willing to engage and share with others. 

To start finding people that are into what you're into, you probably need to download a Twitter client (I use TweetDeck), and search terms or ideas or people or industries that you find interesting.  Then just start hopping into conversations and introducing yourself.  It might feel strange at first, but it's no different than being at a networking event, except they don't make you play stupid ice breaker games. 

I am by no means a Twitter celebrity, I only have a couple hundred followers.  I'm just a regular dude that has embraced this very unique tool to connect with people of like mind across the world.  But I personally have met several clients, developed quite a few real friendships, and have a repository of fresh, relevant information shared with me daily, exclusively on Twitter.

So, remember these three things as you continue to hone what your life as a professional WorkShifter will look like:

people good. inspiration good. twitter good.

What tips do you follow to stay sane as a workshifter?

Photos by: ajleon & respres

Earlier this week I interviewed Greg Matthews, Director of Innovation at Humana, while he was in Boston to speak at the Enterprise 2.0 conference.  A title such as "Director of Innovation" is not one that we're used to seeing in the health industry.  This interview provides a glimpse into all of the innovative things that Greg and his team are working on. 

Many of these innovations apply to the mobile and distributed workforce by encouraging people to get out from behind their desks and become more active.

Note: Don't mind that the video is a little shaky.  I forgot to bring along the tripod :)

While searching through the photos on the CrumpleItUp's Flickr account, I thought these few were particularly interesting.  Why?  Because even though Greg and his team don't usually work from airports, coffee shops, bookstores or other workshifting locations, they have taken the time to make their office a fun, active and inspiring place to work. 

By making this investment into their work space, the Innovation Center shows it's employees that they want them to be active, have fun, and not be stuck at their cubicle or in their office all day.




To learn more about Greg and Humana's Innovation Center, you can find them on the very fun website CrumpleItUp.  You can also check out recent posts by Chris Brogan ("More Fun Then Talking About Insurance") and Amber Rae Lambke ("Social Business from the Inside Out").

You can connect with Greg on Twitter and LinkedIn.

What are some ways that you stay active as a workshifter?

Working with distributed groups is a bit like learning to play golf. You're going to make mistakes, use a lot of 4-letter words, and start drinking early in the day. Ok, so let's just stick with the mistakes and frustration part for the purpose of this post.

Hearing about others' mistakes can be entertaining ... but can also help you avoid looking like a fool. With that in mind I've put together a list of 6 ways to look like a fool at a distance while working remotely or working with remote teams. Some of these things have happened to me and some are from friends or colleagues:

1)      Leaving personal IM on in an online meeting - So you're getting ready to present to the global marketing team on Q1 results and your significant other alerts you to this evening's plans. You've already begun screen sharing in your online meeting so everyone gets to read what you have on tap for Friday night. I've heard several versions of this story that I'm not comfortable publishing but you get the idea. Turn off notifications for IM, email, and twitter before you start presenting online.

2)      Talking to yourself on mute - I have a love/hate relationship with my mute button. When I press it I can eat lunch or talk to officemates but I always forget to unmute myself before I begin talking. It usually takes 30 seconds before I realize that I'm talking to myself. The only way I've found to avoid this issue is to leave my finger on the mute button after I press it or put a post it up on my computer that says "unmute" after I press the button.

3)      Jumping into an unanticipated Skype video call - At about 10 AM you roll out of bed to start the day and find out that a key client would like to meet via Skype in 5 minutes. You jump on the call only to find that your client would like to use video and you're wearing a t-shirt that says Beer Crawl '02 and facial hair that resembles Chewbacca's. If you're working with a web cam, always keep a nice shirt handy (you can keep the Beer Crawl shorts on if you want).

4)      Yanking the phone off the hook - A lot of remote workers stand with headsets when presenting in a meeting. It makes sense except when you accidentally jar the handset and hang up on the call. This is especially frustrating in a Webinar when the other speakers have to pick up the slack. High tech tip...use a rubber band to anchor down your handset to the base.

5)      Pointing at the screen - I'm stealing a bit from Peter Cohan (http://www.secondderivative.com/) on this one. Sometimes we point at the screen when we meet in person. I've walked by people presenting virtually while pointing at their computer screen and saying "if you look here." It's natural but mouse when presenting online, use annotation tools or move the mouse.

6)      Presenting in or near the bathroom - Some home office configurations can leave your desk far too close to the bathroom. Nothing ruins your presentation momentum like a healthy flush of the toilet. This will also leave others on the call wondering if you're in fact presenting from the toilet. If you can, keep your office away from the bathroom door. If you can't, at least mute your phone.

I hope these stories will help you avoid some common mistakes. At the very least, these should be entertaining.

Anyone feel like embarrassing themselves and sharing a workshifting moron story?

Photo by: msmail

With summer conference season in high gear, workshifters are finding themselves away from their home base more than ever as they hop from one learning experience to the next. Whether you are a speaker, a conference attendee or part of the press, you'll still need to find ways to get things done while you are there.

I find that having a set list of items in my laptop bag for each of my various roles at conferences helps make my time as productive as possible. I also block out areas of time where I plan to disappear from the conference radar for about 15 - 20 minutes. This allows me to catch up on important texts, direct messages, phone calls or emails that may have popped up while I was attending, leading or covering a session.

One of the key components to a successful working conference is communication. Do not underestimate the power of letting your clients know that you will be at a conference in some capacity, and provide them with an idea of when they can get your attention if needed. If you have deadlines, take care of them before you go if at all possible (the increase of planes, trains and buses with WiFi makes this easier than ever before). Keeping everyone in the loop can avert many "fires" before they start.

At the end of the day, no matter how many to-do lists you make, reminders you set on your phone, brief blocks of time you set aside, emails you send or deadlines you meet before you go, you still won't be productive if you don't bring the right tools.

Attendee Bag

Your attendee bag is the most basic, and its contents should be your base in the other bags as well: pen or pencil, paper or notebook, cell phone for arranging quick lunch meetups or recording someone's contact info on the fly (volume turned to off), mints (you never know when you or someone you know will have horrendous coffee or garlic bagel breath), and a laptop if you have one.

Press Bag

The press bag has to keep you sustained for several sessions in a row, as you are usually there on assignment with a list of speakers as well as product or company launches to cover for your print or digital publication. In addition to the attendee bag items, the press bag should contain snacks (in case you have several back to back sessions and can't get to the snack area), water, a spare battery or power cord for your laptop and cell phone and some kind of camera (cell phone with camera, flip cam, digital camera - it doesn't matter).

Speaker Bag

For me, the speaker bag is always the heaviest. The most important part of productivity when you are a speaker is making sure you have everything you might need for the actual presentation you are making. Why is this so important? If you don't bring everything you need, you waste your 15 - 20 minute blocks of time hunting for someone who has a spare whaddayacallit, or trying to recreate slide decks or solve other problems and not doing your work!

Your speaker bag should include the following in addition to the attendee bag items: whatever AV connector your laptop needs to get your slides from the laptop to the screen; whatever obscure connecting able you don't think projectors use anymore, just in case; flash drive containing multiple formats of your slide deck; extra business cards for those after-presentation connections for further speaking gigs.

If you have the right gear and the right mindset, as well as a great to do list and straightforward schedule , your work will still get done, even if you are pressed for time at a conference.

What's your favorite way to keep track of your to-do list and keep focused when you are on the road at a conference? What's your essential "in bag" item to make it all happen?

Photo by: penguincakes

Many studies are carried out on the number of people starting businesses and the success of those ventures but few researchers have investigated whether business is the secret to a long and healthy life.  Today I offer a few examples that point to a connection.

Celebrating a centenary

It was two recent insertions in the Obituaries column that got me thinking about this idea of business leading to a long life. The insertions marked the passing away of two great businessmen; Daniel Carasso, founder of Danone, the world's leading yogurt maker, and Wall Street veteran Albert Hamilton Gordon who rebuilt investment banking firm Kidder Peabody after the crash. Mr Carsso was 103. Al Hamilton Gordon was 107.

What I'm suggesting is that their business was very much responsible for keeping them going until a ripe old age. It gave a reason to get up each morning, with both men still very much involved in the running of the business until literally the day they died.

Saying that, when questioned at the age of 103, Al Hamilton Gordon said:

"My longevity I attribute to, number one, excessive exercise!"

The feature reports:

'On business trips to Los Angeles, he would carry his own bags -- from the airport to downtown, walking all 18 miles. At 82, he ran the London Marathon -- and finished in a little more than six hours.'  

The young kid on the block  

Looking almost youthful in comparison, and still very much alive, Gerald Ronson was recently profiled and praised for his stamina and ongoing business success:  

"The 70 year old has no plans to moderate his workload, which still consists of six and a half days a week, more than 12 hours a day, and with regular travel across the nine countries in his £1.5bn development programme'

In his own words, Ronson said:

"I have more energy at 70 than two 35 year olds. I have no intention of slowing down or retiring. I don't do what I do for the money. I do it because I enjoy it."

If you've been hanging out with us workshifters since the launch you probably noticed the Flickr widet on the sidebar.  Previously the only way pictures would show up there was if they were uploaded to the workshifting Flickr account.  That limited our capabilities to involve all of the other workshifters out there taking fun photos of their various working environments, travels, etc.

Today we have updated this widget so now any photo tagged in Flickr with "workshifting" will show up in the Flickr widget.  You can also see all photos tagged "workshifting" if you prefer.

What's next? This is another step to continuing to build our workshifting community.  We want you to actively take pictures of your travels, work environments, office set ups and anything else related to workshifting and tag it in Flickr "workshifting" so the rest of us can see what you're up to.

Of course, the normal bit of please don't post anything that is not directly related to workshifting or is offensive in any nature.

In the coming weeks we will have more announcements as we continue to grow this community.  Some of the stuff we're up to: adding more features to this blog, the workshifting question of the day on Twitter (#workshiftingqotd), more writers, scouring the Internet for other interesting topics related to workshifting, contests and tons more!

Is there something that you want to see?  Something that we're missing?

Please let us know in the comments below.  We want this community to be what you want and need it to be.  Thanks for continuing to join us for this workshifting ride!

Don't forget that you can also follow us over on Twitter...

Anyone that spends a lot of their life on planes has surely enjoyed the pains caused by lostluggage.  I usually use carry-on rolling suitcase to avoid having to check to avoid any issues as well as the delay it causes while having to wait for the bags to be unloaded onto the belt. 

But, last weekend I had to check baggage as I was going on my honeymoon for 8 days to St. Maarten.  We were flying JetBlue from Boston through JFK then onto St. Maarten.  Upon arrival into St. Maarten our bags didn't arrive.  It took 3 days and tons of phone calls to locate our bags.  What was even more distressing was that we were on our honeymoon.  If it had been a business trip I don't think I would have cared as much.  When we flew back to Boston, our bags were again lost at JFK.  Well, actually they weren't "lost", an entire cart wasn't loaded on the plane so there were about 15 of us who didn't receive our bags that night.  The next morning JetBlue put the bags onto their first flight from JFK to Boston and had them delivered to us a few hours later.

While it was a hardship and worried my wife and I not having our luggage with us, especially while we were in St. Maarten, there were a few things we had done which made life a little easier:

1. We were able to provide JetBlue with a lot of detail about our luggage.  This helps especially when you have standard looking baggage.  I was able to provide such details as "there's an orange Philippines inspection sticker on the right side of the suitcase in the middle".  I can bet no other luggage had that exact marking on it....
   
   
2. I always believe in dressing for the place I'm flying to.  Therefore, even if it's the dead of winter in New England, I'll wear shorts and a t-shirt if I'm headed to the airport on vacation.  Though not winter around Boston right now, I had worn basketball shorts, a t-shirt and sandals.  This let me still go swimming, be comfortable while walking around and have fun on the beaches until our suitcases arrived.
   
   
3. My wife packed a carry-on that had a lot of her clothes in it including changes of clothes for different activities (dining out, water sports, swimming, etc.).  While I wasn't that smart, it helped her out a lot.
   
   
4. I ALWAYS bring all of my electronics, chargers, books and anything else to keep me constantly entertained in my carry-on.  While it can sometimes be a pain going through security, I just feel more at ease having it with me.
   
   
5. We tried to just enjoy our honeymoon instead of worrying about our luggage!

While these definitely aren't meant to be tips, it was some of the experiences that I had which I was reflecting back on over the past couple days.

But, I turn to you, and want to know what are some of your tips to make life easier when your luggage is lost?

Photo by:  Chrispitality

Working from home gives you the opportunity to set up an office that perfectly suits you and your business. Emma Jones offers her top four tips on creating the right environment.

1. Make some space - you'll work much better if you have dedicated office space. That way, you can work without distraction, and close the door at the end of the working day. This space could be the spare room, the attic or even the garden shed. Working at the end of the garden path is becoming increasingly popular and the garden office industry is booming on the back of it.

Wherever you choose, make sure it has plenty of natural light and decorate it with soft tones of blues and greens as these colors will make a home office, and you, work particularly well.

2. Furnish - Once you've identified the space, whether inside or outside the house, it's time to furnish it and the two most important pieces of furniture are those you'll spend most time at - your chair and desk.

Buy a chair that is designed for computer use and try it out. Sitting awkwardly for any length of time will put your body under stress and make you work less efficiently, so make sure your chair is fully adjustable. Ideally, your feet should be flat on the floor and your back straight. Getting this right will make working from home so much more comfortable.

Invest in a good, sturdy desk that offers you sufficient working space and can also accommodate your computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse. The top of your monitor should be at eye level and the monitor itself about an arm's length away.

Scale furniture to the size of the room to avoid any sense of claustrophobia and keep furnishings an inch or two away from the wall.

3. Cut out the clutter - it's difficult to work effectively amidst chaos, so try to keep your workspace free of clutter. If necessary, invest in some good storage but always buy boxes with lids and make sure you label them well. If you have a lot of boxes or files it can be distracting so consider buying a screen or a box seat for visitors to hide them from view

4. Final touches - to make your home office complete, consider adding a plant to help reduce any feelings of isolation, or a vision board to remind you of your business goals and priorities each time you enter and leave the room. And a decent sound system to provide some background music or something to dance to when celebrating a new deal!

What are some of your tips for the perfect home office?

Photo by: joey.parsons

I'm a marketer and marketers love to make analogies. They love making analogies like

salespeople love getting paid. See what I mean? We just can't get enough of them!

So when we recently moved and I started web commuting from Massachusetts to my home base in California, I had to come up with a good analogy. After reaching deep within, I came to the conclusion that web commuting is like watching a new season of American Idol. Am I saying that because I just watched the season finale of American Idol and just am not that deep? Well, yes. But there are similarities.

For sure, both involve sitting on your butt staring at a screen for extended periods of time. Then there are a lot of those frustrating "Why do I have to deal with this?" moments before any real action starts happening. You're seeing new faces and everyone involved is trying to find their groove. Finally, there's the feeling that although things are the same, they're also entirely different ... and hopefully interesting.

With that said, here's what I've learned just after a month of web commuting. I don't know if any of these tips also apply to watching American Idol, but if they work for you, then you're welcome.

Make Sure Your Infrastructure Is Ready

You've got 4 walls, a roof, electricity and access to a toilet? Good, here comes the hard part. If you don't have high-speed Internet access set up, give yourself a good 2-3 weeks to get it hooked up.

Dealing with the local DSL provider, whom shall remain anonymous but whose name rhymes with Duh-rizon, has been awesome and amazing. Awesomely, amazingly inconsistent. Even though I called to have DSL set up before even arriving in Massachusetts, the order was successively delayed, canceled without notification and then delayed again. It took some special magic from a rep named Howie to get things right, so Howie from Massachusetts, if you ever read this, I owe you a case of Sam Adams Boston Lager for all of your help. And anonymous DSL provider, if you're reading this, you need to give Howie a big raise.

One word of caution about DSL and why you might consider cable -- although you can get fast download speeds, most providers cap what you can upload at 768 kbps. This has caused me to cut out of conversations sometimes when using Skype, which brings me to...

Use Skype With A Headset

If you're working from home and don't want to spring for an extra phone line for work and don't want to use your cell phone all day, Skype can be your best friend. So affordable, so functional, so high-quality, it's like a piece of IKEA furniture that's actually made from real wood. With prices as low as they are, you almost feel bad for the phone companies -- until they screw up your DSL order and you have to consciously make an effort to unclinch your fists while on the phone with them. I use Skype with a corded Plantronics headset, but I've got my eye on this cordless one. If you've got any opinions about it, I'd love to hear them.

Or, Use Skype With A Regular Phone

I haven't tested this out and it's gotten mixed reviews, but if you're old school and need to have the reassuring weight of a handset on your ear and your neck constantly tilted at a 45 degree angle, then you might want to check out this D-Link Skype USB Phone Adapter that will connect your regular handset to your PC.

Get Snagit

Why do I love Snagit? Because when you work remotely, a picture is worth a thousand emails. If I need to point out something quickly, all I need to do is hit the HotKey and I've got the screenshot -- there's no mistaking what I'm talking about. It's so functional I have nothing else to write about.

Buy The Keurig B60 Gourmet Single-Cup Home Brewing System

I have to admit I feel very bad for my coffee maker at home. It's capable of brewing a 12-cup carafe of piping hot coffee, yet every morning all I drip in is enough water for a piddly 8 ounce cup. This was never a problem back at the office where coffee was consumed in Big Gulp containers, but my poor coffee maker at home quietly endures the less than glamorous task I give to it each morning. Which is why I'm thinking of putting it out to pasture in exchange for this Keurig single-cup brewer. It sounds so good I'm surprised it's not made by Skype.

Install FoxClocks for Firefox

My coworker turned me on to a nifty Firefox add-on called FoxClocks for displaying different time zones. Not that useful for figuring out the 3 hour time zone difference between MA and CA, but definitely helpful when trying to schedule a morning conference call with someone in Sydney and you haven't had your 8 ounce cup of coffee yet.

I'll keep posting an any new tips and tricks I find that make me a more productive Web commuter, but would love to hear if anyone else has ideas.

Photo by: c1ssou