A handful of habits keep most of us stuck in the middle-class rat race.

Fortunately, remote work can break these habits and unlock the freedom we work so hard for.

Today, we’ll dig into four ways you can remote work your way out of the rat race.

Plus:

• 📝 10 good remote job boards
• 🤔 How many remote workers feel “connected” to their company mission?
• 🤖 Your AI remote work ally

…and more

Let’s jump in:

🐀 4 Ways To Remote Work Your Way Out Of The Rat Race

“He has a good job,” she said.

Her nails drummed on the table. She stared into space.

“But we can’t seem to get ahead.”

Listening to my friend was haunting. Because that’s exactly how many of us feel.

We’re trained to believe a “good job” (good salary, benefits, security) is enough to get ahead.

We’ve been indoctrinated by this idea. It’s the foundation we build our first 30-odd years of life:

• Good school
• Good grades
• Good college
• Good job
• Good life

Then we reach our 30s, and expectations do not meet reality.

Despite our best efforts, all those years of doing the “right thing”, we’re stuck in the rat race, anyway.

In her YouTube series, Nischa explains the four habits that keep people in the rat race:

• Working for less than you’re worth
• Buying more than you can afford
• Relying on one income
• Doing what everyone else is doing

Here’s the bad news: She’s right. These are keeping us stuck.

Here’s the good news: We can offset (if not completely eliminate) these habits by working remotely.

Here are the four ways you can remote work your way out of the rat race:

1/ Get Paid What You’re Worth

Your 3-4% raise isn’t keeping up with inflation.

In other words, you have an additional year of experience, but you’re getting paid less than a year ago.

How remote work gets you paid what you’re worth:

1/ You escape the local salary trap:

When you work remotely, you’re not confined to local job markets. You can seek roles beyond your geographical area, which often leads to more competitive compensation.

2/ Switching jobs is the fastest way to accelerate your career. 

That includes taking on new responsibilities and receiving higher compensation. If you’re not getting paid your worth, working remotely makes it easier than ever to do your job while searching, prepping, and interviewing for new roles.

2/ Avoid The 2 Biggest Middle-Class Traps

In the pursuit of the middle-class dream, we fall into two middle-class traps that keep us stuck in the rat race:

• Upgrade our car
• Buy a home

The worst part? The higher your income, the more money banks urge you to borrow for your “dream car” or “dream home.”

How remote work avoids these middle-class traps:

1/ Reduce or remove your car needs.

No commute = little to no time spent in your car. Why drop the cash on something that’s just gathering rust on your driveway?

2/ Escape high cost of living (CoL) locations.

Explore lower CoL areas without compromising your career. Buying and creating a home is important to many of us; now you can do it while avoiding the trap of excessive housing prices and expenses.

3/ Build Multiple Income Streams

The silver lining to the recent mass layoffs?

Understanding how precarious it is to stake your financial well-being with one employer.

This used to work for the middle class. It doesn’t anymore.

Getting out of the rat race (or even having true peace of mind) requires diversifying income streams.

Fortunately, remote work can help with that, too:

How remote work helps you build multiple income streams:

1/ Take another job

Moonlighting is a lot easier when your “day job” is remote. You can freelance, wait tables, drive for Uber, etc. There’s also “overemployment” (working two full-time jobs) which, while controversial, is doable with the right roles.

2/ Build your side hustle

Use the time you save by working remotely (killing your commute alone can earn back ~10 hours per week) and put it towards launching your own business.

3/ Invest in your future

Or spend that extra time investing. You can execute your investing strategy you’ve put off for months, start real estate investing, or invest in a new skill that generates income down the road.

4/ Run Your Own Race Habit

The pressure to “look the part” is real. And expensive.

We’re seeing that clearly with the latest return-to-office mandates. Jessica Chou of the Wall Street Journal reported spending between 20% and 30% of her paycheck because of RTO.

(Is a wardrobe revamp necessary for all industries and jobs? No. But for many, it is. If you take your career progression seriously, looking the part is required.)

How remote work helps you run your own race:

1/ Removes social pressure to look the part

Once you take yourself out of that environment, you can focus on what truly matters to you.

Instead of putting money towards keeping up, you can invest it into your future (see above) or spend it on what you really love.

That can still be fashionable clothing or luxury brands. That’s fine. But the difference is that it comes from an intrinsic appreciation of beauty, not the need to look more like Hunter from Sales.

Conclusion

“Getting ahead” requires a completely different game than the one we learned growing up.

We have to unlearn certain middle-class habits.

Working remotely gives us the autonomy to forge a different path.

Use remote work to veer away from these habits. And closer towards freedom for you and your family.

That’s a wrap. See you next week 👋