Every online business has to compete with the thousands, if not millions, of companies out there. To be competitive, we have to be able to make financial sacrifices for the greater good. As the remote working revolution is well and truly here, and this becomes the go-to option for any company looking to shave off a couple of zeros from their overheads.  But is this remote working revolution the death knell for small businesses? Is it viable for any up-and-coming entrepreneur, or is it something giving way to the gig economy as a way of life?

Plenty of entrepreneurs have said that remote working is career suicide, because once you get on “the journey home”, it can be difficult to come back from that. Not just in a professional sense, because you may be seen as dead weight to a company, especially if they already have a physical location, but in a personal sense, the average worker is not equipped to deal with remote working. It throws up many internal conflicts as they have to wrestle with their own procrastination, not to mention the hubbub of human traffic going past them on a regular basis.

That said, for every entrepreneur that has a laptop and a dream can set up their own empire from the comfort of their own home. In this respect, remote working is the key to keeping them safe. Many big business people have started from the kitchen table, and it’s a way to minimize unnecessary expenses, but it proves to be a veritable challenge in the face of adversity. The romantic image of the working mother, cuddling their child to sleep while working on an important deadline can be the epitome of heroism (or heroine-ism). And for these people who have no other option but to build up an empire from the kitchen table, they turn to these freelancer websites, where they can meet like-minded workers who can help them realize their dream. Not only this, but from a technological perspective, it’s cheaper to get a cloud server that ensures sufficient protection, rather than going through the long-winded approach to getting an in-house IT team if you were to run an office.

The remote working revolution is the backbone of many up and comers, and the gig economy is in such rude health, that for many people who are actively looking for a full-time role, but coming up with nothing, this is their lifeline. Is it killing small businesses? Au contraire, it’s very much the opposite. Not only is the remote working beneficial in a financial sense, but it’s actually proving inspiring for the modern day entrepreneur. You don’t need an office to show off a professional looking company as there are virtual services that provide that professional sheen, but the question is if remote workers want to embrace this setup for life. On a surface, it looks very attractive, working from home, in the dress code of your choice, but while it’s essential for so many, this could give way to a more relaxed way of working in an office environment, especially as the millennials are becoming CEOs and demanding a more flexible working approach.