Everyone knows Santa Claus delivers presents to good little girls and boys every December 24th. How he does it is not so well understood.

Well, it’s obvious: Santa is one of the all-time great practitioners of what we like to call “Anywhere Works.” Work is what you do, not where you do it. And Santa works around the world, almost all at the same time.

Whether you’re at home at your personal North Pole, or zipping around the world behind Rudolph’s glowing nose, you can take a few cues from Old Saint Nick and work remotely like Santa.

Sleigh Your Commute

Even though Santa works at ho-ho-home almost all the time, when he does head out, it’s go time.

To do a global job, you have to be mobile. Check Craigslist for flying sleighs, or regular sleighs and flying reindeer, or all of the above. If you don’t find anything, don’t worry. You can be mobile virtually, with a good chat client like Skype, GChat, or Slack.

By traveling just one day a year with renewable reindeer fuel, Santa has a low, low carbon footprint. You can too!

Get Elves

When you have a big job to do, you need the right team. And while magical elves are hard to come by, anyone can find help.

When you need to take Christmas orders from anywhere in the world, a live answering service can be your team of little helpers.

Make Your Workshop Jolly

Santa works at home every day except Christmas Eve. If you spend a lot of time in your home office, make it jolly!

Magical elves are not going to show up at a workshop without the right cookies and tinsel. When you like to be in your workspace, work is fun! We recommend a candy cane-based interior decoration theme.

Handle Your Mail

If you want to work remotely like Santa, you can’t miss a letter from little Bobby or Susie. For Santa, losing track of messages isn’t an option. You should approach your communications the same way!

Make a List, Check it Twice

Santa could never get the presents out to all the kids if he wasn’t so organized. Apps like Workflowy and Trello make keeping your lists straight as easy as sliding across a frozen pond. After all, you need to know who’s naughty and who’s nice.

Wear a Red Hat

We’re not sure why this helps, but there is a strong correlation between wearing a fuzzy red hat and becoming a global icon of remote working. Why mess with success?

See Your Customers When They’re Sleeping

Actually, never mind. Leave this one to Santa.

You Better Not Cry

Working from home or on the road (in the sky?) doesn’t have to be hard. With a little magical (or technological) help you can work anywhere, just like Kris Kringle.

Got some tips on how to work effectively no matter where you are? Share them in the comments!

 

Work is what you do, not where you do it.

AnswerConnect