Throughout my career I have had the personal desire to minimize the journey I must take to and from my job. The degree to which I have achieved this has fluctuated greatly, from tremendously long and congested commutes, to the ability to work from home, literally doing away with the daily trip to work altogether.

I look back on my first job after graduating. I rented a studio flat only a short walk from my workplace. It was perfect, except for a rather deranged landlord and some manifestly dodgy tenants in the same apartment block! My next employment was quite a contrast. I needed to drive for 30 miles down one of the country’s most congested sections of motorway. I was lucky to get up to a speed of 20 mph, especially in the morning. Even leaving home at 6am did not guarantee me a better average speed. Bearing in mind, at that juncture, the world of Internet business was as yet at an early stage, because no more than a handful of businessmen saw the potential of the web.

After half a decade of daily car driving, I felt that I had suffered enough. And yet, my next commute was not a great improvement. For nearly a decade I travelled into the capital by train, switching one variety of gridlock for something even worse. For all that time I endured overcrowded carriages, in conditions which might well create a scandal if anyone conveyed animals a similar way. Even so it was not until I was made redundant, that I resolved to re-evaluate matters. After countless unproductive months perusing the online jobs boards, I came across a chance to work from home, decide my own hours and do away with travelling to work altogether.

Of course, the critical element is the development of Internet business. The WWW makes it practically irrelevant where you work from; you don’t have to to be located in an office when you can get in touch with everyone by email or video conference. This has significantly expanded the opportunities for people to work from home. No long delays at the station, no phoning your boss to say you’re held up, no more time spent in traffic jams. And perhaps above all, no timekeeping. I can choose my own hours, be at my desk at the crack of dawn if it suits me, or elect to work more unusual hours. The only important factor is that I can get the work done.

As travellers become increasingly mindful of the environmental effects of climate change, in particular the ‘carbon footprint’ of oil-based transport, Internet business can also offer the ability to diminish the pollution generated by massive amounts of commuting in the working week.

Not least, as an upshot of switching to online jobs, is the saving in money. We are all aware of how the cost of petrol has shot through the roof recently. Next year’s hike in VAT of an extra 2.5% will make things worse. And if you choose to travel by public transport, the impact on your wallet is no less onerous. In the time I had a job in London, I paid in excess of £3,000 on train tickets.

Any salary you earn is net of tax and such like. Tax is something all who earn money have to pay. But the large sums of money we spend on transport to the office, are in essence a different type of tax, that it’s not necessary to pay any longer. online jobs allow people to hang on to a much bigger proportion of their salary. That three thousand I once spent on season tickets, will help to pay for a nice sea cruise – a somewhat more desirable mode of travel, I think!