Derek Pattenson is founder and sole consultant of Small Office Solutions providing a range of Information Technology development and support services to clients in the UK and globally.

Initially, from 1997, I started working from home to avoid the wasted time, energy, costs and frustrations of commuting. My first remote clients were in London and I continued to visit them on a weekly basis. However as both technology - and my demonstrable ability to harness it - developed, I began working with clients whose premises I never visited. Soon my client list included not only London and other UK clients, but companies across the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia. A marketplace that I could never have reached before was now open to me. Whilst working in different time zones can present problems, it's also a great opportunity for clients. Often they can request a task late in their working day, confident that when they return to work in the morning I will have completed it.

Not only have I all but eliminated my travel costs, my car does virtually zero business miles, and I've gained the flexibility to work when it suits me.  Building up a global client list wasn't easy - a global marketplace brings global competition, and many developing economies can offer services at a fraction of the rates I need to charge. However I - and my clients - are convinced that cost is not the only factor in determining what makes for a great consultant - qualities like professionalism, quality, business understanding and enthusiasm are vital, and with these, I consistently win business against competitors who can charge a fraction of my fee. My personal motto: "I am not cheap, but I am good value".

Working from a corner of a study extension to my home, I have the luxury of being apart from the family home but still involved. If the children are home on holiday or sick, I'm available for them. If it starts raining, I can nip outside and bring the washing in. That's a work-from-home benefit not many people consider!

Using a wireless network within the home, I can also work anywhere in the house or garden. However work-in-progress is also stored on remote servers over the internet, so in the event of an emergency (like when the neighbour's builders accidentally cut the phone line) I can resume work from anywhere with an internet connection - another neighbour's house on that occasion.

Working from home, although I typically keep normal office hours, I have the flexibility to meet client needs whenever they arise - from early morning to late at night, or at weekends when needed. If there's a quick maintenance task to do for a customer, they only pay for the time I spend on their job, not on any travel time I might need getting to their offices.

I typically work with several clients concurrently, often 9 or 10. Whilst respecting client confidentiality and intellectual property, being exposed to many different systems, methods of working and business models, I act as a filter for industry best practice, and can bring new developments to my clients very swiftly.

I regularly collaborate with other remote workers, either by way of online forums and newsgroups, or by outsourcing specific tasks to other freelancers in the UK and abroad. Although working in the "office" on my own, I never feel isolated from my industry.

Feedback from customers confirms that I've made a consistently positive contribution, nearly always going beyond the scope of my assignment to add value beyond the client's expectations.

Over the past five years, I've had to do no active marketing of my business. I very occasionally tender for work on online project auction sites, but the majority of my work is repeat business from satisfied customers, and referrals from those customers. On the global "rent-a-coder" website, which has over 200,000 developers worldwide, I was for a while the top-ranked UK developer, getting into the top 50 - quite an achievement, since many of the top-rankers are actually software houses employing many developers.

A commitment to quality of service is paramount to me. In 2007 my company was certified (at first attempt and with zero non-conformities to the standard) to ISO9001:2000 standard for our Quality Management System. Very few one-man micro-businesses are in a position to achieve that certification. I constantly strive to improve our service, and the biggest reward I get is the often unsolicited messages of praise and thanks from satisfied customers.

The icing on the cake came in the form of The Remote Workers Freelance Consultant Award I picked up recently (2009). I was surprised, delighted and honoured to have received the award and to have won against such fierce and deserving competition was just amazing.  It's great to get recognition for one's efforts, because freelancing can be a long, hard slog at times, and a pat on the back is most welcome.