Q&A
Why do you work as a freelance product manager from home?
Short answer
Working as a freelance product manager from home gives me total control over my time. After 20 years leading products at Tokopedia, Hijra, and Flip, I realized focus drives impact, not physical office presence. This freedom lets me build tech initiatives without sacrificing my quality of life.
People often ask why I chose this route. Questions about my career path come up a lot, probably because it differs from the standard corporate executive track. The answer is simple. I need full control over what I do every day.
Over my two decades in tech, which includes building three startups and managing large products in intense environments, I saw valuable time evaporate. Pointless recurring meetings. Endless approval bureaucracy. Office routines that only drain mental capacity. Our core energy should go strictly into executing real solutions.
Working from home completely changed my rhythm. I can focus all my energy on things that actually move the needle. Saving companies money is an old habit of mine, well before AI was trendy. I drove over 4 million dollars per year in savings through various initiatives: process improvements, cost optimization, and more efficient product decisions. Automation was just one part of that. Back then, that kind of leverage required a senior seat, an engineering team, and expensive systems. Today, AI is the sharpest tool for that same habit, and it can be trained into everyone on the team.
Being an independent professional gives me maximum freedom over my time. As proof, I had the bandwidth to build an 8-channel content distribution system and run it entirely on my own. This flexibility also gave me the energy to launch the Applied-AI Certification. None of this would happen if my days were still dictated by a rigid traditional office schedule.
There is a price, of course. Remote work demands high accountability and discipline. No boss checks my attendance every morning. In return, I get mental clarity, which is highly valuable. Our brains need the right rhythm and breaks to produce sharp product decisions. Interactions with clients or teams are still intense, just much more focused. We jump on a virtual call to solve a specific problem, get it done, and go right back to execution. Every working hour becomes truly optimal.
If you want to see the results of this time exploration, or discuss applied AI implementation, check out AI Circle. I am building a space there for us to learn deeply together.