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Step one: fix the physical and connection basics
Begin with the things that stop work: power, network and a place to sit for several hours. Choose a primary connection and a backup, such as a wired line with a phone hotspot, and test both with a video call and a large repository pull. Set a desk and chair that you can use without adjustment each morning. Keep chargers, an external drive and a headset in one place. Write a short outage routine saying whom to message, what to switch to and which tasks can wait. Reliability matters more than expensive equipment.
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Step two: make the development environment repeatable
Treat your machine as replaceable. Keep dotfiles, editor settings and setup scripts in a private repository, and record the language versions each project needs. Use containers or version managers so a new laptop can reach a working build in under an hour. Store secrets in a password manager or encrypted vault rather than in notes. Schedule backups and test one restore. Add a project readme with run, test and deploy commands. If the workspace can be rebuilt from instructions, a failed disk becomes an inconvenience instead of a lost week.
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Step three: set working rhythms and a worked example
Agree overlap hours, response times and a daily written update. Example: a freelancer on a small island builds a booking site for a client in another time zone. She keeps a wired line plus hotspot, a scripted setup, and a two-hour overlap each morning. Each evening she posts what shipped, what is blocked and tomorrow's plan. When a storm cuts power, the outage routine sends a message, the repository holds all work, and the client sees no surprise. Review the setup monthly and remove whatever caused friction.