The notion of working in an office cube from nine-to-five seems like such a thing of the past, especially if you're a startup.  Why pay for office space when all the communications tools you need are right in front of you on your laptop?  Having a face-to-face discussion with a colleague is a mouse click away with video chatting.  Save money, work from home.

Elance, a site where companies can hire, manage and pay contractors online, is hosting a pretty killer competition for those of us embracing this new way to work.  "The New Way to Work" competition has a grand prize of either a year worth of health insurance premiums for your company or $10,000 in cash. 

What it entails is quite simple. Startup companies, entrepreneurs or independent professionals are being called to share an inspirational story about the way they work.  

Anyone with an interesting story, and a company profile on Vator, can submit their company profile to the  Elance $10,000 competition page on Vator. But they have to include in their profiles a story about their work environment. The stories can be in the form of video, PDF, or PowerPoint. VatorNews will highlight some of the more interesting stories.

The competition already started just less than a week ago and ends on November 30th. Throughout this time period, Elance said it would be highlighting the most creative, innovative and inspiring entrants on its blog.  It will then narrow the contestants to a set of 10 finalists, which will be judged by Tim Ferris, John Jantsch, Tory Johnson and Elance itself.  

Whether your working from a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco like myself, or a beach in Brazil, gather your thoughts and share your story.