How did you get started with remote work?

Interview with Ayush, a CEO and avid remote team builder

Well, for me, embracing remote work was a part of the experiments I do with myself. I keep checking out newer ways of working, sleeping patterns, and managing my team.

I started with remote work since I was working on scaling up my team and finding ways on how an organization should work without any micromanagement.

We have come a long way since then, and now we are managing teams in five countries.

Ayush is a CEO that is committed to helping companies build successful remote teams—see his process and tips for developing location independent teams that thrive.

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Interview with Harry, an IT Architect who works from home

I was planning a move from Pennsylvania to South Carolina and began looking for new job opportunities there. After my employer at the time found my active resume on Monster, we had a discussion and they decided to keep me on full time as a remote employee. That was in 2009—I've been working remotely full time ever since.

Harry has worked remotely for almost 10 years as a senior mobile, web and desktop developer—learn how he balances work with family.

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Interview with Alexandra Cote, a remote digital marketer and freelancer

I just always knew I wanted to work remotely. The thought of spending an extra 2-3 hours on the commute and getting ready for work was just life-draining to me.

So when I was offered a remote position, I had to say yes! I did have an in-office position before, but it was part-time, so it wasn't taking up too much of my time.

I've always heard excuses like "Why would they hire someone remotely?" from non-remote workers.

The reason why I got hired in the first place and why many teams are fully-distributed is because companies need access to the best talent pool out there.

Even if that means you'll be working with people across multiple time zones.

Alexandra juggles freelancing, a full-time remote job, YouTube, and Skillshare instructing. How does she manage it all? Find out in her interview.

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Interview with Cameron, a designer who works remotely at a WordPress agency

I was working a more “normal” job during the week and moonlighting as a Freelance Designer on nights and weekends. I pulled lots of long nights fueled by coffee and punk rock until I had enough work coming in to jump into freelance full-time.

This lead to starting a small agency with a Developer friend which was a great opportunity for me to learn the business side of things including sales.

While freelance life was great in many ways, I also missed the steady paychecks and predictability of a normal job, so after 3 years of freelancing and running a business, I decided to start looking for a full-time remote job.

While attending an industry conference WordCamp Raleigh I met someone who worked for my current employer WebDevStudios. In a few weeks, I had applied for a remote position with them and been offered a job which I excitedly accepted! I've been working remotely with them for 3 years now.

Learn how Cameron started full-time remote work after trying freelancing and starting a digital agency.

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Interview with Andrew, co-founder and CEO of Insured Nomads

Remote work has been a part of my modus operandi for over 15 years as my wife and I have taken turns in our professional development with various expatriate assignments and international opportunities. This situation has given me the freedom to take my work with me or pioneer new ventures from the road.

Andrew, co-founder, and CEO of Insured Nomads talks traveling while working, productivity tools, and the best advice he has received.

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Interview with Patryk, a Front-end Developer & UI Designer

For as long as I can remember, my parents have been running their own business - so to me, working a regular 9 to 5 job felt somehow unnatural.

I started out as a freelancer when I was studying at university.

At first, I mostly wanted to get commercial experience and build up a portfolio. At that time, I was still dreaming about joining a "Mad Men"-like agency and bringing huge campaigns to life.

But after a while, I realized that what I most enjoy is direct contact with customers - briefing them, understanding and solving the problems of their businesses, presenting and defending my work.

I also realized that working as a freelancer allows more freedom - you can work wherever and whenever you want. Since I enjoy traveling, the choice was easy.

I never really worked in an office, so there was no transition to make.

I started getting clients thanks to recommendations from my friends or from people I met during conferences.

Maybe those suited-up businessmen found me, 20-year-old kid in a T-shirt telling them how passionate I am about design & IT, adorable. 🐣

Patryk has learned that there is no reason to wait for the flow - once you start working, it will happen naturally.

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Interview with Alaina, a nonprofit program state director

The last company I worked for was my first remote work job, and it was an adjustment when I first started. It took months to find my rhythm, my biggest hurdle was waking up early enough to complete a full day's work and not working through the evening.

I'm currently the Georgia state director with Spread The Vote, and it's a full-time job. I help manage the nine chapters and dozens of volunteers who are helping Georgia residents get their IDs to live their lives and to show at the polls to vote on election day.

I like to say that my office is the entire state of Georgia. One day I can be home in Atlanta and the next, I’m driving an hour to Macon or further to cities like Savannah or Athens.

It takes a minute to find your rhythm in a new remote position—hear how Alaina organizes her time to hit the ground running in a new remote work job.

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Interview with Dane, a freelance writer and author with 7 published books

I had quite an unusual start with remote work. I used to work in social media marketing and so I always knew that I could work remotely, but I didn’t get much of a chance to do it when I was working for somebody else.

I realized after a while that social media marketing isn’t for me, and in fact I only got into it because it involved a certain amount of writing. So when I decided that I wanted to go freelance, it was only logical to look for writing work.

The first ever client that I took on actually came about through Twitter. A chap called Matt Goolding who runs an agency called KYO Digital was looking for someone who could write content about the publishing industry, and I was pretty much the perfect fit. I responded to his tweet, we hopped on a phone call and he ended up becoming my first client.

From there, I moved on to signing up to freelance sites like PeoplePerHour and Upwork, both of which I still use. They take a cut out of your earnings, but as long as you factor that into your hourly rate then it isn’t too much of a problem.

And at the same time, I’ve been building my reputation in general through the work that I do and so now I tend to get a decent amount of work through referrals or from former clients.

Dane is a freelance writer and author who works remotely, and balances client work with writing his own books.

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Interview with Kirsten and Jay-Allen, remote team coaches & collaboration experts

We started working remotely when a company we were with had employees located in different countries.

We really wanted to figure out how to build relationships and have effective remote meetings with each of these spaces, so we researched some guidelines on how distributed teams worked.

Over time we developed a set of principles to guide us when thinking about remote work and linked those to practices. The company then decided to have two remote work days a week and saw the benefits of remote work, especially in relation to work-life balance. We now both work for a fully remote company.

Remote team coaches, Kirsten and Jay-Allen, offer three pieces of advice for new remote workers and reveal the one question every remote job seeker should prepare to answer.

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Interview with Chloe, a customer support freelancer and multi-project expert

I initially discovered working remotely about four years ago. I used to manage retail stores and began looking at remote work as a way to supplement income on the days I was off or had a bit of extra time.

The transition was slow at the beginning; I did odd jobs to gain positive feedback and a bit of a platform presence. Personally, it wasn’t difficult for me, after working for almost ten years in retail, I was ready to try something different but still be able to work in the service industry.

Chloe uses the flexibility of freelancing to her advantage—see how she successfully manages multiple projects at one time.

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