How did you get started with remote work?
Interview with Pilar, director of Virtual Not Distant
I first started working online about eight years ago, because I was looking for work in leadership training. I was doing training for managers and facilitating away days for organizations, and I was based in London. However, I met my husband in Amsterdam. And also, my father became chronically ill in Spain.
So, I needed to go there for long periods of time, and I needed something to do online.
I found a job online, animating a forum for people who were taking an accredited course on management and leadership. So, that's how I started.
I was doing the forum, then I was offered work running the webinars, and I found I really enjoyed it. I also noticed that my blog posts that were from my then blog Virtual Not Distant (now a company), that covered topics about running remote teams and managing remote teams and virtual teams were getting a lot of attention.
In contrast, the stuff I was writing on ordinary leadership and management were not getting that much engagement. So, that's why I started to go in that direction.
Hear about Pilar's flexible approach to managing Virtual Not Distant and the career-changing advice she received from a friend.
Read full interview from Interview with Pilar, director of Virtual Not Distant .
Interview with Sarah Archer, a content marketing manager & remote work techie
The company that I work for, Siege Media, has always supported employees who want to work from home at least once per week, but I took it a step further and pitched my CEO on transitioning to working remotely full time.
We worked together to come up with a plan that would benefit the company and keep me productive, and now I’ve been working remotely for over a year.
From noise-canceling headphones to Basecamp—content marketer Sarah shares her must-have remote work tools & essential productivity tips.
Read full interview from Interview with Sarah Archer, a content marketing manager & remote work techie.
Interview with Tara, a remote director of research and administration
In 2006, my now-husband started a job with a commute of two hours. He stayed near work and came home when he could, but in 2010, we decided that we needed to move closer to his job, for the well-being of both of us.
I approached my managing partner with the situation, and we decided that I could be just as effective working remotely.
We worked out a plan, and then we tried it out for six months while I was still in the city, just to work out any glitches while my husband and I built our home. In late 2011 we made the move, and now we are a 100% remote company.
A move to be closer to a spouse's job led Tara to remote work—see her tips for staying productive and organized as a full-time remote director.
Read full interview from Interview with Tara, a remote director of research and administration.
Interview with Nico, marketer and advocate for remote worker mental health
I started working remotely full-time about a year ago, although my remote work advocacy began before that.
I remember reading tons of content about the benefits of remote work back in 2015/2016 and thinking, "I want that freedom, I want that flexibility."
"I've felt burnout HARD in the past. When it hits, it HITS, and it can be tough to recover." In this interview, Nico shares his strategies for balancing work and life and reveals the key to avoiding burnout.
Read full interview from Interview with Nico, marketer and advocate for remote worker mental health.
Interview with Paul, a remote product designer who has found his zen
Like many around the world today, the Covid-19 pandemic saw me retreating from the office to the safety of home, where Ireland announced a national lockdown back in March. Fortunately, the move was quite seamless as the company I work for —Global Payments—uses GSuite.
I have teammates and colleagues based in the United States and India, so it makes no difference whether I am sitting in the office or at home when on a Google Meet call with them.
As it happens, prior to the pandemic, the idea of working remotely more often was beginning to appeal to me. I wasn’t too sure when to take the plunge but was on the verge of doing a couple of trial weeks when the pandemic fast-tracked all that. Covid-19 anxieties aside, I’ve enjoyed it so far.
The COVID-19 pandemic drove Paul to embrace remote work. See how he has adapted his routine to this new normal, and the one tool that keeps him organized.
Read full interview from Interview with Paul, a remote product designer who has found his zen .
Interview with Emma, a freelance marketing consultant
I’ve actually been pretty lucky with a few jobs I’ve had over the years as I’ve worked on ‘global,’ dispersed teams and invariably then been able to work remotely. I worked for HP a while back and actually most of my team were based in San Francisco!
It certainly made for interesting working hours what with me being in the UK. More recently though, since November of 2018, I’ve been working as a freelance marketing consultant across a number of different clients, and so I’m able to do that fully as a remote worker.
Emma is thriving as a freelance marketing consultant—see her tips on managing client demands & making yourself marketable as a freelancer.
Read full interview from Interview with Emma, a freelance marketing consultant.
Interview with Audrey, a military wife thriving as a marketing manager
I started looking into remote work options when I married my husband - who was an active-duty Army officer at the time.
I was moving from Louisville, KY to Colorado at the time with many more moves in our future, and I knew in order to really establish a career and advance within one position, I needed it to travel with me wherever the Army took us.
Luckily, the opportunities for remote work in marketing are pretty vast—and always growing.
Honestly, when I found a position with my current company Boldly it was not a difficult transition for me to leave office jobs behind.
I am a natural introvert, and I focus better in my own environment — so I found remote work very conducive to my preferred work style.
The company has a very inclusive culture, so even though I am working on my own, I never feel 'alone.'
I've been working remotely with Boldly for five years now, been promoted and genuinely enjoy what I'm doing — so it's literally a dream realized.
Marrying an active-duty army officer sent Audrey on the search for a remote work position—see how she has established her career while staying on the move.
Read full interview from Interview with Audrey, a military wife thriving as a marketing manager .
Interview with Danielle, an author who found the benefits of coworking
I was in an online grad program at Syracuse University, which allowed me to complete courses and attend live classes virtually, so I was able to stay in warm Atlanta year round.
I was also new to ATL and wanted to meet people, so I searched for remote work and co-working groups on the app Meetup. I found a great group called ATL Ladies Work Remote and have been in love ever since!
I enjoy asking questions and learning from others, so when I joined the group, I asked plenty of questions of people about what they do and how they best co-work. Based on some suggestions, it was easy to try out new ways of trying to get work done.
Most importantly, the women in my group have become friends of mine. We spend time together outside of working hours, and I have been able to see first hand how they balance their routine and how successful they are at it.
Many of them travel and work, which is a goal of mine, so I’m always asking questions and learning more about how they do it!
Danielle's remote work journey led her to become an author—see how coworking with other remote workers and digital tools have helped her to fulfill her passion.
Read full interview from Interview with Danielle, an author who found the benefits of coworking.
Interview with Tammy, founder and CEO of Workplaceless
I started working remotely for an edtech company in 2011. I was moving back to the US after several years in Spain, and I wasn’t sure where I wanted to live, so I focused on trying to find a job that would let me live anywhere.
Learn how this founder and CEO of a remote work resource and certification program handles the triumphs and trails of location independence.
Read full interview from Interview with Tammy, founder and CEO of Workplaceless.
Interview with Vernon, a freelance technical writer
A few years ago, 2012 I think, I began hearing about the freelance industry (well, it’s not quite an industry in the technical sense, it’s more a mode or collection of industries, but you know what I mean) and the possibilities thereof.
Now, being a creative, I was open to the idea of being a freelancer, but I hadn’t quite thought of it seriously. At the time I was still entrenched in the traditional (at least where I come from) world of the 9 to 5, a regular paycheck, J-O-B.
Last year I had been working at a high school as a system administrator before my contract ended. I was searching for my next job, doing interviews and sending out resumes, when I recalled that I created a profile on Upwork, an online freelance marketplace, some years before as a test of sorts.
I figured “Ok. In the meantime, until I get something else, why don’t I hustle online?” Almost simultaneously, I was exposed to technical writing and, it turns out, I wasn’t bad at it.
I also started exploring freelancing as a career choice and found, after running the numbers and doing the cost-benefit analysis, that this would be almost perfect for me.
Some would call me weird or crazy (I’m also a musician) but I don’t like large, constricting structures. I realized that I’m kind of an entrepreneur at heart and that, as a freelancer, I could maintain the kind of lifestyle that I wanted to live. My time and focus would, mostly, be mine to manage. The path of my career would be mostly under my control.
My progress and my earnings would not be dictated by the whims and decisions of a handful of middle managers or bureaucrats (in the case of working for the government) but by my sweat and effort and assessment of the industry landscape.
It’s risky, absolutely, but the risk is mitigated by knowledge. And you gain the knowledge you need through research, training, experience, and networking with those who’ve been doing it longer than you. But you also need tenacity. Your business, as a freelancer or entrepreneur or investor, will not become successful overnight. It’ll take time, and it’ll take consistent effort but, for those who choose this path, it’ll be totally worth it.
As for other things I've done, as I said, I've worked as a high school computer lab technician and system administrator. However, I've also been an information technology manager for a small company; an IT support agent; a technical support team leader; customer service and technical support trainer; and, most importantly, a musician (I had a band for eight years. Good times).
Apart from being a musician, all of these jobs were 9 to 5's with regular salaries. Being a musician, that kind of life can feel “soul-sucking,” but I had my band and my music. That allowed me to survive spiritually, while the jobs gave me a steady income that allowed me to survive physiologically.
Transitioning to remote work was risky, but I believed in it. Still, do. That’s why I’m still doing it. My income is not where I would like it to be, but it has been growing steadily as I get better at it. Plus, the market is, by definition, worldwide.
Yes, I’m competing with people from all over the world, but there’s more than enough to go around in my estimation.
Vernon is a freelance software technical writer that uses lists to organize his hectic freelance schedule—see how he maximizes his time throughout the workday.
Read full interview from Interview with Vernon, a freelance technical writer .