How did you get started with remote work?

Interview with Deborah, a remote entrepreneur changing perceptions about remote work

This interview was conducted before the COVID-19 outbreak, so the answers convey travels and events that happened prior to lockdowns and travel changes.

I started my own consumer insight business almost seven years ago, so in a sense, I've been working remotely (part-time) since then, but I feel like my true 'remote' journey started three years ago when I spent just over a year living as a digital nomad with Remote Year.

Deborah has traveled the world sharing her research about the pros of remote work. See how she is helping companies and clients understand the importance of location independence.

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Interview with Mehmet, a nomadic digital maker and entrepreneur

My last formal tech startup business I was running five years ago was in transition to take client work. We were lucky to land a very large fashion retailer client managing luxury fashion brands, and their tech stack required a new set of team members.

We started working with a lot of remote work professionals. This started a shift in our team management model, communication framework, and eventually ignited the adaptation of a workspace free mindset.

We were also traveling more often both for business purposes as well as casual house swaps and month-long tryouts in different cities in the US. It was a weird period, but we went through it to redefine a lot of things in how we work.

Mehmet has embraced his remote team leadership style. Hear about his most helpful productivity trick and why he has "quiet" days for his staff.

Read full interview from Interview with Mehmet, a nomadic digital maker and entrepreneur .

Interview with Cecilia, a content writer managing her remote career in Dubai

I started working remotely in 2016, but I tried to work as a freelancer for several years before that.

In 2010, around the time I graduated from university, I set up a simple website to promote my proofreading services. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to promote myself and was too shy to put myself out there.

In 2015, after completing my master's degree and returning to my country to find work, I joined a few marketplaces to start finding freelance jobs. And I did! The jobs weren't very well-paid, but I did have the chance to work with good clients, and the workload was light enough that I could combine it with my office job at an advertising agency.

I started translating blog posts for a small real estate company in Spain, as well as writing blog posts about lots of different topics—from nutrition to rugs!

The next year, I found a remote position as a moderator for a client in Belgium.

Since then, I've worked with more clients to the point I was able to quit my office job in 2018 to go fully remote.

Cecilia got her start translating blog posts, and in 2018 she went fully remote. See her tips for managing an international remote work career.

Read full interview from Interview with Cecilia, a content writer managing her remote career in Dubai.

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.

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Interview with Pola, a Paris-based content writer

I had done freelance work before as a travel writer, but it wasn’t until I found my current job that I learned the term remote-first.

It’s having the freedom to work from anywhere, as opposed to a company policy that allows for occasional work-from-home days.

A job ad in an online group led Pola to find her ideal career as a content writer—see her remote work & job seeking takeaways.

Read full interview from Interview with Pola, a Paris-based content writer.

Interview with Leon, a journalist teaching the world to play chess

Working remotely came completely out of the blue for me. I was a journalist working long hours at The Telegraph in London. Then one day I was offered a new job by one of my contacts that combined one of my big passions, choosing my own hours and a complete change in career.

I decided to roll the dice and take it, to give up my solid established job working for a big internationally-recognized newspaper and join a tiny team working on Chessable, a start-up chess learning platform.

One year on and I find myself working from home, seeing lots more of my toddler and having a far better work-life balance. It has made an incredible difference in my life.

Leon James Watson is a former journalist who has found the intrinsic value of remote work while teaching the masses to play chess.

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Company Interview with Doug and Vivek, co-founders of remote tool, Pragli

I generally see two different reasons teams transition to remote:

• Talent retention: Someone needs to move away for a personal reason, but the company wants to retain them. This becomes a slippery slope to creating a remote policy for everyone.

• Talent acquisition: the company feels they are limited by their geography, so they begin building out teams remotely. A good example is Stripe.

I generally see three reasons teams start out remote:

• Founder lifestyle: The founder lives away from a talent hub or wants to be a digital nomad.

• Open source: Companies start as open-source projects with contributors all over the world. Examples: lots of crypto companies, Elastic

• Forward-looking: Some companies believe remote is inevitable, and want to lean into it by building a remote-first company

Doug has interviewed hundreds of remote teams as a co-founder of Pragli. Here's what he sees as common remote management patterns amongst those teams and organizations.

Read full interview from Company Interview with Doug and Vivek, co-founders of remote tool, Pragli.

Interview with John, an international business writer sharing 15 years of insights

I was asked by a client to work remotely in 2002. My role was international business development and marketing. I’ve worked remotely since then except for occasional breaks totaling about two years. So altogether I’ve been working remotely 15 of the last 17 years.

For over a decade, John has worked as an international business writer. See his insights on the state of remote work, freelancing, and attracting clients who are the right fit.

Read full interview from Interview with John, an international business writer sharing 15 years of insights.

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 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 .