What are you working on?

Question: What are you working on? Read answers from remote workers to learn.

Interview with Hanling, a data scientist that works remotely on machine learning

I'm specialized in data science. Most projects I'm currently working on are about machine learning, data mining and computer vision. And they are all programming using Python, R or MATLAB.

Hanling started working remotely as a student and now does freelance machine learning and data analysis for clients all around the world.

Read full interview from Interview with Hanling, a data scientist that works remotely on machine learning.


Interview with Hannah, a freelance writer that travels the world

Up until recently all of my remote work was freelance writing. Within the last few weeks I’ve began to work full-time as a freelance social media manager and I still do freelance writing on the side. I very much chose to look for work that I could do remotely because that’s the lifestyle I enjoy.

As a social media manager, I create ad copy, run social media pages, write blog posts, and work with influencers for several brands. I work with other team members who are spread throughout the globe. We keep in contact over Skype and are very transparent about what we are each working on.

With my freelance writing, I have a combination of larger and smaller projects. It’s all about finding clients who share a similar vision. My most common niches are personal development and business, but for interesting projects I’ve been known to write about a wide range of topics. I had to start slowly when I began my freelance writing career. While working a non-remote job, I created pieces for myself as a portfolio. Then I carefully built up clients until I felt comfortable having freelance writing be my only source of income.

Hannah is a freelancer writer and social media manager that travels the world while working remotely. Read her interview to learn how she works.

Read full interview from Interview with Hannah, a freelance writer that travels the world.


Interview with Elizabeth, a graphic designer and art director

At the moment, I’m working on a few really interesting business design projects for clients, including some high-level global decks and whitepapers in the impact investing space.

I also have some screamingly creative pitch books on the go. I have one project in the pipeline for a new brand that’s going to be mind-stretching fun later this year.

Elizabeth provides the ultimate list of tips for aspiring freelancers and remote workers. Check out her game-changing tools, and advice for thriving as a freelancer.

Read full interview from Interview with Elizabeth, a graphic designer and art director.


Interview with Deb, a sales copywriter who transitioned from software development

Due to client confidentiality and having signed an NDA, I am unable to go into specifics. But at present I am working in the role of a Sales Copywriter.

I weave my words in a way to help my clients get more revenue by persuading their prospects to take action. I specialize in building sales funnels, writing blog posts, persuasive emails, website copy, Facebook ads, and sales landing pages.

Deb made the jump from full-time software developer to freelance sales copywriter—learn how he made the transition.

Read full interview from Interview with Deb, a sales copywriter who transitioned from software development.


Interview with Meryl, a digital marketer and master of home office organization

I love what I do because I work on a variety of things.

One project is managing a client's ads on LinkedIn. Another involves writing web copy for a new company.

Any minute now, I'll be writing a marketing plan for a new client. I oversee social media for clients and my own accounts, of course. Just started working with a client whose Wordpress website was spammed and had a lot of problems. Been working to resolve them one problem at a time.

I'm always cooking up a script and creating videos because video has helped me in so many ways. This especially applies to the series about captioning. Next month, I'll be at a conference doing a demo on how to caption videos.

Video allows people to get to know me beyond words on a screen.

I'm not shy about sharing my experiences as a person born deaf. I want folks to know that people with different abilities, or diffabilities, can provide valuable insights.

Those things that people may view as a disadvantage are often an advantage. Video helps me show that.

Meryl K. Evans is skilled at creating a home office that leads to remote work flexibility. See her advice for creating a successful workspace, and hear about her journey into freelancing.

Read full interview from Interview with Meryl, a digital marketer and master of home office organization.


Interview with Haley, a VP of Operations shares her stellar remote work strategies

As the head of operations for a fully remote content marketing agency, I spend most of my time working with our team and customers. We’re focused on continuing to elevate our employee and customer experience next year, and bringing on awesome new team members obsessed with content to help!

Haley has figured out the way she works best as a VP of Operations. See her principles of remote work and the unique advice a former boss gave her about breaks.

Read full interview from Interview with Haley, a VP of Operations shares her stellar remote work strategies.


Interview with Artur, an engineer who found purpose as an Intrapreneur

Automattic is the company behind WordPress.com — a platform for starting a website (or a blog) quickly and without any hassle.

I care deeply about helping people earn money and focus on tools and features that let them sell products or services and market them on the Internet.

I started as a JavaScript engineer, but with an education in both psychology and computer science, I always liked to blend disciplines and had trouble with boundaries (primary school teachers did not appreciate this). However, over these three years, I have been able to shape my role and call myself an Intrapreneur.

My goal is to get stuff done and provide customers with the best possible tools to accomplish their own goals.

Sometimes that means implementing a new feature, convincing a team to tweak their existing project, or advocating for a particular approach.

Any work environment is teeming with potential and people wanting to accomplish things. Your programmers may have a great understanding of the publishing business; marketing folks may have great UX ideas, and system admins can come up with excellent copy.

Bigger businesses tend to silo people in their job description responsibilities. This tactic results in the whole company working towards having a cleaner codebase, nicer designs or slicker social media campaigns. However, nobody will work on the actual thing that makes the customer happy.

The customer does not care if your front end team has recently updated its data layer approach to the latest framework. Conversely, in small businesses, entrepreneurs are responsible for everything, and no task falls outside of their responsibilities.

They want the job done. Period. They can never say "Oh, we did all we were responsible for, and the failure is the other team's fault."

That dose of accountability and ownership resonates with me, but I don't want to run a small business (I've learned that lesson early in my life). That is how I arrived at being an Intrapreneur.

I've recently lead a project that provides remarkably easy Mailchimp integration, and now I am working on a billing system that will empower users to sell goods and services with less friction than ever before possible on a WordPress site.

Artur realized entrepreneurship wasn't for him—see how he carves out his creativity and purpose as a remote Intrapreneur at Automattic.

Read full interview from Interview with Artur, an engineer who found purpose as an Intrapreneur.


Interview with Stefan, a founder building a location-independent startup

I’m building PulseBlueprint, a media company that publishes content to help people successfully make a transition in life such as getting a new job, a promotion, or starting a business.

I publish content on the website, Pulseblueprint.com, and I have some amazing clients that I write for as well (mostly growing tech startups and venture capitalists).

Stefan now has total control over his time since leaving the traditional office in early 2019. Hear how his routine is helping him build a solid remote startup.

Read full interview from Interview with Stefan, a founder building a location-independent startup .


Interview with John, a web developer who works from home

While I work for a WordPress agency that focuses on enterprise level clients, I'm also running a mini-agency inside that larger agency.

When your website says that you are everything to everyone, it becomes really hard to stand out.

So, we let WebDevStudios.com maintain the focus on enterprise clients and direct small business clients to ewebscapes.com, our small business department.

Since this is a relatively new initiative for us, I'm putting in a lot of work with the marketing team to help build a presence for the eWebscapes brand. That is, when I'm not talking to small businesses about their website requirements.

John is a web developer running a mini-agency inside a larger WordPress agency - learn how calendar management and establishing boundaries have helped him boost his productivity.

Read full interview from Interview with John, a web developer who works from home.


Interview with Nathan and Connor, owners of Freeeup

Today, we run FreeeUp.com full time. FreeeUp is a marketplace connecting virtual assistants, freelancers, and agencies with digital businesses in the eCommerce and marketing spaces.

As I said above, we founded FreeeUp out of frustrations we were having with the other online hiring platforms. We wanted a more reliable way to find top talent remotely.

FreeeUp interviews and vets thousands of freelancers every single week then only allows the top one percent into the network. We take care of the pre-vetting, and interviewing for business owners, saving them time on the front end of the hiring process.

As businesses post jobs, we introduce them to one qualified candidate from the network at a time. Businesses can meet as many freelancers as they need until they’ve found the best one for their work.

On the backend, FreeeUp protects businesses from turnover. In the rare case that a freelancer has to quit, FreeeUp will replace them immediately and cover any applicable replacement costs.

Thinking of creating your own remote startup? See how Nathan and Connor built a successful and effective remote team from scratch.

Read full interview from Interview with Nathan and Connor, owners of Freeeup.

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