What are you working on?

Interview with Ascencia, a content marketer, and avid gig economy professional

For most of my clients, I work as their content manager. So I research topics, assign topics to writers, and format them on WordPress.

But for one client, Caldera Forms (now acquired by Saturday Drive), I work in their marketing department. We’re still transitioning and getting to know each other at Saturday Drive, but it’s been really nice to be able to work remotely in a team.

A forgotten two-year-old Upwork account allowed Ascencia to become a content marketer—see how the gig economy has offered her an alternative path to success.

Read full interview from Interview with Ascencia, a content marketer, and avid gig economy professional.

Interview with Erin, a virtual assistant with a successful approach to freelancing

I assist clients with their needs (which vary from day to day) and also create online courses for other VA's. My workload fluctuates pretty wildly. There are days when I spend a solid 8 hours assisting my clients, and there are days when I may not hear from them at all. When my clients are quiet, you'll find me either creating, filming, or editing a new e-course for other virtual assistants.

Erin has found freelancing success as a virtual assistant—see her organizational tips & insights into how she picks clients that suit her business.

Read full interview from Interview with Erin, a virtual assistant with a successful approach to freelancing.

Interview with Chanell, a freelance writer and social media manager

I am a freelance writer for multiple businesses and content creation agencies. I do not work for one organization, so I have combined various gigs across a couple of different industries for work.

Typically, I compose articles and content related to automotive industry trends, small business productivity tips, video game entertainment, digital marketing, and human resources.

My work has a one or two-day turnaround typically, and I will work on two to three projects a day.

I communicate with clients daily using Upwork, email, or Trello (whichever platform fits their organizational needs the best).

My work involves a lot of research, editing (a big thanks to Grammarly), and conversations with clients about the type of tone and structure they are looking for in their content.

Because my work is deadline based, I do not have to be available all throughout the day. Therefore, my schedule is very flexible as the client’s only concern is that their work is completed by the agreed upon deadline. However, I do make a practice of checking email connected to the platforms mentioned above at least every hour for any updates or newly scheduled projects.

For the types of writing I do, for my video game entertainment client, I compose 25-part listicles that address trends in popular video game titles. The writing I complete for clients in the automotive industry consists of articles discussing automotive technology trends, impacts of legislation, and marketing tips for local dealers.

The majority of my projects are related to small business tips, advice, and list to guide new entrepreneurs and SMBs through business operations and strategy. Projects are typically 500 to 1500 words in length so a workday can vary based on the length of the articles.

Chanell is a freelance writer working from Atlanta that writes about business management tips and video game entertainment threads.

Read full interview from Interview with Chanell, a freelance writer and social media manager.

Interview with Maggie, a senior product manager at HubSpot

I moved to HubSpot in January 2019. I work remotely three days per week for the business enablement team. I'm a senior product manager, working on HubSpot's billing platform. The billing platform team allows customers and internal teams to manage and purchase HubSpot subscriptions. We make sure all the cogs are well oiled and working properly in the background.

Remote work allows Maggie to live in a small town and excel in her career. Hear about how she stays professionally connected, and her essential career advice for remote workers.

Read full interview from Interview with Maggie, a senior product manager at HubSpot.

Interview with Ben, a web developer who freelances from home

I've been working a lot of projects for a specific US customer (I'm Canadian), for more than a few years now. I've built everything from a distributed shipping label generation and printing system to an experimental Tensorflow-based spam classifier. Currently, I'm working with their purchasing department to improve their daily tools.

Learn the tips and tricks Ben uses to stay productive while working remotely on a hybrid team

Read full interview from Interview with Ben, a web developer who freelances from home.

Interview with Jake, a customer success manager for Atlassian

I help some of our biggest customers ensure they're achieving their goals with our product. I work closely with our product, marketing, and support teams. Most days include a couple of customer calls, and various internal meetings, along with some writing.

Jake was burned out on the San Francisco lifestyle—see how he transitioned from working in-office to working remotely for a remote-friendly company.

Read full interview from Interview with Jake, a customer success manager for Atlassian.

Interview with Jenna, a freelance writer who works remotely to help manage her health

I’m currently working as a freelance writer, so all my work is done remotely.

I have a background in sales/retail and my last job was a supervisor position at a call center handling benefits administration – the company didn’t really allow remote work except on a few occasions, so this is my first time working entirely from home.

I left that job after 3 years due to health reasons and stress/burnout late last year (7 months ago) and started officially working freelance in December. I’m also working on some of my own projects - blogs that aren’t live yet and also getting my professional website set up.

Jenna started working remotely after realizing her office job was causing health problems—now she works as a freelance writer and writes about self-improvement

Read full interview from Interview with Jenna, a freelance writer who works remotely to help manage her health.

Interview with Lily, an entrepreneur building VR conferencing for remote teams

I started Doghead Simulations with my cofounders Mat Chacon, Chance Glasco, and Elbert Perez to change the way we work and educate with virtual reality.

After working in the software industry with distributed, remote teams, we thought there had to be a better way to collaborate than video and phone calls.

We put our heads together and developed rumii, a multi-platform meeting and education app. It’s an immersive environment which brings together the best of working in an office while being remote.

We, ourselves, are a distributed remote team. We meet up in person every few months but the rest of the time we meet in rumii and VR.

It’s been fun building a company with the majority of people remote because we had the opportunity to build the remote culture from scratch. It wasn’t built in like my previous job.

I think whether in the office or remote, having a good team is all about open communication and willingness to work with your teammates.

Lily has almost a decade of remote work experience, now she's building the team collaboration tool of the future with Virtual Reality

Read full interview from Interview with Lily, an entrepreneur building VR conferencing for remote teams.

Interview with Molood, a CEO who shares how minimalism has improved her remote work experience

I run a company called Remote Forever. There I manage a team that helps businesses that are transforming to agile ways of working to do so remotely with ease.

The majority of agile consultants have never learned how to work and coach for building remote-first cultures, processes, and operations.

That is why in Remote Forever, we have also developed courses, workshops, and webinars to teach others remote work skills in agile such as remote agile coaching, online facilitation, online presentation, remote leadership, etc.

In addition to that, we are always working towards the next Remote Forever Summit. This summit is the first and by far biggest online event in the agile world that focuses on distributed agile, and we have organized it every year since 2016.

So my time is spent between consulting for a few corporate clients, leading my team, developing courses, supporting our students, and planning the next Remote Forever Summit, and every once in awhile, participating in fabulous interviews like this one.

As CEO and Founder of Remote Forever, Molood has made a career in teaching individuals and companies how to work remotely effectively. See how embracing a minimalist lifestyle has caused her to excel.

Read full interview from Interview with Molood, a CEO who shares how minimalism has improved her remote work experience.

Interview with Laurel about helping companies transition to remote work

As most freelancers, I have my hands in several cookie jars.

I write remote work education content for leadership training companies like Workplaceless; I advise US state governments with remote work initiatives about how to navigate the virtual work industry; I write articles and presentations about remote work for brands like Yonder, Remote Work Hub, Remote.com, and Re.Now; and I am a distributed business operations consultant for remote-friendly companies around the world.

I like to think that it's the best of both worlds—that I get the independence and flexibility of a freelancer, but the collaboration of corporate environments.

Laurel is an advocate for remote work and helps companies learn how to work remotely through her consulting and writing.

Read full interview from Interview with Laurel about helping companies transition to remote work.