Work Remotely Without Experience: Make Money Online (3 Ways)
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You deserve to be free to work from wherever you want!
We (Christa and Jordan) are two professional career coaches who specifically focus on helping people just like YOU get a remote career so that YOU can have more freedom in your life.
We’ve joined forces this year to help you not only learn about what your remote career options are, but exactly how to decide what to pursue, and what steps you should take to make it happen.
Even if you have no online or remote work experience, you’ll get a lot out of this zero-fluff, straight-to-the-point course.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
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The three main methods to developing a remote career
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How to choose which of the three methods is best for you
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The immediate next steps so you can take fast action on your decision
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Tips on how to avoid online scams
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And more on HOW TO WORK REMOTELY
This course is for you if:
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you’ve thought about working online, but don’t know where to start
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you have some digital skills but have never worked remotely
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you resent the fact that you have to go into the office
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you lost your job due to the pandemic
This course is NOT for you if:
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you don’t know how to use a computer
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you already have a remote job
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you have the expectation that remote work is easier than office work (hint: it’s not!)
TIPS ON HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL TAKING THIS COURSE:
Remember: There is NO such thing as a get-rich-quick scheme here, meaning we’re not here to help you just “make money online,” we’re here to help you make the right long-term career decision to create a life of freedom and flexibility.
Download: There are “resources” with every single video. Download them so you can read along while you watch the videos and also access the additional information we share in the videos (links, PDF’s, etc)
Reach Out: Christa and Jordan are readily available to answer your questions if any come up while you take this course. You can find us on IG at @christabellatravels and @jspensir. We’d love any feedback you have on how to improve the course as well!
If you’re ready to make some life-changing decisions, you want to take the first step forward, this course is for you, we’re excited to see you inside!
– Christa and Jordan
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2
How to Avoid Online ScamsThe Reality of Scams Online
Like the catfishes who pose as internet models to get their phone bills paid, or the Instagrammers who can’t stop Dming me about FOREX opportunities…
There will always be people in this world looking to prey upon others. And with the increasing popularity of remote work, I think it's safe to say that work from home scams are here to stay, just like remote work is. Many of these scams will promise remote work with ease.
Flexible hours, high pay, little work, and even free back massages. Well, maybe the back massages were only promised by the catfish. Either way, the truth is… the BEST remote jobs, the LEGIT ones, with awesome companies, not only require a fair amount of work, but they are also extremely competitive to get. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and potentially money if you know how to spot online work from home scams, and know which remote jobs are legit.
Scam Statistics
According to the US government, there are many common scams and frauds including Ponzi schemes, ticket scams, social media scams, pyramid schemes, government grant scams, banking scams, and more. And with the world becoming more globalized with access to the internet, more people online means more people for these scammers to prey on.
The Australian government keeps a page updated with the number or reported scams and frauds, calculating over $20M in losses in just 2021 alone. A data report from Bromium calculates that social media cyber crimes generate global revenue that tops $3.25B annually as of 2020. These stats are just to say -- it’s a profitable business to try to scam you, and that’s why you need to be careful.
Ways to Identify a Potential Scam
Work From Home Highlighted
If the focus is on the fact that the job is work from home, it may be a sign it’s a scam. Most legitimate job roles focus more so on the role itself, rather than the fact that it’s a work-from-home job. It doesn’t mean to say any company who’s advertising the fact a job is WFT is a scam, but if they heavily rely on that as the reason why you should reach out, it’s a red flag.
Too Good to Be True
Incredible perks, insane salary for little or no work hours, or any other vague but irrational claims are a huge red-flag. Their goal here is to get you enticed by the fact someone else has made multiple thousands in a day from having no skills and scrolling on their phone all day, and it's easy to want to think something like that is possible.
Lack of Information Available
If there is a vague job description with only a few words and you have to have a call with a member from their organization, or submit your information to learn more, it’s usually either a multi-level marketing company, or some type of scam. While MLM’s aren’t necessarily always ‘scams,’ anything that can fall into the realm of a pyramid scheme should keep you wary.
Asks for Personal Info or Money Upfront
You shouldn’t be expected to pay someone money upfront for a job. If they require an initial investment you should be extremely cautious and skeptical of the opportunity.
Doesn't Feel Right
Sometimes all you need is your intuition to tell you that something doesn’t feel right. If you get that icky feeling inside that something is wrong with a company, you may be right. Trust yourself and do additional research before becoming more involved with any particular opportunity.
Email from Someone Unknown with Mysterious Links
Getting cold emails from people you don't know is cause for caution, especially if the email has a link in it. As phishing scams, the people are trying to get you to click the link, which can cause problems on your computer or take you to a site that asks you to submit more personal information. Don’t click on these links, make sure to mark it as ‘spam’ or ‘phishing’ and block the user.
Non-Secure Sites
Be aware if a website is using “HTTP” instead of “HTTPS.” HTTPS is a secure communication over a computer network, widely used, and trusted. Unsecured sites without the “S” may have potential to be harmful.
Sense of Urgency
If an offer is time-sensitive and rushing you (i.e. a phone call reminding you about a car insurance claim about to expire if you don’t call them back), it’s something to keep in mind as a potential scam.
Spelling / Grammar Errors
Scammers care more about money than grammar. Many times they may also not speak English as a first language, so look out for easily misspelled words and sentence structure that’s out of place. These could be warning signs.
When in doubt... RESEARCH!
Make sure to look the company up on credible websites. Try to find them on LinkedIn, the BBB, Glassdoor, and Google. Look for the people on LinkedIn. You can even search “[name of company] + scam” to see if other people online are talking about their negative experiences. Trust your intuition and always be cautious.
Types of Scams
Telephone Scams
Banking Scams
Lottery and Sweepstakes
Ponzi Schemes
Investment Scams
Census Related Fraud
Government Grant Scams
Charity Scams
Pyramid Schemes
Phishing or Email Scams
Ticket Scams
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3
Mindset Problems You Don't Think You Have
Paradox of Need
I get it! You’re confused. Right now you may be in a spot where everything is incredibly overwhelming. You’re not sure what step to take next. You know you want to explore the virtual work world, and maybe that means getting a remote job, starting a business, or becoming a freelancer. First, I want us to normalize this confusion, and accept that it’s part of the process.
You may feel like you need something to happen, and you need it to happen fast. You may be in a financial position where you’re somewhat desperate for change. This first section is here to ask you to take a deep breath. Real big. Feel yourself overcome with gratitude, compassion, and patience for yourself.
Because here’s the reality… I talk to many people who come into the process of trying to find a remote position, start a business, or freelance, and the paradox is -- the more you push and push yourself, the more sloppy you become -- and the longer it takes anyway.
The details are important. Your mental health is important. And not committing upfront to the right strategies will cost you more time on the backend. Yes, it can ‘feel good' to send out a bunch of resumes for a remote job. It can feel good to pitch a bunch of people your ability to do ‘anything and everything’ for them. But at the end of the day, you can easily make it worse by doing that, and ruining first impressions.
When you need something you come across as desperate. People can sense it. We are going to practice how to become targeted in what you want to do from here because that’s the key to putting yourself in the right position to succeed.
Entitlement
Just because you need to work remotely doesn’t mean you’ve done the work to deserve it. I don't mean to sound condescending, that's not my intention. But, in my line of work, I meet a lot of people that feel ENTITLED to a remote job, or to a line of clients waiting to work with them, when they've done absolutely nothing to earn these things.
The reality is, not everyone deserves to work remotely (nor is it the right fit). Look at yourself in the mirror and dig in, work hard, and show up for yourself. That's where this course comes in. It will show you how to stand out, use the proper tools, and help you take the first step toward more flexibility and freedom.
Expectations and Discouragement
It's hard to set the right expectations for something like this. Because people from all walks of life will be taking this course, I want to forewarn you: it might take longer than you think, depending on your path. It will likely be harder than you think, and you might struggle more than you think. But that shouldn't stop you from placing expectations of success in your line of vision. And, anything worth doing takes hard work. So if you’re still with me, that’s a good sign - you’re doing more than most people.
You need to expect you're going to succeed, but be unattached to the mistakes and learnings that happen in the process. For more on this, watch this short TED talk which will help you not only in this job search process but in all expectations you set in your life.
No one can want this more than you. Not me, not some recruiter, not your family, not your friends, not a hiring manager, not a potential client... You have to be able to accept responsibility for your outcomes. You can't expect anyone to give you anything, and can't expect anyone to put in more effort than you.
Discouragement itself is to be expected. Things won't always go according to plan. However, it's not discouragement you need to be concerned about. It's how you respond to discouragement that's important. I've met many people who give up in the face of adversity because they become so frustrated. Remember that when using this process, and after committing to yourself that you can do this, you will be able to make it happen - and it's the resolve that you show that will be your greatest asset.
To Make it Happen, Take the Action
Every change in life starts with a first step.
For most people, this can be a scary thing, but regardless of anything that could be holding you back, you’re taking action. Many people become paralyzed at this step and they don’t do anything.
This entire process is about taking action, and while we’ll be presenting strategies and actionable advice, it’s on you to apply the skills and techniques you learn here within this course.
We’ve spent years obtaining the knowledge and experiences we share in this course. We’ve researched countless hours to find the most up-to-date content and tips. There’s a lot of good stuff in here. It might be overwhelming at times.
If at any point you feel overwhelmed with the information, take a deep breath, step away, get some exercise, read a book, or watch a show on Netflix and then come back to it. None of this is going to happen overnight.
Compound Effect
Any change is a process. This process will require systemizing the organization, personal branding, and networking so that repeatable activities will give you a higher probability of success. The people who get ahead, not only in this course but in their life understand the meaning of the compound effect.
This is to say that the simple, small decisions and actions that we take each day will vastly impact our future. The tools, techniques, and strategies in this course are meant to be a long-term solution, not a short-term fix. That means that you’re expected to take effort, sometimes in even the smallest increments, each and every day if you want to own your future. There is the patience required in playing the long game. Like Gary Vaynerchuk says:
Macro Patience, Micro Speed.
What does that mean? In your day-to-day, you should be committed to execution. Try not to overthink a lot of the concepts I present in the lessons. Instead, move quickly on implementing them so that you can compound the actions to get the results. For that, long-term patience is required, but ONLY if you take the action.
Gain Confidence in Your Success
Step 1: Commitment - Most people fail because their commitment to their current situation is stronger than their commitment to their potential future.
Step 2: Courage - Once you’ve committed 100% to yourself, you begin to live in a place of courage, not fear, and you build belief in outcomes.
Step 3: Capacity - As you act courageously, your mind, body, and spirit increase in capacity. You are proving you can do more than you thought.
Step 4: Confidence - Only then do you internalize the confidence in your actions to achieve what you’ve wanted to achieve.
Think about anything difficult you've achieved in your life. Even if you didn't consciously think about it, those accomplishments had a prerequisite of commitment. Once you commit, everything else falls into place - you don't need to know the exact how right away. And that's why you're taking this course. You made a commitment to yourself and now you're on the route to gaining the courage, capacity, and confidence needed to achieve this goal.
Your Belief Systems
Your beliefs are the prerequisite in this process. This starts with your belief that you’re going to be successful. It’s directly correlated to your potential, the action you take, and thus your results. What’s your self-fulfilling prophecy? Success or failure?
Think about these questions before you move on:
What beliefs about working remotely are holding you back?
What assumptions about working remotely are you making that may not be true?
What parts of your decision process are most uncertain?
What concerns you about going from where you’re at now to your next move?
What challenges do you anticipate having and what are your expectations of yourself?
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4
Not All Remote Jobs Are Created Equal
So, you want to see if you can work for a company that will pay you AND let you live anywhere? Many people wonder if it’s even a possibility! If this sounds like the type of opportunity for you, you may want to find out how to get hired for a remote job.
In this lesson, you’ll learn about the key distinctions that make remote jobs different from freelancing, why there are restrictions working for a company remotely, and the most common remote jobs out there, so you can immediately start searching.
What is a remote job?
A remote job is a job you do away from a centralized office. However, just because a job is called “remote” doesn’t mean it’s FULLY remote. The difference between a freelancer and a remote employee is mostly around taxes and benefits. If you’re fully employed by a company, receive benefits and a salary, that is different from a freelancer who ‘contracts’ with companies to work with them on a project basis, but is still responsible for their own taxes, healthcare, and other obligations.
Like I mentioned before, “95% of remote jobs have a state or country restriction, often due to employment or tax laws. And, while only 5% of the jobs listed, “work-from-anywhere jobs,” are 76% of survey respondents’ first choice.” (Source: Flexjobs)
As there are restrictions within geographical preference that a company has, there are also “levels” of remote work.
Some companies like GitLab, for example, are 100% remote and distributed throughout the entire world, without any central office at all. Some, like MailerLite, have an option to go into an office, but no requirement to do so. Others are only remote during the pandemic, and say they are going back to the office ‘immediately’ after the pandemic.
Wherever a company stands on remote work is where they stand. Take it for face value. Read through carefully in the job listings so you know this policy upfront. The worst thing you can do is spend time trying to apply to a position for a company that doesn’t support hiring where you live or offer up the appropriate amount of flexibility you’re looking for.
Spoiler alert: A remote job is different from an office job. This might sound obvious, but based on your current situation, it makes sense to understand all the variables at play.
If this would be your first transition to a remote working environment, it’s important to note that there is a learning curve, not only in the remote job search but in a remote job.
Pros
Stability of income with a salary
Healthcare and other benefits
Collaboration and camaraderie of being on a team
Cons
Potential lack of variety with one company
Highly competitive and limited amount of jobs for people outside of US/Canada (not impossible, though)
Many teams have trouble with remote culture, just because a company is "remote" doesn't mean they are good at it
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5
The Remote Skills You Need to Get Hired
First, before we get into examples of specific remote-jobs, let’s talk about the skills you need to excel in a remote job.
According to Zety, the difference between hard skills and soft skills is this:
“Hard skills are teachable and measurable abilities, such as writing, reading, math or ability to use computer programs. By contrast, soft skills are the traits that make you a good employee, such as etiquette, communication and listening, getting along with other people.”
So, in order to get a job, we need a good mix of these two types of skills. The hard skill is the thing that we’ve typically done training for, had education in, or gotten experience doing. Soft skills are more so the ancillary skills we learn through experiences that help us work.
Most of us, especially those who haven’t worked remotely in the past, will need to do our best to transfer our best soft skills while also re-tooling and learning valuable hard skills. Below find some of the most common hard skills that are great for remote positions, as well as common soft skills that are great to transfer from previous roles.
Common Hard Skills for Remote Jobs
Digital Marketing
Programming
Design
Data Analysis
Sales or Account Management
People Management
Project Management
Common Soft Skills for Remote Jobs
Self Motivation and Autonomy
Strong Written Communication
Teamwork and Collaboration
Organization
Time Management
Problem Solving
Digital Proficiency
One I wanted to focus on is digital proficiency.
According to CMSWire, digital proficiency is defined as the measure of capacity to use digital technologies to one’s benefit. That’s why it’s not enough to want a remote job, you need to be capable! Part of your competency is going to require a level of digital proficiency to get the job done.
It doesn't mean you need to be “technical,” or even that you have to work in tech. This is a huge misconception. It just means, you should really understand which digital tools companies use to communicate and be able to easily navigate and adapt to new tools.
Not only has technology required us all to up our game, but the first set of babies that came out of the womb with an iPhone (Gen Z) is now hitting the workforce. So whether or not you’re as savvy as a Gen Z’er -- or you are one yourself, in order to be good at working remotely, you have to be able to use technology.
The DigiComp Framework 2.1 is an example of how to assess digital proficiency. Download and review the PDF below which shows examples of how these levels show up in a job-seeking process.
You can also use the Digital Competence Wheel (attached) to get a free assessment of your digital competence score and what roles might be a good fit for you based on that score.
Now, let’s dive into the most common remote jobs and industries. We spoke a bit about the specific skills you need, and let’s also take a look at what types of jobs might also be relevant.
Most Common Remote Jobs (via Flexjobs)
Accountant
Engineer
Teacher
Writer
Consultant
Program Manager
Project Manager
Customer Service Representative
Business Development Manager
Account Manager
Recruiter
Sales Representative
Web Developer
Medical Coder
Territory Sales Manager
Nurse
Data Analyst
Editor
Case Manager
UX/UI Design
Many of the most common remote jobs will have certain experience requirements that, if you’re new to the remote work game, you won’t meet. Have no fear, everyone had to start somewhere. There are some jobs that don’t require much experience, a formal degree, or many hard skill requirements. You’ll still need to be virtually savvy and able to handle working remotely.
Low or No Experience Jobs
Data Entry
Transcription
Translation (Bi-lingual or Multi-lingual)
Teaching English
Customer Service
Administrative Assistant
Remember, these are just common examples and by no means are a finite list! As the world shifts to becoming more remote, there are more companies and industries finding unique ways to employ people remotely.
Even an animal sanctuary in California created Goat-2-Meeting (attached), a program where they’ll put a farm animal in your video calls for a fee! This is just an example of how companies are innovating and creating, and we’re just at the tip of the iceberg of what will soon be available for people of many different skill sets.
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6
Taking Action to Land Your Remote Job (Even if You've Never Had One)
In a perfect world, you have all the skills and requirements to land a remote job, and you’re a competitive candidate that is confident in your ability to network for a job. However, if you’re unsure, here’s what to do:
1. Get targeted in your search. Decide out of the common jobs above or through looking online which remote jobs are the best fit for you, and stay focused. The more different roles you apply to, the worse it will go for you. If you’re not confident in your skills, make sure to upskill. Find courses online you can do, yes, but nothing can replace experience.
TIP: Consider volunteering for people you know to get experience in certain roles, especially if they have their own company or are working remotely and need help with their tasks. Remember, just because you volunteer to work for someone doesn’t mean it’s a benefit for them, so you still need to pitch it to them in a proper way.
2. Find connections at your target companies. First look in your current network for people that work at remote companies, and for people that you know or know people at your target remote companies you want to work at. Try to find the “easiest” way in. Start with people on your peer level and create meaningful connections.
TIP: Use my LinkedIn Networking Quick Guide to help you understand how to network effectively online. It is important you’re focused on creating value for others and not just trying to take, take, take.
3. Stand out in the application and interview process. Don’t be afraid to be unique. At every single part of a job search, you need to be different (in a good way) from other candidates. Since it’s incredibly competitive right now, your ability to separate yourself is paramount.
TIP: If you can’t get an introduction directly to a hiring manager or recruiter, there are other ways to stand out. Do your research and find things the company is doing that you may be able to contribute to, or prove yourself with (refer to value asset video). Create a video application and consider sending it directly to the hiring manager or recruiter through email instead of just applying online. Interact with content on LinkedIn for the company, follow their page, and make yourself known. You shouldn’t be applying to dozens of applications. I recommend only 1-3 per week.
Virginia's Example Story
One of my coaching clients (Virginia, Indonesia) was working in hospitality at a villa in Indonesia. She dreamed of finding a way to travel the world and working and knew that the transition would be difficult. Not only would it be difficult because shifting to the fully virtual work world was different from what she was doing, but she was from a country that made it difficult for companies to hire her.
That’s when she came across Time Doctor, a fully distributed remote company that hires people from all over the world. She noticed an open role for a partnership manager, and we devised a strategy where she would be able to get into contact with someone from the team. A few strategic LinkedIn messages later, and she was being referred from a guy on the TimeDoctor team to the recruiter. The key takeaway here is that she made her way into the company through a contact that she made. This is the secret sauce that most people miss out on when they just blast out applications on job boards.
She went through a few interviews and felt good, but knew that during the last final rounds, she would have to really impress them since she didn’t have the desired experience. We created a “value asset” which she took to the next interview to present. You can learn more about value assets here in a video interview I did with Austin Belcak.
It showed the company how she was planning on learning how to be a better partnership manager/account executive, she purchased the book of the guy who she was interviewing with and started taking a course on Udemy that would help her upskill. When she presented this to them as a counter to their objections, she won them over and got the job. Since TimeDoctor can hire full-time from anywhere, she was able to get a position with benefits even though she’s from Indonesia. While I will admit, it is easier for job seekers in the US to find full-time remote work, the rest of the world is slowly catching up.
That’s a high-level explanation of finding a remote job. Are you excited? Remember, the goal of this course is to get you to a decision of which option to pursue. For a more extensive process on how to find a remote job, you can find information at the end of the course that will help.
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7
What is Freelancing and How to Determine if it's Right for You
Welcome to the section all about freelancing. I'm super excited to tell you all about this one because if you ask me in my personal, humble opinion, I think freelancing is the best way that you can get started with remote work because there's very little to no startup costs, and all you actually need is a knowledge inside your brain to get started.
So starting with the basics, what is a freelancer?
Essentially, that is just a person that's offering a service or a skill in exchange for a payment. And that's really as simple as it is. It doesn't mean a lot else other than your working independently, not necessarily hired by a specific company. So you're not an employee; you’re responsible for filing your own taxes as a sole proprietor or if you've gone through the process of setting up an LLC and becoming more of a business. You can do it that way, too, but you don't necessarily have to. You can literally start freelancing right now with a service or skill that you are capable of offering.
Freelancers tend to work on a contract basis and on their own, so if you were starting off as a freelancer, but then you wanted to grow your business and you ended up hiring a bunch of people you might be transitioning more into a business owner or an agency owner. So a freelancer is kind of something in between an employee and a business owner.
As a freelancer because you're working by yourself; that means that you're responsible for all the parts of the way that you make money, which includes how you're getting those clients and where doing the actual work that they're hiring you to do, doing all the paperwork and invoicing in the contracts to go with it.
Who can be a freelancer?
If you're not sure if you can be a freelancer, I want to reassure you that freelancing is really for everyone. I think anybody can be a freelancer if you have a skill or service that someone's willing to pay for. And if you don't feel like you have that right now, don't worry! Isn't it true that you found this course on a platform where thousands, maybe even millions of courses are being sold for very low cost to teach you all kinds of great high-quality material?
There are so many things that you can learn to become a freelancer and you really only need to know one skill. You really only need to have one service that you offer and just be able to do that one thing well, and you can start making money right away remotely as a freelancer. So don't fret. This is for you.
Pros for freelancing
What's great about being a freelancer as well is that you can do it on the side. So if you already have a job and you're already working eight hours per day, if you can give yourself one hour per day, that's still five hours a week that you can focus on for seven hours maybe more, on Saturdays and Sundays. That's a solid chunk of time that you can work on your freelancing work. You can do it as a side hustle. You can transition into part-time, and you can even do it full-time. The sky is the limit with freelancing: it's very, very, very flexible.
And what I have down here is that freelancing is especially great for people who are good at networking. Not that you have to be good at networking to be a freelancer, but if you are good at networking, then definitely I think freelancing is for you and I'll tell you why I think that when I go into the pros and cons of freelancing, so starting with the pros one great thing about freelancing again is that there's very little to no startup costs with doing this.
Essentially, all you need is the knowledge in your brain. So if you know how to do with service or skill, then you can start freelancing and it gets easier the more that you do it, and it gets easier, the better at networking you are. And there are a few reasons for this: firstly, freelancing, you're just working on your own.
So what you're going to need to do to start getting clients as a freelancer is you're going to want to start talking to everybody that you know about what it is that you're doing so that you can capitalize on their audience and their network as well. The more that you can tell people what it is that you're doing, the more opportunities you're going to have for new clients, and you're going to be more compelled to tell people what it is that you're doing if you think that you're good at what you're doing.
The more that you do it, the easier that it gets. And so there are a few reasons for that! The more that you do it, the more confident you're going to be in your skills and the better you're going to be at selling it, but also because the more often you do the same thing, the faster you're going to be at it. Naturally, you'll get better at doing the same job over and over again, and therefore you're going to be making more money, the longer that you do it and the better you get at it.
What's also really cool about freelancing? It's so, so, so flexible. Not only can you make your own hours and be your own boss, but what that means is that you can work from wherever you want and that you can set your own rates.
Cons for freelancing:
Now we got to get into the real talk: There are some cons about freelancing as well, and I want to make sure that I'm honest and transparent with you about that so that you know what you're getting into.
The hardest thing that I think most people have about freelancing is you are responsible for getting your clients. You're going to have to be the one to go out and find the people that need your service, and this can be kind of a grind, especially if you're a little bit shy, but of course, it's totally not impossible! I don't want this to be a con that makes you feel like you can't do it. You can do it, you can be a freelancer. It’s just that at the beginning, in the early stages when you don't have a lot of clients and you don't have a lot of credibility yet that work to get those first few clients, it's just a bigger barrier at the beginning. But as I said in the pro slide, it gets easier the more you do it.
Secondly, Often you work your own hours, which is amazing, right? Totally a pro for me personally, but hey, for some people, they really love having co-workers. They really love the social aspect of work, so I just want you to be aware that when you're freelancing, you are working super independently and therefore you're not going to have any other people that are really your peers or your partners in this business. You're gonna be, you know, responsible for socializing on your own time.
If you find that this is a big con, what I would recommend is going to co-working spaces or working in cafes That's my personal favorite. I'm always working in a cafe because I like running into other people and, you know, having small talk throughout the day. Water cooler talks if you will accept you're having it at a nice coffee shop instead of at a water cooler in your boring office.
Finally, the last con that I want to talk about is you may be paying high taxes at first because when you first start freelancing you in, In my opinion, I believe that if you're going to start freelancing, focus on getting the work done and focus on getting clients before you focus on setting up the legal side of your business. I'm not suggesting you do anything illegally. What I'm saying is, just don't prioritize the LLC before you prioritize the business part of your business.
If you don't have an LLC set up, you still can legally collect money for the services you offer. You’re just going to be doing it as a sole proprietor and again totally legal; the only downside is that sole proprietors do pay higher taxes. My best recommendation is that you kick off your freelancing career as a sole proprietor and once you get two or three clients and you feel really secure about what you're doing, then start making moves to establish an LLC for your business. (FYI this is not something that's going to be covered in this course. I highly recommend you do your own research on that and do your due diligence.) My main message is just don't let the whole LLC thing hold you back from getting started as a freelancer, because again, you don't need a lot to get started.
So that concludes section one can't wait to see you in the next section, where I give you examples of freelancing jobs that you can do. I'll give you some real-life examples of people that I know that have been successful as freelancers, and in the final section, you will learn a lot about how to get those first few clients, how to start branding and marketing yourself, and how to do this thing for real.
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8
Essential Info if You Want to Be a Freelancer + Examples
Hey, and welcome to the section all about freelancing. I'm going to get into more details this time telling you about the kind of freelancing that you can do, common examples, and some freelance or success stories that have come from my own personal coaching clients.
So this is a really important media section, and let's dive into it.
So, as I mentioned in the previous section, you can literally do anything to be a freelancer as long as you have a service or a skill. What I've written here is a list to help inspire you to think about different things that you can do. But if it's not on the list, that doesn't mean you can't do it as a freelancer!
Writing
Proofreading / Editing
Designing (graphic, web, UX)
Development
Marketing
Accounting
SEO / Ad management
Virtual assistant tasks
Community managers
Translation
Social media
The sky is the limit!
Again, just because it's not on this list, it absolutely does not mean it's not an option for you. The best thing that I can suggest that you do if you're trying to think about what you want to do as a freelancer, is to maybe look over your past resumes. Think about the kind of work that you've done in the past and extract the tasks that you liked doing the best.
Once you do that, think about could've business wants to hire me to do this. Or maybe there's a solopreneurs or an influencer or somebody that needs help running their small business. That might want to hire you to do that specific thing, and you already know how to do it because you've done it in your past jobs. Hopefully, you get creative with what you want to do as a freelancer.
Anecdotal Story of Nic Peach
Now I want to get into some more fun, anecdotal stories, and I want to tell you about one of my coaching clients, Nic Peach: She's was dedicated, and I'm so proud of her for literally starting from pretty much nothing. She was working in an office job; at a travel agency when we first started working together that she just really didn't like her job there.
Nic felt super bored and uninspired, and she came to me because, you know, I say I'm a digital nomad career coach. I help people that want to work location independently, but they just don't know where to get started. So she came to me and she said “I have no idea where to get started. I just don't know what I'm capable of. I don't think I have a lot of online skills and I don't even know what I like.”
So Nic and I worked together, and actually, this was at the beginning of the pandemic when she got furloughed and had a lot of time, which was awesome for her because it really helps her expedite her growth. She went full-on full in her mission of becoming a freelancer. So I gave the career assessment that I have that I give to all of my clients and this career assessment to me.
The assessment told me that she had some creative side to her. She said she really liked working with clients individually and that she might be interested in marketing. So once I sort of analyzed her career assessment for her, I started suggesting different avenues of marketing that she could go into and she decided after learning on her own time, right, she really put in the effort to learn all about the different kinds of marketing overviews of what they involved.
Ultimately Nic decided that Pinterest might be something that she would be interested in because she could design the pins and it was a pretty low barrier to entry kind of thing. So that's what we started doing.
I helped Nick create her brand around becoming a Pinterest manager. Her business is now called Pin With Peach (pinwithpeach.com) If you want to go look her up, she's got a full-fledged freelancing business as a Pinterest manager, she's working with a bunch of different clients. She was able to replace her income and quit her job, and now she's working on even launching her second business, and she's working from literally anywhere that she wants which is just the whole point, right?
The whole point is that you can be totally free when you are a freelancer; so I'm super proud of Nic! And you know what? If she can do it, you totally can do it, too. It's just a matter of figuring out what is it that you could be good at.
You don't even have to be good at it right now. Just think about what could you be good at if you really sat down and dedicated yourself to learning a new skill. There are so many businesses out there, guys, there are so many things that people want to hire others to help them do. And Pinterest is one of them. And because of that, Nic was able to create a full business out of it, and now she's totally free and location independent. So that's the story of Nic Peach.
What can YOU do as a Freelancer?
Let's get more talking about what you can do. So just some tips:
Do you know that burnout is real? It's really important that you don't choose something that you're not suited for so you don’t get burned out. As an example, I personally wouldn't want to be an ad copy freelancer because I like to write long, more flowery, poetic kind of writing but with ads, you really need to be super strategic about your word choice, because you only have so many characters that you can use. So I feel like I would get pretty burnt out by that kind of writing, But I would be really well suited for article writing.
Knowing how to prevent burnout is just really a matter of knowing yourself, knowing what you're good at, what you like, what you're gonna gravitate to, and then choosing something that makes sense.
A Warning:
Now, a little warning. And this may have come up in Jordan's video about scams. But there are so many people out there that sell you on a really easy idea of how to become a remote worker and they're telling everybody, “Oh, just become a freelancer or just start selling this water filter or become a network marketer who sells shampoo through social media like that stuff.”
That's great, that they have a formula for you that you can follow and have a job by the end or start making an income by the end but what I really want to emphasize is that's not a sustainable way to create a remote career. And what I want for you is to make this a long-term solution for yourself.
I want you to choose something that you're going to stick with for at least a year so you can grow with it and evolve and really get good at what it is that you're doing. Because once you master something, you are totally gonna be able to scale your business, charge more money and hire other people and then branch out into doing something else that you want to do even more so just make sure that you're choosing something that you feel good about that you can go all-in on.
I mentioned this before, but yeah, if you think about the previous jobs that you've had, that's a great way to start thinking about what you've already got experience in, because the thing is, when you are a freelancer, you're going to be responsible for selling yourself to your potential clients. You're gonna need to approach potential clients and say, “Hey, I have this service or skill that I can offer you: I'm really good at it and I think you should hire me.”
If you don't have any experience, you totally can still get hired as a freelancer without any experience but it's all a matter of how good you are at sales. But you're going to be better at the sale if you do have some experience and you can really speak from the heart and you can say, Oh, yeah, I used to do this in my job all the time, So I do recommend taking a solid look at your previous work experience and extracting whatever tasks and jobs you had there so you can come up with a list and start thinking creatively about what you can freelance.
Getting Good at Freelancing:
The last thing in this section I just want to talk about getting good at freelancing, and I've I've teased this concept several times throughout this section and the previous section, but the better you are at what it is that you're doing, the more money you're gonna make at it. That's why it's really important to just choose one thing that you like doing so you can go tunnel vision like put the blinders up. Only look in this one direction so you can get excellent at this skill.
And don't be hard on yourself! You're not gonna be amazing at it at first, and that is okay. The point of this whole thing, as I just said, is I want you to create a sustainable solution for yourself, something that you're gonna start from level one and you're gonna rise to a new level. The more that you do something, the better you're going to be and the more money that you can charge.
Speaking of money, though, you probably are going to want to pick something that people are already willing to pay money for. Especially in the time of the pandemic, you want to try to stay away from things that aren't necessary for businesses. Anything that's extra is probably where budgets are going to be cut nowadays so try to choose a freelancing skill that business is really, really need.
Don't forget that even if you don't have any skills, you can learn a new skill, and you can learn a new skill easily, and you can learn a new skill for a very little amount of money. You found this course you invested in this course and you can invest in another course and the power of investing. You put some money into something that's going to teach you how to make more money. That is the best investment that you can make.
Invest in growing your brain. Invest in getting experience, Invest your time, invest your money, invest your heart and soul and just figure it out. I promise you, you can do it with a little bit of motivation and effort I have here is get some real experience.
There are lots of ways that you can get experience. I feel like this is something that really trips people up a lot, though, when they're just starting out there saying, “Oh, people want an experienced person, but how do I get experience to be that person with experience?”
You're gonna need to get creative but with getting a little bit of experience, what you can do is offer very competitive pricing. Offer rates that are low at first, just to get that first client and let them know they are getting an insanely good dea. Note, I'm NOT saying do this long term just to get the first client, you might want to say “Hey; because you're going to be the first person that I'm working with so I would love to give you a very special rate in exchange for a great testimonial.”
Anything that you can do to just get those first couple clients, You might even want to offer your service to a nonprofit organization or to a family member or a friend. But just something that you can say from your heart; for example “I know how to do this because I did it for that person.” Even if you didn't get paid, it still counts as experience and you need to be able to speak from the heart because, as I have here on this slide, confidence is key!
It's gonna be so much easier for you to sell your services to a client if you can genuinely say I know how to do that, and the best way that you can get that confidence is to actually believe yourself that you know how to do it, and the best way you can believe yourself that you know how to do the thing is to do the thing and do it well.
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9
How to Get Started as a Freelancer and Land Your First Client
Welcome to the third and final section of freelancing. This is going to be a pretty long video, I predict. So make sure that you've got a pen and paper handy or somewhere that you can take notes because this one is going to be filled with practical, really important information.
Freelancing is such a great place to get started as a remote worker because there's pretty much no startup costs. All you actually need is a knowledge inside of your brain, and if you don't have any knowledge inside of your brain or skills that you can freelance, it's really easy to go on a platform like you to me or some other platforms where you can pick up some skills for a very low investment and learn them!
Once you’ve got the skill, then you can start charging for your time, and you don't even need to go full time with freelancing. You can do it part time on the side. You don't even have to quit your job. It's like safe, easy ish. It's not easy. It's not easy to do anything, but you can do it.
Now, let's talk about what is that actual barrier to entry into freelancing. What are the things you need to enter your new career as a freelancer? How do you make the leap?
There are some things that you need as a freelancer, and there are some things that you don't need from the beginning.
You DON’T need a website and you don't need an LLC to get started.
Actually, you can get by as a freelancer without ever having a website. You eventually probably want an l l C. But this is not the most important thing to think about, at least at first. The most important things to think about at first are 1) a solid understanding of who it is that you want to serve, aka your ideal client, and 2) an idea of where that person is actually spending time so you can go find them and pitch them.
You need to know exactly what it's going to be that you're going to pitch a potential client. You need to have that idea in your head already. You don't want to go into an opportunity with a potential client and then bomb it because you don't actually know what it is that you're offering and the logistical stuff.You WILL need a contract and you will need a way to collect money. A contract really is super, super important. If you don’t know how to create a legal contract, you can always use this amazing resource: https://thecontractshop.com?ref=christaromano1 .
But even if you make it yourself, just make sure that you do create a contract for yourself before you enter any kind of freelancing situation. Just trust me on this one, it's really not worth it to not have a contract. You never know what could happen and the contract is there to protect you. It's also there to protect your client.You DEFINITELY need a solid understanding of who your ideal client is, where they're spending time and the rock solid offer. These are things I'm going to go much more into detail in the future videos, but for now, let's dive into getting clear on your offer:
What’s an offer you ask? Your offer is the thing that you are providing, and it's the full package. It's the way that you explain the thing that you're offering. Here are a bunch of questions that you really need to be able to answer before you can officially offer anything as a freelancer:
Who do you help? This is number one. This is all about identifying who is your ideal client now, the reason why knowing who you want to help is absolutely the first question that you need to be able to answer for yourself is because if you don't have that, all of your other efforts in becoming a freelancer are going to be super scattered.
However, when you have your ideal client identified from the beginning, your marketing material is going to be super on point and cohesive. You're going to kill it at your sales calls, you're gonna know exactly where you can go find your ideal clients. So yeah, you really need to have this super buttoned up.
As an example, here’s who I help: You might know by now I have a coaching business where I help people get remote jobs, and actually, anybody watching this video could be a potential client for me. But who my ideal client is, is someone between the ages of 22 and 32 who has a little bit of work experience in the corporate environment. They feel super burnt out, and they just want to travel just like how I was. When I know who I'm speaking to, it becomes really easy for me to create social media content and marketing material around that. It’s not going to appeal to everyone and that's okay because I only want to work with the people who are ideal for me; and with so many people out there who use the internet to find answers, I can choose. And so should you!
So as you saw in this example, I have a pretty specific idea of who my ideal client is, and that just makes everything a lot easier for me as a business owner and for you as a potential freelancer. I can’t stress how important it is for you to get super, super, super clear on who it is that you want to help. To help you, please watch this YouTube video down that I really recommend that you watch and do the exercise in the video: https://youtu.be/PMTNvOLt75wYou need to be able to answer how what you offer is going to make their lives better / their businesses more profitable. And how is it that you're gonna what what is it that you're going to do for them? What will happen to their business or life if they work with you, how is it going to improve again? When you know who your ideal client is, you're going to be able to really dig into the psychology of why they want to work with you. Someone might say they need a new website, but do you know why they need a new website? Maybe it's because the website is ugly. Why do they care that their website is ugly? Well, if there's someone who has a high end fashion brand, then their website, being ugly is really going to hold them back, right? But if it's a nonprofit, maybe their website, being ugly isn't the main thing. Maybe the nonprofit needs their website to be improved because they want to increase the number of donations they get.
When you know exactly who it is that you want to help, whether it's a high end fashion brand or whether it's a nonprofit, when you know who it is that you want to serve, who it is that you want to help, who it is that you want to work with you are going to be able to dig into that psychology. And when you know why people want what you're offering, you're going to be much, much, much better at closing those sales and getting that client actually agree to work with you and pay you so those are super important again.You must decide how you work → hourly or do you work? Project based? There's pros and cons of both of these. I personally recommend Project-based because as a freelancer, one of the great ways to scale is to be able to do the work that you know how to do really quickly so you can still charge the same amount. When you're working faster, and it's taking you less time you can get more clients and make more money! So, I definitely recommend project based just because it's a much more sustainable way for you to grow your income.
But you have those two options, so just FYI. Make sure that when you go to a client and the client is asking you, oh, how much do you charge? You don't say,“Oh, well, I don’t know- I guess we could work out either hourly or project-based. What would you prefer?” No! Make sure you know the answer! It's YOUR business. You call the shots and you stand there confidently and tell that client how you work.You must be able to say confidently how much you charge. Remember; the more expensive your services, the fewer clients that you need, and the easier your job is actually going to be. But you want to make sure that you're able to actually have clients pay you. So perhaps you want to offer payment plans, maybe not. Either way, make sure you think about it and you're prepared with the answer to that question before you go into a sales experience.
FINDING CLIENTS
Now let's talk about how you can actually find those clients. So now that you know who it is that you want to help and what it is that you're offering those people that you want to help. It's time to find those people that you want to help.
With finding clients, you really again need to know who it is exactly that you want to help so that you can start finding them online. For example, my client between those ages of 22 and 32, they're probably following me on social media or they're following other people like me on social media. They're probably following other travel influencers too. They're probably following lots of people who are putting out content about remote work. So that would be one great way for me to start finding my ideal client.
Another place that I know my ideal clients hangout are in specific Facebook groups. For example, the girls love travel Facebook group. That's a travel group for women who love to travel. I'm confident that not all women who love to travel already have remote jobs but they would love one, so that might be a place that I go to find my ideal client.
LinkedIn for me isn't necessarily the best place for ME to find clients, but it totally could be for you, if you are a different kind of service provider. Let's say that you do search engine optimization or Google ads or something like that. You might want to identify specific businesses that you like to help.
Once you find your clients, you then need to get in touch with them-- you do this by sending them an email, sliding into their DMS, connecting with them through a Facebook group, or you could use some freelancing websites. Sites like UpWork, Fiverr, Freelancer, etc are great places to find some initial gigs.
If you’d like a list of all the freelancer websites out there; download them in the bonus section of this course.
If you're gonna get started as a freelancer, it's still a lot better to create your business and look for clients yourself. Because whatever your clients pay you, you get to keep the full amount.
In my opinion, nothing beats directly targeted outreach. And by that I mean again knowing exactly who it is that you want to reach, exactly who it is that you want to help and then going and finding them online and talking to them. Talk to them, start up a conversation.
You don't necessarily need to go in and pitch hard. You might just want to say, “Oh, I noticed that we are both members of this group. Where do you live? What do you do for work? and start an actual conversation so that you can network first.
Before you go pitch these people, this part is a lot of work. I'm not gonna lie. It's a lot of work to do that direct outreach. But here's the great thing about this. Is that the most you're ever going to have to do? This is at the very, very, very beginning of your freelancing career. Eventually, once you start working with clients, you're going to get your name out there and people are going to start recommending you to other people that they know. People tend to know other people like them. So that means that word-of-mouth referrals can really, really, really start working for you. And I'm gonna go ahead and say, 90% of all their freelancers I know get at least 50% of all of their business from word of mouth referrals.
Remember that you only need a few clients to get started, so once you have them, then you can establish your LLC and leverage word of mouth marketing.
ATTRACTION MARKETING:
Attraction marketing is very different from targeted outreach. It's actually the opposite. So with targeted outreach, that is, you are identifying specific people that you want to work for, that you want to work with, and you are reaching out directly to them now. Attraction marketing is the opposite. That's when you are on social media or you're creating ads or you're writing a blog post or something. You're putting some kind of content out there that establishes you as an expert in your field, and people will then inquire to you about what you can offer them.
Attraction marketing is really about providing so much value that people want more of it, and they're going to reach out to you for it. If you even give away, like, 90% of everything that you know for free, people are going to see that and they're going to say, Wow, this was so helpful. I wonder what else this person has up their sleeve and they're going to want to hire you for that last 10% of your knowledge. Never be afraid to give away too much value for free. It's actually only going to help you look like more of an expert, and therefore you're going to get more people attracted to you wanting to work with you so different places that you can provide value and different places to start attracting your ideal client is to first tap into your personal network.
Make sure people who know you know what it is that you're doing and make sure that they all know that you're good at it and they're going to know that you're good at it by providing as much value as possible. So tap into your personal network. Offer up that free information as much as possible. Writing articles on Medium.com is a great place for you to establish your expertise, and once you write a blog post or something on medium, then it's discoverable. People can find you through Google Search, and you can actually take that article and share it in a lot of different places. You can put it on Reddit. You can also comment on Quora.
TURNING YOUR FREELANCING INTO A BUSINESS
I really want to emphasize that you should constantly be learning and trying to improve your skills and your brand. You are your business, and I think a lot of people forget that when you're working for yourself when you're working on your own, that means that you need to be constantly improving yourself in order to improve your business in order to make more money in order to get better testimonials in order to get better results for your clients so that they recommend you to other people.
You can transition from being a sole proprietor after you get two or more paying clients and talk to your accountant about it. Okay, so this is going back to the very beginning of this section where I said, Hey, you don't need to have an LLC set up right away. And the reason why is because as soon as you start collecting money from someone, you're automatically a sole proprietor. You technically do already have a business set up as a sole proprietor.
As a freelancer, you're working independently, right? Like you're the one sending out the invoices. You're the one creating and contracts. You're the one that's scheduling all of your calendar appointments. But every minute that you do, every minute that you spend doing all that technical stuff are minutes taken away from you actually providing the high-level service that you offer. So eventually, the less time that you do doing the technical stuff, the more time you have to actually do the money-making activities.
Don't forget that being a freelancer, you have virtually limitless earning potential. You can always raise your prices whenever you want. You can always give yourself a promotion whenever you want. You can always pivot whenever you want. You can always outsource and hire people to help you whenever you want. Freelancing is an amazing, amazing opportunity for you to just take some again information inside your brain and apply it to a service or a skill that you can, you know, collect money for. And that is how you start working remotely as a freelancer.
So I think that is everything. If you guys again have any questions about freelancing, I would love, love, love to connect with you on my Instagram DM. Send me a message at ChristabellaTravels and tell me that you watch this course and if you need any extra support, I am here for you. So can't wait to see you there! Otherwise, I'll see you in the next section of this course. Thanks again.
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10
What Does it Actually Mean to Have a Remote Business and Investment Requirements
Welcome to the section all about creating a remote business! Before we get into the content. I do want to just give you a little word to the wise that creating a remote business is no easy feat. It is definitely a time-consuming project. There's some investment involved, and it's a big undertaking. However, that doesn't mean that it's not right for you. I hope that in the next few slides and in the next three videos, you will just be able to decide clearly if having a remote business is the right move for you.
If you do feel like creating a remote business is something that you want to take on, I highly encourage you to reach out to either Jordan or I directly you can reach out to me on Instagram. (I'm @ChristaBellaTravels) and let me know that you saw this video and that this is something that you are wanting to pursue because if you’re going to go about creating a real business, there's a lot more involved!
WHAT IS A REMOTE BUSINESS AND WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT THAN FREELANCING?
If you saw the freelancing section, you know that a freelancer is someone who charges time for charges, money for their time, right? But having a remote business means that you have some kind of money-generating operation that utilizes systems for automating either your marketing or your background operations… in other words, you’re hiring other people and setting up systems to help you! The key here is that if you have a remote business, you're not necessarily getting paid just for your time.
Doesn’t trade time for money. If you want to create a remote business, you might actually have to front-load a lot of time like you might be working for months on end, not getting paid, but ultimately you're going to be able to potentially have a passive income in the future. Your income is actually completely unrelated to the number of hours that you work on any given day.
Serves customers, rather than clients. While a freelancer works with clients (meaning that they have a service-based business) a remote business owner may have a service-based offer but is probably not working on it alone-- likely there are multiple people helping to deliver that offer. Or maybe you have a product that's not service-based (like a digital or physical product).
Typically has more than one “offer.” In the last section of the freelancer videos, we talked about how you need to have your offer really clear as a freelancer. As a freelancer, you probably only have one offer or your offer is like, really kind of siloed into one specific kind of thing, like you might be a freelance writer and you're writing, and the package that you have around your writing is an offer. But if you are a business, maybe you are a writer, but you have multiple people that you help or that help you organize your business like maybe you have a virtual assistant. And maybe you outsource some of the writing content, and maybe you also sell an online course or some PdF guides on how to be a great writer that doesn't actually require your time.
The line can be pretty blurred between the two, so again, if you're a freelancer, it doesn't take away from the fact that you are, in a way, a business!
WHAT KIND OF REMOTE BUSINESSES ARE OUT THERE?
Owner of an agency - You could have a marketing agency and advertising agency, a design agency. But the thing that makes it an agency is that there are multiple people all contributing to serving the same client. So that's what would make it an agency.
E-commerce- I think e-commerce is something that a lot of people gravitate to. If they don't know a lot about remote businesses, they think, Oh, obviously, if I want to have a remote business. I need to sell something, and so e-commerce is when you are selling a product online. You can also sell e-courses/ digital products.
E-service An e-service example might be wedding planning. You can help someone plan a wedding without actually physically being there if you have connections to all the vendors.
Influencer These people are business owners because it’s not the time that they’re charging for; it's the output. It's the products & posts that you put online. It is the way you promote other people's products like an affiliate. (That's what affiliate means is that you are selling something on behalf of someone else. And every time you make a sale, you get a cut of that product sale).
Virtual retreats, virtual events, or retreats. So in the time of the pandemic, obviously there are a lot of virtual events happening. A lot of in-person events moved online, and you can create those virtually you can create those from the comfort of your own home or from Bali or Mexico, or wherever you want to be. You don't need to be in-person to create a virtual event. What makes it a business? Is it that you're front-loading all the work at the beginning? And then the event happens, and that's when all the money rolls in. So that's another example of how you put in a lot of work and don't get paid until later.
Having a blog or a website business. You put in a lot of work to build the blog, to drive traffic to it, and then you do need some kind of monetization plan in order to have that to be a business. You obviously need to make money if it's going to be a proper business.
Having a personal brand, you could consider me having a personal brand, although that's not the primary aspect of my business. But for example, I am ChristabellaTravels on all the different social media platforms. And sometimes people hire me for speaking gigs. And then I get paid for that.
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11
Business Models You Can Start on Today
Hopefully, you're watching this with your interest super piqued, and you're curious and hungry to learn more about remote businesses, but you need a little bit more examples to really understand what your options are. So I'm going to start off this section by talking about what are some important qualities that remote business owners should have if they want to be successful in creating a remote business.
Must have qualities of remote business owners:
CLARITY: The most important thing is clarity. I talked about this a lot at length in the freelancer video, so if you didn't watch those videos, I highly encourage you to. There are a lot of crossovers that happen with freelancing versus remote business, especially in the third video of that section, but anyway, something that you really need if you're going to be a remote business owner is clarity. You need to have clarity over who it is that you want to reach, what it is that you're helping them with and what value it is that you're offering because if you're not sure about those three things, you're gonna end up going in a million different directions. Your customers are going to be confused, and a confused customer always says no.
CONFIDENCE: You want to make sales, right? Make sure that you know exactly what it is that you're doing before you get started trying to make sales confidence as a remote business owner, there will be a lot of hurdles and roadblocks in your way. This is a big reason why having a business coach is so, so, so useful. Your confidence can seriously take a hit when you are creating a remote business. But the great thing is that it's all in your mind, so if you have a coach who understands what your objectives are, they know where you're coming from, and they actually know the strategies that are necessary for creating remote business, that really is going to make all the difference in your first business idea either being a success or potentially a failure.
And again, if you didn't know. Jordan and I are both remote business coaches. We both help people from basically starting from absolutely nothing like not knowing even what they want to do, all the way to executing and creating a profitable business. So confidence is huge, and that is a big, maybe the most important value that hiring a coach can offer you perseverance again. Like I just said, times are going to get tough As a business owner, it's going to be hard. You're going to put in a lot of work. There might be some thankless hours they have to put in, so you need to persevere if you are going to make it. Creativity and the ability to look for different opportunities.
CREATIVITY: Creating a remote business is a creative endeavor. And the service or product needs to be something of value in order for that person to part with their hard-earned money. So as a business owner, as a successful business owner, you really need to go into it with the intention of giving and being as generous as possible with what you're offering so that your business can flourish, so go into the desire to provide value and you will kill it.
ABILITY TO KILL YOUR EGO: As a business owner, I think also the ability to kill your ego, right, like there might be creative ideas that you have that simply just end up not working and for you to stay stubborn and just keep going with it and, you know, feeling like, Oh, this was a great idea. I hate that nobody likes it. You got to drop the ego. You’ve got to kill the ego. You got to make sure that you go into building a business with humility, with the ability to listen to your customers and your clients and pivot based on what they're telling you that they need and change the things that they're telling you that they don't like. So no ego is allowed in creating a business.
COMMUNICATION: Finally communication and again, clarity on what the value provides and empathy. These are all things that really are going to help you speak to your clientele or customers in a way that gets them to trust you, knowing you, knowing what you offer, and being willing to actually pay you.
INVESTMENT MINDSET:
Do you have anything to invest? Is it only your time Or do you have a little bit of money? Personally, I think that no matter what it is that you end up doing, even if you end up creating a freelancing business, you're still going to need to invest a little bit in your knowledge; knowledge is power. Knowledge is money, actually.
As I mentioned in the last video, especially when you're creating a remote business, you might need to invest in inventory. Or you might need to invest in different Softwares. So before you decided to become a business owner creator, more business, really? Take a solid look at your finances and see what it is that you can invest. This isn't spending money. This is an important distinction. Spending money is money that you give to someone else and you don't get it back. Investing money is putting money into something with the intention of that manifesting even more money for you. More opportunities, more business, more business
opportunities.
EXAMPLES OF REMOTE BUSINESSES
Kristen started hosting a remote wine tasting events: So the first example I want to talk about is my client Kristen @KristenfromTexas. She is a travel influencer and a travel agent. She previously was working with high end clients who were spending a lot of money to have her plan their trips around the world. But when the pandemic hit, all of a sudden, there was no more traveling. So Kristen was left without any income. She needed to do something else.
Ready for the cool plot twist? Kristen eventually decided to create a business around her knowledge and love of wine. She knew a lot about wine from her luxury high-end travel that she'd done all around the world. So what she ended up doing was hosting zoom calls where there would be like or so participants that would come on. They would learn all about the wine from different regions. She would talk about the different regions that the wine was from, and then she would go over the process of them tasting the different notes in the wine. And that was a way for her to actually get paid via hosting an online event using just the knowledge that was inside of her head!
Meg created a remote marketing agency: Meg was working as a marketing strategist at an agency that specifically focused on marketing for casinos. She didn't want to work there anymore as she felt like she wasn't being paid enough, was working too many hours, spending too much time in an office, and she didn't have control over her life.
Meg quit her job and originally was thinking that she wanted to do something completely different because she was associating her interest in marketing with her job that she didn’t like. The truth eventually came out though, after a few sessions that actually, she really does like marketing, she just didn’t like the logistics of her agency situation. Meg ended up starting off as a freelancer, where she pitched her marketing services to a couple of casinos. Because they were big projects, Meg was able to hire other people to help her, and therefore she just created a marketing agency in a matter of months. And that is how Meg was able to go from being an employee and at a marketing agency to be the boss of her own marketing agency.
Jessica became a podcast editor and a virtual wedding planner:
Jessica had been working as a wedding planner for years and she was super burnt out by her situation. Originally she thought she wanted to completely pivot and do something totally different, so she actually started off her remote career by becoming a freelance podcast editor (which she says she learned everything she knows from free YouTube videos), which enabled her to replace her income and quit her job. Eventually, though, Jessica felt like she was missing her wedding planning career (the thing she didn’t miss was her company). After speaking with her, we came up with the idea for her to do virtual wedding planning. She would target down-to-earth brides who don't want a high-end wedding planner but still need help calling vendors, organizing everything, placing all the orders, etc. And that is a way that she was able to take her experience as a wedding planner and turn it into an online business.
Jordan’s client became a social media manager: Jordan was working with someone who was a social media influencer but didn't really have a business around her following. When she was laid off, being a single mom she was super stressed out and felt desperate to start making money online. After working with Jordan, she was able to see how she could leverage what she was already doing with social media really well. Since she had grown her audience and influence on social media, she already had the credibility to become a social media coach. And now that’s what she does, making good money and taking care of her family while being able to spend more time with them.
FEELING INSPIRED?
Hope these examples were helpful! Please remember that Jordan and I are both available as remote business coaches as people who are dedicated to helping you figure out what is the thing that you want to create in the first place.
Don't be a stranger. Reach out to us again. Tell us you saw these videos and we would love to connect with you and hear all of your questions. But, hey, maybe your questions are answered in the next video, which I will go into how you can actually get started creating a remote business.
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12
The First Steps to Create an Online Business
Choose Your Customer and Niche
This step is probably the most important. You need to choose a niche that, preferably:
You know a lot about, have experience in, or can easily access information
You care about or have some interest in learning more
There are a lot of people and potential customers with the problem you solve
When evaluating what my coaching business was going to be, I did. an inventory of the following:
What problems have I solved in my life before that others have as well?
What kind of questions do others ask me the most?
Where do my strengths and interests overlap?
What I found was that the biggest problem I solved in my life was my lack of purpose, and desire to travel and see the world (while working). I found a way to do that and realized, many other people wanted to also do this. I would get questions all the time about how I did it, and what advice I would give to them.
When you think about who it is you're going to serve, and what it is you're going to help them with, starting with something you've done personally can be the easiest way to make progress, quickly. The key is identifying exactly where people are in their own process, and how that relates to you in your process of getting there.
Research Your Idea
Once you have an idea of the problem you're solving and who you're helping, you need to research. You don't need to recreate the wheel, you just need to make it better. Very few ideas are truly "original," if you've thought of it, it's highly likely someone else has not only thought of it, but created a business out of it.
Search the internet, Google, Reddit, Quora... and find the questions and discussions specific to your niche to see what people are saying. What kind of problems are they having in this area? How do they talk about what they are going through? What other people are helping this audience solve their problems?
Find the most successful people in your industry, find some who are just ahead of you, and take notice of what they are doing. How are they positioning themselves? How are they charging? What business model are they using? What are the main features and benefits of their product or service?
You're not looking to copy. You're doing this to gain inspiration. Everything you do should have your own unique twist. The more you can work to find your own voice and your own competitive differentiation, the better you'll be because then no one can copy you. There is a reason commodity products are differentiated on price. They don't have a unique selling point. Focus on how others are doing it, what you like about their offering, and what you'd do differently. Then start to put together your messaging.
Competitor Research Questions (fill out for at least 3 competitors):
Competitor name, URL?
Hook or tagline?
What outcome do they promise?
How do they deliver the result?
What is their unique selling proposition?
What are their proof or credibility points?
What are their benefit statements? Features and deliverables?
What are their price points and terms?
What bonuses do they offer?
Create Your Messaging
Messaging is the way you communicate to your audience. It carries more weight than you'll ever know. People will be either be drawn in by your messaging, repelled, or even worse... neutral! Neutral is bad because it means you don't ever really get rid of the people who are a bad fit, and you're not compelling enough to attract the people who are a great fit for you. Repelling people is actually a good thing, in particular, if you're repelling the people who are NOT a good fit for you. That's why being targeted is so important. We need to very specifically determine who is a good fit, and who is not.
To do that, find out where online your potential customers spend time. We did some of that research on Google, Reddit, and Quora. But maybe you find out a lot of your potential clients are on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok. Go where the audience already is, don't try to force them to you. Create context-specific messaging on those platforms that allow them to self-select. Someone who sees your messaging should know if they are a good or bad fit pretty quickly.
You do this by talking about their problems in the way they talk about their problems. Many people when first starting a business (and even after years of having one) talk about their customer problems how they see them. You need to meet people where they are at. That means using their language, not yours.
A good way to do this is to focus on emotions and symptoms, not the root problem or solution.
For instance, if you're in the health industry and you help people lose weight, you may hear a potential client talk about a new low they reached:
"And then, after the most stressful day, I ended up raiding my pantry and gorging on 4 donuts, all at once. I brought them back to my room, felt ashamed in the corner, and even sick afterward. I laid down and didn't feel like moving for hours."
In your messaging, it helps you to speak to the emotion in this: the stress, the shame, the sickness, the lethargy.
Speaking to those emotions helps you relate to the person. What they've described is not the actual problem -- they are just symptoms of the problem. The real problem isn't the eating four donuts or laying in bed for hours -- those are symptoms of a deeper issue (i.e. there's some sort of psychological trauma that's actually at the root of the issue).
Often, the potential customer won't realize how deep the problem is, and they'll think the problem is eating the donuts, getting sick, etc. So, you have to focus on meeting them emotionally where they THINK they have the problem, even if your solution helps them with the root of the issue.
Messaging Questions to Ask Yourself:
What problems keep your clients up at night?
What are the issues they can't resolve no matter what they try?
What do they THINK is holding them back?
If your clients could wave a magic wand and wish for a result for their problem, what result would they wish for?
What steps do you have to take to lead them to this result?
What responsibility does the client have to take to ensure they get the result?
What makes you the best option? What values or techniques make you distinct?
What is fair for you to charge given the value you provide?
Validate Your Idea
You don't need to spend a bunch of money to start a business. Done are the days where investing thousands of dollars is the norm. You can easily validate an idea for your product or service for less than $100 (or even free). However, this means you can't be a perfectionist, you have to be willing to experiment, and you have to be diligent.
The most important part of the validation process is actually talking to potential clients. Many people start businesses, go down the wormhole of creating branding, a website, filing an LLC, all before they've even talked to a client. I recommend doing it reverse. Validating by actually discussing with potential clients what they are willing to pay for your service or product, and then getting them to test for you.
This is an iterative process, you're always changing and getting better. And, along the way, you'll be able to invest more money as you make money, that way you're never creating debt.
Start with people you know or friends of friends. If you can get at least one or two people to try the initial version of your product or service (the MVP - minimum viable product), then you can get a testimonial, great feedback about how to improve and validate that this is something people actually need.
After you've gone through developing the messaging and putting together a Version 1 of whatever it is you're selling, find that first one or two people, and work with them to focus on the transformation they get from using your product. The transformation is crucial. Where were they before you worked together, and where were they after. Delivering on this promise is going to be the validation that you need. After doing so, you should have a good idea of how to do it moving forward, what to iterate on, or if starting a business is not something you want to continue pursuing. If you are going to keep going, make sure to get a testimonial from the person (this was pre-agreed) and iterate with the feedback. Don't be ashamed to stop. It's better to admit something isn't right than to keep going and be unhappy.
Good luck!
