10 Steps to Start Your Successful Remote Career

If I had the opportunity to start all over again launching a career working remotely or running an online business as a virtual assistant or online business manager (OBM), there are a lot of things I would do differently, knowing what I know now. Ten years ago when I decided to become a virtual assistant, I experimented a lot and spent hours and even weeks on end working on activities that didn’t bring value to my journey. They didn’t develop my skillset and neither did they translate to dollars. It took time before I figured out what actually moved the needle for me and I believe that had I invested my time differently in the early years, my chances of achieving success much sooner may have been higher. I say “may” because I’m also a very firm believer in God’s timing as we prepare to meet our opportunities.

Anyway, to anyone who would ask me today, these my top ten steps to kickstart your career working remotely.

1. Audit your skills and strengths

I have met many people who want to work remotely but have no idea what they want to do exactly. It’s tempting to copy what the next successful person is doing because it seems to be working for them and, to be honest, that is what most of us just do. We then quickly get frustrated when we jump into the pool of remote work and completely hate the work that we might find ourselves doing because (a) we were not skilled in that area in the first place, and (b) we are just not passionate about doing THAT kind of work.

Take time to audit your skills. Identify what you are good at and what you enjoy doing. If you are already working in a job, it is a good place to start. Don’t say, “I am good at transcription or copywriting” because you imagine this is something that would be easy for you to do. If you have never done that work before, then you don’t know. At this point, stick to what you know and work with that first. Skills can always be learnt and developed, but as you start, you want to establish where your strengths are and then work up from there.

2. Choose a path

I speak of being a Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager a lot because that’s the remote work path I chose when I was starting out. However, that is not the only path and even when you choose these, you can still choose to specialise in a certain area. Think Content Writing, Social Media Marketing, Graphic Designing, Web Designing, Software Development, Video Editing, Tutoring, Podcast Management, Online Event Management, Community Management, Project Management, Customer Support… I could go on for the rest of the day. Choosing a path will help you narrow down your focus in a specific area and develop on that skill.

Post-pandemic remote work opportunities are definitely much better than when I first started. I do not need to explain my tongue out anymore to anybody about how it is possible to work remotely. You will even find that some businesses are choosing to operate entirely remotely thus creating more remote roles. Sometimes choosing a path is obvious if you have a specific skill like design or programming. However, other times, you may have skills that can be applied into more than one role.

For example, if you are currently working as an office assistant or administrative assistant, it’s highly likely that you have developed skills in office management, managing operations, setting up systems etc. You may pick out the role of an Online Business Manager or Operations Manager and then see where you have skill gaps that may require for you to fill in later with training, experience or both. You may even choose to pursue a career as a remote Project Manager. Bottom line is, there are so many transferrable skills across industries. That’s why it’s important to be able to articulate your skills and areas of strength in the beginning.

3. Hire a trainer or coach

One thing I wish I did early on in my journey was to hire a coach or trainer who would shorten my learning path on pursuing a remote work career because, to be honest, you don’t know what you don’t know. One thing I did though was immerse myself in every free training or resource I could get in the beginning but I later learnt the value of investing in a “shortcut”.

Working directly with someone who will guide you as you launch your remote work career or business will help you fill in gaps that may exist for you in terms of your own skillset or knowledge. It will also expand your mindset. One of the most popular questions I get asked by aspiring remote workers, for example, is: Where do I get clients? And I can tell you, if you have worked with a coach, trainer or mentor, you will hardly ever have to ask this question, because they will guide and teach you how to do so with confidence.

So, look for a program you can join or a coach you can work with and get help packaging your offer to attract the right clients for you. I only did this 3 years into my Virtual Assistant journey and it changed the game for me. Being intentional about your learning will go a long way in impacting your remote career positively.

4. Build your personal brand

If you have no idea what personal branding is, you need to prioritise diving into this topic soon after reading this article. Personal branding is how you present yourself to others. It’s an intentional effort to shape people’s perception of who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you unique. This can include your skills, personality, values, and expertise, all tailored to create a distinct and memorable impression. I had to experience Thembe Khumalo in action to fully come to understand and appreciate personal and business branding. I have worked with her personally, as my coach, and she has helped me discover the power of storytelling in building a strong brand.

Why is Personal Branding important, you might ask? Because people do business with those they KNOW, LIKE & TRUST. Think about any influencer you follow religiously online. After a couple of posts, reels and stories, you start feeling like you really know them on a personal level. Right? I have internet besties who don’t even know my name! You can relate to their journey or stories. If they were to come back selling something to you, making a decision to buy is not going to be that hard for you. If they pass the Know-Like-Trust check with you, then they are likely going to get the sale from you.

Every time you put out a post in your social media, you are giving your audience an opportunity to get to KNOW you. Every time they find your post relatable, inspirational, educational or funny, chances are high they will now start to LIKE you. And then lastly, every time you provide evidence of the transformation you can bring through your service offering, they will come to TRUST you.

You see where I’m going with this right? Yes? Good.

5. Join and participate in an active community

Look for a community of remote workers. Look for a community of remote graphic designers, or podcast managers or online business managers – whatever path you pick, there are people out there who are helping each other thrive in that path. Find out where they are hanging out online and join these groups. There are many groups on Facebook and LinkedIn that can connect you with other remote professionals.

We all need community for support because the journey of working remotely can easily get so lonely and wear you out. In a community you get to participate in relatable conversations, get hold of work opportunities and also get feedback on some of your projects. It is also a great place to learn new trends because whether we like it or not, there is always someone far ahead of you in the game and you want to always be submissive to the learning process.

6. Network online and offline

One thing I had no clue how to do when I left my job at the bank to become a virtual assistant was networking. I knew about it but I had no idea how to go about doing it to add value to launching my online business as a VA. I actually joke that I was such a typical techie, who would prefer to stay “hidden” from the world and only appear when there was a problem to solve. Unfortunately, that did not serve me well in my early days on this journey. I struggled to get paying clients.

Fast forward about 5 months after launching, I decided to tell a good friend of mine about how I had quit my job to become a virtual assistant. I remember, deep down, feeling a little embarrassed because pride kept whispering to me, “Don’t ask for help…You will figure it out.” But I was done listening to that pride. I was also broke. She immediately told me of someone who she heard was looking for a Virtual Assistant, introduced me and that lady ended up introducing me to a wide network of women who contributed to my virtual assistant journey in such a big way over the following years.

I always say, I can trace at least 75% of the people I have worked with over the past 10 years to the day my friend introduced me to this lady. Most of these relations were being built offline, in-person and in my city. It is also good to connect with people online who match the persona of the client you desire to work with. Introduce yourself and ask to connect with them. I don’t think it’s advisable to immediately sell yourself because many are put off by this but demonstrate your skills and knowledge as you participate in conversations they are also part of.

7. Volunteer and start building a work/client portfolio

I am always conflicted on this one because there is a section of the gig economy that preaches that you should not do work for free and “Exposure does not pay the bills”. I get it and partly agree. I believe that when starting out as a remote professional you may need to find a balance. Personally I had to do a few pro-bono jobs not just for “exposure” but to build confidence within. There is a lot of self doubt and imposter syndrome that tries to creep in when you are starting out because you are doing something you have probably never done before.

Practice makes perfect and sometimes the opportunities to practice may not necessarily translate to dollars and cents. You may decide to design a flyer for a local business. You may offer to create a one page website for your uncle who just opened a consulting practice. I remember how my dad allowed me to design his first website. I was going to do it for free but in the end he paid me for it. Bless him :) So look for opportunities to serve and practice. In there could lie your next big opportunity. If that doesn’t come, there will be at least one lesson. Embrace it, improve and keep moving forward.

8. Develop client systems

My very first business coach who I hired about 3 years after starting out as a virtual assistant always used to remind me, Luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation. Let’s read that again, shall we? Luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation. The worst thing you can ever do is to land a client and then take them through very wonky and disorganised onboarding and client management processes. I made this mistake several times and it affected some clients’ experiences with me. At one point I was even fired by a client!

You need to prepare to welcome and manage the client relationship. Think… How will you communicate? Do you have a contract in place? Where will you save client data and information? How will you manage assignments? What tools will you use? How often will you update the client on work progress? When will you be paid? How will you be paid? What will happen when you are not paid? How do you terminate a client relationship? How do you collect feedback? These questions are not even an exhaustive list of what to consider but they are a good start. You need to be organised. If you particularly starting out as a Virtual Assistant or Online Business Manager you need to have systems in place. It actually gives prospective clients confidence in your ability to handle their own operations with ease.

9. Self-Promote Often

I remember when I was starting out as a VA in 2014, there was this lady I started following who was selling a course on self promotion. Wait…before I get into that, let’s be clear what Self Promotion is. Self Promotion is the act of drawing attention to one’s own skills, accomplishments, and abilities to advance one’s personal or professional goals. It involves communicating one’s strengths and successes to others in a way that builds one’s reputation, enhances visibility, and creates opportunities.

Did you cringe after reading those two statements? Well, for me, ten years ago that certainly made me cringe because I translated it to bragging, showing off, and exhibiting a serious lack of humility. So you can imagine, I did not even look at that self promotion course twice. I was not interested.

My strategy was “Build it and they will come”. Come where? Why? How? I needed to make a serious mindset shift and eventually discovered ways to talk about my skills, strengths and accomplishments without having that funny feeling in my tummy that I was showing off. If you don’t talk about how you do and the transformation you bring to your target audience, nobody’s going to know. The remote work marketplace has become very competitive especially after the pandemic. You don’t want to lose out on opportunities because you are not even giving people the opportunity to get to know you. Stay memorable – for all the right reasons, of course ;)

10. Book Sales Conversations

Here’s another thing I hated doing in my early days as a remote worker. Talking to prospective clients. It would make my stomach turn. I would be so anxious and nervous for hours leading to the call. I don’t even know how I expected to land clients without talking to them. I just thought small business owners were supposed to trust that I was going to “work hard” in their businesses.

I had no idea what direction I was supposed to take those conversations so each time I would end up on a call with a prospect, the conversation would have no clear direction, most times the client would direct how the call would go and I was left feeling a bit confused and as if I had no idea what I was doing. All of this because I did not plan the booking and direction of those sales conversations. Today, I would definitely get on that call with a script, a list of questions to ask and end that conversation with a clear call to action.

…and there you have it! These are top 10 steps I would consider if I was to restart as remote worker today. Do any of these resonate with you? Let me know in the comments.