Remote Work

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

The year was 2013. I was working on average 12 to 14 hours a day for what now felt like forever. This was now my third year and third role at this company. From the outside looking in, I was crushing it. I was climbing that corporate ladder. I was 27 and now in middle management. It was thee dream for anyone graduating from a university in Zimbabwe where unemployment is the order of the day. Sigh. But I felt like my soul was dying inside. I was burnt out and I didn’t know how or when to stop. It also seemed like I was now beginning to doubt by potential. The worst! It was a challenging role and a challenging time. But I was so determined. You wouldn’t have been able to tell how much I was suffering inside just by merely looking at or interacting with me. I used to show up for that job with all the grit in me. I loved what I did deeply. I can pin point a specific time when I really felt I had had enough. It was around Easter in 2013 and (as usual) I was working over that holiday which I think even coincided with Independence Day as well in that year. I was going through an annual audit and if you have worked in a financial institution you can appreciate how daunting and stressful audits can get. I was going through it and unfortunately, I was losing my mind in the process. I must confess that I forgot that this was just work and I didn’t have to take things so personally. Any shortfall that was pointed out, I would take personally. I’m not even joking. I would translate it to “Tariro, you are such a failure. You have no business leading in the capacity you are leading. You are a FRAUD!” Oh yes, imposter syndrome had me by my throat and was choking me! I remember saying to myself, ‘I don’t want to go through this again. I don’t want to feel like this. I am tired and I want out by end of this year.’ Immediately I started Googling, “Should I quit my job?” and is there anything that Google doesn’t have answers to? My dilemma was not knowing what I would do after. I thought of looking for another job but I quickly hit a roadblock as I wondered, ‘What if it feels exactly the same?’ So I didn’t. I then started asking myself, ‘What do I want?’ Because at the time, I was living with my parents and there was absolutely no way I was going to walk to them to just say I am quitting my job without a next gig. I had to think of a plan. So I thought about the job I had done for years before joining the bank. The job I used to do during my school holidays and semester breaks throughout high school and university. The job I believed I had done so well too. I worked in our family functions equipment hiring business since I was 12. I had taken up plenty roles in there as a receptionist, PA, cleaner, delivery “guy”, IT “guy”, customer service “guy” etc. Anything that needed to be done and my dad believed I could do, I did. But as much as I had done the job so well, I did not want to go work for my dad. I felt like it was good for our relationship if I worked with him from a distance without being his employee. I was convinced he needed my help. That’s when it hit me! I realised that there were many other business owners like him who also needed my help. I started looking up “supporting small businesses” and later on “supporting small businesses from home”. One day during my endless Google searches I came across the term, Virtual Assistant! Mmmmh, this is new. I have never seen or heard about that before. What is it? The search that followed took me down the rabbit hole of Virtual Assistance and working from home. This was now August 2013. At this point the desire to quit my job was stronger than ever and I felt like God was giving me sign after sign to do it especially after discovering the world of Virtual Assistance. Everything I found was so enticing. Work from home. Be your own boss. Define your hours. Travel. Make six figures! You should seriously see my face as type all this. I am literally laughing out loud right now. Anyway, I started looking for people who were doing similar work in Zimbabwe. I remember messaging a lady on LinkedIn who had indicated that she was a Virtual Assistant in her profile but I never got a response and she was the only one in Zimbabwe I found. So I figured I was going to be the next person. Between August and October 2013 I decided I was definitely going to quit my job. I decided to come up with a business plan because remember my parents? Yeah. They needed to see something SOLID. I came up with my business plan and even a name for my virtual assistant business, Twenty47 Virtual Assistant. I had found a community online of (mostly women) from the US and UK who were virtual assistants and actually living off income from that. So I could see the possibility for me even though I was in a different environment (more about this hindsight in future posts). I decided I was going to register my business formally and have a logo. In my head, this was serious business and with everything I had laid out in my plan it was going to work. Around this time, the love-hate relationship with my job didn’t get any better. I was still stressed out, burnt out and seriously questioning my value in the position I was in. I felt I didn’t deserve

Can you imagine walking away from an amazing job at 27, when your career was soaring? That’s exactly what I did 10 years ago 😅 I was burnt out, feeling lost, and questioning the impact of my work. It was then I knew I had to take a leap of faith, even if it meant sacrificing a seemingly perfect career path. Pursuing an online business as a Virtual Assistant sounded very appealing and I could envision the amazing transformation I could bring to small businesses. But the journey wasn’t that straightforward 🤦🏾‍♀️ The past decade has been a dynamic mix of challenges and triumphs, pushing me outside my comfort zone and testing my resourcefulness, creativity and confidence. It’s been a rollercoaster, but through it all, I’ve discovered an unexpected resilience that surprises me even now. While a part of me still wonders about the “what ifs” had I stayed on that career path I was on, another part celebrates the incredible journey this gamble into remote working has been. And guess what? The path led me back to where I started. But, of course, this time, it’s different. It’s quite incredible how 10 years of remote work ultimately brought me back into the world of tech which I once strongly felt I needed to run away from. I have so many stories I would love to share from this journey 💫 I hope you can indulge me for the rest of this year as I occasionally unpack them. P.S. What stories would you like to hear most? Drop your questions in the comments!