Tag: Freelance Ideas

Tag: Freelance Ideas

  • What to Charge As A Freelancer

    If you’re reading this, you’re probably undercharging. One of the first things mentors often tell those who are unsure what to charge as a freelancer is to double their rates, even before knowing what they are. Why? As freelancers, we’re often just guessing what our rates should be. That assumption tends to lead to poorly evaluated charging methods that shoot ourselves in the proverbial feet. It doesn’t literally mean you’re about to double your rates. It simply highlights that you may have determined that number improperly in the first place. (What to get into freelance work? Check out these articles for ideas that may work for you!

    Freelance rates are often kept quiet for fear of competition, or simply for fear of being wrong. There’s no Glassdoor for freelance entrepreneurs. If we’re being honest, many of us are just charging based on numbers we’ve been able to charge in the past, or what we think we should charge.

    It’s challenging to determine freelance rates for a reason

    Figuring out what to charge as a freelancer is difficult because it varies based on what sector you’re in, how much experience you have, and not only your geography but also your client’s location. But it’s not impossible.

    There are four methods used in determining hourly freelance rates:

      1. Guessing
      2. Supply and demand
      3. Setting your salary
      4. Profit margin realism

     

    1. The first method is straight up guessing

    Let’s say you’re a front-end developer in Miami with five years of experience. As a freelancer, you could guess your rate based either on what your first clients said they’d paid in the past, what your friends in the industry told you they charge, or simply what you think it is worth. This is absolutely the worst, but most commonly traveled, path.


    2. Supply and demand – find out the market’s threshold

    You can do better. Let’s step it up a notch and talk about using the “supply and demand” method. If you’re the only WordPress designer in your geographic region, you have two options here – send out bids at the lowest rate possible and get insurmountably busy or send out bids at the highest rate you think the market could bear, and see if you get any bites.

    Bidding at both ends helps to determine what the demand truly is for your services, but it takes time, and you miss out on opportunities while you experiment.


    3. Work backwards from what your salary should be

    For the people not prone to guesswork, setting your salary and working backwards is another common option. Visit a site like salary.com and tell it where you are, how much experience you have, and so forth.

    Once you’ve determined your salary, you would divide that number by the number of hours you plan on working in a year, and that number would be your hourly rate. So, if you plan to work 50 weeks in a year at 40 hours per week, that’s 2,000 hours. If your salary per the data says you should be making $140,000 per year, divide that by 2,000 hours and your rate would be $70.

    4. Do more math – get your desired profit margins involved!

    The previous exercise is a great method, but one that doesn’t take into account the overhead cost that employers typically cover, like taxes, equipment, internet, workspace, insurances, licenses, and so forth. So that method is also flawed.

    The best option for a freelancer in setting your hourly rates is through profit margin realism. Write down the salary you should be earning (or want to earn, just be realistic), and add in all of your expenses. Multiply that result by your desired profit margin (so, 1.10 for a margin of 10%), then divide by the number of hours you intend on working in a year.

    Rate calculators can tell you what the market might expect


    And before you go to market with your rate, there are several freelance rate calculators to confirm your projections. If your number is half or double what you see on the calculators, more investigation is merited. Bonsai, Clockify, and Nation 1099 have calculators, and Freelance Rate Calculator is a Google Sheets template that operates on profit margin realism, taking into account your expenses.

    These calculators aren’t typically great at determining an actual rate, but are excellent at giving you an idea of what the market might expect.

    Perhaps hourly rates aren’t even your best option

    Let’s imagine you don’t operate in a way that is amenable to hourly rates. You don’t buy a painting based on how long it took, and you don’t purchase a car with production times as a factor in consideration.

    Hourly rates are becoming less popular in the freelance world because it impresses upon a client that time is the most important factor to a contract, rather than skill. Let’s be honest – you work much faster now that you’re past a learning curve than you did when you started, right?

    For that reason, value-based billing is how many are beginning to determine their rates. Imagine you’re a website designer and selling your services. Rather than pitching an hourly rate, you would pitch that for every $1 spent on UX, there is an average of a $10 return. Or said better, the design could increase the profitability of their company by $100,000, so a $10,000 investment becomes chump change in comparison.

    Under this billing model, you become partners in maximizing profit on both sides, and it is immediately a less contentious scenario. But how do you convince a potential client to get away from hourly billing? Ask questions to determine how much the project would increase conversions, lead generation, or profit. You would then look at your role in the overall project and how large it is – a website redesign for an e-commerce brand could charge 25% of the expected profit bump, whereas a UI writer could charge 5-10% as part of the same project.

    How to bill under the value-based billing option

    You now have a rough idea of the amount to bill, and you’ll need to put the expected timing in your bid, of course, but you should also take it up a notch and offer pricing options.

    A freelance digital media strategist could offer a flat rate for selected services, and a website developer could offer a monthly or annual ongoing maintenance option. Tiers are a common practice as well, so potential clients have multiple options.

    Which path will you choose?

    Whether you shoot for the stars and offer value-based billing, or you determine an hourly rate that includes your expenses, the one thing we ask you to stop doing is guessing or hoping. You can guess your rate should be $50 an hour, but if your competitors are easily charging $150, you’ve undercut yourself. And if you feel entitled to a $450 hourly rate but competitors tend to charge $200, you’ve priced yourself out of the market.

    You can be a little higher or lower, based on market factors, but doing so based on actual research will yield far greater results than just assuming your value!

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  • What Is A Virtual Assistant?

    Are you curious about what a Virtual Assistant is and wondering if it is something you would like to pursue? Awesome! Let’s do this!

    So… What Is A Virtual Assistant?

    In short, a Virtual Assistant can be almost anything you want it to be in terms of work that is assisting someone and their business. It is a broad title that can cover a lot of different areas. This is great since it means there are lots of opportunities for VA work!

    Virtual Assistant Admin​

    In this role, you are, in a sense, a virtual secretary for the person you are working for. You are available to help with any virtual task that your client is looking for. That may be data entry; it may be emails or social media help.

    Any task that your client wants. This work is usually done within a set amount of hours each week, dependent on how much help the client needs. 

    This can be a fun role to have if you like variety and are looking to learn many different tasks. You may decide to take these tasks and hone in on one or two to become an expert in them. Or you may enjoy the variety and be open to continuing to take on whatever tasks the client is looking for. (Want some help keeping track of all these tasks? Learn about organizing your digital workspace.)

    The best advice I have for this role is to know you aren’t going to know how to do everything out of the gate. BUT if you have the drive and want to be good at what you do. Say yes to things you don’t even exactly know how to do and use your own time to research and learn (don’t charge the client for this). This will help grow your skill base – while also getting paid for the work you are doing for your client.

    Clients appreciate having virtual assistants who have this drive and desire to learn and deliver what they ask for. If they ask you to do backend coding or some complex task, it is OK to say no. For more straightforward tasks or tools, it is worth it to give it a go and see what you can learn.

    Specific Tasks Virtual Assistant

    This is a whole different kind of Virtual Assistant. In this case, you will present to the client what your skillset is and the type of work you can do.

    You may choose to be a Project Manager VA – who can take a client’s project idea and make it a reality.

    Or this could be something along the lines of a Social Media or Pinterest VA where you hone your skills on a specific set of Social Media tools and only offer those services.

    In this case, you can put together packages with a set price and set work that you will deliver for your client.

    If you specialize in a particular task/area, you can generally charge more for your services since you are an expert on the service you are providing.

    This becomes less of an “I will do what you tell me” role with the client, and more of a “this is what I do.” It is always OK to take on more work from the client if you would like to, just be sure you are getting paid appropriately for your time and expertise.

    Here are a few specific tasks you could offer:

    • Newsletter creation
    • Data entry
    • Email inbox maintenance
    • Presentation creating
    • Social Media
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube maintenance
    • Blog post-editing
    • Basic bookkeeping
    • Invoicing clients
    • Podcast tasks
    • Organization
    • Landing page creation
    • Customer relation manager

    The list goes on and on.

    Above all else, to be a successful Virtual Assistant, you want to focus on a few things.

    1. ALWAYS deliver on time.
    2. NEVER make your client reach out to you asking you how a project is going.
    3. OVER communicate.
    4. Take ownership of your tasks and do what needs to be done to get them done.

    If someone hires a VA, they want someone to take things off their plate – not add to their plate. Make this easy for them and make them feel like you are making their life easier.

    If you really want to impress them, find things in their business, they could improve on and present ideas and options on how YOU can do this for them.

    Alright, you are ready to do this and become a Virtual Assistant. Now what?!

    Getting Your First Virtual Assistant Job​

    This is what I always share about getting your first clients. It is also what worked for me to kick off my business.

    Find a few people you know that have their own business and reach out to them and ask if you can work for them for free for one month. Make it very clear that it is only free for one month. Also, have a plan on what you could do for them.

    To put this plan together, research their business and find places where you think they may need help or support. Put together a simple PDF document laying out the kind of work you could do for them.

    Present the document to them and offer to do the work laid out for free for one month. If they like what you have been doing after one month and it is working well, you will present what your fee is to continue with the work.

    I like this approach since it gives everyone time to try out this role and see how it works. Many business owners are hesitant to bring on a VA since they aren’t sure how it will work. This gives them a chance to try it out.

    It also gives you a chance as a new business owner to see how this works, if you like it, and to get an idea of how you should present your offerings to future clients.

    To keep it simple and straightforward, be sure to provide set dates out of the gate. For example:

    • Work for free from May 1st – June 1st.
    • May 15th – Reach out to discuss how things are going.
    • May 22nd – Send over potential fees for ongoing service beyond June 1st.
    • June 1st – Start paid work.

    From there, game on! Time to prove to your first clients that they want to pay you and that you can help them accomplish more in their business.

    Once you have your first few clients, be sure to set up a referral system and let your clients know. It can be as simple as saying I will give you $50 off your next invoice for any new clients you send my way. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy.

    Alright – you got this!! Time to put a plan together on what you want to do as a VA, find those first potential clients, reach out to them, and get the ball rolling!!

    Author

    Bryanna Royal

    Bryanna Royal started Virtual Powerhouse, a business that does Pinterest support for small businesses, and co-founded Crazy Family Adventure with her husband, where they write about things to do in locations, road trips, and RV life. They have been traveling full-time around North America in their RV with their 4 kids since May 2014. If they aren’t out climbing mountains, hiking to a waterfall, or playing at the beach they are most likely at the local donut shop trying to find the best donuts in the US!

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  • How to Become a Freelance Writer (Even...

    How To Become a Freelance Writer was originally published on Xscapers.com. Freelance…

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  • How to Find a Remote Job

    The badassery is already inside of you. We’re going to help you…

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  • How to Translate Existing Skills for Remote...

    How to Translate Existing Skills for Remote Work Success was originally published on www.xscapers.com

    One of the key components many of us need to secure in this nomadic lifestyle is identifying work to help support our adventures.  There are many professional and trade skills that can adapt and be functional on the road.  But did you ever stop and take time to realize many of the skills we all perform every day as an RVer are truly applicable to working remotely? Let us look at some of these skills. 

    Communication is Key

    RVers often have effective communication skills because we naturally meet new people as we travel and explore. It is very common to strike up conversations, answer questions and share experiences of our travels, with others. Whereas others blog, share their trip itinerary/adventures, or provide DIY ideas/suggestions for others to benefit and learn. Communication is a natural skill for Rvers. 

    In a more traditional workplace your communication often occurs more face-to-face, allowing for both verbal and non-verbal interactions. However, creating an effective way to communicate with your leader, peers, and/or customers must be more intentional for remote employees. Given you are virtual, the work performed is not seen firsthand, therefore you need to share more openly. A few examples of how this may look:

    • send out proactive or informational communications in preparation for/of the project, event, or meeting
    • include a weekly status or project report sharing details, updates, accomplishments, and any potential risks
    • do not only relay on messenger or email, pick up the phone and have phone calls or video chats

    Also note that how you articulate and speak is essential as well. Take time to slow down, concentrate and not be distracted – each will help with your success when communicating virtually.  

    How you interpret or read communications is important when working remotely. At times we can read an email with our own rose-colored glasses or we skim and miss important details, resulting in potential pre-mature, offensive, or defensive responses.  Therefore, taking a step back, a walk around the RV, or a re-read an hour later can make all the difference.  And finally, any time emotions are racing high – always a good idea to pause, wait, or even sleep on the return message before hitting send or picking up the phone to discuss.

    Adaptability and Flexibility Are Important for Remote Work

    RVing requires all of us to be adaptable and flexible. As an RVer, we understand that being able to manage change is critical to our lifestyle. We may start out with a plan but at any given point we can encounter issues with our home on wheels, our vehicles, our travel plans, illness, injury, or family needs.  

    The same is true of working virtually/remotely. 

    • Often the time zones will be different from your client, prospect, co-worker, or main office. Therefore, adapting to meeting times or being available for key follow-up might be earlier in the day or later in the evening. 
    • Technology is a key component to our day when working remotely. At times we must be patient, innovative, and creative when utilizing and accessing technical tools. Additionally, having multiple devices such as phone, tablet, and computer or multiple screens may be extremely useful. 
    • Finally, we are in small places. We need to identify and create workspace that meets our need and allows us to be productive. At times, this may require working outside, in a vehicle, or in other locations such as gazebo, community center or library. 

    How many times have you adapted or needed to be flexible on your RV journey? Be able to develop a Plan B? I anticipate the answer is “a lot”. The same is needed for working remotely. We can all apply the skills of adaptability and flexibility to remote working jobs and functions.  

    Planning and Research Can Make All The Difference

    Without a doubt, our nomadic life requires some degree of planning and research. May it be to find boondocking or campgrounds, special interests, fun activities, mapping out or securing a safe route, home-schooling children, or managing internet and phone connections. 

    Working virtually requires planning and research as well. You want to ensure you have the tools, resources, connectivity, and supplies necessary to perform the job functions and tasks. 

    • If you are a repair specialist or mechanic – you want to have the necessary tools to help your customers, 
    • if you are a trainer/educator – you want to have the supplies and connectivity to conduct your classes, 
    • if you perform bookkeeping or accounting – you want the software and tracking necessary to record entries, and 
    • if you manage and lead teams – you want to ensure you have video/camera, conference line or other means to communicate accordingly. 

    Planning internet connectivity, shipment receiving or sending, printing demands, access to vendors or stores, or outlining a schedule of availability for conference or video exchanges are all essential to working remotely. And, depending on the work performed, it may be essential to research options, navigate alternatives, and be innovative when identifying solutions. 

    Welcome to the world of nomadically living, right? We truly can take these skills and translate/apply them to our remote offices, tasks, and functions. 

    Digital and Technical Skills are Necessary for Remote Work

    Without a doubt working remotely will involve some form of digital and or technical tools and resources. Technology and digital footprint solutions can truly enhance, secure, and improve virtual business operations. 

    Learning these skills (self-taught or classroom) is worth the investment of time and money. Utilizing applications, phone, conferencing/video, team chat, shipping, purchasing, invoicing, or compliance/regulatory functions is inevitable. Equipping yourself with the necessary tools, resources and technology is a key first step when working remotely. 

    If you work for an employer, they will often supply and or provide these items. When self-employed, you will want to plan and budget for such items as part of your business operations and planning. 

    Consider all the apps, social media groups, and resources we access and utilize as RVers. Just as we rely upon our fellow RVers for information on “what to” and “how to”; we can do the same with our remote work tasks and functions. 

    Many fellow RVers work full time and are completely willing to share what works for them, while working on the road. We all need to take advantage of technology to meet, engage, and maximize our remote functions. If technology or online functions are challenging for you today – there are many webinars, books and resources to enhance, grow and obtain skills.  It would be a great investment to enhance knowledge and experience with specific software packages, industry designated applications, search engine optimization/tools, and eLearning courses available.  

    Networking as an RVing Remote Worker

    Working remotely requires us to network and share what it is we do with others that we meet – especially if you are self-employed, launching a new business, or require a specific customer/buyer for your product/services.  

    This is where having business cards, website, social media forums or blog can really enhance your messaging and awareness. Networking, sharing ideas, and building a connection with those who compliment, enhance, and/or relate to your work skills will be extremely helpful and beneficial. At a recent convergence, several bookkeeping/accountant skilled members met and shared ideas and information with one another. You want to create more of these exchanges. Be willing to open the door and ask, “What do you do?”

    As RVers, especially associated with Escapees/Xscapers, some of the best ways to share your business or skills is through smaller group conversations, social outings/events, presenting on a topic or writing an article. You want to take advantage of the social media conversations where/when you can post links or information about your business or specialty. Maximize campfire, lot crawl or small group event discussions. Do not forget to listen to your fellow RVers, hear what their experiences/challenges/needs might be and follow up when you can make a connection or fulfill that need.  Our community of RVers are the most kind, helpful and caring individuals.  Networking can truly open doors for your business and or position.

    How to Pitch the Remote Work Idea to Your Current Employer

    • First, take a good inventory of your skills, strengths, and expertise. Be prepared and able to discuss, emphasize and articulate them clearly. And if needed, consider options to improve or enhance areas of growth and development.
    • Second, know the job functions performed today. Consider and evaluate how functions are completed and what challenges might exist if performed remotely. Evaluate options to overcome those questions or challenges. 
    • Third, conduct research and planning before discussing with your direct supervisor. Propose a part-time or scheduled approach to moving to working remote. An example may be to start with 1,2 or 3 days a week, on a trial basis. Remember to consider who your customers or internal/external team members are and how/if they are impacted. 
    • Finally, present your plan to include what, when, how and why. Share benefits for both sides; you and the company. Identify challenges proactively and discuss solutions/considerations. If there are cost savings, be prepared to speak to those as well.  

    Regardless if you are in a profession, a trade, self-employed or working for an employer; so many job functions can be performed successfully remotely.

     In my 23 years of experience of working remotely, it comes down to utilizing, sharing, and maximizing your skills. It is about being responsible, dependable, and reliable. It includes communicating timely, effectively and efficiently.  

    Remember to adapt and be flexible – not flat on your feet.  Be innovative and creative, think outside norms.  Plan, research and use technology/tools to enhance your skills and job competencies.  Plus use them to improve and maximize business operations.  But most importantly…share and network whenever possible. 

    And, the best part of all of this…so many of the skills needed/learned to live nomadically, in our homes on wheels; directly corresponds to and relates to working remotely! We all can apply our RVer skills to our new or current remote job functions.  

    Author

    Wendy S. Kadner

    Wendy is a senior executive in the healthcare, technology, and consulting industries. With over 23 year of remote work experience, she has also served on hospital boards, and developed a non-profit pet rescue. 

    Originally from Iowa, Wendy travels full-time in her truck camper with her 2 pups. She enjoys the Southwest and Pacific Northwest and spends most of her time in these areas. As a solo traveler, Wendy enjoys meeting new people, experiencing local favorites, visiting famers markets and cooking in her truck camper home. “Learning about Escapees/Xscapers just 16 months ago has been the best thing ever in my travels. I have truly found my community of friends on the road.”

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  • How To Start Working Remotely Even If...

    How To Start Working Remotely Even If You Don’t Have Any Experience was originally published on www.xscapers.com

    The popularity and availability of remote work has been on the rise for the past several years, and it has never been more popular than it is now. With 2020 we’ve seen the spread of Coronavirus, and subsequently, hundreds of thousands of companies expanding and offering remote employment. So how do you start working remotely even if you have no experience? If you have been wondering how to work remotely but worry you lack the experience or skills, keep reading. This article will walk you through how to work remotely, even if you’re a total beginner.

    Types of Remote Jobs

    While it used to be that the only remote jobs available were for highly skilled individuals, that is no longer the case. There are remote jobs in every industry you can think of! If it can be done from a computer, it can be done remotely. This means: 

    • Customer Service
    • Marketing
    • Writing and editing
    • Data entry
    • Computer Programming
    • Administrative
    • Bookkeeping/Accounting
    • Sales
    • Teaching

    This list could go on forever. The point here is that you don’t have to have special qualifications or a degree to get a remote job – so many entry level positions exist. And if you do have a degree or certification, that’s great! But it is not a requirement to get started, so don’t get hung up on that.

    Decide On Your Ideal Remote Work Situation

    The first step on your remote work journey needs to be deciding on your ideal life and work situation. What works for one person may make another miserable. What do you want your life to look like? Are you a morning person? Do you prefer set hours and a set, predictable income? Aside from starting your own business, remote work can be broken down into remote employment or freelancing.

    Income Requirements

    Before you start your remote work journey, be sure to have a clear picture of your personal financial requirements. Set your budget and decide how much income you need to bring in to sustain your lifestyle. Once you have a clear picture of your income requirements, you will know what to look for (and ask for) in your remote job search.

    Remote Employment vs Freelancing

    Remote Employment: As a remote employee, you’ll likely be working for a company or business and need to adhere to set hours – like 9-5 or whatever you agree upon with your employer. As an employee, your employer takes care of your tax withholdings and you may also be eligible for certain benefits through your company, like health insurance or 401k. You will earn a salary or hourly wage and have steady paychecks. 

    Freelancing: As a freelancer, you will be self-employed and take on clients of your choosing. You will be in charge of setting your pay rate, getting new clients, and deciding how often and how long you want to work based on your income requirements. You will also be in charge of handling your own tax withholdings and seeking out your own insurance needs.

    9 Skills You Need For Remote Work

    These skills are necessary for any remote work situation, whether you decide to be a freelancer or a remote employee. 

    • Self-Motivation. Are you a self starter? This is an essential skill for remote workers. There will be no physical boss to check in on you, get you started on your tasks, or ensuring you finish your work in a timely manner. You need to be able to motivate yourself to get started on work and stay with it until it’s done.
    • Strong Communication Skills. Strong written communication skills are absolutely essential as a remote worker. Whether you’re a freelancer or an employee, you will do a lot of communicating with your clients and/or team via email and online chat communication tools. You will also communicate via phone and video calls, so all-around strong communication skills are a must.
    • Comfort Learning and Using Digital Tools and Softwares. When you work remotely and collaborate with clients or a team, there will come a time when you have to use certain digital tools or softwares. Examples of these may include cloud-sharing apps like Google Drive and Dropbox, project management software like Monday or Airtable, and so on. It is not necessary to know all of these tools up-front, but you must be comfortable to learn and use them as necessary. Adaptability and a willingness to learn will take you a long way. 
    • Collaboration. Are you a team player? The ability to collaborate with a team is an important skill for remote workers, even as a freelancer. You may work on team projects, need to collaborate with a client to finish a task, etc. 
    • Reliable Equipment. You need to possess the tools for the job, and they must be reliable. Examples of this would be:
        • A reliable computer with enough storage and speed to handle your workload
        • A strong internet connection – don’t rely solely on campground wifi, many times it isn’t reliable
        • Good cell signal for phone calls (and internet if you use it for data, this may require a cell signal booster)
        • A webcam for video meetings – many laptops have pre-installed webcams
        • A microphone for better audio during meetings – nothing is worse than bad audio! Some earbuds have microphones in them, and this can work at minimum
        • A backup internet option – many RVers have several backup options, and if all else fails, head to the local library or coffee shop
    • Responsiveness. This is pretty self-explanatory. You need to keep lines of communication open and be responsive to your clients and/or employer during agreed upon work hours. 
    • Organization. You don’t have to be the most organized person in the world, but you need to be able to keep up with communication, project tasks, digital files, etc.
    • Time Management. This skill can be tied into self-motivation. As a remote worker, time-management skills are so, so important! Even if you don’t have strict deadlines on your projects, you need to be able to complete them in a timely manner. If not for your employer, for yourself. It can be easy to procrastinate and stretch out a 3 hour task over the entire day… or longer.
    • Balance. Be sure to have hobbies and interests outside of your work to create a healthy work/life balance. When you don’t have a healthy balance, you risk burning out. This will lower your productivity levels and affect every area of your life. Just because your work is always there doesn’t mean you should always be working! 

    How To Repurpose Your Existing Skills for a Remote Work Resume and Environment

    The above skills are essential for remote workers. So how do you identify those skills in yourself from your past work experience, AND convey them to potential employers? 

    There are two categories of skills: soft skills and hard skills. The most valuable remote work skills, like the ones listed above, are soft skills. Soft skills refer to how you work, hard skills refer to what it is that you do. Effective communication is a soft skill, proficiency working in Google Drive is a hard skill.

    Identifying Your Remote Work Skills

    If you’ve never worked a remote job before, it’s easy to assume that you don’t have the experience necessary to land one. However, that’s not true! Not all remote employers are looking for candidates with remote experience. But, they will be looking for certain soft skills that show them you can effectively work from home. 

    To identify your remote work skills, start with making a list of previous work experience. This list should contain every job you’ve ever had, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Not all of this list will go on your resume, only the most relevant parts. If you’ve ever had side jobs, done any volunteering in your community, held events, wrote a blog, include those in your preliminary list.

    From this list, determine what skills you had to have to perform essential tasks that you could relate to a remote work environment.

    For example, as a bartender or server, your skills might look like: 

    • Effective communication 
    • Ability to work well on a team
    • Flexibility and Adaptability
    • Strong interpersonal and customer service skills
    • Ability to maintain a high level of professionalism in a challenging environment

    If you’ve ever had a hobby blog, your skills would include writing, proficiency using computers, etc. Or, if you’ve ever been a volunteer admin for a Facebook group, your skills could include community management. Get really creative here! Even parenting skills can translate into remote work skills.

    Conveying Remote Work Skills on Your Resume

    Now that you know what you can bring to the table in a remote work situation, you need to be able to convey those skills on a resume for remote employers.

    Include any relevant job or hobby experience, and list the relevant skills and tasks you performed for the job that could relate to a particular job or remote work situation in general. 

    Be sure to list any tools and softwares you’re already familiar with, too. 

    Here’s a great article on FlexJobs that goes more in depth on how to convey remote work experience on your resume, even if you’ve never worked remotely. 

    How To Find And Apply To Remote Work Jobs

    Now that you know your skills and have revised your resume for a remote job search, where do you go to find remote jobs? 

    • You can search the main job boards like Monster, Indeed, CareerBuilder, etc, for keywords like “remote” and “telecommute” 
    • Create or refresh your LinkedIn profile and search for remote and telecommute jobs on LinkedIn
    • Network on social media and let friends and acquaintances know what you’re looking for
    • Websites like FlexJobs, WeWorkRemotely, Virtual Vocations, and more
    • You’ll even see remote jobs posted to The RVer Job Exchange.

    As a freelancer you can use these techniques, as well as finding potential clients you want to work with and reaching out to them directly, whether or not you see a job listed.

    Setting Yourself Up For Success As A Remote Worker

    Working remotely is a lot different than working in an office, and as such, there are certain things you can do to set yourself up for success in your work and for your health. 

    • Set up a dedicated workspace. Whether you’re working from home or your RV, having a dedicated workspace can help you be more productive and is also better for your physical health. If you’re spending long hours at the computer, make sure your workspace is ergonomically correct to ease the strain on your body. 
    • Create and stick to a schedule. Whether you have set work hours or not, giving yourself certain time periods to complete tasks will help you stay productive and on top of your time management. This will help with your work/life balance and help you meet deadlines.
    • Get dressed and ready for the day. As a remote worker it is all too easy to wear pajamas all the time. Getting yourself dressed and ready each day promotes a feeling of alertness and can increase your productivity. 
    • Maintain a healthy work/life balance. If you plan to be RVing, make sure you give yourself full days off to go explore and enjoy the lifestyle. If you’re working from home, give yourself full days off and engage in hobbies or other activities to keep your mind off of work. 

    Remote work is the future, and it’s more attainable now than it ever has been before. By now you should be aware that you, in fact, DO have the skills necessary to be a remote worker… even if you’ve never done it before. 

    To connect with remote working full-time RVers, join the Xscapers Facebook Group here.

    For remote work inspiration and advice from full-time RVing remote workers, check out this interview series! 

    Remote Work Advice Series Part 1

    Remote Work Advice Series Part 2

    Author

    Carrie Fay

    Carrie has been on and off the road for the past 3 years, experiencing travel as a full-time RVer and most recently trying out the van life. 

    When she’s not geeking out on marketing or befriending the local cats, you can find Carrie at her website: Making Money and Traveling – where her love of travel and obsession with location-independence meet.

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