Remote work is absolutely amazing if you are wanting to live a life full of travel, freedom, and flexibility. Here are 3 ways to begin working remotely and start your digital nomad career.

How to start a remote work career 

Today, I want to talk about how you can start your remote work journey. Now that the world is starting to open back up, travel is starting to get slightly back to normal there is finally a light at the end of this tunnel. I know that many people are starting to think about traveling again or at least making some changes that give them some more freedom and flexibility. 

I know personally for me, being stuck at home without traveling has been super tough. So if you are anything like me, you are probably already searching for flights and planning out your next destination for your first trip! But…if you are working a 9-5 job, that obviously makes planning spur of moment trips or months abroad difficult. 

So, if you are thinking about how you can find a career that gives you more freedom and flexibility and allows you to work from anywhere, allows you to travel, and all that good stuff, this episode is for you!

I am going to be sharing my top 3 ways for how you can start a remote work career and become a digital nomad traveling the world, or just working from home and having the flexibility to work from your local coffee shop instead of a cubicle if that’s what you’re into!

So, first things first, there are so many different ways that you can begin working remotely. I feel like remote work has really become more normal now, thanks to the lockdowns and companies needing to have people work from home.

So many people have seen that it is possible to work from home and that they can be just as productive, so many people are moving towards and normalizing remote work and starting remote companies which is great news for you!

So if you are just getting started and you are trying to consider which path towards remote work is going to be the right fit for you. Here are three possible avenues to consider.

Remote work as an employee

If you are just getting started, you don’t have a large audience or you are not sure about starting your own business, getting a remote work job for an online company is a great way to start your location-independent career. Being a remote employee comes with the security of having a salary. It allows you to have a stable income to support your travels. 

The downside to this type of remote work is that you may not have the same flexibility you would have if you were to start your own business and be your own boss. You will likely still have a boss, you may need to be online at certain times and you may have to request days off in order to travel to new locations.

I think getting a remote job is amazing to begin this type of lifestyle because financial security is one of the scariest steps about becoming a digital nomad, and having that stable income to get started with is amazing. You could even choose to go with a part-time job, which would still give you a stable income, but a bit more flexibility if flexibility is something you don’t want to sacrifice. 

There are so many online job boards that you can search through to find jobs. Or even look in Facebook groups for smaller online businesses that are hiring and employees for their team.

Freelancer

The next option is to become a freelancer or contractor. This is how I got started and think its a great option as well. When you are freelancing, you are essentially running your own business and providing a service to clients. This means that you would want to set up your own business and you are responsible for finding clients. 

When I got started, I started out as a general virtual assistant and offered general admin support to clients. That eventually evolved into social media management which I was then able to charge a higher premium for once my skills and experience grew. 

If you are thinking about going this route, my best advice is to think about what skills you could offer to businesses as a service. Some popular ideas are social media management, content repurposing, graphics design, website design, virtual assisting, copywriting. I mean the list is really endless. So think about what you could offer. Then come up with a package to offer and then begin marketing it.

I started my freelance business all on Instagram and was able to book out just from my Instagram account alone. So my recommendation is to get on Instagram, start posting valuable helpful content and engage with your customers on there. 

If you need help with that social media strategy, head over to karacahill.com/freetraining. Watch the free masterclass where I share how to start marketing and making sales on Instagram! Karacahill.com/freetraining

Selling digital products

The final option that I would recommend is selling digital products. So this could be selling a course, selling a coaching offer, selling digital downloads or templates, presets, etc. Essentially this is something that people can purchase from you through your website. Ideally, this is something that they could buy anytime, 24/7 so you would be able to make sales consistently in the background, while you sleep. That’s the dream, right? 

So if you have some knowledge on a topic, could you create a course around it? Could you create a coaching program where you supported people towards their goals? Could you create a digital planner that people would download? 

Again, there are so many options for product ideas. Think about what is in your wheelhouse, create an offer and begin marketing to your online audience.

With the last to options for remote, work, freelancing, and digital products, this does take a bit of time to get set up if you are starting from 0 and don’t have any type of audience you can begin selling to.

The beauty is, that if you are willing to put in the work to grow your online audience and create an online presence, the sky is really the limit with how much you can make and the amount of freedom and flexibility you can have.

For me, I started off with zero audience. It took me about 3 months to land my first freelance client. Today, I now actually have multiple streams of income for my business. I work part-time as the marketing manager for a digital marketing agency. Also, I offersocial media management for a few of my favorite clients. I also sell my online course, the Virtual Visionary Academy. So there is really no right or wrong way to begin your remote work career.

You just want to think about the lifestyle you want and think about which of these paths might be the best way for you to get there. And like I shared, it will change and it can evolve and you can find what works best for you.

So I hope this helped spark some ideas for how you can get started with working remotely and finding more of that flexibility in your career that allows you to truly live that lifestyle you have been dreaming of. 

As always, if you are looking for more support, you can head to karacahill.com/freetraining. Or come follow me on Instagram for more remote work and travel tips!