Phon Baillie, Proofreader
Compass
Phon Baillie enjoyed proofreading before she knew it was a job. After graduating university and later publishing school, Phon then went out on her own to become a freelance proofreader. You can find Phon on her site , where you can sign up for a or join her . Building your network builds your business. While it may not come easy for all of us, having a wide and solid network gives us a better footing for finding clients. Think about it, the more people who know you and what you do, the more likely one of them will either need your services or recommend you to someone who does. And for Phon,...
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Chrystabelle, Messenger Bot Marketer
Compass
We talk about university on the show for a couple of reasons. I think we need the reminder that for those of us who attended university, most don't end up working in the field we studied, but we can bring things we learned into what we do now. Also, we don't need to have gone to university to do well in life and in entrepreneurship. Instead of heading to study, Chrystabelle took a year off and then set herself up in an internship and worked her way up. A note here: in some countries, like the US, there are specific legal requirements for something to be considered an internship. In these...
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Arpine Ayvazyan, Product Designer
Compass
This was a new one for me and it's great. Arpine became location independent so that she could earn a European income but spend as much time as she wants in Armenia, with her friends and family. This is the reverse of what we tend to think of with countries with a lower average wage, which is to hire for cheap. Just because you come from a lower average wage country, doesn't mean you're limited to those expectations. You can use the internet to level the playing field, just like Arpine did. As a service provider, what do you do when the client relationship isn't working for you? For a long...
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Lili Tanis, On-camera Coach
Compass
This is one that many of us go through, especially if we're extraverts. You go from having an office full of colleagues to bounce ideas around with and share downtime chatting to being all on your own. Pretty quickly it becomes obvious that something is missing. There are and , and some days when it's less the need for interaction and more about just having the bustle of people around there are coffee shops. Finding the right mix is very personal and it will probably take time to get the right set up for you. Working without an office makes it easy for work to leak into our personal lives,...
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Tamar Levi, Children's Book Illustrator
Compass
Starting early, Tamar started investing any money that wasn't put towards immediate needs. Over time this built up as a way of supporting her art through residual income, giving her a freedom to focus her art when it wasn't yet paying bills. Is this something you can start? Putting away a little extra a month and letting it grow over time? You know what you want to do and with that in mind, you can create your own personal 'curriculum' for learning about business. Do you need to study marketing, or perhaps fulfillment? Not only are there a massive variety of online courses out there, but...
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Kate Birtch, Rental Property Insurance
Compass
We are part of a global economy, and one that is shifting. Does your schedule mean working with someone in another timezone makes more sense? Are you okay working with someone whose native language isn't the same as yours if it means a better quality product or a better time frame? Will you choose a provider with a lower asking price if it means a time zone lag? We have a lot of questions to answer if we're going to make our best choices in the world of international hires. As digital nomads, it's easy to feel alone, and this goes for our business lives as much as it does our personal ones....
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Zsófia Bányai, Operations Manager
Compass
Because of her background in history, Zsófia looks at problems differently than other finance students did, and now differently than other operations managers. This means seeing solutions the others wouldn't necessarily see either and that's a win for everybody. It's time to learn to view our different perspectives and ideas as the strengths they are. The job Zsófia applied for wasn't listed as remote, but she took the risk and asked. Instead of saying yes or no, they decided to have a trial period. When the trial period ended they agreed to turn the job into a contract position, and...
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Kari DePhillips, Agency Owner
Compass
You have two options when you have more work coming in than you can reasonably handle. You can raise your prices to keep your project flow at a speed that works for you, or you can find others to outsource the work to and take on a management role. This comes down to personality. Would you rather work on your own working directly in your field? Or would you prefer to manage others? If you're not sure, then go slowly. Send any overflow to one freelancer and get your communication with them down. Then, check-in with yourself and see which you prefer. And this holds true for any agency you build,...
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Jordan Jeppe, Social Media Marketer
Compass
When Jordan was in school in LA she waitressed, and her customers would ask what she was studying. Having these conversations led to her first client, which led to more clients. And the thing is, most of us don't do this enough. Talk about what you do! I'm guilty too. So, let's make a pact, when someone asks us what we do, when they ask what we're up to, We Tell Them! When Jordan was working in LA, whichever client had a current project got the most attention, but that meant lots of time in recording studios and not much time taking care of herself. After starting her location independent...
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Cepee Tabibian, Community Founder
Compass
When your life is location independent, finding your community is difficult. We have online groups, and many of them are supportive, but the connections can seem fleeting. One thing Cepee does is foster meaningful connections within her groups. We hear that online relationships aren't real and that's just not true. It's a question of how strong those connections are. You have to decide how much effort you're going to put in, but building a network of other digital nomads is one of the best things you can do for your travel life. "What if nobody shows up?" The thought that runs through the mind...
info_outlineWe've all got specific tools and tech that we use, then it's a matter of getting it to work just the way we need. After getting her audio equipment for voiceovers set up, Christina needed to find a way to reduce the room's natural echo. Turns out the best place in most homes is the bedroom closet because of all the sound softening fabrics in there. If there's not a cloth filled closet, like in an AirBnB, then she piles pillows on the bed and works from there. You don't always need a professional set up, you just need it to act like one.
Keep up with your clients. Happy clients come back and they send others to you, but it helps if you keep yourself on their minds. Periodically checking in keeps you top of mind and helps them remember you as a resource for themselves and their friends and coworkers. If reaching out does not come naturally to you, I really recommend Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone. He is a natural connector, but he offers so many ideas that you really only need to make a few your own.
I've recently started asking guests what they do to keep something of a steady income. Being self-employed has certain inherent vulnerabilities and I liked what Christina said here. She has one client that she has had from the beginning and he's on a lower price scale than her other clients, because he has continual hourly work. At the same time, he knows he gets that rate in part because Christina will prioritize her larger clients first. She gets steady income and he gets a reduced rate, everyone's needs are met and everyone is happy.
for full show notes and links visit compasspod.com/022