Negosentro.com | The Entrepreneurial Nomad: Remote Business Tips for CEOs on the Go | Before anyone had ever heard of COVID-19, more than 7 million people or around 3.4 percent of all Americans were already working remotely.
In 2020, millions more followed suit. Some were employees made to work from home temporarily until lockdowns ended. Others were made permanent remote employees to help cut costs.
Still more were laid off from their previous careers, and then launched new, remote careers.
No matter the reason they went remote or when they made the switch, one thing remains the same; remote workers tend to love working remotely. In fact, one study found that 99 percent of remote workers want to continue telecommuting in the future.
If you’re thinking about leaving the office behind and launching a remote business, keep reading. We’re bringing you a few tips to help you master becoming a CEO on the go.
Understand the Best Businesses to Start From Home
Long before you can start focusing on driving profits, you need to choose the type of remote business you plan to launch.
While 2020 has shown us exactly how many businesses can make their employees remote, at least for a short period of time, some types of businesses are better suited for running outside of an office than others. And some simply can’t be performed 100 percent remotely.
For instance, it would be tough to be a realtor and sell homes while traveling the world. Your customers could visit a home virtually and sign paperwork with the help of a fax machine.
But most buyers won’t be comfortable investing in a home without seeing it in person. It’s also tough to build a solid reputation as a real estate agent without actually meeting your clients.
However, if you wanted to start a marketing agency, your skills at crafting content or designing and implementing ads will be far more important than your face-to-face people skills.
Some business ideas that are better suited for running remotely include:
- Affiliate marketing
- Selling handmade goods
- Flipping vintage or thrifted items
- Dropshipping
- Content Creation, like Instagram influencers or YouTube stars
- Online coaching
- Virtual assistant
- App or web development
- Video game creator
- Online teacher
- Graphic Designer
To find the best remote business for you, start by considering skills you already have. Think about the skills that made you successful in your previous job or career.
Were you great at selling products? Skilled at crafting grants and proposals? Or maybe your creative eye helped you shine?
Whatever the case, utilizing skills that you already have will increase your chances of success when you take to the road as a digital nomad.
Think Carefully Before Taking an Office-Based Business Remote
If you already have a successful business, the remote-work trend brought on by COVID-19 might have you thinking about making your employees remote long-term. However, it’s important to really consider the repercussions before making the switch permanent.
Once you’ve boxed up your office, sent your employees home, and started hiring new employees based outside of your original location, making the switch back to a location-based office will be a big challenge. That’s why many English companies, for example, seek help from business setup companies such as kgn.dk to help them decide the types of initial business they want.
New employees may be unwilling to relocate. Old employees may have already moved. And they all may come to prefer working remotely enough to leave your company rather than returning to their cubicle.
Not every business can make a smooth transition to remote work. Some may struggle to connect with customers. Other employee teams may not be able to cooperate in the same way when they aren’t sharing a workspace.
If your business struggles to thrive remotely, you may have to start from scratch with a new office and new employees. This can slow down your growth and even lead you to fall months or even years behind in progress.
Recreate the Benefits of an Office
Making the shift to a home-based business or becoming a digital nomad and traveling the world means the opportunity to skip the cubicle and work from anywhere. While some remote workers choose to utilize coworking spaces or build a home office, most others make do with what they have.
Nearly three-quarters of remote workers don’t work from a dedicated office space. Around 40 percent don’t even work from a desk.
While you don’t necessarily need a home office to work remotely, if you want to build a successful remote business, you need to recreate the benefits that a traditional office space has to offer.
That includes having all of the tools you need to do your job at hand, having few distractions, and having a dedicated setup that helps you mentally check-in to work when you sit down.
If you’re working from your home, create a dedicated office space. This could be a desk, a small table, or even your kitchen island. Just make sure that it’s an area where you can set up to work and remove any distractions.
If you’ve got kids at home and no other adults there during the day, you might want to consider investing in daycare for at least a day or two a week to give yourself a few hours of distraction-free work time.
When you choose to work as a digital nomad, your “home” might change by the day, week, or month. Since you can’t carry a desk with you, instead create a mobile office you can set up in a hotel room or coffee shop with everything you need to work.
A pair of noise-canceling headphones can also go a long way towards blocking out noise and distractions.
Keep a Full-time Mindset
Working remotely allows you to set your own schedule. Rather than being stuck in a 9-to-5, you can work late nights or pack your hours into three or four days, leaving the rest of your week wide open.
However, one pitfall of many new digital nomads is that they try to squeeze a lot of work into very little time.
After you’ve built up a remote career or set up passive income streams, you might be able to scale back your hours. But when you’re starting a new business, it’s likely that you’ll still need to put in the same 40-plus hours you would need to for a location-based business.
Set your new career up for success by sticking to a full-time, set schedule right from the start. If you choose to travel, make sure that you have eight hours set aside each day to work in a quiet spot with no distractions and access to any tech or tools you might need.
Invest in the Right Tech
Leaving your employer behind to start your own home-based business means losing access to all of the tools and tech they put at your disposal to do your job.
While you might have a laptop or tablet at home already, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have everything you need.
An older or slow laptop won’t give you the speeds you need to get your work done each day. A lack of storage space might make it difficult to run many times of remote businesses. And depending on where you plan to work, your home desktop might not be portable.
If you want your new remote career to be successful, you’ll likely need to invest in some new technology, and the right technology for a remote worker.
Start by considering where you plan to work, as well as the remote business ideas you’re considering pursuing.
For instance, if you plan to go into graphic design or photo editing, a monitor with excellent graphics and a system with plenty of storage space is a must.
If you’re going to be traveling frequently, especially internationally, you’ll need a laptop that is portable.
Another popular trend is working remotely in an RV, where it’s possible to enjoy the benefits of a desktop, just as long as you stick to a smaller, streamlined model.
It’s a good idea to think ahead about investing in new tech for your remote business, rather than waiting until you’ve left your office job behind. That way you can jump right into building your business, preferably before you quit your day job!
If you’re ready to start shopping for the right desktop or laptop for your remote work, check out the Lenovo site for a variety of options perfect for digital nomads and home-based businesses.
Launching Your Own Remote Business
Launching your own remote business isn’t without its challenges.
If you aren’t naturally self-motivated, you’ll need to learn habits that help you stay organized and meet deadlines. You might struggle to avoid distractions when you start working at hotels, coffee houses, or campgrounds around the world.
And if you’re switching to a new career field, you’ll face the usual hurdles of learning a new trade and the skills that you need to succeed.
But with a little hard work and a lot of determination, you can launch a remote career that allows you freedom from a set schedule, a locked-in location, and more. You’ll have a chance to take control of your pay. Plus, with most remote careers, you’ll instantly become your own boss.
Whether you’ve already launched a remote career or are still thinking about taking the leap, check out the rest of our blog for more tips and tricks for starting your own business or helping your current one succeed.
