Creating a lifestyle where I have the flexibility to make my own schedule, and maintain a work life balance has been a requirement of mine for the past several years. So, obtaining remote opportunities became my mission than my reality. You may ask what is working remotely? Remote work is a working style that allows professionals to work outside of a traditional office environment. It is based on the concept that work does not need to be done in a specific place to be executed successfully. Remote work may also be called telecommute, telework, working from home, mobile work or flexible work space.
Many people wonder why I prefer a remote lifestyle and want to know what I do for a living. Being an entrepreneur, living in a populated metro city, and also having worked in the corporate setting has made me become intrigued in having more control of my time. Think about it, if you work a traditional 9am-5pm schedule, you’re up at 7am. Commuting to and from work that can range between 1hr to 2hr total a day. You spend about 12hrs of your day doing something for work. By the time you get home in the evening you have about a good 4-5 hours of time to spend with your loved ones or friends before you have to do it all over again. Now, some people love their work environment and colleagues and do not have a desire to work remotely or from home. Whether they work for a cool company that has great perks in the office such as free food, team outings, or cool recreational areas in the office. Some people feel that they won’t be productive or just prefer going into work. If you are that person that is totally ok. Me personally, I LOVE everything about having the ability to work from wherever I like and being able to create my own daily schedule.
So, what do I do for a living that allows me to work remotely? Well, first let me give you some background. I have an MBA and studied Accounting in undergrad. Initially, in my career after college I worked as an Accountant. Ugh! I know BORING right? Living in Atlanta really opened up the reality of entrepreneurship. My first successful business was a dog kennel that my husband and I owned for four years; we decided to close it down to pursue this remote lifestyle that allows us to do things we are passionate about and to work from anywhere. I am an entrepreneur and I utilize both my professional and creative expertise across many areas.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but you can do both. Some of your favorite entrepreneurs have full-time jobs.
"I don’t know who needs to hear this but you can do both. Some of your favorite entrepreneurs have full-time jobs."
Basically, I have multiple sources of income. Currently, I work virtually as a Project Administrator for a nonprofit organization that is based in New York. As a Project Administrator I manage projects for foundations such as the Humana Foundation and provide support for project programs. In this role I track deliverables, manage project progress, and develop responses to RFP’s. What I love about working for this nonprofit is that a lot of the projects I manage are for organizations that are designed to help underserved poor communities. I am from the inner city, so being able to be apart of positively impacting these communities feels rewarding. On the creative side, I have this blog and my Instagram where I curate content as an Influencer/Content Creator. On my blog and Instagram platforms I work with some of my favorite brands on marketing campaigns. I love documenting things that I am doing or products that I love. So I figured I need to monetize from sharing. As a content creator I get paid and receive free products for marketing campaigns. I post images and share my opinion on how I use a company’s products. Yes, this is real life and people really get paid to post on IG. I work with brands such as George Foreman Grill, Pixi Beauty, and Michael Todd Beauty. My goal is to keep growing with the brands I have developed relationships with, and to get longer term and larger paid campaign projects.
Being able to travel when I like is an important perk of working remotely. Platforms such as Airbnb allows you to live mortgage or rent free while traveling. During months when I was not home for extended periods of time, Airbnb was a great source of supplemental income with monthly earnings ranging between 5k-7k during peak seasons. My husband and I also managed an Airbnb account for our family's shore rental and created an additional source of income for that property.
For the past two years I’ve collaborated with my husband again on another business opportunity as an Independent Business Owner with a platform that allows us to work and provide office support remotely as an additional source of income. We are also able to hire people to work as representatives under our business.
"We live in a modern gig economy where there are countless ways to make money online."
We live in a modern gig economy where there are countless ways to make money online. Whether people are freelancing as a web designer, writer, photographer, driving Uber, delivering food/packages for Amazon, or selling items online. Millennials and younger generations everywhere are ditching the traditional work environments for a more flexible lifestyle. Working remotely is an achievable reality and here to stay. I love finding new opportunities that allow me to generate substantial income by combining creativity and project based professional work. Which kind of work lifestyle do you prefer?