Remote Entrepreneur Guest Series: This Is Why You’re Struggling To Break Into Online Work…
This blog series features remote entrepreneurs who have created their own success stories, to inspire and motivate you to achieve your own.
Diana Berryman from Remote Work UK interviewed Harry Richards from Net-Link.io:
https://facebook.com/hxrryrichards
https://linkedin.com/in/hxrryrichards
https://instagram.com/hxrryrichards
(In October, he’s travelling to South East Asia to become a digital nomad, so follow his journey travelling the world!)
And here’s Harry, in his own words:
With the huge range of current opportunities online to generate income, now is a fantastic and exciting time to think about working remotely.
I’m Harry, a 21 year old from the south coast of England. In January, I was delivery driving for Amazon six days a week. (The money was worth it)
Now, I’ve developed a digital marketing agency specialising in social media marketing, Meta ads, community building… the list goes on. Let me provide some insight into how I got here.
When I began my attempt at finding a feasible avenue of income from my laptop, I had no plan. My thoughts ran in a dead-end direction: ‘how do I start?’ before switching on the TV and entering procrastination mode. I did this for a while!
Now, I’m sure I’m not the only one. The temptation of doom scrolling on Tiktok and Facebook was a heavy temptation - and remains so even where I am now.
So, how did I ACTUALLY get started?
My dad runs a global retreat business taking CEOs and adventurers out into wild places in order to experience spiritual development. As a result, he has a broad and powerful network of people living unique lives and pursuing all sorts of amazing projects around the world. It was only when I spoke to some of his closest friends and business partners that inspiration sparked in me. ‘The expedition we went on in Antarctica’ was not on my bingo card when I was mid conversation with one of them.
After having many conversations with various people in his network, I looked at myself and thought, ‘how can I start traveling the world completing random bucket-list activities?’
Well, not delivery driving.
Here comes my first piece of advice from my experience of life so far (bear in mind I’m only 21. You do not have to take my advice)
Visualise an outcome
Write 5 things down that are literal dreams of yours. If they seem unrealistic, write them. If it’s eating an orange, write it. (Respectively, a weird dream to have if you’re actually thinking that, but you get the idea).
Tim Ferriss wrote a fantastic book called ‘The 4-hour Work Week’ (I’d recommend) which talks about a similar sequence called ‘dreamlining’. If you write down your dreams, put a price next to it that you think, or know it will be worth. Let me write down mine here as an example.
To work and travel the world = Priceless (for me)
A Toyota GT86 = £10,000 second hand (£300 per month on finance)
To buy my mum a farm in Scotland (she’s a shepherdess) = £400,000+ probably (£2,000 per month for a mortgage I imagine)
To become fluent in Portuguese = £0 (In my head I’m going to be cool when I do this)
To reach 110kg athletic build and get rid of all of, what my mum calls, puppy fat (It’s very much not puppy fat - I’m in my early 20s)
Now, see how some of these are NOT related to remote work at all? That’s fine.
It’s because they all can be connected by one (or four) things you need to achieve them.
Discipline
Hunger
Dedication
Self-confidence
These, you MUST have to become successful and to start any type of work. They all merge together poetically.
I PROMISE you if you develop all of these skills you will be able to do anything. (When I say hunger, please don’t starve yourself. I mean hunger for an outcome)
Now here’s the gold. I apologise for not getting to the point sooner. But you need to get the mindset you need. The above points will get you prepared for what’s about to come.
Make a Venn diagram
One of those ones with three circles. The circles need to be labeled like this:
What do I ENJOY/what am I passionate about/what can I endure for prolonged periods of time?
What am I GOOD at? Please, list anything. I mean anything.
What problems people need solving in the world? (bonus, rich people problems)
Really think about this. Take a long time staring at this Venn diagram. Think of everything.
For me, I knew I was great at social media because I’ve been in the epicenter of a generation who can’t get off their phones and are addicted to social media (yes, I am one of them)
I also knew a lot of businesses have no idea how to transition to moving online, as it is slowly becoming an inevitability we will transition into a completely digital world sooner or later.
I could go on for a long time about so many things, but I’ll finish with this, which is probably going to help anyone who hasn’t been helped so far.
Learn a (digital) high-income skill
There’s hundreds of resources that list multiple skills you could learn. Then, invest a few hours a week ( the more the better) into learning one. Apply it to yourself and get good enough to sell it to people.
I realise that this is brief; I could write an article the size of an old Argos catalogue (you remember those) on this topic if I had the time.
Some final thoughts:
The more you put in, the more you will get out.
You either win or you learn.
The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit. Be patient.
Try to make the best out of every situation you face.
For the love of the world, please try and enjoy the journey.
If any of you ever need any more help from me, send me a message on any of my social media pages, or just email me I’ll attach my links below. I’ll be happy to help as much as I can. And I’m always looking to explore new opportunities with collaborators.
Are you a solo success story, an entrepreneur who created your own online business - and you’d to feature your words on Remote Work Europe?
We’re seeking diverse and inspiring case studies, to demonstrate the diversity and potential of remote working in our region, so do get in touch if you’d like to be featured next.