Pravin

⚡️ Quickfire Round

Where is your current homebase ?

Bangalore, India

Where have you travelled/lived after working remotely?

Started off with SE Asia followed by Europe. I had nice workations at Thailand, Bali. Thereafter I visited 5 countries in Europe and lastly, UK.

Here's a map too - only 5% of all countries yet :)

Highest education qualification ?

Graduate - Engineering

Occupation

Data Scientist

What is your family/friends reaction to remote working on a scale of 1-5 (where 1-negative and 5-very positive)

Somewhere between 3 and 4

How much do you earn per annum?

It's just a number you shouldn't think more on as it can get to your head. That said I would encourage everyone to focus on building multiple streams of income. The spectrum should include active income (freelancing & agency business) and passive income assets (blogs, affiliate business, market investments, savings, funds and other offline assets etc)

Years of total experience ?

6

Years of freelance/remote experience ?

3

When I think about the ability to work remotely, I feel ____

Free and happy!

What was your key motivation for being a freelancer

Freedom and in control of my work, my time.

🔥 Fireside Chat

How did you land your current freelance gig(s) ?

It all started in 2016, where I got a series of freelance gigs on Upwork by over-delivering to each of my early clients. I'd bought an online course and followed it step by step keeping my ego aside and just using my brain for my work and not the process. I'd invested around 300-400$, which was decent money for me back then and followed a clear process to grow on Upwork.

That course has thousands if not more successful students and it was created by Danny Marguiles, a student of Ramit Sethi. I wrote about it on a quora question about how that was one of the best investments I've ever made.

I left my job in 2016 after getting 3-4 ongoing clients and replacing my salary using freelance gigs. Fast forward to 2019, apart from running a full-time freelancing and agency business in Data analytics and services for International clients, I also work on multiple side businesses like Blogging, Affiliate Business, Domain Investing so as to grow holistically. The latest project is about Smart homes that I'm working on with my team.

Over the last 3 years, I've worked with over ~35-40 clients and 80% of them have come from Upwork, the rest from referrals, word of mouth, events/conferences etc.

Do you have any rituals or habits which help you to work remotely?

Yes, I try to get up as late as possible because I can :)

Well, I do hit the gym or exercise or run or play football 3-5x per week regularly. Meditation has helped me focus and get some clarity too.

Regarding work productivity, one major concept that helped me was starting and ending the work day at the same specific time every weekday. This creates a pattern and makes sure you don't over-work or under work and maintain consistency.

Pomodoro techniques with 25 mins work and 5 mins rest and 50-10 combination has been very helpful for me. I use the chrome plugin to see the timer and it helps me get all the work done for the day. Focusmate is another huge accountability tool that is very helpful and I've even invested in their crowdfunding campaign.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a freelancer ?

Follow a clear cut strategy and learn from people who have been there and done it. Tap into your own strengths, skillsets and find the best combination of that in conjunction with the demand in marketplace and get a couple mentors who you can really learn from.

Invest in yourself. If you have more time, then invest time and if you have no time and decent savings, invest money in resources which will increase your leverage.

If you are freelancing or doing remote gigs, it's crucial to over-deliver for first 5 clients and get rave reviews about your work and communication and you will be on a roller coaster ride of incoming clients and/or jobs.

One very important thing is positioning yourself as an expert, a leader by understanding the deep problems of your market, the hopes, fears and dreams of your dream clients - this one tactic alone has probably helped me attract some top enterprise clients.

What is the biggest benefit of working remotely?

Freedom and flexibility are the top ones easily. Choosing exactly which projects, which clients I work on helps a lot too. Changing skillsets, careers, projects have never been more easier than this with due efforts and work surely.

You can be with your friends, family whenever you want and especially when they need you the most. Travel is always there, which is already made glamorous by the industry as such.

Do you see any challenges of working remotely and how do you try to overcome it ?

Yes, there are multiple challenges like productivity aspects, peer groups and accountability.

There are many ways to solve these and you have to honestly find out what works for you best by experimentation. For me, working out of coworking / coliving spaces has been a huge help. Cafes/coffee shops also help in breaking the monotony. I also work out of home or hotels when I'm traveling or bored of all of the above.

One more experiment I did while working at home or hotels is just getting fully dressed and then getting to work rather than on my PJs - I know that spoils the major fun but it worked for me, a good psychological touch here that worked for me instead of feeling lazy or sleeping again and again :)

Focusmate has been an amazing tool in getting work done with an accountable partner live too. You show up because you are committed to help the other person and then get the work done as you just can't leave it before the timer stops.

Where can people can find you on the internet (if they have more questions)?

LinkedIn and Facebook would be best.