Suhas Motwani

Business Intelligence & Analytics Consultant. Product Enthusiast. Tea lover.

⚡️ Quickfire Round

Where is your current homebase ?

Bangalore

Where have you travelled/lived after working remotely?

Lots of places in South India, but not a fan of the entire work-by-the-beach culture in India cuz internet connectivity is a bummer :/

Highest education qualification ?

Graduate

Occupation

Product Growth

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

It’s kinda mixed if you know what I mean. My parents are really supportive but there’s always that distant relative .. Friends - Ah well! They want my job :P

How much do you earn per annum?

Good Question :P

Years of total experience ?

3

Years of freelance/remote experience ?

<1

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

A sense of responsibility.

What was your key motivation for being freelancer/remote work

Not even kidding

🔥 Fireside Chat

How did you land your first remote/freelance gig ?

I always believed in Jack Ma’s quote that while you’re in the 20s, don’t worry about the money but hustle like there’s no tomorrow. It was always about where I can learn something new and hence was always on the look-out to provide some value or learn more in the process. I was pretty active on Linkedin and I can safely tell you that while there is enough spam, if you provide value you’re definitely going to get the job you want.

Simple tip: Do not blindly hit the “jobs” section, pick those that interest you and go inbound.

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

Yeah, I think this is a very important point. Because while you work remote and especially on early stage ventures, you don’t have a structure like your cushy 9-5s - it’s very easy to get to a stage where you’re burning out. So time management would be #1 and taking regular breaks would be #2.

The other stuff as usual - I try getting some exercise couple of times a week and try taking a day off once in a while.

What advice would you give to someone who is out there looking for a remote job or freelance work?

Just do it. Most of us want to but are scared because of "job-security". If you don’t like it you can always go back but you won’t regret it later that you didn’t try.

Also the world is moving to the gig-economy and all of us know the advantages first movers have on a new platform (Example: YouTube sensations Lilly Singh, Bhuvan Bam)

If you’re looking for your first remote gig - here’s a resource I consider Bible (you can thank me later, be sure to thank Lukasz first). Hope you find it useful!

What is the biggest benefit of working remotely?

Flexibility. Yes, you have your deadlines, you have your commitments, so you have to be responsible, no doubt. But you can work around stuff that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

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

Oh tons and I’d love to point out the not-so-rosy-side. Though there are a whole bunch of super-amazing remote first companies (read: Buffer, Zapier, list goes on ..) that have figured things out, but I think communication is one big challenge while you work remote. Although technology is catching up, we’re still far away from scaling up. Also, if you’re used to those big teams and big companies and fancy offices and can’t live without that - this is not for you. And, also if you want to do this cuz of those celebrity remote workers working off fancy locations with Instagrammy daily updates (yeah, me too falling for ‘em always) - well same advice, don’t!

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

Would love to connect on Linkedin / Twitter: @MotwaniSuhas | I do write a little on www.suhasmotwani.com - happy to hear your thoughts!

Feel free to reach out to me in case you have anything interesting going on (especially in the education or travel sector, or to tackle malnutrition in India!)