I’ve done a lot of different types of work in my life.
Dishwasher, bus boy, waiter, caretaker for a kid with disabilities, farm helper, document processor, camp counselor, English teacher, dog walker….
I could keep listing them, but today, I’m a product manager. And I’m happy.
But I did a LOT of career experiments to get here. And in fact, there’s a whole lot more jobs I didn’t do that I could have. Instead of doing them, I did things to figure out IF I would want to do them.
I don’t want you to waste that much time. If you want to get a good remote job quickly, it’s important you eliminate as many options as possible. Less is more, and focus is good.
So today, I’m going to share with you a step by step process to identify what kinds of remote jobs you don’t want to do.
Step 1: Make a List Of Jobs You Don’t Want
This is the easiest step. If you’re not sure about specific jobs, make a general list around functional ares.
For example, here’s my list of jobs I would never want to do:
-Operations
-Sales
-Design
-Finance
Remember, just because you don’t to do these for a company doesn’t mean you would never do them for yourself.
Step 2: Make a List of Things You MIGHT Want To Do
For example, I have considered a few of these roles before:
-Community Management
-Social Media Marketing
-Performance Marketing
You may have done some of these things on this list, but never full time as your main job. But ideally most of the things on this list are things you much less experience in than whatever you do to make most of your money.
Step 3: Pick An Experiment Method For Each
For each item on your list from number 2, prepare and run an experiment.
There are really only 2 types of experiment you can do:
Take a course, free or paid. If you can finish the course, and a second more advanced course, on the topic, it means you should at least consider this kind of role. Give yourself 3 months (1 quarter) to finish. If you can’t, and you really tried and put in the time, that’s a clear sign this isn’t for you.
Try doing the thing directly. Run Facebook or Google Ads. Write a blog article. Open up Figma and create the design of a website your like so it matches perfectly. This can tell you pretty quickly whether or not you like this work enough to do it for others.
Step 4: Consider The Results of The Experiments
What roles do you know you don’t want to do now? Add them to your list from point number 1.
Believe it or not, this is really SIMPLE. Notice I didn’t say EASY. It will take time and effort, but if you are really honest with yourself, the list of things you are willing to do should drop tremendously.
Later today, (perhaps tonight) I am going to add a video to this letter showing you what an experiment like this would look like in real life.
For now, that’s a wrap! If you found this useful, leave a like. If you have a question, leave a comment!