The Digital Nomad’s Guide to Online Consulting - Part 1
This article provides extensive and precise insights into the key aspects involved in running online consulting services, an online shop, or any business that is primarily internet based. It is divided into two parts, Part 1 and Part 2.
The online business I am going to talk about could be a hobby-turned business with the intent of generating a few bucks; or it can be something that will provide you with supplementary/part-time income using some of your key skills, while keeping your day job; finally, it can be a fully undertaken independent venture to generate “full-time equivalent” (or more) income for your livelihood.
Target audience
The audience is basically anyone who is interested in learning more about online business. No specific business or technical background is required. The article is styled to be reader friendly and easy to understand. The idea is to present readers with new tools online and help them gain benefits from the journey covered in this article.
Introduction
Do you have a hobby that makes/offers some unique products or services?
Are you passionate about making it online globally somewhere and somehow?
Maybe you have a job and thus have a unique skill that you want to use as an alternate career to offer your skills and services online?
Perhaps you are looking to create either part-time or full-fledged business eventually online?
Are you hearing from many places that there is a way to do it but don’t know how exactly?
Welcome to the exciting, fun-filled, adventure ride of running a digital entrepreneurship!
In this article, I’m going to give you some simple and useful answers to the above questions. I’ll also provide some tips and share my own experiences, and share with you a few stories I have learned from my fellow online mates, users, sellers, in fact all of the people I have worked with in person or remotely. I hope you will find the content useful for yourself, your friends or colleagues who are thinking of venturing into online business.
In the process of online work, you truly have potential to become a ‘Digital Nomad”, someone who can work from anywhere, as long as there is good internet connectivity. I first learned of this term from one of the blog-posts from www.etsy.com. Needless to say, I was captivated by it!
I want to tell you a bit about myself and how I ended up starting on my own in an online world.
Travel has always been my passion. Observing and meeting people has been my passion. Continuous learning is my hobby and doing my best is what I enjoy. Lastly, enjoying what I do is my pursuit.
During my schooling, college and engineering days I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to lots of places across India. I used to take part in our trip planning as well, with the help of my family and my aunt’s family. I used to wonder then: what if work was also flexible and beyond borders? Of course, it used to just be a chance thought as I had not really thought about myself and my career seriously enough until then. I had not realized what I could do and what I could not do. I was yet to understand what fit my needs and what did not.
As part of my IT job, I travelled across the globe and within India. During my first travel outside India in 1999, when there were only paper maps, no Google maps, no online searches. The English village I was supposed to go to and work from, was not even on a paper-based world map. It was terrifying for me. The place I was visiting didn’t seem to be on “earth”. I had to learn how to conquer that fear and then I was set to fly.
As time passed, I got further opportunities to travel and work at many different places across the globe, I also learned that employment is not the only way to build one’s future, fortune and career. There are several ways by which people make a living, such as contracting, independent consulting, freelancing, doing multiple part-time jobs and what their temperament suits the most.
It took some fortuitous timing of life events and aligned opportunities for me to go for a bit of an unusual choice that eventually led me to where I am now. I largely work remotely. The internet and the digital world have intrigued me over time, mainly because of the way they beautifully connect friends and people, buyers and sellers, customers and vendors, creators and appreciators. You’ll be learn more about all of this in the chapters to follow.
I want to dedicate this book to the infinite digital river we are already riding on, whether it’s consciously or unconsciously.
Digital Nomads
I first read about this interesting term in a blogpost on Etsy. It’s that ability to be on our own and work and earn from anywhere, from any part of the world.
As such, working people have enjoyed the concept of working from home for a while now, especially if their work content is of such a kind. It is not just an IT term, but it also encompasses several other jobs that may be done in a relatively stand-alone manner or via virtual meetings across the globe, or via emails/chats which require you to be available via these media and reachable across teams, partners, customers, suppliers and managers.
As far as IT goes, as work demands were exceeded due to the wave of outsourcing, people started to require a better work life balance, a reduced commute, and an increase in productivity. It became imperative that people were able to get their laptops home so they could continue to work from anywhere. And then, needless to say, the teams across the globe spanning different time zones, such as one in China, another in the Philippines, some teams in India, and a few from Europe or the United States.
Contracting became commonplace, especially in the US, Europe and Australian markets. The main thought behind this emerging option of working, again I am talking about the IT industry for now, was to work on a contract for say a year or 6months, and be ready again to look for a new contact right away, once the previous contract ended, or after taking an interim “break”. The flip side had always been non-access to usual employment benefits such as super, yearly leaves and holidays, medical insurance, etc. Plus the risk of a period of no work in between.
Going further, while striving to achieve work life balance, another trend began which was that of a remotely working independent, or freelancer, who completely thrives on the risk of taking up short- or long-term consulting contracts as a subject matter expert in their field. It was not that freelancing never existed before this, it is just that a cycle was completed.
A so called “portfolio career” also came up as an acceptable concept, all across the globe. I came across this term while in Australia wherein a career counselor I happened to meet with spoke about a balanced career (similar to a balanced money portfolio) wherein a working professional will choose to be in a corporate job or a contract of its kind which is not too demanding on time and effort and invest the time saved into building a long term hobby or hobby turned business. Of course, this had the flip side of letting go some of the earnings that would have been present in a career in a fast paced and demanding atmosphere. In the end, everything revolves around “you”: do you want a full-time independent business, or a full-time job, or a part-time/less demanding role with time for hobbies and other interests such as travel or social causes.
Now, where does “digital” and “nomad” come into this? Ok, we discussed being able to work through something that eventually becomes an eternal stream of bits and bytes merging into the ocean of digital information. People connect through net meetings, they share their screens and faces so that the attendees get a real glimpse as to whom they are talking to, they talk via their laptop, tablet, or phone using various apps or meeting platforms. They can record their meetings digitally so that those teammates who are living across the other side of the globe can listen to them offline, preserving the information exchanged and keeping it available for those who couldn’t attend in real time.
The real fun or real ideal state of working digitally is that one can live the life of a nomad fully or in parts. One can travel while working and work while traveling. One can go to parks or cafes and work from there, and, as long as they are able to connect to the internet, it does not matter which city or country they are dialing in from. They can earn while living this way, enjoying the life of a nomad: as a free soul who doesn’t need to settle down in one place. They may have one home base and consider one city as their “baseline” but they are free to explore the world in a real sense, while meeting different people and experiencing different cultures and nationalities. Boundaries can thus become really grey.
Decision making
Despite a fascination with winding roads, I have to emphasize that the decision making around online consulting or business, pulling it through, and standing by it, is not an easy thing.
During several of my Business Analysis training sessions, my participants asked me how I decided to become a freelance trainer and consultant. Some also mentioned that they wanted to take the necessary exams and become a trainer like me. Or they were not happy with their jobs and wanted to become a freelancer. They also asked how I get my work or business. How long does it take to establish? What is that “code”?
I’m still figuring out my way through this as well. I have learned skills through businesses and projects I have worked on, and from people that I have met. Everyone’s decision to step out of a full-time job will vary for different reasons. Everyone’s appetite for risk and gradation of being cool with uncertainty will vary as well.
I think the decision is primarily driven by how much experience and confidence you have to take the plunge; whether you have sufficient funds to sustain it for some time in the future and see how it works out; whether you have and can create a collaborative professional network to support your sole venture; whether you are flexible and adaptable enough to make the switch.
Time Availability
It’s all about time when we take a closer look at the fact that you want to earn online. Time is not only precious but it indeed gets converted into money. Here are some quick facts around how time translates in several online jobs or ventures.
Say if you are going to start off in parallel with your current job, with the intention of earning some part-time income. You may have 5–10 hours per week that you can devote to your online hobby turned business. The idea is to evaluate realistically how much time you can initially put in.
Some people who have fully determined to quit their jobs and get into freelancing or consulting are obviously have a longer time and energy bandwidth, say 40 hours a week or even more.
Also, a note here, depending upon the kind of product or service you are selling, your time window would also need to adjust with global time zones, cultures, etc.
Keep in mind that there will always be an initial set-up period until your business model gets converted into real money. With that in mind, expect the best case while also being prepared to hit roadblocks and remember that it could be a winding road.
That said, winding roads are interesting too, for those who find them that way. This reminds me of the lyrics from my favorite Celtic song:
There is a winding road
Crosses the mountainside
A lake in the distant glen
And miles of sky
A trail through the pastureland
Girl with the raven eyes
The chill of the Irish Sea
And miles of sky
Lyrics credits: Ron Bousted
Finding Opportunities
They say opportunities are everywhere, you just need to tap them. Or in the digital/online world, opportunities are at the “click” of a mouse. Indeed, they are, but hang on, here is the catch. There are several others who are also thinking the same way and with a shrinking global marketplace, there is sizeable data published by tera or peta size. How will you be found? Google? Yes, if you want to be found online. But then why not optimise for DuckDuckGo? And other search engines? Why not blogs? You have heard of all these things and perhaps it is hard to exactly pinpoint where the opportunities lie? And how do you get there first?
Let’s start at the very beginning, and take small steps at a time to understand this whole gamut of the online world. There are many online “ready-made” and “tailor-made” platforms that can help you. It depends on which products and services you are selling in order to select which one or which ones to choose. These platforms provide you with easy-to-use tools/ways to build a profile or a site of your offerings. For example, if you are using one of the most widely known websites, such as ebay.com or amazon.com, you will be able to create a “seller” account which creates your virtual shop for doing buy/sell activities. Usually, your profile is part of the shop itself, wherein prospective buyers can find information about you and your company. The shop will have a list of items with description, photos (if any) of the items, your shop policies that describe the terms and conditions of your business, and many such relevant sections.
At the core basic, you just imagine a physical shop being transformed into a machine operated online shop wherein we have the constraint of keeping the buyers interested, entertained, informed and provided with discounts/promotions, etc. Why constraints? Because there is no human touch involved in this, no face of the salesman, and no look and feel of the products. However, what you still have is the opportunity to showcase your work in such a way that buyers are well informed about what they are buying and about the entire order processing, order management and shipment to feedback processes.
Again, similar aspects apply for services too, it’s just that some parts may change. For example, for a copy writer, one may display his or her portfolio of work done so far and then the structure in which he or she works, and the key skills possessed that may be of value to clients. So, here is a list of online/social/eCommerce sites where you can work on expanding your online presence and getting more leads for your business:
· www.upwork.com formerly known as www.odesk.com
· www.elance.com (now merged with upwork.com)
As you will see, some of these are pure networking sites which in turn lead you to sales/leads such as linkedin.com or facebook.com and then they have additional paid features as well.
Whereas www.etsy.com and www.amazon.com are purely ecommerce sites for buy/sell purposes.
www.upwork.com, and platforms like it, mainly focus on services of hourly or fixed price basis which suit typical consulting skills such as business analysis, project management, content writer and so forth.
Blogging sites such as www.blogspot.com provide a platform to publish blog posts or write ups on your subject matter expertise, which directly (through paid ads or links), or indirectly increase your customer base or viewer base.
Profile Creation
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. When we talk about our value as a freelancer or consultant on an online shop or on an online platform, what matters most is how you describe who you are. What do you do? What inspires you? What are your core skills and offerings? How do you do what you do? What are your key achievements? What is your educational background? All this perhaps sounds like common sense as well, but one thing I have realized is that buyers or clients are also looking at your “story”. For example, there are several artists/painters out there, what makes you a different or unique painter? What are your specialties? Of course, you may find this is easier to relate to in a creative field such as painting, photography, etc. However, it is found that people like personal stories regardless of the context. Of course, they should be true stories, in order to establish trust between buyers and sellers. What also matters is recommendations by your clients and colleagues, and your overall rating, which many sites help build through a proven statistical formula.
It sometimes helps if you attach your own blog on the subject matter you have, where you can write about various related topics. Plus, a short video on yourself often helps too.
It’s not really a mandate, but many people also exhibit what other non-profit-organizations or initiatives they are working on, as this establishes their social commitment as well.
Pricing
When we talk about our value as a freelancer or consultant or an online shop owner, obviously we would want to be paid just right or even more for our skills and products. If we charge more than just right, customers are likely to go for other vendors, whereas if it is less than just right, we are then undervalued and our work doesn’t get fully justified. What is the right price then? The answer, in my experience, is that we need to constantly be in sync with the market and its expectations. Being flexible and adaptable helps even more, meaning that we do not hold on to a single value we have attached to ourselves.
For example, while entering the online consulting market, starting your own shop, you would want to judge your value based on your previous experience and by checking how other consultants or shop owners in the same subject matter are pricing their services. You would also want to check if they are getting business or work or contracts at the given rate. Sometimes a quoted rate and an actual contract rate are different, and chances are that the actual contracted rate is less, meaning that there were some considerations/give and take/negotiations that happened to arrive at an agreed upon compromise. This typically happens in the case of services. If a consultant is getting a longer term contract, by logic of more regular income, a consultant may opt for a lower rate in exchange for contract stability. For products though, what I have done and observed is that the rates, once decided, are relatively stable. However, it is best to keep the rates in line with market conditions. Even changing currency conversion rates could affect the advertised and contract rates. For example, USD to INR ratio has dipped, meaning than INR is stronger against USD, and therefore the consultant or seller may want to increase the USD rate which is advertised so that it matches the expected bottom-line INR income he or she has based in India. Time and again, it is best to also discuss and be open with prospective clients about your rate/quality of service, etc.
It is helpful to be regular about pricing research, for e.g., one could schedule this activity say every three months and make sure your rates are “just right”.
Policies
I have seen that a structured section on your policies go a very long way. Especially in the event that you are building an online shop, I think it is a must. Buyers across the world want to know what your shop policies are before going ahead with any purchase. They want to know whether they are comfortable with how you operate around any new order, end to end. So what do they look for? Simply put, what would you look for while buying anything online? Or what would you look for while availing any services online? Perhaps a similar logic applies.
So let’s take a close look into what a typical policy section for an online shop portal would look like:
It should contain a section on payment terms, how you accept payments, and in what modes?
It should contain a section on how you handle packaging?
It should contain a section on your shipping policies, such as in how many days from placing the order you start processing it, in how many days the actual shipping will occur? What modes of shipping are available? Do you intend to provide faster shipping at an extra cost? If yes, how much is the extra cost?
How are your shipping prices? Are they on par with the rest of the industry? Are you offering any discounts or coupons?
Do you have any return policies?
How would you assure quality of the service and shipping? How will you offer to stay connected with the buyers in case they have questions or doubts about the order or the status of the shipment?
And perhaps what is your quality statement? How do you strive to achieve it?
In general, buyers want to know everything about the processing of the orders they place with you and it is really helpful if you put a lot of thought into building a structured and easy to understand policy section on your page. Needless to say, it is imperative that you follow what you say you would do. In case anything fails despite all efforts, always be ready to apologize and offer a compensation plan.
Blogging, SEO, Titles, Specs, Keywords
When it comes to buzz words in digital media, one of the key ones is search engine optimization aka SEO and blogging. So, what are these?
In simple terms, when we search for some item to buy in a large department store, we go for the usual keywords such as fruit section, cheese section, household cleaning items, furniture, and then we go to a specific section and search for individual items or sub categories, etc. For all of this we are assisted by directions across the store and keywords for the items we are looking for. This helps us expedite our shopping experience, as well as zero in on the final item to buy in an easier way.
Similarly, in our online world of google searches or searches via any such search engines, people across the globe are searching similarly. They start with some of their requirements, refine them further and if they find something interesting, a page or a website or a profile, they want to learn more or initiate a dialogue with these searched people or organizations. In order to be searched against such keywords well, while creating an online profile, and while creating item specifications, shop names, website names, and writing item descriptions, we also need to make sure we are using the keywords effectively.
In a way it is the race against where we want to be positioned in google or other search engine results, mainly because no matter how useful or great we are as an online entity, if we cannot be found in the first couple of pages of the search results, we are unlikely to be found at all. Usually, online shoppers or clients as part of basic human psychology, will only be searching the first few pages for results.
So here is a new dimension, how you define your profile title, first description, product specs, services, and add keywords to everything you offer so that you are found and you get business! It’s the key question. Or rather a keyword question.
In the online world it is all about keywords, blogging, search engine optimization and the alike.
Part 2 (to be continued…)
Author info
Swati Pitre, CBAP®, is a Sr. Business Analyst with 20+ years of industry experience across various domains and geographies. Her specialties include Product Development, BPM, Process Improvement Consulting, Business Analysis/CBAP®/ CCBA®/ ECBA® Training. She is also a public speaker and has completed Level 3 of Effective Coaching Pathway at Toastmasters International. Her hobbies include reading, writing, travelling and music.
This article was originally self-published as an e-book on Amazon Kindle, in 2017. URL: Amazon.com: Digital nomad’s guide to online consulting: Basics of successful online selling and freelancing eBook: Pitre, Swati: Kindle Store
Image Credit: My father, Chintaman Rudra
