How to Build Your Dream Job Online

I have worked full-time online for the last eight years, and during that time I’ve had some fantastic experiences. I’ve built a highly successful mobile app, I’ve grown a YouTube channel to 40,000 plus subscribers (THANK YOU!), I’ve been published, I’ve gotten to attend events, meet colleagues from other countries, and try out awesome new technology…

In many ways, this is my dream job. If you’d told me as a kid that I would have been able to create videos on working out that would be seen by thousands of people, or get to play with technology before anyone else… and get paid for it… then I’d have thought you were pulling my leg.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not rich, I have stressed days, and I still have a LOT to learn. But I’m happy, I’m fulfilled, and I love the direction things are headed.

But this is just the beginning. I actually have massive plans for my career and for the Bioneer. I’m talking evil-genius level plans (except not evil). Who knows whether these plans will come to fruition. But a) I think that just having goals that excite you is incredibly important and b) I believe that I have a strategy that will increase my odds of success significantly.

Thanks to the web, creating your dream job online is more doable than ever before and there’s a blueprint I’ve used that I think anyone can follow.

I’m going to share that strategy with you now.

Bootstrapping

To get to this current point, I used what’s known as bootstrapping. I didn’t have any capital to invest in an out-there business idea when I left Uni, and I knew that I needed more experience, contacts, and authority before I’d be ready for that anyway. This is likely where many other would-be entrepreneurs find themselves.

The answer was to bootstrap. That means that you create a very basic, proven business model that you know you can sustain, and then use that to provide yourself with the time and money you need to invest into other ideas and side projects. It doesn’t have to be glamorous – it just as to bring in the money and ideally present future opportunities.

For me, the business model was writing content for websites. And that then ensured that I would be able to work from home and generate enough income to forego getting a nine-to-five. I’ve talked about selling a service like this before.

It also meant that I’d learn how other online brands operate, get published on some big sites, and gain some useful contacts.

Using this flexibility, I then was able to a) take on more interesting work, b) develop my own skills – such as learning to program, and c) build side projects like Multiscreen Multitasking and The Bioneer.

Developing Your Personal Brand

What’s important is that you do take your time to develop yourself. I always consider this to be ‘R&D’ for the individual. Working on your business, not just in your business.

That means learning new skills, taking on projects that stretch you, and building an impressive portfolio of skills, knowledge, contacts, and work.

Doing this will allow you to create a personal brand of sorts, and simply putting yourself out there and doing quality work will mean that opportunities come your way. But you need to then be able to communicate the skills that you’ve developed and demonstrate what you’re capable of.

I was offered the gig at Android Authority off the back of my own YouTube channel and my experience developing the Voxis app with Coldfusion. It no doubt helped that I’d worked (unpaid) as an editor and writer on a magazine for a year, and written SEO content for businesses for several more.

Having a website, an audience, and a portfolio of work has given me greater ability to pick and choose my projects and it has ensured a constant upward trajectory in terms of the kinds of things that I get to do. I’ve since had a book published, created pre-installed software for thousands of mobile phones, and launched online courses.

Even writing this article, where I explain my experiences, means there’s a chance that someone out there will want to hire me for consultation, or consider me as a candidate for a project they want completed. I’m making my accomplishments sound impressive and leveraging them to bring in even greater opportunities.

I recommend this to everyone. Don’t work quietly on projects: build that portfolio and skillset, then blog and vlog about it. Create a compelling LinkedIn account and network wherever possible. Think of yourself as a brand and do whatever you can to keep strengthening the authority, trust, and recognition of that brand.

Even if you don’t work online, approaching your career in this way – and taking on additional opportunities/learning new skills in your spare time – will dramatically improve the kinds of work you can take on and indeed your salary. This might mean doing online courses, it might mean volunteering, or it might mean launching your own business on the side.

Springboarding

As you grow in skill and influence, you can then begin to execute on your Grand Plan™.

The coin I termed for this strategy is ‘springboarding’. As far as I can tell, I made it up. Though I’m sure it’s been written about before under a different name.

The idea is that you plot a route from where you are right now to where you want to be. And you use each successive experience to help launch you up to that next rung on the ladder. Even if this isn’t a direct route, you’ll find that tangential projects can still help you achieve success.

My favorite example of this? Sylvester Stallone. He became a superstar actor not by pursuing the traditional route of taking on increasingly large roles, but rather by using his script for Rocky as leverage in order to launch his acting career. Success in one field allowed him to become successful in the next.

You can do the exact same thing by using whatever resources and opportunities you have available to you. Maybe you want to be a recording artist but don’t know how to go about it. Well, make your own opportunities! How about selling music on Fiverr, or creating a YouTube channel where you sing? Build a big enough audience and then approach that record label.

For instance, the audience I’ve built on the Bioneer YouTube channel is a fantastic resource. Sure, I could just keep growing in a linear manner and use that to increase ad revenue and what have you.

But what I’d rather do is to create something really awesome and then use that platform in order to promote it. My current plan is to create an app that can help people improve their physical and mental performance and to use The Bioneer (and perhaps Android Authority if they will let me!) in order to get the word out.

Theoretically, I don’t even need to take the risk of building the app first: I could instead launch a Kickstarter campaign for example.

People are much more likely to back my project when they learn that I have experience creating apps in the past, and knowledge with regards to health/productivity/psychology. Again, it’s using each previous success (or even failure) as momentum and clout to help launch the next step. The Bioneer wouldn’t be the success it is at the moment had I not learned from my experiences with Android Authority and as a content developer.

If the app is highly successful? Then I could reinvest that money and that trust into something more exciting – like a piece of hardware that I might have been dreaming up… Then I could take on staff. And take over the world.

I also plan on using success I’ve had as an author to approach larger publishers. And there are several qualifications I’m looking to add to my CV.

This is still just the tip of the iceberg in terms of my potential plans…

But the key is to make sure you see those opportunities. When each project or contact comes your way, ask yourself: how could I work from this person? Or how could I learn from this work?

Graft

The most important part of this equation though is putting in the work and doing the hard graft. I have been writing 10,000 words plus, five days a week, for the last 8 years in order to get this point. And I almost NEVER missed a deadline. I taught myself programming. I released unsuccessful apps.

Point is: you don’t need to go straight to the top. You don’t need the perfect plan right away. You just need a vision of where you want to be and then the ability to adapt to use the opportunities that present themselves to provide you with more forwards momentum. Start right now. Whether that means putting in half an hour in the evening, or a day a week. Then do the same thing every day.

And it’s that overarching vision that will help you to carry out the daily steps you need to get there. Focus on the big picture and let that fuel your work every day. These things don’t come overnight and that’s the whole point – you will grow and learn and get better at what you do as you approach the point where you are ready to execute on your master plan. You might even find your plan changes over time as you change and your experiences teach you about the realities of the industries you’re working in.

Enjoy the journey. Dream big. Look for opportunities. Work hard.

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