#004 "Steph Smith - The Keys to Remote Work and Writing Online"

The Brandon Zhang Show

Today, I get to talk with Steph Smith, a growth marketer, writer, and indie maker. Steph quit her job in management consulting and a 2-hour commute 4 years ago and has been working remotely ever since. On the podcast, we talk about why she started to write online and her writing framework, the 7 myths of learning to code, and how to stand out on the internet.

Links:

1. Steph’s Website
2. Steph’s Twitter
3. My Website
4. My Twitter
5. My Medium

Steph’s Top Articles:

1. The Honest Guide to Remote Work
2. The 7 Myths of Learning to Code
3. How to be Great? Just be Good, Repeatedly

Leave me a Review:

Please feel free to leave me a review on iTunes/ Apple Podcasts

Show Notes:

The biggest misconception about remote work is that everyone who does it is a digital nomad and fits into a certain mold. We now see that remote work can be present in almost any role.

Remote work just breaks down the typical barriers at a normal job. It gives you a clean slate but that does not mean you have to go travel the world and work on crazy schedules.

Test things in your own life like you would in a marketing position. Do not be afraid to experiment to find out what works best for you.

When I work remotely. I focus on what I need to get done this week. Not how many hours, not when I need to work. I focus on hitting those action goal instead of time blocking every second of the day.

Everyone wants to create a blog because everyone has opinions. A blog is just a medium to share those thoughts

In the sea of content out there. Around 80% of it is not that good. Around 10-15% is pretty good and maybe 1-3% is actually very good. If you can create that content. People will listen because they cannot find it elsewhere.

Quality is the easiest way to differentiate yourself online because it is suprisingly scarce.

Google’s purpose is to serve people the best content, instead of gaming SEO, focus on if this is content that will make people want to share.

The reason why many people dislike the writing in school is because it has deadlines, its stressful, its not conducive to a flow state and you are writing about things you do not enjoy.

School forces us into specialization and we put labels on ourselves based off of what classes we are good at.