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Here are the 7 Keys to Building a Location-Independent Business (Even in a Space that Isn’t Traditionally Virtual):
1) Believe it Can Be Done BY YOU. Abolish Perceived Limitations and Ignore the Naysayers.
When I co-founded Maverick Investor Group as a fully remote real estate brokerage, the naysayers told me that real estate investors would not buy rental properties sight-unseen, and it was impossible to run a real estate brokerage remotely. Well, we’ve been running Maverick fully remotely since 2007 and I travel the world full time with no base. But that only became possible because I didn’t listen to the naysayers, and I believed it was possible FOR ME. Think about what the naysayers will say to you, prepare for those objections (because self-doubt will creep in), and pre-emptively ensure that you have convinced yourself that it is possible FOR YOU. Then surround yourself with supportive, inspiring people (ideally who have done something similar) and laser focus on bringing your vision to life.
2) Reverse Engineer Your Business Plan. Start With the End Vision and Work Backwards.
Start with a clear vision that includes both your financial and lifestyle goals for the business. Then, work backwards. Write down all the perceived obstacles that are standing in between where you are now and the end vision. Then, one by one, start brainstorming about how you will overcome each one. A helpful exercise for this is never asking “can” something be done, but rather asking “how can” something be done. With Maverick Investor Group, keeping our end vision top of mind and reverse-engineering our business plan prevented us from making geographically restrictive mistakes and accelerated the speed at which we brought our vision to light.
3) Make Your Location-Independent Infrastructure Part of Your Value Proposition.
Lean into your location-independence and identify ways in which it can be an advantage to your customers. With Maverick Investor Group, we explain to our clients that NOT being based in a single market like a traditional real estate brokerage allows us to get them access to rental properties in multiple markets. That benefits our clients because they can buy in the best markets regardless of where they live and build a diversified portfolio of rental properties across multiple markets. Think about ways your location independence could be part of the unique value proposition of your company.
4) Mitigate Any Risks That Are Perceived By Your Customers.
If you are a location independent business (especially in a space that is not traditionally virtual) your customer may perceive particular risks in working with you. One of the ways that Maverick Investor Group mitigates those perceived risks is by doing personalized video consultations with each of our clients, building close virtual relationships, being very responsive and delivering excellent customer service. We also reduce the client’s risk by enabling them to buy “turnkey” rental properties that come fully renovated with tenants and local property management already in place. The client can still conduct their due diligence (getting a home inspection, appraisal, etc.), but they don’t have to be the landlord, or the rehabber and they cash-flow from the day they close. If you’re able to offer warranties or guarantees for your product/service, that can help too. And, of course, showing social proof of satisfied customers and offering references is a great idea as well.
5) Integrate Your Lifestyle-Design Into Your Brand and Be More Interesting Than Your Competitors.
Remember that the #1 marketing sin is being boring. If you can run your business while traveling the world, that immediately makes you more interesting than your competition who is not doing that….so use that to your advantage! It also allows you to create affinities with a potential customer base of nomads who live a similar lifestyle. For example, I created a specific white paper on “Real Estate Investing for Digital Nomads: How to Buy U.S. Rental Properties in the Best U.S. Markets and Finance an Epic International Lifestyle“. I’ve found that if someone is a nomad then they would often prefer to buy from a nomad-run company than a traditional company, simply because of the lifestyle affinity. I certainly prefer to patronize nomad-run companies for that reason myself. So, use that to your advantage!
6) Avoid the Self-Employment Trap and Build a Remote Business, Not a Job.
Self-employed people charge fees for their own personal labor and expertise. If they don’t show up for work, they don’t get paid. Business owners, on the other hand, build systems and processes and then hire other people to run them. This allows you to scale and chart a course towards automating your business so it can run with very little of your own time. From the outset, focus on building systems and processes for the 6 core pillars of your company: Sales, Marketing, Operations, HR/Team, Finance and Executive Leadership. Then, as your revenue increases, hire people to start running those systems, one at a time, while you build out the rest.
7) Quadruple Your “Purpose”.
Building a business is simply too hard if you are not motivated by a deep sense of purpose. The entrepreneurial roller coaster of emotional and financial swings, the amount of work involved, and the daily challenges of running a business are just too much for most people if you’re only motivated by making money. So, clarifying your deeper “purpose” at the outset is super important. What we did at Maverick Investor Group is quadruple our purpose, and create not one but FOUR PILLARS OF PURPOSE, which I would encourage you to do as well.
Those Pillars Are:
I. Lifestyle Freedom for Yourself (the Founders/Owners).
My ability to fly to Tokyo on a whim to have sushi and sake, or go scuba diving with whale sharks in Thailand, or take Salsa lessons in Colombia, or ski the Swiss Alps, or go wine tasting in Burgundy, or dance the night away at Afrobeat festivals in Ghana, or party at Carnival in Brazil….These are all really important emotional anchors and really powerful drivers for me to succeed in my business. Create a vision board, get in touch with your most exciting personal dreams, and lean into that motivation hard.
II. Lifestyle Freedom for our Staff.
As we built out our systems and processes and started hiring staff to run them, we empowered all of our staff to be location-independent as well, to live anywhere, and to design their dream lifestyles! So, the more we scale our business, the more lives we improve, because we are providing our staff with the same freedom of mobility and lifestyle benefits that we enjoy.
III. Massive Value for Your Customers.
You must believe in the product you’re selling so much that you know each customer will have their lives dramatically improved once they buy it. With Maverick Investor Group, I helped my best friend from college build a portfolio of rental properties that has created generational wealth for him and his family. And we provide the same value to every other client as well. I know that each rental property they buy through Maverick is increasing their passive income, building their wealth, and providing them more freedom to design their own dream lifestyle.
IV. Giving Back and Affecting Positive Change in the World.
Before I became an entrepreneur, my professional background was in non-profit advocacy work, as was my co-founder’s background. So, we wanted to ensure that our business success would be directly correlated with affecting positive change in the world. Therefore, when we founded Maverick Investor Group, we committed at the outset to donate 10% of our net revenue to causes we care about. That way, the more financially successful the company is, the more money gets donated and the more positive change we are affecting in the world. So, I highly recommend committing at the outset to donate a specific percentage of your revenue because THAT is a massive motivation to succeed in business!
Travel the World with a Remote Year Community
Remote Year is the work-travel program I patronize the most. It enables you to bring your remote job and travel the world with a fun, supportive community of other remote professionals. Remote Year handles your flights, accommodations, co-working spaces (with 24-7 wifi), and has local staff on the ground in each city. So, you can get your work done and also live your best life around the world! I did my first 12-month Remote Year program back in 2016 and I completed my latest 4- month program in 2023.
