Permaculture Dream Gig (remote work with Permies)

UGH! i’m very disappointed that i have to post to even be considered…i read and follow this website its threads/forums quite frequently just never had the chance to make a profile until now. I am from NJ and feel like id be a great asset as I am a landscape designer by trade. just looking for different avenues in my field of work. any chance you can look at my work for shits and giggles? this is my dream job…if it’s still a no, do you have any resources and people who would be looking for a remote hire? i would really appreciate it if you had any input.

Jenna Lynne wrote:any chance you can look at my work for shits and giggles? this is my dream job…

If your work is related to permaculture, why not share what you do in the form of posts on permies so that everyone can see? That way the staff can get to know you and how you interact with people online too.

I just filled in and sent the VA questionnaire and am keeping fingers and toes crossed for a (positive) reply.

The seed has been planted, the dream transplanted...here's to vigorous, healthy growth!

Jenna Lynne wrote:UGH! i’m very disappointed that i have to post to even be considered…i read and follow this website its threads/forums quite frequently just never had the chance to make a profile until now.

I was Paul's VA for almost a year, and a lot of the work for him was posting on permies--both behind the scenes and in the public forums. I was extremely grateful for all my experience posting on permies. This really helped me get to know and understand how the forums work and what is going on here on permies. Through making posts, I learned how to make nice looking threads. I am quite proud of this thread (https://permies.com/w/better-world), which I think looks rather nice--and it was all done with BB code. Before I was even his VA, I made this thread and this thread, and a lot more like them. Here's a great thread on how to improve your posts by using BB codes formatting tags.

There is a huge learning curve for being Paul's assistant. I spent a month just teaching the basics to the VAs that came after me, and they still had a lot to learn. As Paul told me, it usually takes 6 months for him to get an assistant to the point where he can ask to do something, and 90% of the time they can do it on their own. There is a lot to learn.

A large amount of high-quality posts on permies is a far better recommendation than any references or letters of reference one might have. Those posts show a knowledge of permies and what happens here on permies.com. They show an ability to communicate via writing (as a VA, I did a lot of communicating via email and posts on permies!), and an ability to utilize the permies forum software, and also that they know how to follow forum rules, even when emotions get high.

I wanna do this job. Ready to commit full time. Already filled out the questionnaire.

Nikolaj Vinicoff wrote:I wanna do this job. Ready to commit full time. Already filled out the questionnaire.

Right now, the only pathway for this role is to get very involved with all things Permies. Ping me again when you have 500 apples.

What is the status on this? I see that there are no replies to this post for almost two years. I can commit to full time.

Andrew Greaves wrote:What is the status on this? I see that there are no replies to this post for almost two years. I can commit to full time.

I had hopes that somebody else would answer this before me.

The bottom line is that I am wore out on teaching a new VA.  About 2 out of 3 just wanna harvest money and not really do anything.  I end up needing to put in 3 hours or re-explaining something that i could simply do myself in 10 minutes.  Many VAs quit after three months.  I will have paid them a total of $10,000 and they brought in a total of $200.  And during that same time, my income was something around 10% of that.

The VAs that did well went on to get higher paying jobs elsewhere!

We are switching gears:  we encourage people to do two things:

  - help others on permies so, in time, you will be invited to be on staff.   I sometimes ask staff if they want to join in an VA projects (unpaid).

  - get involved in the affiliate programs.  I think a person that does well with the affiliate program stuff can earn $10,000 per month.

The learning curve on being a V.A. is huge. I had a "leg up" from being a moderator for years before being a V.A., and there was still a ton to learn.

The permies forums are complicated, and take a while to learn the behind-the-scenes stuff. And, understanding permies is only a small portion. Learning how to manage rentals, Bootcamp, kickstarters, weird emails, etc takes a ton of time. So does making/fixing graphics and websites and permies threads. And, then there's being creative enough to find new ways to promote stuff and bring in income. It's hard.

You need marketing, graphic design, web design, SEO, forum management, basic BB coding, email writing skills, and more. If you don't already have those (and most people don't), it takes a long time to learn. I can see why Paul has kind of given up on trying to hire people for this.