I’ve spent all my money!
Ok, not ALL of it, but —over $100,000 US—on acquiring property, a small
tractor, a 4x4 with a trailer, and basic tools to get started. Now it’s time to design and build infrastructure, and create a more complex food-producing ecosystem. To make this work more quickly, I could use more funding.
Although I live in Poland, my primary language is English, so I’ve recently started exploring remote work opportunities. My interest was sparked by the Virtual Assistant opening here on Permies:
permies.com/p/2026371
…which I applied for enthusiastically but didn’t receive a response. I think I understand why, though. I don’t yet have the
experience or reputation to be seriously considered—at least, that’s my assumption.
While I’m capable of doing many things decently, I don’t yet excel at any one thing. Computer type work is far from one of my strong points, but I am willing to go through necessary certifications, trainings, and repetitions in order to get up to par. My strongest skills thus far have been more hands-on, physical labor—though that’s sometimes not related to
permaculture, or doesn’t offer a substantial return for the effort, especially locally.
For example, for the past few months I’ve been working one day a week at an “organic” farm. After eight hours of work, which takes about 10 hours total (including travel time), I earn 200 Polish zl, or the equivalent of about $50 US. I was making more than that
per hour when I lived in Hawaii! I mainly took the job because the farm provides most of our food, which i get a discount on, while I work on developing our own yields with more of a focus on
polyculture, low mechanization, and reducing plastic dependency.
I know I can do better than $5 per hour, and I’d much rather be doing something aligned more closely with
permaculture, ideally with a team focused on positive “building-a-better-world” type change—something like GAMCOD or another impactful initiative, even if it doesn't end up being with permies.
That leads me to this post: I’m seeking guidance from this community on how to build the skills needed for remote work. I’d love to find and acquire skills that could not only provide income, but also help build a business, or even contribute to the Permies team one day if that opportunities opens up. To become a more valuable asset to any team or organization.
What skills are in high demand and could be valuable in a remote work context, such as with permies?
At the moment i’m particularly attracted towards building skills in
project management, sales, content creation, social media management, storytelling, instructional design, gamifying knowledge, SEO, and AI specialization—skills that seem future-proof and foundational for computer-based ventures. From what I have gathered so far there seem to be a lot of these types of opportunities available worldwide, and some organizations even offer training, or require only basic certifications to get started, and they pay a hell of a lot better than $5/hr!
Where can somebody look to find these reputable "Remote Work" and "Virtual Assistant" type opportunities, while aligning with these skill building interests?
What are some other foundational skills worth looking into that I am not mentioning here?
If any of you have potential opportunities or positions available I would be happy to open a discussion in private messages, and see how we might be able to help each other.
Thanks in advance for your guidance and support!
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