Hello! I’m James Waite.
I founded Remoteopia in 2023.
Having been working predominantly remotely for the past 5 years, I wanted to create a space for sharing my knowledge, tips, ideas and insights to make a few people’s remote work experiences a bit more… utopian!
Here’s a bit more about how I got here:
2009
Trying To Enter The Working World
Like a lot of people fresh out of University, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do!
I’d majored in English Language and the Media with a minor in Sociology as I’d bailed on Journalism last minute as I thought it was too committal.
I hedged by bets and ended up getting a degree in something too broad. When I graduated at 21,I was a bit lost.
So I ended up..
As an intern at a local newspaper
A photography apprentice
Working for a water utility company going door to door
Working in retail
In a supermarket
I then thought screw this, I’m going travelling…
2010
Seeing the Actual World
At 22, I headed off to Tokyo for the trip of a lifetime.
The trip helped me grow a bit as a person. I met a lot of people from different backgrounds and cultures and saw how hard some people’s lives can be.
I realised a bit how lucky I was.
After seeing a good part of Asia, Australasia and North America, I was back, broke and clueless about where I wanted to take my career (or lack of).
But with a new perspective, I decided to get my shit together.
2011
Recruitment
In 2011 I spent a year working in recruitment, headhunting for a variety of jobs within the unified comms space.
I was stepping out of my comfort zone, cold calling prospective candidates, managing hiring manager demands, sifting through 100s of resumes and honing my interviewing skills.
I knew deep down it wasn’t for me, but it was a valuable experience in how to manage people, be tenacious and understand the inner workings of the employment industry at a high level.
I stuck at it until I had enough experience from it under my belt and then decided to venture into something I was more passionate about.
2012
The Start Of The Career Path
After no real headlines from the Journalism foray. I oddly thought advertising might be fun.
So I applied for a load of jobs with some pretty big names ready and armed with some game-changing slogans and creative ideas to shake things up knowing this was the career for me…
After a list of rejections as long as from here to Tibuktoo, I decided to suck it up and take another unpaid internship doing SEO (search engine optimization).
I think marketing had dawned on me as the less glamorous, but highly accepting, ugly brother of advertising.
I didn’t really know what SEO was, but a pharmaceutical company selling goods out the back of a garage in Feltham thought I was up to the task.
The commute was horrendous. It took ages (2.5 hours). I had to go into London to then come back out again on a train that stopped every 2 minutes at places I’d never heard of.
I lasted about 8 weeks before the owner saw me looking at jumpers on my laptop at 10am.
We both decided it was mutually beneficial to terminate the contract I didn’t have.
2012-2014
Entry Level
I’d learnt a fair bit from my SEO internship and it stood me in better stead on the resume front.
At 23, in 2012, I took my first proper job for an events company as an Online Marketing Assistant.
I loved working in events. The company I worked at employed a lot of entry level staff who were all around my age which meant meeting a lot of new people and having a great social life at the same time.
The work really interested me too. I was editing websites and learning HTML to code emails and CSS to fix style errors. The learning curve was steep as I was only armed with my 3 months’ SEO knowledge, but I enjoyed it all the same.
2013-2017
Events Circuit
From there I moved to another event company and spent a year building websites on WordPress for their event portfolio.
Then I took a number of jobs and bolstered my resume with 2 qualifications:
Professional Diploma in Marketing from the CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing)
Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing from the IDM (Institute of Data & Marketing)
I moved to around 3 different positions each within the space of 18 months as I’d discovered you earn a lot more quickly by moving as opposed to climbing the ladder internally.
I landed at a team building company focused on staff wellbeing and career development that was a 10 minute walk from my flat, which I’d just moved to in south London. By this time I was 27 and had built a fairly solid resume.
I got one last bit of travelling in around Europe in the next 3 years and then decided to make a switch.
2018-2019
The Software Game
In 2017 I took my first managerial position in a financial reconciliation software company based out of Oslo. I got to travel a fair bit between London, Oslo and Stockholm in this position, but financial reconciliation is as boring as it sounds.
A year later the company was acquired. This was something that was new to me, but something I grew to understand quickly. Consistency and a stable career and software are far from a match made in heaven compared to events.
The next 2 companies I went to work at in the space were also acquired within 24 months of me joining which made for a bumpy ride.
I then joined a software company called Linkfluence that specialized in social media data analysis and insights before that was acquired.
Finally, in 2019, I landed at the business I work in today, Auctane.
Covid
I suppose the pandemic is one of the main reasons Remoteopia was born.
I learned a lot during about 3 years of a working life that was structured around the restrictions of the outbreak.
I was at home for about a year and a half and then switched to the hybrid role I’m in now.
There was a lot of uncertainty about how Covid would shape the working world and whether we would ever go back to the office.
In my view, digital enablement and the amount of people harnessing the wave of the vastly changing online landscape to make extra income is only confounding new working habits.
I believe the next few years, with the inevitable exponential growth of AI, are going to be even more transformative.
Remoteopia
So to take you along on that transformative ride, I thought I’d start blogging about it, AI, remote work, home offices, wellness and everything in between.
I’ve learned so much about remote work in the past few years, and through my career, a lot about the job market and the changing shape of worker’s needs and requirements. Along with the need for adaptability on behalf of employers.
We are truly entering a new dawn, the pandemic was only the start.
Remoteopia’s mission is to ride the wave with you and help make your remote work experience the best it can possibly be.