WHILE THE roll call of big firms asking employers to return to the office on a ‘fuller-time’ basis grows, Whitney Wilde remains an unapologetic champion of the remote working camp.
The virtual assistant, who is married to an Army padre, ranks becoming self-employed among her best decisions and believes working from home is ideally suited to those with serving partners.
Currently based in Cyprus, Whitney’s flexible employment has enabled her to build a career around family commitments, the unpredictable nature of military life and her own interests.
She was introduced to the advantages of being a virtual assistant, which involves providing clients with a range of remote services – anything from administration and invoicing to tracking data and social media management – during COVID. But the real benefits of her chosen role became clear when her husband Tom deployed on a three-month exercise.
Despite having to nurse two young children with chickenpox, Whitney was able to continue working, something that would have been impossible had she been employed in a traditional role. “I realised it [being a freelance virtual assistant] was very good for military spouses,” explained the Californian, who met Tom while studying at Durham University. “You get to work across different industries, and you can take the job with you.”
Having first completed the school run and a PT session, Whitney’s average working day will see her open her laptop at about 10am to tackle tasks for her clients, beginning with those in the UK and then the US. She aims to have everything wrapped up in time for school pick-up and, with one evening meeting a week, also finds there are plenty of opportunities to go paddleboarding. “It’s up to you to be diligent about getting your tasks done, but how that works day-to-day is flexible,” she concluded. “I’m honest with clients about the way the military works, such as Tom having to go away at short notice.”
Whitney honed her skills at the ROCKET VA Academy, which delivers online modules focused on learning skills and growing a client base, and offers military families a 15 per cent discount on its core training programme. Use code FORCES15 at rocketva.com Find Whitney at thewildeva.com.
If you’re considering running your own business while overseas it’s important to do your research beforehand because not all locations have the same employment rules for military partners. Visit the employment and training pages at aff.org.uk for guidance.