How My Aviation Career Helped Me Launch my Remote Business

Intro

What happened after my Emirates flight attendant career ended abruptly.

After losing my 10-year job as an Emirates flight attendant, I went to a job interview for a finance company. It was an office manager position and almost everyone in the office interviewed me, and they all liked me. 

Except for the CFO. 

He didn’t say it directly, but I could tell he judged me for my previous aviation career. He even asked me, “why would you want to leave an aviation career? It makes no sense”. 

To be honest, I didn’t at the time. I was forced to leave due to the horrible pandemic we faced in 2020, and I needed a job. Quick. 

That being said, it didn’t mean that I wasn’t fully capable of doing the Office Manager job! I had so many skills, but in the end, I couldn’t translate how those skills particularly applied to that job.

And it was probably because I had no idea that my flight attendant job had prepared me for LIFE in a way I wasn’t even aware of!

I know what you’re thinking: “how does aviation relate to online working?”

Especially a job that involves logistics directly (like being a flight attendant). You literally have to show up for work to do the job! 

But it does relate, more than you know! (By the way, if you’re thinking about becoming a digital nomad, here are 5 jobs you can do!).

If you only take one thing from this article, I’d like it to be the following: the work experience you have is transferable and valuable, even if it doesn’t seem that way. But sometimes, it takes a bit of imagination to realize where you can apply those skills! 

Here’s what I learned about my own.

Adaptability and Discipline.

Discipline as the base of a remote job.

I always said this: being an Emirates flight attendant is similar to being in the military in many ways. We even use military jargon; we work by ranks and use military time. 

But I compare it to the military mostly due to the discipline you need to get the job done. 

Setting up an alarm at 3 am is not for the faint of heart! 

You can imagine it requires a massive amount of discipline and organization to ensure you have everything ready to go to work on time and complete tasks to take off and land when expected.

And when it comes to an online venture, it’s no different. You WILL NEED discipline. And it’s mostly because if you’re working remotely, you need to be disciplined with your tasks.

I also work with the west coast a lot, so having meetings late at night or super early in the morning is something that happens a lot. 

Even signing up for a workshop which is an 11 hours time difference. You’ll have to be flexible in an online business, from where you work to the odd out-of-schedule meeting (if you’re leading the venture, like me). 

Personally: it’s not really a problem, I’ve done it before!

Public speaking.

The best way to get online clients: is online!

Part of having an online business means that I need to show up on social media so people know who I am. You see, people will hire me because of what I can do but also because of who I am as a person. 

Having to display my personality in short videos or live streams is something I never imagined myself doing, but how else can I show my personality to prospective clients who will choose me to help them build their businesses? 

My first forced public speaking lessons were in briefing rooms at 3 am. 

I had to motivate a team to work the red-eye to New York, meaning I had to show my personality in a quick 2-minute team talk. 

Trust me, the entire team vibe depended on those 2 minutes, so you bet I cracked jokes and was completely honest and open about the struggle of our situation. 

Grooming for the soul.

How grooming says everything for you.

This won’t come as a shock to you, but as an Emirates flight attendant grooming was super important (and part of the job). So using grooming to be presentable and showing the best version of myself is something I learned on board too! 

When it comes to how I present myself in Zoom calls and social media, I make sure I take the time to get ready. To me, how I look is a reflection of how much I care about myself. 

This shows how much I care about my business and how much I’ll care about my clients. It all starts with me!

Using limited resources.

Creativity will help you run your business smoothly!

Having my own fully remote business means I need a LOT of imagination for many things. 

From how to communicate what I need to my team to creating content on days when I can’t really leave the house (because it’s 100 degrees out, Dubai heat, amirite?). 

Therefore, I have to maximize my resources to find clients using every tool under the sun: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook groups, you name it! It’s all about networking, no matter how! 

And it took a lot of imagination, but I made it happen.

And I can surely tell you that I learned that on board! 

For instance: anytime I had to put a meal together with whatever I had available for someone with a strict diet requirement. 

Or when I had to seal a dripping galley pipe with tape from a medical kit. See? Using all available resources 🙂

Reading people and their needs. 

The importance of connecting with others.

Visualizing what others want/need from me helps so much when planning/creating content.

And boy, did I have to read people carefully on board! 

Being an onboard leader meant dealing with many passengers who dumped their frustration on me. 

And on top of learning not to take it personally, I learned to read what was behind that person’s complaint:

• Were they upset because they were tired? 
• Or maybe because they had a personal issue and needed to get it off their chest?

Analyzing this allowed me to ask myself questions that would help me solve the issue:

• How can I make them feel better and improve their experience? 
• Maybe by caring for them? – like stopping by for a chat with a cup of tea for us both.
• Or perhaps by dropping chocolate while on my way to do another task?

Because little things count, and reading people in a way that you can relate to them and deliver what they need, counts too!

I also use this skill today with my clients (even if I don’t face frustration at the level I did on the plane) and while dealing with my team members too! 

But how I see it helps me most is with the content I create. I learned to ask the important questions that help me relate to people and create a connection: 

• What is my audience in need of? 
• How will they react to positive content regarding a particular subject? 
• Or maybe they need a bit of a reality check from me so they can relate to it?
• How can I contribute to their life and growth by content associated with a specific topic? 

See? It’s all connected.

Working with different teams and surpassing the communication barrier.

Knowing to manage different people.

On board, I was a team leader for so many different nationalities. 

Not only that: as an Emirates flight attendant Supervisor I had to manage different personalities and different levels of experience and mentor newcomers. 

Dealing with all that in one team (and sometimes on a super restricted time schedule) was challenging to say the least!

Now I work with different people and try to read what they’re trying to communicate with their emails, Slack messages, Zoom calls, and even their actions. When creating content for brands (especially startups), you have to talk to different people who are part of the organization. 

So I try to interpret their actions, which saves me a lot of time and takes a lot of stress off them!

Delegation nation.

I never thought delegating could be so tricky! 

I see many business owners/entrepreneurs having a huge issue with delegating. And to be honest: I don’t blame them! After all, it’s more work to coach/mentor people to do a task when you can’t do it in 30 minutes, right?

The problem with this is: if you do it too much, you’ll end up with a) no time left or, worse b) burning out. 

When I first became a Supervisor on board, I had a HUGE issue with delegating. 

I thought that no one would ever do any task as thoroughly as me. And I was wrong.

But thanks to my more senior colleagues who mentored me, I learned that I needed to spot those who actually wanted to know and do things – then take them under my wing. I even came up with a system that would allow me to delegate more effectively. I would:

• Ask if they had done the task before and felt comfortable with it. 
• If the answer was yes, I’d ask them to quickly take me through their process. If not, I would explain my own process quickly.
• I’d make myself available for any questions and let them know it’s okay to have doubts and it’s more than okay to make mistakes. Still, they could always come to me for clarification.
• I would follow up on the task to see if it was completed.
• I would praise the hell out of them! Not only for a job well done but for taking risks and stepping out of the comfort zone.

And you can bet your sweet behind I do the same with my team members and even my clients! 

And yes, it also applies to clients! So many people are camera shy, for example, so praising them for showing up online and being their “hype-girl” is something I enjoy doing!

When I do this, they feel supported and know that whatever the result, I won’t judge them. On the contrary: I’ll still cheer them on!

Conclusion: the MOST important skill is…

All. Job. Skills. Are. Transferable. 

And yes, it does take a bit of imagination. 

But they are, so don’t let anyone tell you you’re incapable because, even if you don’t have a particular skill, you can always learn it. 

The most important skill is perseverance and consistency. 

Most importantly, don’t tell yourself that you’re incapable of doing something. 

Let this retired Emirates flight attendant – current entrepreneur- tell you that there is absolutely NOTHING you can’t do!

Ps: Here’s a video of my super talented colleagues who also started their own businesses after the pandemic ended their aviation careers. Watch for super inspiring stories!