Each of us has our own unique makeup, a combination of genetic predisposition, life experiences, personality, interests, etc. If you think about it, that’s very helpful for creating a “new category” for our lives, businesses, and (ultimately) our success.

Take people like Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess), Gary Vaynerchuk and Tim Ferriss. They’ve each built incredible success around a combination of unique personality and passion. That combination represents their self-created categories, something that each of us has the power to create for ourselves.

Michael Port says, “The greatest strategy for personal and business development on the planet is bold self-expression.” Power that with your passion, whatever it may be, and you have the potential to build something that not only thrives in its own right, but also brings you personal fulfillment.

Where do you start? There are a few steps you can take to help you develop your own unique category.

Have Fewer Outgoing Filters
Many times, we make the mistake of filtering who we are. People like Lawson, Vaynerchuk, and Ferriss do not filter themselves. Lawson says that her blog was created so that she had “an uncensored space to say the f-word and talk about ninjas.” Pretty unfiltered, and she does it without apology. Vaynerchuk drinks wine with Cap’n Crunch, no apology. Ferriss challenges the “deferred-life plan” with his 4-hour workweek and, again, no apology. Do they appeal to everyone? No. Do they care? No. By not filtering themselves, they’re definitely going to turn some people off. But they’re not trying to accommodate the masses, and that’s what makes them so successful.

Have More Incoming Filters
Don’t try to appeal to everyone, and don’t try to work with everyone. In fact, become very selective about who you serve and refer everyone else out. By better filtering what’s coming into your life and business, you’re able to provide a service or product that’s highly suited for your client or customer. In turn, those customers will sing your praises and refer more work that’s well-suited for you.

Be Narrow
Not narrow-minded — be narrowly focused, and the more laser-focused you can be, the more likely you are to actually create a new category for yourself, and when you do, you’ll own it. Do you know another energetic and opinionated wine guy who calls it like he sees it and makes wine approachable for everyday people? No. Gary Vaynerchuk is now in a class by himself, which would be a great place for you to be, too!

Figure Out What Lights You Up
Just because you’re a virtual assistant doesn’t mean you have to do everything a virtual assistant is expected to do. What do you love to do?  What do you have fun and enjoy doing? What could you talk about for hours on end? Somewhere in all that is a passion for work you were meant to do, and if you’ll clearly identify it and then boldly say it and own it, you’ll have the second part of the category-creating combo down.

Build the Framework to Support Your Unique Voice
Once you know who you uniquely are, who you ideally serve, and what you passionately do, every profile, web page, and piece of media you put out there should represent that. “Boldly express it,” as Michael Port would say, and you’ll start attracting the right kind of following, a following of true fans.

Personality + Passion = Your Very Own Category
Your Very Own Category = Success + Excitement for You

What lessons have you learned in “bold self-expression” and how it relates to your success in life and business? In what ways can you start to create your own unique category for your business?

Image from Flickr by HAMED MASOUMI

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The Public Cloud Will Dominate Enterprise IT — One Day
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce

You knew this was going to be first up, and it’s probably the single biggest factor in remote working success. Discipline isn’t just about staying focused when it’s a nice day outside and no one really knows what you’re doing. It’s also about keeping reasonable and appropriate working hours, and keeping commitments outside of work as well as within. Generally, I think of discipline as the thing that lets you hold up your end of the deal you made with your employer, as well as the one you made with yourself.

I tend to think of my time as being fairly compartmentalized: When it’s work time, I do work, and that’s pretty much all I do and think about. And though I do sometimes think about work outside designated hours, I never actually look at work-related stuff in my downtime. It’s a sort of knack I’ve developed. Being able to become absorbed by work can be very handy for the remote worker — so long as you can snap out of it at knock-off time.

2. Passion

You have to care about something to work remotely. You probably need to be passionate about what you do, or the temptation to slack off my soon prove too great. But if you don’t harbor a wild enthusiasm for your job, you’ll have to have a vivid appreciation of what remote working gives you: perhaps it’s more time in your day to do other things, perhaps it’s simply a life without partitions.

I’m fortunate in that I have both a passion for what I do, and for the things working remotely affords me. It’s not all roses, and there are things I miss about working in an office, but overall, I love doing what I do, and doing it remotely.

3. Drive

Motivation really is crucial for remote workers, but especially so for those who aren’t on a salary. We all know how hard it can be to get out of bed on Monday morning; it’s even harder when bed is five meters from work. And you need serious, world-class drive to get up and going.

I get around the big motivation issues by making them non-negotiable. I always start my workday at the same time — that way, I don’t have to make decisions about whether or not to spend another half hour watching TV before I begin work, or how much time to take for lunch. If I have decisions to make, it’s all too tempting to take the “easy” option rather than just sitting down and getting on with it.

4. Support

Perhaps you have a great boss and some cool colleagues who make it very easy to work remotely. Maybe you have a sterling family, who respect your work time and space and give you lots of latitude. Possibly you have a geeky neighbor who helped you set up your network and now acts as your tech support in return for occasional lawn mowing.

The point is, remote working is impossible without support at some point in the process. When I sat down and thought about it, I realized that I had all these supports — and more — helping me to make the most of the remote working experience. And I thank them for that on a regular basis!

What are the characteristics that make you a successful remote worker? Which do you think is most important?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks