What imhoguy said, with particular emphasis on networking. Once you go remote it's hard to stay remote -- networking and having contacts is a must.

The take away from the networking thing is Trust. You need to be able to demonstrate you can be trusted, that you're not secretly a bunch of kids in a trenchcoat or a fake, Western-sounding name that's a front end for a few Vietnamese kids putting out shit-tier code.

Go abroad, build street cred and network, go back, keep in touch with people.