This year my business partner and I decided to do two seemingly conflicting things: start a digital marketing agency and travel around the world with Remote Year. While a year-long travel adventure might at first seem like a strange thing to do when starting a business, we concluded that it could actually be beneficial. And we were right. Though we’re only three months into our 12-month journey, we’ve found there are a number of benefits to starting a digital agency while on Remote Year. Here are our top four so far.
We’re meeting a network of like-minded people
One of the best parts of traveling generally, and of Remote Year specifically, is the people you meet along the way. As you travel with people and share new experiences, you build a bond that’s hard to duplicate. And Remote Year connects me to my kind of people — ones that have an interest in travel and growing as people. Ones that work remotely. The type of person who chooses to work from their laptop while traveling around the world shares my values: autonomy, adventure, independence, and personal and professional growth. These are all traits that I gravitate towards.
On a professional level, everybody has the ability to work remotely and therefore tend to work in the digital or technology industries. That means I’m constantly surrounded by software engineers, copywriters, entrepreneurs, specialists in branding and interactive website design, sales & marketing professionals and a range of consultants and freelancers — exactly the people and skill sets needed to start any type of online business. Being able to look across my desk at our coworking space and ask a designer (or copywriter or marketing specialist…) for help with something is huge when starting a new business. And if they can’t personally help you with your issue or problem they will absolutely know of the right people (or tools) that can. The value of this instant network of like-minded professionals, in your own program and across the Remote Year Nation, can’t be underestimated.
We’re finding inspiration in new people and new places
As a new inbound marketing agency starting with only two people, it’s incredibly easy to get trapped in the same ideas and the same ways of thinking. A huge benefit of this network of people from different industries, countries, and backgrounds is the different perspectives and ideas that they bring to the table. Sometimes it might be during a lunch you have with a fellow ‘remote’ who tells you about how they get new clients in a way you never thought of before. Other times, inspiration might strike at one of the many free workshops hosted at the various co-working spaces you visit throughout the year. Or through some of the many free resources or the network of ‘citizens’ that participation in Remote Year provides.
And the diversity of spaces also provides inspiration. One of the first things I noticed when we began our agency and started working for ourselves was how important it is to find the right work environment. Back in Boston, we started our working between coffee shops and our home offices. While coffee shops are great, and I’m sure Starbucks appreciated the additional revenue throughout the week, these environments can get old pretty fast. You end up seeing the same people in the same places, creating the same feelings and generating the same ideas. Sameness can be pretty toxic for a new company with only two people. Throughout our time on Remote Year our workspaces have been reflective of how a new company should operate — dynamic and constantly changing. Whether it’s a desk at a cool workspace in Japan, outside a coffee shop in Colombia, a couch in my apartment, or on an airplane flying to Mexico, my idea of what a productive workspace can be is constantly changing — and I love it.
We’re actually saving money
There’s almost nothing as important to a brand-new business as costs. In the early stages, every penny spent is vitally important. But traveling around the world is expensive, right? Well, yes and no. When you compare it to the costs of life back home, you might find you’re actually saving money. We have.
When running our business in Boston, my partner and I had the typical cost-of-living expenses that people our age have: rent, electric & gas bills, Comcast/internet, phone plans, car payments, gas for our cars, tolls, insurance, food, coffee, and so on. And if you live in a city like Boston (or numerous other cities in the United States), those expenses ADD UP QUICK. Even though we were saving money on an office by working remotely from our home or local coffee shop, it was still tough to keep up with payments and have any semblance of a life outside of work. Remote Year actually helps us reduce the number of these expenses.
Before joining Remote Year I moved out of my apartment, eliminating rent, gas, electric, and (thank God) Comcast from my life. I also sold my car, which eliminated those payments, as well as gas, tolls, insurance, parking, and inevitable parking tickets. I canceled my phone plan and joined Remote Year’s much-cheaper SIM card program. While Remote Year is obviously not free to join, my monthly payment takes care of all the essentials we need while starting our company: our apartments (including electric, water, internet, etc), my phone data plan, and finally a real office! Since the apartments are within walking distance of the workspace, we don’t need cars, so we save all the expenses that go along with them. Being carless has been hugely liberating — not to mention the fact that we’re getting in better shape from walking to the office every day. It’s also important to mention that in most of the cities we’re visiting this year, the day-to-day variable expenses for things like food, uber and entertainment are significantly less expensive than they are in Boston. To wake up in Colombia and get a delicious breakfast for $4 USD is something I won’t soon forget.
All in all, after analyzing the costs involved, we’re absolutely saving money by traveling on Remote Year. While this obviously won’t be the same for everybody (depending on your costs of living at home), this has been a financial improvement for us. And as I said, every penny counts in the early days of a new business.
While we’re only 3 months into our journey, we’ve found that the above benefits have fully justified our decision to join Remote Year. While this may be considered an unconventional route to entrepreneurship; it’s also true that a modern business structure (like a fully-remote digital agency) warrants a modern idea of what constitutes a productive work environment. So far, the Remote Year program has provided us with all the resources we need (including some we didn’t know we needed) to allow our new company to get off the ground and eventually thrive.
