Hey everyone!!
I'm curious to learn more about ppl travel habits and preferences, so I'm doing some research to better understand if you have some particular passion when traveling. Would be great if you could take 1 minute of your time to tell me what you love doing when abroad.
Me:
My main goal is to connect with people and have a local experience, so I always open Couchsurfing app to connect with other travelers and locals to meet.
Also, I'm passionate about architecture and history, so I spend a pretty good time walking around and reading about the place I'm visiting.
Food for me it's not that important, so it's the kind of experience I could skip.
And what about you? :)
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Hello Travel Massivers! I am Lindsay and I am a self-taught Digital Marketer living on the road traveling full-time. I always want to connect with other Digital Marketers and what advice we can share. It's very important we network and connect.
What do you find challenging about working remotely?
Please share your response and let me know! I would love to connect :)
One thing I do occasionally miss is frequent opportunities to connect IRL with the community through breakfast briefings and and events!
I totally agree! I love getting to have the IRL connection like right now I wish I was getting to have this conversation with you all IRL, haha. But in order for me to see the world this is what I have to give up to live this life. I find differnt ways to connect instead like Travel Massive!
Self-discipline is the biggest remote working challenge. Time becomes a mood-driven reality, resulting in less appealing tasks being easily postponed. I’ve been working remotely for 14 years and have had to establish routines to get things done.
As a digital nomad with no fixed abode, I relocate often and rarely sleep past sunrise. After breakfast (usually coffee and biscuits), my first daily task is accomplished by tidying my bed and living space before taking an hour of physical exercise (being dragged on a leash attached to Jaxx, my Siberian Husky companion - he even has his own website - jaxxhusky.co.za).
Attending to emails and social media posts is the next morning task, followed by at least 2-3 hours working on paid assignments (clearly, I don’t have enough of them). After an hour lunch break (usually a peanut butter sandwich swallowed with the days 5th cup of coffee), I spend the afternoon engaged in social interaction (like responding to this post) or maintaining websites that I manage.
Evening tasks vary depending on where I’ve laid my hat (and Jaxx’s leash). Right now, I’m on a farm where my board and lodging is bartered against cooking evening meals for the family and staff (being a chef and past guesthouse owner has advantages). Today is a public holiday in South Africa (voting day) - keeping track of days of the week is another remote working challenge.
By 19h30 the barter tasks are done and I spend the hours before midnight engaging with entrepreneurs that I mentor (most have day jobs, so evenings are best for them).
In summary, one has to be self-disciplined and establish set routines to work remotely, but it sure does beat wasting hours stuck in traffic while commuting to a physical office.
We’ve always been a remote team at Travel Massive but we have had some stints at co-working spaces in NYC (the old VoyagerHQ) and in Berlin. I gotta say I miss those days of going into an office to work with colleagues in-person! We got so much stuff done, could point at screens (no need to screenshot stuff), and go for coffees or drinks.
In a “digital marketing” context (which is broad, I take it to mean “getting people to click on stuff”) the hardest thing for me working remotely has been getting in a creative mindset. For example, writing newsletters or some copy, I have to be in the right mood. Somehow being around other people made this easier, but in the remote environment I find that I need a walk, or exercise, and some good music to get the creativity started.
I’d also agree with Han’s comments about networking - this is really important for marketers! Learning about new trends and other things is one of the benefits of in-person events.
I totally agree Ian! I feel like when I have people around doing the same thing I feel the energy and it gives me motivation and power to get things done and work harder. I do that today as well but when your by yourself it’s not as motivating. I am a freelancer and work for myself and it’s boring not having to many people to talk to or get inspired by. That’s why when I travel I make sure I stay in social hostels and always try and talk to locals and hang out with locals so I can have a sense of belonging of the area I am in. I am very lucky to be living this life I am living and not everyone can do this but at the same time it has some take backs. Also Ian I did send you a message on Travel Massive, not sure if you saw it or not. Would love to connect more with you 😀
I agree. I’ve started some virtual networking groups to help with this. What about that? Something during the day EST? Maybe around 1pm for west time zones?
I think it’s very isolating. I’m a team of 1 who works from home. I miss human interaction which is why I love attending events so much!
Yes I agree, I like having a work energy of other doing the same thing so I can be inspired.
One of the biggest challenges for me, having worked in agencies for so long prior to working freelance and remotely, is having folks nearby for a quick brainstorm, gut check, etc. Especially as I was building my career, it was so beneficial to have people nearby to help get an idea off the ground quickly.
Perhaps less obvious, but I also struggle sometimes with the likely perception of my lifestyle. When my clients are trapped under a foot of snow, and I'm calling in from somewhere warm, what must they think?
We recently moved to the High Country in Victoria Australia, so pretty remote, and my wife and I both work in travel, so has been interesting making the adjustments to full time WFH for both of us. We are loving the move though and living here!
I just spent 3 days with 2 team members at a travel event in Spain and it was so nice to be in person and talk that way vs. over Zoom.
As a digital marketer, one of the key challenges of working remotely, especially while on the go or during travel, is maintaining seamless communication and collaboration with the team, particularly when coordinating large campaigns. The lack of face-to-face interactions can sometimes cause delays in feedback. Additionally, ensuring high-quality work can be difficult due to potential issues with connectivity and time zone differences.