Hey Squad, 👋
Travel or career, that used to be the choice. Not anymore! With a laptop and a strong WiFi connection, you can live almost anywhere in the world while getting results. Not only that, you might even end up enhancing your career. 🌴🚀
This week we meet Georgia Marshall, Community Builder, who’s location independence has driven her career and inspired projects back in her home country, Australia.
Better still, Georgia has shared her tips for aspiring digital nomads covering what worked for her to help you enhance your travels. 🌴🤙
Perhaps this week’s story will give you the inspiration you need to take a chance on your dreams!
🙌 In this issue:
Sri Lanka’s new digital nomad visa 🌴
Why having the right remote work routine is key 🤙
Discover hot remote jobs 🌶️
Remote work news 🧠
I couldn't find the kind of community I wanted as a digital nomad — so I built it in Bali: Hidde van Vliet quit his corporate job after realizing the traditional career path wasn't for him. Last year, he cofounded a community in Bali, which has since hosted 250+ events for remote workers.
Sri Lanka launched a new digital nomad visa—find out if you qualify and how to apply: If you’re still riding the wave of being a digital nomad or looking for your next home away from home to work remotely, you may be able to add Sri Lanka to your list of options.
Decline in remote jobs risks shutting disabled people out of work, study finds: A decline in the number of jobs for people who need to work remotely, including those with disabilities, could undermine the government’s efforts to reverse rising unemployment, according to a two-year study.
Getting the right routine as a remote worker
Escaping the 9-to-5 is the dream. Not being chained to your desk, not having to answer to a boss, and not having to deal with constant distractions, can all lead to deeper work, increased focus, and better ideas. 🚀
However, it's still essential to design your workday for success. 🙌
If you’ve become your own boss, or you’re working remotely and aren't expected to be in a physical office, it's an opportunity to consider how you want your workday to look.
It’s helpful to consider when you perform the best.
Are you most productive in the mornings? ☀️
Do you go through an afternoon slump? 🫠
Or are you a night owl, powering through tasks when everybody else is sleeping? 🦉
If you have the flexibility, then it doesn’t matter when you're most productive, as long as you lean into those hours to design the ideal workday.
If the morning hours are when you power through tasks, that might mean rising with the sun, getting in some exercise, and hopping onto the laptop to churn through high-priority work - when your brain is at its sharpest. 📈
It might also mean abandoning your desk if you’re starting to feel stuck and going for a walk to refresh your mind before getting back to it.
It doesn’t matter what your specific routine is, as long as it works for you and it’s something you can stick to for long term success. 🙌
To get started:
Try different routines to see what suits you best
Design a structure you can stick to
Put it down on paper so that you’re more likely to stay consistent
Meet Georgia: Community Builder who’s location independence has driven her career🌴🤙
Travel or career. That’s often the question.
Maybe you don’t have to choose. What if travelling while working remotely didn’t just mean maintaining your career––it meant accelerating it?
That’s precisely what happened to Community Builder, Georgia Marshall.
When Georgia travelled to Europe with intentions of exploring and engaging with communities, she didn’t know where that journey would eventually take her.
Two years later, Georgia had travelled through Spain, the UK, New York, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, Bhutan, and more. In that time, she discovered not just the importance of having community while travelling, but a deeper understanding about what makes communities thrive.
Staying in and visiting co-living spaces, eco-villages, and tech communities, helped her to discover what worked and what didn’t. And being a location-independent worker enabled Georgia to learn, grow, connect with like-minded individuals, and experience examples of community building around the globe.
Most of all, Georgia became inspired about what she could create back in Australia. Now, she’s brought all that knowledge and expertise home.
These days, Georgia is Sydney-based, working remotely the majority of the time. She made the shift from freelance to fractional, which allowed her more stability and the chance to engage in strategic, high-level roles across different industries.
Now in a full-time community leadership position, she still draws upon many of the learnings gained while travelling.
Georgia’s experience is vast, having launched, managed and scaled community-driven experiences, platforms and programs for co-working spaces (Fishburners), not-for-profits (Young Change Agents), venture capital funds (Techstars and Folklore Ventures), foundations (Minderoo Foundation), social enterprises (F5 Collective and B Lab Australia), government (Allegra Spender), and startups (MyGig, Upplft and Kula).
“I really enjoy working at the intersection of tech and social impact, and it's been incredible to support thousands of startup, social enterprise, teenage, First Nations and female founders.”
In addition to her fractional work, Georgia is involved in a number of meaningful projects. She’s the Co-Founder of Humans For Good, a community of 800+ Aussies who want to turn their good intentions into impact, and change the world around them.
More recently, Georgia founded Flock, a growing database of 900+ communities in Australia and around the world. She has also started a co-living community house based in Sydney. The goal of the space is to make it member-owned and self-governing. It offers good humans the chance to gather, create, rest and live communally. It’s not an exaggeration to say that space might not be in existence if it weren’t for Georgia’s many learnings gained while travelling.
Ever dreamed of being location independent? Georgia has kindly shared her tips for digital nomads. 🙌
Georgia’s tips
Prioritise community: my number one piece of advice is staying in co-living places, and considering longer stays so that you can build deeper connections. Cafes are great for a few hours, but ergonomically not super sustainable for long-term, focused work. I’d recommend investing in a coworking space or a coliving space with a desk setup (which also have the added bonus of community and great people).
Slow travel > fast travel: slowing down offers a richer experience, the chance to feel more grounded and establish a healthy routine, and opportunities for deep connection. I recommend staying at least a month in each place.
Get clear on your goals: it’s important to have a purpose for travelling, and consider what you want to get out of it. This way you’ll be more likely to come back with learnings that will improve both your career and your life. For example, I designed my travel around communities that I want to visit, people I want to meet, and things I want to learn.
Balance planning and letting go: rather than being stuck to a specific travel plan, it’s great to keep an open mind to new plans and opportunities that might arise while you travel. I never expected to end up in South America, yet it was one of the most meaningful and special parts of my travels. You learn to listen to your intuition when making plans, and to really lean into the uncertainty and chaos of it all.
Your next remote location: Siargao ☀️
✔️ Island vibes
✔️ Low cost of living
✔️ Reliable internet
✔️ Access to Asia
✔️ Beach life
✔️ Cultural experiences
✔️ Digital nomad conferences
✔️ Surf culture
🌶️ Hot (fully) remote jobs 🌶️
Bamboo Works: Senior AI Operations & Automation Manager
Coders Brain Technology: MS Dynamics CRM Functional consultant
SERA Solution: Remote Customer Service Operator / Specialist
Relay Commerce: Growth Marketing Manager, Social Commerce
Mozilla: FP&A Manager
Have suggestions? Or want to feature as a success story? Feel free to email me: [email protected]
Until next time,
Chloe 👋
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