By Becky Wong
Photo by Roderick Hodgson (Working remotely after lunch in Kings Cross, UK.)
“When you love what you do, you do it better and enjoy it more.” – The Hoxby Collective
I couldn’t agree more!
Everyone works better in different environments and flexible working is key to creating a work style that’s right for you. The work style movement allows for each person to choose work environments that support how each of us can thrive the most and that allows each of us to work at our best.
These are the keys to providing control over how we spend our time: what our day-to-day lifestyle looks like, where we work, what we work on and when, having the flexibility to be able to spend time on pursuits outside of work and, most importantly, to spend more time with family, friends and loved ones.
Flexible work has enabled me to see family, friends and loved ones so much more in the last couple of remote working years than in any of my previous years living in London in the UK. It has also provided me with wonderful opportunities to work on a variety of purpose-driven projects and clients whose work makes a positive impact in areas that I feel passionate about such as animal welfare, community, and professional development.
Being outdoors and being surrounded by nature as much as I can is also very important to me. I know I deliver my best work when I can take regular breaks outside! Part of my remote work journey over the last two years has included working from many house-sits across the beautiful UK countryside and now in cities across Asia with hiking routes or trails close by. I write this now at our current house-sit looking after two adorable, energetic Yorkshire Terriers in Hong Kong!
Photos by Becky Wong (Housesitting and Shropshire and in Berkshire in the UK)
“Great work is still at the heart of what we do. But we know everyone works differently and the best work can be done at 6 am before the school run, in a campervan while exploring the world or after taking a few days rest to recover from the last big project.” – The Hoxby Collective
Some people work best in offices, others in shared co-working spaces, others in cafes, while others are night owls who do their best work late into the night. I work best at home or in cafes with no distractions, working in blocks of time that follow the idea of the pomodoro method but in longer, hourly blocks rather than its recommended 25 minutes!
I can be found changing my day-to-day routine between working at home, to working at cafes and spending at least one or two days each week at a co-working space (it’s great to meet others at the same time that way.)
On top of all of this, of course I must mention that I work best while being fuelled by copious amounts of coffee or tea. (The super strong Vietnamese coffee I had in Hanoi over the summer months was exactly what I needed!)
Photos by Roderick Hodgson (Coffee shop in Hanoi, Vietnam and at our bungalow home in Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand)
I wear many hats as I work across Operations, Projects and People Management. I work closely with clients to take their big ideas, projects & plans and break them down into actionable chunks, prioritise what needs to happen when (and making sure it all happens!), ensure everything delivered is in line with long-term visions and key goals.
I’m very driven by the people around me and I’m passionate about making a positive impact through my work.
As a flexible work advocate, I recently created this website Project Anywhere this year in 2019 to shout about remote & flexible working and choosing your own ‘career adventures’.
Because everyone works differently, this usually means only certain groups of people have the chance to thrive in the traditional workplace. It is important to create opportunities for each person to work in the ways that ensure we can deliver the best work possible.
Right now, although most of the world still puts more value on being ‘present’ in an office, I do see that there is a strong shift happening now. I hope to help shine a light on remote and flexible work opportunities with stories featured on Project Anywhere for those who do want to take steps to explore what the many different routes on offer are that can take us towards flexible work styles.
So I’m always looking out for flexible work champions just like The Hoxby Collective! I’m always keen to meet like-minded communities, collectives or individuals who share this view of what the future of work can look like and are paving the way for everyone to get there.
Photo credits from Left to Right Clockwise: Tracy Russo (Girl Gone International Barcelona Trip in January 2019, Beki Adams (Digital Wombats Chiang Mai Meet-Up in August 2019, Sandy Anduran (Koh Pha Ngan Nomads Community’s Friday Dinners organised by Nomadic6 in September 2019)
Community is a very important part of my remote work / digital nomad journey. Although I am not travelling solo, I have had brilliant experiences meeting other fellow freelancers, nomads, remote workers and co-workers online and in person. I have learned so much and formed many lasting new friendships from everyone I have met.
This is all why I’d love to continue my own flexible-work journey as a part of The Hoxby Collective: to join a leading, forward-thinking remote & flexible work community that is championing flexible work styles and whose values I strongly share. I’d love to be a Hoxby to meet other Hoxbies, to work with Hoxby clients, to contribute to fantastic projects, to grow, learn and share within the collective, to join The Hoxby Collective’s mission to amplify the work style movement enabling everyone to discover and embrace our different work styles!
“Whether it’s professional or personal, we love what we do. Our mission is to make everyone feel this way; creating a happier and more fulfilled society through a world of work without bias.” – The Hoxby Collective
I have been working remotely as a contractor for over two years now, where I’ve met many people from around the world who all come from diverse backgrounds who are all embracing their own work styles too. More recently I spent the last few months in Asia in Vietnam, Thailand and Hong Kong. There have been plenty of great places to work remotely over these last couple of months since arriving into Asia as well as many great people to co-work together with. We’re working on our own terms, on projects we’re passionate about and it is incredibly fulfilling to work in this way.
My plans are to work from Asia between now and early in the new year before heading back to explore even more of the UK and Europe.
Next year, myself and my partner plan to spend a good amount of our time based in Scotland before roaming again while hopefully working remotely on the road from a converted camper-van. Scotland is a place close to both of our hearts and we are both big lovers of the great outdoors.
We’re feeling that we know we could deliver our best work from around Edinburgh and the Highlands in 2020!
I’m excited about doing so as a fellow Hoxby.
If you’d like to read more about my Career Adventures you read my story here.
Project Anywhere: Helping you and your business to work from anywhere! 