Introduction
"I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me."
~ James Pickering, palliative care nurse on the top regret patients make on their death bed.
I remember when I had my first full-time office job at the ripe young age of 20. I was given my first superannuation statement (like a 401k plan), and it indicated that I could access these funds upon retirement—at the age of 65.
It was like I had been smacked in the face with a bowling ball. What a depressing reality check! Here I was, barely out of my teenage years, thinking about my first beer after payday on Friday when it was still only Monday, and I get hit with the message that this is life until retirement. Wake up to an alarm clock, commute on the train with the rest of the zombies, sit in an office for eight hours, and commute back home with the zombies. Eat, sleep. Repeat. Drink too much and tear up the dance floor on the weekend. Until I get married. Then the kids will come along and my life as I know it will be over, though I will get the occasional vacation. Before I know it, I’ll be 65 years old and I’ll finally get to grab the financial carrot dangled in front of me my whole adult life.
No. F#%king. Way.
I wrote Goodbye Office, Hello World!, my first non-fiction book, when the world was changing before our eyes—the global COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-COVID, the idea of remote work had somewhat of a stigma attached. I was working as a freelance copywriter, and prospective clients were cautious about taking me on if they knew I wasn’t located in the same city, even though briefs were often carried out over the phone or email and never face to face. Something was reassuring for my clients, knowing that we were based in the same city.
COVID changed all that. Suddenly, and it really did feel like it happened overnight, it became acceptable to work remotely and deliver your work online. With lockdowns enforced worldwide to combat the virus, businesses gave their employees a choice (or no choice) to work from home. All of a sudden, the future of work had shifted. According to Pew Research, just 20% of American working adults worked from home before the pandemic. By December 2020, 71% were working from home. I believe the future of work was headed in this direction already, but COVID certainly accelerated the trend. That’s an understatement; COVID shot a rocket up the trend’s ass.
I remember the precise moment I realized the world would never be the same. After all, how could one forget such a time? I was working remotely from a pristine tropical beach near Mombasa, Kenya, without caring. Think palm tree-lined beaches, white sand, and turquoise waters. My accommodation was this awesomely shit rustic hotel on the beach. I had some copywriting work and money in the bank. Well, money in the stock market.
It was the end of February 2020, and the virus had just begun spreading worldwide. Up until that point, I thought it was just another SARS 2.0. There was no way the virus would escape Asia. But it had. It had reached Europe, North America, and even my home, Australia. When the Chinese reported the virus was transmissible when the carrier was asymptomatic, I knew it was time to go home. This was the moment.
I cut my trip short and booked the first available flight. A month earlier, I had flown to Africa, and only a select few were wearing masks inside the terminals and planes. Almost everybody wore a mask except me on the way home, and the lady next to me on the leg home to Australia kept reminding me to do so. It didn’t help that I was slightly hungover and sniffling a bit. Paranoia was settling in.
I arrived home in Fremantle, Western Australia, and not long after, our prime minister, Scotty from marketing, closed Australia's borders. The virus was spreading fast in Australia and around the world. Italy was already off the charts. Italy? Why Italy? I remember wondering.
And, to top it off, work suddenly dried up. Marketing budgets tightened and the world was in a panic. Perhaps most bizarrely, people panic-bought toilet paper, stocking up on it like the apocalypse was upon us and they were literally going to shit themselves. I mean, really, WTF was that about?
Toilet paper aside, I had gone from relaxing on a tropical beach in paradise without a care in the world to, nek minnit, struggling to keep my head above water. I was unsure how I would pay the rent next week. Oh yeah, and I didn't have any toilet paper because all the panic-buying morons had cleaned out the supermarket shelves! I don't know about you, but it would be something like Vegemite if I were to stock up on one item.
Then, after the lockdown was enforced and people were instructed to work from home, suddenly, working remotely became the norm. Video conferencing software like Zoom exploded in popularity, and many businesses were forced to pivot and go online. Additionally, the importance of content marketing was fully realized, and, as a result, I was in demand again, perhaps more so than ever. And absolutely no one questioned me about delivering my work remotely. In fact, it was expected.
Not long after the lockdown was lifted in the greater Perth Region, I flew to Tropical North Queensland (Australia's Florida) and hit the road while I worked. Friends, peers, clients, and even strangers asked how I managed to work and travel so freely during the pandemic, a time when many people were struggling. Some wanted to know how I became location-independent and how they could too. While living and working remotely on beautiful Magnetic Island, I decided to start a blog documenting my journey to becoming location-independent.
Work, as we know it, is changing before our eyes. I feel there's a kind of "awakening" taking place as people reassess their relationship with work. The global pandemic and government-enforced work-from-home orders have millions questioning the long commutes, petty office politics, overtime, and holidays for four weeks a year. According to a global study by The Future Forum:
Executives who work remotely are nearly three times more likely than employees to prefer returning to the office full-time; 76% of employees do not want to return to full-time office work.
Also, 76% of employees want flexibility where they work, and 93% want flexibility when they work.
There's gotta be another way to exist, one friend stated while asking me about my work. And there is.
While there's a lot of information about freelancing and entrepreneurship, there’s little on how to transition from full-time office job to free agent. This book provides a way to make the transition with a safety net to put you at ease. If you follow the steps, tips, and strategies provided, combined with hard work and faith, you’ll create a totally different way of living; a life lived on your own terms. A life of freedom.
If I can do it, so can you. I am by no means remarkable. In fact, I am pretty bloody ordinary. I haven't achieved anything ground-breaking. But what I do have is a life where I go where I want and when I want, with a constant stream of income flowing in. I'm by no means wealthy, but I get by. I promise to you to be embarrassingly honest about how I got here.
The book will explain step-by-step, including all the stupid mistakes I made, how I went from a full-time, soul-destroying office job to a working freelancer and then a globe-trotting digital nomad.
By taking these steps, you too can claim your God-given birthright to live and work wherever and whenever you choose. To quote Gen Z, "YOLO!" It's actually true; you really only do live once. So live!
Ultimately, this book is designed to help you live to the fullest. If you don't, you risk becoming one of those old, bitter, and unhappy people whose consciousness will leave this world in a miserable state for eternity. Dark! But also true, and nobody wants that. So, let's be happy. Come on this journey with me. You're gonna love it, and the reward is greater than anything you can imagine.
Apologies in advance if I swear occasionally. I’ve been told to be as authentic as possible in my writing, and I have a bit of a filthy mouth. Lastly, I want to thank you for reading this book. You have taken a significant step and possibly a turning point in your life. And I am eternally grateful.
Of course, freelance life or becoming a business owner isn’t for everyone. Some are suited to employment, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We’re all wired differently. Hell, at the time of writing this, I have permanent part-time work (albeit remote), and employment does have some advantages. Like at tax time, for example. Every year when I do my taxes, I think it would be so much easier if I was employed right now. Luckily, it’s becoming easier to have remote employment, but the competition is fierce. However, if you follow the steps inside this book, you won’t need to search for those opportunities. They’ll come to you. More on this in later chapters.
This book is for the free spirits, those of you who yearn for something more, another form of existence, who are curious about the world and its people and cultures. If that sounds like you, and you wish to take control, please read ahead and acquire the knowledge I wish I’d had. Learn from my mistakes. But most of all, enjoy the ride, and please reach out for advice or encouragement anytime by email at me@timroberts.com.au.
