Working remote from Goa | Early thoughts

A lazy afternoon where I sit and write this article below in Colva

I am sitting on a porch overlooking the paddy fields, there is a gentle coastal breeze blowing and I can feel the mild rays of the sun on my face. I am grateful for WFH being kind to me in a time when the world is literally on fire. Lunch breaks have become long walks by the sea. It seems a bit unreal. Last year in 2019, during my around the world 7-month travel adventure, I had spent a month living in Bali and interacting with digital nomads who were based there. At that time, I would have given anything to be able to earn and live by the beach and build my future empire. Being someone who has only worked only at an offline office, it seemed like a distant dream at that time.

This year however post the pandemic when the pandemic started and WFH came into effect, all of my physical work meetings converted into Zoom calls and the office was now an endless stream of tables and word documents. I could sense feeling a little restricted sitting at home and felt that there could be a better way to ride out the next many difficult months that lie ahead. The thin line between work and home had been scratched out.

I started thinking of moving to places where I could go for long walks, enjoy the fresh air, and definitely be in a place that is less densely populated.

So what started as a two-month experiment in early September, has now become home till December 2020. After having moved here, I can’t imagine living in a big city in the near future.

The best thing about Amazon is that now you can every comfort of city life delivered to you where ever you are. It just takes all of your logistical stress away.

I picked Goa because of Easy access and mobility, Good basic infrastructure, Tremendous variety for food and eating out, Coastal location, Ample Availability of places with Wifi and power backup, and interesting art and people while giving you the pleasures of clean air and living in nature. What else does a human want?

Some early observations that felt good—

• In small coastal towns luxury beyond a particular baseline loses its meaning as an aspirational concept. Life choices become more functional and minimalistic. You feel at peace just by being in the moment.
• The ego goes down. People become more receptive, open, and are able to interact in much calmer and open environments. You end up creating more high-quality in-depth relationships in calm and peaceful environments outside the travails of normal society.
• Go to a co-working space in Goa and you will find happy entrepreneurs and people having a great time working hard and living healthy.
• You get to work out in open spaces with clean fresh air and not have people jostling for space in cramped boxes or cars honking in the background.
• You don’t have to wait for an Uber or keep searching for parking spaces. I have a scooter for the quick weekday commutes and end up taking a car over the weekends for long drives to a different part of Goa. I write this article from Colva on a Sunday with this peaceful view that you see at the start of the article.
• You will realize that I am like a little child who loves the idea of a beach and clean fresh coastal air. That’s because it’s exactly that.
• I like being in places with lots of small cafes and joints and less traffic. I like being surrounded by art and pleasant people. Most people that you meet in Goa usually have an interesting story and are working on fascinating projects beyond the typical.
• And most importantly — When you sit in a cafe, surrounded by trees and the chirping of birds, you can smile at people and they will smile back.

Many more feelings. But this will do for now.

Pitfalls becoming important to avoid with a remote lifestyle —

• Digital facelessness— Online presence replacing the serendipity of offline meetings. This is especially important as I am not a PM or a software developer who does not need proximity to people(outside of the organization) as a part of their day to day job and my job involves a significant amount of facetime with people in general. This was definitely a growing trend in the last many years but now I feel that it's critical for anyone still in the early or mid stages of their career.
• Possibility of isolation — To counter this I am starting to write and plan to create more digital content so that I can meet like-minded people online and then convert them into meaningful relationships both online and offline. I don’t see the purpose of life without being surrounded by interesting people doing amazing things and building things together. Its the extrovert in me that I just cannot get rid of.
• Fatigue and burnout — Spending time recharging myself and exposing myself to new thoughts, opinions and now thanks to Goa, well lots of places.
• Echo chambers — If you are only spending all of your time online, you are in all probability being fed only information that the algos must be feeding you. Your distance with people you do not get along with(but might have to talk to in an offline setting due to physical proximity)is increasing exponentially. Am exploring ways to avoid this.

What are my expenditures like?

• Same as in a city or maybe slightly lesser. Working remotely is not about cutting expenses. It’s about leading a better quality of life.

Some personal changes as I am trying to work remote —

• A digital presence and personal brand are becoming even more critical especially now with most work happening online and visibility becoming a currency. It takes a lot of time and effort to start but its compounding effects seem to be exemplary. I have started with small steps in that direction.
• Becoming more comfortable with documentation, communication, and work through a screen. This is a huge reason why companies like Roam Research, Airtable, Coda, and Notion are receiving insane funding. They are future workspaces, assistants, and playgrounds for teams.
• Working on becoming more expressive through text and hopefully video very soon in order to routinely be able to voice out my thoughts. Your online brand will either help you or trash you 24*7. Create Mindfully.
• Building a remote tribe of like-minded people.

What am I trying to build and research more on -

1. What is the future of Business development in a remote setting going to look like? If you are someone who has worked on Business dev/partnerships or growth roles while working remotely, would love to talk to you. What are your favorite tools and basic processes that you have in place? Do drop a text!

Feel free to reach out to me in case -

1. You have any questions about working in Goa. I will compile the questions and try to answer them for use for everyone interested in such an experiment.
2. I currently look at India partnerships and growth for a new Ed-Tech Business that Bytedance is building in the Education space in India and I was former Head of Ops and Unacademy and have worked in the CEO’s office in Embibe both of which have given me amazing insights into the potential of the Edtech industry in India and globally. Always open to exploring potential synergies between companies!
3. You can view my professional journey here (Linkedin).

Bonus — If you are looking to work remote for the rest of 2020, look out for the following things -

• Decent local supply chains, good road connectivity, and amazon retail coverage(Cannot be discounted, by the third week you will start feeling the pains if you are not able to order things for convenience)
• Power backup and strong wifi — Nothing is more important than a place that has power backup and inverter backup for wifi so that the zoom calls don’t get disconnected midway. Is there any feeling that’s worse?
• The pandemic is making social distancing critical. Try to be in areas that are not too congested(If you can)

A large chunk of work in the future will be remote and with the process getting accelerated significantly due to COVID, you will get the chance to build your life, basis factors that you feel contribute to your wellbeing and personal growth. These are great times for deep introspection and life choices that can have significant long terms impacts. All the best!