Credit photo: Emilie @ Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

When Pierre-Luc asked me in 2017 to join rhum, I was in Baja California with my campervan, my surfboard, my friends, not much in my bank account, but I was pretty happy. I had been there for around 9 months then, and didn’t miss my 9-5 job in Montreal. However, something was lacking: challenges for myself and feeling useful to the world. The trade off I decided was to go back to Montreal, work a couple of months for rhum, and leave again on an adventure around the world.

But that did not happen. Why? WFA. Work-From-Anywhere - an emerging form of remote work nowadays. In 2019, I worked remotely for 2 months, from Puerto Escondido, Mexico, and in 2020, one week from Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. I have the chance to work for an employer who allowed me to design my lifestyle in a way that really resembles me with that flexibility.

Credit photo: Emilie @ Puerto Escondido, Mexico

Although I didn’t really need to convince my employer to do so (lucky me!), I wanted to share a few points for your manager conversations if they are more skeptical than mine about WFA practices (some of them backed up by a study from Harvard Business school) :

WFA employees generally show an increase in productivity of 4.4%, which does not translate into a “significant” work overload for those who stay in the office (Choudhury and al., 2019).
Geographic flexibility might enable you to move to a location affording greater psychic benefits such as better climate, quality and simplicity of life, which naturally boost productivity (Choudhury and al., 2019). And, if I may add, your creativity will also be positively affected, as it allows you to have a clear and open mind by being exposed to new cultures and landscapes and environment and new people.
Some destinations can free you from some daily personal responsibilities (such as chores, commute time to go to work), leaving you more time to focus on what matters.

According to Choudhury,P. and al. study, productivity of WFA workers increases due to relocating to destinations where the cost of living is cheap - suggesting that it is one motivating benefit since they end up having more money in their pocket. FYI, Mexico is definitely a low-cost location, Costa Rica, not so much.

Ouff. Now that you’ve gained buy-in from your employer and that you’re one step closer to your dream life, here’s how to make sure you commit to your engagements (don’t screw it up for us other WFA workers):

Make sure you’ve been employed there long enough to establish trust with your team and your manager, but also, make sure that you have benefited from the learning that happens organically in a face-to-face environment.
Set the channels of communication with your team beforehand. Be in touch with them and your clients on a daily basis. Skype, Hangout, Slack? Make sure you are able to make those video calls/chats where required.
Agree on deadlines and deliverables that you’ll need to respect while you’re away. Manage expectations. Set core hours you’ll commit to be reachable.
Make your calendar and agenda your best friend as a tool to keep your discipline on tasks and communications. Book in advance one-on-one meetings with manager/colleagues/clients.
If you have the time while you’re still at the office, work on alleviating regular processes that will make teamwork more efficient.
Keep a journal of some accomplishments you’ve made while you were away to have a stronger case study next time you ask for another workation.
Last but not least, MAKE SURE YOU’LL HAVE RELIABLE WIFI CONNECTION.

There you go. You’ve learned the secret Rhum Punch Cocktail recipe to become a Professional Beach Bum. There are plenty of beautiful places that are convenient for remote work, either you rent a nice Airbnb with a workstation, or you rent a space in a CoWorking. Do your research, talk to your manager, book a ticket, and send me a postcard from your little corner of paradise. ¡Buen viaje!

How to become a professional beach bum