I’m incredibly stoked to announce that I’ve been selected as the most recent addition to the RemoteYear.com posse. This is essentially a study abroad-type program akin to “Semester at Sea” that enables young professionals with remote working arrangements to travel the world while they work. I’ve looked at planning a work-from-the-road expedition like this myself previously across the US but the overhead associated with coordinating travel & lodging made it unfeasible to do solo. This is basically “nomadic working as a service” and makes it all possible and safer as we travel as a group with lodging/travel/event logistics just handled. It will be 12 cities in 12 months (full itinerary here). I leave May 28th for Prague.

Lot’s of loose ends to resolve before I hit the road but the whole trip seems far less-intimidating knowing that I’m traveling with my friend and fellow “outdoor cat” Chris Peloquin. I want to give a public shout-out here to Josh & Sally Strebel for their faith & trust in me to take this opportunity and continue delivering the results I have been for Pagely only from abroad. I had dinner with Sally last night to get her blessing and Josh, to his credit when I asked him said, “We should all create our own reality. I just care about results. I don’t care which continent you deliver them from.” If you want to work at a company that places that level of faith & trust in its employees and has a remote-work-friendly company culture, we’re hiring for a boatload of technical positions right now at Pagely.

I started 2016 with the stated goal to double Pagely’s sales this year. I won’t divulge revenue numbers as we’re privately-held but having just completed Q1 we’re exactly 25% to that goal and I haven’t even implemented the funnel tweaks that should have compounding effects. The improvement thus far was purely from shoring up followup and sales process. The hat trick I’m intending is to not only accomplish the stated ambitious goal of doubling our revenue in one year, but simultaneously doing it while seeing the world and documenting the strategies and techniques I used so that others can do the same for their endeavors and weave their own magic carpet.

Getting deep on the Why

I’ve been very public about my endorsement of Simon Sinek’s “Why University” program. He has a whole framework for unearthing what your core “why” is and embracing it. I wanted to take a sec here and deconstruct my why on this. IMO true foreign diplomacy does not occur from the Oval Office. It occurs at the dinner tables in foreign lands when strangers break bread together and seek to understand each other’s cultures, customs, celebrations, fears, religions, philosophies, aspirations, familial ties, frustrations and goals. This type of foreign diplomacy happens one conversation at a time and is how we meaningfully dispel stereotypes, bias, hatred, racism and prejudice. I pledge to be the best possible ambassador of the US (and Arizona – go AZ!) to the places I visit. It’s my hope that I can do a small part to represent our culture well and mend unfounded misconceptions wherever possible. You can read more on my Why on my about page.

I did an exchange program in Quito, Ecuador years ago in college. When I left I took a blank journal with me which I started on the plane. Unbeknownst to me my father had taken it and written the following words on the last page of that journal:

Observe
Inquire
Reflect

I have yet to come up with a more concise prescription for fellow travelers than those three words. My Dad is a very wise man. You should read more from him here.

If you know anyone in Phoenix who is looking for a place to live, I’m looking to rent out my furnished Phoenix apartment for the next year and hopefully return to it when I come back in summer 2017.

For all my Phx peeps, I will miss you guys over the next year. Chris and I are planning to do a bon voyage sendoff end of May. I hope you will join us and see us off. More info to follow on that.

Lastly, I will be doing a rolling monthly email update as we move city to city as well as obligatory Instagram photos of all the best places we visit. I had started these periodic updates in October last year but it’s been tough to stay disciplined with regular updates. The monthly move from city to city should provide a good framework for me resuming those updates. If you want to follow along with those get my email update here and follow my Instagram here.

I’m so thrilled to have this opp. I promise to make the most of it and share as much of the experience as possible here on this blog.