RWL051 David Outpost How to Thrive in a Remote Work Lifestyle through Co-Living and Immersive Travel

Alex Wilson-Campbell

0:01

Hello, good afternoon, good evening or good morning, wherever you may be in the world. Today it's another edition of the Remote Work Life Summit, and I have a great guest with me. Today I've got the co-founder of Outpost with me. You can find the website at outpost-asiacom and Outpost Asia. Outpost itself is specifically to do with co-living and co-working neighborhoods in really idyllic locations, and one of those locations is Bali, and today I think, david, you're talking to me from Bali, am I right?

David Abraham

0:42

I'm talking to you from Bali, that's correct.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

0:44

Excellent, wonderful and, david, I know there's lots of people within my community who are looking to escape the nine to five cubicle. They're looking to really sort of connect and grow in a different environment, completely different environment, environment that's not as hustle and bustle. Could you tell us a bit more about Outpost please?

David Abraham

1:13

Sure Well, you're hitting on the demographic that we really focus on, and thank you for inviting me to speak today. What we find is that, or what studies that two thirds of millennials feel stuck in either their work or their life. They feel that there's something more out there, but they can't find it. They could be in debt from going to school. Social media has made it actually more difficult to truly connect with other people, and many of them want to make the world a better place, but they're stuck and if they can't go out and see the world, how can they make it a better place? So this is really where Outpost comes in. What we've done is we've set up communities, or neighborhoods as we call them, in idyllic locations. We have two in Bali and one in Cambodia and we're really focusing on giving people a place to go to find people who are like themselves, they want to explore, they want to grow personally and professionally, so they're not seeking a vacation per se from their life. They want to create a life where there's opportunity for growth and betterment of the world and there's that connection really connecting with people who have those same aspirations.

David Abraham

2:30

So Outposts was set up originally by my partner, brian, and I.

David Abraham

2:34

We had both been pretty peripatetic in our careers, traveling from place to place, often living in cities, and I was in Tokyo for a while and New York, and those are wonderful places, but realized there's a some other places that I wanted to spend some time and he was traveling around beijing and jakarta and we decided um to set up in bali, to set up an office that was for us, and so it was really a place to be productive and what we saw over time were the people who were coming to us. It wasn't just a place that they were looking for to get work done, it was really a lifestyle, and so what we're really focusing on is catering to that lifestyle. So we offer from our workplace, we offer living. So we manage rooms. In one of our locations in Bali, we have 30 rooms. In one of our locations in Bali, we have 30 rooms, for example, we also offer training. So, on life design, we're also having some writing courses and then how to grow your side hustle.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

3:39

So there are a number of courses that we're trying to build on to help people live the life that they really want to lead. Sounds great, sounds great. And I I think, when you, when you think of, or when you're in your office cubicle, I know I used to think that these sorts of um, these sorts of things were sort of beyond my imagination almost, and you would often see adverts and you used to think to yourself this is, this is too good to be true, you know. But you've made it. You've really made it happen and you've really built that up. Um, you've built your community, as you said, and you mentioned that, um, social media perhaps has made it more difficult to to actually do that, and I'm with you. I mean, social media has a part, but I think that those in-person interactions mean so much, so much more. How? I mean? Tell us about how you see, you know, the key elements to actually making those, those initial connections.

David Abraham

4:41

We talk a lot about shared experiences. So it's it's one thing, for example, to go to a movie and then you talk to someone else who saw the movie two or three weeks before and you can talk about the movie and you can bond a little bit. But being able to go through an experience with someone else, even if it is just simply seeing a movie or going through a yoga class with someone, it's these shared experiences that really foster connections. So we try to do is create shared experiences. Whether we're bringing donuts to at 10 am to to to our balcony so people can can bond over donuts, or whether it's a salsa lesson or whether it's a seo class, we try to create opportunities for a little bit of of shared interactions so that, over time, that people can build up the connections that they truly crave.

David Abraham

5:33

And I think what we find out is that our members are really our best advertising or marketing, because what happens is, like you said, you saw people living this lifestyle and you're like, well, I don't, really it's too far out there, but in actuality, what's happening is that your fantasy, if you will, is our members reality, and once you see that that reality could be yours. Well, it's a convert and really what we're showing is that there are other ways to live for two weeks, two months or two years. For me, a traveling lifestyle for longer than that is too much. For others, they want to make a whole life of just moving around from place to place.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

6:17

So we want to support that lifestyle, at least for the time that people want to have that opportunity people want to have that opportunity and how again I'm I'm actually these questions actually coming from me, quite a lot of from me, but others from the community that I, that, um, that I have as well, the remote work life community they want to know, you know, if they're looking to, you know, look, you know, locate elsewhere. Some, some of them, haven't even been on you know, holidays for that long. They may have been on holiday for a week, so locating their whole career and life is like perhaps quite something that's again beyond what they've done before. How would you suggest you prepare for something like this, this whole movement of yourself and your career to somewhere that's totally foreign and totally different? How do you actually get that going?

David Abraham

7:08

I think there are a multitude of ways and and there are many different people, who, who, who choose to do this. So when I was younger, for example, I went to japan and I taught english. I had no background in in teaching per se, but it was an opportunity to use what skills that I had and bringing them overseas. So there are many people who do that. Now they just leave where they're at, they find jobs teaching English and go from there. There are other people who say, well, I have some skills in business, let me try drop shipping. So there are people who say, all right, well, let me try drop shipping and figure out how I can, how I can, sell a few things online. I think the the more successful people have some original skill they've, they've have and they're trying to take that and do that internationally, and so I think that would be my recommendation.

David Abraham

8:02

So, if you've been working a few years in marketing, see what you can break off and have your own clients that you're currently working with.

David Abraham

8:09

Can you take them with you, and then you're you're able to live life more on your own terms. It's usually you get to pick your location, your career or your role, so you sacrifice one or the other when you choose solely your location. I think there are people who can make it happen wherever they are, but you're always giving up something, so there's always some trade off. You know, there's always a little rain in paradise, but, with that said, we think there's a tremendous amount of upside when you can really control the life that you're trying to lead. And I think really what we were talking about at the beginning of the call is a feeling that there's more out there, and I think what people are lacking is a sense of control, and so when people are traveling from place to place or with us for a few months, they feel that they're controlling things, and that sense of control is often missing when we're just doing the nine to five.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

9:08

No, I hear that and I think, like you said, there's lots of people that are looking to take control of their lives, take control of their own trajectory, their own destination. And I think I suppose sometimes, like you said, you have to take if you've got those skills or if you've got some sort of plan in place it's always good to have a plan, I guess, isn't? It Is to actually take those skills and working within the co-living and the co-working spaces.

David Abraham

9:54

I think people meet each other and then there's serendipitous interactions and oh, you do this, I do this. Let's see what we can do together. We can do together. But with that said, there are also certain things. When you go to another country, you've got some visa issues in terms of being able to work or not work in a certain place. So there are really some challenges that you might have in necessarily finding a job within a different country. But I think that you can definitely find your way to meet others and create and collaborate and find job opportunities for sure.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

10:32

So another question that I got asked is so one of the things that, as somebody who works remotely, I always look at, one of the first things I look at when I either take a holiday or I'm going to a new place, I always look at broadband first and the connection to the internet. But the question is, what other things do you think are imperative if you're sort of, especially if you're moving from you know your destination country to a country that's completely far? What other things should you look out for, and what other things do you need to have in your toolkit to sort of make things work? Would you say, David Sure?

David Abraham

11:15

I think the broadband one is an interesting one. I think that that we're many of these places getting beyond that. There is the stability in the internet in the places that we work. Work it's if people don't think about the electricity, but you know, that's a, that's a concern, and I think in the future people are going to give as much thought to the internet as they give to the electricity now.

David Abraham

11:38

Um, so I think what you highlight is that they're, they're they're headline concerns that people see, you know it's the internet there, how is, but but but really, what the concerns are is can you, can you meet other people? Can you find a place that you feel at home for for the length of time that you're there? And I think that's ultimately the way that we find fulfillment Are we able to contribute to something? Is our job meaningful or is is the how we're living our life of meaning? So I think they're almost more internal questions that people have to ask but also to see hey, if I'm going here, are there? Are there? Are there? Are there people especially for those who are first timers, if you will Are there people like they're like me, that I, that I can meet?

David Abraham

12:23

And then you start to explore and say, all right, well, I'm more interested in going here or going there. I know these types of people are in Vietnam and I want to go, I want to head there. So I think that once you get past the all right, can I rent out my apartment in London or San Francisco? And where do I put? Do I have to put my stuff in storage? Once you get beyond that, it's these hidden things that you don't think much about hey, if I go here, will I be lonely? You know I'm having trouble organizing my day because there's so much to do and I'm not getting work done. Those are the issues that, on a day to day, that people kind of are what they're facing when they're really out there day-to-day that people kind of um are what they're facing when they're really out there.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

13:11

No, I, I hear that. Thank you, david, thank you. And so another thing is that, uh, that feeling of I don't know, working remotely or working again as a digital nomad, you, you tend to be moving around a lot. So those relationships, those initial connections that you make, can sometimes be quite uh, it can be quite a challenge to actually sort of grow those connections, those relationships are there. Are there any tips that you can give, david, about? You know, because I know you're very values driven outpost is very value driven and the people, people that you sort of um encourage into the community, are very values driven as well and purpose driven. Are there any bits of advice that you can give in terms of holding on to those connections and making them sort of really sort of work for the individual?

Deepening Connection Through Immersive Travel

David Abraham

14:01

well for me. I we talk about our values of exploration and growth and connection, and exploration to me isn't going out there and being in one place in one week, one place in another. For me, exploration is really digging in and staying in one spot for a while, so five months, six months longer in one location, and that's where you start to really build those, those connections, because what you do is you'll, you'll have these if you go. In my opinion, if you move faster, you have these wonderful experiences and you're, you're, you're gaining perspective. But what you really lose in that is is is the depth of experience with other people, and so my recommendation is to spend longer and check less off the bucket list and really go deeper, learn a bit more of the language and you find things to be more rewarding, at least in my opinion.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

15:03

No, I think that's really good because, again, when you look on places like YouTube, for example, you see lots of videos of people going from one place to another, to another and, like you said, they're not really sort of getting a feel for their environment. They're not making those, like you said, those connections. They're not really exploring that they're. They're perhaps, like you said, ticking things off their list and going from place to place. So I think it's a wonderful piece of advice to actually really embed yourself and sort of really get a feel for where you are and like the culture, the language, and really immerse yourself in that. So I love that. I love that.

David Abraham

15:38

And as an American, there was a time where people, especially when I was younger, they would take three weeks off or four weeks off and go to Europe. And you'd hear people say, well, I, I did, I did rome, I did, uh, you know, I did, uh, I did spain, I did london, I, I did the czech republic, and they were spending two days in each spot and they were doing that and, yes, it's wonderful. You can I mean you can recall what it's like to be in prague and you would recall what it to be in Budapest. You've got that image, but you're just rushing through and having a beer in this place and a beer in that place, um, and it's a fabulous experience that you can recall that, but really the depth isn't there. And to me, my more rewarding experiences were when I was spending longer times in places, when, when things happened to me, like trains didn't show up and I was stuck spending a night in the train station.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

16:32

You know those types of experiences well not always fun are the ones that are most rewarding and help you grow, and and so you have those more often than not, when you stay in one place and you experience it rather than doing it now again, I love that because, perhaps, um, the, the generation before, uh, you know, the zennial generation, as far as you could say that, where you had the, um, the holiday experiences, we literally fly you in sort of experience it, like you said, experience it and then take your pictures and come back. But now I think, um, lots of millennials, who may be listening to this, they want a lot more, don't they? They want to um, get a fit, get more of a feel and more of a. They want to feel part of it, and I think that's the best way to go about it, and I think, um, I think outpost is a great way, is a great way to actually enable them to to do that, and I think that I mean that leads quite nicely onto your, onto your um.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

17:28

You mentioned your values are connect, explore and grow. We've covered the first two. I think that does enable you to grow, doesn't it? Because if you're experiencing new things, experiencing new cultures even that thing where you mentioned about the train and all that sort of thing that in itself may seem like a bad experience at the time, but you're growing, you're learning from that. Right, may seem like a bad experience at the time, but you're growing, you're learning from that right um. So, in terms of that growth aspect, what other areas you know? How else do you feel that that growth can be achieved as well?

David Abraham

17:59

david sure well, then, at outpost we have the personal growth and the professional growth, and we and we have um events, um, so that so that was speaking about earlier whether it's styles of dancing or marketing or branding. So we have a number of different events where you can grow professionally if you will, and then other ones where there's personal growth. We also have courses. So we have something we call Code Remote, where people come in for seven weeks and learn Python and it's fabulous to see that someone has come in with no experience and at the end they had an Airbnb clone. So there's tremendous growth there.

David Abraham

18:42

And then, after learning how to code, you're in the Outpost network and there are always people who are going to need those skills. So it's almost an entree point, or it is an entree point into the community and into the lifestyle. So that's something that we offer. And there are other classes, like I had mentioned, on writing and finding meaning to you in a lifestyle, called our Life Design Lab. So we offer those courses as well. So that's the the more formal learning and the informal learning that you had mentioned as well. You know, I'm I'm in indonesia and watching how people live and work and and I'm in uh nam pen, cambodia, and seeing the frenetic pace and how people are are are are making their lives here.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

19:29

Again, great. That's. Another key thing I always try to put across is you know, as well as the cultural aspects in terms of your growth, there's also the, as you mentioned, the hard skills, because the world is moving so quickly and you know as much as it's good to have a good skill set, say, for example, in marketing, if you can learn something like SEO or writing or, like David says, even coding web designers or SEOs or writers so having that additional skill set is going to make you a much more valuable proposition to your clients or to whoever you may be working for. So those soft skills, as well as the hard skills, are just really imperative for your growth, your personal and professional growth.

David Abraham

20:28

It's exactly. It's exactly that we. What I found in throughout my career and we find now is that if you can speak the language and so if you, if you learn coding and you're not a coder you understand the language. So you can be that person between the CEO and that and and the text and the tech team there there are many. If you know marketing and you know the language and the words team there are many. If you know marketing and you know the language and the words that people use, you can translate that for the business folks. There's so much that you can do by just learning how people speak and just learning the basics that you can really find your career being propelled in many different directions.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

21:08

I think so, and it's like you said, david, I think, because maybe people have in their mind that, you know, I only learn code if I want to be a coder. That's just not the case, I think. Even you know the actions or the interactions that you have with people, or the understanding of those different skill sets, is just going to take you so much further. But on top of that, though, the growth aspect in terms of, you know, developing your own community. You start off with one or two people, and that one person may introduce you to another, to another, another. You never know where that that person who you meet um may be. In one or two years time. They may be CEO of their own company, right, um? And then that connection that you've made, well, that exploring that you've done, um, that community that you've built up, is again contributing to your own, to your own growth, isn't it, david?

David Abraham

22:09

Right, and that's the wonderful thing about Outposts. So if you're in London, you're, if you will, restricted by the people who are around you, and London is a tremendously international city, so there's wonderful people to meet all of the time, but it doesn't compare to an Outposts, because you'll be sitting next to someone from Brazil, someone from the UK, someone from Australia, someone from Indonesia and you see, and you're working on your businesses and your ideas in very different ways, and so that there are so many people around there to meet and you've got wonderful opportunities to maintain those connections. Boy, it's hard to maintain oh, yes, yeah, people for sure, those connections, boy, it's hard to maintain connections with 50 people, for sure, but the opportunity is there. So that's really what we think is a fantastic experience when people come through Outposts is just that there is that diversity of people from almost everywhere.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

23:05

Yeah, it's a skill in itself, isn't it, david? Maintaining connections, because you want to sort of send somebody an email, but you don't want to do it too regularly, or you want to make a phone call, but when is the right time to do that? So I think it's so undervalued, these sort of face-to-face interactions, how, if you can build those up, it can really make it much easier to sort of maintain them down the line, right?

David Abraham

23:30

Right, right. Well, it's how we've you know, as humans, how we've always had connections. It's been physical, it's been, you know, it's been right there in front of you. So the fact that we have these opportunities to Skype, call and breathe as present as we can with the computer, it's still obviously not the same as the physical presence. And being able to hang out in the evening on the beach with people all over the world and talking about the life you want to lead, or whether you sit back and talk about your business ideas. To have that opportunity and have the sounding board of people from many different places is really what the Outpost experience is about.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

24:15

Yeah, and I know we've got a limited amount of time, david, but what I want to just say, as well as those connections, that ability to make connections, what are the traits or what are the aspects of somebody working remotely or as digital nomad, somebody sitting here today thinking to themselves actually this, this lifestyle, is for me. What other traits do you feel are important for you to actually survive and to actually really make this sort of lifestyle work for yourself?

David Abraham

24:45

is to really have a good sense of direction and plans on where you want to be and how you want to grow and then, at the same time, realize that once you put that sale up, your direction might go in a different way. But then reset those plans. You know, have an idea of where you want to go and how you want to get there. You want to get there and then be crafty enough or agile enough to know that sometimes there's a, there's a flow that you caught in and it's going to bring you in a different direction.

David Abraham

25:15

um, so I I think those the, the ability to plan and and look forward and change is is really, uh, is critical but you can't just say I'm gonna go out there and I'll figure it out, because to me that that's not always setting yourself up for the best chance of success.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

25:35

No, I agree, I agree 100%. And as far as Outpost, what's the future looking like for Outpost? And do you have any more locations planned at all? Sure will we.

David Abraham

25:49

It's really wonderful to see where our members are going. They're coming from one of our locations on the beach in Bali to in the mountains, to our location in Cambodia. We just like to be able to serve our members wherever they're traveling. We think being able to set up that network provides people the shared experiences not just in Bali but elsewhere. So we're really excited about the future and creating a community of many neighborhoods, if you will. So we're excited about the future.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

26:26

Excellent, and I know I mentioned url at the top of the the call. Is there somewhere other than that url that people should look if they're interested in, you know, setting up an outpost?

David Abraham

26:39

I think, I think the websites are, you know, outpost. Asiacom is the best place to start to learn about our living and and working environments, as well as training. Um, you could google and see and see the news articles about us. Um, there's some, you know, wonderful news and videos of people who've come through here. Um, so we're, you know, we're excited to to see more people come through it, adopt the lifestyle.

David Abraham

27:03

Like I said, the, the challenge when you're sitting there in your office feels like, how do you get out of the lifestyle? Yeah, uh, for sure it feels that way, um, but it's, it's easier if you just say, hey, I'm ready to do it. Um, I, I think, once you find a place for your stuff or once you rent out your place, everything else is easy and just commit to it. Just commit to it, realize it's going to be this amount of time and yeah, and so what happens is some people come out and they're with us for two months or two and a half months, and they had an idea and they couldn't get it started or they couldn't get the business plan, or the business plan didn't work and, you know, worst thing that happened was they were with us for two and a half months had an amazing time. Um, they, they learned, they had a vacation, they met fabulous people and they go home, um, so let that be the worst thing doesn't sound too bad to me at all, david, thank you.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

28:01

I just want to say thank you so much for for joining us here today at remote work life summit. We'll be looking out for what's going on at outpost hyphen, asiacom and um. Hopefully I get to speak to you again soon in the future to to catch up hopefully get to see you out here soon.

David Abraham

28:18

Yeah, and that as well, yeah you've got a spot.

Alex Wilson-Campbell

28:21

Oh, brilliant, thanks, david thanks.