Remote work story of Victoria Puzach

Can you please introduce yourself?

Full-time traveler, kitesurfer and entrepreneur with the primary background in EdTech and Events. Founder & CEO of Infokus and Work Travel Summit.

What’s your profession, what do you do?

I’m an entrepreneur and together with my team we help academics, thought leaders, and authors amplify their voice and grow their digital reach while our clients can focus on what they do best, write and research. Also I’m a generalist with the primary set of skills in digital marketing and belief that in the world of overwhelming amounts of information, good knowledge and discoveries have to stand out.

What company do you work for? Are you a freelancer or Digital Nomad?

After working for Mindvalley.com (12 million students worldwide) and transitioning into the world of remote, I decided to hire myself. Now I’m building my own marketing company, Infokus.

How did you start with a remote work journey?

In August 2018 I nervously walked into my office in Kuala Lumpur to ask my manager if she can let me go fully remote. It’s been my dream to experience a one-way ticket lifestyle and become fully nomadic. By then I’ve been a 16 people team manager and nobody from the team leaders were fully remote in my company. She only asked me one question: will you be able to do it? After my firm “Yes”, she let me go.

What do you think are the main benefits of working remotely?

> being able to live where others vacation and kitesurf or [insert your own active hobby] on your own terms aka whenever I want.

> take advantage of the global arbitrage and work literally with the whole world as my clients or team members.

Do you think there are disadvantages or that you’re missing something by working remotely?

My remote work comes together with the full-time slow travel. I’m often missing real life bond and community experiences.

From what cities or countries have you worked since you have become remote? What are your favourite countries or cities to work from?

4 years of being fully remote and 20+ countries.  I loved working from Porto, San Francisco, and Tallinn but would always prefer a small beach town with good wifi to a city vibe.

From what type of places do you prefer to work? Home, co-working spaces, coffee shops, or others?

Changing the work environment from time to time helps me to shift focus between different priorities. I mostly work from the DIY home office or Co-working spaces when they are available. Coffee shops and other public places are good for mellow brain intensity tasks.

What places would you like to travel to while working remotely?

I would like to explore Australia and check out internet speed in Antarctica :)

“Busyness” syndrome: my time and focus are always limited, learning to prioritize what’s more important was the key.

What works for me: > Hiring a virtual assistant > Getting Things Done - GTD - system with the regular daily and weekly review of the incoming tasks > Filling in my calendar schedule with not only meetings but time slots to rest, reflect, particular deep work task etc.

What tools do you use to improve productivity and manage work efficiently?

Apple Notes & Google Calendar Async. communication via: Slack & Telegram

How do you manage your business and taxes as a remote working professional?

With the help of a professional.

What advice would you give to people looking to work remotely?

Remote work is becoming the new normal, the competition for the positions are high. Invest time and efforts to gain a competitive advantage by obtaining new relevant skills, repackaging your existing experience and go the extra mile to stand out as a candidate. Join professional communities, grow your network and become visible as a specialist by building your personal brand via LinkedIn.

Do you work on any side projects?

I love organizing monthly experiences - CoLife Home - for friends and like-minded entrepreneurial people in different parts of the world. Work Travel Summit - virtual event to reimagine work and travel in the new normal

Links to your side projects?

colifehome.com to be updated soon. worktravelsummit.com

Please share if you can. I moved to Dominican Republic, Cabarete for 4 months to only learn that hosting our multi days virtual Work Travel Summit with 90+ speakers and thousands participants would be a challenge because of the island wide internet breakdown that kept happening a week before the event.

I’m not a religious person but I kept praying for this not to happen during the event even though we have prepared additional internet backups and my producers were ready to support us from other countries with more stable internet. In the end, everything went smoothly and I learned the lesson of triple checking not only the internet speed but the quality and risks of blackouts when relocating to new spots.