Coliving — How a CTO is cleaning a bathroom in Cambodia.
TLDR; This is a re-post from the story behind AngkorHUB which was on Steemit and a bit about myself, from a good career path to starting a coworking & coliving space in Cambodia.
I did clean the bathrooms and I was so happy to do it, because I was validating the concept of coworking and coliving in 2015. 3 years later, we are regularly at full occupancy without any serious advertisements and looking to scale.
This text is mostly about how I have started my journey, from chasing the romanticized lifestyle of the digital nomads to a real business/challenge convincing people about the future of work/living, in a seasonal and transient destination.
So here it goes,
Living the dream?
When I left Montréal in 2010 to work in Nice France, a world of possibilities opened. Access to cheaper traveling options, explore a surrounding country just over a weekend, good weather and amazing wines …
If you are an entrepreneur, you may not judge me.
Money was not the reason, I didn’t ask any raise for 3 years. I must admit, I was getting depressed. Surrounded by talented people, nerf guns and 2 hours lunch breaks.
The Million Dollar Homepage: Office Wantrepeneur
Comfortable or dream job for some, I was still trapped in an office working for someone else where my biggest dreams would become reality. I would just dream of finding the next idea like the Million Dollar Homepage and wish that I would make enough to quit my job. Along with dozens of other projects or small businesses I had burning my evening, weekends and sometimes relationships.
Few readings later such as The Lean Startup and The 4 Hours Work Week...
I quit everything.
I had the chance to be able to do what some dream about, ditched my job and book a ticket to do 3 months trip WAIT … lot of wantrepreneurs can, but it is never the right moment, I know, I was one of them until my body and my soul decided it was over, like an inner force that I am grateful today, it was a call for life and not in a spiritual way.
Back to the story, I broke my lease, bought a 65 liters backpack, read overkill advice and bought all traveler items for a globe-trotter trip: the money belt I never used, the instant-water-decontamination, etc .. I WAS READY!
I stored my old car (VW Golf 97, probably a good reason why I was able to have savings) … bought my cat to a friend and booked around-the-world open tickets. I put my earphones and enjoy the flight with my 4 hours work week book as a bible. The digital nomad cliché.
Just a 3 months test working while traveling
Asia was my first destination and I was so curious about it. I was trying to find my path and knew the burning entrepreneur inside me wanted to be free, after all, that is why I quit everything, a new beginning: listening to myself.
I was backpacking as a digital-nomad and as all the others have read The four hours workweek by Tim Ferris, I had to build my muse and benefit from micro-retirements and enjoy life now concepts.
A relationship later, I was already away for 6 months
I knew, my friends knew and my cat knew that I wasn’t going to come back anytime soon. You may have expected it … I found the answers.
How to make money online
DISCLAIMER: Without this new idea, I may have registered to seminars and retreat to learn “how to be a digital nomad” or “how to make money online”, passive income, etc .. funny fact, most of the time, the trainers are digital nomads making money selling you this. So ask credentials.
Nah this is not the way for me!
How to be a Digital Nomad
The story is, I was just standing there by the beach in Sihanoukville south of Cambodia where I joined an old-time friend, I was doing like most of the digital nomads, promoting a lifestyle that isn’t for most, with laptop by the beach and sipping cocktails by the pool and just burning their saving accounts nagging their old cubicle-friends.
@cfaribault and I at Otres Beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
The Ah-Ah Moment
I was trying to find a new way to make a living, was fixing a backlog of things for my clients, mostly for web related stuff and some SEO. But that I knew it was not it …
Macbook by the beach in a bad working posture is just for hashtagging #digitalnomad on instagram ..
checkout my satire “Top Cities fo Digital Nomads”
That’s not real, this can’t be the dream that I read about, that very place where another travel-blogger wrote about, yeah right, your cocktail next to your MacBook, the truth is: not be able to see anything with the sun on my glossy screen, the wind will blow sand on my keyboard, crappy Internet and unreliable electricity .. yeah, sounds like a first-world problem, I will get back to this later.
To address that, magine a coworking space by the beach, with a view on the sea.
That was it, the Ah-Ah moment, since then, an exciting journey yet to happen. For the impatient, 3 years later, I do run a coworking space in Cambodia, but not by the beach
Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat
See the temples and work on my business plan
I came to Siem Reap a week later after the idea happened, I opened the pandora box, all my skills and what I’ve learned became usable. If I could make money online elance upwork, I could help young Cambodians to do it and make a positive change. That’s it, a coworking space with a social value!!
The Shift
While working in cafés in town, I often experienced power cuts, slow Internet and I was smiling. Smiling because I was validating the need. The need for a coworking space, world-class Internet, stable electricity and an espresso machine :)
3 years later, no beach around and still smiling
Today, I am running AngkorHUB, a coworking and coliving space in Siem Reap. We are networking with organizations such as social enterprises, NGOs or corporations to bring our vision to reality: Working together on a cause rather than the structure and stop re-inventing the wheel.
We have run workshops, training, started few projects in town and are working on an incubation program with other organizations as well as a project to connect people and causes to share resources. In a country where the living wage is set to 177 USD / Month, while a lot of people earn less than that, we believe we can create impact by empowering individuals who cannot afford to ditch their jobs to become independent. Just a little push and some people ready to give advice and share their contacts.
Wanna help or visit us? Come by AngkorHUB or contact me by private message!
I hope this little story of mine helped burning entrepreneurs because success is only measured with the freedom it creates and anxiety it removes. I feel happy and know I will achieve many great projects because now ideas are coming every day and I only struggle to resist of working on all of them.
Best of luck and thanks for reading me.
Jeff
