We have just learned of a new twist to running the Bulls in Pamplona during Sanfermin fiestas – at the same time create and maintain a Startup business venture while you are at it. This is what we learn from Intel which reveals that Konrad Waliszewski, operations manager at Speek, decided one fine day to get rid of all his properties and ties that were binding him to a particular place and he decided to continue his work while he travelled around the globe in what he called his #worldventureproject. Speek is a Startup created by Waliszewski which offers solutions to video-conference techniques and which allows him to work from anywhere as long as he has his new technology tools to work with. Thus, he combines travelling with work and he unburdens himself of all those things that bind a person to a particular place and location. Thanks to his use of the new technologies he can now work from any place around the globe.
And that is precisely what he is now doing as we have found out thanks to Intel and to an article from Timothy Gunatilaka where Waliszewski outlines how one fine day he realized that he did not need his office in Chicago in order to competently and successfully carry out his work. “So then I thought, if I could have been anywhere, why was I sitting in Chicago (where I lived at the time) — especially during the winter? Unable to come up with a good answer, I sold my car, canceled my lease and set off around the world. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I figured the worst case scenario would be that I lose all my revenue, burn through my savings and have to come back. I figured that it was a risk worth taking for such an incredible experience. I just made sure that I was always available by phone and email during U.S. hours. None of that happened, and I never missed a beat.I assumed traveling the world would actually increase my expenses, but it would be worth it. However, they were actually lower and my savings increased. The cost of living is generally much lower throughout the world, and I no longer had expensive rent, car payments, cable bills and other living expenses. Having visited approximately 50 countries, I’ve been fortunate to have many fascinating experiences. Some of the ones that come to mind are traveling through rural Mozambique by land, exploring Petra in Jordan, running with the bulls in Pamplona…”, said Konrad to IQ.
The Publication from Intel which treats of these nomadic digital users and underlines how Konrad Waliszewski maintains his Startup even as he is making his journey across the globe.
In spite of spending several days in Sanfermin fiestas, including participations in the Running of the Bulls, the professional career of Konrad continues to run smoothly. He travels with his laptop, his smart phone, his Kindle, and with a water-proof satchel for the rain. He also has his external battery, his extra money and his offline maps downloaded. With this particular outlook and attitude he does not forego his work commitments even in the middle of the fiestas scene and he points out “I believe that there are so many personal advantages, as well as academic and professional, in being able to travel, that it is a great pity that more people cannot manage to do it during their lives. Luckily, for me, thanks to the new technologies, work is not incompatible with travel.”
The tools which Konrad Waliszewski are: “Speek for all my telephone conferences and display work; Yesware for mail, because it is the most efficient and it allows templates to be created for the repetitive parts of mail which avoids having to write the same thing 10 times per day; I also externalize many of my tasks to my virtual assistant at Zirtual to make better use of my time. I also use oDesk and Fiverr for certain projects; Dropbox to back up my files and to ensure that I can accede to these from any kind of application. I can chat with people all day at HipChat and I also use an unblocked iiPhone. I also make use of the global roaming plan at Verizon for short trips. I also make sure to use local SIM cards wherever I am, if I am more than a day or two there, and particularly when the plans at Verizon are not covered in any particular zone.”
