Some people are able to live a life of flexible work hours and location independence without being self employed.
How do they do it? They’re some of the lucky few who’s employers have embraced a “results-only work environment” (or ROWE).
ROWE is a radical new way of working that focuses on results instead of face time. ROWE in practice means “each person is free to do whatever they want, whenever they want as long as the work gets done.”
Do you have a great tip or tutorial about designing a better lifestyle that you’d like to share with other lifestyle designers?
If so, Free Pursuits is looking for guest authors (and regular contributors) to create some killer articles for the community.
You’re probably reading this blog because you are focused on designing your ideal lifestyle. What drives you to create an extraordinary lifestyle?
Was there a specific moment or an event or some other catalyst that made you realize the path you were on wasn’t where you wanted to be?
There are some people lucky enough to have known from the start the direction they wanted their lives to take. However, many of us started on entirely different paths before we wondered why we had to fit into society’s idea of a successful life.
As lifestyle design writers, we tend to focus on technology and online businesses as the primary vehicle for achieving location independence.
Online businesses are attractive because they have the potential to be automated, thus affording the owner to work only a handful of hours each week. We also hear about technologists more because they’re more likely to be bloggers.
We shouldn’t confuse attractiveness or popularity for reality though. In my travels throughout Mexico this year, I have met far more nomadic people who work in “regular” jobs than people who work with technology.
Chris Guillebeau is living proof that nonconformity leads to success. He’s a rising star among lifestyle bloggers.
In just over nine months, he’s achieved the holy grail of blogging by making his blog his primary source of income. He now also writes for the Huffington Post blog and The Oregonian newspaper.
In true non-conformist style, Chris recently released all of his secrets to success in blogging for free in a manifesto called 279 Days to Overnight Success.
There’s good reason for Chris’ success. He’s a inspirational writer and has an interesting story to tell. Instead of jumping into a comfortable job like most 20-somethings, Chris decided to move to West Africa to help improve access to healthcare and clean water in the world’s poorest places. That experience inspired him to start his own social movement, called The Art of Nonconformity.
