How to Find a Co-Working Space Anywhere in the World

Sneak Peek: 

Kristin:    00:00:00    One thing that the stoics like to do is say, okay, I can endure this, but do I have to? And what is the solution around that? 

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests. 

Kristin Wilson, Host:    00:00:30    Hi everyone. Welcome to episode 144 of Badass Digital Nomads, and it's a very special week today because the Winter Olympics have been going on. Have you guys been watching the Olympics at all? I have really always loved the Olympics ever since I was a little kid. I remember it felt like forever in between Olympics, and that's probably because I was so young, but I was a competitive gymnast growing up ever since I could walk. And so I remember that my motivation and energy would always be so high during the Olympics because I was just so inspired by watching the other athletes compete. And even though I never had Olympic dreams myself, I can remember almost bouncing off of the floor and the vault and the beam and the bars because I just had so much energy back then. And I can remember nailing my bar routine one day after watching the US team win a gold medal.  

Kristin:    00:01:36    I think this must have been back in like 1997, or no wait, there's no Olympics that year, somewhere around there back in the late, early to late nineties. And my gymnastics coach was like, wow. Uh, what happened? And where did that come from? And it was just purely from watching other people succeed at their craft. And so I've just been watching some of the Olympics this week because, you know, I love it, but also because it gives me a lot of motivation and energy to work. And I'll be honest, I really, really needed an extra dose of motivation because I've been working so hard on my new book, Digital Nomads for Dummies. And writing a book is hard, you guys. I've been trying to write a book ever since college and I never actually published one. I've like written a lot of books, I've had a lot of ideas for books, but I've never actually gotten it out there.  

Kristin:    00:02:40    My first book was called The Surfer Girl Diet, where, which was actually a cookbook, and I still have the manuscript for it, but I don't know if I'm qualified to actually write a diet book or a nutrition book. But I'm really grateful to be writing Digital Nomads for Dummies and to have the opportunity to write a book about everything that I've learned in so many years about how to become a digital nomad and how to sustain that lifestyle. So it is a labor of love, but that's what I've been busy doing lately, either writing or researching or editing or editing someone else's edits, <laugh>. So it's definitely a process, but as you know, if you're listening to my podcast, you know that I believe it's never too late to pursue any of your long-held goals or dreams. And that's another reminder that the Olympics gives us.  

Kristin:    00:03:39    You know, we always get to see this is the, the oldest athlete competing in this sport, whether it's like Shawn White and snowboarding, or there was one guy in figure skating or a girl, actually I think she's 25, who's the oldest a us female to compete in figure skating in like a hundred years or something like that. And I always find it so interesting that the media bring that up because it's like this person at 25 is the oldest, and there's also a gymnast, I think she's from Russia or Europe, who was one of the oldest, uh, female gymnasts competing in the Olympics last summer. And yeah, I find it interesting that people always make a point of talking about that. Like it's like these people have defied the odds to be the oldest in their field. And I saw this video once on YouTube that says, life starts at 40.  

Kristin:    00:04:36    And I totally believe that. I mean, life starts when you're born, but you can always reinvent yourself. You can always pursue something that you wanna do. And like I wrote in my newsletter this week, I'm reading a book by Robert Green called the The Daily Laws, I think it's 366 Daily Laws. And what I wrote in the newsletter this week was about how Robert Green was a digital nomad himself, actually, or at least a nomad. He was traveling around, wandering around Europe. So make sure to sign up for my newsletter at travelingwithkristin.com/subscribe where you can get my insights in newsletter format every week and also updates on my book and anything else that is coming out. So that newsletter has been going on for over a year now, but what I was writing about Robert, is that he says in the first month of this book, this Daily Laws book, which is divided into different months of the year.  

Kristin:    00:05:38    So I just finished January and I'm on February now, is that it's never too late to start the process of becoming yourself and of following your path in life. And we talked about that a bit on the recent episode about regret and seizing the Day and my patron tech lords who passed away. So this topic just kind of keeps coming up, and I've been feeling it a lot perceiving the passing of time and thinking back to the last Winter Olympics that I watched, which was in 2018 when I was living in Japan and, and snowboarding there. And really how much the world has changed since then. And I can remember walking through the mall in Tokyo and seeing signs for the Summer Olympics of 2020, which of course ended up happening in 2021 because of the pandemic. And you know, the future is just so uncertain, so seized that day.  

Kristin:    00:06:47    And man, I really loved living in Japan. If you wanna learn more about what life is like Living in Japan as an expat or as a digital nomad, I will link to my living in Japan playlist in this podcast in the show notes because I have videos on the cost of living and what it's like living there and travel vlogs and all sorts of stuff. So make sure to check those out. And I have another tip for you today on finding places to work around the world, because another thing that I've been struggling with related to my book is writing my book with this incessant construction noise that's going on seemingly all around me. I have the, uh, Florida Power and light, FPL electricity company digging up the street directly in front of my apartment. And on the other side, we have a team building a like 20-story high-rise.  

Kristin:    00:07:51    And so it's been so loud, and part of me wants to be like the stoic philosopher Seneca, who once wrote about all of the noise that he was hearing while living above a bathhouse in Rome. And he was basically kind of bragging to his other philosopher friend, I forget who he was writing the letter to about how he was able to work and write despite all of the noise that was going on in the streets around him, from people splashing around to a weightlifter, grunting to um, a masseuse, um, massaging someone and street vendors yelling out on the streets and kids crying and screaming and all that stuff. So he was dealing with that. But then also one thing that the stoics like to do is say, okay, I can endure this, but do I have to? And what is the solution around that? And so I've been thinking like, do I have to endure this construction noise with my noise-canceling headphones and extra sessions of meditation, or is there a solution to this problem?  

Kristin:    00:09:00    And so what I decided to do was purchase a coworking membership with Regus offices. So this is R E G U S, you've probably seen this sign around the world. They have hundreds of thousands of, uh, locations, probably it's massive company, um, with other coworking spaces in sort of a network. And so if you're looking for a place to work in your area, if you wanna get out of the house, if you wanna just change up your environment, then check them out. This podcast is not sponsored, but you can get day passes there, which I found to be the most expensive option, actually it's like 10 or $20 an hour, but you can also get a monthly membership where you can get a five-day membership or a 10-day membership as a Flex Desk membership. So this is kind of like, like having a flex desk membership at WeWork.  

Kristin:    00:10:00    So I know WeWork was going for around 275 per month to work in their common areas, but with Regus, it starts at only around a hundred dollars per month for five days per month. And I think it's 243 per month for 10 days or something like that. It might vary by, uh, the city that you're in, but I, I think that's a pretty good deal because like my coworking space that I was at previously here in Miami was around like 250 or 350 per month. And then for a private desk it was 500 a month. So that seems to be the going rate for that, but sometimes you don't wanna go there every day, like sometimes going to the coworking space can feel like just commuting to your office. And so I like the idea of having a five-day per month or a 10-day per month membership.  

Kristin:    00:10:53    So you can work at home, sometimes you can work at coffee shops sometimes, and then you can work at the coworking space sometimes as well. So that was the solution that I decided to go with because there are two locations in the area that I'm currently living in in Miami. But another resource that I use to find coworking spaces is coworker.com, which is founded by my friend Sam, who we also have a episode of Badass Digital Nomads podcast with. And Sam is the co-host of Invest Like a Boss podcast with Johnny Fd. So shout out to those guys. So on co coworker.com, you can find coworking spaces anywhere in the world. And so if you're looking for a solution, if you've been having a hard time focusing on your work at home, um, maybe with distractions or noise or procrastination or something like that, then it's good to go out and find another type of dedicated workspace.  

Kristin:    00:12:06    And one strategy that a lot of really productive people use, including the author Ben Hardy, who wrote the book, Will Power Doesn't Work. And at one time, he was one of the top writers, or if not the top writer on Medium, he really is a huge advocate of changing your workspace to the task that you're doing. So this is kind of drawing from the advice that Cal Newport gives a lot when he's talking about deep work and time blocking and batching your tasks. So you're only working on one thing at a time. Like maybe, you're working on coding one thing, or you're solving one problem, or you're writing one chapter of your book or for two hours, or you're gonna answer email for 90 minutes, and that's the only thing you're gonna do. You're gonna turn off your phone, you're just gonna answer email for 90 minutes.  

Kristin:    00:13:05    But what I'd like to do as a digital nomad is apply a certain task to a certain work environment. And so what you can do is, like with this co-working space, for example, maybe you only go to the co co-working space where you're going to do a specific type of work. And so what I've decided to do is only work on my book at the coworking space. So instead of going to the coworking space for the morning or for the afternoon, and you work for like four hours, but maybe you do five different things during that time, maybe you're hopping on a Zoom call and then you're checking Slack messages and answering email, and then you're also like working on a proposal or doing some research for 30 minutes. It's like you're mixing up all of these different tasks that you have to do for work.  

Kristin:    00:13:57    But what if you did a certain type of work at your house, a certain type of work, only when you go to coffee shops and a certain type of work when you go to the coworking space in doing this, you can actually be a lot more productive because your brain is automatically switching into that gear of like, oh, when I'm in this environment, this is the type of work I do. And this is why you should also keep like where you relax, where you eat, and where you work all separated in your house. And so I will link to a video that I, that I saw during the pandemic that really did a good job of explaining this. It's by a really famous YouTuber, but he, he talks about how to survive the pandemic in isolation, and he talks about changing up your workspace and your living space, even if you're living in a room or in a studio apartment.  

Kristin:    00:14:58    So my tip for you today on this short version of the podcast is to go out and find a space that you can be productive in if you are struggling with things at home and interruptions. And if you don't have that option of getting a membership at Regus or co through coworker.com, then to find a way to differentiate your workspace from your living space, from your eating space, and from your relaxation space in your home. And I hope that that helps you get a lot more stuff done this week and beyond. If you have a question or a suggestion or request for a video or podcast for Badass Digital Nomads or the YouTube channel, I'll also link to my FAQ form in the show notes because I'm gonna be answering a lot of questions from there. In upcoming episodes of the podcast, we have already over 200 submissions and I also made a post to my patrons today to get some of their requests, and we had lots of great stuff coming in. So check that out if you have a request for the podcast for 2022, and see you again next week.