How To Travel & Work Remotely Forever | Mike Swigunski | TEDxVake

I've had the pleasure of living working and traveling in more than a hundred different countries my goal for this talk is to show you how travel changed my life and I'm going to hope to show you how it can have a big impact for yours as well so just a bit of background about myself I'm from a small little town called Wildwood Missouri I was born and raised here it's a very quiet place on the outskirts of St Louis though if you ask any of my friends they'll tell you I'm from the boonies and basically

from The Middle of nowhere there's a ton of woods and a lot of wildlife I guess that's why they called it Wildwood I was raised by a loving mother a amazing dad a phenomenal brother and so many Aunts Uncles and cousins that I can even keep track of sometimes you see my mom was from a family of 13 looking back it makes so much sense why she was a good mom she had a lot of practice as a result she was the kind of mom that put everything into her kids she encouraged us to work

hard pursue our passions and then follow our dreams she knew I had set my sites on big things and she wanted to support that one example of this was when my dad suggested that all of us go to Italy around the age of 18 she wanted us to explore the world and at the time this was a pretty big deal for me because I hadn't really been on an airplane before you see my mom was terrified of flying so growing up up we never really traveled much further than we could drive so she wasn't going

to get on a plane with us but she happily sent us on our way to Italy my mom only had two sets of conditions though one I had to keep a journal of everything we did on our trip and two I had to take photos of everything we saw to support this she gave me a brand new digital camera and she also bought me a journal that's just the type of person she was she might not have shared the dream with you but she supported you along the way my mom and dad were truly the

perfect team Italy with my dad and brother was incredible the only problem was it was too short and that's because I was hooked that trip lit a spark in me a new sense of Discovery new smells new people new places as soon as I got home I was itching to find a way to get back overseas the next year I was able to convince my parents to help me study abroad because it would help me get ahead in Business School so after finishing an amazing summer in Italy I decided to apply for a study abroad

student manager position after fourlong interviews I had a job offered to lead the University of Missouri's study abroad program in Prague under one strict condition if we didn't double enrollment numbers by the next year the program would be shut down there was just one other big problem I'd never actually been to Prague before regardless I hit the ground running and I was always up for a new challenge after 6 months of marketing the program we took it from seven students to a maximum of 35 and that summer I took my first group of students over

to Prague and we had an amazing summer in Europe I was at an alltime high pure Euphoria but nothing could prepare me for what was going to happen next I returned home to find out some of the worst news of my life my mom had been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer I was shocked upset sad terrified to say the next few weeks months and years were hard would be an understatement it was terrible but my mom was strong she was tenacious and I knew she could win this over the next few years and months

we went to treatments and they started to work she finally went into remission and things could get back to normal I continued on with my University and geared up for my next study broad group we had big plans to grow this semester and even increase enrollment to a maximum of 45 students after hearing the good news about Prague it wasn't too much longer until none of that seemed to matter after a follow-up exam that my mom had we received the horrible news the cancer had come back we stayed optimistic my mom was a fighter and

if she could beat this once I knew she could do it again to give you guys some context this was my senior year my adult life was about to begin but my Foundation at home was shattering every week I would go home to support my mom during her chemo treatments and also try to find some fun along the way here's us playing golf after a chemo treatment unfortunately none of the treatments were working the cancer was growing and she was later diagnosed as being terminal meaning we only had a few months left I made sure

to sa her every minute we had and I'll never forget a call I had with my mom about this time it was about volleyball of all things I had just won a volleyball tournament at my University and she wanted to hear the good news she loved hearing this stuff she was always so proud that would be the last time we spoke unfortunately the following day my roommate woke me up and told me I needed to call home I don't think you ever understand or know how this type news is going to hit you ever since

she had cancer I knew this was a possibility but none of that seemed to help my mother had passed away at first I was shocked a second later I punched a hole in my closet it was a mixture of sadness and rage talking about this moment is not easy I was truly at an all-time low I've had a lot of time to reflect and gain New Perspectives on this per period in short it's fueled me to live a life with immense purpose and appreciation without massive pain and of course massive purpose I would not have

made it this far I guess that's why they say Stars can never Shine without Darkness as hard as that time was I've always felt fortunate to have such a loving mother and a family in my life even though things ended too early I stri to find the Silver Lining this experience has taught me that you have to embrace the now while building for tomorrow to put things in perspective in one month I'd lost the closest person in my life passed final exams graduated University moved out of my home and had to decide the direction of

my future I was at a true Crossroads on one hand I had a cushy corporate job offer on the other end I had freedom to go explore Europe even though everyone tells you to plan for the long term and you should should remember to live for the short- term too you can do both take that trip do that semester abroad and live your life tomorrow is never promised so I went ahead and booked a one-way ticket to Europe with nothing lined up but I was confident I could figure out the rest I had the chance

to fulfill the lifelong dream to travel the world and start building my version of success but to achieve different results I knew I had to create a different path you shouldn't embrace your past but you should also Focus relentlessly on your future you desire you have one life begin shaping it now rather than waiting for a significant Catalyst be a dreamer but more importantly be a doer I was ready to build the life of my dreams at this point I wrapped up my last study abroad group but I had to hit the ground running because

I needed to find a job I started reaching out to my university Connections in Prague the University faculty loved the fact that I had some teaching experience and they saw how I grew the previous enrollment of students after applying I was hired to be a financial economics professor that was a lightall moment for me I'd shown up in a relatively new country landed a prestigious and flexible job in under one month that experience showed me how the world was open to work and travel in other countries during this time I had a few big goals

but one of them was to visit a new country every month and more importantly create unique experiences I was able to experience some fantastic things like running with the bulls in pampalon Spain going to October Fest in Germany and even giving one of my University lectures in a castle but more importantly ad massed amazing local friends pushed myself out of my comfort zone and created memories I will cherish for the rest of my life these experiences taught me a valuable lesson long-term travel is more accessible and affordable than most people think I was able to

travel to nearly every country in Europe for less than $30 a day all while having a job that was helping me grow myself and my career there was just one issue though with this structure working local meant I was tied to one location it was not the true Freedom that I craved so after about two years of living and working in Prague I reflected on the future of staying a professor I learned so much loved my work life balance and my faculty and co-workers were amazing I was content but ultimately decided I needed to find

a path that pushed me further this is where I came up with the idea to move to Australia I know that might seem random given the network and history that I built up in Prague but I knew deep down it was time for the next chapter that's when I discovered a little known travel secret long-term work and travel visas this Visa would allow me to live and work in Australia and I could apply online I was approved in under a few weeks when I arrived in Australia I had less than $5,000 to my name so

it was indeed sink or swim I was applying for jobs 10 hours a day until I landed my first remote job ever in just about two weeks I was going to be working for a tech startup where I could use my prior marketing and sales experience to help grow the company remote work is commonplace nowadays but back in 2013 it was still a relatively new concept and mainly for coders and developers this was perfect I would have a higher paid job better long-term experience and the flexibility to work remotely I always say that remote work

is a one-way Street and this job would start my journey it truly opened up my eyes to a new way to think about the future of working and traveling nowadays there's a new digital Nomad Visa popping up every single month which has made the world even more accessible than before so with the flexibility of a remote job how could I make this situation even better I mean making good money is great but Australia was not cheap what if I could keep my same income but live in a cheaper country like Thailand that would be the

perfect situation one month of cost in Australia would be about six months of cost and expenses in Thailand I had the idea but again this time my remote job was restricted to living in Sydney that leads me to the next big lesson the world is full of life-changing opportunities if you're willing to follow them while in Australia a mentor I had met in Prague asked if I ever considered going to graduate school the only catch was this school was in South Korea the University was in Korea and this was not really on my radar at

this time but spending time in Asia was always high on my bucket list so I said why not I applied for the program and received a full ride scholar ship to go to South Korea and get my NBA that was far from Easy especially with the language barrier but my years in Korea were some of my best and I figured out how to really amplify my network as locals in Korea started to recognize I was there for the Long Haul they started to accept me and eventually I became part of the family everywhere I've traveled

I found that people love networking but a lot of times they're just looking for someone else to make the first move this can be as simple as making a dinner reservation and inviting a few people along I've met some of my closest friends around the world through hosting local events working locally and studying abroad while in South Korea I had some extra time to continue developing my passions of writing and photography which led me to launching my very first travel blog this blog helped jump start my writing career allowed me to share my favorite photos

travel stories and would later lead to me writing my first book who would have thought my mom gifting me a journal and a camera would lead to something so impactful this gift from her helped me hone my skills to win my first place prize in multiple photography contests that and have my photos viewed by millions of people around the world and I would later go on to write for Forbes Entrepreneur magazine and even author a best-selling book if I hadn't said yes to that new chapter in South Korea who knows how things would have folded

the way that they did that experience led directly to another life lesson I have and I want to share this with you from my travels travel can be a big advantage and you can build an eight-figure Empire from your laptop a lot of people think travel represents time off or a pause in their career but from my experience my time abroad opened up new opportunities I never would have had before I mean how many University professors or 22 for me it was clear as day this New Path unlocked New Opportunities while I was in Korea

I made a few new friends who worked at a remote startup and they were super excited about building a Marketplace to buy and sell online businesses we stayed in touch over the years and about a year later when I was looking for work I saw that they were hiring a marketing and sales manager so I applied interviewed and was accepted I had finally done it I landed a fully remote dream job I joined the company as employee number four and I learned a ton as we grew to over 100 remote employees I brokered more than

$120 Million worth of online businesses and built an8 fig Empire over the next four years I was able to keep traveling the world scaling up the business from my laptop and soon we became one of the fastest growing companies in the United States yet again a chance meeting an open mind and the flexibility to travel completely changed the course of my life what I want you to understand though you don't have to delay moving abroad and hitting the road doesn't mean throwing your career away before I wrap this up I want to share one last

thing I learned for my travels it's not where you go it's what you do there so over the years I've had the pleasure of visiting more than half the world and as impressive as that may sound I didn't start traveling just to go to more countries and you'll notice that none of these big moves in my story were arbitrary in each of those places I've been able to build a strong relationships which have unlocked life-changing opportunities for my life and my career although none of this would have been possible without this strong Foundation from my

childhood that has allowed me to excel that's why no matter how far I travel I'll always appreciate my roots in Missouri and the people who help helped mold me along the way and one of those core values is giving back a lesson learned directly from my family and particularly my mother this guiding principle led me to establish a study abroad scholarship at my alma mater and in my family's name my goal for this was to ignite similar life-changing experiences for others abroad my mother's generosity never stopped even after she passed away she pledged and donated

her body to cancer research which will help pave the way for creating a cure unfortunately though that meant we didn't have a traditional Memorial to visit so as I set out around the world it was important for me to create something in her memory some of you might be familiar with a John Lenin wall in Prague a magical wall where anyone can go and create and share unique art with a long history it's essentially a symbol of love and free speech that seemed like the perfect place to create a memorial for my mother so I

started thinking about how I could honor someone so dear to me like life I knew this Memorial would be temporary but I wanted to make it as beautiful as possible after all my mom taught me that you have to have one precious unique life you owe it to yourself to make the most out of it that's why traveling and helping as many people as possible has been so important to me looking back I've realized that from the the very first trip abroad with my camera and my journal I've been carrying her inspiration with me every

step of the way after my mom's funeral I was cleaning out my childhood bedroom and I found something special I don't know if this is common in other families but my mom used to write us Valentine's Day cards every single year and I kept everyone inside this one was something special it was a poem she had written me which was the source and inspiration for her Memorial and it said carry my love east to west wherever you go I'll go too love knows no distance or time France wunky thank you