There are few things in life more stressful than moving, especially when you happen to be moving across the country. Figuring out how to get your stuff where you need it, finding a job and a place to live, learning the neighborhoods, meeting new people… these are all high on the anxiety list.
Tomorrow, my husband and I will be moving from Austin, Texas to Los Angeles, California. While I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad nervous, there is at least one reason this transition doesn't seem quite so daunting: my job is moving with me.
If you’re fortunate enough to work for a distributed company or work from home in some capacity, you probably understand the many benefits of being able to do your work from a place of your choosing. But there's one benefit people are now waking up to: once you work remotely, you don't have to stay in the same place.
Place and space have been at the forefront of my mind since I started working remotely in 2015. I had an opportunity to tag along on a music tour, and I took it! I spent three months on the road, selling handmade jewelry out of a suitcase. It was all very bohemian.
Since then, I’ve moved across the country and back again many times. In 2015, I moved from Minneapolis to Austin, then back to Minneapolis, then back to Austin, then to Asheville, NC, and finally, back to Austin for the third time. And I was able to make all of these moves without them impeding my work.
Since 2015, a lot of wonderful things have happened due to the flexibility remote work has offered: I moved to Texas — the only place I’d lived outside of my home state aside from college — and met a lot of wonderful people, including my husband. I spent some time on my own in Asheville, enjoying epic solo hikes and making friends who would become like family to me.
I discovered I could feel at home in a place where I didn’t grow up or have any family. And I learned about new software and used it to help a few small companies improve their process and, in turn, grow their businesses.
Since my job is remote, my husband and I can concurrently pursue our dreams, thus eliminating a very common source of marital/relationship stress. My husband works in the film industry, and that requires that we live for some time in a very specific place. It’s not like the tech industry, where jobs are popping up all over the world.
And because I work for TEN7, I don’t have to worry about leaving it all behind. If my job demanded me to be in a physical location as well, one of us would likely have to sacrifice our dream. I know that not everyone is in the line of work that allows for this situation, and I feel very fortunate to be in this position.
I can experience new surroundings and gain perspective, without fear that I’ll have to put my life or career on hold. I also fully believe that gaining this perspective and new experiences will make me a more valuable member of the TEN7 team.
Being untethered from an office is one of the most incredible things to happen in this age. There’s so much more freedom to be where we want to be, which ultimately makes us happier, more productive people. When I move to LA, my time zone will change, and I’ll have to wake up earlier than I’d like to connect with my mostly Central time zone team, but my job will be exactly the same.
Since I don’t have to spend time looking for a job when we land in L.A., I can instead put my effort into finding the best vegan restaurants in town and figuring out the quickest way to the ocean.
