Here, you can get 100 kinds of ideal life without going to work.
"Now most young people are complaining about going to work. I think it's a pity. Work should be a way to bring happiness and realize self-worth. "
At three o'clock in the afternoon, in the joint office area of Shanghai Xuhui Krypton Space, Sheng Wei, sitting opposite me, couldn't help talking about the working mode of most people in China at present.
Shengwei
As the founder of a startup company with the slogan "Don't naked resignation, see the world", he has been practicing the new lifestyle of "travel and work" with practical actions since the first day after graduation:
After proposing "telecommuting" to his boss in Philadelphia, USA, Sheng Wei traveled all over the United States with his work.
After returning to China, he accumulated a year's experience in a startup company and started a non-stop entrepreneurial project to provide one-stop service for "telecommuters" and "freelancers".
Sheng Wei, 29, devoted all his enthusiasm, energy and money to this project. After a year of hard work, this year the company started angel round financing.
"Freelance and telecommuting are not the mainstream in China at present, but I believe it will be a trend. According to the relevant data of the National Bureau of Statistics, this group of people will grow to 654.38+67 billion in the future. "
Sheng Wei has always been optimistic about the development trend of global freelancing and telecommuting, which directly prompted him to promote the telecommuting mode that "almost half of Americans" are using to China. ?
Sheng Wei, 29, is the founder of wildebeest power.
? I don't like commuting by subway, so I suggested telecommuting to my boss.
?
Some people seem destined to start a business, so universities begin to try various entrepreneurial projects. At first, from the beginning of the sales attempt, they knocked on the door to promote various products in the university.
During his master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania, he also signed up for some social innovation projects and won many awards, large and small. 20 14 won the codeathon championship of Clinton Foundation and was received by President Clinton.
Sheng Wei (third from right) was received by President Clinton's daughter.
? After graduation, he started an educational entrepreneurship project with several students from Wharton Business School. With the support of Wharton Business School, he got the start-up capital and started his business in China.
A year later, due to the adjustment of business direction and team, Shengwei withdrew from this project. After living abroad for four years, he felt that he might have derailed from the domestic entrepreneurial environment.
So he went to a Swedish startup company to take charge of the overall business of China. In more than a year, he has accumulated a lot of contacts and resources in the entrepreneurial circle.
A year later, with the idea of "starting a business early", he left the company and began to formally prepare his own entrepreneurial project-wildebeest Force, a one-stop platform for telecommuters and freelancers.
Today, when the concept of "telecommuting" has not been popularized in China, why does he want to do such a niche business?
This stems from his internship experience in America, which completely changed him.
Before graduating from master's degree, Sheng Wei worked as an intern in an American startup company for half a year. In that e-commerce company dedicated to developing American products, Shengwei joined as a data engineer. Most of his daily work is to capture and visualize the data of people who have bought American products on Amazon platform.
Due to the nature of work, most of the communication in the company is conducted online except lunch. ?
Shengweizai coffee shop telecommuting
? "Sometimes even if two people sit face to face, they still communicate by email." Sheng Wei said that after a long time, he came up with the idea of applying to work remotely in a coffee shop near the school.
The subway facilities in Philadelphia are not as good as those in China, and most of them are old and messy. In this environment, it is not a particularly good experience to spend a long time squeezing the subway to work every day.
So he proposed telecommuting to his boss, but it was approved soon. Later results also proved that working near the school not only did not affect the normal work, but also improved the work efficiency, so the boss was more assured to let him continue to work like this.
"When I have the freedom to telecommute, I thought of working while traveling. After all, the United States is so big that I have never been to many places. "
So, Sheng Wei bought a Zephyr, California train ticket from Chicago to Los Angeles. This is one of the most famous sightseeing trains in America. It takes 52 hours and the journey is 4000 kilometers. The scenery along the way changes rapidly, with the best scenery from the central part of the United States to the west coast.
The interesting people Sheng Wei met on the road.
? While working, he traveled all the way from the east coast of the United States to the west coast, then from the west coast to Miami and drove to the southernmost island of key west.
The interesting people and things he met along the way are one of his most unforgettable life experiences so far.
?
"For most people, it is unrealistic to leave work completely to travel. However, under the premise of stable income, traveling while working remotely is really a great lifestyle. " Sheng Wei said.
In the United States, telecommuting population accounts for 65,438+05% of the total labor force, and by 2065,438+07, this figure has risen to 48%. In other words, at least half of the people in the United States today are telecommuters.
In China, this concept is not popular, and people who telecommute are more dispersed.
"I have never worked in a big company because I know I don't like it." Sheng Wei said that since traditional work experience can't give him what he wants, he can't change the existing rules of the game. It is better to jump out of the existing environment and re-establish his own rules of the game.
The platform for him to set up the rules of the game is wildebeest Power Company.
While traveling and working, there are actually many imperfections.
Working while traveling sounds like a cool thing, but anything that looks good has its "bad" side.
As Sheng Wei himself said, he doesn't advocate accepting the telecommuting lifestyle, and he doesn't want to pour chicken soup on everyone. Instead, he hopes that everyone interested in telecommuting can look at this lifestyle dialectically.
? Travel is a tiring journey, which consumes energy and physical strength. At the beginning, Sheng Wei will spend a lot of time looking up information, booking air tickets and accommodation, and making trips before starting his trip, which makes him spend a lot of time that he doesn't want to spend.
"When traveling and working, you must make detailed plans in advance. If the itinerary is chaotic, it will affect the mood and efficiency of working on the road. Of course, these will become more and more skilled with the rich travel experience in the future. " Sheng Wei said that telecommuting is also a learnable ability.
After a long time, after finding the rhythm of his telecommuting, he can easily arrange his daily work and play time. For example, he used to go out to play every morning for a week, go back to work at the hotel at 3 pm and go out to play at 8 pm.
"Every once in a while, I will adjust my working hours. Sometimes I feel that it is more efficient to get up and have a cup of coffee in the morning, so I work until two o'clock in the afternoon before going out. "
Sometimes he doesn't work all day. He goes hiking at six in the morning and doesn't come back until ten in the evening. In this case, I stayed at home all day the next day and worked in a hotel.
In short, most of the working hours are freely arranged by ourselves, as long as we ensure that the work is completed. ?
? "Teleworking can bring me happiness. If a person is always excited, then he is happy every day and works naturally and efficiently. "
But occasionally when people are in a bad mood, people can't always be self-disciplined during the journey, and they will also encounter special circumstances.
For example, once, when Shengwei was traveling in a remote town in India, he encountered a job that needed urgent treatment. Most of the town had no Wi-Fi network. Finally, Shengwei went to many places before connecting Wi-Fi in the lobby of a local high-end hotel, which almost delayed his work.
There is also the problem of loneliness in travel. Many times, people who travel alone will occasionally feel lonely on the road. When I am alone, there will be moments of emotional anxiety due to lack of self-discipline.
"At some point, I will feel that I have made a mess of everything, but it is only a moment. Because for telecommuters, the ability to adjust emotions is very important, and they need the ability to quickly get out of negative emotions. "
What needs to be clear is that you will inevitably encounter various obstacles in your journey and you can't be happy forever.
However, compared with the depression of working nine to five in a company and the despair of meaningless overtime, Shengwei is more willing to accept the troubles brought by telecommuting.
? "These I can rely on personal will to solve. But in big companies, personal strength is not enough to shake the traditional model and work trajectory, which will make me feel deeply disappointed and powerless. "
This city is so noisy that telecommuting slows me down.
It has been more than a year since the 20 17 wildebeest Force was formally established. In the past year or so, Shengwei has done a lot of things: doing market research, flying overseas to explore the space suitable for being a freelancer platform, forming a core team, and forming an online community for telecommuters/freelancers.
Last year 10, Shengwei set up the company's first space for telecommuters in Thailand: a secluded home in Beibi Province.
? This is their first independent offline pilot project, covering an area of 36 mu, more than 20,000 square meters, close to the National Forest Park, completely in nature, without any industrial pollution.
Sheng Wei said that his partner used to have poor sleep quality in Shanghai, but it can be improved in Thailand. He gets up every morning with the sound of birds singing and is naturally awakened by his biological clock.
"I flew to Thailand more than a dozen times last year. When I was in Shanghai, I was busy meeting customers, investors and participating in activities every day. It's hard to really slow yourself down. "
After I went to my own space in Thailand, I suddenly had a completely relaxed time. Grow vegetables and fruits on your own farm and eat green and pollution-free healthy food. Life is light and the pace is slow.
A secluded place in Beibifu
? "It is an ideal state to live 1-2 weeks every once in a while. The city is too noisy, you can slow down occasionally, and you can do some thinking work better in the natural environment. "
At present, most Europeans and Americans are going to experience Bebiff's space. This year, they plan to find more domestic freelancers to experience.
"The reason why Southeast Asia was chosen as the first pilot was because of its low cost of living, convenient transportation, good natural environment and infrastructure, and Thailand's friendly attitude towards China people, and visas were easier to handle."
In Shanghai, the monthly rental cost of Shengwei is 7,000 yuan, while the monthly living expenses in Thailand are only 5,000 yuan, and the happiness index and quality of life have been improved.
In July this year, they plan to go out of Southeast Asia to see if there are any cost-effective telecommuting locations in Europe to meet the local accommodation, office, entertainment and social needs of telecommuters.
At present, their first stop is in Georgia.
Georgia
? "Going to a strange place, working with a group of like-minded people for two weeks, and judging whether telecommuting is suitable for us through personal experience is the original intention of our short-term project." Sheng Wei said that people are social animals after all, and even if they work remotely, they need to communicate with others. Offline communication is the most direct and profound way of communication between people.
"In this fast-paced era, staying with a group of people for two weeks is a luxury. After all, people who work in big cities meet their friends and parents several times a year. " Sheng Wei said.
Anxiety is always there, and I have difficulties every day, but I enjoy the present.
In the first year, Shengwei didn't have any income, and the daily operation of the company depended on its own savings.
It is impossible not to be anxious, but what he is more afraid of is that the company has no clear direction, or that there is no progress today than yesterday.
"There are difficulties every day, and there are many problems every day. Entrepreneurship is a process of constantly solving problems. " From the initial company registration, legal affairs, finance and other basic administrative work, to the later project promotion and product development with partners. Every link will encounter problems and need to wait patiently.
? For example, when the company was first established, Sheng Wei had to go to the bank many times a day and could only do two things a day: open an account in the bank and pay fees in the social security center. At that time, he always felt anxious for himself, because these trifles slowed down the progress of his career.
Later, we talked about cooperation and planned to solve the problem within one month. The other party dragged on for five months and the company has been burning money. At this time, he will also be anxious.
"These need to constantly adjust themselves. Don't think it's the end of the world when you encounter problems. As long as the goal is clear, there are always other ways to achieve it. "
At present, all aspects of the company are developing in a good direction, which makes Shengwei full of confidence in the future.
"The satisfaction brought by consumption is always short-lived. Now the money I earn can meet the basic needs of life. I enjoy this state very much because I am spiritually satisfied. "
At the end of the interview, I asked him what was the ultimate goal of setting up this company.
"Innovation of China's existing enterprise organizational structure and corporate management model. For example, strive for a period of time for employees to telecommute every year and get the opportunity to travel. In my opinion, five days of annual leave a year is not enough. "
Sheng Wei's answer sounds grand. I hope he can achieve this goal as soon as possible.
By then, there should be more people falling in love with work, right?