Oct 5, 2021
Working From Anywhere (Is A Myth)
There’s a myth (a mythos?) in entrepreneurial culture that I’d like to debunk. It’s called “Work From Anywhere,” and you can see it plastered all over Instagram these days. A laptop screen with a glinting pool in the background. A swanky hotel room with a built-in workstation. A sexy entrepreneur eating olives in Mallorca while other people’s money cha-chings! into their bank account.
Before we get into the finer points of traveling for business and being Highly Sensitive, let me clear some things up about “working from anywhere…”
You don’t have to do something just because it seems cool. Just because you can do something, doesn’t always mean that you should.
If you try to work in an unfamiliar setting and can’t get anything done, it doesn’t mean you’re a defective human being. Or a defective entrepreneur.
The *type* of work you’re doing while you travel makes a huge difference. If you have something you can do rather mindlessly, like editing photos or admin work or data entry, that might be doable; full-on creative work might not be. For me, editing work and market research are doable; writing brand-new copy is a lost cause; journaling is my jam.
Meetings are an okay thing to do from the road, because then it *seems* like you’re working, but then as soon as that call is over you get to go exploring. 😉
I do like to work on a plane. I like it more than watching movies or reading, even. Noise cancelling headphones are a must for this.
The very idea that you could work from anywhere is extremely cool, and liberating.
I’ll admit, it took me a long time to accept that Working From Anywhere was not for me. It’s SUCH a cool idea, and I am very stubborn, and those Instagram images are quite intoxicating.
But after years of trying and being frustrated, I finally had to accept it.
I had a chance to travel to a new city recently (hi, Denver!), and I was able to rest, get the most out of the Freelancer Failure Ball, have plenty of alone time, and do *just the right amount* of work.
If you don’t LIKE working from the road—for whatever reason—you don’t have to. “Because I don’t want to” is the only reason you need.
About Sam
Samantha Pollack is a Copywriter & Creative Director who works with ethically minded, mission driven businesses who are actively trying to reshape our culture (and possibly tear down the patriarchy). She’s also the founder of The Highly Sensitive Business Owner, a 12-week online program that helps HSPs & neurodivergent business owners create healthier, more sustainable systems in their work.
Sam also writes about feminism, privilege, pop culture, entrepreneurship, the creative process, and whatever else is on her mind. She currently lives in Asheville, NC.
Emails for cult thought leaders.
(Personality included.)
Want to learn how to craft emails that inspire action and engagement WITHOUT the “tried and true” (cough: patriarchal) norms we’ve all been taught?
I’m doing it, and I can show you how to do it, too.
(But sometimes, I also like to write about the books I’m reading, or the creative process, or the entrepreneurial experience, or why I hate Steve Jobs, or how I met my BFF. I’ll send you emails like that, too.)
*Just kidding. It’s only an email list.
Books. Cats. Rants. Drawrings.
(and every couple months or so, an unexplained absence 🤷🏻)
