Do you want more control over your time?
Well that’s the dream, right? But it doesn’t have to be as you’ll hear from Victor Kung.
He’s a freelancer web designer and developer. He co-owns his firm with his sister. He’s also the founder of The Remote Lifestyle and host of a podcast by the same name.
He actually graduated with a degree in economics from the University of Chicago, but learned coding on the side. It was a decision that would end up giving him more income options than his degree alone.
As you’ll soon hear, Victor spent a couple of years swinging back and forth between working on his own, then getting a job and then went back out on his own again.
This is a common pattern for people transitioning into the self-employment lifestyle . . . it’s a struggle between the financial stability seemingly offered by full-time employment and the freedom self-employment promises. We want it both ways and he believes being a digital nomad was the best solution for him.
Some lessons that come up in our conversation include:
- If you want more control over your time, you might want to rethink how you work.
- What is means to be a digital nomad and myths about living as a digital nomad he wants to bust.
- The concept of rapidly prototyping your life and testing your assumptions.
Life Skills That Matter In This Episode
- Self-directed learning and experimentation.
- Self-awareness.
How Victor Works and Thinks
- Wake up time: Between 7:30 am and 8 am.
- Core work habits: 1) Looking for new clients 2) Creating systems to make work scalable 3) Going the extra mile for his clients.
- Ideal work environment: In his home office where it’s quiet and he can work in long chunks of time.
- Superpower: Connecting with people.
- Definition of success: Making a difference and providing value.
- 90-day goal: Get enough business for next 7 months as he travels to Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Inspirational Quotes
“Learning because you have to is a very organic way of learning.”
“Self-improvement is about testing your assumptions.”
“Don’t just take ownership of your time, take ownership of your life.”
“All of the progress I’ve made over the past few years is because of the intentional choices I’ve made for how I use my spare time.”
Coaching Advice
If you want to gain more control over your time, Victor offers these 3 actions to take:
1) Automate as much of your existing work as possible, so you can create extra time to start working on whatever it is you want to do.
2) Wake up early and make sure the first thing you do is something for yourself to recognize you are the priority in your life.
3) Think about what it is your life is working toward and being able to prioritize how you use your time.
Resources + Bonus Materials
Telecommuting Climbs to 37% According to Gallup