Amy Rachelle is the Founder of The Remote Trip, a community of remote workers, offering resources to help the transition from traditional office work to working remote.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
Hi! I’m Amy Rachelle, founder of The Remote Trip. I’ve always had a passion for travel, exploring new cultures, and loved getting out of my comfort zone to create memorable experiences, so I’ve always aimed to travel as much as I could during gap years and during my studies in International Business at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (the Netherlands).
After graduation, I started working full-time for a 9-5 office job, and it took me only a few weeks to realize: this is not what I’ve been studying my entire life for, is it?!
The idea of being stuck to an office 40+ hours a week until I hit retirement freaked me out. So in 2016, I decided to quit my high-paying corporate job to book a one-way ticket to Thailand to explore alternatives. That’s where The Remote Trip was born.
The Remote Trip started as a group-travel program where I organized work & travel trips for (aspiring) remote workers, freelancers, and online entrepreneurs to work, live, and travel all around the world together. It was a lot of fun!
We realized though that many people wanted to transition to working remotely to live the lifestyles we lived, however, they still had no idea how to make the transition. When I started out in 2016, there wasn’t really any program that would explain step-by-step how to make this lifestyle happen, so it took a lot of time, failures, and resources to figure everything out from scratch.
So, we decided to focus on building resources for people who still need to transition to working remotely first so that we could make this process much easier, faster, and with a supportive community for others.
Today, our team and clients have managed to launch & grow several successful six- and seven-figure (remote) businesses over the last few years. So we used this knowledge to create a comprehensive online course to teach you step-by-step on how to launch and grow your own successful remote business. This was the resource we wished we had when we started out. It’s called our TRT MasterCourse: Kickstart & Grow Your Own Remote Business.
This is what we focus on today, however, we have many exciting things coming up (and, who knows, maybe even a trip again in the future!).
2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
First and foremost, over the years I figured out that I’m most productive when I have 8+ hours of sleep. Therefore I aim to go to bed by 11 PM and get up at 7 AM, but sometimes this can also be a little later if I slept later that evening.
The first thing I do when I wake up is my morning routine. This mostly consists of meditating for 10 minutes, writing down at least three things that I’m grateful for today, and I also love to take the time to free-write in my journal where I take the time to write whatever comes to mind.
I’ve been doing free-writing since I was a kid, and it really helps me to clear my mind, unravel subconscious ideas, and be more focused throughout the day. After my morning routine, I start work until around 12 PM. I have lunch for about 45 minutes and start my next session of work until about 5 PM.
About two to three times per week, I also go to a yoga class or go for a run in the morning or afternoon. After that, I cook and have dinner with my partner and we hang out for the night.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Yes, I work 100% remotely for my company The Remote Trip. That’s what I love so much about working on your own remote business – it gives you the flexibility and freedom to design a lifestyle and routine that works for you. You get to decide where you work from, whom you work with, what you work on, and how to make your work fit around your life rather than the other way around.
As an example, for me, since working remotely allows me to travel wherever I want while still working from my laptop, I’ve been able to live all over the world in places like Thailand, Indonesia, Panama, Taiwan, and I’m currently based in Portugal.
However, I also get to go back home whenever I want to spend more time with family and friends back home, which I find really important and would be something I would miss if I were to work for a company abroad rather than working remotely. So, the ability to work 100% remotely is definitely a huge benefit for me.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
As a business owner with a “hustle” mindset, work-life balance has definitely been one of the biggest challenges for me over the last few years. Since I really love what we’re doing with The Remote Trip, I used to find it very difficult to create a separation between work and personal life/relaxation.
I’ve learned throughout the years though that maintaining a healthy work-life balance is really important for your own health, happiness, and ultimately also your business success.
Now I make sure to always prioritize my own health and wellbeing by really listening to my own body and feelings and take a break whenever needed, and by clearly scheduling work and off-work time. No email, social media, or other work-related activities during off-work hours – time to unwind!
5) What do you think are some of the best habits or routines that you’ve developed over the years to help you achieve success in your life?
Always be learning. Whether that’s through reading, listening to podcasts, taking online courses, or watching YouTube videos, etc. – one thing I’ve learned through entrepreneurship and success is that you can never stop learning.
Also, meditation, journalling, gratitude practice, and exercise are important habits to keep you (mentally) healthy, which in turn will fuel your success.
6) Are there any books that have helped you improve over the years?
One of the books that had a big impact on me at the start of my entrepreneurial and self-development journey was Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers. There’s a big misconception about successful people being “fearless”, hence their success (so most people often think).
The truth is, even successful people feel fear, anxiety, and discomfort. What separates the successful from the unsuccessful people though, is that successful people feel the fear, and do it anyway. This is the mindset shift this book aims to teach you
7) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?
I love my productivity planner. It helps me to plan out my day and get the most out of it.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
I’m a big fan of Tom Bilyeu from Impact Theory. He really works hard for his business, so I’d be interested to learn how he manages his work-life balance.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
“Instead of wondering where your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin
If you’d like to have a conversation with us about how you balance the grind, get in touch with us!
