Continuing on from my previous post “Thoughts on Establishing a Remote Working Culture in Maldives. ( Part 1 )” I wanted to share my experiences with remote working.
After the first startup weekend (which I also wrote about – Techstars Startupweekend Maldives ) I spent a few weeks traveling around KL and Manilla to chill out and also figure out / work on some plans I had for 2018. I chose to work out of co-working spaces instead of coffee shops mostly.
One of the things about co-working spaces that I really love is the overall vibe these places seem to radiate. Everyone seems to be so motivated and involved in doing something awesome and exciting, and it’s infectious, makes you want to do stuff too. I think that’s one of the things a lot of people who have never used a co-working space don’t get. It’s miles apart from working out of a coffee shop or even from home.
The people you meet along the way is pretty amazing too, co-working space by design seems to attract like-minded people. Designers, developers, other freelancers all seemed to gather at these locations, which is great, you get to meet new people, form friendships and maybe even find yourself a future business partner. Everyone is pretty friendly and they genuinely seem to be interested in what you are doing and learning from each other. I got a few emails asking me how things were going even after I came back.
I managed to do more actual ‘work’ in those couple of weeks I was traveling than I would or could normally do at the office, probably the change of scenery helped inspire me maybe. I managed to plan out a few projects for Allied that will hopefully see the light of day as soon as the end of this month, and some personal projects that are targeted to be launched in the coming months.
All of the places I managed to visit had amazing internet, and that’s really all you need these days. It also helped that they had good coffee around. Pricing was around 10 USD per day pass on average, and around 150 – 200 USD for monthly passes and cheaper if you go long term (at least in the places I visited).
Considering how expensive it is to rent out land for your own startup here in Male’, I keep wondering why this hasn’t been done in Maldives yet. But I guess there’s hope as Commons Room will probably open up soon and I really think it’s got a good chance of contributing to the startup scene if done right.
//daadi.org 
In my professional life, I am luckily afforded the opportunity to work remote one day per week. It offers a great opportunity to work with new surroundings and get away from the traditional office setting. Chicago offers many great collaborative work spaces. It’s great to see so many other creative spaces around the world. Good luck in your journey!