Nomad Manager Progress Report #4
Hello, it’s been a while since my last “progress report”…almost a year now, actually.
I haven’t posted new travel posts or whatever for quite some time now since I’ve been busy with Muni PH, where it looks like I’ll be dedicating most of my green / yoga & meditation / local or social entrep / local or ecological travel posts from now on, lest they be of a more personal nature.
So given the headings on this blog, and said posting of said topics on Muni PH, what’s left to blog about here? The REAL reasons for this blog to begin with - my quest for location independence! (and other topics that don’t make the cut to Muni :P)
Seeking Location Independence & Finding My Spark
This blog started as a chronicle towards my quest for location independence by 2013, or a public announcement to motivate me to stay on my goals and meet my deadline.
In the course of figuring things out as I went along, I started blogging about the things I wanted to share with the world as well, and found the things that mattered more to me. In June, I also found that the top 5 most important things to me in living my ideal life were:
- Being more in the now
- Location independence
- Being super eco-friendly (in life and in business)
- Brainwashing
- Pursuing something artsy
…and came to the realization that most of my time was devoted to two things that didn’t make this list. Then, I went off on my pre-scheduled two-and-a-half-month solo backpacking trip around Asia, using the time to think about whether I was just getting burned out and needed some time away. But being away just further validated my thoughts.
And while I have no definite plan for the future, I acknowledged that I could no longer go on just doing what I used to do before, and so 3 weeks into my trip in July, I told my Punchdrunk Panda team I’d be resigning from my work at PdP (though I wasn’t supposed to come to any such conclusions until I got back). And I’m quite pleased that I’m so much closer to living out my ideal life than I was 6 months ago. Money is the only issue now, but it wasn’t part of the list. Haha.
Looking Back
It’s funny now when I read my previous Nomad Manager Progress Reports, how I seemed both hopeful and doubtful at the same time. And how in my last progress report I say “I love PdP too much to let it go”, but after 3 years of working on it full time, (I did try my best, and I did attach it to myself, and it still is an awesome brand), I just feel I’m no longer the best person to represent it because my priorities have changed.
It’s a big blow to me too since I’ve helped the company grow slowly since 2007, and my plans on attaining location independence were centered around the success and smooth flow of the business in my absence. And while it actually is running on its own, I didn’t picture myself attaining location independence by 2013 with such a small PdP team, and with this little involvement in current operations.
In spite of everything, things worked out, it seems.
Moving Forward
Right now, I’m just focusing my efforts on Muni PH and seeing where it will go. It is fueled by passion now but for me to make it sustainable, it has to be revenue-generating as well, and it’s tricky for someone who isn’t necessarily motivated by money but needs money to do things.
Nevertheless, in the words of one of the respondents in the Cultural Creatives video: “If we were doing what we were meant to be doing and we were passionate about it, and there was a need in the world, then the resources would flow”.
And I am convinced that a community needs to be built to bring the Philippines’ cultural creatives together, and raise awareness about making more informed daily decisions and how the little things impact our well-being, our communities, and the planet, and that if we all came together, doing the same tiny thing, we’d make a huge difference.
I hope this blog entry is coherent.
Daytime dreaming,
Jen
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