#6 What it's REALLY like to work & travel as an Innovation Consultant (with Ronald Poon)
Episode Summary & Links
What the heck even IS an Innovation Consultant? And what makes it possible to work from anywhere in the world?
Today's guest is my dear brother who came to visit me in Europe for 3 weeks, while still technically "working". It's been a great experiment for him, learning how to balance work and life. I saw first hand the ups and downs of working while sorta on holiday. There were many late nights and early mornings in order to fit everything in.
So we wanted to talk about these challenges and what he'd do differently next time. But we also talk about the deeply rewarding aspects of his job and being able to work remotely.
If you're looking for a remote job but you're not quite sure WHAT to be looking for exactly, make sure to tune into this episode! We share some great tips for job scouting and work-life balance.
Check out his website & blog: https://thelifeeconomist.com/
Follow his IG here: https://www.instagram.com/ronaldpoon15/
Let's continue the conversation over at:
https://www.instagram.com/emilypeilan/
Meet fellow Freedom Nomads on a unique retreat experience, join here: https://www.freewildsouls.com/retreats
Create more freedom by learning how to attract more website traffic and ideal clients with my free Website & SEO checklists:
https://www.arohavisuals.com/resources
Episode Transcript
Emily Peilan: So we have Ronald, my brother, back for another episode. . . Yeah, we're, we're hashing up with episodes and one go but we wanted to record a separate one because. , this is quite a separate kind of phase of your life. . . And we ended off the last one, kind of like just touching on your job and what you do.
And in this episode we're gonna dive a little bit deeper as to yeah, like your job is remote, how you balance that, how you are able to work in Portugal. and travel at the same time. And yeah, and all the things and just what it is that you do in general, cuz it's quite a vague job. That's scription, eh?
Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. So, so tell people like what , what does an innovation consultant do?
Ronald Poon: Yeah. Yeah. I kind of feel like bar Stinson in now, how your mother. You because like please, in terms of your job. But, so what I actually do on a day-to-day basis is that I help big companies such as McDonald's or Hssbc or bmo, which is a bank in Montreal help them run innovation sprints or hackathon.
So these events that help bring people together and employee led innovation. Yeah. So it's essentially breaking this down. It's helping big companies innovate at the speed of. Tagline.
Emily Peilan: That's a great tagline. That's a really cool tagline. That's great. I love that.
Ronald Poon: Shout out to Victor and Helen for coming up with that.
Emily Peilan: That's so great. cool. And, and so like, how did you find it?
Ronald Poon: I actually found it on LinkedIn. ? Yes. Oh, I didn't. And it was just one of those days where, you know, you're gonna go play tennis in the afternoon or whatever. And I was just like scrolling through LinkedIn cause I was like, oh, I'm, you know, massively in search of a job Yeah.
That I need. And then I saw this one and I was like, oh, it's based in Toronto, where they speak English and not French. So I could actually apply for this job and maybe get it. And then I was like, so that grabbed my interest and I so was fully remote. . . And I just kept reading more and more.
And it just really aligned with me. And then I like went on the website and checked it all out and yeah. And decided to apply. And I think what happened was like, you know, you had to submit like a one minute video and I think that really helped.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. Nice, nice. So what do you think was your competitive advantage?
Like that video? Was it like your presence? What were like, do you think some of the intangible values that you had, like soft skills?
Ronald Poon: Hmm. I'd say I had a pretty interesting story, so that didn't really come through until the actual. Interview process. But I'd say in the video it was pretty natural.
And it was one of those videos, it was like, when did you take an idea from zero to a hundred? Like when did you start saying new from scratch? And I talked about my blog, which I only started like a month and a half ago, . But there's still something like a nice talking point. And then you should like go onto the blog and actually read it.
So there's a tangible output there. Yeah. But I think that maybe they saw that I was really passionate about my blog. Yeah. And the content and was just very authentic. So perhaps those are the intangible. Oh, that's so nice. It's that passion and authenticity.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's so beautiful. And like, so, you know, you've worked in other corporate jobs before, you've worked in some law firms and whatnot.
How does this j one, like it's a corporate job, but like, how does it compare? Very different, right?
Ronald Poon: In multiple ways. I'd say the most important way is the, the way I'm being treat. From, from a like employee boss or employer perspective it, it really never feels like that you're being micromanaged.
It's so much freedom involved, but you're always getting the work done and a lot of trust nerds. Yeah, so much trust and just genuine. . Like actually having a relationship outside of work as well. Yeah. Which has been super nice. Yeah. Because you're actually friends outside of it. Yeah. As well. And I think that really helps as well.
Emily Peilan: Oh, that's so nice. And it cultivates like more trust that cultivates like you liking them wanting to do a better job. Yeah. It's so motivation, feeling like they understand you as a person as well.
Ronald Poon: No. Yeah. Like understanding your needs and that that really motivates. Want to do a good job, not because it's part of your job description or they, cuz you are getting paid to do it because you, like, you feel this sense of belonging and you're just like, ah, I want to like, facilitate this meeting well, and I want to cover these areas because everyone's so nice.
Yeah.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. And like they, you feel like they care for you and, and you care for them. And, and this company in general and the people in it. . I think that's what fosters like a successful company, you know? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. That's so nice. And so for people who are thinking, who like want to look for a corporate job, but like, not the, in the traditional sense, but something like what you have.
. What do you think people should be looking for? When Yeah. When they're searching for something that feels aligned. Kind of like how you do.
Ronald Poon: Yeah. Yeah. I would look for things that peak or grab your interest. So for this, it was like the innovation pipeline. Yes. Really interested me. Cause I wanted a hackathon in 2019 and I studied, you know, entrepreneurship and law.
So that was already something, it wasn't like my main thing that I was really interested in university, but it was definitely something I had strong interest in. . . So that was one of them. And then the second thing is definitely finding the right culture and it's the way it's framed. I just loved that, like in the website, the job description and everything, they were just so true and honest and .
just a little bit quirky and different. Yeah. And I, I like that it wasn't just boring, just like cold corporate.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. Yeah. Just like, Just established precedent and paste like here are our core values and I dunno, sounds so like copy and pasted and so like superficial, right? Yeah, usually. So like, yeah. I love that.
Mm. Yeah. That's so beautiful. I love the stories you tell me about. Yeah, about work and your boss, Uhhuh and just everything. I think that's so beautiful because, you know, like I'm a solo thing as I've got social media manager amazing. And virtual assistant and, and amazing designers that I touch in with her and there.
But yeah, I do sometimes interview. . you having like this team, this beautiful team culture.
Ronald Poon: Yeah. One of the things I appreciate the most is that, My boss or you know, Victor and we have this weekly sync up every week where we talk chat like 20 minutes to half an hour. You know, we all have like busy pack schedule.
He does multiple things, but I just love that this isn't anything work related. This is just like a, like checkup on like, how, how are you doing? It's like a human. That's so nice. Yeah. We talk about like huge variety of things and like we share all our interest and, and we can talk like, At a higher level about like, you know, like feelings wise about like, oh, how did this week feel?
And like, what stressed you out and like, what's keeping you up at night? Or, you know, and all like more positive things as well. What are you excited about and stuff. So that's a good, yeah, it's not like a like work reeling like, oh, how come this wasn't in the slides? Or, you know, like, You could have done this email, whatever, like none of it's related to that.
It's just very, yeah.
Emily Peilan: Wow. And he is like probably super, super busy guy with like so many meetings. Yeah. And yet he still makes time.
Ronald Poon: He starts a new business like two to six months . So he's pretty busy. Yeah. Wow. He's actually currently in Vegas, I think right now. And at the World Poker Series as well.
Emily Peilan: What a guy.
Yeah. That's amazing. That's amazing. And yeah, so like obviously there are always, with everything, there's always ups and downs. . like what do you think was the most challenging aspect for you, like coming into this job and what you do?
Ronald Poon: I'd say one of the most challenging aspects, cuz I've always been somewhat of a confident public speaker.
. , as well. But honestly, one thing I've really had to work on, Impromptu speech and not working off the script. So I'm gonna just like tell everyone Yeah. And now live on this. Yeah. And in the first interview that I got, well, the first interview, well, cause it's just behavioral questions and I like talking about my life.
Behavioral questions are fine. The process. Yeah. Process. Yeah. Plus I'll, I'll get into the job part too. Yeah, yeah, of course. But I'd say the first interview that I. was that I actually came in with a script to, to do my presentation and that did not go around well, , because you know, I was like, oh, that's at university.
Like maybe if I script it, I only have eight minutes to present for this case study. Like I'll do a lot better. And that was just like not a, not a good idea. Oh no. But then my second time, through. So I, they, they were lucky enough to gimme a second chance and I did the interview the next time, a week later, and it is so much better than a script.
And honestly, it was their belief that I could do it without a script without like this forward thinking trying to present. So I'd say that has been a challenging skill for me is like to facilitate and present confidently, naturally, and just being. I'm just gonna say you have to like know your shit.
Yeah. You know? Yeah. And like believing that you know your shit.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. And so like, do they, do they like, Like the hard part being, did they just ask you like questions? Did they like throw questions at you and you had to kind of just come up with an answer on spot? Was that all?
Ronald Poon: Yeah, a lot of this is like linked to that concept, like imposter syndrome as well.
Yeah. And I believing, so you only had 24 hours to prepare for this and I was like, ah. You know, you get a little bit nervous or anxious that you can't cover the range, but I think. Just confidently anticipating and fielding off questions as a skill in itself. Right. And then linking this into my actual job now.
So that was part of the interview process. Yeah. But in my actual job now, it's similar when you're working, say I'm working with Nemo the bank right now. Yeah. And I'm been lucky enough to be facilitating these operating committee meetings every Wednesday. Yeah. With a lot of senior executives from the bank, which is pretty scary cuz they, they've been working.
15, 20 years. Yeah. Or like longer and like have very successful careers and I'm still a new grad. Yeah. did that just finish uni really recently? Yeah. And I'm like leading these meetings and I'm like facilitating the questions and I have to present new topics every week for us and kind of move things along and that was pretty scary process.
And it took a while to build that confidence Yeah. To get to that level. Yeah. But I think it's just really developed my confidence, being able to do. Yeah.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. And, and I think the more you do it, it's like the first time you do anything, you're like, oh my God, I'm like shining my pants. Like, this is so scary.
I'm in a room full of like these incredible higher people. But then the more you do it, the more it just, gets less scary. You adapt to it. Maybe. I think, I know that's the same with me when when I first hopped on my leg consultation, it was just kind of discovery course. I would be so nervous and trying to also script it.
. sometimes, especially at the start, I'd be like, okay, I need a script. I need to follow this because then it made me feel confident. I had something to hold onto, right? Whereas when you're imprompt it, it's kind of like you are just out there. You just gotta go with the flow. But I think what I've learned, maybe what you've learned is like actually just get rid of that.
Don't hold onto anything and actually just go with the flow. Because then, you know, conversations take different turns. People need to spend more time on this. You can read people's emotions more, what they actually need, what they actually want to focus on, instead of kind of like forcing. This mold, the structure of a conversation that feels, I dunno, rigid, preset, yeah.
In a way. Pre rigid. Rigid, yeah. And it. I don't know, it just feels a little bit disingenuine perhaps, even as well. And and I think when you, you can really go the flow and still get your point across and still make it, I don't know, effective and, and be confident and rooted in what you are saying.
. , I think that's when you are like, I, I got this now. .
Ronald Poon: Yeah, absolutely. And people feel it. No. Yeah, they do. Yeah. Yeah. And you know when, like a meeting's going well and, and you have like this baseline after a while of like, oh, this meeting wasn't as good. Cause I was like too, like too scripted in a way, or not scripted, but like I was.
you know, not as flexible or adaptive. And then you know the ones where it goes well, because you're super in tune, you're a lot more responsive. Totally. So, yeah, you just wanna get that prep, like that combination, right, of being prepared because you can't go in not prepared. Yeah. But then also being very adaptive.
Yeah, yeah. To a game fund.
Emily Peilan: Absolutely. Yeah, I would. I could see that being really challenging.
Ronald Poon: Yeah, definitely. And I like just to shout out to like universities and schools. Yeah. Like get students off scripting as soon as possible. Because even in my fifth or sixth year, you could still. Script and presentation, which is incredible.
Yeah. Like, cause we, yeah. Yeah. I,
Emily Peilan: I mean for me it was like all through university my last year we, people were getting a's for reading off a script.
Ronald Poon: Yeah.
Emily Peilan: Cause in real life you, you just can't, and it's in incre, like, it blew my mind. Like it would be a good presentation and awful people didn't even. , you didn't even have to look out.
You just read from the script. Yeah, and if the context was good, they're like, yeah, cool. You're fine. and I was like, wow, this snap.
Ronald Poon: Yeah. It's, it's a crutch. Yeah. It's any students listening out there like, like challenge yourself and like get rid of it. Yeah. You know, cop a bag grade, but like, just like for your own, like professional and self development.
Right. Totally. It's, it's so much, it's very beneficial.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. Also quick size story just on that subject. Yeah. When I was studying in Stockholm at the Business University, we had a few presentations as well. . and I was so used to that our, our standard was like, you read off a script. Right. So I basically read off a script and I'm so glad I went.
Second or third for one of these presentations. Cuz I was like, yeah, yeah, that's, I think that went okay. And then every other Swiss student went up, delivered brilliantly, zero script, hand gestures, everything. Super confident. And I was like, I'm failing this . We did . I was like, wow, this, the standard is a whole new level.
Crazy. Yeah. And I was like, that is what I hope to one day be able to do. Like that is what everybody should be aiming for. . and yeah. That's just interesting. Different universities, different standards as well. Yeah.
Ronald Poon: I don't think everyone can do it. It's just a matter of practice. Yeah. And yeah, it's like getting the training wheels off.
Emily Peilan: Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Okay, so, so coming back to it, so that's the most challenging aspect. What about, what are your favorite aspects about your job? What do you love most about.
Ronald Poon: Favorite aspects, probably the brainstorming. Ooh, that's really fun. We, we, we use this apple like mural, and then just like brainstorming different ideas and you can make it really colorful and photos and, you know, different like sticky pads.
And then, like photos. Is
Emily Peilan: it, is it like just like a blank digital canvas? Yeah. It's a blank digital canvas. Yeah. Put sticky notes here and write things. . And put images. What's it called?
Ronald Poon: N u, it's called mural. Like a mural board. M U R A L. It's like, You painted mur.
Emily Peilan: Okay, cool. Yeah. Oh yeah. And then everybody is like a group board.
Everybody like puts, yeah.
Ronald Poon: So, so that was really important for like the design and branding process. Yeah. For one of our projects recently. Hey, cool. Yeah. But another like, just quick other thing that I really love was, is we have these things for like Friday luncheon learns. So it's on a Friday and it's like a lunch and load.
And I got to present on a topic, which I did like a book review on the Power of regret. Yeah. And it was really cool cause I like made my own slides and then I, we also did this interactive activity where we went. The four kind of core or foundational regrets that you can have, and then like everyone just brainstormed and shared, it was really nice.
Emily Peilan: Oh, that's so nice you guys get, even though because you guys all work. Remotely, right? . like, no, like nobody goes into an office and like none of the team members like work together from an office.
Ronald Poon: Yeah. I live in a six hour train ride away from everyone and yeah, a lot of these times I had colleagues who were in like Edmonton or Dominican Republic or Wow.
India. Yeah, everyone is different, different places
Emily Peilan: and so it's like so important, and I love that, you know, your, your bosses, they really. A priority and an importance on group bonding, even if it is virtual, right? . . Yeah.
Ronald Poon: Yeah. It's all those little things. Like we have like all hands on Monday where everyone shares what they did in the weekend, and then we also sync up about, you know, like, cause we have to get stuff done and like set the agenda for the week.
Yeah. So like in that we talk about like, what's coming up? And then on the Friday it's more of a like weekly Wes, like, what happened? What went really well? And then we like, we'll play some games sometimes and people will present. That's nice. And we learn a lot of social activities through that as well.
That's nice. Yeah. And we try to have in-person events as well. Cause at the end of the end of the day, yeah. . You want to like now eat food and
Emily Peilan: Yeah. So, so how, how often do you guys meet?
Ronald Poon: Like two or three Since I've started, so it's like every few months or so. Okay.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. You also said you guys have a retreat now?
Ronald Poon: Yeah. That's coming up soon. Yeah. Ooh, cottage retreat hopefully in August. Yeah. Beautiful. Still planning out the deeds for that. Cool.
Emily Peilan: I love that. Team retreat. That's so cool. Okay. And so like, what do you think some of the soft skills from other areas of your life like that you've picked up? Not necessarily.
Related to what you do now? Could be, but like, yeah. What are some random things that surprised you that really help your job now?
Ronald Poon: That's a good question. definitely need some time to ponder. I'd say two rough category. I'd say the first type of soft skill would be, you know, dealing with people and inspiring people to do better.
And I think. Those soft skills emanated or came from, you know, my time swim teaching. I volunteered with Access Monash mentoring, which was, you know, helping students from a more lower s e s financial background to bridge the gap towards university. So that's one of them. And also like, you know, retail experience too in that.
And then I'd say the second skill that I've also developed, I saw skill is a little bit more intrinsic. It's like just. Relentless drive for self-improvement? I'd say that hunger and ambition, and I'd say that really comes from sport. Both swimming, growing up, I was competitive swimmer back when I lived in New Zealand as a child and teenager and then more recently playing tennis.
I think it's such a demanding and dynamic sport, which requires so many different, you know, aspects like mental, technical, physical and I think that that thinking has really translated to my.
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Back in the day when we were like doing morning training, we had to get up at four 30 in the morning, right. Just to go training from five till seven and then go to school and then train again for two hours. And it's like, where, and a above all of that. We also had to like fit in time to socialize, to be with our friends and it's like, learning how to fit everything in that we wanna do as well as the things that we have to do.
The important stuff.
Ronald Poon: Exactly. Yeah. It's really helped with like time management and. optimizing the day.
Emily Peilan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just really pushing yourself. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Beautiful. And so what do you think your next three years are gonna look like now that you've got this job?
Ronald Poon: Well, actually I have a three year work permit in Canada, so I'm pretty excited to be living there for a little bit longer.
But in terms of job, I like a hundred percent wanna stay with ova and I really wanna help Helen and Victor expand and grow ova as much as possible. So, nice. Hopefully we'll enter like, you know, different and exciting new projects as well. . , but also just building the team up and hopefully stepping in to be more of a leader with an organization.
That's so cool.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. And do you see yourself like working, cuz you've got a three year work permit in Canada, but do you see yourself there the, in the entire time because you. are able to work remotely. Like is there anywhere else in the world that you'd like to sort of experiment working in?
Ronald Poon: I would like to explore a little bit more of Asia too.
Cool. As well. But as I mentioned in the last episode, yeah, it'd be cool to to work in South America and also to just to explore North America as well. Yeah. So,
Emily Peilan: yeah. Yeah. Nice. I excited for that. Yeah. And, and so like, this was like you, this trip coming to Portugal or Spain, whatnot. It's three weeks now altogether.
Three weeks. And you were working, it wasn't like three weeks off. You were working, you were taking meetings, sitting on the floor or the hotel rooms and , I did see you having to make sacrifices that you weren't able to come surfing with us. Yeah. You weren't able to, you know, go to explore certain places with us because you had meetings and you had to prepare for them.
And so, you know, how, overall, how did you find this work and travel balance on this trip and what would you kind of change or do differently next time?
Ronald Poon: Overall I'd, I'd call it an emotional rollercoaster. You know, it goes ups and downs of it, and a lot of that is self-inflicted for sure. Yeah. But I'd say there's, there's many positives when you really look into it a lot deeper.
Yeah. Over the three weeks, it's like, there's so many things that I just never would've been able to do in my normal life in Montreal which is something I'm super grateful for. But I guess on the flip side is, Once you are working and traveling in this way, you just gotta realize that it can't be the same way as when you're a younger on exchange.
Like you just don't have that same mental space freedom because you are, you know, leading and facilitating these projects and they kind of do depend on you. You have a lot more responsibility. You have a lot more responsibility.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. Yeah. It's not like you can just. Scrape a C or a B .
Ronald Poon: Yeah. It's not like when you do this 1000 word essay on your plane ride to France in the middle of Cypress or something.
Yeah. It was a lot easier just to write a little blur for your, you know, cinema assignment.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. Yeah. So like you feel like. You know, you have a lot more pressure of responsibility because, but also because you want to do a good job. No. Like they trust you with this and you really like the company that you work for and you really like what you do and so you want to do a good job.
Ronald Poon: Yeah, I'd, I'd say I'm also like pretty hard on myself, a bit of a perfectionist and you know, wanting to do it all and setting his impossible expectations. I would say that was probably one of the hardest parts and that's probably something going in next time I would change is cuz I'd say that my expectations.
Too high for like both things. Both for work and travel. You know, I expected myself to be, you know, following awful cylinders for work and doing, you know, kick ass job all the time with facilitating the meetings, uhhuh, , and developing new ideas. And then at the same time on the travel side, I thought, , I thought I could do a lot of activities in a week or in a few days, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you can't, you get tired now. Yeah. You still like need to sleep and hydrate and you know, everything.
Emily Peilan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Sorry for the door banging, by the way. And so next time, say you were to do another trip, would you actually take a week off work and like say you were to do three weeks again, would you work two weeks and then actually take a week completely.
or how would you do it differently next time, like take a few days off in between or just not work at all? .
Ronald Poon: Yeah, I would say when you, when you're fully off for a week, that, that is a good idea because again, like I said, and it's, it's not so much the hours commitment, it's more the, the mental freedom of knowing that like, oh, you know, people I need to respond to on Slack or email or things are pending.
So I would take that week off. Yeah. Otherwise, the other alternative is if you don't wanna take a full week, Is that you go hard for three or four days and you're actually working and you are very firm to the people around You. Say that your girlfriend, best friend. family members and telling them like, I cannot work, like, I cannot do any fun activities.
I being very firm in your personal life about that and then completely switching off, taking your day off from Friday. . , and then having that full weekend, right?
Emily Peilan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of working really, really hard and then doing only that for having admin days and then play hard.
Ronald Poon: Yeah, and you also need the courage to.
To, to ask for those days off too. Yeah. And like realizing that you're not Superman, cuz part of you is like, oh, you know, I could maybe just like work, be working on a Friday, but not actually formally ask my boss for the day off. But I think. telling people like, Hey, I'm gonna be out of office this Friday, or last Friday.
Yeah. And I think that made a huge world of difference. I felt a huge difference. Yeah. Like between the first Friday. . When I was in Madrid, I was technically working. And then that second Friday I was also in Madrid. Um-huh. Like after going the villa and everything. Yeah. But it felt so much nicer.
Yeah. Because like nothing was pending. That's nice. Yeah. Yeah. Fully there.
Emily Peilan: And unless you don't have it's, yeah. I feel like, , you don't always have to explain yourself super in depth as to like why you need to take a day off, but just like, Hey, look, I'm taking this day off. And also knowing that you're gonna give more time, effort, and energy on the other days that you are working.
You don't have to be semi working all the time and semi not productive all the time. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. It's better to just be all. do a really good job. . and then yeah. Be really, yeah.
Ronald Poon: Not feeling guilty about it too. Yeah. No. Mean, I got my wisdoms out and I still felt a little bit bad, like, oh, I wanna be available.
Yeah. But like, you know, like, I'm gonna be out, out of action.
Emily Peilan: Yeah, yeah. No, I feel you as well, but some, yeah, exactly. But you're doing a service to everyone.
Ronald Poon: To, to just, to just be honest about, like, I, I just. cannot work today. Yeah. Like, because you can't
Emily Peilan: please everyone and, and I think it's important to note that you need time for yourself, for your personal life because you're not working to work, you know, you want to live to, to really be able to enjoy moments like this now.
Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And so like what? , like, in your daily life, say back in Canada, what's work life balance look like? Or is there anything that you'd change going back upon reflection? How do you, do you feel like you have a good work-life balance back home?
Ronald Poon: This is ups and downs for sure. . . Yeah.
And it really depends. Cause sometimes you really wanna work hard . and like, you enjoy that grind and you, you want to like, you know, move a lot more forward in your career. So that gets you really excited and it actually feels really good Yeah. To have those periods, but, From a more sustainable standpoint.
Yeah. Maybe this is something people could relate to when they're working for something they're super excited for, but I think it's really important to have kind of a separate, not a separate life, but yeah, I think you do need those activities where you can completely switch off and I'd say, yeah, not to like.
Fuck. But like, I, I'd like, it's been really nice having Susie who really like balances me out and then we can like go have a walk at the park. Yeah. It's just super relaxing. Yeah. And like walking her dog. Yeah. And then you just, your, your mind's completely off and I think you need moments and periods like that.
Yeah.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. Just for reference guys, Susie's his girlfriend and she's got a dog. I met her recently and she's lovely. So yeah, like having, she, she balances yoga cause she's quite. I don't know. Your energies are different. I suppose. Your, you're kind of like Yeah, she, she just calms you. I just see that as well.
Ronald Poon: She's a lot more chill. Yeah. We like relaxed and I'm a lot more hectic and time optimizing. Yeah. You know, trying to fit in like hungry activities in a day.
Emily Peilan: Yeah, totally. That's so nice. That's really important to have. Okay, so like, kind of last couple questions, like for people who are looking.
either looking for a remote job or currently, like wondering if they can take their current job remote. Like what, do you have any advice or tips for people? When it comes to, yeah. Remote working in general, whether that be on holiday or working from home or looking for a remote job.
Ronald Poon: Anything. I would say tips would be, Switching off notifications for sure.
Brilliant. Yeah. Brilliant. You have this advice all the time in like other podcasts and like, you know, any self-improvement thing, but it is kind of like harder to do in reality, but I think you really do need to like put on do not disturb yeah. Like fully as well. And then having like a set routine has really helped.
Nice. Cause like I work pretty hard in the mornings and then, The middle of the day off which I've go play tennis at like 1:00 PM or 3:00 PM which has been super nice. Nice. And then I work a little bit harder towards night and then I have dinner. Cool. Nice. But I start my day really early. Yeah. How old are you?
Like viewers don't wanna know , but like, you know, I started work at like five or six before. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Cause I just wanted to take like the afternoon off to That's crazy. How many hours do you. . I, I, I'm like, I'm like a grandpa. I gotta sleep at 10:00 PM . Like, as soon as I book my court for the next week, I'm just like, ah, I'm gonna sleep
Emily Peilan: That's hilarious. Yeah. No, but notification thing, seriously, I used to have, I, I used to be unable to turn my Gmail notifications off and I was on holiday in New Yorker, technically holiday, but also working, cuz you know, I've never really stopped working when you're self-employed. And she. Emily.
Seriously, Tony GMA notifications off It Saved My Life. And I was like, no, I can't. I can't, I can't. And I finally got myself to to turn it off and I, it's still off. Wow. To this day. And it's like the most incredible thing. I dunno. How I lived with it on the whole time was so stressful. Yeah. And now I check my emails and when I go on, then it tells me how many notifications I have.
But it's never like, you know, ding, ding, ding, you've got like 10, 20, 30. You know, it's just like I can't deal. Yeah.
Ronald Poon: Yeah. Because I, I used to like listen to those podcasts where they talk about email batching or like 20 notifications off. Yeah. But they didn't really apply to me. Yeah. But like, you have to like re-listen to that stuff now.
Yeah. When you start working. Yeah. And actually apply that.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. No, totally, totally. Feel you. Nice. Last question. Okay. So like, I know on the, on the first podcast episode we did, I kind of asked you what does a free world and so for life sort of look like or feel like for you? Let's put a twist to that.
And let me ask you like, what are a few things you would do this year or just implement in your life that would help make your life feel a little bit more free, a little bit more wild, a little bit more soul?
Ronald Poon: That's a good question. So this is probably stuff that you kind of do at home, right? Yeah, yeah.
I would try to watch a few more sunsets, absolutely. I feel like I haven't like watched as many recently. Beautiful. So that's definitely one. And then second one would just be actually pausing. at work. So like, you know, because I'm someone who like sit down and just like lock down and just work. Yeah. Yeah.
Whereas I think sometimes it's so nice to just like lie on the couch with a bed and listen to like music you really like, just for like 10 or 15 minutes, it's like really peacefully, kind of like sies to a nap. . . And that's like a second one that kind of like allows you to feel a bit more free.
Yeah. , it's something more soulful would be try to meet new people more constantly. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz sometimes you can, you know, you might love your housemates or you know, you have a girlfriend or like whatever, like you have like this tight inner circle. Yeah. And you get quite comfortable. Yeah. I think sometimes just like.
That adventurous, that wild soulful part is like connecting with new people and like putting yourself in those situations. Yeah. Like in the weekend. Yeah. Instead of like, yeah. It, it's, it's instead of like, oh, I wanna like read my book and crawl up in bed. It's like, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna do something different.
Yeah. And it's gonna be nice with you.
Emily Peilan: Yeah. That's beautiful. And having like, Nourishing conversations that give you, that inspire you as well.
Ronald Poon: No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you haven't really like switched on to have those conversations. Yeah. Which is why it's important to like recharge definitely as well.
Emily Peilan: Definitely. Yeah. Aw, they're so beautiful. I love that. Thank you so much for, you know, just being on this episode, chatting with me and yeah, I might have your again in the future.
Ronald Poon: Sounds good. It's been a pleasure. And see you guys a all. Bye.
Emily Peilan: Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I'm so grateful for your time, and I would love to hear what you found most insightful or resonated with the most from today's conversation. You can send me a personal DM over on Instagram at Emily Peilan. That's E M I L Y P E I L A N, and please also share this episode with any family or friends looking to create this freedom lifestyle.
And lastly, if you're craving a wild creative adventure with a bunch of rad, soulful humans, you can find out more on our retreats page here at freewildsouls.com/retreats. That's all for today, my friends!
