March 18, 2022 Embracing The Gig And Travel Lifestyle With Ravijune – The Topcoder Nation Show #14

Traveling slow, embracing new experiences, and discovering his own character when encountering unexpected situations are the hallmarks of the gig lifestyle for our distinguished guest, Ravi (Ravijune). You will have an incredibly hard time trying not to enjoy this young man’s  company.

He is from India, but belongs to the whole planet, as he endeavors to live the life of his dreams  profiting from remote work as his source of income. His seven (7) years in Topcoder have given him friends, connections, clients, and valuable lessons he relishes. 

In this episode, we talked about his career in design, time management skills, travel, and profound advice on how to live the gig lifestyle without losing your mind.

“Just get out. Just take your bag, take your laptop, put some clothes in it, and just get out. If you have any problems while traveling, you will figure them out. That’s what traveling does to you, it helps you find solutions to problems that you have while traveling. Necessity will make you be creative to find solutions while traveling.”

— Ravi’s advice to freelancers who fear starting the remote work lifestyle

Since joining Topcoder, Ravi has used his income to travel inside India first, where he fell in love with the experiences of traveling, getting lost, and finding solutions to difficult situations which rendered him more creative.

It was interesting to bluntly explore the topic of challenges for remote workers abroad, such as health insurance, finances, accountability, and responsibility to work. It’s easy to get distracted being in a new place, and Ravi gave us gems of advice on how to cope with those temptations.

His strategy on remote work and travel lies in selecting a destination, mustering up the money he needs to cover the full trip safely, heading there, and keeping on working, but slowly. His ultimate dream is to explore cities in the world for extended periods of time, living there as a local, enjoying the experiences the place has to offer; and then coming back to stay again with his family for a couple of months, and keep moving.

“I think it’s really hard to pick one place, especially when you like traveling. You wanna keep moving. You don’t even want to call yourself “I belong to this place”, you belong to the whole planet.”

— Ravi on his favorite place to live

TAKEAWAYS

These lessons, tips, and advice captured my attention, they may also help you:

• Ravi shared the nitty-gritty of the origins of Topcoder Nation.
• He keeps himself accountable and responsible for work while traveling by making himself feel at home, organizing his own space, making it familiar.
• His gig lifestyle strategy: pick a destination, work to muster money, travel, keep working, come back home, and reassess.
• He learned time management from Topcoder. He competed in 10 challenges per month.
• His spectacular travel photos are on Instagram.

Topcoder Nation Show #14 is up on YouTube. See timestamps below for a summary.

TIMESTAMPS: GATES TO WISDOM

• Surviving a monkey attack in Shimla: 04:30
• Origins of Topcoder Nation: 07:25
• How Ravi faces the struggle of focusing on work while traveling: 11:00
• Traveling slow and habits: 14:50
• His life in Palampur at the moment: 19:24
• Ravi’s ideal lifestyle: 20:42
• Handling finances for smooth travel: 25:15
• Engaging in a nomad lifestyle while earning income in Topcoder: 27:40
• Advice for freelancers to embrace the gig and travel lifestyle: 31:05
• Lessons from his seven-year career in Topcoder: 37:40
• The biggest challenge he faces when competing in design: 39:53
• Getting lost during a freezing night in Washington DC with Topcoder members: 41:45

AMA 

We held an AMA (ask me anything) with Ravijune. Curious community members asked questions for him to ponder. Watch the video from 45:00 to check out the replies to questions such as:

• If you were to win TCO, what would you spend the money on?
• What’s your favorite place to live?
• How do you win all the design challenges you do?
• What are your health and travel insurance plans? How does it work abroad?
• How do you plan your finances for traveling and working?
• Do you cook butter chicken?
• How has lockdown affected your travel life?
• Where are you from in India?

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Peace out.

TOPCODER NATION

Are you living the gig economy lifestyle at Topcoder? Want to join fellow members? Share your story, your travels, and experiences about the ultimate goal of working at Topcoder; the freedom, the flexibility, and the earnings that make it happen! Join Topcoder Nation.

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