Meet Kristi DePaul. She's the CEO of Founders Marketing, a company that creates bold content strategy for the future of learning and work, and a regular contributor on Remote.co blog, where she's written over 160 blog posts.
We sat down with Kristi to learn more about her view on remote work, and how she believes it has the power to lead workers on a journey of empowerment and self-discovery that goes beyond the click-bait of digital nomadism.
Take a listen to the short interview and keep scrolling for the highlights ?
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Getting started with remote working
Kristi’s foray into remote work wasn’t deliberate – she started the lifestyle in 2013, completely on accident. As she began wondering what kind of knowledge she could give back to younger generations, an adjunct role came up at a university and she began teaching. She first taught face to face and eventually taught a semester online, which set her on a course for a remote career.
The differences between online and traditional learning
As Kristi says, the biggest difference between teaching in a classroom and teaching online is that in some cultures, it’s preferable to communicate face to face, or at least asynchronously. When teaching to someone who belongs to this kind of culture, Kristi would supplement her lessons in various ways. She’d either hop on a video call or get into the habit of over-explaining to make sure those on the other side got the right message.
The real reason why Kristi’s a remote work advocate
No commute, great work-life balance, reduced overhead costs, less pollution, a broader hiring pool – these are all great reasons to support the remote work lifestyle and they get mentioned quite a lot. Not to mention we've all seen those stock images of digital nomads hanging out at the beach with their laptop open. While that one may be far from reality for many remote workers, it’s certainly another reason to be pro-remote.
However, Kristi’s main reason for being a remote work advocate is the possibility to have a more productive, positive and empowered life. Through remote working, people can truly be in charge of their lives in ways that previous generations couldn’t even imagine.
The real reasons why remote working is so powerful:
- living in a rural or remote area and not wanting to leave
- having family caregiving responsibilities
- not wanting to leave a partner who has an on-site job
In other words, remote work is powerful because it allows you to pursue your life exactly as you want to live it and plan the trajectory of your career.
As she prepares to give birth to her daughter soon, Kristi says that the knowledge workers of the future hold a huge benefit in being able to tailor a career that suits their personality and goals.
And there's more…
To find out more about Kristi's circumstances of her starting a remote career and how she went from being terrified of public speaking to teaching for a living, make sure to listen to the full interview on the More Beach Meetings podcast page or wherever you listen to podcasts.
