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Remote Work Story of Aulia Halimatussadiah - Chief Marketing Officer of Remote Skills Academy

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Hi, Can you please introduce yourself?

Hi I'm Lia, from Bali, Indonesia. I've been living in Bali since the start of pandemic March 2020 and has been loving my new lifestyle of working remotely and enjoying the work-life balance with the beautiful nature of Bali.

What’s your profession, what do you do?

I'm the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Remote Skills Academy (RSA), an impact-focused program to help Indonesian Youth to reskill and upskill with tech-related skills and change their life.

What company do you work for? Are you a freelancer or Digital Nomad?

I'm working part time for Remote Skills Academy.

How did you start with a remote work journey?

For me it started with the pandemic and people start to work from home in Indonesia. I don't see the point of keep living in Jakarta in a small room and no space to the nature nearby. I moved to Bali, and keep working on my startup at that time. Around 6 months ago, I decided to move on to new path of life and introduced to RSA by a good friend of mine Lavinia, who runs the academy together with Livit team. I was called to help expand the academy to give impact to more Indonesians youth and join them to do the marketing until now. Livit has a hub in Sanur, Bali, that has become RSA's HQ, but we can work remotely from anywhere. I choose to live and work from Canggu, around one hour from Sanur.

What do you think are the main benefits of working remotely?

The most obvious benefit for me is to cut the commute. In Jakarta, it was normal for me to spend 3 hours on the road, which would be outrageous to think about now. Why would I spend 3 hours commuting to work, while in that 3 hours, I can get a lot of things done?

Do you think there are disadvantages or that you’re missing something by working remotely?

I still think that in-person meetings sometimes are still needed to strengthen bond and increases the serendipity factors. There are ideas that can sparked during that water cooler moments with your colleagues.

From what cities or countries have you worked since you have become remote? What are your favourite countries or cities to work from?

I only been working remotely in Bali, and it still becomes my favorite place ever to work from.

From what type of places do you prefer to work? Home, co-working spaces, coffee shops, or others?

I like to work from my living room, but most of the time I will go out and go different places from co-working spaces to nice restaurants. I will make sure to choose the ones with stable internet connection and less noisy, because I tend to take few calls a day.

What places would you like to travel to while working remotely?

In the afternoon after work, I usually choose different ways to enjoy the sunset at the different beaches around Canggu. Also on weekend, exploring different parts of Bali from the mountain side to the surfing side.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them? Share your remote productivity, communication, management, etc. tips based on your experience!

The challenges come when I wasn't aware to be balance. My body can be physically sick from sitting down too much. Or I can be overwhelmed with too many online meetings. I use weekly and daily intention to focus my priorities. I also try to remind myself to be balanced, to eat good food, to exercise more and to know when to stop working.

What tools do you use to improve productivity and manage work efficiently?

I use Asana, Trello (for my personal OKR and action lists), Slack, Google products for collaborations. The best tools are still pen and paper for me!

What advice would you give to people looking to work remotely?

To know your boundaries around work, to understands when you need to rest and it's okay to take it when you need one.

Do you work on any side projects?

Yes

Links to your side projects?

​https://salsabeela.com​

Would you like to share earnings from your side projects? Please share.

I do thought leadership strategy and coaching for tech startup CEOs and help them to build their online authority and share at scale. I also teach classes and courses in my free time.

Would you like to share any interesting stories while you worked remotely? Please share if you can.

I was once get a DM on Instagram from a friend of mine in Jakarta, that she would block me on Instagram because my life looks so beautiful, that I can work in beautiful places in Bali, and it made her jealous :D

​Full Story​