Designing Your Own Life with Tiff Ng
Tiff is a seasoned digital nomad and gave us all the ins and outs of this lifestyle.
Tiff Ng is a storyteller, agency founder, and digital nomad who has set herself up to design the life of her dreams. While having the flexibility to travel the world and experiencing new places has been a dream come true, Tiff is also passionate about the realities that come along with remote work and being a digital nomad. From balancing work with travel, misconceptions about the digital nomad life, and the unique challenges of working remotely, Tiff gave us a glimpse into this lifestyle and what everyone should consider before making the leap of their own.
Okay, so tell us about yourself and your work.
I’m Tiff, a social storyteller originally from Australia. I run a social media agency, The Social Story, that helps passionate entrepreneurs and social enterprises to share the impact they’re making.
We love that you describe it as designing your own life. How did you step back and make that decision?
What attracted me to this lifestyle was the ownership I could achieve over my work right down to my lifestyle. Without the expectations and conventions of routine, I was able to even decide how each day went. Not feeling that productive? Let’s go for a workout for. Or save it for another day. Hitting a productive flow? Let’s keep it going!
Moreover, it’s been about redefining what success and happiness means. I’m no longer chasing validation through promotions or pay raises that didn’t truly fuel my soul. Instead, I get to pursue the things that I am passionate about and have that as my guiding light so I am more balanced with my work, travel, and everything in between.
How long have you been traveling? What started your journey for you?
I started travelling about 2.5 years ago. At first, I was just looking for a sabbatical from my full-time position as I felt like I had missed out on the big gap year many of my friends take after university. But as an ambitious and easily-bored person, I started freelancing on my travels, meeting people who were already pursuing this lifestyle and I felt inspired to keep this going. And here we still are 2.5 years later.
What’s the biggest challenge with traveling and working remote?
I find it hard to rebuild my routine in each city. You can often get distracted with the allure of a new city or the mere difficulty of finding a place to live or a gym; and even where your favourite coffee is and a good place to work. The disruption can put a real dampener on your productivity and make it hard to get back into your groove.
Some remote workers find it difficult to balance being online and being offline, how have you struck that balance?
It’s definitely easy to lose yourself into your work when you don’t have the set hours of 9 to 5. Particularly when you’re building up your own business or working on something you’re passionate about, it is hard to remember to take breaks.
Travelling is a blessing because there are so many things you want to see that almost pushes you to remember to take time off. It’d be a shame to be in Budapest and not even see the Parliament House. And so, it reminded me to take that time to turn off and really appreciate where I was and the great luck I have in being able to pursue this as a lifestyle.
What’s a common misconception people have about being a digital nomad?
The term ‘digital nomad’ gets thrown around so easily and I see so many people think it’s as easy as quitting their job and just becoming a nomad. But for me, this is a lifestyle that my work has facilitated; not a career in itself. Many people overlook the need to still have the hard skills and background to build a career before just jetting off and ‘living their best life.’
Tell us about your own work. Does travel lend to the creative parts for you?
I’ve found the freedom to set my own hours and be in locations that are more attune to my tastes has unlocked my creativity further. Creative thought is not conducive to the strict hours of an office; and having the flexibility to gestate on ideas and be inspired by the environment around me has pushed me further as a social strategist and copywriter.
What’s something you want to set straight about being a digital nomad that not many people understand?
Being a digital nomad is definitely not just working by the beach and sipping coconuts all day. Besides, that is just impractical. I need a good workspace, with quality wifi, outlets, and many of the office comforts to be able to get work done and I wish that was recognised more.
Favorite Croissant space and why?
Selina in Lisbon. I was often intimidated by the mega company that something like Selina is but found it a lot more accessible because I was able to go there through Croissant. The space was beautiful - plenty of open spaces, colourful murals, great wifi and plenty of outlets. But more than that, there was a great community at the space and fun events we could be a part of.
How are you feeling with the recent pandemic? How do you think this will affect remote working?
It’s definitely a confusing time. As nomads, we’ve worked hard to allow ourselves the freedom to travel wherever we want to go. At this point, we’ve now had our wings clipped and many of us are facing the uncertainty of being stuck at home for who knows how long. It’s made me very conscious of the way in which we travel and how we do affect the communities we come into because of our travels - socially, economically and now, physically.
But it also makes me feel very fortunate that we have been ahead of the curve with remote working. It is heartening to see many companies around the world embracing the tools and mindset; coming to understand the reality of what we do as digital nomads. I hope that this does open more opportunities for remote work.
Any goals, you’re looking forward to this year?
I have plans to grow my business further and spread the message of how we can use social for good. In these times with the pandemic, it’s allowed us to see how social can definitely be used for good to keep us connected in this global world. I’d love to continue our work in spreading the good vibes through social, both as a company and through our clients.