Hey friends,

I hope you’re having a ripping final working week of the year!

This year I embarked on a 6-month adventure to continue growing SportsGrad whilst travelling the world with with my partner Chloe. It was one of the most exciting and life-changing experiences I’ve ever had, notwithstanding its unexpected challenges.

But why attempt such a feat?

I first heard of a digital nomad in high school, immediately it was something I wanted to try. It seemed like a fantasy at first, but people were doing it. So if they could, why couldn’t I?

Fast forward to 2020, covid hits and I came across ‘The 4-Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferris, a guidebook to creating a business that gives you the freedom to design your lifestyle. I devoured it, feeling inspired I immediately rearranged my living situation and 9 days later moved to the beach town of Lorne for a 2-month test where SportsGrad was relaunched.

I loved it, so in 2021, I returned to Lorne for a 9-month extended stay to get SportsGrad off the ground. Building, cycling, podcasting, and enjoying life in nature. But there was always the itch… could I do it overseas? In 2022 I ran a few more tests, working from the Men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, not to mention a house in rural Kerala during a week-long Indian wedding. But never in multiple countries for months on end.

My biggest fear in taking on the ‘work from anywhere’ dream was ‘What if SportsGrad collapsed while I was away?’ ‘Is this something Founders should be doing? Would I be a roadblock for my team working 10 hours ahead? Is it just cut out for freelancers & solopreneurs?’

For 3 years with this trip in mind, I’d been grinding to systemise SportsGrad to a point where it could run itself. But when the trip arrived, my capacity couldn’t have been more hands-on. From January to June 2023, SportsGrad’s membership growth had flatlined and then gone backwards. However, this was just one of the issues I was staring down the barrel of.

In 2019 I was sexually assaulted by a colleague at Cricket Australia and immediately reported it to police. So In the background of building SportsGrad, I had the cloud of the pending trial hanging over my head. After 4 years of waiting for justice, a date was finally set 3 weeks into my planned trip of a lifetime (first-world problems). I wanted to confront it face to face, so I delayed my trip several times, such is the reliability of the legal system.

This meant on April 30, my birthday, I was looking at our worst month ever, with twice as many cancellations as new members, whilst also preparing myself to walk into court the next day to give evidence of my sexual assault. The trial went well, on the last Thursday in May a guilty verdict was handed down, on the Friday we coincidentally ran a Meetup at the MCG, and on the Saturday I left Australia to begin rebuilding SportsGrad remotely around the world.

Despite the business and personal turbulence, and worrying ‘is this the right thing to be doing?’ ‘can I afford to go now?’ ‘will this slow us down?’… I took the trip, and after 6 months on the road, none of my fears came true. SportsGrad is now growing quicker than before, I got to see the potential for it overseas, and as many amazing people and places. The following is a collection of learnings from working and travelling simultaneously. They cover, business, relationships, people, and places. I hope you enjoy.

1. Be prepared to take on an extra ‘part-time’ job

The hardest part was feeling stretched most of the time. This may have been different had SportsGrad been in a ‘day-to-day’ position, but we were rebuilding. My plate was full to begin, and when you add to that the travel essentials of constantly thinking about where you're going to sleep next, how you're going to get there and what you're going to do for fun, it's like adding another part-time job to your capacity. Travel days particularly sucked. We aimed to schedule these on a Saturday every one or two weeks. Too frequent for my liking.

So instead of the BAU schedule I had in my mind, the trip became close to a 6 month ‘off-site’ head down in the systems, processes, strategy and content that come with rebuilding the Community, building SportsGrad Pro and more.

It didn't help I was also training ~7 hours a week for a half marathon in Lisbon. This meant I often felt like I was missing out, I saw less than half as many things as my partner Chloe, and some simple things just slipped my mind because I was juggling a lot - such as buying a visa to enter India! Not a fun thing to learn at 3:30 am in Dubai Airport.

As soon as I landed back in Australia I felt my mental load get immediately lighter, like a weight vest had been taken off, and life was pretty straightforward again.

2. Be wary of travelling with a ‘building’ Founder

My partner Chloe was also working full-time as we travelled. I was told that travelling with a partner for this long would cause the need for time apart, but we had the opposite problem. Because I was probably working too much, it meant we weren't seeing enough of the world together.

Travelling (let alone living) with a Founder is not easy, if there’s nothing in the calendar, they will fill it with work. When I’m hustling in Melbourne, Chloe has her friends and family around. When I’m hustling in Marrakech, Chloe has no one around. A misalignment of work hours also caused issues. Chloe would start super early to cross over with Australia, and then finish after lunch. Working on different schedules meant that we were ready to move on at different speeds. Chloe wanted to get out and do more, I wanted to stay put more (I promise I’m usually fun). This became isolating for Chloe.

For example, we’d visit Porto, and Chloe would see all the major things in a couple of afternoons. My memories of Porto are the streets between our hostel and co-working space, FC Porto’s stadium, a couple of cafes nearby and onboarding our new SportsGrad Members. There was a lot I missed out on and a lot Chloe wished she had company for.

To fix this we tried two things:

1. Putting the fun stuff in the calendar so I could plan for it

2. Parting ways to do separate things

For example, by the time we were headed to Turkey in October, I was cooked. But Chloe was pumped for the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, hot air ballooning in Cappadocia, and a sailing tour along the coast. I said “I’ll meet you in Fethiye”, and bunkered down by the water, and made some website updates (Ok I may not actually be that fun).

Vice versa, I planned a week in India for the Cricket World Cup with presentations at Universities. Chloe said, “Have fun, I’m going to Thailand to be by the beach”. Can’t blame her. This worked well because we both got what we wanted and it created a longing that meant it was always special when we reconvened. My advice to anyone in a relationship looking to do the same, if you can, set expectations on what hours you’re going to work before you leave. What’s more realistic, particularly for Founders, be prepared for your capacity to change in a heartbeat and keep your partner in the loop. For Partners-of-Founders (they deserve a Whatsapp group), be wary that ‘build mode’ can strike at any moment.

3. Don’t be a full-kit wanker at Lord’s

When I worked at Cricket Australia, I got my hands on a full test match uniform. So as I packed my suitcase in Melbourne I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if I wore this to the Ashes at Lord’s!” So I did.

I attended dressed as one gentleman described as a “proper full-kit wanker!”

On day 2 I was pumped to see Steve Smith complete his century, but that’s when things went wrong… When I got in security said “You’re not coming in dressed like that”. Apparently, I was a risk of pitch invading… which I understand, but I was just a proper full-kit wanker. They said I could come back if I found some new clothes.

So I found an op shop, but the only pair of shorts I was prepared to wear was too big. Thankfully, a lady browsing said she was a dressmaker and offered to pin up my shorts. I asked, “Have you done this before?”

“I made a dress for Paul McCartney’s wife last week love, you’ll be fine. Now turn around and put your arms up”

Such is the crowd in St John’s Wood.

With my shorts pinned up, security welcomed me through the gates, I shook the hand of a wandering Kumar Sangakkara, and arrived at my seat with Smith on 99*. I may not have been able to live my dream as a nuffie at Lord’s, but I am now only one degree of separation from The Beatles.

thegoobens

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4. Find the ‘Lorne equivalents’

SportsGrad’s flatlining membership base ignited a fresh set of ideas and a months-long ‘build’ period, on top of creating all the content and podcasts we do. That’s when the challenge became ‘What do I prioritise?’ Beach, or business?

I often contemplated “Should I slow down and dive into this when I get home? I’m in the South of France after all, stop working all the time and go to the beach!”

But every time I found myself drawn to building a new bit of SportsGrad. Every time I would think “Eze will always be here, but how often do you get to build a business you love?” Not what I had in mind when I planned the trip, but it’s truly a privilege to find work that feels like play to you but looks like work to others.

This meant my favourite places were towns that were low in attractions but high in natural beauty. Spaces I could do my routine day of reading, running, writing, podcasting, building, find good coffee, maybe a panini, and not be distracted by another bloody cathedral.

I was on the hunt for Europe’s ‘Lorne equivalents’. My idea of the perfect environment to work consistently. To name a few: Tossa de Mar, Jarrie, Butterfly Valley and Aix en Provence. This meant I was writing email campaigns from the French Alps, conducting webinars on hostel rooftops at 5am in Spain, welcoming new intakes of Members from Porto, and planning the next intake on the south coast of Turkey.

Everywhere we went, I saved towns to Google Maps as future destinations to go ‘monk-mode’.

5. People make your trip (life!) better

The friends I made before arriving in Europe drastically increased my experience. My previous trips have involved a menu list of activities you can purchase on Tripadvisor, this time you’ll find none of these experiences online. Here are a few ‘pinch me’ moments my network afforded me:

In London, I sat with Sam Kerr in the Nike Box at Wembley watching the Socceroos play England, thanks to a friend I made in 2017 at a conference in France as part of an internship.

In Switzerland, I got the ultimate guided tour (wine tasting included!) of Lausanne and the International Olympic Committee offices thanks to a member of the legal team I met via zoom in 2020 when he was a guest on the SportsGrad Podcast. He also welcomed us into his home for a couple of nights, where we had dinner with another Australian-in-Switzerland podcast guest from FIBA. I couldn’t believe a USB microphone led to here.

In Portugal, we had a close to two-week homestay with the family of a SportsGrad Member in Lisbon. I met him for the first time at a Sydney meetup where he said ‘you should come and stay with my family’. He was probably just trying to be nice, but we took up the offer! If his Dad hadn’t slipped me a note under the door saying the Lisbon half-marathon start time had been moved forward 90 minutes, I would have missed the race. Thank god for adopted Portuguese parents!

In Paris, I met up with a friend I made via LinkedIn, who showed me around the Para Athletics World Championships. She said, “You should come to Saint-Tropez for the Sail GP”. So I did! A couple of months later I found myself out on the water watching space-age catamarans fly past, interviewed 20+ people working on the event for the podcast, and left with a convoluted hitchhiking journey to and from the celebrity-studded, yacht-lined jewel of the French Riviera.

In Dubai, I found out at 3:30 am whilst checking in that you need a visa to enter India. Having just strolled across borders in Europe, it completely slipped my mind. Through a grimace, I tried to laugh it off, paid an arm and a leg for an express visa, and then began the 30-hour wait before booking a new flight. In the meantime, I called up the former Captain of the UAE cricket team! Thankfully I was the Team Liaison for UAE at the last ICC T20 World Cup. He picked me up and we hung out at the cricket game he was playing that night. When we were done, I messaged another mate from Peru who I met in a hostel in Croatia in 2018 and said “Hey, you free?” We grabbed a beer and then I crashed at his apartment before leaving the next day.

In India… keep reading, lesson #9 explains the full extent of their hospitality.

I could go on.

Particularly in London, there were people to see everywhere. I found myself at cafes with podcast guests, school and mother’s group friends, networking nights and hospitality tents with past colleagues. London was proper calling.

But the greatest pinch-me moment came as I was packing up the very first SportsGrad London Meetup! Over 120 attended on the other side of the world. Something that seemed incomprehensible when I was giving up on SportsGrad as a YouTube channel.

6. Run

We typically changed location every 7 or 14 days, so keeping a routine became super important. Running was the backbone of this. I registered for the Lisbon half-marathon and trained 4-5 times a week for it, running as many as 73 kms a week. This proved to be an underrated activity. Not only did it help me stick to my schedule, as they say it’s a wonderful way to see new places. I found myself running around Richmond Park, the perimeter of Brugge, along the river Sienne, through Swiss sunflower fields, French country roads, the mountain ridge of Nice, the cliffs of Costa Brava, beachside paths of Cascais, and at the coolest time of day in Marrakech. Although the race didn’t go to plan, I still took a great feeling of pride from training consistently whilst travelling. A polar opposite approach to a beer and burger fuelled trip in 2018 where I returned 7 kilos heavier.

7. We go again

In Morocco, I got a really unfortunate phone call from Cricket Australia. They told me my sexual assault case I was involved in had been appealed, everyone would be returning to court next year, and I would have to give my evidence again. My first thought was ‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me’. After I few deep breaths that changed to, “I’ve done it once, it went well, it wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be, the verdict was guilty, but the sentence was light. Here’s another opportunity for justice.”

But I was in Marrakech and had Spain and Portugal to come - Future Reuben could deal with this later. So I carried on enjoying the trip as a wonderful distraction. As much as I’d love to be looking forward to an even bigger and better 2024, the legal system will stretch this out beyond 5 years. If they want me to give my evidence 1000 times I’ll do it. Nothing’s changed. Come May, we go again. Not what you want while exploring Morocco, but thank god we dodged the earthquake by 2 weeks.

Speaking of things going wrong, turns out you need a visa to enter India.

8. Suck the marrow out of life

I'm sitting in a Peruvian’s apartment after I've just been to watch the former UAE captain play cricket because I'm stuck in Dubai after I forgot to get a visa for India. We're having a beer and I'm explaining to him how I met Sam Kerr in the Nike box at Wembley for Australia vs England, through a friend I made at a conference 7 years ago.

“You have the craziest stories man. One day your network is going to get you anything you need”

“It already does mate, I'm very lucky”

I am super lucky to have a network of friends around the world who give me so much joy. In Dubai, I found myself sitting on the 148th floor of the Burj Khalifa reflecting on it. ‘How the ACTUAL hell did you get here.’ In February 2020 I thought I’d keep working at Cricket Australia for the next 10 years. I told myself to keep living to the fullest, keep living like life’s a movie, and to go forth and suck the marrow out of life. And when the visa for India finally came through, the marrow of life was truly sucked.

9. DO be a full-kit wanker in India

I went to the Cricket World Cup dressed in a complete Australian Test kit. Lord’s Cricket Ground might have shunned my ‘full-kit wanker’ uniform, but India welcomed me with open arms. People wanted selfies as soon as I arrived at Ahmedabad stadium for AUS v ENG. According to the locals, I looked like Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Ashton Agar and Mitch Marsh (sub in any generic white guy with brown hair).

Inside the stadium, people spotted this fake Australian cricketer and came over to get a photo. It started slow, then as more and more people noticed it got out of hand quickly. I was mobbed for the next 7 hours and posed for north of 600 selfies.

At the innings break I had to ask someone to get me some food because I couldn’t physically move. Even after the match, it took 45 minutes to leave the ground. But just as I was leaving I got an invitation from a couple of locals…

“Do you want to come back to our place for some food and drink?”

It was 11pm, I was in India flying solo, and had nowhere to be… So I said “Sure!”

The next minute I'm on the back of a motorbike with a guy I just met whizzing through the backstreets of India, still dressed in full whites, while confused heads are turning to make sense of what they are seeing.

When we arrived at my new friend’s very simple establishment, his Mum was in the doorway with an outstretched hand “Welcome! It’s an honour to host you.”

She sat me down on the couch and brought out a plate with several different dishes (each would have taken me an hour to cook). Her son then asks if I like ice cream. I confirmed, assuming they had a tub in the freezer. Instead, he disappeared out the front door. 10 minutes later he returns, plastic bag in hand and says “I didn’t know what flavour you wanted so I got every type of Ice Cream in the shop”

For the next hour we educated each other about life in India and Australia.

When it was time to leave, the Mum said to me “I have three sons.”

“One” she pointed at her son.

“Two” she pointed at her other son.

“Three” she pointed at me. She then stretched out her hand…

“Here, take this for good luck”. It was a note for 100 rupees. I tried my hardest to give it back but she insisted.

Now I’m back on the motorbike heading home thinking what an incredible day. At 12am the streets are still busy, and other motorbikes with several kids piled onto them pull up alongside us to work out who this guy in cricket kit is.

I'm ready for bed, but before the night ends… We ride past a car park with hundreds of people playing a dozen games of cricket on it. This night can’t end yet.

So I say my driver, pull over here, we’re going to surprise them with a fake Australian cricketer. More heads turn as this random Aussie in cricket whites on a motorbike interrupts and asks to join their game.

Immediately they all line up to have a bowl at me, and I pray I can hold my own.

I smacked the first one for 4 through point which got a few nods, then they dished up a few fullies that got what they deserved into the underside of a bridge. One local said I was being ‘that uncle’ who takes Christmas day cricket too seriously. But I was representing my country here. This was my Border-Gavaskar series. Don’t bowl there.

Back on the motorbike, I was in total bemusement at what had transpired. What a day. Where else in the world could you get that much attention, that much generosity, and that much cricket at midnight?! Only India.

The express visa paid for itself in the first 12 hours.

thegoobens

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10. Keep testing

I’ve been grinding away at SportsGrad for almost 7 years now. YouTube didn’t work, Podcasting did work, and a Membership Community worked to an extent. From going backwards in May, and rebuilding through to November, our latest tests reaped ‘best-ever’ results.

During this time we made a few changes:

1. We closed the community - when we announced that there were only 12 hours left to get in, we broke our monthly membership record in a day.

2. We built SportsGrad Pro - a new Community for working professionals in sport

3. We cut the monthly option - we only wanted highly invested annual members

4. We re-opened with cohorts - limited intakes of Members happening 4x a year

As a result, things turned around. The vibe in the Community changed, online events had more energy and more people, and the cash flow put us in a healthy position to grow. I would have loved this to happen before I left, but then I wouldn’t have been caught cheering on the sales notifications on my laptop by confused German backpackers.

11. There’s never a perfect time to go

I seriously doubted if this was the right thing to do. The FIFA Women’s World Cup was on back home after all. Instead of being in a full pub, I was grappling with FOMO whilst refreshing play-by-play penalty shoot-out updates in a Moroccan taxi after running from the plane to get data as quickly as possible.

From a work perspective, I thought perhaps it would be best for me to be in Melbourne building with the team and close to our Community. Just a taste of the doubts that come with being a Founder. In saying that, maybe working remotely was a good time to rebuild. Often in solitude, and relatively uncontactable. A great recipe for focused work.

Now with our product and systems rebuilt, ironically it would be a lot easier to balance work and travel if I were to leave again tomorrow.

But you know, if I didn't do it now, I would have missed the greatest white-ball innings of all time courtesy of Glenn Maxwell.

12. It wasn’t what I hoped for - but that’s ok

For 10 years I’d been dreaming about this trip. It ticked off a few goals, but it wasn’t everything I had hoped.

I left aiming for the idealistic state of blissfully floating between stunning landscapes with very little to worry about. But on the odd weekend when this was the case, I got bored. I would create more work for myself and find a new problem to solve. That’s when I stumbled across this quote from Victor Frankl.

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him.”

I’m halfway through Tribes by Seth Godin which quotes:

“Initiative = happiness”

This journey may have been inspired by the ‘4-Hour Work Week’, but most weeks it feels like I do less than that. I love podcasting, helping careers, connecting people, creating content, building online, selling products and watching plenty of sports in between. If this trip has taught me one thing, it’s that it’s a great privilege to be useful.

13. You can truly make anything happen

Apologies if this sounds cringey, but I’m proud of myself. Completing 6 months of work and travel represents a reminder to myself that if I can think of it, I can create it. Working from anywhere, and helping people live their dreams in sports was once something that seemed a long way away. Everything from creating the first logo at my friend's house in uni, to nights at Cricket Australia staying late to learn WordPress, to times when my housemate would return from night shift and find me working, to months in Lorne putting strategy on butchers paper around the house. A lot of mistakes were made and lessons were learned. In some people’s books I might have taken the long way to achieve the digital nomad life, but putting in the work didn’t shortcut the path to a strong sense of self-belief where nothing seems farfetched.

‘The Best Bits’:

Places:

• Tossa de Mar - found my favourite beach: Cala Futadera

• Lausanne, Switzerland - a spectacular, underrated gem of Europe

• Jarrie, on the outskirts of Grenoble - we had a bloody castle in the backyard

• Praia da Cordoama, Portugal - epic viewpoint at sunset

• Canggu, Bali - cliche, but perfect for co-working, good food, and good coffee

• London - for people, events and excitement

• Brugge - “better than Disneyland” according to one American teenager

• India - for hospitality and the unexpected

Sport: Watch 90s showreel

• The Ashes at Lords was sensational. I went to 3 days

• Chasing cyclists in the French Alps at Le TDF I could never get bored of

• Benfica vs FC Porto gave me an insight to how hostile European Football is

• FC Porto vs Barcelona just to hear the Champions League jingle live

• Socceroos vs England at Wembley with Sam Kerr

• Australia v England at the Cricket World Cup in Ahmedabad with passionate Indian fans

• Glenn Maxwell's 201* in Mumbai may never be topped as the greatest individual performance I've ever seen in any sport

‘The not-so-great bits’

• Wimbledon. The Queue sucks for a non-tennis fan. 8.5 hours of my life I’ll never get back

• Full travel days relying on buses and trains

• Food poisoning in Morocco - 3 of the worst days of my life

• Food poisoning in India

• Wifi connection in some places

• Visa requirements to enter India

• Cost of an express visa to India

• Tourist traps in Turkey

If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read it. I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure. If you’ve got any future recommendations about where to go and what to see, I’m all ears!

Cheers,
Reuben

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