Saturday, January 5, 2008

A Mobile Company



This is a picture of me in my "office". In fact, I run Effortless English , Inc.... the whole company, from a mobile office. Effortless English is not a normal company-- we are filled with nomadic people who love to travel.

Because of this, and because Im the most enthusiastic traveler of all-- I decided to structure our company as a nomadic unit. In other words, Effortless English does not have an office building. Each of us (Tomoe, Chris, Kristin, and I) works from a laptop computer, a professional microphone, and an internet connection.

These tools allow us to work almost anywhere in the world. So, in November, my office was in Guatemala, and later moved to Honduras. The above picture was taken in a Guatemalan coffee shop. Now I'm in San Francisco, and next week my "office" will be in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Tomoe is currently in Osaka, Japan-- but continues to work on her Japanese language blog and continues to translate our emails and web pages into Japanese.

Tomorrow I fly to North Carolina (in the Southeast part of the United States) to visit Chris. We will be working together on a new album of lessons.

Being a mobile company has many advantages. First, it allows us to meet members around the world. Also, travel exposes us to new people and new ideas. Instead of being stuck in a boring office, we are constantly visiting new places and meeting new people. I believe this makes us more interesting as individuals and as a company.

Another advantage to having a mobile company is that it makes us sensitive to you, our members. When we travel, we are often forced to use other languages. For example, in November I had to use Spanish everyday. My Spanish is terrible, but the experience reminded me what its like to learn and use a foreign language. This helps me to understand you and your experience with English.

Our mobile company is also fun. Its much more fun to work in a coffee shop, or in another country, or even in our own apartments. Because we are having more fun, we have more energy and enthusiasm. We love what we are doing-- and hopefully you can hear that in our mp3 english lessons!

Finally, creating a mobile company has allowed me to choose only the very best people. Because I don't care where people live, I can focus on recruiting only the best possible people. We communicate with each other using email, and Skype conferences. Of course, I visit everyone in person too.

For us, international travel and communication is a lifestyle-- it is a lifestyle that everyone in the company lives... and its a lifestyle that is built into the essential structure of Effortless English, Inc.



Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.

1 comment:

abrahan said...

hi, my name is abrahan, and I want to thank you for this work. I used to listen your tapes every day in my car while Im working. Im cuban and I came here one year and a half ago. im trying to improve my english and I'd like that every time you says new words or frases please spell them. i'll apreciate it. thanks for your time