The LiveWorkFit participants in a group photo with their local counterparts after a talk.
KUCHING: A group of online entrepreneurs and digital nomads from Europe and the US are now in the city for the ‘LiveWorkFit’ programme – a business retreat focused on ‘co-living, co-working and fitness’.
According to LiveWorkFit founder James Hunt, the state capital is the second location after Penang for the retreat since its start this year, before moving on to Bali in Indonesia in June.
He disclosed that the first retreat in Penang ran from March 5 to April 2, followed by Kuching (April 9-May 7) and Bali (June 3-July 2), as well as other future destinations including Kuala Lumpur, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Spain and Czech Republic.
“LiveWorkFit as a new side project that enables me to travel to new places, and with amazing people who learn from one another.
“I have travelled on my own before, and going somewhere where there is a community of entrepreneurs is great. The trouble is that I want to go to places that don’t have such community, so LiveWorkFit enables me to do this,” said Hunt, pointing out that LiveWorkFit is similar to other projects where a group of people get together to explore a place together.
The most famous trip similar to LiveWorkFit is the ‘Remote Year’ where a group of around 100 people travel to different places around the world.
“Remote Year is a predominantly younger, American audience who have remote jobs. I created LiveWorkFit because I wanted something for entrepreneurs, not just remote workers. As far as I know, LiveWorkFit is one of only a few entrepreneur-focused retreats, and the only one focusing on business and fitness,” he said.
For LiveWorkFit, Hunt keeps the group size small – around six to 12 people so that it would not be too complicated for him to run.
He also mentioned that the participants of the Kuching retreat are from the UK, the US and the Netherlands, aged between 25 and 37.
“The way we run the retreat is as a ‘business mastermind’ – we get together in the first few days and state our business goals, what we want to achieve in one month, how we can help others, and what our issues and problems are.
“Then we meet every few days to see how our goals are progressing, what the issues are and how we can solve them.
“So, it is knowledge-sharing and accountability that help everyone in the group’s progress,” he said, adding that for this retreat, the group is stationed at a co-working space and innovation hub here.
Hunt also said the LiveWorkIt participants had been and would be giving free talks, including one on ‘Using Social Media for Business-to-Business (B2B) Marketing’ next week (May 2-3).
“A few of them also helped out as mentors during the recent ‘Startup Weekend’ at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) in Kota Samarahan. There are lots of opportunities for new businesses should the people want to attract digital nomads and entrepreneurs to come here.
“Kuching has a lot going for it versus other places in Thailand or Indonesia, but it needs a little more work and time to make it very attractive. I would urge Sarawakians to support local and visiting entrepreneurs in any way that they can, as it will benefit everyone in the long term,” he said.
Hunt said he ‘personally likes’ Kuching which to him, is a great place and the people are ‘super-friendly’.
“We’ve been exploring as a group during weekends – last week, we went hiking at Bako National Park. It was a bright, sunny day; we saw lots of monkeys, the beaches were great – it was so much fun. Bako is a really special place, and it’s so untouched.
“The rocks and nature really reminded me of some of the places in the south of Thailand, but they (Thailand) let tourism ruin the natural wonders. Sarawakians are taking much more care of their nature, and I hope it would stay that way,” he said.
For more information on LiveWorkFit, visit https://www.liveworkfit.com, or search for its Facebook page.