As we think about the typical work week, we tend to imagine the same 8 am - 5 pm that our parents, grandparents, and those before them pursued. That consisted of getting ready in the morning, eating a quick breakfast as we run out the door, fighting traffic on the way to the office, hopefully grabbing a quick bite for lunch (often at our desk), before rushing into the afternoon sprint, and then fighting the same traffic to get home. Rinse and repeat until Friday. And frankly, after rushing around for 10+ hours, we rarely have the energy to embark on new journeys, let alone leave the house unless it’s absolutely necessary. But what if you woke up to this on Monday instead?
And Tuesday, and Wednesday…
What if you woke up at your destination and just had to step outside at the end of the day to enjoy new journeys? With the evolution of modern technology, our world is quickly changing and the possibilities are endless.
We are a married couple, with two boys and a dog, who are fortunate to both work remotely for CANA Advisors, and we have been able to do just that this past summer. Working remotely has afforded us the opportunity to work from the road and pursue endless experiences. This has opened doors, allowing us to more efficiently manage our time while enjoying a variety of places and adventures with our children and our families. In 2021, we spent 10 days camping to volunteer as leaders with the Boy Scouts of America, 28 days traveling in our RV, and 33 days at a North Carolina beach.
It’s important to understand that we weren’t on vacation or paid time off for that entire time. We’ve merely worked from different locations so that, at the end of the day, we were already at our destination and prepared to enjoy time with our family. Our office may look a little different from the traditional office, but the end goals of dedication, teamwork, motivation, and success are the same. This flexibility facilitates a work-life balance unmatched by a conventional work environment.
This has enabled us not only to successfully deliver on contract deliverables, but also to take our family hiking, swimming, boating, jet skiing, water skiing, tubing, kayaking, fishing, boogie boarding, crabbing, tenting, biking, and volunteering with the youth in our community. We’ve been able to feel, see, touch, and enjoy experiences more frequently than when we worked in a traditional working environment.
CANA Advisors is a 100% virtual company. This is not to be confused with “working virtually,” which typically refers to working from home a few days a week and working in the office a few days a week, where the company has a physical facility. Working for a virtual company means that your current location at any moment is your office, regardless of your current zip code. Our team members at CANA Advisors do not have assigned physical office space. Our teams are scattered across the United States, allowing us to hire the best employees, skill sets, and team members in the country, not just the best in our city. We leverage video teleconferencing and cloud-based services to interact and share on a daily basis. This provides the opportunity to work anytime and anywhere.
This isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. It takes dedication and perseverance to ensure that we communicate well with our team members and carry our own weight. Sometimes it means that we stay up until the early morning, while the family sleeps, in order to help the team meet deliverables. It means that we’re back in the RV attending meetings and addressing client requests while the family is sitting at the pool. But it also means that we can soak up the sun by the ocean and catch up on work under the moon, and we wouldn’t trade it because otherwise many of these experiences would not have been possible. Someone once said that we get 18 summers with our kids, so don’t waste any of them. We plan to make the most of every summer we get!
2021 isn’t over yet! We’re excited to see what new adventures await for our family in the future & thankful that we work for a company that enables us to Work To LIVE!
Written by Todd and Stephanie Allison. Stephanie is a Senior Project Manager here at CANA and Todd is a Principal Software Engineer at CANA as well. You can contact Stephanie at sallison@canallc.com and Todd at tallison@canallc.com.