Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Why Cape Town, South Africa?
[00:00:01] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the hot question now. And there's a lot of international visitors to Cape Town nowadays. I think they get attracted by the scenery. You have the mountains going directly in the ocean, which means you can hike, surf, swim, bike in one day. Everything's like 20 minutes away from each other as well as the rich culture. They call it the rainbow nation because there's so many different cultures and languages and foods. So it's really a vibrant destination.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: One of the things that I'm curious about is if you have 20 people in a house or in a co living space, how do you manage, like the personalities, how, you know, I mean, I watched too many Big Brother episodes to, to maybe scare me about that idea. Who is the co living experience for and who is it not for?
[00:00:49] Speaker C: You weren't born to sit in traffic, work for approval, or wait for Fridays. You were built to be free.
Welcome to Rich and Remote, the show for the ones who dare to do life differently. Here we talk about building businesses that give you choices where you work, how you live and what you create.
This is for the entrepreneurs who crave freedom, financial freedom, location freedom, and freedom from everyone else's expectations.
If you're ready to design a life on your own terms, you're in the right place.
Rich and Remote, hosted by Alex and Carla Booth.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Good morning everyone and welcome to another episode of Rich and Remote. We are super excited. Today we are going to talk to a really good friend of mine. Her name is Kath Katherine Gong and she's had a very colorful travel experience in her life. She wants to bring the richness of that experience experience in a little kind of like almost like a music box version of it in the form of a co living experience. And I'm really curious about this. And so I saw her out and I said, hey, can you come on our podcast and possibly talk about co living? So let me tell you a little bit about her background. She's from the U.S. she lives between New York and California. She works in tech consulting focused on AI use cases for enterprises. She started working remotely and traveling and staying in co living through Covid and she also started started a pop up co living in Cape Town, South Africa in 2025. So Pat, welcome and how are you today?
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Thanks, Carla. Excited to be here. We also have Royce.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: And we have Royce.
[00:02:35] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm Royce.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Royce is actually no introduction necessary. Also he's a very talented salesperson and he also leads sales teams. Actually we became friends through poker and one of my best friends in the world, actually. But I'm still thinking if he deserves that spot lot. So let's see, let's see. I'm just kidding.
So tell me a little bit, guys, about this is what I'm really curious about. Why Cape Town? Why Cape Town, South Africa?
[00:03:00] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the hot question now. And there's a lot of international visitors to Cape Town nowadays. I think they get attracted by the scenery. You have the mountains going directly in the ocean, which means you can hike, surf, swim, bike, what in one day? Everything's like 20 minutes away from each other if you want to go to the beach or hike or whatever. So that kind of active lifestyle really draws people in, as well as the rich culture. They call it the rainbow nation because there's so many different cultures and languages and foods. So it's really a vibrant destination and it's attracting a lot of digital nomads, travelers looking especially for warmth and, for example, like the northern hemisphere, winter.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a lot of places I notice, especially after Covid, that, like, offer all of the things that you mentioned, like, around the world, and it's super nice to see, like, people basically voting with their feet.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Right, exactly.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: That's. That's also how we met. That's how Royce and I met. And I was just telling Royce the other day, actually, on how. On how meeting him led me to meet my husband, which is, you know, like one of my life's, like, biggest blessing. And it was also brought by the concept of, like, voting with your feet and really going where you want to go. And that is, of course, our biggest inspiration here at Rich and Remote. So the co living situation, the co living space, which is also a business in itself, what made you decide to create a co living space? Why not just like a normal Airbnb or a guest house?
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah. I'll start with the beginning of the story, which I'm sure a lot of people can relate to, especially if you started working remotely in Covid and thought to yourself, like, wait, I can live my life differently. I don't need to live in this place and go to the office every day. I can start traveling. So we started doing that as well as a lot of other people we know. But when you're traveling around, you know, moving around place to place, it can take a while to get set up and feel comfortable there, as well as meeting people, you might not know where to start. So the idea of the co living is you arrive and immediately you're in a community of other people who are traveling. And working remotely who want to connect. I think that's also an important part of part. So they're already open minded and want to connect with other people. So you kind of start our one with that community right there. That's the idea.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: I see. And of course there's some places that kind of work in that realm. Like, like a hostel I guess or you know the business lounge of a five star hotel. Like going to the other extreme. But what is something so special about I guess sharing a home with it? How many people are you guys hosting?
[00:05:46] Speaker B: 7 for us. But this can range from like 5 to 20 plus. And it's funny that you bring up hostel because a lot of people are not familiar with the co living concept so they ask is it like a hostel? So the main reason why it's different from a hostel is it's not short term. Usually they have one to two month minimum stay so you're really living in that place. Plus the people staying at a co living are usually working full time so they're not you know partying until 5am in the morning. They're focused on their jobs which just makes for like a different kind of living situation than say a hostel or a hotel. So you get the like the longer term people working full time. Yeah. You want to make any commentary?
[00:06:29] Speaker D: I don't mean to say your why but I think something to add to the picture is that when I met Kat she was living in Hawaii, working remote and was actually living at this really cool co live called Surf Break. And that foundation founding group of people were so special. He's like, you know, entrepreneurs, people with like really awesome jobs who happened to move to Hawaii because it was like a cool place to be during COVID but just this really cool collection of people that sort of not built the co living because obviously it was building but they were like literally constructing the doors still I think when Cat moved in like they didn't have doors on the rooms yet and stuff like that. So really close environment but not in a way where it's like is just happening to like move through an area. Like people who are living and doing real jobs and still like having this sort of family community together. And it seems like that really inspired you to you know, have this be a part of your life.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Yeah, the Hawaii co living was the first step for me. That was actually 20 people living on one floor of a building. Basically the owner bought the penthouse of this apartment building in Hawaii's 40th floor, reconstructed it. So it's bedrooms on the Outside perimeter. So basically every bedroom would have a view either of the mountain or the ocean and then the common areas on the inside. And you heard from people who moved in that they had staying in an Airbnb for the past three months and felt really lonely and then they moved in here and immediately met literally 20 people at once.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Like a community.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Yeah, in like instant community and all working full time, looking to explore the and like adventure around Hawaii. A lot of people went to the different neighboring islands as well together and ended up traveling all around the world together. There's been multiple marriages and even children coming out of this co living.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought you were going to say the difference between a co living, a hostel and a co living is people use deodorants at a co living.
But I have some curiosity because that sounds so attractive. Honestly, as a remote worker, I've always just worked on my laptop. I never had a real job. I started copywriting right out of college and this is all the work I know, you know, typing in front of a laptop. And that idea sounds very attractive to me, especially, you know, when I was younger and when I was single. One of the things that I'm curious about is if you have 20 people in a house or in a co living space, how do you manage, like the personalities, how, you know, I mean, I watched too many Big Brother episodes to, to maybe scare me about that idea.
[00:09:02] Speaker B: You know, the funny thing is 20 people is easier to manage than five because with five you have to get along with the other people because there's only so many. So you can only talk to them.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Actually with 20, if you don't really get along with somebody, you don't really have to see them.
Right. So it's actually a bit easier in that way. So I feel like I, I wanted a little bit more than five because that's quite few. So seven is like a nice number where they can not always have to all be there at once and they can form individual relationships with each other as well.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Yeah. So when people hear co living, what do they usually assume and what do most people get? Totally wrong.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: Most people ask the same question as you of is it a hostel?
And they want to know if the other people are going to be partying late into the night and is this going to be an environment that they can work from? That's actually the most commonly asked question. Like, I need to focus during the day. I'm also focused on, well, being and like living a normal life. Can I do that?
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there's a lot of like different types of living, I guess. And did you guys remember what they used to call incubation house for like entrepreneurs? Like startup houses and things like that? Yeah. Have you experienced staying in one or visiting one? Royce?
[00:10:25] Speaker D: No, but it actually was something that I was going to say earlier. You introduced me to the idea of masterminds, not that I hadn't heard about them. It never sparked something in me to go and actually be in one. And going to a couple with you and hearing about a lot of your experiences and people that you'd met through them, it opened my mind to the idea of like, oh, wow. Like actually I think I've really been missing, not missing something, but like, I can't believe I haven't been taking advantage of these things that are around in the communities that I'm looking to be a part of. And co living really is in many ways like a mastermind mixed with like shared living space.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's right. And that I wanted to talk about the whole There is something called founder house that used to be in New York and there's a couple of people who stayed at this co living in Hawaii who met there and actually met their spouse there. So it tends to be, I guess, like a trend to meet really important people in your life at these communities, like your spouse, your business partner, like close friend, because people really get connected at them. Because it's more intimate obviously to live with somebody than to just attend a conference with them or networking event during the day. Like you see the messy side of life because you're living with them and that causes people to just bond faster. Maybe they wouldn't if they were just at a daytime conference where you're like business casual, like kind of buttoned up.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I agree. And actually there was something that my husband Alex, he gave like an observation about how I keep a house. And he said, so this is very weird. So if I make a house untidy, I have like random stuff on random places in the house, whereas he, when he makes something untidy, it's his nightstand. And we're both like, why are we different this way? You know, we're both not like super clean. We're not clean freaks. Sometimes we make the house untidy, but in two different ways. And then he said, he asked me this question out of nowhere. He said, have you ever had roommates or housemates or whatever? I said, no, never in my whole life. I've never had a roommate. And he said, oh, that's why that's why you leave your stuff around the house. Whereas he would leave his stuff in his nightstand because it was his only like space because he used to have like roommates and so he has to keep like the rest of the house tidy. I mean of course our house is not super untidy but like I would have like you know, a bottle of perfume here near the washing machine, like super random. Like I have these like random little things.
So onto like segue into our next question. Who is the co living experience for and who is it not for?
[00:13:01] Speaker B: It's for entrepreneurs or professionals who are location independent. I think that's who's interested in your podcast. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're traveling full time. A lot of these people have a home base but they have the flexibility to travel for a couple months of the year. So I mean the range is people who are moving around all the time nomad to they have a home base but they're flexible to travel around. And those who are flexible to travel around, I think they understand how important it is to have change of scenery every once in a while from their routine. Like I also hear that a lot from entrepreneurs. They say I didn't realize like I could come here and still be very productive but. But be able to go on a sunrise hike and go for drinks at night. I was just working in the cold in London beforehand. I literally had a call with someone who said this. He said he's actually more productive here probably because he's enjoying his life more and it's not a hundred percent working during daylight hours.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: I agree, I agree.
[00:13:57] Speaker D: In terms of who it's not for, I would say it's often people like me where like even though I'm location independent and move around, I need to be in like generally very good space to want to be spending lots of time with other people in my living environment. Like you Carla. Like I've had housemates and roommates before, but over the last 10 years I've tended to live on my own and I really like it that way. And so maybe there are times where I'm more open to being around lots of people and I'm in great space and so then co living would make sense for me. But generally speaking, when I'm in my day to day routine and I don't have, I have really zero interest in making new friends or being part of a bigger community because I'm just like working on my own stuff. And if people were walking around, leaving dishes around or I'd just be annoyed. I'd be like, away from me.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: Right.
[00:14:46] Speaker D: Like, then it's probably not good for me in those moments in my life, you know?
[00:14:50] Speaker A: Yeah, no, totally. I love the idea. I love the concept. Like, don't get me wrong, but I also know myself enough to know that I will not thrive, same as you, Roy. It's like, I'd be annoyed by the little things. And I'm so used to having things like my way. Like, maybe if someone folds a napkin in the wrong way, like, my Virgo self will be like, oh, you know.
But, you know, now that I'm married and like, my husband and I, we don't have kids or we don't have kids yet, and we're both location independent, we actually loosely consider the possibility of doing co living. Literally, this cohort. Like, we talked about this with you guys. Like, it would be cool to see Royce and Kat, and then we've never been to South Africa. You know, right now we love seeing, like, new places, but life happened and I had to do my, like, immigration stuff in the US that really hit our plans for the year. But that's really good to know. And of course, you guys mentioned people who, like, party a lot or, you know, have that kind of lifestyle might not be a good fit. Yeah.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Usually for co living communities, you apply and then somebody gets on the phone with you. Part of the questions they ask on the phone is to make sure that it's going to be a both. A good fit both ways, right?
[00:15:58] Speaker A: In a way, yeah.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: If somebody is not having a good time at the co living, it actually impacts the whole cohort. Like, if they weren't a good fit in the first place, like, they don't want to connect with new people. For example, somebody who just went through a burnout. I talked to somebody who asked me about fridge space. He said he goes to the gym twice a day and he prioritized eating high protein meals and he needs to meal prep all of his meals and needs a lot of fridge space.
And I said, listen, the fridge is going to be shared. So that's like the reality of the situation. If that's going to be like, please think about if sharing space in the kitchen is going to be an issue for you, because I don't want you to come and have a bad experience. So it's good. Like, I feel like there's these conversations that happen so the person is aware of what they're walking into, right? Yeah. If they're at a space in their life where this is what they're looking for.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I guess for the fridge space guy, if he said, oh, I can buy a personal fridge for like 100 bucks. And you guys would allow that? Right. Like, but what are some of the questions that you guys ask in these interviews?
[00:17:02] Speaker B: I mean, basic questions. First, about understanding their location. Independent. Like, have they been traveling for a long time? I do tend to hear that people who are interested have already been traveling for a couple of years. So they understand, like, the ins and outs of searching through Airbnb, having to join random WhatsApp communities or hang around business lounges to meet people. They're attracted by this proposition. And then I ask them if they've stayed in a co living before. If they have, then it's easy to discuss their previous experiences. If they haven't, then we discuss like, common space and also what they would like to contribute to the community. Because it's all about, like, giving your talents, for example, like hosting events if there's something that you're interested in and utilize a space that's like, basically activating the space is what I'm welcoming them to do.
So we usually have a conversation about that as well. Like, maybe they want to cook, teach everyone to cook a food from their country or they want to host a woman's circle. Different talents. They want to do music jams.
[00:18:04] Speaker D: Yeah, we've seen like, flute recital before, history lesson on, you know, the last hundred years in Hawaii. This type of stuff, like really cool interactive things. And. Yeah, and I think it goes back to, like, in terms of the type of people that are. Right. And type of people that maybe is not a good fit for. It's like there's probably two things that come into play. One is being, like, accepting of other people in your space and actually enjoying the community environment. But then the second part is, are you able to add something or are you going to add something or bring something to the community as well? Right. Similar to the masterminds, Carla. Like, many of them are exclusive in that way where it's like, if you're not able to add value to the group or community and that's not really what we're looking for here.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. No, I love that because I think it also sets the tone of, like, in a way, like, selflessness and generosity in the house, which reflects on consideration as well, which reflects on everything. How you use the kitchen, how you use the bathroom, you know, how you pick up after yourself and everything. I love that. Now you're making me feel fomo because I have a lot to contribute. I will teach them how to cook Filipino food and tell jokes that will get them out of their parents. Last will walk me through like what a regular day in the co living house looks like and how do people typically present their boundaries in terms of like, interaction?
[00:19:29] Speaker B: Sure. So everyone's working full time, so they're working in their rooms or co working in a co working space. Sometimes we also do no phone focus sessions. So everyone puts their phone away and is held accountable by the other people present.
So there's shared working or personal working and then usually some spontaneous plans which just happen through, like running across someone in the kitchen and saying, hey, do you want to catch the sunset tonight? And that is honestly so different from making plans with somebody ahead of time because it adds this level of structure and friction. This is like very naturally happening. And like you are able to be very spontaneous because the person is just there. So it's like, do you want to go for a surf or do you want to go for a sunset or do you want to go to this restaurant? And then there's usually some spontaneous plans that happen. And then on a few days of the week, we'll have pre planned events by me. And since we're in South Africa, we're doing very South African things. Like a spitbrai, which is a barbecue where they barbecue a full lamb and they're turning it for hours and hours and like injecting it with soda water to make it 10.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Oh, I know that whole thing.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or we'll have pasta making class or dinner party that's pre planned. So either spontaneous get togethers or like one of the curated events in the evenings usually.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: Do you host events, Royce, like yourself?
[00:20:56] Speaker D: Yeah. No, I don't. No, I just help.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: You're just a parasite.
[00:21:00] Speaker D: Make sure they go.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Well.
[00:21:02] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: It's the house dog.
[00:21:04] Speaker D: I'm the house dog. No, I'm the servant of these events. I'm making sure that there's like, everything's like running. I'm doing the three trips from the house to the co live to get the speaker and oh, we forgot the eyes. Okay.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: I think what might be interesting for listeners of your podcast. So there's some areas of the world that have these more developed co living co working. For example, in Bali, there's a lot of co living places that have a co work adjacent and they have actually become community hubs. So they host events for group in the community who can attend and it becomes this place where if you show up to Bali, you just land and go to this cowork and then boom, you've got 20 people to hang out with for the rest of your time there. I am hoping to build it up to that level in Cape Town, but obviously that would require having a permanent place. But that idea where it becomes a community hub and bigger than just a co living is great. I think there's a lot of online communities which have their merit as well. But having a physical, permanent space where people can just show up does make a difference. Especially for those of us who work online. It's nice to actually just show up to a space.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: For sure, for sure. And I think that's what we were kind of trying to do. Right. They had like we live for a bit, I think it was called We Live but it was kind of like they house some of these startup entrepreneurs and remote workers who would like come to we work and they had like, like beer on tap I think. And then people would stay and like talk and chit chat and then some of them end up working together like meeting this graphic designer who meets this copyright and the startup founder. And then eventually they had the we live. And then they also had like the little kindergarten school too because their vision was to like make this community thing or whatever. So yeah, I really like that vision. I think that it's being needed. If you guys also heard about this startup, Saunder, have you heard of them? Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately they're bankrupt. I know. I'm not saying, you know Spider, but I think that was what they wanted to do in a way. Of course, in a very long scale. Yeah, yeah.
[00:23:12] Speaker B: Weaving in the community aspect and it's, it's like hard, sort of hard to explain the magic that happens with the community because it's not the same. It's never the same because it's changes based on the people and the time and the experiences that are happening. So it's very lightning in a bottle moment and it's actually great for type A people who want to orchestrate every single thing in their life and network in a very specific way. This is like you have to let go of the reins. You don't know who you're going to meet. Like I don't tell the people that book who the other people are. They have to trust in the experience and then that does just create this more natural sort of like mixing that goes on and people their initial judg judgments on another person which in a regular event they might decide not to spend time getting to know this person. You kind of have to get to know this person if you're living with them. Which leads to connections that might not have happened. So there's this sort of like alchemy that's going mysterious alchemy that's going on with the co livings.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I like that because the trust is really in like the host who's like the curator basically right of the house. You're curating the people, you're curating the experiences but also giving them enough space to do things like on their own. And this is like a wonderful thing for a community. But I also know that this is a business too. So if you could give us like an idea, what does it typically cost? Like what is the range of cost for like a typical co living setup and what do you usually get when paying that like that fee or that investment?
[00:24:47] Speaker B: The fee definitely ranges. The cost depends on the country that you're in the area.
[00:24:52] Speaker D: I would say you have basically like two or three ranges. And then what do you get at that super high level range? What do you get at the super low level range and what do you get at yours? For the like co livings that are 10 to $20,000 a month, like what does that look like?
[00:25:08] Speaker B: Yeah, which there are, there are some that are like $15,000 a month.
[00:25:11] Speaker D: And then who is that for and what are they? Like what does that look like? And then vice versa for the ones that are like a grand month in an actual good location, like what does that look like? That's probably closer to the hostel mark. And then you're placing yours in the center.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: Okay, okay.
So based on the cost, I think a couple of variables change. So of course the type of person that's attending, which you have a lot of high priced co livings that are focused on those who have already achieved financial independence. There's actually one in Cape Town where they're purposefully trying to meet other people who are able to basically pay the cost. And then I think the level of accommodation and the level of experience is vary based on the cost. Basic, ranging from basic accommodation villas and ranging from we'll have one family style dinner a week to we're going to have like a private chef dinners on a weekly basis. So the type of person who is there, quality of the accommodation and the quality of the experiences will differ. So ranging from maybe I would say like you can even find someone for $500 a month in some countries up to $20,000 a month. Month. I've seen, seen the whole range.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: Yeah. I think the Cheapest I actually know of is like 2500. But it was still very nice. I think it was somewhere in North America too. But it was like this guy was hosting. He's like a coach for like male business owners and he designed like a, it's a mastermind but also it's, he's not like masterminding with them every day but he just wanted like the guys that he coached too live in a house and he would like lead their workouts and you know, and it was like 2500 for a month and it was pretty nice. Yeah, they had like a weekly chef too and then some social events. And for you guys specifically, I know that you have one spot available as of today and so tell me about what it looks like, what's the price and yes, sell us the experience.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: Yeah, this put the sales print on. I'm definitely not a salesperson. That much I've learned.
[00:27:12] Speaker D: I would generally say there's three broad buckets of costing when it comes to co living experiences. You have co lives that are in like the tens of thousands of dollars and these are targeted towards like super wealthy people, people who have like exited their company for seven figures, things like that. And they're trying to connect with other people who have done the same thing and build out that type of network in those very higher priced like experience. It's super, super luxury. Every moment is pretty much curated. Like you have a private chef there all the time. Crazy stuff.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Right.
[00:27:42] Speaker D: On the lower end you've got people that are trying to do co living but really, really budget conscious. This could range anywhere from like 500 to 1500 dollars a month depending on the place. The location is not going to be that much included. Right. It's a more longer term version of a hostel in many ways. There's a community environment. Maybe there's like a, you know, family dinner once a week or something of that nature, but that's really what you're getting there. And then there's co lives like Tempo or like Surf Break where Kat was staying originally. And these tend to be more the, you know, three to six grand a month range where it's a beautiful place in a beautiful location, you know, with other young professionals or entrepreneurs who are making good money and able to, you know, support themselves really well. They're not so worried about price. They're more focused on having like a really nice experience and connecting with other people that also have a very expansive worldview. And that's also where Tempo fits.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: I love the name by the way, because I am a frustrated musician. So why did you name your co living Tempo?
[00:28:45] Speaker B: First of all, I like that it's in the front of the mouth when you say it. Just like the way when you're saying it, it's like a nice word to say.
It was brainstormed laying on a rainbow rug with somebody that I met from another co living.
I wish we probably would have come up with a better name, but we were just bouncing ideas off of each other because we wanted to come up with something more abstract. And this is about setting the pace or setting the tone for people to have a really amazing month.
That's high energy around other people that they're excited by. So it's difficult to find a word to for that. We also thought about banter also, kind of like front of the mouth. But you can make a lot of. I'm sure the copywriter knew.
Like you can.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I like temple.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: You can come up with a lot of metaphors for it.
[00:29:36] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's kind of like it is how you want it to be, right. Because like, when you sing a song, you can increase or lower the tempo based on how you want to sing a song. So my dad taught me, you know, when I was learning how to play the guitar, he talked about tempo a lot and how to like, manage it. And if you're not a very good singer, you should do this at the tempo, you know, if. What is your range? Blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's all I know of the word. But yeah, I like the. That it's abstract enough, but also it's abstract enough that you can make it yours, but also it's clear enough of what you want to convey.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: Yeah. So what are some of maybe two. Tell me some two funny, crazy stories in your co living experience. Not necessarily from the temple house, but in your whole life of co living.
[00:30:22] Speaker D: Oh, I've got one. We were staying at this co live in Paniche that would peniche Portugal. That was actually started by another person who stayed at Surf Break originally. And this guy's a character, actually, Carla, I think that you and him would get along in that, like, really dark, twisted sense of humor. Like nothing's across the line and we'll always try and make the joke more crazy. But he also just has like no boundaries. So in general, he'll be like walking around. You know, he was hosting, but he was also living there. But in general, he'll also be walking around, like, without a shirt on. No problem. Just like in a towel, whatever. It's fine when you're living there. But there were some people that wanted to check out the CO Live to maybe come and stay for, like, two or three months in the off season, which would be great for him because, like, you know, that's the hardest time to book. And they would potentially take, like, all three of the other rooms. And he's having this conversation with them just with, like, literally the towel around himself, like, gut fully hanging out, like, pretty much exposing himself to, like, these two guys. And a girl has, like a 30 minute, 40 minute discussion with them about the co living. After 10 minutes of which I'm out of there. I'm just, like, going, getting lunch, laughing to myself about the idea of these guys never probably going to book a CO live with this crazy host.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: It was a good test, though, I guess.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: I only have, like, heartwarm ones about people becoming friends.
The crazy ones, I can't say, like, the. Why not?
[00:31:46] Speaker A: Any crimes? Any times when the police had to come?
You're good. I mean, the closest I can contribute is I was hosting a Thanksgiving. Royce knows this. I love hosting people in my house. I was hosting Thanksgiving, and one of our friends brought this guy that she met on Tinder. And then this guy was just like, you know, not a good person, and he was so annoying. And then he was eating one of the dishes I made, and it was grilled pork belly, but with, like, a special Filipino marinade. And he was like, I really like this. What is this? I said, oh, it's grilled pork belly. And he started chewing, like, slower. And he was like, I think it's tripe. I said, no, it's pork belly. And he said, I think it tastes like tripe. I think you're mistaken. I said, no, I've had this recipe. You know, I made this.
This is my recipe. It's like the Filipino recipe, Filipino marinade. And he was like, oh, you're Filipino? I said, yeah, yeah. And I was like, I thought we broke the ice. And he was like, ah, I think it's a language barrier, but this is definitely tribe. And I'm like, no, dude, I speak better English than you. I know more words than you. I bet. I read more books than you. I just like. Anyway, I laughed. We were drinking, but he just wouldn't let it go. And he kept, like, debating this dish that I made that I cooked.
[00:32:58] Speaker D: Yeah, I actually remember this happening, like, so specific. I still remember this moment so well, because I was like, why is this guy debating with Carla about the pork belly dish? And then just Talking it up to like, no, you mustn't know the words that you're speaking.
[00:33:16] Speaker A: The guy was so annoying. Yeah. And that was the other, like, next level. Funny thing, he wasn't our friend. He was like a plus one. You know, if you're a plus one and you're being fed for free from, like, amazing food from different countries, like, even if you think it's tripe lie, then.
[00:33:32] Speaker D: I was literally. I was gonna say that exact.
[00:33:35] Speaker B: But it's fun to have the plus ones there to add the chaos. Like, I actually kind of. They add like a. You go like one concentric circle out and it just gets much more chaotic. One of the events we're doing is called plus one dinner party, where every one of the guests can invite a plus one. Where are they then?
[00:33:53] Speaker A: Is that ready too?
[00:33:55] Speaker B: But, you know, you said you like hosting a lot. You know, when everybody leaves and then you can take a breath and then maybe you have one friend or your partner there and you can just relax and eat some more of the dessert and chill.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: Yes, that's right.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: I feel like that's what it's like to stay at a co living feel like that with them. You feel comfortable because you have that level of intimacy from living with each other. Because that's kind of one of my favorite parts of hosting. When, like, everybody's left and then we can debrief and chill and put our feet up.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. There's a beautiful word for that, actually, in a way, cat. It's called sonesa, and it's a Spanish word that pertains to that moment that you linger in the table after the meal and you're just eating dessert and chit chatting and mostly like, reminiscing. And I love that word because it's so, like, so rich and. Yeah, I think that's what co living is. It's like a richer experience in your, like, work life synergy. You know, it is work and it is life, but it's like a rich. We make it richer, you know, in terms of a human experience. Yeah, yeah.
[00:35:04] Speaker B: And very relaxed. It's like you're walking around barefoot in your home making coffee.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, that guy was in a towel, right?
[00:35:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Having a conversation with somebody is just. Just inherently more relaxed. They're making eggs, you're making coffee. You have a much more relaxed conversation than making plans with somebody to have dinner. And then you're like sort of having to perform at the dinner.
So trying to curate the moments for people to. It's more like I Guess curating the space for them to be able to relax and feel comfortable and connect, which I think you can only really get when you're living together because otherwise just more proper for the world.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a prolonged dinner party basically, which I can't do. I can only do the normal dinner party.
So I know that we've talked about how amazing co living, but hashtag real talk, what's one honest downside of co living that people should be aware of but might still be worth it?
[00:36:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I think their social battery being able to monitor that. You get people who, especially if they haven't stayed in co living before they come in, they say yes to all the plans they're doing. Hike, sunrise, hike, going out for lunch, going out for sushi, for dinner, going for sunset. Four days in, they're burnt out from socializing and not sleeping enough because they get too excited, which is great. But being aware of where you're at with your personal energy levels and social battery, it's fine to say no to plans and like if you need to do work or literally just sleep. I'm saying this advice for myself as well because I was that person who I was not sleeping because I wanted to do everything, which is fine for like a couple of weeks. But you're trying to build a life that's sustainable. So just kind of keeping that in mind because there will be a lot of FOMO even when you're there.
[00:36:56] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I know you have a full time job and this is not like your main business, so balancing that out too adds to. Yeah, adds to the challenge, adds to the richer experience.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. And it's nice. I think a lot of these people as well have side projects they're working on or things like that. So you can just express different parts of yourself in different parts of the day.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: That was good. That was good. Yeah, that was actually good. So people express the different parts of themselves. Yeah, I love that because honestly, I think that's very needed because I think during the pandemic we were forced to look at ourselves and I think that's what made a lot of people uncomfortable, to be honest. Yeah, yeah, right. Because we're not, you know, when you live your life on autopilot, you drive to work, you go to work, you come home, you stare at your screen. It's just like you have no time in a way to I guess, self reflect and. Yeah, yeah, I like that.
[00:37:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And being challenged to self reflect from relationship with others was also something that needs to be recovered after the pandemic. Like if you're living with someone, they really get to know you pretty quickly and they might challenge you to grow and expand or, or point out your limiting beliefs which you may not be ready for or did not ask for. But yeah, they definitely see so much self growth with these people who stay at co living because just. Because also they're in a new environment and they're trying a new way of living that is out of the autopilot. They're expanding beyond their 9 to 5. But then I think they don't expect the in relationship with other people. Like these people are observing you.
[00:38:30] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: Challenging you. They also, they like start to want the best for you and push you.
[00:38:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: Which it just happens naturally. You don't go into it thinking, okay, I'm here to meet five people who are going to help me develop my business and grow as a person. Like it just naturally happens.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think the intention as well of someone who chooses to do a co living is different from just having roommates. Right. Where you're just like splitting rent with someone and hopeful and you're kind of like part time friends. Because you know, I remember when Royce and I were living in the same city and he had this like, like we're revolving door of like roommates, but very like, I mean he's a private person in a way that he knows like his thing, he has his thing. I don't care, you know, let's just split rent. But I guess that's what's different between having a roommate and a co living situation. It's like coming to a co living situation is like you are, you're both intentional and kind of like what you want for your life in this like one. And we're sharing a space to do it.
[00:39:26] Speaker B: Exactly. You summed it up very well.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: No, I love it. I love the idea. If you can do it all over again, would you have done this like sooner when you were younger or, or something like that in more countries?
[00:39:37] Speaker B: Royce encouraged me to get started January 1, 2025, because we were talking about the new year. I've wanted to start a co living for a couple of years.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: So we were talking about does that mean getting a 30 year mortgage or spending all of my life saving? And his challenge was how can you make it something that you actually do this year? Which is why I came up with a pop up concept.
[00:40:01] Speaker A: Right.
[00:40:01] Speaker B: It's not that much capital. You're just renting for a short time.
[00:40:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: Yeah, but then like I am planning to do business plan, get a loan to do a more prom. Permanent property, but it would have been too much to do that as a first step.
[00:40:16] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: Like some pop ups. So I'm glad I was pushed to get it going.
[00:40:22] Speaker D: I also think because the question was about like if you regret or if you could do it like younger. I think for again, when I met you, you were in a co live. We've stayed in a bunch of them over the, you know, few years of traveling after that mom moment. And so you learn a lot from actually experiencing these different co livings, you know, as the customer, client or user or whatever word you would want to use. Right. And without that experience that you had, I don't think that you would be able to make your first pop up that you did as cool as it was and definitely like this one as well. So.
[00:40:57] Speaker A: Yeah, and there are cities too that are like ripe for a co living concept. I totally agree with that. I listened to this podcast a while ago and they talked about how certain cities have good like UX UI where if you visit, yeah, if you visit a city, it's like easy to go around, move around, get your stuff in order. And then there are cities that have good APIs where it's. It's really easy to build your life there and not just like move around. So some cities have good UX UI but not good API. And then some cities have both. Both. What I like about Playa del Carmen, Mexico, I think it has both. It's walkable, you know, the sun is shining during 300 days out of a year and weather is great most of the time and you know, you have like the beach and everything. Traffic is low, food is affordable, high quality. And then you know, if you decide to like rent a house for three, six or 12 months, it's easy. You can snap your fingers, join a few WhatsApp groups and you can find your housekeeper, your cleaner, your chef and your personal trainer and your life coach in a day like, you know. So I love that idea. Actually I am toying with a similar idea here in the Philippines because I think that there is the freelancer or the remote work situation is going to continue to rise. I actually featured, I actually built the Airbnb that my husband and I own. We built them with a remote worker in mind and it definitely helped our investment because the bookings instead of like selling by the day, we get like two months, the three months, month bookings, which is great. But I actually recently like literally Two weeks ago. I recently bought land to like do. I didn't even call it co living, but kind of a similar concept but it will be like multiple studios but then we'll have like a co working space and then like a space that people can converge and maybe a sauna and a massage chair, you know, to make it. Where is this in the Philippines? In Davao. So this is my hometown and I think it's a big city. But in terms of being a metropolitan, being an urban place, you get all the comforts. It's one of the biggest cities in the Philippines, but it's still kind of. It's not Manila. It's not as crazy as the capital. And so we get kind of the best of both worlds. You have access to nature, like the beach and the mountains. Really easy. Traffic's not that bad. And then the best part of this city is it's not calamity prone. No typhoon, maybe a few earthquakes that are pretty easy to manage because. Because an earthquake literally lasts for like a minute or two and the buildings here are built to sustain earthquakes. So no floods, no typhoons and it's really safe. The city has a lower crime rate. So after investing in a few condos, I'm like, I want to build my own thing. But it's also in the very baby. You know, I literally just bought the land.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: So one day I want to follow along the journey.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds fun. I hope you guys can come visit and see the city sometime. Yeah.
[00:43:50] Speaker B: And yeah, I'm. Yeah, I'm planning to go to Siargao this year. Yeah, there's a lot there.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: There is another city that I would love for you to visit that is kind of like Siargao 10 years ago. Because Siargao is now very gentrified.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:44:06] Speaker A: So there's another city which is a three hour drive from Davao called Mati M A T I and let me know if you want to go because Alex and I have a two bedroom there near the beach. But yeah, we actually on a whim just went there two weeks ago to spend surf for a few days and. And yeah, food is still very affordable and like literally a really good meal for like three bucks and something like that. It's not very gentrified. No traffic, Food is really fresh, lots of fruit. I think you're gonna love it there. And you good Internet. So good Internet, 247 electricity and all that.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Amazing. Yes. Let's talk for sure.
[00:44:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So, okay, so if I'm interested in Signing up for Tempo, Battling the other people who might want this last spot. Where should I go? Where can I check out the space and where can I apply to get into this space?
[00:44:54] Speaker B: Yeah, you can. You can check out our website, tempocoliving.com it provides an overview what's included. You can look at the other rooms to see what you missed out on, but you can check out the room that's available and then it also has information about how to reach out to book. We will have a phone call to see if it's a good fit. And yeah, I would love somebody from the podcast if they're interested in trying a new destination and expanding their perspective, expanding beyond their nine to five with a really cool group of entrepreneurs and nomads. Like, definitely check it out and reach out.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: Right.
[00:45:29] Speaker D: I actually want you to give up on your US immigration and just do it with Alex.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: Dude, seriously. We genuinely considered it. We genuinely. Because we're in our, like, let's visit a lot of countries era.
I know, know.
And it's just kind of bad timing. That's why I'm actively asking for, like, the next cohort.
[00:45:49] Speaker B: Because, you know, I'll keep you posted.
[00:45:51] Speaker A: No, for sure. Yeah. If you haven't used life, I think we will. I think this is actually the only time where I'm comfortable to do a co living situation. If I'm with my husband. Like, if I'm alone, I think I would just be pissed at, like, why are there other people in my space?
[00:46:07] Speaker B: Yeah. If we do it again in this house, I'll let you know. Because there's one room that is sort of a flat. Like, it, like, it has its own living area and kitchen and private entrance kind of for people like yourself if you want privacy.
[00:46:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I saw the house. It looks amazing. It looks fantastic. It looks like one of those houses in the Netflix reality dating shows.
[00:46:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I had to, like, hire somebody whose job is solely to make reels. Like, this is a job now in 2026.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, we have people like. Yeah, we have people like that. We have hired video editors that only do reels and we also have hired video editors that only do, like, YouTube format. They're just like, really good at creating, like, YouTube edits and things like that.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: Amazing. I'm sure people reach out to you. They want to outsource that because it's so time consuming.
[00:46:54] Speaker A: It is. I can't be bothered. Yeah, yeah, I know. Okay, cool. Well, thank you so much, Pat and Royce. This has been super amazing to everyone listening. I will share the Link to the Temple Co Living website so that you guys can find it. Easy to find. And if you are not not able to join right now, if you know they're out of spots, definitely get in touch with Cat. Do you guys have a wait list as well or like a newsletter so.
[00:47:17] Speaker B: People can say email wait list for the next chapter.
[00:47:20] Speaker A: Okay, sounds good. So if you guys have been eyeing Cape Town as a destination, maybe get a group of girlfriends together or like friends or colleagues at work. I think this is a very good once in a life, or maybe not even once, but I think it's a very, very good experience to do at least once in your life.
[00:47:38] Speaker D: Yeah, definitely. One thing to add to that, just you were talking about the UX UI of different places in the API element, and that really is Cape Town. It especially when we first started coming here, like, nothing's changed in terms of that part. Like, you have beautiful beaches back right up to mountains. You basically have like a Rio or Hawaii, like environment or landscape, but with, you know, really reasonable cost of living and a great culture and the same types of things that you mentioned. Carla, it's like, like Kat has a whole routine here of like, personal trainer, you know, any of the different things that she would love to work on that if she was doing, you know, horse riding, all of this stuff, that if it was in the US it would just be unreasonable to be able to have your routine built out in that same way. And Cape Town, you know, even though the cost of living is reasonable year over year, it does seem like the rent is going up quite a lot, especially in the more desirable places. But that's also one of the really cool things about a place like Tempo, where you can be in one of the most beautiful homes in one of the most beautiful, beautiful areas in the world without breaking the bank. And you also get to meet, like, amazingly cool people.
[00:48:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, no, I absolutely, I absolutely agree. And to the people who are listening, quick background. Royce is from Australia. He's also lived in Canada for a while. Kat is from the U.S. they've traveled together. They've visited so many countries between the two of them. And I genuinely believe there's a reason why they chose this specific spot, this specific house. They had you guys in mind, and they want to give you a really, really rich, rich and remote experience in your work and in your life in general. So thank you so much, Royce and Kat, and I'll see you soon.
Thanks for listening to Rich and Remote, where freedom isn't a dream, it's a decision. This is Karla, this is Alex Booth, and this is our journey to our dream rich and remote life.
[00:49:29] Speaker D: If this episode inspired you, share with a friend who's ready to live life differently too. This is perfect for entrepreneurs who crave financial freedom, location freedom, and freedom from the opinions of others.
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[00:49:54] Speaker D: See you in the next episode and check out our online hangout spot, richandremote.
[00:50:00] Speaker A: Com.
