[Podcast] Creating a Country on the Internet with Sondre Rasch of SafetyWing Transcript
/Episode Summary
CEO and Co-Founder of SafetyWing, Sondre Rasch, shares his vision to remove geographical borders by creating a global home country on the internet and a global social safety net.
We discuss what inspired his bold vision and the challenges he will have to face to make this ambitious goal a reality. Sondre also shares how this will transform the world, how he anticipates countries with borders will respond, what this means for developing countries, and what this new reality without borders will look like.
We also discuss what the future of work looks like, how the pandemic impacted the 9-5 and remote work, and how SafetyWing is transforming the travel insurance space with borderless health insurance and COVID-19 coverage too.
Show Notes
→ Learn more and sign up for SafetyWing Insurance here: https://bit.ly/TRNSafetyWing
→ Follow SafteyWing on Instagram @nomadcities
→ Access tools on building a remote company at www.buildingremotely.com
→ Download the FREE Remote Resume Revamp Checklist here: bit.ly/ResumeRevampChecklist
→ Ready to land a remote job so you can create more freedom and flexibility? Get on the waitlist for The Remote Career Accelerator: https://bit.ly/RCAwaitlist
→ Follow Remote Career Coach, Kate Smith on Instagram @theremotenomad
Speakers
Sondre Rasch, Kate Smith
Sondre Rasch, Co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing
Sondre Rasch is a co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing - building a global social safety net. SafetyWing’s mission is to remove the role of geographical borders as a barrier to equal opportunities and freedom for everyone with a global home country on the internet. Born in Bergen, Norway, he studied economics and computer science, before starting work as a policy advisor for the government of Norway advising on social policies. After getting frustrated with the slow pace of government change, Sondre first founded SuperSide (YC W16), a platform for freelance designers. It was here he discovered the lack of a safety net for online remote workers. Then SafetyWing was born in 2018 after the YC W18, raising 8+mil and serving 60k+ happy clients as today and growing.
Follow at @nomadcities
Kate Smith, Remote Career Coach, Speaker, and Remote Work Advocate
Remote Career Coach and industry thought leader, Kate has helped countless professionals break free of the 9-5 and create more freedom in their lives by showing them how to successfully land a remote job. Her expertise has been featured on BBC, Fast Company, CNN, Atlas Obscura, GlassDoor, and many other major publications and podcasts. She was named 'The 100 Most Influential Remote Experts' by remoteweekly.io, and she’s even worked with the country of Estonia, as a digital nomad community representative, to create the world’s first digital nomad visa! After breaking free of her corporate 9-5 job in advertising, she landed a full-time remote job doing online marketing before launching her business. After successfully going remote herself, Kate's now on a mission to help other ambitious professionals create more freedom so they can live life on their terms too!
Follow @theremotenomad
Transcript
Kate Smith 00:02
Welcome to The Remote Nomad podcast and this is your weekly escape from the nine to five grind. Every week we interview industry experts from around the globe on remote work, landing a remote job, the digital nomad lifestyle and mastering your mindset. Prepare to be inspired as you learn how to create a lifestyle with more freedom and flexibility. I'm your host and Remote Career Coach Kate Smith.
Kate Smith 00:26
Before we dive into today's episode, if you've been struggling with creating a resume for Remote Jobs, then make sure you download the free remote resume checklist. It's going to show you how to create a top-tier resume, so you can transform it into an interview generating machine. See the link in the show notes to download this free offer or head over to theremotenomad.com/freegift.
Kate Smith 00:47
Today's guest is on a mission to remove geographical borders by creating a global home country on the internet. And yes, you heard that right. He is the co founder and CEO of SafetyWing, which is one of the most popular insurance providers for remote workers and remote teams. To date, the company has raised over $8 million and has served over 60,000 clients and growing. And now he's on a mission to build a global home country on the internet and global social safety net. I'm excited to introduce you to today's guest, Sondre Rasch. Sondre, welcome and thank you for being here today.
Sondre Rasch 01:24
Great to be here, Kate.
Kate Smith 01:25
I'm really excited to dive into this whole concept of this country on the internet. And even what you mean with this whole global social safety net. So much has changed with remote work, the future of work, the future of how we operate. And I guess you could say, borders being dissolved. So why don't you share with us... I want to just like dive right into it and have you share with us what you mean when you say creating a global home country on the internet and with this whole global social safety net? So for people that aren't familiar, what does all this mean? Are they two separate things? Do they work in tandem? What do they look like?
Sondre Rasch 02:09
Yes, so global social safety net is the first thing and then it's like, who are we building that for? Well, it's for remote workers and digital nomads worldwide. But we also imagine that it will be for the first country on the internet that we want to contribute in bringing about and and what do we mean by each? Well, a global social safety net, that's that's the thing that, you know, many countries have. We come from Norway. We're modeling it in a sense of the Norwegian style social safety net, but making that available for everyone everywhere. And, you know, globally digitally on the internet. And then the country... Well, it's like, there you got to ask the question like, what is a country? Well, it's a community that solves problems for its members shared problems, maybe even public, good problems, in particular. And there, is because of the internet, because we're living in this global society on the internet to a large degree already, many things that isn't being properly addressed by geographical countries. And some of those things are best done by global entities, not things that are geographically divided up, and that's, you know, the project pluma that we started is to figure out what are those issues that are best solved by an internet country instead of a geographical country? And how might we do them?
Kate Smith 03:39
So, what are some examples of some of the things that would be included in that?
Sondre Rasch 03:45
Well, the two things we are pretty sure about is while the global social safety net being one and then the other is probably passport, digital and analog identity. So there is already this need to have a proper identity on the internet and to you know, cross geographical borders as you walk around planet Earth. And and and those two things you know, should be the same thing and it should be you know, well functioning and we many people live in countries where the passport is not very useful. Of course some listeners here live in countries where the passport it's just a practicality to travel to any country. But there is like a significant actually the majority of countries you know, you travel that means you go into this arduous visa process and the answer is often No. So the possibility that you know you can develop this, people can have a secondary passport, that in addition to their geographical passport, that allow that is potentially much more powerful and easy to use when traveling. That will certainly be part of it.
Kate Smith 04:57
This is really exciting because this is a whole new idea. We have passports, Estonia had their e residency but it's still it's very tied to Estonia as a whole, where this is looking at the world and introducing a whole new thing. How do you foresee this panning out? You know, obviously there are countries they have their passports? How do you foresee this panning out? When we think of, you know, taxes and travel and and dealing with other countries? are other countries going to be on board? Or okay with this? What is how is that kind of how do you see that panning out?
Sondre Rasch 05:31
Well, so I do think that this, we are trying to solve a problem that is kind of already happening, but that countries aren't fully aware of is happening. And that is certainly happening to a big, big extent in the near future, which is that, which is the thing where we started the conversation, which is that, in many practical senses, there is no borders, right? When you buy services on the internet, when we talk now, I don't even know where you are. Like, we just we didn't well, I mean I mentioned I was in California actually, but it's like we don't, we don't have to, you could be anywhere. And and we can collaborate and we could work together. And you know, we could buy or sell services on the internet. And, and the thing is, that's all things that are very relevant for a country to deal with. So and then we'll get into problems, which is this obsoleteness of countries, you know, and we... this is easy to see in the social safety net department. You know, I'm from Norway, great social safety net in Norway, when I'm abroad, no social safety net. Like that's, that's, that's the fact. And then the other thing is, you know, we're remote company, you know, we have you know, what, 50, 60 employees, 40 different countries, that companies, technically, we have entities from different places, technically, in the US, are the people in the other 39 countries, they're getting no services from the US, obviously. Right? So that's, that's the practicalities of what we're talking about. It just isn't practical. And and, and so what you see digital nomads do is, you know, they go abroad, depending on what the rules are in the home country, they're, they're trying to figure out the taxes, it's a mess. They generally that it's it often becomes this, like bordering upon voluntary, it's like do they want to. And with come internet companies, you see the same where it's like, they can be registered somewhere they can move where they're registered, it doesn't really matter. You know, it's like they can switch where they have their servers, is that where they are. So for these two issues, like Internet companies and digital nomads, which is just the early phase of what we're seeing, we there is already this loosening up the relationship between them and their home country. And I think we're heading into we are for those who are a bit in wild west territory, but we're heading into a much more wild west territory soon. So you can imagine I can definitely see it being possible on horizon with that respectable company might like register on the blockchain or something. And a lot of people think that is like, all good, because and I can see many benefits to it. But by that point, the sort of tax ability of countries really evaporate. So I think, you know, the country and internet what we're building, we're, we're the peace offering. We're like, this is the peace solution. This is sort of like, yes, we need to make structures that work in the future. But we want to do that in a way where like, this isn't like a catastrophe. And, indeed, I think a country on the internet can then negotiate and have a friendly relationship with geographical countries so that you can figure out those things like taxation when for digital nomads and move through those countries, while at the same time making access and living there easy, and relatively low cost. And I think that's a good that's a good negotiated agreement.
Kate Smith 09:20
Yeah, this is so exciting. You know, when you mentioned the blockchain, I think of that as well in crypto and how that's moving things forward. And then you have what you're saying with this country on the internet, which is, again, bringing those identities online and, and whatnot. Do you feel... is the goal... I know, there's this the social safety net side of things? How is this going to impact the world? Like when we look at Okay, is it leveling the playing field? So you have developing countries that can now compete with developed countries? What is this? How is this going to change literally the world?
Sondre Rasch 09:56
Yeah. I mean, what I think is about to unfold and certainly will, and if we succeed with our mission, which I do think we will. And essentially, that a lot of young people these days, they grew up. And yes, like, you know, I just talked to Ines and I was the general manager for Nomad Insurance and SafetyWing and, you know, when you hear her story, kind of like being from all three, but having this very international background, but you know what, in some ways she's so alike to me, even though she has this, in theory, very different background and why it's because we're both children of the internet, right. So we in a way, we have a shared reference that is actually very big. And, you know, my grandparents and her grandma are probably very different. But we are not that different. So and that's sort of one thing I think is happening is that the generation growing up, is growing up on the internet, and the internet is almost like this big city or, or something like that, where everything is connected to everything else. And yeah, it does equalize opportunities to a massive degree. And that is, you know, the mission statement of SafetyWing, we want to, you know, contribute to equal opportunity and freedom for everyone. Because there is the internet is equalizing opportunity by giving more job opportunities, like if you grew up in a, in a developing country, you can get a job on the internet, which is much better paid. Okay, that's a straightforward. Well now you can have an international audience for your YouTube channel or, or something, but you still don't have equal opportunity when it comes to the social safety net. And that's when we hope to to equalize. And freedom. Well, that's freedom to move, right? It's also freedom, when you have the source of Social Security, that you have that safety to fall back on. There's also the positive freedom that comes from that of like, not having to be concerned with your basic needs. So that's what we want to make it, we want to make it a great equalizer that allows people who otherwise would have few opportunities to have much more and much more freedom as well.
Kate Smith 12:15
This is huge. And so what inspired this, this is a big undertaking, what is it just seeing the model again, in Norway and saying, Oh, this should be everywhere? What inspired it?
Sondre Rasch 12:29
Well, I think, you know, it is probably relevant that, you know, as you know, teenager, I was I was growing up in the internet and early internet days. And I worked with using like IRC and cooperated on website projects with people from young people from different countries. So I have been living and many other people as well been living in this world for a long time. And and then, you know, came this thing where it I worked as a policy advisor for the government of Norway, so I knew about how to make a social safety net. But secondly, I my previous company was a freelancer platform called Superside. And we wanted to provide benefits for the freelancers like health insurance and income protection. And then we discovered that that didn't exist. And that was like, the aha moment where I was like, oh, because we had to figure out what like, why didn't it exist? Well, it's because we can technically buy it, but in one country. And that is in this very old fashioned way. Like we, we thought we hoped we could buy this global thing where it was like, bought an API, and it was flexible, like a modern product. But that just didn't exist. And then of course, when you look into that, you start to see that, Oh, this is like, Why doesn't it exist? It's because all this infrastructure is built around the entire economy being local, national. And it has to be remade. So that was sort of like the problem discovery moment was just having the problem myself. And of course, I'm also a digital nomad. So I had, I had the problem as an individual and as remote company. So I had the problems myself, saw them up close, and I understood why we couldn't. And then because I had some idea about how to build it. We, after a year of trying to get someone else to start this company, we figured out actually, I don't think anyone else is going to do that. So we have to do it ourselves.
Kate Smith 14:35
That's awesome. And I love, you know, for, especially for the digital nomads. We've always operated in such a gray area and with this, it puts into black and white, sort of like how you can approach it and we have these complex challenges like you say with remote teams, remote workers, you can be registered in a company doesn't mean your base there, and how does that all look? and it seems like this brings that all together. How far along in the process are you with getting this? You know, not not just started, but how far along are you in this process of making this our next reality?
Sondre Rasch 15:10
Yeah. So currently where we are at. we started with Nomad Insurance. And I should say when we first started out, we had probably the exact same ideas, we still have, like three years ago, we had the same idea, but what we needed to build. And we understood like we do in this conversation that this is a big undertaking. And so how are we going to split it up and the decision that we made was, we'll make like one product at a time. And each of them has to work on their own. And while doing that, we'll kind of learn and then we'll kind of sew it together to cohesive membership at the end. That was sort of our way of approaching that. And then there's like, the decision on where to start ended up at Nomad Insurance because there was already this infrastructure in place for travel medical, that was global, where we saw here, we can use a lot of the infrastructure to make the Nomad product, which was, of course, a segment we knew very well, and which is an early adopter. It's like an innovator segment as well. A lot of the things that digital nomad does, everyone else does later. So it made sense to start there. And so we started in 2018, with with Nomad Insurance, and that's been going really well. And then we worked on the health, the health insurance, meanwhile, which was done last March, where we have this full health insurance and also for teams. And then the next on the on the roadmap is, for this year, we have remote doctor, and also, which is more like just, that's a supplement, to nomad insurance and remote health, it's just the possibility to talk to a doctor remotely like virtually as well anywhere in the world and get prescriptions and referrals. And that, because that's developed in some countries, but not all, that's anyway. And then the next is for retirement, hopefully ready by the end of the year or q1 next year. So the possibility for an individual or remote worker to save for retirement, even if they move to different countries keep saving to the same plan. Or if they move employers. So yeah, so that's that, and then comes income protection. After that, and then the membership, but snapshot today is, you know, we have no man insurance and remote health, you know, ready and as mentioned, like 60,000 people using this and, and that's has been met with great positivity, we have started this project pluma, which is not the country, the internet itself, but it's like, we've started this project to research develop how we want to do this, how we want to make the passport, what is the structure of a country and Internet, and you know, there is just gathered a bunch of volunteers, actually, who want to want to see this come to be you know, it's a very charismatic idea. And we have some incredible smart people, you know, working and meeting weekly to, to to create that. So that's sort of where we are with with the passport is that we're in the r&d phase. And okay, we'll take a bit too. Before we have a live passport, I think, like at least a year or two or three.
Kate Smith 18:37
And what is it? What was the name of the volunteers? Is this the platform you're building it on? Or kind of like understanding the logistics of how it ties together? What was called again?
Sondre Rasch 18:47
Oh, plumia.
Kate Smith 18:49
Plemium?
Sondre Rasch 18:50
Plumia
Kate Smith 18:51
Okay, plumia.
Sondre Rasch 18:53
Plumia? Yes. So Plumia is the initiative we took to just say, like, we realized that it was useful to say publicly, like, Hey, everyone, we're going to work on this. And that was indeed useful, because that meant that we sort of could, you know, you know, it's like turning on a lighthouse. And it would like, people be like, Oh, so that's one place we can go for doing that. And, and that has worked out that way. So we have been able to gather just incredibly smart people to to help bring this well.
Kate Smith 19:28
Awesome. So I can kind of see based on what you're saying how all of these pieces start to pull together, then you have the retirement and then it kind of goes into this big system, which it seems like you're working on now. Okay, how do all these pieces work together? And to hear you say in just a couple years having this you know, this passport, this virtual digital passport of sorts, is really exciting because that's not far off in the future. So, okay, so we've talked about we've talked about this country on the internet is global social safety. And I think that I can see that being, you know, really good, not just for, you know, you have the aspect of developing countries, but then digital nomads as well. And there's that gray area and really helping with that. And so let's shift into this idea of remote work. So I know you've obviously have this digital nomad lifestyle, you have remote companies, you've started remote companies, you've worked remotely. We've seen in the last year and a half with a pandemic, there's been this huge increase in remote work, which has been exciting, it's helped accelerate everything. So what do you think, you know, just based on everything that's happened, you know, this past year? And what's coming up? And you know, the big ambitions that you have as well. What do you see, for the future of work? And for the digital nomad lifestyle, what that looks like? And I know we've talked a bit about, you know, what you're creating and how that impacts the digital nomad lifestyle? How do you see, you know, the future of work evolving? As we move forward?
Sondre Rasch 21:12
Yeah, I mean, there are some different threads here. But I could say a couple that I find particularly interesting these days. So I would broadly bring up to one is the sort of the new population distribution that we're seeing happening. And this is fascinating, and I really do love it. So there is this great example here is my project in Belize. But there are several others like that, which is digital nomad, or remote work villages, or hamlets and, and so what you see with as remote workers going more mainstream is that people are starting to realize, wait, we can move. And people move according to their preference, which is seeing like this absolutely boost in certain towns, that some people prefer more than the big cities, you know, you see the beach towns like to loon, absolutely explode. You also see them some mountain towns like Tahoe absolutely explode, or Bansko. And in Bulgaria, and then, but here, there is like so much more that's about to happen, you know, so we can definitely see the possibility of more specialized villages being built and created. And then there is this possibility now where, you know, if people are awake, where there will be this resettlement period, it's kind of like when the car was invented, right, and suburbia started existing. Well, what does it mean when people can live anywhere, because most people live in the city that they're at, because that's where their job is. So if they can move, and they don't have to be concerned for their job, except, like, within a very broad range, you know, with not, you know, 10 timezones or something like that, you know, maybe that's that, well, that opens up a lot of opportunities. And, you know, I think we will see online communities, or friend groups or net other networks, build towns and cities, and, you know, certainly, you know, one crazy idea that we have been dreaming about in safetywing, since the beginning, is we, you know, we would love to create, you know, get one of these cast..., there's, Europe is full of these decaying castles, which are in these enormous park or forest properties. And it's, they're so beautiful, and nobody else wants them. And so we've been thinking, like, oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could, like, have like, an HQ in one of these castles, where, and then we could build like a little town around it. remote work town. Anyway, this is like a far out a cute, cute idea, but it illustrates what's possible. And so that's one thing, population distribution opening up for new towns and really a big resettlement, where people will move according to their, like their, like network preferences, their friends, families, how they want to live, instead of where their job is. And so that's number one. That's like maybe the most interesting one. And it's a big effect. It's some something that affects people's lives very directly. And then the other one, I would say is this emergence of the remote company or virtual company that is good. So one thing that we noticed very much a safe doing is, you know, I mentioned where, you know, 50, 60 people from 40 different countries. So when you have a company that spans that many places, You do need to build a bit more of a shared platform within the company, you know, because you can remember, like a regular company that exists in one particular town, like if you're in a company in, you know, New York, you everyone who works in the company or New Yorkers, right, and everyone who they work in that that set of norms and rules and language and everything. But if you're from 40 different countries, you have to build a shared kind of cultural platform. And so I think the remote companies that will succeed the most will do this really, really well. And that will be very interesting to see what will come out of that, but this need to, for sort of moral communities and and shared frameworks to make communication and collaboration seamless is is much larger in these organizations than previously.
Kate Smith 26:01
Absolutely. And what does that look like for your companies? And at SafetyWing? How do you manage that many people across the globe?
Sondre Rasch 26:09
Well, I mean, for us the primary, we're fortunate in the sense that, you know, there is this like old adage, once heard that, if you want peace in a relationship, you know, you make sure you want the same thing, that you have the same goal, and that is certainly true. And something we spend a lot of effort on, people who join SafetyWing usually want to bring this vision we've been talking about, they want to bring that about. And that is just, there's nothing that unifies like, you know, being allies with a shared goal. You know, that's just that creates shared interests in a way that nothing else can. And then, of course, we I think we probably emphasizes, you know, our shared values much more, and they have to go one step deeper. I think, also, and, and, you know, for us, you know, we have these three cultural values, which is, you know, people make mistakes, and that's okay, improvements are always possible. And all problems are solvable. And, you know, we built this basic plant about how to treat people into the company, and we made this FAQ about how to apply that in different situations. And, and that has succeeded to a great degree, I mean, it is actually a lovely place to work. And in some ways, it feels more cohesive than, than a regular company. So it is possible.
Kate Smith 27:40
Yeah, I think that's really powerful. And when I became, you know, a digital nomad years back, I remembered that I was meeting people from around the world, but we all just bonded so quickly and easily because we had this shared goal shared vision of what the future of work was, and this, this value of working remotely and what that meant for us. And so it's so great and interesting to see how so many global people can come together with that shared goal with that shared mission. And, and as you said, this is really literally changing the world in every way when we have people leaving cities, and people are changing what their lifestyle looks like. And it's really shifting that, you know, you talked about freedom, right? That freedom of choice of, am I gonna go to a castle Am I gonna go you know, on the mountains, or the beach side and having that, that flexibility. And it's, it's, it's been exciting in the sense to see, you know, I know, COVID has kind of accelerated a lot of things, but this sweeping shift across the world, not just country by country, but, you know, the whole world's been impacted by this. So right now, I know, you know, I'm just outside of Toronto at the moment, and we've, I've even seen it myself, people are leaving the cities, they're going to the suburbs, all of that. And it's been a bit interesting because we have people working remotely for the first time from home during the pandemic. And as you know, working from home during a pandemic is very different than the digital nomad lifestyle of just grabbing your laptop traveling around the world. So what what have you seen or you know, what's your your take on you know, some of the challenges that these new you know, remote workers are facing when we talk about you know, even if we look at mental health, stress, productivity, what have you seen has been the challenges you know, with COVID but then how is that going to change once we you know, kind of exit this pandemic?
Sondre Rasch 29:37
Well, we've seen a lot of people go through the same learning curve that everyone who starts to work remotely does, which is that they you know, everyone gets the first benefit for free which is, you know, no commute. And then they like typically like working from home right away, but they haven't learned typically self management and haven't built like there's like a lot of them did their social life associated with work now they had to find somewhere else to do that, of course. And then when they did when they were able to set up like the great home office, they were able to realize that, oh, I can actually meet my neighbors and friends, then they did love it more, but it took a while, like for people to just work it out. And then of course, you had the people who really took advantage of the possibilities of remote work, which would be the people who moved the dimension one, you know, we had, you know, a couple of friends moved to Montana, because we moved to this bar, this lake house, someone else moved to to Loon. And they're all like, for them, for the people who took advantage to make the lifestyle choice that remote work afforded them. They're like, well, if it's back to office for my job, that means I quit my job that like all of them have that opinion, because the lifestyle change they have made, they realized is like worth a tremendous amount to them. And some other people have moved, you know, close to family as well, that's another like people have different preferences for what they want that freedom affords them. But, yes, so that's But nevertheless, back to like the early transition, what is the challenges? Well, yeah, self management, you know, creating your own office space or working environment, three social life, friends and neighbors like outside of work, just because your your colleagues are going to be far away. So those are a couple of big ones. And then when it comes to, you know, mental health, and this is now a bit hard to disentangle from, from COVID, because I think remote work outside of COVID is like super beneficial for mental health. But with COVID, that also meant often sitting inside and, and having a limited social life, which is known to be detrimental to mental health to the extent it has been so great to see in San Francisco, how many people have started to go for like hikes and walks in the beach a lot, like the number of like wind surfers down increase the beaches, it's just gone from like seven to like, 300. It's bizarre. So a lot of people have started out outdoor activities during COVID. And which is, you know, so good for them. And, you know, and I've done this, as well. But other things, so yeah, so that's, you know, building that outdoor habit, finding the social is circle is two other things. And then it's the like, finding like a, you know, we see a lot of this is like Silicon Valley fads. But it's it's true finding contemplative practice, like increasing meditation and other things like that has been seen tremendous growth in that. And, and also, a lot of people are using coaches more, you know, in safe doing, we have this personal development budget that can be used for coaches, extremely popular. And of course, a coach can very easily be hired remotely, that that transfers extremely easily. to remote. It's just as good. So, yeah, so I would say that's, that's a good toolkit for great mental health, get outside, get good friends, sign up for coach and, and make use of the freedom that remote work affords you.
Kate Smith 33:46
Yeah, I think that's a really great point. And that, you know, when people are so new to it, and they're thrown into this working from home, their mind to sort of work from home, that's it, and they're not very intentional about what that looks like, because they've kind of been thrown into it. And so I think you shared some really great tips and points of, you know, being intentional, you said, you know, you know, some people that intentionally went move to Tulum or, you know, by the lake and, and really recognizing, wait, there's a lot of opportunity here. And, you know, as much as you know, with the pandemic and the stress that that causes and has caused and impacted people in their mental health, I think as the pandemic ends, and we see people where it's like, okay, they get to really be intentional with their social circle, you know, being able to go and work from places where they want to and create a lifestyle where it's not just like your life revolves around work, but really finally creating that ideal lifestyle. And I kind of imagine that, you know, not only wall mounted mental health improve, it will, like significantly improve when we look at the baseline of the standard nine to five and what people have been operating it. Yeah, that's awesome. And I like what you mentioned with meditation, and all those things. That can just really support you, you know, as a remote worker, and just really being intentional with it and what you're doing with, you know, making it work for you and in in a way that works best for you. So, on the topic of unhealth, so SafetyWing, you are... like Congratulations, by the way, because I've know you've been a growing company over the years, I remember when you first came out, you're now one of the most popular insurance providers for remote workers, teams. You have Nomad insurance, which is the travel and medical for digital nomads, the remote health insurance, which is the full on health insurance. And so there's a few things I want to dive into here. So first of all, just for the newbies out there, this is going to be really basic for you. Can you explain the difference between travel insurance and health insurance for people?
Sondre Rasch 35:47
Yeah. So no matter insurance, the situation where you buy that is, you're going abroad, you want to have insurance. But there are like two kinds of insurances, you kind of want, you want the medical part. And you want what is broadly known as the travel part, which includes a few different things, it's like if things get stolen, it's it's like liability if you like injure someone, because you're outside the structures like of your home country. So it's like this collection of, of insurances that you know, covers all kinds of things when you're abroad. So and that pack that costs, that's monthly subscription that costs $40 a month outside the US. And you can kind of started when you go out and pass it whenever. And, and that's it. And, and then remote health, the health insurance. So Nomad insurance has a few exclusions, it's a lightweight medical product in in that it is not cover pre existing conditions, that's the big one. So it only covers anything like if you have an ongoing treatment program. For example, when you get nomad insurance, you can't use nomad insurance to like continue the treatment program. It only covers things that start after you start the insurance, if that makes sense. And but then that difference between cover increase, it changes the price a lot. So remote health is more like a fully fledged health insurance, the kind of thing that you would have like, as a benefit in a big company. That's like how it was made. So it costs more it costs between like, you know, 80 to 150, depending on things. And you can also add in some add ons like dental and maternity and some things. So that can be bought on individuals, but most commonly what that is bought for teams. So remote health, that makes it possible for a startup or a company to get benefits and offer the same package where they have a dashboard, then they can add like, Oh, I have this employee here and in Italy and have this other one in Argentina, and they get on the same plan. And they can also move so it's a borderless health insurance, which makes it you know, more attractive for for a remote worker, because that means that if they go for a long trip abroad, they can just keep the same insurance and have that saved in and, you know, stability.
Kate Smith 38:26
I can imagine this is huge, even for you know, a lot of americans. I know when they were traveling, they had to have their their health. It's also confusing, especially when you're traveling and like you said with, with safetywing, it just puts it all together. And you know, you don't have to worry about employees from different countries just simplifies it all. Let's also talk about because I think this is really important. I see a lot of people not not a lot, but there's there's a good amount of people that will travel without travel insurance, and they they take that risk, but that's a huge, huge risk to take. I'm a huge advocate, always get travel insurance. So let's talk about just how important it is to have that travel insurance, especially when you're traveling around.
Sondre Rasch 39:12
Yeah. And this I can totally relate to because, you know, I mentioned that I was, you know, I needed this myself. So I was a nomad. And I was actually one of those people. I would have travel insurance, but I would let it timeout because it only worked for like up to four to five days for the one particular one I had. So I would typically go home and restart it. That was kind of how I buy insurance, which it's not ideal, but that was kind of what I knew about what was available at the time. And I did have this situation where I went to had to go to clinic in the US for a tiny thing. And it was just like I just took some tests and then came the bill back and I was like oh my goodness. I'm so broke. And and that was that was a real Awakener. And it could have been so much worse as well, I realized, because I want to take some tests, but turns out like, super expensive. And I had a friend who had a different kind of thing, which was that in his rental car, he came to a crossing, and this bicyclist came across, and you sort of hit the wheel of the bicyclist. And that was a liability thing. So, and the point is, when you're abroad, you don't, these things can happen. And you know, you can, and my plan was, oh, if I get ill, I'm just going to go home. That's not an option. I realized as I was like having this chest pain, which was the thing, and I was like, what I'm going to fly home now, like book a ticket with this chest, like that's, that's not the situation, I need to go to a clinic right now, like, this is the situation, I need to go to a hospital, which was, of course, so short sighted of me. But you know, the, to to be covered so that you're not like, in severe health risk or super broke or worse. You know, you instead have normal insurance, which is proper medical, which takes away that. And it also takes away that risk. Because it is a risk. And it is a worry. And by taking away that worry, you can, I think a more relaxed life. So I certainly noticed that with me. So So yeah. That's, that's the reason to it's like a gift to your future self when you need it the most.
Kate Smith 41:44
Yeah, and these things just they're not planned, right, no one plans to have an accident or whatever it is. And you mentioned a good point about America. And that, you know, countries are so different in terms of how they operate in terms of prices. So America is obviously very expensive, where somewhere else maybe more affordable. But then you also have countries where they're not going to touch you or even help you until something's paid. Whereas you know, like, I know, in Canada, we will get taken care of, it's all good. But when you're abroad, it's a different story. It's like no money in hand before anyone touches you. And it's so different. And so to have that protection, at least knowing Okay, no matter what, no matter how these countries operate, I know I'll be okay. And like you said, once you're in a situation, you're not always in, you know, in a state where you can just fly home, especially if you have, you know, some sort of accident. And again, you know, I think of what comes to mind is Bali, so I lived there for a bit and there was so many scooter accidents, and people just, you know, not having the right coverage for that. And no one expects it. And it happens all the time. And it just, you know, there's so there's so many ways that that those situations could have been mitigated and not, you know, not so intense or expensive or stressful. So yes, definitely very, very important. So, upcoming. So we've talked about insurance, but you also have some really exciting things that I noticed as well, you now have COVID-19 coverage. And you also have what you touched on before remote doctor, which is coming soon to Yeah.
Sondre Rasch 43:15
Yes. So the COVID-19 coverage levels, actually. So we updated that during COVID. And we're still actually one of the few providers that covers both quarantines. And also COVID itself does seem strange, but you might find that like most Travel, Travel medical, they have an exclusion for that. So we updated the policy that was back in last August, and that has, you know, helped us grow tremendous amount I should should add, because of course, this is like one of the main considerations people have. So yeah, so we added in COVID 19 coverage in August. And then in the last month, we also added in this quarantine coverage in particular, which is that sometimes you're mandated to do quarantine at a hotel and it would sort of cover that quarantine. So that's, that's, yeah, that's just keeping the insurance updated for what's relevant.
Kate Smith 44:13
No, that's incredible. I think that the way that you're doing things is so just it's so innovative and cutting edge and you think of you think of insurance companies as these very old school traditional models, but you're doing it in such a new way and really, you know, again with the COVID a lot of insurance companies are sort of I don't want to be you know, liable or responsible for anything and you're really just like embracing these changes and adopting so quickly to have that offered you know throughout the pandemic is incredible. So if people want to sign up for safety wing for travel medical Is it is it just as simple as going to the site filling out some information what's what's the process like for people to join?
Sondre Rasch 44:56
Yeah, I mean, that's, that's ridiculous. You can go, you go to the website and sign up and then it's the insurance is live and it takes, you know, two to five minutes depending on how fast you're right. And and you can do that before you go or like on the way or when you're abroad. So it's, that's, really flexible.
Kate Smith 45:20
Awesome, and Sondre, so just as we wrap up, where can everybody find more information about you SafetyWing, what's the best place for people to go?
Sondre Rasch 45:32
So I, you know, go to safetywing.com for sure to check out the website. We also have, you know, some cool tools that we really would encourage listeners to this podcast to check out we have a borderless, find on the tools portal, the statement of calm, which shows all the like travel restrictions, and you know, vaccine information in every country. And an up to date way we have this team kind of researches and updates everything several times a week, which is great. We have buildingremotely.com, which is like podcasts and a tool for people who want to build remote companies, which I'm sure also some people listening to this podcast might consider.
Kate Smith 46:18
Amazing, awesome. So I'll link to all of that below Sondre it has been so exciting chatting with you today and just really hearing how you're, you know, driving this huge change and transformation in terms of the future of work and you know, having this country on the internet, this global, you know, social safety net, this is really transforming. So, so many things across the world. And I'm so excited to see this all pan out. And you know, I can see that you're very fast moving with a lot of things. So I'm excited to see this, you know, the passport come out in a few years and just see everything that pans out. And I just really thank you for coming on today and sharing that with our listeners.
Sondre Rasch 47:00
Thank you Kate. It's been a great conversation.
Kate Smith 47:02
Awesome. Thanks, Sondre.
Kate Smith 47:05
Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the remote Nomad podcast. Be sure to subscribe on Spotify, Apple podcasts and other streaming services so you don't miss an episode. Share this episode with a friend so they too can learn how to create more freedom and show your support by leaving us a review so we can reach even more people who are passionate about the remote work movement. In the meantime, you can find me over on Instagram @theremotenomad where I share more tips and insights into landing a remote job. That's it for today. I'm your host and remote Career Coach Kate Smith. Thanks for listening.
