Then → Now · 2026
Remote Year, the "successful start-up" held up as the movement's flagship, shut down in December 2024, while the tiny rural Coconat retreat is still open and expanding.
What it said (2018) ↓
Seven quotes: Andrea Garcia (Talent Garden Barcelona): focus, go to coworking spaces.
Emily Moyer (Remote Year): push the movement forward; "I don't think I've met anyone who regrets" it.
What happened (2026) ↓
According to Wikipedia (the trade-press report could not be opened), Remote Year closed in December 2024, citing "circumstances beyond our control".
Coconat is still operating as a workation retreat near Berlin, building a coliving "Founders' Attic" with a crowdfunding deadline of 3 Nov 2026 and hiring for January 2026.
Verdict · Held up: 6 / 10 · Full 2026 update
- Location independents should plan before quitting, say no to misaligned clients and give back.Still valid
- Remote Year was successful and the movement it drove would keep growing.Didn't happen
- Coconat and Coworking Safari were thriving ventures with plans to expand.Came true
Original post · 7 October 2018
What Successful Location Independents are Advising You
We have been running the location independent stories for a while now. Every location independent we've talked to keep inspiring us. So we've decided to put this into writing for those who like to "read" rather than "watch". Here's the top advices for location independents.#1 "Be very focused on your own goals"
"Location independents, or those want to be one, should be very focused on their goals. Should go to coworking spaces because these spaces are the best way to mix and mingle, to get to know the local culture. Also try to collaborate with them, and to know the place they are at the moment" says Andrea Garcia, who is a coworking consultant, currently managing Talent Garden in Barcelona. Andrea helps people how to develop and create a successful coworking place or tech hubs and grow communities. She would like to help a lot of people to make the perfect environment for them to grow a community and to collaborate.#2 "Help others to do the same, push this movement forward"
Emily Moyer is the head of Brand and Content for Remote Year, the successful start-up that that creates work and travel programs for remote professionals. Emily suggests that those who are already location independent must help others to do the same, and push this movement forward. For those who haven’t gotten remote yet or in the sort of thinking about whether or not should take the job and make the leap onto location independence, she says "don’t let anything hold you back. Just go for it, I don’t think I’ve met anyone who regrets being location independent". She aspires to continue to help grow Remote Year, and keep changing people's lives. She is excited to continue to help push the movement forward and she'd like to bring more people into their incredible community. Here's a past blog post where we had covered Remote Year in more depth.#3 "Be yourself, be authentic, always stick to your values"
Lisa Weinsberger is a UX designer. She comes from a background of fashion design and architecture. Her study gradually evolved into innovation and tech, and she started UX design a couple of years ago. Now she does design thinking workshops. Lisa has been very clear with her advices for location independents: "Be yourself, be authentic, always stick to your values, know your values, be able and willing to say “No" to projects and clients don’t align with your values. Always remember you can always say no and stay resilient because every time you say no, ten more doors open up, it’s really like that. There are so many possibilities out there and it gets better every day. I can tell my last year was simply amazing. So, just stick with it" Lisa aspires to become independent from income and her clients by building a passive income stream as well as running great design thinking workshops all over the world. She'd like to have the possibility to work and travel and consciously say “Yes!” to the projects she chooses and wants to do, also be able to turn down projects and combine work and travel in a nice way that allows her to get a lot of sun and a lot of great work done.#4 "take everything that you do and put your hundred percent into it"
Riku Penttinen is the founder of Nomad Life Style, a brand-new start-up that aims to guide others achieve the freedom of working from anywhere in the world by organizing travel experiences for nomad-to-bes and provide business and life-coaching programs for them. His advice is to "Be yourself, travel, enjoy it, take everything that you do and put your hundred percent into it and you’ll have amazing time while doing it and enjoy life". His aspiration is to have a good balance in both life and work. And being independent of having to work in an office. "I think everybody has done enough of that" says Riku. He sees success for himself is to spend time with his family and also to build his own business at the same time.#5 "Get out there, go and travel more, go and experience the world"
Simon Lewis is a Travel & Tourism industry professional, a Digital Marketer, an Entrepreneur, and founder of Coworking Days and Coworking Safari. Just so many things on his plate, and his advices for locations independents are simple : "get out there, go and travel more, go and experience the world". He has an aspiration to run 12 awesome Coworking Safaris in the next 1 year.#6 "Don't do what I did"
Mike LaRosa has been very candid and sincere, as he always is. He calls himself "Coworkaholic". He is a well-known Coworking Expert, and an International Speaker at various Coworking Events. In Coworkaholic, he blogs all about the coworking life style where they advocate how you can work wherever, whenever, however and together. He advises not to do what he did. "Don’t quit your job without a gameplan. Embrace the adventure, look forward to the challenges that will come naturally, but have a plan in place. Don’t just get up and quit your job, make sure you’ve got kind of a plan before you pull the trigger. He has an aspiration to reach the 1.000.000 miles flown in the next 1 year. He is almost there! right about 675.000.#7 "Be aware of the communities you are in"
Julianne Becker is the cofounder and CEO of Coconat, which is a place for digital workers to be inspired, concentrate, work, and play in the countryside outside of Berlin. She advises to be aware of the communities you are in. "Do not only be in a consumer mode but also in an experience mode. Give back to the communities which you are in" In one year’s time, she hopes to have two more projects going in rural areas outside of other large cities in Europe.2026 update
What happened after this was written
Claims then:
- Seven quotes:
- Andrea Garcia (Talent Garden Barcelona): focus, go to coworking spaces.
- Emily Moyer (Remote Year): push the movement forward; "I don't think I've met anyone who regrets" it.
- Lisa Weinsberger: say no to misaligned clients.
- Riku Penttinen (Nomad Life Style).
- Simon Lewis (Coworking Days / Coworking Safari, aiming for "12 Coworking Safaris" in a year).
- Mike LaRosa (Coworkaholic): "don't quit your job without a gameplan"; about 675,000 of 1,000,000 miles flown.
- Julianne Becker (Coconat): give back; hopes for two more rural projects.
What happened since:
- According to Wikipedia (the trade-press report could not be opened), Remote Year closed in December 2024, citing "circumstances beyond our control". It had been acquired by Selina in 2020, then passed to Collective Hospitality with Selina in 2024. source, source
- Coconat is still operating as a workation retreat near Berlin, building a coliving "Founders' Attic" with a crowdfunding deadline of 3 Nov 2026 and hiring for January 2026. Whether its "two more rural projects" happened is unverified. source
- Coworking Safari's site is still up (2026 footer) and lists South African trips (Kruger, Cape Town) and Namibia coliving; its newest dated post we could open is from November 2023. source
- Talent Garden Barcelona is still operating a 4,500 m² campus in 22@ Poblenou. source
- coworkaholic.com now serves an unrelated placeholder page (curl 2026-11-03). Mike LaRosa's own current activity was not researched. The link must be removed.
- nomadlifestyle.co gave no response. No current web presence was found; closure is not confirmed.
- LinkedIn profile links to named individuals were not followed; these are private people.
Named tools/orgs status:
| Name | Then | Now | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote Year | "Successful start-up" | Closed December 2024 (after Selina 2020 and Collective Hospitality 2024) | Wikipedia |
| Talent Garden Barcelona | Coworking campus | Active | talentgarden.com |
| Nomad Life Style | "Brand-new start-up" | No current web presence found | curl 2026-09-30 |
| Coworking Safari | Aiming for 12 safaris a year | Site live (2026 footer); latest post opened is from 2023 | coworkingsafari.com |
| Coworkaholic (coworkaholic.com) | Coworking blog | Domain now hosts unrelated spam | curl 2026-09-30 |
| Coconat | Rural workation near Berlin | Active; coliving expansion crowdfunding to Nov 2026 | coconat-space.com |
Verdict:
- The advice itself (plan before quitting, say no, give back): Still valid.
- "Remote Year is successful and will keep growing": Didn't happen.
- Coconat and Coworking Safari surviving: Came true.
Headline finding: Remote Year, the "successful start-up" held up as the movement's flagship, shut down in December 2024, while the tiny rural Coconat retreat is still open and expanding.
Re-verified 3 November 2026: 5 claims confirmed, 3 corrected, 1 hedged, 0 removed.
Researched 30 September 2026 and re-verified against the sources on 3 November 2026. Sources are linked in each point. Items marked "unverified" could not be established and are not guessed.