Canadian Freelancer Living the “Remote Dream” since 2014
I’m a Canadian copywriter who builds WordPress sites for B2B companies. I also share the truth about remote life and know how to cure depression.
Join my newsletter for weekly lessons on building businesses and freelancing from Asia. 100% crafted by human hands (not AI). May also contain dark humor and swear words.
WHERE TO FIRST?
Choose Your Adventure
BUSINESS & FREELANCING
How Money-Making Businesses Are Built
Hard-earned lessons from 10+ years building businesses remotely. Ideas on pricing, positioning, and delivering high-value services.
REMOTE LIFE
Chasing Your Own Remote Lifestyle
Honest stories from living in Asia since 2014. The freedom, the visa runs, the questionable decisions, and everything in between.
IRONMAN TRAINING
Training for My First Ironman by 2029
My journey to becoming an Ironman before I turn 40. Race results, training updates, and why triathlons are the cure to depression.
Hi, I’m Jef van de Graaf
At 24, I sold everything I owned, bought a one-way ticket to Tokyo, and left Canada with nothing but a bicycle.
I cycled across Asia for four years. Built a private English teaching business in Japan from zero to 65 students in eight months. Now I’m training for an Ironman while freelancing for B2B companies from a fourth-floor condo in Chiang Mai.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build a life completely on your own terms — this blog is for you.
Here you’ll find the strategies, experiments, and hard-won lessons from over a decade navigating the great unknown.
Take this, all of you, and learn from it. For this is my knowledge, which can be passed onto you by reading my Articles.
Conquering My First Triathlon in Riding Mountain, Manitoba
14 January 2026