I was pretty chuffed when I returned home to my family farm and ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt wanted to do a story on me. The story was an instant online hit, racking up tens-of-thousands of views within minutes of being posted. It was also broadcast on ABC Local Radio and made the Country Hour on Radio National, which shows how one good piece of content can be repackaged in various ways. Just like I’m doing with it, right now on my blog 😉
Media relations isn’t anything new to me, but telling my story was, so I knew that giving honest and thoughtful answers when I was asked was important for the story to be of any interest.
Fred Porter
The pandemic affected us all differently. For myself, I was already running a successful online business and working from home, although it was very much tied to live entertainment, something I never imagined might go away, even if it were just a brief time. Lockdowns in the Eastern States threatened to separate me from my family in Western Australia. The fast-paced city life that I had always thrived on had lost its appeal. I knew I needed a change, having pushed myself to the point of burnout, and most likely in the midst of a mid-life crisis!
Surprisingly (to some), I decided to return to my family farm in remote Western Australia. Thanks to advancements in communications technology, I’ve been able to continue running my marketing business remotely. I hadn’t really contemplated what I’d do after I got home, or what my next steps would be, although I can say it lead me to a newfound happiness in a place I had once been eager to escape from.
As a kid growing up on the farm, I often dreamt of exploring faraway places. I never saw myself as a farmer, and I even told my grandmother at a young age that I would be living in my own apartment with modern comforts like air conditioning. My ambitions took me on a journey around the country and around the world, promoting major events and building a career in marketing and entertainment. I worked with renowned acts like the Wiggles and Yo Gabba Gabba and achieved my childhood dream of owning an apartment on the Gold Coast.
Now that I’m home, the isolation, the tranquility, and the daily lifestyle of living on the farm has brought me a sense of contentment, and has helped me focus on achieving not only my professional goals, but also my charity work and direct some of my attention to the needs of the local community around me.
Thanks to technology it really is possible to combine the best of both worlds. I feel a deep connection to the land that I once viewed as the “end of the Earth.” I’ve come to appreciate the simplicity, the beauty, and the fulfillment that being remote has to offer. This experience has taught me the value of balance and the importance of finding joy in unexpected places.
