It’s our 5th birthday.
And we want to share some of our plans that will hopefully create an impact in your life – whether you are a future freelance traveler, a local (kid) from Setubal, a digital nomad, an artist or a curious person in a seek of mind-blowing collaborations.
Sende was a crazy rural idea. Only a few people believed that this innovative project, located in a 20 inhabitants Spanish village could run and survive.
We managed to resist wrong trends while setting the wind on how people can (re)use villages through innovation and collaboration. We became world pioneers in connecting forgotten countryside with the new age remote work.
Our tactic was simple. We built ideas that looked impossible to manage from the countryside, and we used our marketing skills to tell the world about them.
It surprised us how many of these ideas reached to the right people and stuck with them.
We spent years mastering the art of low-risk experiments which then turned into successful social businesses and projects with international impact.
We then specialised into making our guests at Sende feel at home right from day 1. This onboarding process was especially important for solo travellers, introverts and first-time event participants.
This mountain project was self-sustainable from its 3rd month of operations and the team spirit stayed healthy and free as ever.
Then Sende grew and invested in reviving more and more spaces in our village, while also investing in social enterprises such as Impact Hub Vigo and building fun projects on the way (moops, Project crafters, Artezanat, llamacabras and Cohubiting).
Sende never wanted to become a startup, but instead, stay as a small and easily manageable project which operates in a no-stress atmosphere.
All of this was possible thanks to the love of our neighbours, families, friends, and guests who became our friends.
This is our plan for Sende 2 (spreading over the land of 28000 sq/m):
We will repair a wooden-cowboy-looking cottage that will become multi-use space with low music and allowed talk workspace, along with a big kitchen.
We will then build a studio for anyone who wants to come to Sende and end up going home with produced and recorded online courses (you will learn how to market it).
This studio will be used for photoshoots or product shoots.
Under each tree, there will be a place where your ideas will be brainstormed, designed and converted into something usable. Imagine many non-traditional offices, under the deep shade of trees that are protecting your laptop, screen and tools from the sun.
The neighborhood kids will be encouraged and always invited to join any of our activities.
Remember the stories of kids who built marvelous careers due to the impact of this special teacher in their local school?
Well, this will be similar.
We will not have one traditional teacher and instead, these kids will be around creatives, artists, makers, engineers, and architects.
They will learn how to build mini planes, how to design sustainable fashion skirts, how to think as entrepreneurs and they will see a world of possibilities right in front of their doorstep in rural Setubal.
We will continue working on conflict-transformation and peacebuilding education. These are the most gratifying activities that take place in Sende because we end up making a huge impact in only 7 days (from Palestine to Venezuela).
Our very first Sende Portugal event starts in 2 days and we are bringing together 24 Youth Peace Ambassadors from 12 countries to Setubal. As our space is still not ready, we are organizing camping at the beach with big desert tents.
We are also launching The Sende Camp which will be mostly focused on events about conflict transformation and social entrepreneurship for different teams.
And the most interesting part about Sende two is still unknown as our spaces are designed to bring new ideas through multicultural coliving.
It means that you should expect to read hundreds of mind-blowning news coming from this place.
Sende organizes non-profit events (about the topics we really care about such as the Youth Peace Ambassadors camp in Setubal)
and other for-profit ones (keep reading please).
It is becoming more about real estate and less about community and people.
It’s starting to harm the old neighborhoods which turn buildings into heartless hostels that are called coliving spaces (so they can charge more). At the same time, people who lived in these buildings are often kicked out to the edge of the city.
That’s why Sende aims to gradually become cheaper, to a point where it will become free forever.
There are at least 92 ways to monetize a coliving space, without harming neighborhoods, underpaying workers or overcharging the users.
We are building some of them and each time we launch a new product, Sende prices decrease.
So, one of 92 ideas is about talent (good coliving spaces make friends with so many professionals):
1/92 We are starting a rural & remote digital agency that will bring together small teams to build fine marketing for big companies that are in need of new-age thinkers.
Just image a team of our 3 guests (now dear friends):
Carla from Barcelona (a copywriter of IKEA, BMW, and Playground agency) with Kuba from Wroclaw (Software engineer, Toptal) and Pedro from Setubal (video maker who works with MTV, Sony, MEO).
Only these 3 people could build the most unbelievable campaign and bring a mediocre company to the top.
And these professionals are joining this agency because we choose to work only with companies that align with Sende’s values.
And we meet so many talented people, that don’t work with big names.
The agency will most likely be called Kurro (slang for “work” in Spanish).
Because it will work as a job board (e.g. infoJobs) for people who already have a job and for ones who once stayed in Sende. This means that professionals who would like to take extra side work that pushes their creativity and adrenaline will join this agency.
2/92 is about new education:
We are building 2 recording studios (in both Sendes) to produce courses and digital products.
But not just any kind of products. Internet is flooded with basic and low-quality courses with big promises and there is a huge opportunity in teaching advanced but functional and result-based courses.
And there is no better place to build intensive courses than in the nature.
Not only will course makers benefit from this but anyone will also be able to learn how to build and market their own course.
3/92 Start a small business in Sende and go home as a (CEO) director.
You see, there are hundreds of courses that are teaching you how to start a biz.
But it is the same method of teaching for different kinds of ideas, so in 90% of those cases, there is no real result. Markets and cultures are different, so what works in San Francisco, US often doesn’t work in Extremadura, Spain.
That’s why we juiced out 32 lessons (that are also tasks) that should be completed while in Sende in order to professionally launch an online service (or a product).
And each of these courses will be applicable to very small sectors (e.g. you are a videomaker but without a job or a business. We will have business launching camp for only 8 videomakers – they will come to Sende and go home with their small business launched).
You then go home with the marketing homework which will be mentored via Slack for 3 months.
This, of course, will all be money-back-guarantee (We charge for it, but guarantee the success. And if not, you get your money back).
Another “secret” about starting a business is the actual work. Sende is a place to disconnect from the unimportant and do the important.
When any of these ideas win, Sende gets cheaper.
You may ask, – why don’t you make money from both?
Because we are a social project that brings people together from around the world.
It’s not fair that many of our future visitors may not be able to afford to stay at our place because of a dictator in a suit who runs their country.
We want someone coming from Serbia or Ukraine or Brasil to have the same experience as someone coming from France or Germany. Because all of them sitting together at Sende’s dinner table will make us happy.
So, if you would like to help us design and build Sende 2, write to us. We already started with small works.
If you would like to attend any of our future programs (one of 1/2/3 of 92 ideas), write to us here.
Or if you would like to stay in Spanish Sende this year click here.
Maybe we will not be called a coliving space in the future, but the word Sende will be enough to explain what are we all about.
♥️ Big thanks to Ana, Ze, Pedro, Akica, Pedro and Sonia, Rita, Catia, Miki, Ena, and to City Council of Setubal.
Ena’s illustrations keep our posts interesting
Written by: Edo Sadikovic
See you in Sende
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Sende is a village home for people who work online, hidden in the Spanish mountains.
“Offices” with a mountain view where you get to meet international people while cooking together.
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