Transcript
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Hey nomads.
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Welcome to Digital Nomad Stories, the podcast.
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My name is Anne Klaassen and, together with my co-host, kendra Hasse, we interview digital nomads.
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Why?
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Because we want to share stories of how they did it.
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We talk about remote work, online business, location independency, freelancing, travel and, of course, the digital nomad lifestyle.
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Freelancing travel and, of course, the digital nomad lifestyle.
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Do you want to know more about us and access all previous episodes?
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Visit digitalnomadstoriesco.
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Alright, let's go into today's episode.
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Hey, hey nomads.
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Welcome to a brand new episode.
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Today, I'm here with digital nomad Alexis.
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She's been a digital nomad for over six years and she started as a CEO of a children's party entertainment company and she's now a mindset and productivity coach for businesses with remote workers.
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So I think we can learn a lot from Alexis today in terms of her digital nomad story, but also, you know, productivity tips.
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I'm definitely here for that.
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So, alexis, welcome to the show.
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Yeah, thank you so much for having me on, and I'm definitely here for that.
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So, alexis, welcome to the show.
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Yeah, thank you so much for having me on, and I'm just honored to be here.
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Cool, so can?
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you tell us a little bit more about what life looks like for you.
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So I mentioned your mindset and productivity coach.
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What does that mean exactly in your, in your day to day life Like what do you?
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actually do Absolutely Well.
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Thank you for asking.
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It has really been a journey.
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So I'd kind of like to go into that, because specializing in mindset and productivity have been a new thing for me, because and actually like brand new, like this past month, because I for the longest time worked in children's party entertainment development school, specifically for children's party entertainers, because I used to be a nationwide company owner and that's what I did after COVID and I just sold my company and I'm still in the process of handing the reins over and she's actually taking over in the next month, and so I'm in this weird transitional period where it's like, okay, I've been helping digital nomads people who essentially work from their laptops and build businesses for over three years now and I've been helping them with their productivity and I've been helping them grow businesses while they're working from their home or while they're traveling, cause that's what I specialized in.
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And I was just like, how can I reach a bigger, broader audience that isn't in the princess party community, because that was my niche, and so I'm essentially expanding outside of my niche and I'm kind of feeling into that.
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So, yes, I'm specializing in mindset and productivity coaching for us digital nomads, but I'm also going to be assisting people with getting started in solo travel, especially for us as women, because that was something that I really felt a lot of fear around when I first got started, and I've met so many incredible women along my journeys, of all ages, who have been empowered through solo travel and who have really leaned into finding themselves.
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And I think it's one thing to have somebody assist you with creating an itinerary or creating a trip, but it's another thing to have someone be there with you throughout the entire journey, like there, to assist you when you experience those emotional fluctuations, those times when you feel lonely, those times whenever you're in a new city and you don't know what to do.
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Like, let's say, you want to go out and have a drink, but you're terrified going out and having a drink by yourself, and so really leaning into that and learning how to navigate solo travel and then also, especially if you have a business, how to then run that business while you're solo traveling.
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And so I'm doing that.
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I'm also going to be doing some group trips and just kind of feeling into the whole space of okay, this is what I've been doing for the longest time, but what is my creative energy calling me to create next.
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And how can I express that fully?
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so cool that's so interesting that we're catching you at such an interesting time in your career, right, and what's also super interesting, I'm also a little bit of a transition phase myself, because I have actually big news.
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You've heard it here first in the podcast I decided to settle down in Valencia, spain, as a home base at least, so I'll obviously still be traveling I think there's no way to ever not travel but after almost six years of nomading, I decided to settle down here and I'm starting a community for digital nomads and remote workers in Valencia and I'm so excited about that and I love hearing that you're doing something similar where you want to provide value for people who want to start doing what we're doing and how to not feel lonely.
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I feel like we're solving some of the same issues.
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I love that.
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That is so cool.
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And also, we started nomading around the same time probably.
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I think you've been nomading for six years.
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I've been nomading for almost six years, so that's so interesting here.
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Yeah, and congratulations on your new chapter of your life, because settling down for a nomad is a big deal, but also like the fact that you've decided on Valencia and you're also passionate about building a community.
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There is so special.
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So, if you don't mind me asking what's made you decide on Valencia and why does that feel like the next right step for you?
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Yeah, it's a good question.
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So I was here last year for a month and after that month I didn't want to leave, but I had other plans, so I kind of like had to leave.
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So I was like, okay, I'll just come back, so I'll come back in spring.
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So then now I thought, okay, I'll come back for two months, book myself into a co-living for two months, and then literally after one week I was already like I don't want to leave, I just really don't want to leave.
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So then I was like you know what?
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I just won't, I just won't leave and I am moving to an apartment, so from a co-living space to an apartment, literally in two days from the time that we're recording this.
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But yeah, I was like I don't have to leave.
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So let's, let's stay if that feeling is still here, and for as long as it is and I think it will probably be a good, probably like two to five years that I'll be here in Valencia.
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That's kind of the the plan, but I'm also allowing myself to change that if I want to.
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But yeah, it's just.
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I just love being here and this is the first place in six years of travel that I felt like I just want to spend almost all my time here oh yeah, that'd be really interesting.
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I got goosebumps, like as soon as you said, like it just felt right and I just wanted to be here and I didn't want to leave.
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That gave me goosebumps for so many reasons, but also because I mean, I felt like that in some of the places I visit.
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Like right now I'm in Switzerland.
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I love Switzerland, especially in the summer.
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It is my happy place.
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I love the chocolate pastries.
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I just I love everything about Switzerland, specifically the chocolate pastries, um and.
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But also I felt like that in Hawaii, where it was like when I got to Hawaii, I was like I feel like this is home and I lived there for five years and then after a while I was like, okay, it's time to, it's time to pick up and go again.
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And just like how you said, I have the freedom to where, if I decide that I want to leave, I can leave, but right now this feels right and that's so empowering and so cool of you.
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So congratulations.
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And I definitely want to come to Valencia now.
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You've convinced me, you should?
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you should, but it's, it's risky because so many people come and then stay because they also don't want to leave.
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I have so, like I there's like 10 people in this co-living at the moment who are like I'm coming back to stay and there's no ads, you know, but everyone just falls in love with the city.
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So, be aware, like, like, when you come here to visit, you might want to stay, but tell me a little bit more about your road to now being in Switzerland selling your company.
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Like, how did it all start six years ago?
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What happened that you thought, okay, I want to be a digital nomad, let's go, let's travel.
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Yeah, so growing up, I always looked up to Mary-Kate and Ashley I don't know if you're familiar with those two yeah, okay, great, of course, of course.
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And I grew up and I was only a couple years younger than them, so I very much grew up watching them traverse the globe and all their movies, passport to Paris, winning London, all these cool places, having these experiences.
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And because I come from a lower to middle class family, traveling wasn't really something that we did.
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You know, I come from the States and I don't come from a family of travelers.
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Nobody in my family, nobody's an entrepreneur.
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And so I, essentially I had these big dreams and these big goals, but I didn't really know how to comprehend them or how to even make them a reality.
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And so I tried.
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I started to get to know myself at around age 20.
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And I kind of just started feeling into, like, like you said before, what's the next best course of action for me, and I just kept following that intuitively, and I ended up in LA and then eventually I ended up in Hawaii, and when I was in Hawaii I was in a seven-year relationship, so I was with the same person from age 20 to 27.
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I had always had security.
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I had always had someone there to lean on or provide for me, and I was always looking up still to these flight attendants, to these people who were traversing the globe and having these experiences.
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And my partner at the time very much wanted to settle down in Hawaii because, honestly, who wouldn't?
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And for me myself, I was like I'm 27 years old.
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I know that I'm not fulfilled in my relationship.
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I know that I still have this hunger, this calling to explore the world.
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I don't know how I'm going to do it and I'm scared as hell because I've always been taken care of, I've always had someone to lean on.
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Like I've never had to wonder if I was going to be able to afford groceries, and I had been a business owner from age 23 to 27, but I had never made a significant amount of money because, like I said, I always had that fail safe, so my money wasn't the main source of income.
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And so I just told myself, if we're going to do it now, if we're going to believe in ourselves, if we're going to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone and become the woman that we know that we can be, we have to take this risk and we have to jump, and so, in the fall of 2017, I started investing into my personal development.
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I started reading personal development books.
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I started getting outside of my own head.
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I started challenging the beliefs and the thoughts that I had since childhood about what I believed was possible for me and why I had so many negative thoughts and beliefs around, if I could run a successful business or if I could travel, or if I could be alone and single.
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And so I had to start challenging those thoughts and beliefs, and as soon as I started doing that, I realized I was the one holding myself back and all I had to do was try and put myself out there.
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And so I left my relationship of seven years.
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I took my company, I got an investor, I expanded nationwide, and still I had no money for rent.
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I had no.
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I could no, I could not get a job doing the wolfing or doing like the work trade, because I had to grow business.
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Essentially, I had people relying on me to grow this business, and that's really what I wanted to do, but I still wanted to travel.
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So I couldn't get a job traveling, but I had no money for rent and I couldn't afford Airbnbs, and so I just started Googling.
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I was like how can I travel for free?
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And I came across house and pet sitting.
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Are you familiar with that?
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Yeah, yeah, we had a few episodes on the podcast about house sitting.
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Yeah, so tell me more about your experience, yeah.
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So I came across it and I trusted house.
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House was the website I came across and I was like it's $100 for the year at the time and I was like if I could get someone, if I could get a sit for three weeks to a month, that's my rent paid for, because I'm going to have to pay for groceries and other things wherever I'm at.
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So that's not going to change.
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But if I can get my rent taken care of and I can be in a place where I don't have to have a car, or if they provide me with the car, that cuts out 80% of my expenses.
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And so I got, I created a profile with the very little money that I had and I started pitching myself to house sits.
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And I got one in Hastings, england, and I actually pitched myself as like have a Disney princess come and take care of your homes and your pet, because that's what my experience was like.
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I had a Disney princess come and take care of your homes and your pet, because that's what my experience was Like.
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I had a photo of me, a Cinderella.
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I had worked with kids and I had taken care of a lot of pets.
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In Hawaii I'd done property management.
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I dabbled here and there and so I was really familiar with the process, and so I started doing that.
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I got into house and pet sitting.
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I literally left the States with $200 in my bank account, no idea when we were going to book the next party, no idea how it was going to come in.
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And over the next three years so from 2017 to 2020, I lived about six countries every single year.
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I spent a lot of time in Australia.
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I tried to stay in the English speaking countries first, or like the countries where I knew that the majority of people would speak English, because it was my first time leaving the country.
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I didn't know anyone.
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I didn't have friends or family or anyone abroad.
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Nobody knew anything about traveling.
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My family thought I was crazy, and so I just went to England and I didn't stop from there, and over the course of those three years, I scaled my business by 130% every single year while working remotely.
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My third year in business, I hit six figures, and that was when COVID hit, and that was when everything took a step back, because I was literally in New Zealand when COVID hit, getting ready to hike through the South Island of New Zealand to the Fiordlands and I was so excited.
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I had everything booked, my rental car, everything was planned.
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And that was when COVID was announced and I was on the last flight back to the States from New Zealand and I remember meeting a fellow nomad girl in the grocery store.
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She was only 18, bless her heart, and I commended her.
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I was like girl, it took me, I was 27 when I first left the country, so the fact that you're 18 is amazing.
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And I met her and I was like are you going to?
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She was from California and I was like are you going to go back to California?
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And she was like no.
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And I was like you're not like during this pandemic, aren't you worried?
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And she was like no, I think I'll just live out of my car.
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And I was like oh my she's like I don't want to go back to the States.
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I was like, okay, amazing, I hope that that girl out there is still thriving.
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I was impressed.
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I was like, yes, queen, you do you.
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And I went back to Florida.
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I literally lived on my mom's couch for like six months because my company shut down.
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My income shut down overnight.
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My health just completely plummeted.
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I started having all these health issues breast implant, illness.
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I had all these things happen and I really had to figure out okay, everything is stopping me right now.
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How do I want to proceed?
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And like I felt the ending.
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I felt the ending to everything that I had built and it was really sad and disheartening and it's kind of like similar to what I'm going through right now with selling my current company.
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It's like I had spent three years working my butt off to build this company and then, finally, when it starts yielding beneficial fruit, like profitable fruit, something happens to where it's like, okay, now we're not going to do that anymore.
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And that's been similar to what happened with my company, bippity.
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It's like as soon as I hit that third year, it started to produce revenue and it was being consistent, my brand was getting out there, but I wasn't feeling satisfied anymore.
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I wasn't feeling like it was something I wanted to do, and so really leaning into that uncomfortable space of saying you know, it's okay that I worked really hard to build this, it's okay to allow this to be a stepping stone to what I want to do next, rather than this being what I have to do indefinitely, until I think that I've squeezed all the success out of it.
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But like, rather leaning into being like it's okay if things change.
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And none of it defines me.
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How much money is in my bank account does not define me.
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The businesses that I own do not define me.
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The only thing that defines me is if I get to wake up every single day and do something that I love and make an impact in the way that I want to make an impact, and so that's been really that's been a new thing that I've been leaning into, because, growing up from lower to middle class family, I did feel like I had to prove something.
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I felt like I had to become successful.
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I feel like I had to prove that I could be, you know, a millionaire to my family running my own business, because so many people doubted me and so many people thought I was making the wrong choices and so I had to really overcome that in the past four or five years.
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That actually no, I don't have to prove anything.
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And yeah, to just ride the waves of life and just let things come and go as they please and to not have attachment towards any of it, yeah, I think I just wanted to point out what you said, that you know your mindset change.
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That was so important in this story.
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Just knowing what was possible and just seeing that, things can look very different.
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Like as a business owner.
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What does success look like?
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You know, after three years, if you're not excited about your business anymore or you don't wake up in the morning and think, okay, let's go, let's do this, then success looks like letting it go, if it's selling the company, if it's looking for your next opportunity, and I think that's so powerful.
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And, yeah, I just wanted to highlight that in your story because I think that's just such a huge takeaway that we can take from your story and it's so interesting to hear how that all developed.
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How did travel fit into all of this?
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Because you went through several transitions in this time right, with one company shutting down, going back to the United States, but then also starting a new company and, yeah, now being in Switzerland.
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How did that all develop?
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Well, travel.
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Honestly, I love working in new places all the time, as a nomad, I'm sure you can understand that, but I love experiencing new places and I love putting myself in environments that challenge me and that make me broaden my mind.
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So, like I've learned certain things about my working, because I've worked in Spain, I've worked everywhere and I've worked in homes and people's homes and I've learned that I have to have windows to see out.
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I've learned that I have to have a calm environment.
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I've learned that taking care of dogs is much more difficult than taking care of cats.
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I have learned that I have to travel with a pillow now and a water filter and all these things that I didn't have to take with me before.
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And I've had to find comfort in the ever evolving landscape of being in a new country or a new place every single month, and that has also been a challenge, and so I can't see myself quitting traveling anytime soon.
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People ask me all the time.
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My partner asks me you know, could you just stay?
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Because he's.
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I fell in love with a finance guy from London and that's been also a challenge navigating that as a nomad Cause I'm like quit your job, let's go.
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And he's like okay, quit my job.
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And I'm like but you can.
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You know it's a whole thing.
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And so so you know, I tried to live in London for a long time last year.
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Couldn't do it, couldn't hack it.
00:18:33.577 --> 00:18:37.928
I just I need the nature and how, also house and pet sitting.
00:18:37.928 --> 00:18:42.159
Just, I need the nature and how, also house and pet sitting.
00:18:42.179 --> 00:19:30.128
You know I have over 49 five-star reviews, but I didn't always have those five-star reviews and also I've had a lot of really bad experiences with homeowners and pet owners having cameras in the house and asking me to launder money for them, and I have had all the experiences, yeah, having animals be extremely aggressive and so having to navigate building a business, also with your mental health, having relationships, while also navigating traveling, you know, and, like my boyfriend says all the time, he's like you're kind of a hypochondriac when it comes to, like, getting sick and I'm like, yeah, because two years ago I had hand, foot, mouth disease in England during my birthday and nobody was there to take care of myself, thought I was going to die, walked to the hospital twice and had to have the emergency people come Like it was bad.
00:19:30.128 --> 00:19:41.365
And when you are a nomad and when you're traveling alone and you don't know anyone in a country, you do have to be really mindful of your health, because you don't know what's going to happen and there's no one to take care of you.
00:19:41.365 --> 00:19:57.048
And sometimes you're in a country where people don't speak English that's not their first language and so you have to think about all of that when you get sick or when something happens, or when your body reacts weirdly to a foreign virus or a foreign thing that you've never dealt with before.
00:19:57.048 --> 00:19:59.717
And so I haven't been to Asia because I'm too afraid.
00:19:59.717 --> 00:20:04.838
I haven't been to Asia because I'm too afraid of mosquito bites, because they love me and I'm just terrified.
00:20:04.838 --> 00:20:05.780
I don't want to get the shots.
00:20:05.780 --> 00:20:12.035
I would love to go to Asia, but I'm too afraid right now, and you know, there's just certain places where I've had to be mindful.
00:20:12.234 --> 00:20:22.314
I will say, though, I have spent six months in Australia, like, overall, lived in Australia, I've lived in the outback, I've lived in all parts of Australia, and everyone's always like, well, what about the bugs?
00:20:22.314 --> 00:20:22.775
And what about?
00:20:22.775 --> 00:20:23.838
Everything can kill you?
00:20:23.838 --> 00:21:03.103
And I'm like, actually, no, everything was mine, like I saw scarier spiders in the States or in England than I ever saw in Australia, and I knock on wood, I think maybe I just got lucky, but also I always had a good experience and so, yeah, I think navigating you have to navigate so much that other people don't really ever think about you know, and you have to be able to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and being in someone's home and learning their routines and learning their animals routines and having to deal with, you know, emergency situations when it's just you and traversing all of that while also building a business or businesses.
00:21:03.723 --> 00:21:11.869
It's a lot, but I will say that it does make you so mentally strong and there's been months where I have felt like such a failure.
00:21:11.869 --> 00:21:14.378
There have been months where I was like what am I doing?
00:21:14.378 --> 00:21:37.673
And like started applying for remote jobs and was like I just need to settle down and tried to like my ego tried to convince me like you're not safe, create some sort of safety, and I've had to be that safe place for myself and I've had to learn how to self-soothe and regulate my nervous system and breathe through those months my nervous system and breathe through those months.
00:21:37.673 --> 00:21:51.922
And now I'm really glad to be able to be providing that safe space for other people who either want to travel solo or who want to become nomads or who are nomads and are maybe dealing with these things, whether that's dating or difficulties with family, or difficulties with their job, or whatever it may be.
00:21:51.922 --> 00:21:53.953
I have dealt with it now.
00:21:54.054 --> 00:21:56.900
And so now I can be that safe space for others.
00:21:57.922 --> 00:22:05.000
Yeah, exactly yeah, it's not always unicorns and rainbows and the pictures of nomads working from the beach.
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:07.637
That's usually not reality.
00:22:07.637 --> 00:22:14.457
That's like maybe 5% of our time as nomads and never working on the beach Me either.
00:22:14.457 --> 00:22:21.614
What would your advice be for people who want to start a digital nomad journey and they are aware of?
00:22:21.614 --> 00:22:24.059
Okay, you know bad things will happen.
00:22:24.059 --> 00:22:30.442
It will not all be great, but what is kind of the first steps that you would advise people to take?
00:22:32.211 --> 00:22:42.782
Start asking yourself better questions, because I think you really have to know why you want to be a digital nomad, and for some of us, we do it as a form of escape.
00:22:42.782 --> 00:22:44.773
Some of us do it as a form of freedom.
00:22:44.773 --> 00:22:50.814
Some of us do it as a form of you know, I'm young and this is I have to do this now a sense of urgency.
00:22:50.814 --> 00:22:52.435
And some of us do it for all of the above.
00:22:52.435 --> 00:22:56.321
I know, for me it was all of the above and I haven't stopped traveling since.
00:22:56.321 --> 00:23:01.454
But I think, getting clear with asking yourself the right questions why do I want to be a nomad?
00:23:01.454 --> 00:23:06.291
What does it mean to be, for me to be free and to be able to work from anywhere?
00:23:06.291 --> 00:23:09.920
Is this the highest value for me?
00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:24.693
Right now, in my life, like for me, the highest, most important value for me is freedom, and so everything else has to come underneath that, like my relationship, my business, everything else has to come underneath that.
00:23:24.693 --> 00:23:27.484
I can't compromise on any of those other values that I have, because freedom is always my most important one.
00:23:27.484 --> 00:23:42.132
So I know for me myself when I don't feel free, when I feel trapped, I don't show up well in any other area of my life and so really getting clear on what your values are, why it is that you want what you want, and also doing it for the right reasons.
00:23:42.492 --> 00:23:46.950
I think when I first got into digital nomading, I really was showing off a lot.
00:23:46.950 --> 00:24:01.113
I feel like I was really like trying to, like I said, trying to prove myself to other people and trying to also I think you have to kind of get out of the mindset that other people are wrong for not wanting a free lifestyle and understanding that everyone's going through their own journey.
00:24:01.113 --> 00:24:05.093
Because, also, like with my boyfriend, I was very much like what do you mean?
00:24:05.093 --> 00:24:06.016
You don't want freedom?
00:24:06.016 --> 00:24:06.436
What do you mean?
00:24:06.436 --> 00:24:07.721
You don't want to work from anywhere?
00:24:07.721 --> 00:24:08.853
You know, like what do you mean?
00:24:08.853 --> 00:24:10.076
You want to stay in London?
00:24:10.076 --> 00:24:17.378
And so it's really I've had to develop a deeper sense of empathy and compassion, not only for myself but also for others.
00:24:17.378 --> 00:24:23.545
And again, that starts with asking the right questions, like why do I feel like I need to judge this other person and their lifestyle?
00:24:23.545 --> 00:24:43.798
Is it because that I feel safe, that I'm always going to be alone, because I have a hard time finding people who resonate with me, or can I respect their journey and maybe, hopefully, our journeys will come together, but I don't need to change them, I don't need to fix them, and it's not my job to bring everybody else along for the journey.
00:24:43.798 --> 00:24:48.173
It's only my job to enjoy my journey and inspire those who want to come along.
00:24:48.736 --> 00:25:01.192
And so, getting clear on what you want, getting control over your ego and understanding why you're doing something, rather than just showing off and also taking the space to realize, you know what this is going to be challenging.
00:25:01.192 --> 00:25:02.656
It's going to be difficult.
