How to Quit Your Corporate Job and Become a Digital Nomad Freelancer

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin:    You know, critics of remote work say that you need meetings and face-to-face interaction in order to get things done. But we all know that communication and community are two of the most important factors for success in a location independent lifestyle. So every time you listen to an episode of this or any podcast that you find value in, I challenge you to share the wealth. Take a moment to think of one person in your professional or personal network who might benefit from listening in. Then share it with them and tell them why. Doing this will help you absorb and apply the info that most resonated with you from the episode, putting it into practice in your own life while delivering value to someone you care about. And with that, let's get on with today's show.  

Kristin:    00:01:18    All right guys. Welcome to another episode, a live episode, live recording of Badass Digital Nomads. I am your host Kristin. And today's guest is Christin Maschmann from Germany. Christin is the editor of this podcast and we're gonna talk to her today about how she left her nine to five to become a digital nomad just a few months ago. So Christin was born in Germany, but from a very young age, she always had an urge to move around and travel and see the world. She began her career at 23 years old when she started her own video production company. But that business failed after nine 11 and after the inception of the Euro in Europe. So starting over, she left her home country with just a backpack in 2005 and traveled around the world doing odd jobs before landing roles at Yahoo and in the finance industry in Dublin, Ireland.  

Kristin:    00:02:17    At that time, she also became exposed to the online poker industry for the first time and within a year she was working for Poker Stars, the largest poker site in the world. During the peak of the online poker boom, she moved to their headquarters in the aisle of man in 2010, just a year before the giant online poker and online gambling crash of Black Friday in 2011. So after thinking that she had it all with a high paying job, free travel, and all the comforts that she thought she wanted as an adult professional, she began to get depressed. But taking a break and going on sabbatical didn't heal her burnout. She knew it was time to leave the nine to five. So after negotiating a mutual termination with her employer, she is now traveling the world full time as a digital nomad, as an online freelancer and solopreneur, she's done things like spent time in Las Vegas this summer to play poker and she's now making her way to Alaska via Vancouver, British Columbia. Christin supports herself through her new business, creating content for other digital nomads, myself included. Her company is called Nice and Sunny, and she's now living a happier sunnier life as a location independent professional. So Christin is coming on the show today to share her journey of how she finally let go of the nine to five to become a digital nomad. So welcome Christin.  

Podcast Interview:

Christin:    00:03:51    Hi. Thanks for having me.  

Kristin:    00:03:52    <laugh>. So we'll just set the scene here a little bit. I am in Florida and today's coffee mug comes from Krakau, Poland. I always have a coffee mug from a different country, and Christin's in Vancouver, British Columbia. I've been to Vancouver, but I've never been to Vancouver Island. So yeah, what, what are you doing over there?  

Christin:    00:04:11    Yeah, It was literally just a stop in between two us stops because I can't be longer here than three months. So it was quite an interesting first experience as a nomad to having to leave a country for a while. And right in between Vegas and Alaska, which is my next scope, I thought, why not go to Vancouver? I've heard it's beautiful, but I didn't know it was as expensive as it is.  

Kristin:    00:04:30    Yes, it is extremely expensive. <laugh>. So we're gonna talk a little bit later about your travel strategies and your budget and things like that. But first I would love to talk a little bit about your background because it's such an interesting background. We have actually crossed paths or lived in like parallel universes for a long time because I of course work in the online poker industry as well, or kind of alongside of it. So let's just go back to the beginning. I mean, this has kind of been a long journey for you as it is for everybody who wants to become a digital nomad because everybody starts with the seed of the thought. Just thinking about it like, what if it was possible? Could I really do that? Maybe they see a picture on Instagram or they hear of somebody traveling the world with their laptop and they're like, is that realistic? And then sometimes it can be like a long time. It could be five years, 10 years, 20 years before you actually make that leap. So I would love to share your story of how you did that. How did you start your first company and what kind of, what went wrong there?  

Christin:    00:05:37    Yes. So basically right after school I actually got an apprenticeship in a video production company. I could have gone to university, I didn't, which a lot of people told me off for, but I was like, I know what I want to do. So I just go and have, do that apprenticeship 'cause I can actually work at the same time, earn money at the same time and get my degree afterward. And I did that. So it was three years. I became an audio visual media producer, started my own business in 2002, so at the age of 23, simply because there were a lot of other audio visual media producers finishing at the same in the same year and in the same town. And I felt like I will not have a chance to get employment, so just start my own thing. And I did have clients already that wanted to pay me, and we already spoke about a big amount of money that would come around.  

Christin:    00:06:18    So I did make the big mistake of buying all the equipment, so camera, computer and all that stuff. And then what I didn't know, because I'm not paying too much attention of like global economics, <laugh>, I did think that like nine 11 and the Euro would completely impact like everything. So in the end, the first client that I had that, you know, had this big lump sum of money that was supposed to come my way, he went bankrupt. So, um, then suddenly I was stuck there that, that uh, uh, that contract was gone and I was in debt and then I was trying to dig myself out of the hole for three years and it just wouldn't happen. There were a lot of personal problems as well that happened at the same time. And then in the end I, I decided to just can the whole thing and leave Germany basically <laugh>. That was the, that was the result to start from scratch. That was the, uh, decision.  

Kristin:    00:07:06    Yeah, I think that a lot of people can relate to that. Entrepreneurs can definitely relate to that and anybody who's ever tried something and then the bottom fell out from under them. So we've all heard when you're investing for retirement that you should diversify your different investments, but nobody really says to diversify your client base, your revenue streams as a 20-year-old <laugh> basically. And um, I actually just read this morning in my like morning routine. I always read a little bit and I was reading the end of Atomic Habits by James Clear, and he coincidentally talks about the concept of diversifying your identity. So basically to have different interests, different career paths, and kind of combine them together. If you have all your eggs in one basket with one client and they go out of business, it doesn't matter how skilled you are, how talented you are, how good your work is, you might have to start from zero.  

Kristin:    00:08:00    And I've had that experience as well in the real estate industry where I worked for an entire year for a developer who ended up folding up, stealing everybody's money, never paying the commission, the project never got built. My clients never got their condos and it was just a huge mess. And I feel like I lost a year of my life, but I gained a year of lessons in that and I never again had just one single client. So, but so okay, you have this, you know, huge failure, you're in debt, you leave Germany with a backpack, like what do you do? What is your plan? What do you do next?  

Christin:    00:08:38    Yeah, so originally the thought was um, 'cause I always wanted to travel and see the world anyway, so there was all these things that just kept me in Germany, like the job, my relationship, family, I had a band, you know, so, and everything, somehow in the course of these, like one and a half years just disappeared. Like everything just ding, ding, ding, ding was gone. And suddenly I was floating in mid air. I was like, hang on, I wanted to leave Germany anyway. Why am I still here? Right? So I looked at Greece to move to Greece because I really liked Greece at the time and, but I, I had this thing that I didn't want to move to a country where I don't know the language at least a little bit, right? So I started learning Greek and that was so difficult that I at some point just gave up and said, I'm going to England <laugh>.  

Christin:    00:09:17    So first I actually wanted to go to New Zealand, but that was too expensive. I couldn't afford that. And then there was a program called Work Experience UK. It was like, I don't know, 900 euros and they would guarantee you jobs for one year. And it was basically for me to improve my English and just be in a different kind of environment. And the first job that I got there was just for a year. And it was a live in carer, you know, so it was caring for a 90-year-old lady was not what I learned completely different from anything else. But it was good for me to just have a peace of mind 'cause I got accommodation paid, I got food paid and all that. And the goal was basically the leaving party. When I left Germany had the motto first I take Great Britain, then I take the world.  

Christin:    00:09:57    So the whole idea was to just go work one year in that country, one year in that country, and then just move, you know, make my way around the world. And that was before Digital Nomads existed. I think that would, that would've been what I've been looking for. But back then options were just so small. So I was looking for actual jobs in each place. That was the, that was the plan. So the first one was England, and then while I was in England, a friend of mine wrote me and said, Hey, there's like the, the Celtic tiger, the economic boom in, in Ireland at the moment. They're looking for German speakers like crazy, right? And I was like, okay. So I just, you know, took my backpack and moved over to Ireland and yeah, so then I just got, after one week, got a job in a financial company. I was like, that is not, again, not even my, my thing, but you know, I did it and that made my CV look a little better than just school and apprenticeship and that's it. And then I got a job at Yahoo, and while I was at Yahoo I found poker as well. So that was quite, quite interesting.  

Kristin:    00:10:51    That's funny that you say that. Um, yeah, that you, there were no digital nomads, so you didn't have a way to define what you were doing. And I think a lot of people have had this feeling and have experienced that because the love of travel and exploration, this is something that's in our DNA. And I actually spoke with Rolf Pots about this because he started traveling in like the nineties, and of course people have been traveling since the beginning of humanity, but we discussed how strange it was kind of surreal to be searching for terminology to kind of identify with. And so I find that really interesting that you were in that club as well. And I think a lot of people are, and now it's really quite convenient that we have this term digital nomad to just like sum it up and give people a roadmap for what that is and what that consists of and what it means.  

Kristin:    00:11:40    So I also love that you had all of these different experiences and you're like, well, this isn't my thing. This isn't what I studied, this isn't what I thought I would be doing, but you know, we all can learn these skills. So you were kind of picking up the pieces along the way, and if you hadn't done it that way, you wouldn't be where you are now with this skillset. So that's really compelling as well. So, okay, you're in Ireland, you come across poker. How do you get the job with PokerStars, which for people who don't know, it is the biggest online poker site in the world. And during this time it was like the wild west of online poker. I mean, people were making massive amounts of money, like handover fist, the people who worked at the companies, the owners and executives, and the founders of the companies, and also the poker players themselves. So this was like a time when people were just like, literally just burning money because it didn't matter. It was just coming in too fast. So yeah. How did you end up getting this job offer with PokerStars and going away from finance?  

Christin:    00:12:39    Yeah, so it, it was basically the, the very first touch point I had when I was one of my first solo travel adventures was going to New York in 2006 when I was still in England. And my friends, they said at some point, let's play some poker at the kitchen table. And I said, okay. And then I learned Texas Holden, and then I said, I have to come back to New York to play poker with you guys. And I said, no, you don't. You can play online on Poker stars. So I started playing online and then while I was in Ireland 2007, I had like really like wrap my head around. I was like, okay, there's a thing here, there's like strategy to it and there's more than, it's more than just a game. And I got more and more into it. Then I realized that there's this whole industry behind it.  

Christin:    00:13:16    You know, you wouldn't think you start playing poker and you say, oh, there's this massive industry behind it. And immediately my thinking was I wanted to work in that industry. It wasn't, I wanted to become a professional poker player. That wasn't even my, my thought, obviously it would be nice. But uh, the first thought was I want to work there. And so, because I was in Ireland, that's where, or in Dublin, that's where full tiled poker was. So obviously I started sending applications to full tiled, started sending applications to PokerStars and the I of man, but I preferred PokerStars because it was like more my favorite. And then in the end it just didn't get a job. It was like, it was difficult. I mean, because it was like the Wild West, like everybody wanted to work there, you know, it was like, there was like, everybody wanted a job in the poker industry.  

Christin:    00:13:54    At some point what happened there was like the, uh, the European Poker Tour had to stop in Dublin and I found out that it was a, a female poker pro called Katata. So I sent her an email and just said, Hey, can I come and watch? How does that work? Right? And she said, yeah, I'll just come by. And I had the conversation with her. She explained to me it's very difficult to get a job in the poker world, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that was like November, 2007. And then I've heard that this European poker tour is going to be ment in Germany and that Daniel nano, like basically the most famous poker player in the world would be there. And I was such a big fan, I was like, I want to go there. So I contacted Kaia again and said, can I help out?  

Christin:    00:14:31    Can I do something? Can I, I don't know, like take photos. I know, write, you know. And then she said, you know what, you can actually help out at the Intelli poker stand. So I was like, okay, I can do that. So they flew me over and I thought I, I'd be standing there and handing out flyers or something, but what they did is they put me in front of a camera and said, here you go and interview people <laugh>. And so I didn't know anybody other than Daniel Irano, so it was like super embarrassing how these interviews went. But I also got to interview Daniel and that interview went super well. And then they basically said, you're looking for a job. Okay, you can start on Monday. But that was a daughter company of PokerStars. It wasn't actually PokerStars directly. So I knew in order to do that I had to go back to Germany because they had the offices in Hamburg and I never wanted to go back to Germany. So for me it was almost like a failure to go back. But I was like, this is my stepping stone to get to the actual PokerStars and the Isle of Man. So I went back to Hamburg, worked my ass off for two years, and then Pakistan actually approached me and said, do you want to come to the Isle of Man? I said, yep, <laugh> <laugh>. Um, and that was in 2010. And then I moved over and I lived there for six years. <laugh>  

Kristin:    00:15:35    Very cool. Yeah. You know, the path to success or however you define that, is never a straight path. So, and you know, the journey is the destination, so sometimes you don't know where you're gonna end up, but, uh, that's so interesting and I love that you just tried it and then saw what happened and you were following a combination of things that you were interested in and curiosities, and also just having like an action oriented attitude depending on yourself and your intelligence to be able to pick it up as you went along. So I think that's really inspiring. And so, yeah, for anyone who doesn't know the poker industry was, so it was like the golden years. I mean, I had friends in Costa Rica, that's where I was living at the time. They were making like the entry level salary in the mid two thousands was like 10K a month. Like just to work as like an assistant or in a marketing department. Yeah,  

Christin:    00:16:32    I did, I did not earn that much <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:16:34    Oh, that was in Costa Rica. My friends are earning like 10K a month to be, um, poker relationship managers and things like that. So you get this job, this like very glamorous company during a very glamorous time where poker's like on TV and everything like that. And at what point did you realize like, okay, having a good, secure job with a good salary and being able to have these job perks where you could travel to poker tournaments and meet cool people and around the world, when did you realize like, this isn't actually everything, it's not completely fulfilling?  

Christin:    00:17:14    Yeah, there were a few moments. Like the first one was actually while I was still in Hamburg. Well, I didn't even make it to PokerStars at the time yet. And it was the moment when I bought furniture. 'cause in Germany it's, you usually don't get furnished apartments. So I found an apartment and then I bought furniture and then I had a proper nervous breakdown. All of a sudden when like, there's a bit of a <laugh>, bit of a, um, detour, but it's like, there's a song of a friend of mine, an Irish musician, and that song is called My Suitcase. And I, and it was always like, this is about me. You know, I just have my backpack and that's it, right? And I was sitting and suddenly in Hamburg, in my apartment looking around, like on my couch. I just bored on the bed every, all the, I had to buy everything, right?  

Christin:    00:17:54    And then suddenly that song came randomly on iTunes and, and I just lost it and started crying and I was completely out of it. And I was like, what have I done? You know, like I just took my own freedom. Everything was gone. So I was completely freaked out. And I think that was like the first seed that never really went away. That was like in my mental health, basically like a little thing that just kept, kept being there and kept growing. And then even when I made it to the Isle of Man, obviously what happened was I had money and I had a nice apartment with Seaview. And then I started buying more stuff because I had like a two bedroom apartment. So you have to put stuff in there, right? When you have the space you put stuff in. So I had a car like, oh, like whatever.  

Christin:    00:18:30    You know what, what do you do in six years on the tiny island? You buy stuff, right? So, and it, and the, the more time passed, the more unhappy I got. I was really like, I was always thinking, oh, okay, let's do one more year. Because I was always thinking about leaving the Isle of Man, not sure what and how if I want to leave PokerStars at the same time or just leave the island. But I was like, okay, one more year. One more year. 'cause it was so comfortable, right? You know, it's like everything was just comfortable. I grew more and more unhappy until one day in the office. I found myself at my desk crying just like that. There was no trigger, nothing. And then I couldn't stop crying. That was it. So complete burnout. And I was off work for one and a half months to try and just get a grip.  

Christin:    00:19:10    And the the funny thing was that my dad had scheduled to come visit me at the same time. It was a coincidence. So we had a lot of time to talk and like really figure out what's going on. And it was just again, this freedom thing. Like I'm stuck on a tiny island. So all of a sudden it's like, my plan was to travel the world, right? It was like to go from one country to the other and suddenly I'm on a tiny island and it is tiny. It's like a hundred miles circumference, like the Isle of Man, right? And I was like, why, why did this happen? And I don't, I I never really wanted this. So it was this whole, okay, I have a great job. I work in poker and I love poker and I still love poker, right? I love the game, I love the industry, I love the people.  

Christin:    00:19:46    I have money. They let me travel. You know, it's like, it's amazing <laugh> but this freedom thing was like still there and it's like this was not the plan, you know? And so I just like got back to this is not what I wanted to do. And then it went, you know, it went on and on in my brain. And then at some point I just decided, okay, I'm leaving the ale of man, I'm going to Ireland. So I was going back to Dublin where everything went wrong, basically. Um, and worked from the old faulted office. 'cause in the meantime, POCUS had bought Faulted and it was actually, uh, another office of ours. And then I was working from there. And what happened was, like a friend of mine had mentioned to me to listen to the Tim Ferris podcast. Um, 'cause I had mentioned to him, oh, I need to, you know, blah, blah, blah, whatever. I said to him, he, it triggered him to, to point me to Tim Ferris  

Kristin:    00:20:33    All roads lead to Tim Ferris.  

Christin:    00:20:35    Exactly. <laugh>. And then, and then obviously, you know, started reading the four hour work week. And then, uh, I was like, okay, I'm almost like there already. Like I start, I had started reducing my belongings massively again. I'd left the Isle of Man with my car and everything that I owned fit in that car and then brought it to Ireland, brought the car back to the island, sold it there. And then since then, just reduced, reduced, reduced. So I was down to like two bags or three bags at the time. And then I read for work week and said, okay, I'm halfway there, you know. So now I just  

Kristin:    00:21:06    And what year was this?  

Christin:    00:21:09    Uh, must have been 2017.  

Kristin:    00:21:11    Okay. Something like that.

Christin:    00:21:12    So two years ago. 

Kristin:    00:21:12    Oh, so 10 years after he published it.  

Christin:    00:21:16    Yeah. I've only only just found it two years ago.

Kristin:    00:21:18    It's never too late people, it's never too late. <laugh>.  

Christin:    00:21:22    Yeah. So, so the, the big thing was then the finances, obviously that's like the big struggle. 'cause I was still in debt. I couldn't figure out the whole, you know, I'm, I'm bad with money, I'm really bad with money and I know that, and it's like my biggest flaw. But like, and okay, I have to figure this out. And that was a lot of what he's talking about in the book. You know, just like, reduce your spending, blah, blah, blah, figure out your finances. A good thing that came up then was that I was like, hang on, I'm, I'm long enough in the company. By the time I was basically working for staff for 10 years right? Or like, you know, something like that. It's like I can do a sabbatical. So I asked them if we can do something like that, but I don't have money, so can we, can I work part-time while I'm traveling? Right. So they agreed. Uh, and then January to March I was traveling literally once around the globe and still work part-time for stars. So that way I could, you know, have a little bit of a feel for how this whole thing is of like traveling. How do I, when do I work? How many hours per day can I actually put in? And all the problems that come with it. But I had basically a way of having a sneak peek of the digital nomad life that way.  

Kristin:    00:22:24    Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's really important to be able to test things out. I mean, I always say that there are infinite ways to become a digital nomad. There are as many different strategies of becoming a digital nomad as there are people in the world. It's such an individual thing. It's really like a personal decision. But it can be helpful and it can be less severe of a life change when you have the ability to dip your toe in first without completely severing yourself financially. So I think that's always helpful for people who are able to keep an income stream while testing out what it's like to work remotely and travel the world at the same time or live abroad. Because yeah, it's, it's difficult, especially at first. So just to give a little bit more context to this story of, of driving, you know, from Isle of Man or going from Isle of Man to Dublin.  

Kristin:    00:23:19    So Isle of Man, a lot of people don't know that it's in the Irish Sea. It's between Scotland and Ireland. So it's very remote. It's very tiny and it doesn't have the best weather in the world. So PokerStars, I believe is the main employer in Isle of Man. So yeah, it's, it's like a little bubble. And for, for Christin and for many of the, the PokerStars employees there, it's a difficult, it's a steep hill to climb to be able to leave the main employer in that country and then go on your way. Especially when you have a comfortable lifestyle and all of your basic needs are covered and you know, friends and the ability to travel and then to be able to give that up for uncertainty is something that I think everybody can, can relate to that fear <laugh>. So now that you are working for yourself, so okay, you, you negotiated a severance with PokerStars after 10 years of working for them, and now you have started your own content creation agency and you know, kind of finding your, your niche here and there. So what type of work are you doing? Like what are your revenue streams now and what skills are you leaning into that you have acquired over the course of your career to be able to work for yourself?  

Christin:    00:24:41    Yeah, so very quickly, I just wanted to add, when I asked to do the sabbatical and work part-time, I think it's quite an interesting notion for some people as well to know that because I only work part-time, then I suddenly skipped into a different tax rate or however you call that <laugh> bracket, tax level bracket. Because of that, I didn't pay as much tax. I, I earned more than half, although I only worked half, right. So that's an quite interesting thing that I think some people forget 'cause they think, oh, I'd only earn half. But no, it's actually probably more because you might jump into a different bracket.  

Kristin:    00:25:11    Yeah. And, and also if people ask their employer to let them work remotely, even if it's one day a week or two days a week, you start to save money from not commuting and from not eating out as much. And you start to become more productive. At least I do by working from home. So there's a lot of other non-monetary bonuses that come through that ability. And also the intrinsic value of either being able to work at home and spend more personal time, more time with your family or to be able to travel. Like that's kind of, there's, it's hard to put a, a number on that as far as what that's worth to you.  

Christin:    00:25:46    Yeah. So when I came back then from that sabbatical, what it, it's just, I always felt like, oh, I should've done this earlier. And it's like, no, I don't think so. 'cause everything just happened exactly the same at the right time. 'cause I came back and at the same time my job wasn't really required as much anymore. So they were actually thinking of letting me go anyway. And I wanted to go anyway. So the whole thing just in the end was like, okay, let's just, let's just call it a day after a total of 11 years and just go, let, let me go basically. And the good thing is I, I got like some severance package that I could then pay off my debt and, and really start my own thing. 'cause without that it would've been super difficult, you know? So starting your own business on debt would've been really hard, but that way I could actually start it.  

Christin:    00:26:27    And yeah, so basically I'm, I'm building now on the two big pillars of what I've done. Like the one was like the, the audio visual media producer stuff. So content creation basically, which is all of a sudden super relevant. 'cause when, when I learned it back then MTV was basically dead. So the whole music video thing, YouTube wasn't existing yet. So it was like all these skills that I've learned, the video production skills are nonsense. You know, I never need them. And now I'm like, Hey <laugh>, I can actually use all this stuff again. And, and it's graphic design, it's it's audio production, it, everything that I've learned back then, it's all of a sudden relevant again. And I was like, awesome. You know, I can bank on that for now. And I do, uh, I write and I learned a lot of writing while I was working for PokerStars as well.  

Christin:    00:27:08    So in two languages, which is nice, you know. And then, um, the, the thing that I actually really want to build the business on eventually is creative problem solving. 'cause that's what I did for PokerStars the last three years. So building on design thinking, doing ideation workshops, design thinking, uh, workshops, helping businesses to create, uh, uh, to, to solve business problems basically. And I became quite good at that and I really enjoy it. And, and that's what I want to build. But the problem there is I need to be physically in one place to run these workshops. And I don't have a name for that yet. Everything I do at the moment is built on my poker network, right? Everybody I know from the poker world, just as yourself is like people I get in touch with and it's like, Hey, how can I help you?  

Christin:    00:27:50    Right? And so at the moment I'm just taking what whatever comes and translation work, it's writing work, it's audio editing, it's video editing, whatever comes along. But I really want to do this creative solving part. And so at the moment I'm trying to figure out, 'cause I'm only in this three months, right? So it's not like a, a big thing. But when I was in Vegas, for example, it was not just to, to play poker, but it was also to talk to the, my network and the poker industry and just offer them my services, right? So obviously it's a, it's a massive network, but also just now in this hotel and I started talking to them, it's like, Hey, you know, there's a few things I would suggest you look at like Facebook ads, you know, they don't even know what that is. And <laugh>, it's like if you, if you want to, you know, we can make a deal that I can stay here for a month for a discounted price and I help you with this stuff, you know, so these things suddenly like pop up in my head so that way I can get a few things in.  

Christin:    00:28:38    And I'm thinking of, if I know I'll be like a week in Hanoi, which is going to happen later this year, I will start getting in touch with digital nomad groups, with businesses over there with startups. I want to really work with startups mainly, and then offer them some workshops and see if I can help them get off the ground, like figure out some issues. But yeah, at the same time, I'm, I'm just to make money at the moment. Obviously I'm doing all the content creation stuff. So those are the two, uh, pillars of my, my business.  

Kristin:    00:29:06    Yeah, I mean that's also a really good lesson just to be able to do what you can, you know, to lean into the skills that you already have, just making offers to people and also relying on your personal network. Because a big question that people always have is, how do I get more clients? How do I get more customers? And usually it can be as simple as just looking around you in your virtual network and reaching out to people that, you know, cold calling and sales calls aren't much of a thing anymore. But you can reach out to people that you know and that you don't know online and offer to add value to them, to their businesses. And if you, you know, see a hotel, they don't have any social media presence and you know that you could increase their bookings, hey, why not?  

Kristin:    00:29:55    You know, go for it. I actually, uh, just heard Ryan Holiday is one of my favorite authors and I tweeted yesterday, how did Ryan Holiday start working with people like Robert Green, Tim Ferris, Tucker Max and American Apparel all before he was 25. I'm like, how did he do that? And today I randomly heard part of a podcast where he answered that question that I was pondering publicly on Twitter. And he said that he just wrote an article, he wanted to be a writer. So he wrote an article about Tucker Max who lived in the same town as him, and then he ended up working for Tucker. And because he did a good job and helped him with stuff and created things of value, Tucker introduced him to other people in his network. And it's like, once you have an end, then you know everybody. And uh, you know, sometimes we put a barrier where we think we have to do something else in order to be able to move forward or we have to learn something or we have to prove something when really it's just as simple as doing something. So start where you are, great lesson and yeah, see where that evolves from there. So that's really cool. And we're kind of going back to this barter system where you can offer people services and exchange for free housing. And I know a guy who did that in his rv, he made videos using his GoPro for RV parks and they gave him a free place to stay to park his rv. So the options are only limited by your imagination.  

Christin:    00:31:25    Yeah, this is literally what's happening next month. This is such a nice story. I had met this lady in a bed and breakfast in the Isle of Man and we're both like staying at the bed and breakfast and she was American and she said, Hey, I'm, you know, I want to see the island. And I was like, I know the island, I can drive you around, right? So it was like I didn't have anything to do. So I was driving her around in the car and while we were driving around, I was showing her the island. She told me that she's organizing an arts festival in Alaska and she was like 66 years old, so older than my mom, right? But I was getting her along fabulously with her at some point she said, oh, I dunno, the social media thing, I really need that.  

Christin:    00:31:57    And I was like, I can help you. And she said, yeah, but I don't really have money to pay you. And I said, how about I come to that festival maybe a week longer and you give me free accommodation and I work for you. Right? So basically now I'm helping her out since April, I think I'm, I'm helping her with, um, social media setting, like, uh, Facebook ads up, created her Instagram account, all this kind of stuff. And then she said already when I'm in Alaska, she's going to give me a car so I can drive the artists around. I was like, that's <laugh>, that's fine. You know, so, and, and she would just, and, and I said, just a couch would be fine, you know, couch and wifi and uh, I'll be happy. So it's, it's pretty cool.  

Kristin:    00:32:32    A couch and wifi, that's all we need sometimes. <laugh>, <laugh>. Let's talk a little bit about your, you know, kind of daily life as a digital nomad. What are, what is your daily routine like? How do you manage your time throughout the day and what type of remote tools do you rely on to do your job?  

Christin:    00:32:51    Yeah, so there's obviously things that work well and things that don't, uh, coming out of a nine to five for such a long time. So a I I'm quite proud that I have a morning routine, which is now running. And I know that because I'm using the CALM app for like, uh, mindfulness training, I'm doing this now for 250 days straight. So that's why I know my whole morning routine is like basically for over 200 days, I'm, I'm having that nailed down, which is, which makes me quite happy. And that is usually some meditation, some yoga I do some visualizations. Um, I have reading in there as well, but that's usually sometimes just reading a couple of headlines of the, the current news around innovation and uh, Vegas <laugh>. Uh, and yeah. And then I, part of that is also to make the plan for the day.  

Christin:    00:33:33    So, and that the tool, the main tool, my whole life is organized as Trello. Everything's on there and every day I have like the little cards and then I look, okay, what am I actually going to do today? What is urgent? And then I move the things around when I know these are things that I'm definitely not going to get done today. I'll see if I find different slots and different days or sometimes different months. And then once all that is done, then I start my day to actually work. The thing is, and this is where I have to work on my own productivity obviously, because this is still something from the nine to five, once the time hits like four or five in the afternoon, I think I'm done with work, right? And it's so difficult to get that out of my head. So I see the clock. So best thing would be just not to look at the clock, but like I see the clock and I see four or five o'clock and it's like, oh yeah, basically now I can play computer games, right? Yeah. And getting that out of my system, I think that's going to still take a little while.  

Kristin:    00:34:24    Uh, see, I have never had a nine to five job, so I don't have that habit embedded in my psyche. However, it's everywhere. I mean, every coworking space I go to, people are out the door by 4:59. I'm like, you guys can work any time of day. Why are you coming in during these hours? You know, it's not optimal for everybody, but I love it because I end up getting the coworking space to myself everywhere in the world because there's nobody there after 5:00 PM or on the weekends. And for me it's like any day can be a weekend if I want it to be. So I really exploit that <laugh>. So it maybe you can, uh, try experimenting with that a little bit. What is something unexpected about finally kind of crossing that path into becoming a digital nomad? Like what is something that you, you thought you had figured out because you had traveled before and because you had been thinking about this for so long that that now that you're three months into it, you're like, oh wait, I was not, I didn't necessarily see this coming.  

Christin:    00:35:32    It's, it's actually a positive thing. It's, it's easier than I thought. And it's, I know that this is a nice message to bring across because I never really know because I have a big network. So, and I've done a lot of, um, so I'm over all over social media. I do a lot of like, documenting of my life. And although, and it's a weird thing, I don't get a lot of personal feedback. Sometimes people just pop up and go, Hey, I love what you're doing. I love following your journey by the way, I just started this business. I need some help with that. And this has been because I, I haven't advertised my services anywhere at this point, you know, I just literally fell back on, on people I knew in my network. So I had people now contacting me literally two weeks ago. A guy said, oh, I've just started working for this business and we need somebody to localize English stuff into German.  

Christin:    00:36:15    Do you know somebody? I said, ah, I can do that <laugh>. So I started doing that and I'm already making money with it. And, and these things just start popping up that people just know, Hey, there's Christin, right? It's like she's doing that and she's doing that and she's a nice person. Let's just get in touch with her. And like, and I think I have like the trust as well because I've been out in the public eye for so long. So I, I just always felt like, okay, I have this network, but it was so much easier in the end to now get the jobs and actually get stuff to do, which is a really, really nice surprise for sure.  

Kristin:    00:36:46    Yeah, that is really nice. And you don't have to compete in the public freelancing websites. You can just keep going back to your network or just keep doing, you keep being yourself and people will notice eventually. I think that's something that everybody could benefit from coming to terms with that if you post something or share something, there's not necessarily instant confirmation or validation that that is cool at all or that anybody cares. And we have to get past that need for instant gratification of like, Hey guys, I did this. I wrote this, I'm doing this. We have to be okay with zero people caring about it. <laugh>, you know, we have to do it just for ourselves because we're committed. We know what, who we are as people, what we like to do, and we're walking our own life path. And then when you least expect it, something will come out of it.  

Kristin:    00:37:38    But I really like the idea of casting a vote for your identity every single day and every time you, you do an action, whether or not it gets an instant response from it or not. So that's really helpful. And it's also good to point out that 90% of digital nomads and remote workers never want to go back to a nine to five job. So for anybody thinking of doing it, it's very likely that you will keep going. I mean, you will find a way to make it work. You will find a way to keep going. You will probably, you know, 90% chance won't want to go back to your life previously because it's, it's so restrictive. I mean, it, it is, it's restrictive to commute to a nine to five job and sit there for a certain number of hours per day and have to go through all the politics and all, all the hoops that that comes with. So regardless of what happens, you know, you're probably gonna wanna keep on keeping on and this digital nomad journey will just change over the years. Sometimes you'll be traveling, sometimes you won't, sometimes you'll have more money, sometimes you'll have less money. But just being able to sustain it is, is something that you just have to decide like, this is what I'm doing and then it will just all work out and usually in ways that you can't expect.  

Christin:    00:38:55    Yeah. And inter I can just like add something like, 'cause it's quite interesting that sometimes you have these massive expenses like, um, right now I'm staying in, in Canada, which has cost me way too much money and I spend some money paying forward some accommodation for, um, later this year. And then I know, 'cause for example, I will have my first co-living experience in, in Lanta in Thailand. So I paid that already. So I know in the month of October I will not have any living costs ready. So knowing that you have these like times when you just spend a lot of money, but the other times will come when you don't have to spend that much money and just knowing that it will come and go, you know? And as long as you just keep chipping away and making money, it will be fine. But obviously I'm only in this for three months, so I will hopefully see how that all works out.  

Kristin:    00:39:37    <laugh>. Yeah, well so much is definitely going to happen and things can happen every single day. I mean, I learned to start creating videos two years ago. I have yet to really get paid for it <laugh> because I've just been doing it like as a side project and a hobby and for just, I just personally always wanted to do it. So yeah, you just never know though. I mean, now that I've been doing it, I have actually, I have gotten paid, people have offered to pay me to create videos for them. Um, Nomad Cruise is one example. So I was on the Nomad Cruise and then got money back to create videos about something I was already doing. And then I actually am going next week to Norway to the Arctic Coworking Lodge. And one of the founders on Instagram just sent me a message last night asking if I wanna go with them to Iceland on an all expenses paid trip to document some coworking space in the northwestern corner of Iceland.  

Kristin:    00:40:33    And I'm like, yeah, okay. So, but if I hadn't have been making videos for two years and honing my skills, then this wouldn't be an opportunity for me, you know? So you never know what's gonna come out of it. Well thank you so much, Christin. I think I have kept you long enough since we had to start over twice <laugh> because the livestream wasn't working. Um, but let's do one more question. What is one thing, I love this question. What is one thing that you have in your backpack or suitcase that you can't live without as a digital nomad that is not a laptop or a cell phone?  

Christin:    00:41:09    Oh, as a digital nomad, that's like a difficult one right now because again, um, I have just started, but I do have <laugh> and it's a shame. I can't really show 'em right now, but I have like this little mascot and it's a little, it looks like a little dragon monster thing. And I usually use him for poker and like protect my cards with it. But I'm actually planning to do like an Instagram thing and having him like join me on my travels and so on. 'cause some people already recognized me because of my little mascot, which is quite funny. It's like, Hey, you're the chick from PokerStars. I know that thing. It's like, what? <laugh> like woman tattoo? No, that's not enough. Okay, <laugh>, he wanted this little leg broken and he's traveling with, with me for, uh, seven years or something. So I made sure to glue it back on and he's like my little like, lucky charm mascot, <laugh>. It's not like a digital nomad thing. But yeah,  

Kristin:    00:41:55    I have a friend who travels with a little stuffed animal and she puts him in all of her Instagram photos and everything and it like becomes a thing. So I love it. You know, your home is where you are and you can just bring a little piece of it with you wherever you go. So thank you so much Christin, for coming on the show. And guys, if you, if you wanna hire Christin: for translation or really anything, this woman does it all. <laugh>, video creation, content creation, micro content, social media, Facebook ads, Christin's a jack of all trades just like me. And, uh, you can reach out to her at Nice and Sunny on social media. She's also a member of my Facebook group, long-term Digital Nomad Success. So you can send her a message through Facebook and yeah, keep on keeping on guys. Thank you for coming on, Christin:, sharing your inspirational story and reminding all of us that it is never too late to start your journey as a digital nomad. So thank you guys.  

Christin:    00:42:52    Thanks. Bye  

Kristin:    00:42:54    Bye. Enjoy Alaska. Thanks for listening. Remember to leave a review and share this episode with someone in your network. And if you want more tips and advice on working remotely, make sure to sign up for my insider list at TravelingwithKristin.com/subscribe, where you can find links to download free resources like My Digital Nomad Starter guide. Of course, also subscribe to youtube.com/digitalnomad so you don't miss any of our weekly videos, Digital Nomad News or Live Streams. See you there.