How To Make Money From a Sailboat With No Experience

Sneak Peek:

Erin:    00:00:00    You know, I remember standing up on the bow of the boat with the salt spray in my face. And you know you are wearing dirty clothes and you have no makeup on. Your hair's all salty, but you just don't care. You just feel so happy and alive.  

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:    00:00:35    Hi everyone. Kristin from Traveling with Kristin here. And before we get into today's episode, I wanted to let you know about another podcast that you should definitely subscribe to. My friend Mikkel Thorup is the host of The Expat Money Show. A top rated podcast for people like you who love to travel, are looking for more freedom in their lives, and who are curious about living abroad and the expat lifestyle. With more than 100 episodes to date, Mikkel goes deep into topics like offshore citizenship banking and investing. Mikkel is one of the few people I've met in this space who definitely knows what he's talking about. He's traveled to more than 100 countries in the last 20 years and lived in eight of them as a full-time expat. The Expat Money Show is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or anywhere popular podcasts are found. There's a new episode every single week and previous notable guests have included Jim Rogers, Doug Casey, John Perkins, Grant Cardone, and yours truly, Kristin Wilson. Subscribe to The Expat Money Show today and make sure to catch Mikkel's episode 71 of Badass Digital Nomads on How to live, work and invest offshore. And now on with today's show.

Kristin:    00:02:19    Kristin Wilson here and Welcome to episode 94 of Badass Digital Nomads. My guest today is Erin Carey of Rome Generation PR. Erin is a self-made publicist who specializes in public relations services for adventurers travelers and mission-driven organizations. After meeting Erin online through her clients, Ruby Rose, I was so impressed and inspired by her story that I invited her to come on the podcast too. In today's show, you'll learn how Erin and her husband managed to quit jobs that they hated in the Australian government and eventually become full-time sailing digital nomads. I know from my show's podcast reviews that you guys love the real talk that we have here. And today Erin gets really candid about her family struggle to both achieve and maintain a location independent lifestyle. She breaks down all the different ways that they tried and failed and went broke more than once before ultimately succeeding so that you can hopefully learn from their mistakes.  

Kristin:    00:03:35    And she also shares her favorite places she sailed to the tools she uses to run her online business from a boat from anywhere in the world without having met hardly any of her clients. And she also gives us some insight into what a typical day in the life is like for a sailing family, including the highs as well as the lows. And we are saving the best for last because at the end Erin gives some of her top tips on how you can get mainstream media attention for your brand or business. Plus, we have some details on a special 50% off discount for Badass Digital Nomads listeners on her PR services. Enjoy. 

Podcast Interview:  

Kristin:  Well welcome so much, Erin to the show. Where are you right now? And give us a little bit of information on your background.  

Erin:    00:04:43    Yeah, sure. Hi Kristin. Thank you so much for having me. I am in Adelaide, Australia, which is in the bottom middle, uh, of Australia. For your listeners who may not know, I'm a publicist. I started my own PR agency uh, a few years ago now. I actually started it while I was living on a boat and we continued living on a boat for about 18 months. But then the coronavirus happened and um, we came back to Australia and I'm currently on land in Australia, but we have plans to go back to our boat, uh, early next year. Obviously all kind of dependent on the coronavirus, but that's the plan at the moment.  

Kristin:    00:05:22    And how did you get into this lifestyle of running your business remotely from a boat? I saw that you had a corporate background in communications, so what was your life like before and how did you make this transition?  

Erin:    00:05:38    Yeah, well my life was completely different to how it is now, to be honest. We were just a regular family. I worked for the government in Australia, so I was a public servant and I had been doing that job for a long time. I'm almost embarrassed to say how long I worked there for, but I was there for about 17 years. I wasn't doing the same job the whole time, uh, in, and I, I'd worked my way up the ladder, but essentially I was working for the same department the whole time and I was just so sick of the daily grind. I think my husband and I knew that we wanted to do something big and something different, but it was never kind of the right time. We've got three boys and they, uh, you know, are still quite young. The youngest is 6, the eldest is 12, almost 12. And it was never quite the right time to pack up and leave. I think in my mind I thought that we might move overseas and live in Spain for a year or maybe travel around in a caravan, although that never really excited me. We had--  

Kristin:    00:06:45    A caravan with three boys <laugh>. Four boys  

Erin:    00:06:48    <laugh>. Yeah, exactly. It's funny 'cause I'm like, I'm really, I go by instinct and my gut feel and yeah, if I don't kind of feel excited about something, then I just kind of know it's not right for me. And I've never really felt excited about a caravan, even though living in a boat is not too dissimilar. But anyway, it was a regular night in our very normal lives. Uh, we're watching Netflix and my husband was in control of the remote and I really wasn't even paying much attention. Typical husband stealing the remote. Yeah, I'm just like scrolling on my phone on Facebook, you know, as you do when you finally sit down at nine o'clock at night or whatever. And he chose randomly to watch Laura Dekker's documentary Maiden Voyage, and she's the youngest girl to have ever sailed around the world. And uh, like I said, I wasn't even looking at the tv, but something caught my attention.  

Erin:    00:07:43    And then I just remember for the next hour and a half or however long it went for being like totally captivated and we both just sat there in silence and yeah, it was almost, I don't know, I can't even describe it. Something spoke to both of us in that documentary and I remember as the credit started rolling, we kind of both turned to each other and went, wow, we should do something like that <laugh>.

Kristin:  Wow.

Erin:  And yeah, it was so random because what are the chances that something's gonna resonate with both the husband and the wife normally, you know, doing something crazy like living on a boat is probably more the man's idea. That's a little bit, um, you know, of a stereotype, but more often than not, it's the man that wants to do it and the wife that's kind of obliging or you know, thinks she'll give it a go.  

Erin:    00:08:31    But we were so lucky that it was both of us that were really excited and interested in this. So we kind of moved to the computer and started Googling families sail around the world because at that stage we didn't even know it was possible. You know, I knew people sailed around the world, but I thought it was kind of in big ships and they would be professional seafarers and, you know, the Navy and that kind of thing. I didn't think that regular people could do it, but we soon found that there were plenty of families out there living on boats. And our motto kind of became, if they can do it, why can't we? And within a few weeks we had seriously made the decision that we were going to do it. Uh, we didn't know how we were going to do it, and that's kind of the beauty of it.  

Erin:    00:09:17    We, we didn't have savings. We had credit card debt, we had a mortgage. Uh, you know, we both had middle, middle level kind of government jobs. We were just very, you very average family. But we just decided that we were going to figure it out and we kind of worked backwards from there. And once we'd made the decision that it was gonna happen, it was like the, the universe kind of conspired to make everything fall into place. And just slowly but surely over the next two and a bit years, we figured out how we were going to make it work. And yeah, two years and two months later we flew out of Australia on one way tickets to Grenada in the Caribbean, and that's where we saw our boat for the very first time.  

Kristin:    00:10:04    Oh my gosh, that is such a cool story. <laugh>, you know, it does. Everything really starts with just a tiny thought. I had some clients, I was actually on House Hunters International in 2010, I think it was. Oh my gosh, 10 years ago. See, I was always destined to be a YouTuber <laugh>. And um, so I was the realtor on House Hunters International, and my clients, it was a couple, Daniel and Julia from Julia was from Brazil and Daniel from Denmark, and they met in India and then they moved to Dubai together and then they ended up in Costa Rica. And I was like, after filming this and after knowing them for a year, I asked them like, how did you decide on Costa Rica anyway? And they just said, we were just talking about where we should move next and, and we asked for a sign and then a commercial came on TV <laugh> about Costa Rica, and we just said, okay, it's Costa Rica.  

Kristin:    00:11:10    And like there they went and you know, it wasn't immediately after, but that was the inspiration to um, start googling it and looking into it. And over the next couple years they made their way over. So you just never know. I mean, I even started when I was just out of grad school and I moved to Costa Rica full-time to work in real estate. I was so full of ideas, you know, when you come out of school and you're not jaded yet, <laugh> by the real world. Yeah. And I was hustling to make money and so that I can stay in Costa Rica longer. So I was teaching surf lessons, I was waiting tables at a sushi restaurant. I was working at the bar upstairs from my real estate office and I was just kind of doing everything I could to make money. And there was this lot, like a corner lot on the, across the street from the beach and I thought it would be a great place for a condo development.  

Kristin:    00:12:08    And I mapped out this business plan for 24 luxury condo units in between tables working at the sushi restaurant. And I ended up, that was like the first big property that I sold in Costa Rica and like to a developer and the first big commission that I earned. And I was, I still, I think I have that napkin. No, it wasn't a napkin, it was the, um, tickets where you write down what people order. You know, this was like before everything was digital. That was a, that like blue, blue striped piece of paper. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, just on the back of those standing at the bar. And so like, it's easy to look at what people have accomplished and be like, well, you know, like how did they do that? But it's important for everyone to remember that a big thing starts with a tiny idea.  

Kristin:    00:13:00    And I was talking with my friend John Gorman, who's a writer on Medium. We did a podcast too, and he quit smoking this year during the pandemic and I lost 15 pounds. And we were joking about how something like that you could put on your to-do list, like you can put, do the laundry, you know, um, get the kids to school, answer your email, and then at the bottom of the list you can have sail the world for a year. Or you can have like buy a sailboat or learn how to sail. And it's like, it takes you two seconds to write that down on your, to-do list. But one task might take you one hour and one task might take you three years Yeah. To accomplish. And so it's like you just have to keep that in, in context and in perspective and know that it just starts with a thought and an intention, but then you can actually see that come to fruition more often than not. And you guys are living proof of that. So take us back a little bit to the process of, you know, between sitting on your couch watching Netflix and being like, let's live on a boat to how you phased out of your jobs and figured out what to do to make money online.  

Erin:    00:14:11    Like I said, both my husband and I worked for the government, so we had really stable jobs and the thought of quitting a stable jobs felt very scary back then because it, you know, it was a huge decision to go on the trip as it was. And then also to quit our jobs on top of that seemed like a little bit too much. So what we were both very fortunate enough to be able to do was to get leave without pay from both of our jobs. So we both got two years leave without pay. And I guess because we'd both worked there for so long, that was one of the perks of being, uh, employed by the government and being so loyal. Uh, so that was an awesome safety net I guess to know that should something go wrong, we can literally land in Australia on Sunday and go back to work on Monday and two weeks later we're gonna get paid.  

Erin:    00:15:02    So it was great having that, but in the back of my mind, I thought all along, if I go back to my job, I've failed. And it was probably a bit tough to put that pressure on myself because I, I, I never loved my job and I always only worked in my job for money. And I thought, well, I just knew, I knew that I would figure it out while we're out on the boat. And the, the number of times I said that people would ask me, you know, what we do, what we do for money, we had saved enough money that we didn't think we'd have to work for those two years, but as budgeting happens, it costs more than what we had budgeted for. So at about the 12 month mark, I remember looking at our bank balance and going, oh crap, we, we need to figure out a way to make money basically, or we're not gonna last the two years that we had planned on lasting for.  

Erin:    00:15:56    And I, I just remember doing all the Googling, doing all the research, uh, you know, there's so many websites out there and different resources that give you ideas of how to make money and the ideas, anything probably crazy, but I had to find something that kind of resonated with me and that I, I felt like I didn't have a lot of skills in that I'd been working this same job for so long, but I didn't know how that kind of transpired over to making money for myself. And I'd never had to do that. I'd always had that regular paycheck come in and went to work nine o'clock, finished at five o'clock and never gave work another thought. So, uh, I knew that I would probably be good as being an entrepreneur because when I'm passionate about something, I'm like a dog, dog with a bone and I, you know, kind of get a little bit obsessed, but because that's what how you need to be really to get to achieve a big, um, project like quitting your life and going to live on a boat, um, <laugh> <laugh>.  

Erin:    00:17:01    But luckily that that worked and my husband's a bit the same. Um, but if you put us in a boring desk job where, you know, we don't put in a hundred percent effort because we're just not passionate about it. So while I was out living on the boat, I was keeping a Facebook page and it was called Sailing to Roam, ROAM. And 'cause Roam was the name or is the name of our boat. And I, I, I really enjoyed keeping this page and I kind of built quite a loyal following of people that would always comment. I'd get, you know, hundreds of likes and comments on every post that I'd put up. And they started saying, 'cause I probably said, you know, I am trying to figure out how to make money. And I remember the thought being, God, really all we need is like $20,000 a year.  

Erin:    00:17:46    You know, we could, if I could make that much, it would supplement the savings that we have left and that's all I really need. And, you know, talk about money mindset and setting the bar low, but that's just, at the time I was like, how hard can it be to make $20,000? You know, like, that's nothing. Surely I can figure that out. And, but it did, it seemed really difficult at the time. So the people on my Facebook page said, we really love your writing. You, I, you know, you tell it how it is and every post that you put out's really interesting. Um, why don't you, you try writing? So, you know, straight away I was like, wow, I'm, I'm not a writer. I'm actually a terrible speller and always have been. But I thought, look, I'll just give it a go. So it's funny in, you know, as an adult, we very rarely sit down and write something and I actually fell in love with the process of, you know, closing my door, opening my laptop and just forcing myself to put words on the page.  

Erin:    00:18:48    And it all kind of just came flowing out of me. And because we were living like a really interesting lifestyle and meeting amazing people, I had so much to write about that I was never short of, you know, article ideas. So I taught myself how to pitch magazines and I kind of decided that, all right, I'm going to, that's gonna be my job. And I became a writer and would sell plenty of articles to all of the sailing magazines mainly, but some travel publications as well. And that's how that kind of came about. So while I was writing articles, I'd find these amazing people to interview along the way. One of the, um, people that I came across was a YouTube channel called SV Delos, and they happened to be sailing in the Caribbean as well, and they were doing the same kind of island hopping as we were.  

Erin:    00:19:43    So we kept bumping into them. And uh, by that stage I was writing for a Caribbean newspaper who knew that Delos were in the Caribbean, and they gave me an assignment to interview them. And so being able to go on their boat and interview them for a couple of hours was, it was like interviewing rock stars, these guys, we had watched literally every night in the lead up to our trip for two years straight. So it was like we'd already met them, but to sit down with them and think that I am interviewing our idols, basically it was, it was super cool. And so I wrote the article about them and it was published in a few different places. And just out of nowhere a couple of months later, I got an email from them saying, Hey, would you like to work for us? We want some help with promoting ourselves.  

Erin:    00:20:36    And you know, you wrote that article, can you just kind of do stuff like that for us? That was like a completely pinch me kind of moment because to think that SV Delos want me to work for them, like <laugh>, I would always pay to work for them. Will I have them pay me kind of thing, <laugh>. And so yeah, a couple years later I, I'm still their publicist and I kind of intuitively, not intuitively, but naturally the process of being a publicist kind of evolved and I figured out that that was like the perfect job for my personality and the fact that I'm tenacious and determined and like kind of keep digging until I get what I want turns out to be exactly what you have to be to be a publicist. So yeah, that's how my job came about. So then for the next probably 12 months, I did that living on the boat.  

Erin:    00:21:30    And then, uh, since coming back to Australia, I've continued that and really grown my business. And now my niche is, um, adventure travel and marine experts and brands. And yeah, I still have SV Delos as my client, as one of my clients and still absolutely love working with them. But now I work with a range of amazing, exciting clients that I get to kind of live through their journeys every day. But the benefit is that I also understand their lifestyle because I've, you know, I've lived and worked in that digital nomad kind of space and I get it, which I think is yeah, important for a publicist.  

Kristin:    00:22:12    Definitely. You're not like a, you know, just sending out traditional press releases or like working in a company in New York City or something very standard. It's like a digital nomad working for digital nomads, representing digital nomads and being like the bridge to help the mainstream connect with these adventure travelers. And I think that's really, really cool. Um, I love that you asked your audience and, and that you talked about your struggles with making money online with your audience and that they gave you suggestions because of to do writing, because that's actually one of the strategies that I teach. I have a six week program called the Make Money Mentorship. So it's like how to make money online and how to help people figure out what they would do to make money online. Like what would they be good at? Where can they combine their skillset with their passions, with their lifestyle, with their experience, with their income goals, and just kind of blend everything together.  

Kristin:    00:23:16    And you did that so perfectly in hindsight, even though you didn't necessarily have it planned out that way. But one of the strategies that I give my clients is to ask other people what they think you're good at and what do other people ask for help with? And typically you're gonna start getting some of the same answers from other people that you never would've thought about. Like you never thought of yourself as a writer, you didn't think you were good at writing, but yet other people told you that they like your writing. And so you took that risk and you're like, okay, well even if I don't believe in myself so much as a writer, if other people do, then that has to be worth something and let's follow it and see where it goes. And then now you're a very good writer. Like you don't have to be good at spelling to be a good writer. You know, you don't have to be an English major. And what was your job title before at the government?  

Erin:    00:24:11    Um, I was actually in security, so I, I was a vetting advisor, so, uh, when people were wanting to join the Defense force or work for the government in any way, I would interview them and decide whether or not they could get a security clearance, and then I would write up a big huge report about that. And so lots of similar things, interviewing, report writing, and, you know, even though I did report writing, I still didn't think I was a good writer. So it is funny that even though those skills were what I was using every day in my job, I just didn't think that they were good enough to transfer over to writing for magazines. But yeah, I think that's important to note is that, um, you actually don't have to be an amazing writer to write for magazines. You just have to have a story to tell. And, uh, there's plenty of programs out there that can help you. There's editors that will help you, and it's, it's a muscle that we just don't use in everyday life. And I definitely figured out the more you do it, the better you get at it. So Yeah. 

Kristin:    00:25:12    It's, your experience is like a case study on how to become a digital nomad. I <laugh> I'm gonna write a blog about you, <laugh>  

Erin:    00:25:21    <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:25:22    This is how you ended up on the podcast too because, um, for everyone listening like you are representing, uh, Sailing Ruby Rose and contacted me on behalf of them to see 'cause they are a good fit for my podcast and I only accept like 0.1% of people who ask to be on the podcast. And I like it that way because then when a perfect fit comes along, I have the space open to interview them. And I immediately said yes and then did a really long interview with them. And then I was talking with them about just, you know, small talk and how they met you. And I was looking at your website and I said, you know what, Erin would be a great person to interview on my podcast because of your story and like how you transformed yourself into a digital nomad from what you call an average life, but let's call it like a traditional life, you know? Yeah. You followed the rules, you got a good secure job with a pension and you know, had kids and had a house and did all the things that everyone's supposed to do. And then now you've transformed your life into the way that you wanted it to be. And so that's how you ended up on the podcast. 'cause I'm like, you should be on here. So also this book, um, The Artist’s Way, have you ever read that book?  

Erin:    00:26:42    No.  

Kristin:    00:26:43    The author says that everyone is a writer and she also has a book called The Right to Write, like R-I-G-H-T. And I recommend anyone who thinks that they're bad at writing to read that book and it will change your mind. And actually it's a book, I feel like I should read it once a year. So's a good, well we'll put it in the, um, write that down. Yeah. The Right to Write, we'll put it in the show notes in The Artist’s Way. So what or what is your husband working now?  

Erin:    00:27:16    Yeah, so I think I mentioned earlier that if we, if I came back to my job, I'd failed and okay, perhaps I failed because I did come back to my job when we landed in Australia. We were <laugh>. It's a funny story actually. Uh, we had been like robbed in Bali on the last day and they took like our remaining few thousand dollars from the bank account. And then, I mean, I'd managed to, and 'cause I'm the organizer of the, of the pair of us and I had managed to plan our whole trip around the whole world almost. And on the very last flight we missed it. And I, it wasn't by a day or, you know, because it was a funny time. It was like five past midnight. And so you could think that maybe I just messed the date up because, you know, of the mid five past midnights the next day.  

Erin:    00:28:07    But I'd missed it by like two or three days. I don't know what happened somehow in the booking process. I thought we were flying on one day and our flights were another day. So our credit cards were almost maxed out and we just had enough to pay for these whole brand new flights back to Australia. So when we arrived in Australia, this is kind of embarrassing, but we had -$189 in our bank account and I took a screenshot of that <laugh> and so we both went back to work because we're like, we are gonna get a good paycheck in two weeks. We just have to suck it up and go back to work. And so for the following six months, uh, I had to do my business as a side gig while we hustled and basically crawled our way out of a hole.  

Erin:    00:28:49    And yeah, it, you know, a 12 months or 14 months or so later now everything's, we've paid everything off and managed to buy cars and we've fully established our life back in the right race. And I quit my job, so better late than ever. I quit my job after about six months of being back in Australia. And that was a very scary moment, but also a huge like weight off my shoulders to stop kind of having to do two things, one that I hated and that I had to be at a desk and sitting down at a particular time and I had to make sure my mouse pad was continually moving or they, you know, the, the light would go red and the boss would know that I wasn't working. It was horrible. It gave me anxiety.

Kristin:  Oh my god.

Erin:  Yeah. 'cause we were all working from home and the government didn't trust us to work from home because, you know, the government doesn't allow that kind of thing, but because the coronavirus they had to. And so yeah, that was horrible and I just remember every day going, oh, I just wanna quit this job. But then there was the security and the, uh, the, um, like you said, the superannuation, the pension, the, all of those things. Um, and  

Kristin:    00:29:57    The golden handcuffs <laugh>.  

Erin:    00:29:58    Yes, exactly. And we knew that we wanted to go back to our boat. We still owned our boat, we're paying for it in storage, um, sitting over in the Azores in Portugal. And so anyway, I just kept forcing myself to do this job that I had grown to hate by that stage. And um, yeah, the day came where my boss had like, sent me this email and it was like these unreasonable requests and I'm just like, no, I'm, I'm done. I remember walking out to my husband, I said, I've just gotta quit. Like I literally have to write back to this email now and say I resign. He's like, yep, do it <laugh>. And it was the best feeling ever. And honestly, I haven't looked back. My business has just completely taken off since I was able to, you know, break those shackles and get away from this job that I hated to put every kind of like, waking moment into something that I love and that I'm passionate about it, it's paid off big time. And now we uh, we actually sold our house just last month and um, we are living at my mother-in-law's for a few months and then we're going back to the boat. So we will be full-time, digital nomads and luckily my business will be able to support us doing that for as long as it's fun, basically. So whether that be two years, three years, five years, who knows, we'll just take it as it comes.  

Kristin:    00:31:15    Oh, that's so exciting and totally normal to kind of backtrack and, you know, take one step back two steps forward in that process. It's really normal. I actually just did a strategy call today with, um, Garrett who's a podcast listener and we were talking about the options between making the leap to be a digital nomad without a safety net and without an income stream versus setting that up first and how you can make the leap and it can work, but it's always more secure and more reliable to do it the other way around. But frequently it happens where people go and test the lifestyle and say, okay, this is what I want or like, you know, go for a short period of time and then come back and finish putting all those financial pieces in place and like having that motivation to get things really set up.  

Kristin:    00:32:13    But there does come a turning point where you need to decide, um, when your side hustle is going to become your full-time job. And sometimes the, the energy that's invested in a a regular full-time job is very draining, especially when you are married with kids and you only have a few hours at night or in the morning to work on your business. So it's definitely a balancing act that each person has to find for themselves, but it's really valuable to hear how you did that and not embarrassing at all. You know, you go back and forth, this is life and you made it work better late than never, but not even late. I mean, you could still have never seen that documentary and <laugh> be living that same,  

Kristin:    00:32:58    Same life before. Yeah, my dad worked in city government and had the like cushy job, uh, being city attorney and things like that, so he never had to work past five, you know, take the lunch break every day and it's a different lifestyle and you know, now he's getting his full salary every month as his pension and, but I still feel like the trade off for me to work for myself, but travel my whole life since I was 20 years old, that was worth more to me than working in government for 20 years to get that money to then go travel. So I decided to do it a different way. So no offense dad, <laugh>.  

Erin:    00:33:41    Yeah, no, look, I completely agree. And when we arrived back in Australia, it's quite common for people who own boats to need to feel like they need a break after usually about 18 months to two years. Boat life is pretty exhausting and a lot of people come back to land with the intention of going back to their boat and then never actually break away because you kind of come back to the, the easier life I suppose. And you get sucked in and all of, you know, the, the weeds grow over you and it's just too hard to get back out. Um, so I know I'm sure plenty of people thought that that's probably what would've happened to us. And there probably were times, especially during like the height of the coronavirus in Australia when we were on lockdown and you know, stayed home for months on end, um, we lost a lot of motivation and felt nervous about Oh, are we doing the wrong thing?  

Erin:    00:34:31    And also I remember we went, went and toured a couple of schools and we were walking around and in one of the classrooms, this is for my son to go to high school, they were wearing vr, like virtual reality goggles. And the teacher said, oh, they're just walking through, uh, refugee camp in Romania at the moment or something. And I was just like, what are we doing Dave? Like we're kidding ourselves to think that we can provide an education that is anywhere near as good as this. And all of the students, the private school, the students looked so studious and they're all out studying and the courtyard and you know, no one was gossiping or talking, they all <laugh>. I was just thinking if we were allowed out in the courtyard, there's no way we'd be gossiping. We'd, I mean we'd be working, we'd all be gossiping and chatting, but they looked so intellectual and academic that I just thought we, we are making a mistake, dragging our kids away from this environment and putting them on a boat with us, homeschooling them because we're not teachers.  

Erin:    00:35:29    What are we doing? And so for a little while there we felt really foolish that we thought that we could compete with these private schools on land. But the longer we stayed here, the, I remember it was probably about four months ago that I was doing a meditation and it said, you know, whatever comes into your mind now quickly go and write it down. And I think it was something like, don't worry about what other people think. Just do what feels right. And I walked out to my husband and I said, I reckon we should sell the house. And he's like, yep, let's do it. This seems to be a common theme, me saying something, he's like, yep, let's do it. But, um, we'd both,  

Kristin:    00:36:05    Where can I find a husband like that? <laugh> or any husband? No, just kidding. <laugh>,  

Erin:    00:36:10    I'm so lucky that we're both on the same page. So we were like, we'd been back and forth in selling the house for ages and we'd one month we'd be like, yep, let's sell it the next month we'd get cold feet and decide not to. But kind of both happened that we were both in agreeance at the same time and yeah, within like a month it had sold, it sold really quickly. And again, another point about we kind of briefly touched on manifesting and writing things down. I remember thinking about a price that we wanted for our house and it was a bit of a crazy price, but I was like, what the hell? Let's just aim high. And I wrote that amount down and I put it on my board and I went out and told my husband again, <laugh>, maybe I think I'm maybe the ideas person now. I think about it in the relationship. And he laughed and he was like, yeah, righ on, love, let's aim for that. That would be nice kind of thing. But it was probably, you know, a good a hundred thousand more than what realistically we could have got anyway. Yeah, like 30 days later our house was on the market for one week and it sold and we got the exact price that I wrote down on the piece of paper. So--  

Kristin:    00:37:17    <laugh> Wow. I have chills. Yeah. Did it, was it a bidding war?  

Erin:    00:37:23    No, it didn't even get to auction. We were meant to have an auction, but if someone wanted after a week and she said to us, what price today would you sell it for? And I was like, what the hell? I'll just say this price. And yeah, she rang back half hour later, she's like, yep, I got him up to that price. So congratulations, <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:37:42    Wow. You know, usually manifesting doesn't happen that fast, but I don't know the exact science behind it. I just know that focusing your attention on something, your brain and your subconscious work and try to find ways to make it happen or you are more prepared to seize an opportunity when it arises. So had you not written that number down when the realtor asked, like you might have come up with a lower number, you wouldn't have been ready. And it, it just always helps. And that's why I keep <laugh>, my listeners know I keep a running list in my Apple Notes app of synchronicities and it's my second year doing it and I write something down almost every day. So that is very inspiring. I wanna talk a little bit about a day in the life of what it's like on the boat and why you chose Azores.  

Kristin:    00:38:38    Because last night <laugh>, I was having a Zoom wine night with some friends and May Ling who was on this podcast as well, she asked me if I'd ever been there and I said no, but it's been on my list and it looks so beautiful. So a few hours later I'm talking to you and your boat, is there another synchronicity? Yeah. Um, but first I was just curious of what was your approach to learning how to sail from zero? So could you tell us what kind of boat you have in the Azores and then how you, how you learned over that process?  

Erin:    00:39:12    Yeah, sure. So the boat that we ended up buying was a, is a 47 foot moody. So it's a big old strong boat and it's built in 1984. So it's kind of like all wood downstairs, quite traditional. And the reason that we chose that boat was because, because of its solid construction, uh, for a similar amount of money, we could have got a more modern white, spacious, um, boat, but it wouldn't have been as strong. And I think one of the early goals for us was to cross an ocean. So we knew that we would, uh, forego some vanity and not have as like a beautiful kind of looking boat, but we'd have a good strong, solid boat to be able to cross the ocean <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:39:59    That's good. You don't wanna mess up in the middle of the ocean or you know, have a problem. No.

Erin:    00:40:04    Exactly. And so yeah, my husband, because people often think, oh, he must've been a sailor. No, my husband was not a sailor at all. So we started literally from scratch. I did do sailing in dinghies on an inland lake when I was growing up, but this is like when I was, you know, 10 and 12 and my dad just kind of dragged me along. I did not wanna be there. I pretty much only went because there were boys there. So that's, that was my, um, sailing experience. So when we decided that we're going to do what we wanted to do, we bought a trailer sailor pretty much straight away. And so that was a 21 foot little boat that we could tow behind us on the car. And every weekend we'd just go sailing and pretty much taught ourselves. And my dad also came along, um, to help teach us the basics and we would just sail around out on the bay near our house.  

Erin:    00:40:58    And um, yeah, it's sailing's one of those things. Like it feels quite scary if if you mess up, but if you're in a smaller boat, it's like it's not gonna be the end of the world. There obviously are some dangers you don't wanna get hit in the head with a boom for example. But it's, it's pretty forgiving and we just kind of got out there and messed around and basically with the help of dad taught ourselves how to sail and so then we'd do crazy things like all five of us would pile into this little boat and we'd sail. We sailed like four hours, which is equivalent of driving half an hour down to a seaside kind of suburb. And because we were all so excited about moving onto the boat, we all slept in our boat one night. It was New Year's Eve and it was like this big voyage sailing four hours and then we all camped in our little tiny boat and 'cause we had, it was only like a four birth and we had got five people, the little one who was only like three at the time, literally squeezed in between like the, the table and the seti and <laugh>.  

Erin:    00:41:58    It was probably no wider than he is hit with. But we were just so excited to go on this adventure that we've just found ways to get out on the water and to do fun things and to um, you know, kind of keep the enthusiasm going. So that's pretty much all we did in terms of learning how to sail. My husband did a coxswains course which probably didn't like, ideally align to what we were doing, but we couldn't really find anything else, especially where we were that, um, was gonna help. So that had some elements of diesel mechanics and stuff. But luckily, and I think this this is very important is that, um, he's very handy and unless you've got a lot of money or you, uh, so if you can pay someone to fix your boat or you are like willing to do the hard yards and learn a lot, I think you have to be pretty handy to live on a boat because stuff breaks all the time and yeah, we wouldn't have been able to afford to go if we had to pay someone to fix it because you know, you mention a boat and you, the boat stands for bring out another thousand basically because everything costs a fortune unless you fix it yourself.  

Erin:    00:43:09    So that was, yeah, the lead up to, to being able to do it. We did, when we arrived into Grenada, our boat was on the hard, which means it was still, it's stored on land in, in uh, like stands and it needed about six weeks worth of work. So my husband worked like a dog for six weeks straight fixing everything. And then when we finally splashed it into the water, we literally didn't know how to get it from where it was plopped in the water out to the anchorage. So that's how inexperienced we were. Um, we didn't know how to anchor, uh, we didn't know how to pick up a mooring ball, but like in the boating life, and I'm assuming that digital nomad general kind of traveling life is pretty similar. People are just so open with their time and everyone wants to help each other and it's such like, it's a small beautiful community that we like made friends and people came on our boat and helped us to drive it out there, helped us picked up a mooring ball and it was literally just a case of each kind of time we took the boat out, we would go that little bit further.  

Erin:    00:44:17    We, we went out and practiced anchoring and we literally couldn't get it for, you know, 10 times. But then we finally figured out how to anchor and then we'd go around the corner and we just gradually taught ourselves and figured it out. And some people might think that that is reckless or dangerous, but you know, I think you've gotta have, you obviously have to have a pretty high tolerance for risk to do what we did. But at the same time I would, I always vouch that we are both very sensible and we research like the life out of everything and I think we're very good decision makers. So while it sounds like what we did was kind of crazy, I think it's very kind of also calculated, but yeah, 18 months, pretty much 18 months later. Exactly. We went from not being able to sail or to get our boat 500 meters to crossing the Atlantic Ocean and that was 17 days straight without seeing land and 2,400 nautical miles. So that was pretty awesome achievement and I think definitely one of the best things I've ever done. And I'm sure even as like a 90-year-old lady, I'll be still proud of the fact that yeah, we sailed across the ocean. Super cool.  

Kristin:    00:45:38    Wow. With your kids.  

Erin:    00:45:40    Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:45:41    What an amazing experience. That's a huge accomplishment. And even though it might sound risky to some people, I actually think it's quite practical because when you think back before the traditional education system, how did people learn things we learned by doing and there's only so much you can read and study before you have to put that theory into practice. I can remember in middle school learning about different learning styles. Some people are visual learners, some people have to hear something and I always thought I have to actually do it. And I think that is applicable to everyone. And even last night my friend invited me to DJ an ecstatic dance party and I have been learning how to DJ throughout all of quarantine as my podcast listeners know, stumbling through it. But I have only DJ'ed for myself in my living room. I'm like, there's only so many tutorials I can watch.  

Kristin:    00:46:36    There's only so many times I can practice mixing two songs together before I have to actually go in front of real people and play for them. And I feel like I learned more in just a couple hours of playing at a house party with like 10 people than I would have for months just in my living room. So yeah, you just have to get out there and do it at some point. And if you feel like you're fully ready, you probably waited too long. So I think you, uh, you did the right thing and you're being responsible too. So how, how old are your kids again?  

Erin:    00:47:11    Uh, so when we first left on the boat, the youngest is three, which looking back's a bit crazy, but he's six now and yeah, the others are 10 and 11.  

Kristin:    00:47:21    Wow. What a great experience for them.  

Erin:    00:47:23    Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:47:24    And, and so where are some of the places that you've been so far on the boat and what is your lifestyle like in a typical day in the life as a sailing family?  

Erin:    00:47:36    So we started in Grenada, which is one of the southernmost islands in the island chain of the Caribbean or Caribbean as you guys say. And we basically sailed, it wasn't in a straight line. We would sometimes sail up and then kind of double back because in the Caribbean there's hurricane season, so we had to be in certain places at certain times of the year. So we spent a lot of time in Grenada, which is like just my favorite place in the world. I absolutely fell in love with the island and so beautiful. Like there's like jasmine in in the scent of the air and French penny and the people are amazing and they're all about music and they're always out kind of on the street dancing and there's everywhere you go and it's not even the kind of music that you would think you'd like.  

Erin:    00:48:25    I remember at the start we were like really overwhelmed. Uh, you catch these mini buses everywhere and they load everybody in there and so you jam pack like sardines and they've got these big subwoofers with this like dush kind of music. And I remember thinking, oh my God, what is this music <laugh> And honestly, by the end of the time in Grenada we just loved it. It's called soccer music and we play it all the time at home now. And it's just like our go-to music of feel good, happy dancing. Um, so yeah, you've totally gotta go to Grenada. We just absolutely fell in love with the place and then we, yeah, we went up the island chains, so other memorable islands were Martinique, which is a French island. And so that was really after coming from the more southern islands that uh, didn't have um, very much, much infrastructure and shops and um, know the food was a bit more average to arrive into Martinique.  

Erin:    00:49:21    We arrived at Christmas time and they have all of the French food and cheeses and like meats and bakery and yeah, it was, that was amazing. And they also had shopping malls. So I think by that stage we hadn't been to a proper shop for probably about eight or nine months. That was, you know, is a little kind of taste of home, um, yeah. To be able to go, oh my god, we can buy things. 'cause by that stage all of our clothes were, you know, sun ruined and faded and everything. Um, and then so we continued our way up the island chain and we made it as far as, uh, St. Martin, which really, when you look at the map is not very far. And if you were to drive it, you could probably drive that distance in, I don't know, a day or something. But we cruised slow and we made so many friends along the way and you kind of like, you'd throw your anchor down and you'd become best friends with your next door neighbor and before you know it, you'd been there for a month or two months.  

Kristin:    00:50:22    <laugh>, <laugh>,  

Erin:    00:50:24    It's quite strange and I know a lot of people thought that we were sun baking and lounging around drinking, you know, pina coladas and I mean, there was some of that, but honestly it wasn't like a holiday. It was the hardest we've ever worked living on a boat. It's like a full-time job. And even doing simple things like getting the groceries could take you, you know, half the day because you don't have a car. And so you've got to drive the dinghy to shore and lock your d dingy up and then most likely walk a couple of Ks. You don't have any car to get home, so you've gotta carry all the groceries back in backpacks and you know, it's lots of teamwork. The kids had to help out, get back in the dinghy, drive back to your boat, tie your dinghy up, and then you've gotta get all of your groceries out of the dinghy up onto this like, rocking boat that's continuously moving.  

Erin:    00:51:16    And then if you drop anything it goes in the ocean. So it's like you can't risk dropping stuff and then you've gotta get it onto the deck and then down, down the compend way onto the table and then like packing everything away. It's like you don't have a big pantry, you've gotta put these things in all little, you know, compartments all over the boat. Yeah. So it's hard, it's a hard lifestyle, so you probably think, well, why do you wanna go back? But there's a lot more meaning and a, it's a lot more fulfilling living on the boat. And I mean, I I like to explain it as kind of like, um, this, you know, flat line, if you imagine the, the beat of our heart, and it normally goes up and down when you're living in the normal everyday rat race, it's pretty flat.  

Erin:    00:52:05    That line of highs and lows is pretty flat and you might kind of have your morning coffee, it goes up a little bit and then the commute's okay. And then you arrive at work and it goes down and <laugh> you know, you have your lunch break, it goes up a little bit and the best part of your day is probably when you finally sit down and watch Netflix at night. I mean, that's pretty much what our life was like. Weekends are usually a bit better, but there's still all of the things that you have to do like, you know, meal preps and all the, the housework and everything, so it's pretty flat line living at home. Whereas on the boat, you know, you might get up in the morning and see the sunrise and so it's like started off really high and then, then the toilet blocks up and luckily my husband did all this, but literally you've gotta like pull pipes apart and there's literally yeah.  

Erin:    00:52:55    <laugh> shit. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that everywhere. And so, you know, the lines, it's, it's really low at this stage and you're cursing, why do we live on a boat and this sucks <laugh> and it's hot and the boat's rocking and the whole boat smells and you know, the kids are crying because they've gotta go the toilet and the toilet's broken and you know, like there's so many of those moments that you think this sucks. But then literally an hour later you might go out on up on deck and it's like this most gorgeous view and you look over and a dolphin jumps out of the water right in front of your boat and then you might go to your, your friend's boat a bit later and the kids, like the kids, uh, like real kids out on the boat.  

Erin:    00:53:40    I know that sounds weird, but they all became much more confident and there was no bullying and they, they got used to playing with all different ages and races and, you know, there's, there was no like, oh, she's a boy or he is a girl. It's just like they all got along and, um, there was no peer pressure and there was like, they didn't use their devices that much because there was just so much more they could do. They play all the time and so they're happy, they're like so much happier on, on the boat than they are on land. And if you can imagine like everyone that you meet is so similar to you because somehow we all ended up on a boat. So for starters, like it's narrows down so much of the, you know, the kind of people that you're gonna meet.  

Erin:    00:54:29    And so you've got so much in common that it's almost like your best friends literally that night. And you, you, you know, you'll have them over the next night and it's just such an awesome community. Or the kids will have a sleepover and you've literally known them for a week, you know, that would just never happen on land, but out on the water. It's, there's just so many good things that it's almost like the bad things are needed to balance out the good things and it makes you appreciate so much more. All of the good things and the bad things I think like in life, we think we want easy, but I don't actually think that that's what we need. I think we need challenges and the, we've become so resilient since having lived on the boat, and it's pretty obvious back here, you know, we'll say, we've got to pack up this whole house in 30 days because we've gotta move.  

Erin:    00:55:21    And everyone in my family is like, oh my God, how are you gonna do that? And mom's freaking out. And I kind of realized that we just roll with the punches, you know, with, we we're problem solvers now, and you just figure it out because when you're in the middle of the ocean, like happened to us and the generator stops working, which means the water maker doesn't work, which means we can't make water. And for the next, I think we were only like three days into our passage. So for the next 15 days, we have to survive on the stores that we had. And yes, we had enough, but it meant that we had to ration our water. You can't freak out about those things, it's just, you just have to figure it out and it, it really makes you feel alive. And I must admit, since being back home for almost 18 months, I don't think I've felt alive more than a few times.  

Erin:    00:56:12    And usually that might be on a weekend if we're all going out for like a family bike ride or something, uh, you know, or going for a hike, which we might've done a couple of times since we've been back. And perhaps that's our fault for not getting out and doing more back home. But I just don't feel like the opportunities arise as much back here as they did over there. And, you know, I remember standing up on the bow of the boat with the salt spray in my face and you know, you are wearing daggy clothes and you have no makeup on. Your hair's all salty, but you just don't care. You just feel so happy and alive. And, um, yeah, I just don't see us, my husband agrees. We've just not had hardly any of those moments living back here. So yeah, even though it's scary, we don't own a house anymore and we won't own a car and, you know, we might not be putting money into our retirement fund, which, you know, we will do because we're not completely, um, crazy. We are going to still plan for our future, but we just, we want to feel more alive and to have those experiences instead of placing importance over possessions and, you know, trying to keep up with the Joneses.  

Kristin:    00:57:27    Totally. I mean, I think that's one of the biggest fallacies of life is that for some reason we think it's supposed to be easy or we expect it to be easier, but it really has never been easier to live than it has at any other point in human history. I know that it's still, life is still difficult and there's challenges inherent in life for everyone, no matter where you're from, where you live, what, how old you are, you know, what country you're in. There's always gonna be challenges in life. But when you take away all of the challenges and get to that flat line safety middle ground, there is no joy in that. You need those peaks and valleys to find balance. And it's this lie that's been propagated that we need things to be easier. Like I think I was talking the other day about, oh no, I haven't even published this yet.  

Kristin:    00:58:23    This is a video I have about things that I've noticed since I came back to the US during the pandemic. And a lot of it is about making things so much easier and more convenient and don't lift a finger and make sure you have this kind of dish washing detergent because the other kind is not gonna wash your dishes well enough. And it's like <laugh>, when you've lived with no hot water and no, you know, dryer or washing machine or whatever for so long, the thought of, you know, having a dishwashing detergent that is significantly better than another one that probably already works anyway is so absurd. But this is what our society has been reduced to the path of least resistance. And if that lifestyle and having everything done for you and Alexa and the dishwasher and Netflix where you just have to say Netflix and the TV turns on and Netflix auto plays for you, if that was the path to happiness, then everyone would be happy.  

Kristin:    00:59:26    It would just be, happiness would be a commodity, but that's not it. And it's, who's to say that the goal is to be happy a hundred percent of the time? Like you can't, that's artificial happiness too. And so, you know, having annoying things happen, but keeping things in perspective and knowing that you might be hot and sticky and sweaty. And I've actually been in the port in Martinique <laugh>, and I know what that feels like on a really hot day and you're like walking to the grocery store and yeah. But, um, then you dolphins in a sunset a few hours later and you're like, you forgot that you were really hot and sticky and like your legs were rubbing together as you were walking up the hill. And like, you just, that all goes out the window really. And so, you know, we can't, if if making things easier isn't resulting in more fulfillment and more happiness, then the option is to make things harder, but in a, in a different way.  

Kristin:    01:00:28    Not just for the sake of things being hard. And shout out to Johnny Fd, he has a podcast called Travel Like a boss who actually your clients would be a good fit for that. Um, I listened to one of Johnny's episodes with, uh, an SEO entrepreneur named Charles Ngo. And he said to do the opposite of what everyone is doing. He's like, if ev- you know, if everyone has the same investment strategy and then the same career path and the same lifestyle and the same habits do the opposite. If everyone sleeps five or six hours a night sleep eight or nine hours a night, if everyone eats fast food and Uber Eats cook at home, just go the other way. And I actually had probably, it was in right when the first iPhones came out in 2007 or 2008, I remember my home screen. I had this image that I found somewhere on the internet and it had a path in the road that split in two directions and it had a crowd going in one way and a single person walking in the other way. And it just said, go the other way. And I had that image on my phone for years when I lived in like Costa Rica and Nicaragua. And whenever I was feeling frustrated and I looked at my phone, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm going. I am just going a different way. And sometimes you have to take the machete and cut your path and uh, that's what I hope everyone's doing. Who's listening to this right now? <laugh>?  

Erin:    01:01:57    Uh, yes. I love all that. I really resonate with everything you just said and yeah, we're literally going the opposite direction and 'cause it, it's quite, um, interesting timing because my son's about to start, would be starting high school soon and all my friends are going to the private schools and they're racing around all of the sports and our life is literally opposite. We joked in the car yesterday to the boys and said, so boys, you better do us proud because they're gonna go to a private school and gonna have this, you know, hundreds of thousand dollar education and you're gonna be homeschooled on the boat, so make sure you turn out well or something. And then we correct ourselves and we said, actually, just make sure you're happy. That's all we really care about. If you're happy and you're doing what you're passionate about, I'm pretty sure you're gonna get there through doing what we are doing because there's no way that you can live on a boat sail around the world as a kid and not turn out as an awesome adult. That's my theory. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    01:02:49    Yeah. Or a pirate. No, just kidding. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    01:02:52    Yeah. And I mean, you don't know where that path is gonna lead. You have to just keep putting one step in front of the other and if sometimes it means going back to where you started to regain energy and grounding and money and whatever it is, you do that. And I've done that like a few times too. I've been like, you know what, it's time to go home for a little bit and just chill <laugh> for a few months and not travel. And then go back out there and you'll know when that time is is right again.

Leave a review

Kristin: Hey, it's Kristin. If you're liking this episode, I would be so appreciative if you could help the podcast grow by leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform or by sharing the wealth, send this episode to someone you think it might inspire or share it with your friends on social media. Badass Digital Nomads wouldn't exist without listeners just like you. Thanks for your support. And now back to the show.

Kristin: So where to next? You're headed to Azores? And so that's off of Portugal, right?  

Erin:    01:04:01    That's right. It's about 600 miles I think. So it's a a week sail, so we'll go back in March, April. And then when it's safe to do so, we will continue across the Atlantic towards a Mediterranean. And from there, who knows, we will probably work our way towards Turkey and Greece and yeah, the world is pretty much our oyster as when we get back because we have no end date, we don't have anything tying us back to Australia. We obviously have our families who will miss and who will come back and visit periodically, but, um, it would be nice to at least make it back to Australia on the boat. So that means we have to literally turn around and sail back across the Atlantic Ocean again, back to the Caribbean through the Panama Canal, and then through the Pacific and back to Australia. So that's at least probably a three year journey. I mean, you could do it much quicker if you sailed nonstop, but to do it properly, it'll be two, three years. Um, and then we will, I, I kind of figure if we've come that far, we may as well go around the whole world. So <laugh> we'll see what happens.  

Kristin:    01:05:08    Yeah, that's great. Are you gonna meet up with some of your friends and clients along the way?  

Erin:    01:05:13    Yeah, and actually a few of my clients are in Europe, so I will hopefully meet up with them as well. And I think Mike Corey who interviewed recently, I don't think his podcast is there yet, but we've invited him to come on our boat. Uh, he's all about facing your fears and doing things that, you know, push you outside of your comfort zone to help you grow. And he's never actually sailed before, so we've invited him to do the rest of the Atlantic crossing with us. So it'll be interesting to see how he goes with that  

Kristin:    01:05:43    <laugh>. So there was one other thing that stuck out to me that, you know, you and your husband weren't, weren't trained previously in sailing and you didn't feel like you were very tech savvy. So I was curious if there are any minimalist handful of tools that you use to run your online business? Because I'm always telling people that they probably already have the tech skills that they need to run an online business or make money online or work remotely. It's just about figuring out the recipe and what are the basic tools that they need. So I was curious of what you use or if it's just your Apple Watch

Erin:    01:06:21    <laugh>. Yeah, that's right. I've invested in Apple Watch recently, which I've fallen in love with. Um, but I, I do have an Apple Mac as well. At the start I just had a Windows computer and it was a nightmare, honestly. Um, so even though it was like a huge investment to spend that much money on a computer, I think it's worthwhile having, especially because, you know, I run my whole business from this computer, so I, I have that, but honestly I don't use anything revolutionary. Google Docs is like amazing. I do everything through that in Google Sheets and that way I give my clients access to the same documents and they can see everything that, uh, I'm doing every day, every picture, and they've got access to, to know where I'm at and that I'm working hard for them. And Zoom obviously. But I mean, everyone kind of seems to be using that worldwide now.  

Erin:    01:07:11     I'm sure I'll get off and go, oh yeah, I do use that. I think you, you kind of learn as you go and I don't want, if that's the biggest takeaway people can get from this interview is that you don't have to know how to do anything. You can just figure it out. And that goes for sailing and doing huge adventures and starting a business, I was always, you know, Microsoft Word and email. That was pretty much the extent of what I had to really use in the government. And now I run my whole business from my computer and my clients are all worldwide and virtual. I've not actually, I've met Ruby Rose in person, but the others I've never actually even met in person. But it, it works. You can have client meetings remotely now you can, you really don't even need to meet your clients.  

Erin:    01:08:00    So don't limit yourself to the location that you live in. The world is kind of your oyster now, which makes my job so great is that I am not only limited to the clients in Adelaide, but I, my goal is to become the go-to person in my niche. And from the research that I've done, I don't believe that there's anyone else living on a boat, running a PR agency. So I think that's kind of a, a cool thing and actually plan when we get back to our boat, I want to promote myself as a client. I'm gonna focus on my business and I, I think it's a story that will probably get picked up quite easily because yeah, how many people are running a peer agency from vote? So yeah, I think you don't need all of the latest and greatest kind of tools. I still use a pen and paper and a to-do list. Maybe I'm old school, but  --

Kristin:    01:08:54    Me too. 

Erin:    01:08:55    Yeah,  I think, and I literally just bought this microphone the other day, so, and I've done plenty of podcast interviews, but I wanted your to have good quality sounds, so.

Kristin:  Thank you.

Erin:  Yeah.  

Kristin:    01:09:05    I'm sure everyone thanks you <laugh>.  

Erin:    01:09:07    Yeah, hopefully it wasn't the most expensive one though. So <laugh> hopefully I don't regret that.  

Kristin:    01:09:12    Which one is that? I think I had that one before.

Erin: Blue--

Kristin: The blue-- 

Erin:    01:09:16    Blue Snowball. Snowball. Yeah. 

Kristin:    01:09:19    Yeah.  Well you guys can buy that in my Amazon store Traveling with Kristin. I have my Audio-Technica mic that I'm talking on right now in my Amazon store and my minimalist remote work set up. So check that out. Support your girl. And a question, how do your clients pay you? Is it like, do you use a certain type of app? Because this is something that a lot of my consulting clients forget about. I'm like, so if you wanna make money online, I'm like, how are people sending you money? <laugh>. Yeah. So you do PayPal, do you take credit cards? Do you use TransferWise?  

Erin:    01:09:53    Yes, all of the, all of the above. So I use FreshBooks and so that's probably another kind of tip is find somebody who is doing exactly what you're doing and replicate it. So I found this most awesome lady who runs a PR agency and she became my coach. I mean she has, she's got a lot of students. I wasn't her only one and I've just basically learned everything that there was to learn from her. And she used FreshBooks, so don't reinvent the wheel. That's just kind of what I decided to use as well. Um, and so through there I've got Stripe and I also have PayPal and TransferWise or bank transfer. So yeah, I'd be interested to hear your opinion if you've found like the least fee kind of solution because there doesn't seem to be anything that's perfect, but, um, everything kind of takes a bit of a fee. And the problem is, because I'm in Australia, your credit cards are considered international. So not only do I pay like the 1.75%, but you guys are paying 2.9%, which ends up being quite a lot of money.  

Kristin:    01:10:57    Yeah, I do have credit cards for consulting and coaching calls and, and digital products, but I prefer to receive and send money using TransferWise, which is actually, I'm, I'm doing a collaboration with them for YouTube. It's official now, so I guess I can announce it. And it's really funny because they, I've been using TransferWise for seven years and then they approached me to work together and I was like, I already promote you guys for free <laugh>, but sure, let's do something because I love their app. And I mean, if you traveled before TransferWise and tried to run your business remotely before and after, it's like a massive difference. I mean, I used to go wait in line at brick and mortar banks and go door to door asking for the bank requirements to open a local account and I ended up with bank accounts all over the world just to like do my business.  

Kristin:    01:11:57    And now I just have my account linked with TransferWise and I can send and receive from an app on my phone and like any currency in the world for a couple dollars when I used to have to go in the bank and stand there and fill out paperwork to send a wire transfer or fax, uh, something to my bank in Canada and I ask someone to make a transfer on my behalf, it was such a headache. And now I can just pay my, um, employees in different countries and contractors and people from Europe can just send money to my, they can send a local bank transfer to my Euro account and with TransferWise and then I can send from my Euro account or British pounds or yen or whatever it is, I can convert it through TransferWise app into, um, pesos in Mexico or the Philippines and send like a, basically a local transfer to somebody. Uh, so it's, it's been amazing. I use that a lot. And I also have Stripe and I use uh, Wave for my accounting, but FreshBooks is good too. And I'll link to some of the freelancer and online invoicing software that that people can use if they're listening. And PayPal has invoicing now too, but it's can be a little bit more expensive sometimes. But yeah, that's basically all you need, you know, the internet. Oh, that was my other question. Um, how do you have internet on your boat?  

Erin:    01:13:29    So look, there's internet pretty much everywhere you go. So every kind of new country we go to, you have to go and buy a SIM card and uh, so I can hotspot off my phone, but I'm sure that in the kind of 18 months that we've been away from the boat, there will be new technology and I think we will hopefully find something even better than Hotspotting. 'cause it's not ideal, um, 

Kristin:    01:13:54   5G now.  

Erin:    01:13:56    Yeah. So I haven't researched that element yet, but obviously, um, we're just gonna have to plan our route around the internet. Um, when you're crossing an ocean, you have satellite internet, which isn't really practical to do anything on other than um, send text messages on the device that we use. Uh, but other than that, honestly, we had internet everywhere we went and that was in the Caribbean, so I can imagine that Europe will be even better. But yes, I do need to look into that still  

Kristin:    01:14:25    And it's really cheap. I always buy local sim cards and use that in an unlocked phone. And then I also travel with a SkyRoam device, which is slow, but it's good for, in case of a backup you can get like a few gigs of data. So if for some reason I run out of credit on my SIM card or I don't know how to recharge it or it's like I can't go get a new one, then I just use that as a backup. And then also Google Fi is good for that. Um, so I'll link to those options as well. And then do you have a tip for people who might be interested in pitching themselves to media outlets? And then I think you have a special deal or an offer for listeners if they would like to hire you for PR services. So give us one tip for do it yourself and then your offer for any adventurers out there that want some representation.  

Erin:    01:15:27    Yeah, for sure. So I guess my tip would be be persistent editors and journalists are getting literally a hundreds of pictures a day and it's not unusual to not get a response. So I know, um, people, I personally would have also lost faith in sending out 10 emails and hearing nothing back. That's not unusual. So keep at it, mix up your pictures, um, ask yourself, you know, the five W's, who, what, when, why, how, why do the journalists care about your story and what value are you offering the publication? So don't think of it as them doing you a favor. Think of it as you doing them a favor by providing something, a takeaway, some sort of little gem of value that you can share with their readers. And that way they'll want to publish a story about you. But yeah, persistence is key. Keep posting, keep sending those emails. Um, don't give up after 10, 20. You might have to send 50 before you get a response. That's pretty normal in the world of people.  

Kristin:    01:16:35    They will know you by that point. Yeah,  

Erin:    01:16:37    Exactly. Don't send 50 to the one person. Sorry, I should clarify that. Oh,  

Kristin:    01:16:41    Okay. <laugh>.  

Erin:    01:16:42    That way that'll get you like blacklisted and they'll completely ban your email address, but mix it up. Find other articles that have been published about similar people. Take note of the publications that they're in. Take note of the authors, the writers, and you can find their email addresses. It takes a bit of digging and searching, but track them down, track down the editor and send a an email introducing yourself with your story and hope for the best basically. But it takes a lot of work, which is why people end up hiring a person like me because it's not as easy as just sending a couple of emails and thinking that everyone's gonna wanna hear about you. Uh, I often get clients who go, oh yeah, it should be pretty easy to tell my story because you know, what I'm doing is super cool. It's like, yeah, unfortunately it's every, what everyone's doing is pretty cool that, you know, there's so many amazing people out there and it takes something kind of pretty special to get noticed and there's a lot of noise.  

Erin:    01:17:42    And to kind of get through all of the hundreds of emails in people's inboxes, you, you do really need to know little trick tricks of the trade, which is where I come in. So in saying that, if you are a digital nomad, a travel brand or an expert and you've got a interesting story that you wanna tell or you just wanna share, uh, what you're doing in your business, then I would love to work with you. We've got a team of staff around the world, so we've got really a collective approach and we can work with people. I've got clients in America, clients in Europe, um, clients in Australia. So we really are a, an international agency. And if you'd like to get the first month half price, then that will be depending what package you choose, that will be quite a substantial savings. And um, yeah, just mention that you heard this deal through Kristin's podcast and we can arrange that.  

Kristin:    01:18:43    Great. I might take you up on that offer too. <laugh>  

Erin:    01:18:46    <laugh> for sure.  

Kristin:    01:18:47    I think I'm your target market actually. Your target audience. 

Erin:    01:18:51     You're Target, you're like my ideal client. <laugh>  

Kristin:    01:18:54    You probably manifested me.  

Erin:    01:18:57    Probably.

Kristin:    01:18:59    Probably you. I see reverse psychology, you bring me guests for my podcast. Yeah, I notice you. I invite you on my podcast and then I pay you <laugh>.  

Erin:    01:19:09    Yep, yep. And well that is somehow created this like perfect business that the people that I'm pitching to are also people that get to notice me and wouldn't have known about me otherwise. So it does work out well that way. I quite often get inquiries from, or I get podcast interviews when I'm pitching someone else, they're like, oh, hold on, you are interesting as well. Can we have you on the podcast too? Which is exactly what you did. So Yeah, it works that way.  

Kristin:    01:19:33    Erin, you are so smart. You're a genius. <laugh> <laugh>, you're a PR genius.  

Erin:    01:19:39    Totally. I think it's all been--Well, I shouldn't say luck because I have worked my butt off, but yeah, it's um, it's probably the heart of it.

Kristin:    01:19:50     Think it's, you're just aligned with what you are supposed to be doing. Like you are Yeah. Helping people, you're providing value, you're filling a need, you are being authentic to what you like to do. um, you're keeping your skillset sharp and improving and putting yourself out there and not caring if your hair is a mess and your clothes are tattered and you, you know, you're getting turned down by these email, uh, publications or your emails are getting ignored and you just keep going. And that is the whole mission that I am creating content around. It's the same kind of attitude and you are just proof that it's that it works.  

Erin:    01:20:30    Yeah. And I think also having that almost two years living on the boat gave me space in my mind to figure out what I actually wanted. And that's why I'm so passionate about helping other digital nomads and adventurers and travelers to do what they're doing. And they're usually YouTubers or podcasters like yourself who are helping other people do what I did. So it's kind of like I'm just fueling the fire, I'm keeping the circle going. If if I'm helping you to help others, then that's like the best outcome because what I did was completely life changing and I want other people to experience that as well.  

Kristin:    01:21:09    This is how we change the world together. Like, it sounds so cliche, but when everybody is living life on their own terms because they're doing what they feel is important and they're helping the people that they wanna help through their work, it just lifts everybody up. And I think this is why it's surprising at first when you enter this type of either sailing lifestyle or nomadic lifestyle, that everyone is so helpful because they realize that life is a positive sum game and helping others. It's not cutthroat, it's not keeping up with the Joneses, it's everyone working together and collaborating and not caring where you are or where you're from or what color you are. It's just everyone helping each other and life can just be collaborative instead of competitive and then everybody wins. Yeah. So it's not always blue skies and smooth sailing as we all know. Great metaphor there. But, um, no pun intended.  

Erin:    01:22:06    I think we're all so much more capable than we give ourselves credit for. And for some reason living in the daily life, you just don't get a chance to even discover that. So by putting yourself out of your comfort zone, you just figure out that you know what you're meant for more and you can do more and don't limit yourself. And if I can inspire even one person to go on a trip, it doesn't have to be on a sailing boat. You might even go on a month long trip. If that's been something that you've dreamt about for a long time, just figure out a way to do it. Work backwards, make the decision first, then worry about how you're gonna make it happen. 'cause you'll be surprised of the the ways that you come up with to make that a possibility.  

Kristin:    01:22:51    Yeah. You gotta know your why first and the what, and then the how. So that is great advice. Well, where can people follow you and inquire about your services?  

Erin:    01:23:03    Yes. So my business is called Rome Generation. And so that's just at www.romegeneration.com and @RomeGeneration on Facebook and Instagram. And if anyone wanted to go back and read about our sailing journey, that's at Sailing to Roam, ROAM. 

Kristin:    01:23:20   Great.  Keep doing what you're doing. Keep sending me interesting people, <laugh> to interview <laugh>. And I hope that everybody enjoyed your stories as much as I did.  

Erin:    01:23:30    Thank you so much for Yeah, absolutely loved being on your podcast and I feel like we're like perfectly aligned in our outlook on life. So it's always fun talking to someone like you.  

Kristin:    01:23:42    Totally. Thank you. Enjoy your Monday in Australia.  

Erin:    01:23:47    Thank you.  

Kristin:    01:23:48    Bye everyone.  

Erin:    01:23:50    Bye.  

Kristin:    01:23:55    Thank you so much for listening. And remember to leave a review for the podcast wherever you listen and share this episode with someone you think it might help.  

Kristin:    01:24:08    And to further support the podcast, plus get tons of access to exclusive behind the scenes content. Consider becoming Patreon patron for just $5 per month. You can enjoy early access to preview my YouTube videos. Get exclusive patron only posts and personal updates that I only share on Patreon. Join my private monthly live streams and live q and as and get behind the scenes access to private, unlisted live podcast interviews or Zoom video recordings that are only available to my patrons. You also get the ability to vote on upcoming videos and podcast guests and can submit your questions for our guests directly. You'll also get discounts on merch and swag and many more surprises on deck throughout the year. And again, you can become a patron for just $5 a month at patreon.com/travelingwithKristin. That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/travelingwithKristin; K-R-I-S-T-I-N. And thank you for your support.