How to Start & Sell 9 Startups with Techstars Entrepreneur, Christine McDannell

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.  

Christine:    00:01:16    Okay. So is there anybody else that did not go to college? <laugh> in the, outta the 27 of you and nobody raised their hand. And I was like, whoa. Built and sold eight companies in the last 15 years, which is like insane. Yeah. Like who is this girl? She didn't go to college and she gets to meet Richard Branson. She gets to start technology company. Like thank you. Thank you for taking me to my roots. <laugh>. So I started a cleaning company, $300. I think I had like $300 left on one credit card I could charge to buy vacuum cleaners and stuff. Yeah, you can skip college. It doesn't have to be this linear like go to college, get good grades, da. You can do a different path, but sometimes that other path is gonna be harder. Yeah. But more fulfilling. Right? Like, 'cause I will never ever forget that.  

Kristin:    00:02:01    Hi guys. Welcome back to another episode of Badass Digital Nomads here on Digital Nomad TV. I'm Kristin from Traveling with Kristin and I'm here with Christine McDannell of kndrd.io. Correct. kndrd.io. Yes. Yep. And we're hanging out in Amsterdam. We just went to breakfast and you know, ate a lot as you do <laugh>. A lot of bread and pancakes and cheese as you do when you're in Amsterdam. And Christine and I have been friends now for almost a year. Mm-Hmm. We actually met, we were both speaking at the Nomad Summit in Las Vegas last year and we've been friends ever since. And you meet people somewhere and then you just become friends overnight basically. And then you see each other in other countries.  

Christine:    00:02:47    No, and that's probably my favorite part is it's like we literally met at brunch today and we picked up exactly where we left off. Yes. Like I love that. Yeah. Like no time has gone by. That's what it felt like. And we're like halfway around the world.  

Kristin:    00:02:59    Yeah. <laugh>. It's like, I just saw you yesterday.  

Christine:    00:03:02    I know. That's what it feels like, right? Oh, it's awesome.  

Kristin:    00:03:04    Definitely. So, oh yeah. Gotha iss gonna be, this is a,  

Christine:    00:03:08    We have a kitty cat that's gonna be in the interview.  

Kristin:    00:03:10    The resident cat. So cute. So Christine, um, was talking about at Nomad Summit she was talking about, um, kindred, Kindred Quarters, which is her co-living space in California. And I was there talking about how to sustain a digital nomad lifestyle. But I've written quite a few articles on co-working and co-living. So we immediately hit it off and she's here in Amsterdam at a incubator with Techstars and she's gonna be here for three months in this accelerator launching her company, kindred, which is a software, uh, for co-living spaces. And it's also a portal and basically a hub for, in a social network for information on co-living spaces all over the world. So she's gonna talk to us a little bit about that and also about her life. And it's just so, um, it's such a coincidence. It's like such a charmed life because I've been in Amsterdam, it's one of my favorite cities in the world and I've been here so many times. And I just recently made a coworking <laugh> video on Amsterdam and wrote an article about why Amsterdam and the Netherlands is such a great place for startups and here you are.  

Christine:    00:04:20    Yes. Which I'm so, you know, and it's so funny, and I was telling Kristin this at brunch is that all my friends, you know, I'm in Los Angeles is an amazing city also. And you know, my friends from around the world just kept saying, you know, Christine, you're gonna love Amsterdam. It's, it's my favorite city in the world. I heard that from so many people. But Amsterdam was never on my radar. And then, yeah, I watched your fun video about like, the top 10 things you must know about Amsterdam. And then that started getting me excited you. That was right before I came out. Um, 'cause we found out on December 18th that we were gonna be into this accelerator and we were thrilled. And I was like, oh my gosh, I get to live in Europe for three months. This is amazing. And um, yeah.  

Christine:    00:04:58    So watched your video, got me more excited, but again, had no idea. Um, and 'cause you, you don't know what you don't know, right? Yeah. Like, you just like, well, am I gonna like it? Am I not? Of course the weather. I mean, it is beautiful today. Perfect. This is awesome. We've had really great weather and today especially nice. So that's why we're, we're outside on the patio on a Sunday. Um, so yeah, no, just, I mean after I have a confession. Like after the first week in Amsterdam I was already researching how to extend my visa <laugh>. Yeah,  

Kristin:    00:05:24    We were talking about that.

Christine:    00:05:25   Yeah. I was like, how can I stay here more than 90 days? Like I don't wanna leave. I love it. So it's been one month so far. We have two months left, but yeah. Yes.  

Kristin:    00:05:34    And we're gonna go on a bit of an adventure after this video. But at being good digital nomads, we're working hard and we're playing hard and we're balancing our work life balance by eating pancakes with filming videos, <laugh>. And then  

Christine:    00:05:47    On a Sunday we're fitting it all in on a Sunday. I'm like, as long as it's a Sunday, we can do whatever you want. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:05:53    You don't have the traditional background maybe compared to the other people in your accelerator. So tell us kind of about, um, what you were doing and how this whole entrepreneur entrepreneurial journey started. Because you've done a lot in a really short period of time.  

Christine:    00:06:08    Yeah. For as far as the software that we've built, more or less or  

Kristin:    00:06:12    My background, um, from how you started like after, um, from high school, like what was your career trajectory? Oh yes. And how did you start your first company and then how did that lead to today? 'cause it's like such a cool story. I know. It's so we're gonna go way back.  

Christine:    00:06:28    Okay. We're going back. It's gonna make  

Kristin:    00:06:29    Sense. It's all gonna come. Gonna circle  

Christine:    00:06:31    Circle because we're close to the same age. Me and you. So, so, okay. So old Millennials,

Kristin:    00:06:34     <laugh>, old Millennials,

Christine:    00:06:35     <laugh>. I think I, it depends on where you ask or who you, I, I think I'm a millennial but maybe not because it depends on the data. 'cause sometimes they say if you're born but you know with by 1980, then you're a millennial. But then some say no, it's 83. So I'm like all the cus I know we're gonna say it's 80. If you were born, um, then you're still millennial. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I am, I went a different route than most people. I didn't go the college route. Mm-Hmm. And that's, you know, that's what we were talking about. Um, out of this accelerator program here in Techstars, um, there are 27, it's 10 companies, but there's 27 co-founders amongst those 10 companies. And they warned me a couple weeks prior to coming out and said, Christine, we have to tell you're the only female.  

Christine:    00:07:17    And like, you know, that wasn't surprising. I'm like, okay, it's fine. It's fine. Then what was surprising was once I was in this program for a month, I overheard people talking about, you know, that they had their PhD, that they had their masters in, you know, computer science or business. And I heard that so many times within my cohort that I finally stood up in front of the entire class. And I was like, okay, so is there anybody else that did not go to college <laugh> in the outta the 27 of you? And nobody raised their hand. And I was like, whoa. So, uh, I mean, pretty cool. You know, it's, I like being kind of odd man out. It doesn't scare me. It makes me wanna work even harder. Yeah. Um, to prove myself. So, so that was kinda unique. But yeah. Right outta high school, I got my real estate license. I did property management for six years, which is so funny 'cause now you know, 15 years later I'm in real estate.   

Kristin:    00:08:03    Oh, Right. So it's like circle  

Christine:    00:08:04    An indirect way. And property management co-living is definitely property management. Yeah. Um, in a different way. And yeah, so I've owned, I've had, um, eight exits already. Wow. So eight built and sold eight companies in the last 15 years, which is like insane, like looking back. Um, but no kindred, you know, I've Kindred Quarters, which is the actual brick and mortar co-living concept in Los Angeles. And then I have, um, Kndrd dot io, which is the software platform because it was like, here's this new exciting industry co-living, which I mean you're always on the forefront of anything that has to do with remote work, digital nomads, co-working, here's co-living coming up. Is it gonna be a fad? Is it not? You know, that was the, that was last year's discussions. I think now this year everybody knows like, oh my gosh, this is like, not if but when.  

Christine:    00:08:49    Yeah. It's definitely not a fad for sure. There's too much money being injected into it and now they're actually gonna consider it a actual asset class. Oh, nice. When it comes to investment. Like that's right around the corner. So I've already heard whispers of that here in Europe. Makes sense. So it's like it does, yeah. For investors it is gonna be an asset class, just like student accommodations. So, um, it's an exciting time. So yeah, we, we built the software platform starting in August, gone into text or MVP launched in December. We got into Techstars the same time. So December was a big month for us. And then here we are. But it's just how do we, how do we take this new industry and really add technology to it to simplify, you know, make it more efficient to actually start tracking data. Mm-Hmm.  like we have no, you know, investors are even asking us, well, hey, how many co-living, how many beds are globally available right now for co-living? I have no clue. Yeah. Just like desks on coworking.  

Kristin:    00:09:41    How many digital nomads are there in the world? Nobody knows. Oh.  

Christine:    00:09:43    People are asking you that.  

Kristin:    00:09:44    Yeah. Yeah. You're like, everyone's like, everyone's doing their own independent studies on it. But yeah, there's no, like, we're still in such an early phase of like nomadism and co-living and co-working that. Yeah. There's just not Yeah. That you're like making it as you go.  

Christine:    00:09:59    Exactly. Like what is the industry report on co-living, co-working has them now because they're a decade in. Yeah. So that's exciting to see those, those stats and those numbers. 'cause they have them now, but we don't have a history to, to base off of yet. So Yeah. That, that's my journey so far.  

Kristin:    00:10:14    That's do. So I wanna highlight a few things because, um, you didn't go to college, you didn't go to undergrad. No. So you went just from high school into working. Mm-Hmm.  and Yeah. You didn't have like, like there there's, there's not a linear trajectory that you have to follow that I want people to pick up on this. Like, you don't have to do A then B, then C then D in order to become a digital nomad or remote worker or entrepreneur or have your own business. Like you can make quantum leaps or shifts or parallel changes in, in your career. So you went from real estate and then you had, didn't you have um, like a cleaning services  

Christine:    00:10:55    Company? That was my first, yeah. Yeah, that was my first company. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:10:58    So I have like this vivid memory of you talking about it in Vegas. So I mean, how did you get from, like, you went from real estate into that fast forward, you gotta tell us about Richard Branson as well. I wanna touch on that. And then now to get to, um, being one of, one of 10 companies selected out of thir 300 startups to come to Amsterdam and, and work with Techstars, which is one of the biggest, um,  

Christine:    00:11:26    Accelerator Programs.

Kristin:    00:11:27    Yeah. Accelerator programs in the world. And you'll be then presenting your business idea in front of 400 investors in a couple months. I mean, that's so many different things. So I want people to see how you don't have to follow one career path, you don't have to have permission from anyone to do something specific. Um, yeah. You can go from real estate to cleaning services to having a software company and meeting Richard Branson and like anything in between. So, uh, yeah, let's just like back up for a minute and I really wanna hear again like how you decided to start a cleaning services company <laugh>, like out of nowhere and how was that for you? Like, what happened? 

Christine:    00:12:06    I know 'cause everybody watching you guys, like I wanna motivate you and inspire you and not make it sound like some charmed life. Yeah. Like who is this girl? She didn't go to college and she gets to meet Richard Branson. She gets to start a technology company. Like thank you. Thank you for taking me to my roots <laugh>. So 2003. Yeah. I had no money to start a business. I had $45,000 worth of credit card debt racked up because I was this very, um, irresponsible in my early twenties, you know, and just like use credit cards to buy everything. And so I was 23 years old and I'm like, oh my God, how am I gonna start? I wanna start a company, but like, I have no money and I have all this debt and I couldn't get a business loan. And I'm like, great, I'm gonna have to do it the hard way.  

Christine:    00:12:44    So I started a cleaning company, $300. I think I had like $300 left. One credit card I could charge to buy vacuum cleaners and stuff. <laugh>. And then I hired these two women and they only spoke Spanish and I only spoke English and made it work. Like I was this crazy, crazy 23-year-old that was like, I'm just gonna make this work. And then I bartended at night because I had to pay that debt off because I'm like, how am I gonna, so I would literally clean, clean condos in downtown San Diego all day every day with these poor women that had to teach me how to clean. 'cause I didn't, 'cause again, I had that real estate background. I had my real estate license, but I just really wanted to do my own thing. Like I just, it was hardworking in a corporate atmosphere. And yeah.  

Christine:    00:13:23    So I mean, it took me a few years to pay off all that debt and it, and, you know, I, I expanded that company, that company was the largest in San Diego after five or six years. Um, and then sold it for six figures and it was like, I wasn't even 30 yet. I think it was 29. And so yeah. So there I wanted, it was a lot of hard work, so I never, ever wanted discount. Like yeah, you can skip college. It doesn't have to be this linear, like go to college, get your grades, you can do a different path, but sometimes that other path is gonna be harder. Yeah. But more fulfilling. Right. Like, 'cause I will never ever forget that. Like, it was so, like, it just keeps me humble where I'm like, wow. Like I just wanted to work my ass off because just success is so much sweeter when you Yeah.  

Christine:    00:14:04    When you get it back. When you work for it. Yeah. Yeah. So, so for sure. Um, I have a lot of books you guys, I read a lot and I've been to a lot of conferences and I study a lot and I YouTube can be your best friend if there's any con especially in technology. Yeah. Because half these terms I'm like, oh my God, I don't even know what that means. And I'm like in the bathroom on my smartphone, like googling something. 'cause I'm like, oh shit. Like, what does that even mean? Like don't be afraid. Like if you don't know something, just make the effort to learn it.

Kristin:    00:14:30    Yes. And I think like even in 2003 there weren't, there wasn't so much like, I don't know if YouTube was even around yet.  

Christine:    00:14:37    No, not yet. No. 2006 I think, because  

Kristin:    00:14:40    I also started, um, in real estate <laugh>. I don't know if you knew this. No, I didn't. My first job out of college was in real estate and I, it was in Costa Rica though. So I was living in the jungle in 2005 with like 128 KD internet and no internet at my house. Only satellite internet at the office. And I remember when like Skype was like a thing at the beginning and we were like, oh my God, we can like, because, but  

Christine:    00:15:03    It was all choppy though. It wasn't over  

Kristin:    00:15:05    IP phones and like, that was my career for seven years and it was such a big jump recently. Um, well it was that for seven years and then my, my relocation company for seven years. And then that's when I started teaching myself other aspects of online business. And that's how I got to what I'm doing right now. But I'm still teaching myself as I go. And I still have to remind myself that if there's anything you don't know, like you can just look it up and whether it's personal stuff or professional and like, actually just now, like I was plugging in the, um, the microphone and I had like my safari open <laugh> yesterday I was looking at, 'cause I just bought a DJ set, um, like to mix music and I don't know how to do it. Well I've taken like a couple of classes and I just pulled up YouTube videos. I'm like beginner. I love them. 

Christine:    00:15:53     That's always like my retirement plan. I'm gonna be a DJ <laugh>  

Kristin:    00:15:57    Back to back. Let's do it. Okay. Yes.  

Christine:    00:15:59    Let's do it.

Kristin:    00:15:59     Yes. Okay. Like packed. Yes. Okay. So yeah. But like anything that you don't know how to do, like you're gonna be a begetter at first, but then Yeah. I mean, I'm sure when you were working in real estate and had like $300 left on your credit line, you weren't expecting to like a few years later be living in Amsterdam in this like tech accelerator program. So Yeah. How did, so you sold your business. Yes. Um, and then went on to start a few other businesses. And I also like how you did that overlapping with like things that you were interested in and passionate about. Like maybe you weren't passionate about cleaning, you just saw like a business opportunity. But now once you had more flexibility and more funding and resources and connections, you were able to start inching a little bit more towards and the things you are interested in, um, like co-living that leads you to where you are today. So yeah. How did Richard Branson fall into place between that and now? 

Christine:    00:16:52     I, I feel like I've told this story so many times because I'm like, I hope you weren't sick of hearing this story, but I'll tell it one more time. I'll probably,  

Kristin:    00:16:57    My audience hasn't heard it yet.  

Christine:    00:16:59    Okay. I'll summarize it so it's not like the long version. But, um, you're, but I loved what you just said is, you know, maybe cleaning wasn't sexy. And that's what's so funny too, is like in hindsight I'm like, I think the unsexy businesses are almost better 'cause there's less competition. It's easier to excel in them. Yeah. Because like now in this day and age, it's like so cool to own a tech company, like supposedly, you know, and it's just like so many people are in it, it's so chaotic. I'm like, oh, I miss those little days when everybody made, I mean literally my colleagues were making fun of me. Like, oh my God, you own a cleaning company? Like, why? Like gross? Like that's what they were saying to my face.  

Kristin:    00:17:35    Honestly, some of the like richest people I've ever met, one of them owned an insulation company. Okay. That was like insulation for like, that's used in theme parks that goes in water slides and like fiberglass and stuff. And some of the other ones, like I was just at, um, at Tomorrowland Winter and like all of the people I was sharing an apartment with were in this like, rustic little wooden like crappy apartment. And all of the guys who were there all owned their own businesses and they were in like trucking, like transportation. Um, I don't even remember. They were like, not memorable businesses, but they were all like mega successful. One of them was in like CBD products and it's like you can have a business that is under the radar. Yeah. But then you can have a really cool personal life where you're like flying to the French Alps to go to a music festival or whatever. Like, it doesn't have to be something like so much in the limelight. 

Christine:    00:18:30    It can't be, it doesn't have to be sexy.  

Kristin:    00:18:32    Yeah.  

Christine:    00:18:33    Everybody wants a sexy business and they wanna be on Instagram.  

Kristin:    00:18:36    Like you don't even need a social media account for those. Like, you  

Christine:    00:18:38    Just No, you're exactly right. Bank <laugh>. Yeah. Or waste management. I know some people waste management that are just like killing it, but who would ever wanna say they're in? They deal with trash. Like no. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:18:47    So it's like, it doesn't even matter  

Christine:    00:18:49    These days. Yeah, it doesn't. So, um, but you're right, that was like a stepping stone to then be a little more picky and cheesy about like, my next passion or the next, I don't base my businesses on personal passions, I just, usually it's based on a personal need and the marketplace. Like a pain point I see where I'm like, why isn't there a cleaning company that's like on time efficient? Yeah. Like da da duh speaks English, this and that. And then like, the next company, why isn't there, you know, why isn't there this? Or my last one was a wellness spa. So, um, eco Chateau. So I started in 2012 and then, um, sold in 2017. So, uh, I was like, why is there not like a wellness spa that is more like French based versus Asian based in the states? And does colon hydrotherapy is more a clinical service done in a clinical setting, but why couldn't it be done in a spa setting?  

Christine:    00:19:36    Um, so just sometimes I get these crazy ideas and then I do them. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do this. And then I go all in, all in, you know, on that idea. Um, and then that is what led, so like my team at the spa had known I was gonna cut, like in the beginning of that company, I cut a check. Richard Branson was speaking in San Diego. I ran up, I gave him a check to his charity. Not even like a big check, but like all we could afford Uhhuh to donate to Virgin Unite. That's like my favorite charity because he fronts all the operating expenses. So all the, everything you invest goes goes straight hundred percent straight to the cause. A hundred percent. Which is really rare if you guys know the charity world. Like some of it's like kind of scammy  

Kristin:    00:20:12    Administration and salary, Yeah.  Payroll expenses.  

Christine:    00:20:14   Yeah. A million dollar salary. Or if it's like, really, like it's why is it costing a million dollars for the CEO to run this, this or whatever. Yeah. So that could be a whole nother podcast. But, um, so, uh, small check gave it to him. Long story short, he called my cell phone like right after I gave him that check and thanked me. And that like stuck with me. I'm like, how freaking rad. Like I didn't even, he didn't have to call me and thank me for that little check. So then like a couple years later, again, like, you want your passion to fuel you, but you want like a big, big purpose. Like, I just kinda like gamifying business. I don't know why <laugh>, I think, 'cause I've been doing it now for 15 years, so now I'm like, oh, let's gamify this. Like I'm gonna add two zeros to that check and I'm gonna give 'em that.  

Christine:    00:20:55    Next check's gonna be big. And I told my whole staff, 30 employees, we had two locations in San Diego. And then we framed this check, actually I still have it on my cell phone. I came across it, oh, the check was framed and it was written to Virginia Night for that huge amount. Wow. And it was framed in both our break rooms and in my bedroom and on my desk at my office. And so that I could see it every day in my face. Yes. That's so important. I'm, yeah. So I'm like big at kind of like future pacing or like just keeping it top of mind, top of mind every day. Like you really wrote it, like it was a freaking actual business check with my signature with the, I mean, it was a real check. I could have ripped it outta the frame and like handed it to 'em.  

Christine:    00:21:31    And so that was there for like a year at least. And then, and then we sold. And once we sold the, and I knew like it would take me probably building and selling that company to write that kind of a check. Yeah. And yeah, I think my staff, I don't know if they believed me or not that I was going to do it, but I did it. And then, um, um, Richard invited me to Paris at breakfast because I wanted to give him the check. He's like, so we had a one-on-one breakfast. He's an amazing human being. Like, we had such a fun conversation and, um, and gave him that check. And I had, we did a cute video for my team. Oh, cool. Because, because again, I, I hate that I get so much credit from my companies when I'm just the crazy one that thinks of the idea. And I have these amazing people, like in every company that, that do the work and, and believe some of them believe in it more than I do. It's crazy. They're just like, they just believe in what we're doing in our mission. Like especially health and wellness in San Diego, we were really helping people, people with cancer, like, um, clients, just like I got thanked for that business every single day. That's awesome. Yeah. So, so that was  

Kristin:    00:22:28    A, but it's also a, a big accomplishment to be able to build a team. And like, I know how hard that is. Like it's hard to manage people or inspire people and to, um, coach employees, but, you know, without being overbearing and keeping people united towards one common goal. So that, I think you should pat yourself on the back for that also, because that's a really important learned entrepreneurial skill.  

Christine:    00:22:53    Oh, well thanks. Thanks. Well, I had, I always have an amazing team, so I'm lucky in that sense.  

Kristin:    00:22:57    And then, so recently Christine published her first book Yes. Called--,  

Christine:    00:23:02    Called, yeah. Second, actually. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:23:04    Oh, second book. Yeah. Called The Co-Living Code. And, um, that was inspired by her work in the co-living industry space. So early adopter to that. Um, so talk a little bit about the house that you started in LA and, um, what is, what is that, what is that serving in the market? Like, what need is that serving and what are the kinds of people that live there? Because if you guys have watched this channel before, you know that I am like a huge supporter of co-living and co-working and like community and being a long-term, um, expat or digital nomad. I've actually made it to, here we are in my mid thirties, old millennial. I've never owned furniture. And like I have an investment property, but I don't like, own a normal house that I live in and like pay a mortgage to. So I always say that I think that the world is kind of shifting this way where we're sharing cars, we're sharing services, and then soon we're gonna, well we're already sharing houses. So I think that that's like a really important way to present solutions for remote workers in digital nomads. So yeah. Tell us a little bit about this. How can we first  

Christine:    00:24:17    Just like coin the term old millennial workers, right?  

Kristin:    00:24:21    Can you trademark,  

Christine:    00:24:22    Trademark old millennials? This is today's maybe that's like the actual like image for this, this, uh, YouTube interview. I love it. I love it. I can be an old millennial, that's fine. <laugh> as long as I'm somewhat of a millennial. But I  

Kristin:    00:24:34    Think it is an accomplishment to get this far, like without having gone the path of like the mainstream American dream, for example.  

Christine:    00:24:42    For sure. No, and I'm so glad because, um, 'cause I've lived both lives. Like I've owned homes, I've owned a bunch of cars, I've owned a bunch of stuff, and then I become, and I swing the complete opposite way where I'm a minimalist, like through and through. And, and then this what's funny, but I've always owned a car because I love to drive and all my friends know them. I'm, we do, I'm obsessed with cars and I'm obsessed with driving. Like I will get in my car. And I drove to clear my head. I drove all the way from San Diego to Wyoming, which is 1700 miles in three days, <laugh>. And I came back and my roommates, my housemates were like, what the hell you just said you went to, you wanted to go take a drive to clear your mind or whatever. And I'm like, well, it just happened to take like <laugh> 1700 miles. So, uh, I Were  

Kristin:    00:25:22    You in a better mood when you got back <laugh>?

Christine:    00:25:23     I totally, no, and it did, and I do my best thinking on the road. So, but I did just sell my last car. Like this is the first time in my life moving to Amsterdam that I don't, I don't even own a vehicle anymore because I see the freedom that my, you know, my housemates have had by not having a car. Yeah. Even in Los Angeles. So, so yeah, I started co-living with other people in San Diego, and that's when I still own my spa. And I'd said, Hey guys, I love this concept. I wanna start my own down the road right now. I own my spa. I can't do both. So I co relived with these amazing guys. And it was the entrepreneur house, the original entrepreneur house in San Diego. Oh, no way. Yeah. And so, um, we, I was there for a couple years before starting Kindred Quarters.  

Christine:    00:26:04    These five guys actually, uh, each owned their own companies. And we all lived together in the entrepreneurial house. We had mastermind, you know, every Monday night for two hours or we'd dive into each other's businesses and help each other. Like it was a legit like way of living. But we didn't even call it co-living. I don't think co-living was a word quite, quite yet. They weren't, we weren't calling it co-living. And then once I sold my spa in November, 2017, launched Kindred Quarters. So we got a house right up the hill. So we were right, right down the streets. So the first house was in San Diego, actually. And then we opened up Los Angeles. Okay. So like SoCal, like just entre. And it was strictly, it's strictly entrepreneurs. Um, anywhere from around the world. Um, any given time, there could be 50% of the housemates, like in the LA house, the first bunch, 50% were from out of the country. Wow. There was two from America and then three that were from Yeah, Canada, Hong Kong, Vietnam. So it's just, then you start, you tie in that, you know, the digital nomads, the remote workers, um, living alongside of all other cultures. Like, it's really cool.   

Kristin:    00:27:05    It's like a modern day. Well I say modern day, like, because I did it so long ago, but like a, like a exchange program in a way, kind of Right. It's like our own exchange program. Self-funded, self-directed. Yes. So instead of going to different schools and living with families or just like living with other people, like adults who are doing random things and random businesses and just sharing and living expenses. So yeah. Tell um, tell us about what you think are some of the benefits of living in a house like this. Like financial benefits, time benefits, and then also the intangible like connections that you can have with people.  

Christine:    00:27:43    Yes. I call it like the three Cs and it's in this order typically it's cost. So a lot of these people wanna live in like great amazing cities around the world. Um, Amsterdam probably being one of them, you know, obviously, you know, LA San Francisco, New York. Um, so cost is the first C so they're like the three Cs cost, um, community. So just being plugged into a city, you don't know anybody, but if you're moving in with like-minded people, you're gonna meet their friends and their friends and build the, it's like an immediate network of friends. Uh, cost community and then convenience. So paying one fee and not having to put utilities in your name and not having to buy furniture, you know, not, yeah. So it's this convenience factor. And co-living really encompasses all three of those really well. And that's, and then I just became so passionate about co-living, so not even so much kinder quarters as much. Um, it was like, oh my gosh, this co-living movement is really something that can be amazing for the whole world. And then wrote the book last summer on it.  

Kristin:    00:28:41    Yeah. And that, it was funny because I think you had read my blog like right before we met. Yes. And it's really interesting. Like, somebody read one of my blogs the other day and was like, I didn't realize this was you. And we met at a coworking space in Bulgaria, so it was kind of funny, but yeah.  

Christine:    00:28:56    'cause you nailed your medium post, like Yeah. Like stumbled upon it and you just nailed like all just what the essence of what co-living is.  

Kristin:    00:29:04    And when I met you, I was like, you are like embodying what I was saying in the article because we, we even both were saying that we feel like this is like a way to disrupt housing in general. Like housing moving forward is not going to be what it was, what it has been for the past maybe 50 or a hundred years. It's gonna be more about like the sharing economy and like, I don't wanna say like the gig economy, but yeah, basically like the sharing economy and just making things more cost effective because people are priced out of housing in their own hometowns, especially in places like California. And people are more disconnected than ever because of technology and all of these other reasons. So it's a way to like kind of address a lot of different issues that people are struggling with today all at one time.  

Kristin:    00:29:53    And it doesn't mean that you have to like always live in a co-living house forever, but it's a really good way, even if you wanna do it in intermittently throughout the year, to be able to live more affordably without having to put so many utilities and things in your name. And then having, um, access to be able to meet other people who are different from you, but maybe share things in common and like expand your personal network and your business network. And then also all these other like benefits like having masterminds, um, skill sharing, having, um, inviting guests over to come and speak about different topics like entrepreneurs in the community. And then also things like having, uh, laundry services available or having dinners or like meal prep or like all this other stuff that just like, makes life so much easier. So  

Christine:    00:30:42    Yeah. And it's just that like plug and play model of like, okay, we know when we go there, this is what we're gonna expect. Um, and then that's why, you know, it's exciting to build Kindred the platform, um, for co-living, because then it's all these things that we think of like, oh, what else do we need? Yeah. Like a tagging, like we have a very deep tagging system on the platform because we want people to just click a button that says fitness or health and wellness. And then it lists all the co-living concepts around the world that, that are tagged by, you know, that fitness is their big thing, so maybe you need to lose some weight. And it's like you go and live there for three months and you're surrounded by healthy people eating healthy food and working out, you know, and then you hit the tag, you know, now I'm gonna live somewhere else, you know, I'm gonna go back to North America.  

Christine:    00:31:24    What kind of home do I wanna live in? Yeah. And you, you push a tag where it's like people writing a book or people, you know, entrepreneurial, like, so we see, because there always is typically a common like theme or thread in a co-living concept. So it doesn't have to be entrepreneurs. Um, but yeah, if there's that common theme Yeah. Yoga, like there's a lot of concepts that are using, um, yoga as their, their theme or Burning Man the principles. So there's a few that are really cool that are using the same principles of Burning Man for their ing content  

Kristin:    00:31:53    For their clothing spaces.  

Christine:    00:31:54    Yeah. That's so, so I think that's the future of living and housing. And it's not a 30 year mortgage. Like I will say that publicly. Yeah. I've said it publicly multiple times. <laugh> even know my, I have some friends that own some of the biggest mortgage companies in the world, and I'm like, if you don't change your model, right? Like fractional, I see fractional ownership, um, becoming something in the next like one to two years. Um, you know, I think that people would be more inclined to pay so that they have ownership, but maybe that ownership is flexible. Yes. Almost like a timeshare, like we're talking about brunch. Yeah. I'm like, I don't know, it sounds weird, but it's like a hybrid of like a timeshare or like fractional ownership, you know? So then they're still making a payment, but, and it's, they're paying towards where, what they're, where they're living. But it could be anywhere in the world Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:32:34    Without locking themselves in. Yeah. Um, yeah, there, oh, there's so, so much to unpack there. Like, well first with the, um, the different coving spaces and their own like personalities, I think. Yeah. Like a house like Kindred Quarters and LA or San Diego is gonna have its own like vibe and kind of attract certain type of people. And then also you can get like a totally different experience somewhere else. And we are also talking about at brunch, like the different places. Like, um, I just saw if you guys saw the episode on being like a citizen of the world with Vlad Glebov, I think it was episode six of  

Christine:    00:33:09    That. Oh, I, I watched that one. Can you see that one? I loved it. So  

Kristin:    00:33:12    He has a company called Co Life and um, I'm actually applying to stay there later in the year. Maybe you wanna come for like, like  

Christine:    00:33:18    A month or so. Cool. No, I should.  

Kristin:    00:33:19    And it says on the website, like what it is, what it is and what it is not. And it does address certain things like about partying and stuff because there's definitely some remote work or like remote travel programs that are kind of more centered around networking, socializing, um, maybe partying or drinking or whatever, and going out. And then there's also other places that are like more like a hotel. And then there's places like Selena for example, that has, it's like a co-living, um, concept with offices or with, um, locations all around the world. And like every location, if it's on the beach in Costa Rica, it's gonna have more of like a hostile backpacker vibe versus like the one in Mexico City or Meine or something like that. So yeah, it's like ordering off of a menu of like, where do I wanna live? And we were also saying how we use locations to focus on certain things. Like, you came here to focus on this tech company. I went to the mountains of Bulgaria for three months to write my book and like isolate myself. And, you know, you can use it to your advantage depending on if you're feeling like more outgoing and social or if you feel like you need to get in shape or whatever it is that you wanna do. So I think,  

Christine:    00:34:31    Yeah. And then you're, it's almost like lifestyle design, which I use that word a lot too. Yeah. 'cause you're designing your life like as you go. Right. And just by picking, 'cause usually it is the city. Somebody usually picks a city first. Right. Um, but, but then that said maybe like, yeah, they pick what they're working where they're at in that stage of life. Maybe that's how they're picking that city. Um, I know I keep saying, well, I said, I was like, the big joke is like this accelerator's in the coolest city in the world, and it's like torture because I've been working. She's like, what have you done last month here in Amsterdam? Like, what? And I'm like, I have not even gone out. Right. I've literally been on my laptop. You're a work, work sprint. I'm in a work sprint without a doubt and a sleep. Like if I'm not working, I'm sleeping, and then that's it. But <laugh> Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:35:12    That doesn't sound so bad either.  

Christine:    00:35:13    <laugh> work, sprint sleep. Um, but, but no, you're right. So what stage are you in? Where do you wanna live? Like how do we, you know, and then review peer based and, you know, just we show the alumni of, you know, of the homes. Like, or you could follow somebody on Kindred and see the which homes have they stayed at? And then you could reach out and you can say, Hey Kristin, you stayed there. Like, what did you think? So just like what, it's such like a disjointed because it's so new. It's super like disjointed industry right now. Yeah. Like, there's no nothing that's the kind of tying it all together to make it make sense. And that's what we're working really hard to do. Me and my co-founders, so I have two brilliant co-founders. So they're, they're the techies that make the magic happen. Um, I'm just the one coming up with these ideas again where I'm like, okay, we really need this. Like, we  

Kristin:    00:35:57    Need, yeah. I need to like, I'm like that too, like conceptual idea based. And then I'm like, um, I need a programmer. Or like seven of them  

Christine:    00:36:05    <laugh>. Yeah. Like, can the, can you make a code that translates to do this, please? They're like, and they're like, okay, well no, usually they can yes. But they're like, okay, like what's the logic? What's this, what the use cases of it? Blah, blah, blah. So that's, that's what we do. That's the fun part.  

Kristin:    00:36:20    I hope I get to work with one of your guys. I know <laugh> because I was just talking about a project I was doing and the developer was like, um, this is too hard. I'm gonna not do this anymore. I was like, all right, I have to find someone else. But that's part of it, it's part of the entrepreneurial journey. And you know, sometimes it doesn't work out. But so for, um, we'll also link to Kndrd at the end, but like, just to like recap again, if you, if you are looking for a place to live, you can use the Kndrd, um, app and platform. Or it could also be used for management of co-living spaces. So if you are searching for a space or if you run a co-living space, like there's different applications Mm-Hmm. for, for this. So that is, yeah.  

Christine:    00:36:59    For the operator. 'cause that was the biggest pain in running mine. Yes. Was I was using 11 applications. I was using Slack, Trello, Google Calendar, Airbnb for bookings like 11. It was ridiculous. I was like, okay, this is not scalable. Google Apps, apps, Google apps. Like let's just, why can't there be one piece of software? Yep. Um, kind of like the mind body online does for spas and salons. Yeah. And that's the software I used to use. I'm like, we need to be the mind body of like the co-living industry. And  

Kristin:    00:37:22    It's so  

Christine:    00:37:23    Like all the payments. Yeah. The Billings reservations. Um, so that's what we're doing. That's the main thing is that the operator gets to use it to manage everything. So, um, so yeah, it's been fun. I mean, yeah. I never wrote it in hindsight. So people were like, oh, was that your plan all along? And I'm like, you guys are gonna be way too much credit <laugh>. No, that was not my plan. And honestly at first I did not wanna do this technology company because I already had a company. I'm like, okay. But I was waiting for somebody else to build a software application for this industry and it wasn't happening. And I was like, and I wrote the book and like, nobody had answers. Everybody needed software. And I'm like, okay, like I guess we're gonna do this  

Kristin:    00:37:57    <laugh>. I've heard of some founders, and I think I read this maybe in Tools of Titans. 'cause there's so many interviews in there by Tim Ferris's book. Yeah. And I think I read a few people who have ideas and they try to like <laugh> shop it out. Like, can somebody make this idea? And if it keeps coming back to them, they're like, okay, I should do this. And I think  

Christine:    00:38:16    That's the need. Well, you see the need. No, you exact, I think I've read that. Yeah. I'm like, oh my gosh, I episode say, yeah. Anybody ever need the business idea? You guys just  

Kristin:    00:38:23    To just ping me.

Christine:    00:38:24     Like I have a whole, like, I'm really good about like filing them away. Like when I'm on one, I'm like, okay, file, file, file. Like not, I'm not big on like bright shiny objects. Like I don't get, like, I get very like, compulsive about what I'm working on one thing so compulsive and is like, can be a really good thing. Like the one thing, the one thing, and I'm on it and I'm like, this has nothing to do with co-living software.

Kristin:    00:38:46    Like putting full  style step aside.  

Christine:    00:38:48    Like, you guys can have my business ideas. I have so many of them, but yeah, I'm done. I'm retiring after I already, I put on Instagram recently people saw, and I think they think I'm joking, I'm done. Like,  

Kristin:    00:38:57    I was like, you are serious. No, I was like, are you serious <laugh>?  

Christine:    00:39:01    No. And I mean, I'll be involved in business in some aspect, some way, like probably as an investor run my own fund or, or all like, you know, participate or help incubators or accelerator programs. Like I wanna help others be the athlete on that. This is your startup. This is my personal, like you guys here, like, it's on you. I'm putting it everywhere. So people really believe me. Um, yeah, I mean I've had 15 years of like an amazing, fun, like, incredible like career path. But I think, yeah, I think I'll be on the sidelines being the coach to like cheer the other, you know, the the founder on the field. Yeah. Like cheer them on <laugh> support them, give them money. I don't know. Um,  

Kristin:    00:39:37    Well the path like unfolds, you know, you only have to know your current step, maybe the next step, but usually only the step that you're on right now. Like, you don't have to see everything ahead of you. And I, and I think that this is a testament to that. Like you can be on all these different tracks, but if you have like a one track mind on each thing and you follow each one until it's successful or until it's time to shut it down or whatever, and then move on to the next thing. You can be like a multi-passionate, multi-talented, um, business person that you don't have to have one single identity and you don't have to know what you're gonna do next necessarily. So yeah, that's really encouraging that you can do so many different things in just a, you know, a decade or so. But you are focusing a hundred percent on each one. Yes. As you go along before getting too spread out is like my biggest problem in life.  

Christine:    00:40:27    No, and I love that. I love that you said that for everybody again. Like I, you know, Kristin, before we're rolling, I'm like, I just wanna provide value to you guys that are listening and watching. Is that like, that is the thing I've seen in these 15 years of being an entrepreneur. And I know that word is so played out. I hate even using it. But I mean, is that like, I just want you guys to just stick like one thing and just go so hard on it and go so all in on it. That's where you see the success and the magic. Yeah. But you do it day in and day out and day in and day out and you do it for five. So everyone, so just so you know, like it's usually a five year. Like, and most people know that about me. It's funny, even then getting into this program, that was their first question. Like, Christine, like you, you jumped from one thing to the next, but I'm like, yeah, but it's five years. Yeah. And it's five super, like it's probably 20 years compacted in five. Yeah. That we're pushing so hard. And it's everything I've got. So like I'm in it for those five years. I'm in it really hard and I'm not distracted. But that's it. You're only gonna get five years outta me. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:41:24    I've noticed my trajectory is like seven years. Like it was like seven years That's in real estate. Seven years in, in, uh, poker refugees. And then now I'm moving into like this new whatever this is <laugh>,  

Christine:    00:41:35    Digital nomad. Like how media. No, but let's talk about that. 'cause we were talking about, I'm like, I'm like, stop. We need the content fresh for the cameras. 'cause we started diving into like Yeah. Again, how we see remote work. Um, how it's literally gonna shift the world. It already is. Yeah. 'cause people can work from anywhere Now  

Kristin:    00:41:54    We really, like you are the only one that I've talked about this with to date and now the internet. But um, like I think it just comes from being so immersed in like what's happening and how this industry is being innovated by our peers and friends and colleagues every day. But I really see it like, and I know you agree, like we see this whole movement like hitting a critical mass in the very near future, like in the next couple years where if a certain amount of people, especially, I mean right now, digital nomads, it can be of any age and there's like a big portion of them that are over age 36, like 40% I think. But once, um, the younger millennials and Gen Z move in and shift from like the old economic model to this new sharing economy and also like complete change in consumerism, we were thinking like, is this going to completely, um, like destroy the global economy as we know it now?  

Kristin:    00:42:56    I mean, if everyone's living like us, like if everybody's nomadic or not everybody, but like millions and millions of people. If millions of people are co-living and they're not buying houses Mm-Hmm. If they're car sharing and not buying cars, if they're living out of a suitcase and not buying clothes, and if they're spending all of their money on travel and like food and transportation versus, um, using spending and consumption as a form of entertainment, then it's gonna completely shift the whole like, economic model of how things are today. I mean, we basically, when we're living in a fixed place, we spend money on a certain like basic set of needs. But when you go nomadic and you're traveling and working at the same time, it's like your, um, what do they call it? Like the basic purse or whatever, like your spending habits will completely shift. So we're like living in this weird middle zone between tourism and a traditional lifestyle where we have like our, our budgets are completely unique compared to what they are when we're living in a fixed location for like one year or five years or 10 years. So yeah. How do you see, how do you see things changing in that way? And like, how is this going to, how do you see this kind of unfolding in the next like five to 10 years? And  

Christine:    00:44:17    Then So some, because I'm such like, I love like seeing the future. Like I geek out on like, you know, seeing out into the future, but then I still look kind of like clo like the history, the the recent history. 'cause I'm like, well, what's making it shift? And then I like backtrack. Yeah. And then it's like, like Bali, like you got, and I had this conversation, so a friend of mine, he's in Sri Lanka and he said Sri Lanka, it's becoming like the next Bali soon again 'cause of Instagram. So because Yeah, I heard that because I never knew about Bali until I kept seeing these like, beautiful pictures, you know? And so the last day, April, I was in Bali because yeah, I'm like, like, and then when you get there, it looks like, like it was like made for Instagram. Yeah. And it was kind of like, it wasn't even very authentic. Surreal. Yeah. It was surreal. And it was like branding, like such gorgeous branding, but it looked Americanized. Like it didn't feel like <laugh>. I don't know what  

Kristin:    00:45:02    Was, it's changed a lot like the past five years. That's what I've heard.  

Christine:    00:45:05    Five to 10 years. I think Instagram was like, yeah. So I'm like, okay, is Instagram getting these, you know, now you've got Gen Z that are what, 18 to 24 year olds, you know, living on Instagram and then they see these beautiful images of other places in the world and that maybe that's inspiring them to travel or to live in these other cities, um, and become these like global residents. Yeah. Um, I think that that might be a factor. Um, yeah, they don't wanna own anything. If you ask a Gen Z, like if they would sign a 12 month lease for an apartment, they freak. Yeah. They say absolutely not. Okay. Would you sign six months? No way. Okay. What about three months? Would you commit to three months of living somewhere? Well, yeah. Maybe like they'd even pay a premium to have that flexibility. Yeah. Like a month to month. So, and renting furniture. So all these moving, I keep saying these like, moving companies are gonna go outta business. Yeah. Because everybody's renting furniture or they're taking over the person that's moving out. The person's like, oh, just rented, furnished. So nobody's like moving their furniture anymore.  

Kristin:    00:45:59    <laugh>. Yeah.  

Christine:    00:46:00    It's like staying with the house. These houses are coming furnished.  

Kristin:    00:46:03    It's almost like going from like a fixed asset lifestyle to like a variable asset lifestyle.  

Christine:    00:46:09    I know you're right. Variable or shared.  

Kristin:    00:46:10    We coin that term too.  

Christine:    00:46:11    Yeah. Variable. I know, right? We need to. No, you're right. And same with cars, like I told you about the car sharing app, you know, or, or not car sharing, but actually a, the leasing for like a month at a time, which is the fair app. And I think that's brilliant. Like nobody's gonna do like a five year car lease anymore. Yeah. Um, uh, Ikea just announced recently they're gonna start renting furniture. IKEA said that. And ikea's furniture's not even that expensive. I know.  

Kristin:    00:46:36    It's almost disposable. Pretty  

Christine:    00:46:37    Much. But, so they're, they're seeing the trend, so it's like we just have to really watch closely, you know? And then on the, on the remote work side, IBM, like how, what percentage of now it's a significant percentage of their workforce. They're allowing to work remotely anywhere in the world they're giving free. So it's just all this freedoms that now everybody's realizing we need. Um, and then how do you, you know, help facilitate that? And again, co-living, like providing housing that's temporary. Um, housing, but amazing housing environments, not hotels. 'cause it's very isolating. Yeah. Even for a business traveler, even business travelers I've talked to, they don't like being put up in hotels if it's longer than a week. No, but like how do you fill that gap? It's too sterile. But then can we plug them into a co-living concept for a couple weeks? Um, yeah. So, I don't know.  

Kristin:    00:47:24    Yeah, plug and play. And I mean, it's like even where you're living now, like you're living at the student hotel, which I actually went over there the other day to check it out. Oh, cool. And it's like, downstairs lobby is all like coworking areas and there's like some shared, some private and, and then there's also rooms you can like live there, but also,  

Christine:    00:47:42    Yeah, like studio suites. So it's kind of neat because again, I came from such like, I was co-living for so many years and I was in my concept, you know, I had my own bedroom, but it's shared space inside of a house. So you share the kitchen, you share, you, you see your housemates a lot. But in student hotel it's more, it's co they're calling it co-living in Amsterdam. Amsterdam doesn't have that much co-living yet. No. So they're kind of converting hotels, you know, and calling it co-living, which is fine. 'cause you do have a lot of interaction downstairs where you were, um, with, with coworking space and lobby and ping pong tables and like Yeah. But then I still have my own like hotel room, almost like studio suite. Yeah. To myself. So then it's a little more isolating, which I won't lie, like I get a little break now <laugh> because I've been co-living for so long. Yeah. Like this is kind of cool, you know, have my own place again. Um, yes.  

Kristin:    00:48:27    That's why I think there, there should be a balance because yeah, you can get like burnt out on any one thing. You can get burnt out on working, you can get burnt out on dieting, working out. And the same goes for co-living. So Yeah, I think when you, when you read articles, like both Christine and I were like kindred spirits. Yes. No pun intended. But we both get Google alerts on like the, a lot of the same stuff. And I just read an article the other day on, um, like these billionaires who basically put their house on the market so that they could go live in a van and like RV life and travel around.  

Christine:    00:49:01    I did not see that. Yeah, Michael,  

Kristin:    00:49:03    I'll share, I'll share this story with you. That's  

Christine:    00:49:05    Awesome.  

Kristin:    00:49:05    Like, it's so, it's such like a weird thing. Just, you know, you, you can accumulate so much stuff and then we know, like we know that like material things and money don't make us happy, but experiences provide more, more fulfillment, connecting with people provides happiness and all these other like kind of soft things. So I think we're at a really cool time where we get to like still be ambitious and whatever we wanna do, if we want. Or just get a remote job that's like really easy and doesn't take that much time and allows you to have like more freedom in your lifestyle. So everything is always like around freedom. But yeah, now we get to also free up our bank accounts with like less monthly payments. So they're like, even if we keep the same cost of living, we can simplify it. So instead of having like all this bill pay every month, it's like we're just paying one flat fee and that includes our room or our apartment and wifi and you  

Christine:    00:50:02    Know,  

Kristin:    00:50:02    Everything stuff,  

Christine:    00:50:03    Everything's super simplistic. And that again, this is, it is so embarrassing to admit, but this is my second time becoming a minimalist. I'm like, did I not learn the first time? Like literally. So I literally have like even a better baseline of comparison of like, I've done it twice. I've had tons of stuff, beautiful homes, cars, like all the coolest things you could think of. And then I got rid of it all and then had barely anything and I was so happy and content and my life was very, you know, it was very little stress. And I worked on my business and then like, then I sold my company, then I got a bunch of stuff again, even though I told myself not to do that. Yeah. And then now I just, you know, when we got into Europe, I'm like, dude, I'm done. Like I'm selling it all again.  

Christine:    00:50:40    I'm getting rid of everything. I'm gonna go to Europe for these three months. And then again it just freed up so much bandwidth, so much mental space that I could like focus on my startup again. So it's just this rollercoaster where like, what am I gonna learn that it like stuff never. And I've learned that, you know, it doesn't, it's, it's more experiences. It's more connection that like true happiness comes from that, right? Yeah. And stuff is cool, but yeah, it's kind of overrated to have definitely fancy cars and all that stuff. So yeah, I don't know. It's, but I think, and again, being in Europe it's different. So I do have to say this to you guys. I already told her because I just spoke in Switzerland and the first question was, Christine, you come from a country that, and well, and you're from the US too. So it's like, so we come from this country that's that it's indi, everybody cares about being an individual. It's individualism and its consumption and those are your two core values of the us which I didn't know those were our values. <laugh>, I'm  

Kristin:    00:51:34    Reading this question from the outside perspective.  

Christine:    00:51:36    Yeah. This is outside. 'cause I'm like, I'm in the bubble so I guess I don't know any better. And so I read those questions prior to being going on stage and I'm like, oh my God,  

Kristin:    00:51:44    <laugh> slightly pigeonholed there.  

Christine:    00:51:46    I don't, and again, no one, every European I've talked to, they laugh. They go, yeah, Christine, duh, they of course that's your guys' values. I'm like, oh my God, you guys all think this like uhoh. You know? So it's fine  

Kristin:    00:51:55    Times they are a change in. Yeah.  

Christine:    00:51:57    But again, I think it's the cities that we've been in. I mean, I think that's the view of the whole us and you know, we're in different, you know, and maybe I am in a bubble of people that co relive and share and like, you know, I don't know. I'm excited. There's, look, I dunno if you could see them on the table with there's crystals. I feel like I'm in LA right now.  

Kristin:    00:52:13    I know. But this could be,  

Christine:    00:52:15    I, I can feel the energy  

Kristin:    00:52:16    <laugh>. It's really nice out here. No,  

Christine:    00:52:18    It is. It's nice.  

Kristin:    00:52:19    But we need to go ride our bikes around.  

Christine:    00:52:21    Yes, we do the best. Go have some fun, best things to do.  

Kristin:    00:52:24    Well thank you so much for coming and hanging out out here and sharing all of your wisdom and expertise with us. And if people wanna find out more, um, everybody check out Christine's weekly show, even though she's super busy. She's publishing a weekly show on her YouTube channel, which is called the Co-Living Code Show.  

Christine:    00:52:43    Yeah. The co-Living code. Yeah. The Co-Living Code Show. It's on YouTube and it's on iTunes every Wednesday. We interview an amazing, uh, co-living operator from any, anywhere in the world. We've, we've, we've had some really great ones on. So we've yeah, 40 episodes. Awesome. Over 40 episodes. So yeah, of course. All things co-living I'm super passionate about. So you connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm probably on that platform more than any other social media  

Kristin:    00:53:07    <laugh>. Okay. I'll connect with you too. Okay. I just realized that, um, I think I was on one of your first episodes maybe of the, and I, I recorded it here at a co a co-working space in Amsterdam, like last year. Small world.  

Christine:    00:53:19    It all came Circle Amsterdam, full circle in Amsterdam. Yeah. So, yes. And it's been filming here.  

Kristin:    00:53:24    Well, we'll link to that in a card. We'll link to you in your cool channel. And, um, to check out the Kndrd app, go to kndrd.io

Christine:    00:53:32    Yeah. So kndrd.io. We took out all the vows. Okay. You know, like all the cool kids in  

Kristin:    00:53:38    California. Oh, all cool tech companies. I see <laugh>.  

Christine:    00:53:41    I know <laugh>. This is, you know, that's the only way you get the domain these days. So.  

Kristin:    00:53:44    Awesome. Well, thanks guys. Follow along with us on this co-living, co-working remote work, nomadic journey. Um, you can connect with us online. We love to talk and talk about these ideas and just have conversations with people about where you think the future of remote work is going. And as usual, subscribe and like, and share and come back for a weekly episode of Badass Digital Nomads here on DIGITAL NOMAD TV and more behind the scenes, the Digital Nomad lifestyle travel videos over on Traveling with Kristin. So see you guys next week.  

Christine:    00:54:18    Bye bye. Bye bye. Yay. That was fun.  

Kristin:    00:54:25    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 @ 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.