The Van Life Episode: How to Convert a Van, Travel the World, and Get Started in Digital Marketing with Mitch Asser

Sneak Peek:

Mitch:    00:00:00    I just wanna fill my life with, with as many experiences as I can and as many, many memories as I can. And, um, that that's really the, the main reason why I was so driven to to live a location independent life.  

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:    Today's episode is sponsored by me. Did you know you can now shop my favorite remote work tools, video production equipment, and travel accessories directly from your Amazon account? It's true. Just go to TravelingwithKristin.com/amazon to check out all the products I use and love.  

Kristin:    00:01:03    Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Badass Digital Nomads. My guest today is a new friend in Australia. His name is Mitch Asser and he is the host of the upcoming Digital Nomad Sessions. So make sure to listen to the end of the show and we'll give you information on how you can attend completely for free, um, at DigitalNomadSession/Kristin. We'll give you all the details on that and you can get access to a ton of free recordings from Expert Digital Nomads from all around the world about how they did it. My episode is all about packing insurance and a lot of logistical stuff that you really need to know. So make sure to listen through to the end. Mitch has such a interesting story and he is an expert van lifer. So I wanted to have him on the show because this is an area that I am definitely not an expert in.  

Kristin:    00:02:01    And from the looks of it, he's really living it up, but he's been through a pretty tough background. So we're gonna talk to him about how he got from point A to point B and how he's making a living online today. Mitch actually dropped out of high school and then spent the first part of his twenties partying before he learned how to build digital businesses and travel the world. Now in his thirties, he lives in a fully converted Mercedes sprinter camper van, and runs a multi six figure digital marketing company. When he's not working from a coworking space office or a cafe, or from his van in front of the beach, he enjoys meditating, surfing, hiking, and personal growth. He gets really excited over health food shops and without fail drinks, his medicinal hot chocolate every morning. We're gonna get all the ingredients in that. And Mitch has learned to growth hack his way from reaching zero to more than 60,000 people in three years, and he credits a majority of his success to hosting online virtual summits generating more than $5 million in revenue. So without further ado, let's welcome Mitch to the show.

Podcast Interview:

Kristin:   Welcome, Mitch.  

Mitch:    00:03:25    Thanks so much. I'm excited to be here.  

Kristin:    00:03:28    So give us a little bit of context. Where are you right now, because it's looking very sunny and beachy and surfy, if that's a word in your video.  

Mitch:    00:03:38    Yeah, absolutely. I mean, um, it's a, it's a bit of an overcast day today, but I'm on the Gold Coast in Australia, definitely well known for its beaches and its surf breaks and yeah, it's probably one of my most favorite places in the entire world for the fact that it does have some amazing beaches and surf breaks. But then if you just drive, you know, 15 minutes inland a little bit, you come to rainforests and waterfalls and really beautiful places like that and there's just a, a a thousand different options for getting good quality food around here. And yeah, it's just a really chill vibe. So I love being in this part of the world. And yeah, today, today we will hopefully involve a little bit of surfing a little bit  

Kristin:    00:04:16    Later. What time is it there right now?  

Mitch:    00:04:19    Uh, Right now it's about 11:00 AM  

Kristin:    00:04:20    Okay. So we can't keep you too long 'cause you need to get in the water. It's, uh, eight 15 over here in Florida on a different day, the day before. Welcome to the past <laugh>, back to the future in the future <laugh>. Um, well I can definitely relate to that because a lot of people don't know this, but I was a former professional competitive surfer and I studied abroad on the Gold Coast, so I love that lifestyle. I was only 20 years old when I lived there, but it was one of the best times of my life just surfing every day, drinking lots of beer, eating meat pies, and, and that pretty much sums it up, going on road trips and camping a lot.  

Mitch:    00:05:02    Yeah, yeah, there's, there's so many places just within a couple of hours of the Gold Coast, both up and down the coast that are like some of the most amazing spots you could ever go camping. So I'm, I'm glad you made the most of it.  

Kristin:    00:05:15    Do you know, uh, Chris, the freelancer and Jason Pino, other Gold Coast digital nomads with YouTube channels?  

Mitch:    00:05:23    I actually don't know. I'll have to check them out.  

Kristin:    00:05:26    I'll have to put you guys in touch.  

Mitch:    00:05:28    Yeah,  

Kristin:    00:05:29    Well we have something else in common and that's that both of us like chocolate and we both eat an avocado per day. So we're off to a great start.  

Mitch:    00:05:38    <laugh>, I, I don't know how people can't do those things.  

Kristin:    00:05:42    Yeah. Like life is just weird without avocado. I lived in Costa Rica for many years and as I was leaving, thankfully I missed this, this tragedy, but there was an avocado shortage because there was some sort of trade war between Costa Rica and Mexico <laugh>. And so they literally had an avocado shortage and people were freaking out <laugh>. Wow. And that was when I moved, that was a coincidence that I moved at the same time. But  

Mitch:    00:06:12    I actually had a question on my Instagram and it was, it was fairly well settled up until about 12 years ago. Avocados didn't really exist. When was the, when was the first time you had an avocado, do you think?  

Kristin:    00:06:24    Well, I think the first time I had one was probably in college in California, just like in San Diego area. 'cause they were just right over the border. And then I moved to Costa Rica. So I've been living in like avocado land for a long time. Like I used to make avocado toast because it just seemed like a logical thing to put on toast before there was like a hashtag avocado toast. Yeah.  

Mitch:    00:06:50    But that's, that's the thing, right? That was like what, maybe 10 or 12 years ago for you? Maybe a little bit more. Yeah. Um, but nowadays, like you see like pretty much the first green food that a baby hass is an avocado. Like, I, I didn't even know what an avocado was until I was maybe 17 or 18 years old and now they're literally everywhere. So it's just been an explosion into, into the world for many good reasons. And what I, what I need to go and see is there's avocado cafes around the world now as well, which excites me, but I haven't found one yet. So that's, that's on the list.  

Kristin:    00:07:23    I have that to your bucket list everybody. I actually make a pretty mean guacamole from all my years living in Central America. Mm-Hmm. And I'll share with you all the secret ingredient and it's, uh, garlic and olive oil. So keep it simple, but add a little bit of garlic and a little bit of olive oil and it just takes it to the next level. So, um, yeah, from living in Mexico, pretty good at margaritas and making guacamole. So I'm a catch <laugh>, what can I say? So what else I, I know that from reading your bio and things online and watching your YouTube channel trailer, it seems like you had a bit of a tough upbringing pre avocado. Mitch, not really joking 'cause it's a serious topic, but how did you decide that you wanted to kind of, or, or what kind of things did you struggle with? Like how did you quit school at 16 and then how did that lead to this desire to wanna be nomadic and working for yourself?  

Mitch:    00:08:29    Yeah, I mean, they're, they're really good questions and they're things that I tend to ponder quite a lot. I wouldn't say I have the absolute certain answer because there's so many variables, but based on, on what I know now, like the reason why I left school when I was 16 is because I just didn't enjoy it. Even back then, I knew that what we were learning in school was quite outdated. It wasn't gonna serve me later in life. And all of my report cards said, Mitch's a really good student, but he could be way better if he applied himself more. And it was so true. Like I did the bare minimum just to get by. I got, you know, maybe BS and Cs as I went through, got the occasional a sometimes in my homework, sometimes I didn't, it sort of, it just didn't interest me.  

Mitch:    00:09:10    And I, and the, the other component of that was that growing up, um, with my family, like my parents, they always did really well. And, you know, we weren't super poor or anything like that, but money was a struggle. And anytime that we wanted money to go and do our sports, we had to sort of earn it. And any holiday that we went to, it was sort of to the places where, um, were on a really big deal and they, they weren't sort of like your, your high end holidays. And we never really went overseas until I was, you know, working full time. That was our first family trip overseas. So I think it was this desire to wanna make my own money. So I had have more choices and this component of like being a little bit bored and, and not really applying myself in school.  

Mitch:    00:09:54    So I left and I was, I was really fortunate to fall into quite a high paying job straight outta school in the city that I, uh, that I grew up in, in, in Newcastle, in Australia. Uh, most people in that city tended to go into tradesmen jobs. So like my first job was working at the top of electrical power lines of all things. So it was a quite dangerous job. So because of the, the danger involved, the pay was a little bit higher. It was also a government job as well. So while the pay was good also, um, it was a very cushy job. I mean, to be honest, we probably worked on average 20 hours a week. The other 20 was spent driving around in a car or having, you know, extra long lunches or morning teas and yeah, so I mean, I fell straight into that and I was making just as much money, if not more than my parents when I was a 17, 18, 19-year-old kid.  

Mitch:    00:10:45    So by having a lot of money at that age, you've got a lot of money to burn as well, especially when, when living around home or, um, you know, living with friends and saving that money. And that just led me into the, down the wrong path of drinking most, drinking every weekend, doing drugs, most weekends, going to music festivals, going on holidays for that, those sole purposes. And yeah, I'm not sure, it just got to a point where we're starting to head down a pretty dark hole and, you know, we went from saying things like, oh, we'll we'll just take these party drugs of when we're at a music festival festival to then it was like, okay, we'll take it when we've got, when there's like a DJ that we like at the local club. And then it was like every weekend and then it was like, go every weekend.  

Mitch:    00:11:32    And yeah, while I don't like to go too much into those details, like I just eventually got to a point where I, my body couldn't take it anymore. And there was, there was something inside of me and I still don't know how I was the one that, um, was able to, to eliminate myself from that particular environment, but there was something inside of me that says like, Hey Mitch, there's something better out there for you. There's a better life. There's more fulfillment. There's the, you know, sitting around and and drinking yourself until, until you black out every weekend is, is not what life is all about. And um, yeah, eventually that led me down to some a, a really interesting path that led me to here, which we can dive into a little bit more if you like. But yeah, that's, that's sort of what happened during that stage.  

Mitch:    00:12:18    And I'm really looking back now though, it's so, it's so interesting, the, the hardest moments of my life, and I've had a lot of them, don't get me wrong, but the most challenging and the hardest in those moments have actually been the ones that have shaped me into who I am today. Without those contrasting moments, I wouldn't have had the des an al a bigger desire to, to create what I have today. So I'm so grateful for, for everything that I went through. I mean, I still still had amazing times, don't get me wrong, and you know, I still love my friends from that period. But yeah, it just comes time where your life evolves and you move on and to better things. So here I am now.  

Kristin:    00:12:57    Yeah, I can definitely relate to that. I mean, I think a lot of people can relate to that story because especially like starting in high school and college, like that's when the partying starts and it starts off as a social thing and then it continues as a work thing. And then before you know it, there's like all of these opportunities to like do socialized drugs and drink a lot, and it, it happens a lot. I don't know, I think I was fortunate to, like, I was in Australia for a semester and I definitely observed that and I myself would be like out drinking until 8:00 AM in surfs paradise and then like, I don't know how I could recover from that these days. I, I'm lucky that I went abroad again at 21 and kind of lived in Costa Rica ever since. And it was a, in an area that was very holistic in Nos Costa Rica and it was like very centered around health and wellness and cleansing and juice.  

Kristin:    00:13:59    Fasting and surfing. And so my friends who stayed back in the US and who stayed in Australia, like they continued partying for like the next five years or 10 years and then, you know, they had kids and stuff later and they stopped. But that takes a toll definitely. So I, I know like a lot of people struggle with that, so thank you for being so candid about it. So if you were working in a government job, which I also know in Australia you guys get good vacations, good pay, good benefits, and now you're making six figures online, doing online marketing. Like how did you bridge that gap between quitting your job in labor, like physical labor and then gaining the skills that you have today?  

Mitch:    00:14:47    Yeah, another really good question, and again, again, it just came, came down to a desire. I remember dating like an ex-partner at that time, and like at the time that I, I was just finished my trade and I was, you know, considering like other options because I knew it wasn't for me. I knew I wanted to like increase the amount of income that I could make. And I remember saying to her one day, I was like, I don't know how, but one day I am actually going to work in a job where, or I have a business that my income is essentially unlimited and it's up to me and I, I dunno what that is yet, but I know that I'm going to do that. And it didn't happen instantly. It sort of, that desire just started leading me down different new paths, right? Like instead of going to the pub of an afternoon and drinking, I would start reading some books instead of, you know, going out to music festivals on weekends.  

Mitch:    00:15:37    I would start going to seminars and just starting to learn. I just became a sponge and just wanted to learn from the people who were already doing it. And because I didn't have any mentors growing up, I didn't have anybody around me who were business owners or anything like that. So there was no one I could lean to in my inner circle. So I just started, you know, paying for seminars and courses and all types of things and eventually it, it led me to a group of guys who I traveled around the world with doing like, sort of like friends of friends and they were online marketers and I sort of like got introduced to what they were doing then they were affiliate marketers and I didn't really understand that well, but that was like my first introduction into it, right. And a guy that I became really good friends with from that, he, he was also starting out that at that time, but he chose to really go deep into that path and he went and lived in Thailand for a little while and essentially learned how to become an affiliate marketer, making money on lines, telling other people's products and getting a small commission for that.  

Mitch:    00:16:38    And after about a year later, he, he messaged me, he's like, Hey man, come over to to Thailand, first of all, it'd be lots of fun. He, he also was a, an ex pro surfer, so we surfed every day. But yeah, he taught me some stuff and we, we tried launching like a men's lifestyle blog, didn't really turn out how we were hoping it would. Um, we launched some online courses and put them up on Udemy. I mean, they're looking back at them now, they're, they're not the my greatest pieces of work, but they, they served a purpose. Like that was the first income that I was making online was just like a few dollars here and there through those online courses. And yeah, the, the blog failed miserably. We, we didn't achieve any of the goals that we sort of wanted to, but that was my first introduction in into marketing.  

Mitch:    00:17:23    And from there I've just been really relentless at upskilling as much as I can. But the, the thing that surprises most people is I don't have any traditional education around marketing or anything like that. I've worked as a marketing manager for, for a company in the, in Sydney CBD. They didn't once ask me for my qualifications, they just wanted to know the, the results that I've got through being a marketer. And yeah, that, that's really how I bridge that gap. I mean, you can learn so much stuff from YouTube to get started with, and then you can just fill in the gaps with people who, who have the skills that you do invest in their courses, invest in their masterminds, you know, whatever you can do to be around those people. And really the biggest thing, it's all well and good to know this stuff and learn this stuff and read about it, but you don't actually know it until you're doing it. And, um, that's what I've been doing the most. Like I've worked so hard over the last four to five years trying to build online businesses and yeah, it's slowly paying off on me, I think.  

Kristin:    00:18:27    Yeah, that is so powerful because I was just doing some research today, uh, in some YouTube analytics and I've been doing YouTube for two years now, and when I graduated from college, YouTube hadn't even started yet. So I'm like, uh, my primary activity that I enjoy doing and that I am now starting to monetize is something that didn't even exist when I went to business school. And I look back at my old videos and I'm like, oh my God, I had no idea what I'm doing. Of course, I didn't know, like I was just starting out. And it's just having like compassion for yourself and, and letting yourself mess up because you know, if you're a a long-term educator or academic, it's one thing, but when you're living in the real world, you need real world skills and the only way that you acquire them is by doing something.  

Kristin:    00:19:22    So you just have to try and fail and know that that's part of the process. And if you're not failing, then it means that you're not out of your comfort zone enough. And, uh, I like what you said about that marketing agency because I was telling, giving somebody advice the other day and I was like, you know what? The most important skill that you have is the ability to learn. And if you can get through high school, or even if you can't, you know, like even if you decide high school's not for you, you wanna go to a trade school and a trade job if you're an adult, like you have the skills to learn, little kids have skills to learn, everyone has skills to learn and you can start something new. Both you and I had no idea what affiliate marketing was, and both of us have made like multiple six figures off affiliate marketing and just so much can happen within a couple years. So that is a really cool story. And it also goes to show how in a roundabout way, you can start in one place and end up in a totally different area that you never knew you would be in. Like you wanted to start a men's lifestyle blog and now you end up over here doing web summits, <laugh>. So you just never know where you're gonna get and there's enough paths to, uh, location independence as there are people in the world, as I always say. Yeah,  

Mitch:    00:20:34    Exactly. I mean, I, people put so much pressure on themselves to actually try and figure out what they're going to do next and thinking that it's gonna be like the rest of their lives that they have to do that thing. Whereas that's not how life works anymore. Like, there's very few people in the world who spend 40 years doing the same thing like maybe our grandparents or, or some of our parents did. Whereas today, like everything evolves so quickly. And the best thing about working online and, and, and doing like what we're doing, Kristin, building a personal brand is that your brand can evolve as you evolve and you don't have to stay stuck in that, that thing that you, you're trying to make a decision on. The best thing to do is to just get started. And like you say, like learning is, is so important.  

Mitch:    00:21:16    I remember like hearing this somewhere, I forget where I heard it. You, if you were to go to, let's say you were going on a trip to, to China, and when you get there, you realize that you can't speak Chinese, you can't read Chinese, you just dunno anything about, about how to communicate in Chinese. You're not gonna get upset at yourself if you haven't spent the last two years trying to learn all those things. Right? Whereas the mentality when we're starting like a YouTube channel, you put five videos up and you're like, ah, I dunno how to do this anymore. I I can't, I'm just not good enough. Whereas, but you haven't actually taken the time to, to learn those things. And it's just something like that, that strange nuance that we have when it's about ourselves trying to further our careers or our businesses or, or our health. We just don't take the time to learn first and then continue to reiterate as we continue to put more on stuff out there. So yeah, really important points.  

Kristin:    00:22:12    So on, I mean, exactly like on the same page, I just highlighted something in a book this morning about how consistency is more valuable than talent <laugh> and ability. It doesn't matter if you are the best lawyer in the world, it matters if you network enough or you market yourself or you build a law firm that has other lawyers working for you. Like that's what matters in that industry. And it doesn't matter in digital marketing, somebody was asking me some questions about YouTube today and growing their YouTube channel, and I was looking at some digital marketing agencies online, and some of them had really impressive websites, but then I looked at their YouTube channels and I was like, these people have no idea what they're doing. Like I look at, I have all the stats and all the plugins and everything, and I'm like, they are selling YouTube marketing and they don't know how to make a YouTube channel, but it doesn't matter because their website looks really good and their landing pages look good and they're getting tons of business.  

Kristin:    00:23:19    So it's like, it doesn't matter if you're the best, what matters is that you're consistent, you're putting yourself out there and you keep trying. Like look at a entrepreneur on fire and Lewis Howell School of Greatness. Like those guys have thousands of podcast episodes. They didn't just put out five episodes and be like, uh, no one's listening. <laugh>, I'm gonna quit now. Like, we're all gonna start at zero, just keep going. Some people it takes one year to make six figures. Some people it takes 10 years. Like, look at GaryVee Wine Library to VaynerMedia, like anything's possible. 

Mitch:    00:23:55    Yeah,  Definitely a hundred percent.  

Kristin:    00:23:56    I love looking at his old videos. <laugh> <laugh>. So, uh, let's switch over to more of like your lifestyle. Why do you think it's important for people to experience location independence and being able to live on their own terms?  

Mitch:    00:24:16    Hmm. Yeah, I love that question. Firstly, like living a location, independent life. I remember growing up in, in Newcastle it's a, it's quite a big city. It's like one of the biggest cities, one of the biggest cities that isn't a capital city in Australia, probably about half a million people in the, the greater Newcastle area. However, what I notice very quickly and, and looking back at it now, very few people actually leave Newcastle. It's like, it's very much a bubble. And I always thought that was crazy. Like there's such a big world out there to explore, but it sort of makes sense that people don't leave because we get stuck in a job that we don't really like that when we do get those, you know, in Australia we get four weeks ho um, vacation or holidays, I think you get in the US maybe two weeks or something like that when people get that, that  

Kristin:    00:25:05    Or none.  

Mitch:    00:25:06    Yeah. When people get that amount of time off, like the last thing you want to do is travel 24 hours to the opposite side of the world in an airplane. Um, just to spend that time in a, in a stress stressfully traveling around for two weeks before you can get back. And so, so having a location, independent business or a way that you can make money without being in the same place is, is so valuable to then go to those cultures and actually live there or spend a bit of time there to, to embrace that culture. I think, you know, the, I I I had a very closed mind like growing up in the environment that I did. And it wasn't until I did my first six weeks backpacking around Europe that it completely blew my mind open. And it was really a big part of the reason why I'm here today.  

Mitch:    00:25:53    And, and traveling, you know, I once had a desire to, like, I bought my first house when I was 19 years old, right? And, and 'cause that's what I was told to do. And the, the, what I was planning to do from that point forward was like, just buy more and more houses and investment properties and, um, accumulate all of that. And yeah, sure, like I would probably would've made some good money. I'd probably be in a good spot, but as soon as I started traveling, my mindset completely shifted from wanting things to them wanting experiences. Um, you know, I, I never felt the fulfillment that I'd felt traveling around Europe for six weeks then through anything that I've purchased that would, that would be a thing, right? And yeah, like for, for me, like what really drives me now is looking back, you know, I, we can, maybe we can dive into this when we dive into the, the medicinal mushroom tea, but I believe I'm gonna live to a healthy 120 years old when I'm on my bed healthy deathbed at 120.  

Mitch:    00:26:54    And I look back at my life, I'm not gonna think of all the things that I purchased and the amount of houses that I had. I'm gonna be looking back at all of the people that I met on my travels, all of the, the amazing, like picturesque places that I visited, all of the sunsets that I had with close friends or, or lovers. Um, all of the, the times I went surfing where the waves were just perfect and like, those, those are the things that are what I will really remember and like, I just wanna fill my life with, with as many experiences as I can and as many, many memories as I can. And, um, that that's really the, the main reason why I was so driven to, to live a location independent life, um, from the beginning really. So yeah. Does that sort of answer your question?  

Kristin:    00:27:42    Oh yeah, for sure. You're, you're getting me to think about all of these little moments that I've had just telling those stories because it's so true. Like, when I think about some of the happiest times in my life and when people ask what is my favorite destination? I'm like, it's not necessarily a specific destination. It's like a specific moment that I had there having like sharing a bottle of wine with my best friend from high school at a restaurant in a castle on the Amalfi coast, or riding my bike alone through Amsterdam at midnight with a full moon or like riding on, you know, yeah, some guy, I am dating <laugh>, some guy's scooter through Bali with our surfboards and our backpacks, like with nowhere to be, nothing to do, just like completely free with like, no money by the way, <laugh> like living on, you know, less than a thousand dollars a month, but just having the best time of our lives.  

Kristin:    00:28:42    And I guess, yeah, when you, when you put it that way, that's even why I started my relocation company. 'cause I felt like if every human being had the opportunity to even spend one month living in a foreign country, it would change their lives forever. And, um, so yeah, I I completely agree with, with your sentiment there. Um, so now that you've been traveling around for a few years, uh, what is your like daily life like, well actually first let's talk about this van. So you went from backpacking around the world to now living in this Mercedes van, like moving up in the world, in the digital nomad world. How did this van come about and how did you convert it? And then I wanna know what your like day in the life is like Yeah. Living on the Gold Coast in the van. Yeah,  

Mitch:    00:29:33    Yeah, for sure. I, I was, I was really getting, so my, so my first company was a, um, a health and wellness company. So we, we actually focus a lot around fasting. So, you know, just sharing a lot of, doing a lot of online summits and, and sharing a lot of information about that stuff. Naturally as you start going down that path of, of natural health and meditation, I started to gravitate towards like, I, I wanna live off the grid and, you know, get away from people and have somewhere to retreat and to rejuvenate and things like that. So I got really interested in tiny houses and I just remember one Sunday afternoon I was just binge watching tiny house visit videos on YouTube. And all of a sudden one of the next videos that came up was this couple that were living in a van that was basically like an apartment on wheels.  

Mitch:    00:30:21    And like, as soon as I saw it, I was like, what do you mean there's people living in a van that basically on the inside looks like an apartment. And as soon as I saw that video, like I knew instantly I was like, I've gotta do this. And probably I spent the next three months just researching binge watching and all of the, all of the YouTube channels of people living in their vans and doing all the, like, going through all the van tours and, um, things like that. And yeah, I, I sort of had a, a decision to make as like, am I gonna build my own van or am I just going to to buy one can already done? And I decided because I was working so much that I'd just buy one that was already done. The second reason for that is if I build it myself, it probably would've taken four to six months.  

Mitch:    00:31:03    And I'm a little bit impatient when I want things, so I decided, okay, I'm just gonna buy something that I, that I, um, if I like it, I'll buy it and we'll start this van life thing and sort of just figure it out on the go. And yeah, I, I found one that popped up, uh, I bought it off a uni student, um, who was living in Brisbane CBD in this van. And, um, she, she loved it, but it was just too big for her. So, um, so I, yeah, I purchased it and moved in basically that as soon as I drove it back down to, to where I was living. And yeah, it's been amazing ever since. Like, a lot of people ask me, it's like, how did you downsize into a van? Well, I actually didn't, I, for so many years I've been living with a suitcase and a backpack and a laptop.  

Mitch:    00:31:45    That's all I had to move in. I had to then go out and find myself some plates and bowls and all of those extra things and think about my electricity and buy, like, bedding stuff. And, um, so yeah, I had to actually upsize to, to have everything that I needed to move into the van. But yeah, it's been, it's been such a rewarding experience so far. I guess the biggest thing that I've learned in that time is it's forced me to slow down a little bit. I'm sometimes I can be a bit of an overachiever, overachiever, and I, I get so inspired of like wanting to create things online that, uh, I can, that sometimes I just get caught up in that and then eventually, like, it gets the end of the week and I'm a little bit overwhelmed and I didn't even catch myself 'cause I was basically running on adrenaline the whole time.  

Mitch:    00:32:31    But being in the van, like the first thing I do when I wake up is like I step out into nature, right? I'm immediately grounding my feet on the ground and that connects me to, to sort of like the harmony of the earth and it makes me slow down a little bit to realize, okay, like, you know, your laptop is still gonna be there if you go for a surf for a couple of hours this morning and, and things like that. So yeah, it's been such a rewarding experience, um, in that case. And, um, yeah, maybe I can, uh, I'll dive into, into the day in just a moment, but, um, you're just pointing to yourself anxious and like you're an overachiever as well, like, I think for, for people like us, having some sort of, some sort of, um, routine or ritual that grounds you daily is so important and yeah, I'm, I'm just forced to do that in the van so it works out.  

Kristin:    00:33:21    Yeah. Um, I actually used to work out of a real estate office in Costa Rica with a view of the ocean. And every day at sunset, it was this ritual for all the people in town to go down to the beach and watch the sunset. And my best friend who lives in Australia in Byron Bay was visiting me and she was surfing like all day, every day, and I was working, and she really gave me a reality check. She was like, Kristin, you're living in paradise in Costa Rica. You can walk from your office to the beach. Everyone else is going surfing and you're sitting here working until it's dark outside <laugh>. Like, what is wrong with you? And so it, that, that does sound appealing to a fellow workaholic because yeah, you wake up, you look outside and you're like right there and you're like, well, it's not, you know, it's work will always be there, but when you have your house with you, it's like, it, you probably save a lot of time. I mean, how is your internet set up? Like, you don't have to go look for wifi, you could just work from the van. What, what, what you're doing right now, like, do you use like a mobile internet?  

Mitch:    00:34:36    Yeah, so I've got a, um, a mobile modem, which I use, but mostly just hotspotting off my phone. Um, that tends to work pretty well. Uh, I guess the only time that I need to plan a little bit is like things like this, like a call or an interview that I'm doing online where you just need to really make sure you've got a fast upload speed. The download speeds tend to be pretty good everywhere these days. It's just occasionally you get certain spots around around town where the upload speed is a little bit too slow. Um, so just, you know, as long as I'm thinking about that, that's fine. But yeah, I mean, like in, in terms of my routine, i I I wake up. The other, the other thing is it keeps you, like I was saying before, your circadian rhythm, um, when you're, you're sleeping, it really starts to go back into harmony with night and day.  

Mitch:    00:35:21    So it's very rare for me to wake up, you know, after sunrise, you know, I'm up at like, sort of 5:00 AM pretty much most days just naturally because I'm so close and so connected to the earth. Um, you know, hearing the birds around you all the time, uh, at that time in the morning sort of wakes you up naturally. So I, I really enjoy that part of it. And typically, yeah, I'll wake up from wherever I'm parked. I try and park away from the beaches and the public places where people tend to get fines and, um, I'll drive like to the beach or something like that and check the surf and just have a slow morning. Um, coming back to what we were saying before about being a workaholic, what I've really realized over the last sort of six months is the more that I slow down and the, the, the more that I'm intentional about being relaxed and, and setting up my day in a really positive way, um, the more productive I am throughout the rest of the day.  

Mitch:    00:36:15    But not only that, I sort of seem to attract the right clients into my life. If I need to sort of fill my fill up a couple of months time, I'll get like an inquiry just out of nowhere for a client who wants to work during that month. So yeah, I'm, I'm really big on like, you know, the law of attraction and where your vibration is, that's what you're attract into the world. And if I think if you're always working, you sort of lose that vibration a little bit, it then tends to create a lot more resistance in your life and it doesn't really serve you anyway. So yeah, by the time it comes around to, to 9:00 AM I've, you know, either been for a surf or I've been meditating for quite a while and have my medicinal cacao tea and um, maybe like read something or listen to something that inspires me to for the day.  

Mitch:    00:37:00    And, and then yeah, I'll get to work and some days I'll do three or four hours. Other days I'll do like six or seven hours, sometimes eight, like right now while I'm putting together the, the summit that's coming up. Um, and yeah, by the time the af and I try and break up my day a little bit and have like a swim during the middle of the day or go for a walk or a workout. And, um, and then, yeah, by the time the afternoon comes around, sometimes I'll go somewhere amazing to have some dinner where the sun is setting or other times, you know, I'll just have some dinner and go for a walk at night. Um, but I, I live quite a simple life most days of the week and then, you know, when I can, I, I just move the van and go and explore somewhere new, somewhere up and down the coast. So  

Kristin:    00:37:45    That sounds pretty idyllic and ideal and I think it's something that appeals to everybody at a very core level because have you seen the girl, I think her name's Janelle Eliana or something, this girl who made a video about Van Life, it has like 10 million views in the first couple months. I feel like that like van life is like 5 million views a year on, uh, YouTube. I looked it up. People want this, like people want the freedom of living in the van and being in rhythm with like, in their circadian rhythm and being close with nature. I mean, the cities and metropolitan areas really cut us off from that natural rhythm. Even the tech industry now is getting into slow mornings. I've read some really interesting blog posts that, I mean, you and I have been doing this for a while, <laugh>, so like we, I have slow mornings too, like it could take me three or four hours before I start working.  

Kristin:    00:38:48    But yeah, when I'm in my zone, I'm getting up at like five or 6:00 AM morning routine exercise wherever I am. Like my exercise fits the location. So if I'm in the mountains in the summer, it could be like running up the mountain or hiking. If it's the winter, it's snowboarding. If I am in a place with waves, it's surfing, you know, like it's, it's gonna fit that. Um, and then meditation, which I just did a couple of episodes about, and yeah, finally getting into work. And I think that's more a more natural way to live that resonates with people and appeals to them because what example do we have in nature of rushing? Is there any example that we can think of in the natural world where plants and animals are rushing around unless they're chasing food? Like a tree grows in years, not a week.  

Mitch:    00:39:42    Yeah, yeah, you're, you're totally right. And um, I, I used to be completely opposite like the, just a, a couple of years ago I used to wake up at like 5:30 AM and not even get outta bed before I'd open up a laptop and start getting into some work. And yeah, eventually that led to burnout. So I think what I'm doing now is definitely a lot easier on my body, both mentally, emotionally, and physically. And yeah, I just feel so, so much clearer throughout the day now as well. And yeah, like you say, like there's, there's definitely no representation of that in nature or, or what's happening on the outside of the world. And one of the sayings that I really love is as within so without, right, so what's happening internally, it should also represent externally. So yeah. Yeah, that I totally agree.  

Kristin:    00:40:28    And it's practical too. I mean, could you share with us maybe like your monthly cost of living or what the average cost of living would be for somebody living in a van in Australia?  

Mitch:    00:40:39    Yeah, sure. I mean, I guess it comes down to a few different things, like I guess how much you travel, whether you own the van or if you're leasing the van, um, all of those types of things. I actually made a a and, and also like how busy your lifestyle is and if you're choosing to cook first, not choosing to cook. So, you know, if I, if I break down basic costs, probably spending maybe a hundred dollars a week on, on fuel or, or gas, that's when I'm doing a little bit of traveling. Not huge amounts, but like enough to like get around and probably you could probably move city to city to city along the coast, spending that much. Um, I spend quite a lot on food, so I eat mostly organic or super foods, like, you know, health is one of my highest values and I try not to put a price on that, so I'm probably spending like $200 a week on food, um, maybe more, sometimes I'll say eight, eat out a few a few nights a week.  

Mitch:    00:41:34    So that tends to add up as well. But I mean, like a lot of people who I'm friends with and, and still live quite healthily are spending less than a hundred dollars a week. So you can definitely save a lot more on food. And you've got your insurance, which is about $80 a month. And, and then just like miscellaneous costs, so like I wash, I watched the van like two days ago that took like $20 worth and things like that. So I mean, I think when I made the video on YouTube about monthly costs, it was around about $2,000 a month for me. Um, but also like, because I would run my business, I choose to chose to lease the van as well. So, um, a lot, there's a huge chunk that comes out, um, in doing that because it's like a bit of a tax write off, right? So it works really well.  

Kristin:    00:42:22    Yeah.  

Mitch:    00:42:23    And yeah, so round about 2000 to 2,500 probably would be my monthly costs. However, like, and, and that's probably higher for somebody living in a van. Like I know a lot of people who are definitely doing it on less than $2,000 a month, even less than $1,500 a month. But comparatively to like somebody living in an apartment in the city working a job, their cost could be, you know, upwards of like $5,000 a month, $6,000 a month. So, um, yeah, it's, it's still quite low in comparison. And, um, not only that, like the, it's especially good as a digital nomad or someone starting out in business because you don't have huge overheads for your lifestyle and you can still live pretty comfortably and you can choose to then invest more of that back into your business, which means, um, you know, if you're, if you're doing well, you can grow faster, you can be, um, more confident that if you do run a little bit low on cash, you don't have to take so much outta the business.  

Mitch:    00:43:24    Um, and it just gives you that, that confidence to know you've got a little bit more sustainability than if you did have huge costs. So like the, the, regardless of if you're living in a van or not, I think like learning how to live in a way where your costs are really low is such an important skill to have when starting a business. And it does mean you have to do it forever, but it's definitely changed. It was definitely a big thing that I learnt, um, when building a business is that if I could keep my costs low and invest heavily into the business, that's when I could get results much faster. And a lot of people miss that. So  

Kristin:    00:43:56    Yeah, that's a really good point. And Australia is one of the most expensive countries in the world, especially as far as housing prices. So I can imagine that your friends and other, um, maybe family members and acquaintances, colleagues, everybody's spending more than $2,000 a month living there. I mean, most people, at least in the cities, and you could drop $200 just going out to eat and having a night out <laugh> like on the weekend on drinks and stuff. Um, and is this two, is this Australian dollars? 2000 Australian?  

Mitch:    00:44:31    Yeah, 2000 Australian. So, okay, so right now that's like 1500 US dollars, so that's why I, I love, um, the online world as an Australian right now, like we've always charged in US dollars, so when it comes into the bank account, there's always that little bit of extra, which is nice.  

Kristin:    00:44:48    Yeah, playing the exchange rate game, that's, that's very helpful. I've lived in certain countries, like when I lived in Australia, the exchange rate was really good for me, so my rent was like 50% off. But then I've also lived in Europe when the Euro was really strong, so, but yeah, if that's where you're based out of and you can charge in dollars, then go for it. <laugh>. So how long have you been in the van total? Like months or years?  

Mitch:    00:45:14    Uh, it's almost coming up on one year. So in about two more weeks, I think. Two or three more weeks. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:45:20    Has anything like really weird happened since you were living there? Have you had people like try to break in or anything like that?  

Mitch:    00:45:26    Uh, no, I get this question a lot. I, like I said, when I park, I park in really smart places away from where people would probably think that there's someone living in their van. Um, the other thing with my van as well is that unless you're really looking really hard, you'd probably just think it was like a, a van or a posty van or like a delivery van or something like that. Like I've got no windows or anything, um, on the side so people wouldn't really know there was somebody in there. The only strange thing, and it was, it was, it was funny really. Um, there was a place that I was parking in just outside of Sydney, CBD and it was just down the road from, from one of the, the pubs that sort of closed at midnight one night and I could hear three people coming walking down the street because they were quite loud, obviously quite drunk.  

Mitch:    00:46:14    They'd been drinking a lot. And, um, one of the girls like banged on the back of my window, like this was probably 11:00 PM at night. Luckily I was still up. I don't know why, but she just banged on the back window. And then, um, actually like it was a, it was a misty sort of night, so there was mist on the, on the windscreen and stuff. And she actually just wrote a love heart on the windscreen and then they just kept walking past. And um, so it was a little bit of harmless fun for her and it didn't wake me up 'cause I was awake anyway, so, um, but yeah, other than that I've not had any issues ever. And you know, you occasionally hear of somebody getting woken up by like a ranger, but it's 'cause they're always parked in the wrong spot, so, um, it's really their own fault. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:46:58    <laugh> me maybe you have a stalker? <laugh>  

Mitch:    00:47:02    <laugh>. Yeah, I mean I can, I'm pretty sure she would have no recollection of putting that heart on the window. Um, so I'm, I'm not gonna, you know, count my luck there. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:47:13    Yeah, I have to say Ozzie are pretty good at drinking, but so is everybody, like, every country I go to, I'm like, oh, they also love alcohol. Okay, everybody <laugh>. It's like Japan, England, Germany, like, it doesn't matter. Everyone's drinking <laugh>. Um, I was going to ask though on that note, are you ever like lonely living in the van or do, do you hang out with friends on the Gold Coast or what is kind of like, is your social life normal as if you are living in a house or an apartment?  

Mitch:    00:47:44    Hmm, yeah, I mean that's probably the second most common question I that i, that I get. And I mean, sure there, there's definitely times where you feel lonely in, in the van, but like there were times before I had the van where I felt lonely. It hasn't really changed in, in, in such where like may instead of having a, a big house to, to feel lonely in, I've just got this tiny little space, um, to, to feel lonely in. But yeah, I mean it doesn't really change the so social situation too, too much. I mean, if anything it probably, because I'm all, I'm out anyway, I'm probably like going to more things, but going out on more dates, going to more, um, places like parties where I wouldn't have actually been compelled to go to before, um, going out for dinners with friends because like the place is just down the road or around the corner or <laugh> or if it's like on the opposite side of town. I was like, I'll just go spend the next couple of days down that part of town and, and just see what it's like down there. So yeah, it's probably helped in that, in that situation.  

Kristin:    00:48:44    Yeah, actually I wrote an article about this called The Paradox of Loneliness in the Digital Nomad Lifestyle because it was such a common question that I got, but I'm asking you because people ask me all the time, and so I feel like it's my duty to ask everybody else how they deal with it, which is probably just in general, but what I said in the article is that it's on medium, I guess we will link to it in the show notes, is that people feel lonely all the time. It's like another human emotion or a state of being that everybody can relate to, and you can feel lonely laying next to your partner in bed. You can feel lonely with five kids in your house or whatever. Like, you can feel lonely anytime. So yeah, I feel lonely sometimes when I'm traveling, but then I also feel very fulfilled and very busy. Sometimes I feel like it's overload, like my social life is like too much and I need to pull back from it because I am a bit introverted. So when I socialize and network, it drains my energy. Um, even though I talk a lot <laugh> on the podcast and on YouTube and stuff, um, yeah, so, and I love people. I got voted most outgoing in high school, if you can imagine that. But yet I don't feel outgoing, so yeah, it, it's something that I think we all deal with.  

Mitch:    00:50:03    Yeah, absolutely. And I, I think just like having the space to have some solitude of your own is such an important trait to have. Like I've come across people who can't be on on their own because of, you know, a multitude of different, different reasons, but it's when you are on your own and you give yourself that, that time and space, um, for, for I guess new ideas and new creations and and new things to birth, like that's such an important time because if you, if you don't take that time to be by yourself and I guess have some of, some of that lonely time, um, I think you are always like, you, you, you tend to fall into doing what other people are are doing at the same time because you, you, you dunno who you are. And like Kristin, you just did how many days of meditation and, and no talking like a silent retreat, right? Like I'm sure there, there's some amazing things that you understood about yourself from, from that time because we don't give ourselves time like that alone and quiet and sitting in that place anymore. So yeah, I just think it's really important for people to actually do.  

Kristin:    00:51:14    Yeah, at the beginning I was actually afraid to travel alone because everyone told me I should be afraid that it was dangerous and blah, blah blah. But now that I've been doing it for so many years, it's always a different dynamic when you travel with a friend or a group of friends or with a partner or with family members. It's always a different experience. And I really cherish <laugh> those times traveling by myself, especially when they're balanced with big group trips because it turns into group think nobody has an opinion of what to do or where to go, and then there's always some kind of drama or something. So, and I used to travel with my ex-partner. We like lived together, traveled together. It was great for like years, but then, you know, I really missed having that time by myself and it's really fun actually. And that silent retreat was just right down my alley. I didn't think it was that hard, <laugh> because I liked it. <laugh>, I felt like very rejuvenated from sitting in silence for 11 days. I recommend it so well, I know that you wanna get out and go surfing.  

Mitch:    00:52:26    No, I mean this, this is fun. I love these conversations. So I could probably be here all day.  

Kristin:    00:52:31    I know I have a lot of questions on here, but, um, okay. I'll ask you a couple more questions and then we'll get into the lightning round and we'll get the ingredients for your hot chocolate, and then we'll tell everybody how to join the digital nomad sessions. So a lot of people listening to the podcast are not digital nomads, but they're just interested in all of these variety of topics that we talk about here from travel to lifestyle to philosophy and, and technology and remote work and how to make money online. So what would your advice be to somebody who's kind of just still mulling this over? They might have a traditional lifestyle, but they also have that seed in their brain of like, I think that there's something else for me, I want more adventure. I wanna get out of the nine to five grind and the rat race and like the materialism and stuff of the, um, western or modern world that we live in today. So, yeah. What would your advice be for people who may or may not have any skills and have never had a remote job, have maybe never traveled outside of the country, but are attracted to this lifestyle?  

Mitch:    00:53:41    Hmm. Yeah, good question. I mean, there's, there's a few different things to think about here. And the the first thing that came to my mind as you're asking that is, um, there's a, sometimes you hear advice out there that if you wanna do something, you need to burn all the bridges and go out there and just make it happen. And for some personality types, yeah, sure they can do that. Um, I'm definitely not one of those though. So if you are someone who is thinking about this, maybe it's a better option for you to start creating something on the side. I know that's what I did for about, you know, six to 12 months was on weekends and on in the evenings. That's when I had work on, on my business. And, um, you can still get quite a lot done during that time. And it's, and as you sort of chip away at it a little bit each day, eventually you get six to 12 months down the track where you've sort of figured out, okay, I've got a product here, people are buying it.  

Mitch:    00:54:33    I, I'm feeling a lot more confident in what I'm doing. And I think if I just put a bit more time and energy and money into that, I think it can grow really quickly. And that's what exactly what I did a few years ago when we were putting together a summit in the health space. Um, I figured out a topic, it was working well, and as soon as I knew that we could scale it up, that's when I quit the job. And, you know, literally two weeks after I quit that job, we did, you know, over 50,000 US dollars in a single month. So that's probably my first piece of advice is, you know, just start working at a little bit here and there on the side where you can, there's so many hours in the day, you know, if you've gotta take, do maybe one day less in your current job, then what you're currently doing and take a little bit of a pay cut, do that.  

Mitch:    00:55:16    Like, there's, there's so many different ways that you could, that you could do that. The other option, which is sort of like the opposite end of the scale where if you wanna live this lifestyle, but like building a business doesn't sound really that likes what you want to do, see if you have a job that you, you have already with a company that can be done remotely, try and negotiate a deal with them to, to work remotely and you can, you might have to transition into that where you can work a deal with them to work remotely for three days a week so that they know you're gonna be productive and, and things like that. Um, and then eventually get to being completely remote, which will then allow you to start moving around the world. But yeah, I think that's a really good option for so many people.  

Mitch:    00:55:58    And um, you know, I know when I left my marketing job a while back that they did, they threw every offer they could at me to actually continue working with them. And I think if you're good at what you do, your company will find ways to actually keep you around. And so many more companies are open to, to having their workers work remotely these days. Um, so many more of them are outsourcing to like, you know, different countries around the world anyway, to lower their costs. So, um, it's, it's, it's starting to become a lot more normal. And I, some, I sometimes wish I wasn't like so driven and didn't wanna make such a massive impact. Like I'd be, I could be so comfortable right now making like 50, $60,000 a year working completely remote, just doing 20 hours a week. But yeah, I mean, that's not what I'm called to do.  

Mitch:    00:56:44    So, but yeah, for so many people it's such a, such a good way to do it and I'd encourage you just to explore those couple of things, see what resonates, and just realize that the job is always gonna be there. Like if it's not that job, there's definitely another one. And especially if you're good at what you do and if you are someone who's interested in this lifestyle, I would sort of guess that you are someone who's really driven and can do really well and, uh, at at what you do no matter what you do. So yeah, just have the confidence to, to make a change and whatever that may be. And if it's wrong, that's okay. Like just do something different next time. And um, yeah, the best place to, to get started is just putting one foot in front of the other and just trusting the process.  

Kristin:    00:57:27    That is, that is money. That's such good advice. I hope everybody was taking notes there. <laugh>. And just as a reminder, when I started my first online company in 2011, um, I don't know if I've talked about this before on the podcast, but I was working nights. So I had the business idea in April. I didn't launch until August and I took like a one month sabbatical to try it out on paid, but I was working nights and weekends on my business. I remember my roommate was watching Game of Thrones and I was working at the kitchen table until two or three in the morning. And that's not necessary, you know, everyone can find their own flow, but uh, you can definitely shave off an hour a day in many cases, even if it's an hour that would normally be spent on social media or responding to messages or something like that.  

Kristin:    00:58:24    I think people spend like four hours a day on their phones and then plus TV and everything else. So just start small, start with like 30 minutes or something and then, and then go from there. And then I worked in real estate and when I started my company I made like 20 grand or something in the first month and I was like, I quit <laugh>. I wasn't making that much doing real estate. And so yeah, then the rest is history. So you might be surprised you could make more money, um, doing something remote. And for people who don't want their own business and don't wanna be entrepreneurs, totally get it. Like, I wish I wasn't an entrepreneur sometimes and I don't even feel like a real entrepreneur 'cause I don't have a startup or something, I'm a solopreneur. But yeah, there's remote jobs out there or I even have an article also, I'll put it in the show notes on how to talk to your boss about working remotely, how to convince your boss to let you travel more. So I'll link to that as well. And this is just gonna keep getting more and more common. So even if you just plant the seed, start with one day a week working remote, it ends up being a win-win for the, for you and the company. They get comfortable with you not being there. They realize how much money they're saving, you realize how much more productive you are. And before you know it, you're a digital nomad. So it can happen <laugh>. Yeah.  

Mitch:    00:59:42    Boom.  

Kristin:    00:59:43    I also agree with what you said about, uh, wishing that you weren't called to do so much because before I started making YouTube videos and starting like creating my personal brand, two and a half years ago I had on paper what was supposed to be like the best life, you know, like I had, it was making six figures a year and like had a boyfriend, had a a nice car, had a nice apartment, had everything. And I was like, I feel like such a slacker. Like I feel like I'm not contributing anything to the world and I have all this knowledge that took me like 10 years to accumulate and I'm just keeping it to myself. And I work from home and I travel and I'm flying business class and like, everything's great, but like I'm bored and I feel, I felt like I was depressed to be honest.  

Kristin:    01:00:35    I felt useless, kind of like I wasn't, yeah. Like I wasn't living my life's purpose. I was like, what am I doing here? So I had no idea what to do, I just started sharing what I knew. So if anything else, if you guys wanna start a personal brand that can follow you through life, like, like Mitch and I started doing and it's something that will grow with you throughout the decades until you're 120 <laugh>, then, um, just start sharing what you know, write about it. Oh yeah, I had a question about journaling because I saw that you are an avid journaler, which I am to, so I recommend it to everybody because it helps me just achieve more clarity in life and business and in what I'm doing. But you can overdo it. I actually told someone today like, don't journal and do morning pages and a bunch of other stuff 'cause you'll spend too much time just journaling and not working. But what are some of the benefits that you have received from journaling and would you recommend it to other people?  

Mitch:    01:01:41    Yeah, I mean, it, it definitely depends on the person. Like if you're not someone who enjoys writing and probably not, there's something I I do, I do mine very differently. Like I, I've tried, you know, journaling is so common when you, that you hear about in the personal development industry that if you journal it's gonna help for so many different reasons and, and it totally does, like a hundred percent. But, um, just writing my thoughts out onto paper and like writing my goals and all of those types of things, it wasn't something that I could really stick to. So the way that I do journaling is, I mentioned softly just a little bit earlier that I'm, I'm really into the law of attraction, right? And so the law of attraction states that what is likened into, into itself is drawn. So where wherever your mind is or wherever your vibration of, of who you are is, that's what you're attracted to and that's what you're drawn to.  

Mitch:    01:02:31    So a an exercise that I learned through, through doing those studies was journaling about positive aspects in your life. So journaling about, you know, an easy one for me that I journal about is my van. Like I, I absolutely love living in this van for so many different reasons. So I'll start by writing things about that, um, to, to start off my day and it sort of by starting somewhere where it's easy, it starts to build momentum. And by keeping it quite general, you can, there's no, there's no real resistance that comes up. It's like when we're journaling about, you know, the things that trigger us the most, like it's generally your relationship with your family or your partner, um, or money is generally another really tough one. So, so those things are like things that create a lot of resistance, right? Whereas if you start more general, talk about the things that you love, things that are easy to get into that state, then um, you can start to get more and more specific as you're going.  

Mitch:    01:03:24    So, so that's how I do it. And I don't jour I don't write every day, um, but I'll generally read what I've written before every day to sort of reactivate those thoughts. And the purpose behind it is to just like build that momentum for the rest of the day. So it's things that, it's something that I do in the morning, it's like part of my morning routine, um, generally while I'm having my tea. And yeah, it's just been, it's been a, it's, it's really transformed my life since I've been more consistent with it over the last six months to, to set my day up to be, um, I guess easier. Like instead of things being hard all of the time and a and a struggle, I just feel like I'm in flow and things effortlessly come to me rather than me trying to chase them all the time.  

Mitch:    01:04:07    And there's even been times where I have like a million different things on the list of, of things that I need to do. And I'll look at one and it's like, I'll just leave that, I'll let the universe take care of that. And I dunno why or how that happens, but it literally just disappears and it sort of gets taken care of for itself. Yeah, I mean maybe it's coincidence, maybe it's not depending on what you, what your, what your beliefs are, but it tends to work for me. And the more that I do it, the, the, the better the outcome gets and the better the outcome gets, the better it continues to get. So, yeah, it's really cool.  

Kristin:    01:04:40    Yeah, and I like what you said about changing it up and just letting it be a natural thing. Um, over the years, my journaling practice has varied widely. Sometimes it's a gratitude journal. Sometimes it's, I would just write down things I did that day or things I wanted to do. Sometimes I would write down things I was worried about and then it's really funny to go back and read them later 'cause you're like, that wasn't important at all. That was three years ago, I forgot that happened. And it just helps you keep things in perspective and also observe the ups and downs of life. Your mood can change many times through the day. Your state of mind, your motivation, your energy, these things ebb and flow all day. And when you're writing things down at any time of day in the morning or at night before you go to bed and just kind of reflecting on things, this is something that is recommended even by philosophers for thousands of years. I think it's just part of a, a mental health practice that really seems to help a lot of people who do it. Even if you don't consider yourself a writer, just jot down for five minutes something you're thinking about or an idea or something that's bothering you or whatever you feel that day. And there's no wrong answer. So I think that's really, yeah,  

Mitch:    01:06:00    A hundred percent. Like the, the biggest thing you just said there. There's no right or wrong way. Like whatever feels good for you is the right right way for you and it's always gonna change, so. Yeah.  

Kristin:    01:06:09    Yeah. Awesome. So, okay, I guess we should talk about, well we'll do the lightning round and then we'll get to the digital nomad sessions. Save the best for last because there's so much information and I don't even know all of the speakers, so lightning round. Okay. First up, what are the ingredients in the hot chocolate  

Mitch:    01:06:30    Organic cacao powder? Um, so, which is like the directly from the chocolate tree, so about one depends how much you're gonna have. I drink about a liter, I'm not sure how much that is in whatever you've got gallons, right? Yeah.  

Mitch:    01:06:47    So one liter of water it with about one full tablespoon of cacao and then so that, that's a chocolatey part of it. And then to make it medicinal, add in medicinal mushrooms. So I've got a whole host of different ones. Um, some of the most popular ones are Rishi Mushroom, chaga, keps Lion's, Maine. So there's a lot of different ones sort of, and they sort of target different areas of the body. So you can just go to whatever's sort of what you're feeling. I mean, for, for us, Kristin, the high achievers, something like Cord EPS is probably gonna be the best. It helps nourish the adrenals so that you don't burn out as quickly and sort of looks after them. So they'd be a good choice. And then I'll add in some cinnamon. So it just gives it a nice taste. I love cinnamon, uh, some honey if I wanna sweeten it up.  

Mitch:    01:07:37    And also to make it a little bit creamier, adding in some coconut milk. So that's basically it. And I just heat it up on the stove, stir it. Sometimes I'll, um, put it into a blender and make it a bit frothy, which also makes it amazing. But yeah, that's, that's my morning every single morning. It's literally changed my life. If you wanna go down like the spiritual path, they do a lot of cacao ceremonies and they say that cacao will target your heart chakra, so you're much more, um, you, you tend to be a much more loving and open, open person. So I mean, I, I hope that true that's true about me. I've not heard anyone say that to me lately, but if it is, then it's, I'll totally, totally put that down to the amount of cacao that I drink. <laugh>,  

Kristin:    01:08:19    <laugh>, I think it's probably a few different factors. That sounds really good. I love a good superfood smoothie myself, but I like the, the fact that you make it just like a drink without necessarily adding fruit in a bunch of other stuff to it,  

Mitch:    01:08:36    It, it seriously just takes like a, a normal hot chocolate. Like when I, when I offer it to the people for the first time and call it a medicinal kick out tea, they're like, hold on a minute. Like, is this gonna taste terrible? But it's, it's the most amazing taste in the world. It's just, just like a normal hot chocolate except probably better and good for you at the same time.  

Kristin:    01:08:55    Have you ever had the mushroom, the, I think it's four Sigma or something, the mushroom coffee?  

Mitch:    01:09:01    I haven't had the coffee. Sometimes I do add in, um, coffee maybe like once a month. Uh, but because I've done so much fasting and detoxing and, and things like that, anytime I have coffee now it's, it is, it is like taking a party drug. Like I, if I have coffee at 9:00 AM in the morning, I won't get to sleep until after midnight that night. <laugh>, it's, it's pretty full on for me. So yeah, I haven't had that four Sigma one, but I have heard about the brand and I've heard they're a really good brand, especially for people in the US and I'll give a shout out to Super Feast for people here in Australia. They're amazing.  

Kristin:    01:09:36    Oh, how do you spell that?  

Mitch:    01:09:38    Uh, super, so S-U-P-E-R and then feast, F-E-A-S-T.  

Kristin:    01:09:43    Oh, super feast. Okay, cool. So we'll link to that. Yeah, what I like for people who aren't familiar with these types of mushrooms, um, they're adaptogens so they can have like a different chemical reaction in everybody's body and they can kind of, they're intelligent so they kind of go where they're needed and they provide energy and help with stamina. And it's a different type of, it's not a high like a c like a coffee high or a caffeine high. It just provides like a natural boost of energy that you don't even really notice it. You just have more energy, like yeah, that's as good as I can describe it. <laugh>.  

Mitch:    01:10:25    Yeah, no, that's perfect. Like yeah, you're so right. And the, the benefit of an adaptogen is that the more you take it, the over time, the stronger it builds up in your body, the, the stronger it builds your constitution, right? So you don't have to cycle them out or anything like that. It's just, you know, have it every single day. And, you know, in, in a hundred years time you'll be 120 years old and healthy.  

Kristin:    01:10:48    It's good for the immune system too. So I know people say take vitamin C, but we Mitch and I say take your mushrooms because it really helps if you're, if you're traveling.  

Mitch:    01:10:59    Absolutely.  

Kristin:    01:11:01    Okay. What is your favorite remote work tool or app besides your computer?  

Mitch:    01:11:09    I love Canva.  

Kristin:    01:11:10    Mm, I use that one. That's for graphic design. They have a free version and a paid version. You can probably get away with the free one. So we already talked about morning routines and journaling, but do you have another productivity tip?  

Mitch:    01:11:27    I guess just planning, like, it sounds really simple, but planning your, your day beforehand, um, for me at least that's, that's changed a lot rather than waking up and then trying to plan your day plan beforehand. You know exactly what you're coming into and um, yeah, I seem to be more productive when I do that.  

Kristin:    01:11:45    I love doing that when I'm consistent at it. I actually just got this new, instead of getting a planner that has a lot of stuff to fill out, I just got this thing, it's like a pad of paper with the day, like by hours. It starts at 6:00 AM and I found that that's really easy 'cause I can just jot down the things I need to do the night before on that next page and then I rip off the top one, throw it away 'cause I'm done for that day. And if there's anything I didn't finish, I just put it onto the next day. And when I do that, my days are way more productive compared to <laugh> when I don't plan. So that is a good one. So you've mentioned a lot of health and of course a lot of the law of attraction and that you do a lot of learning and reading. Do you have a favorite book or a book recommendation for everybody?  

Mitch:    01:12:36    Yeah, one book that really transformed my thinking last year was the Surrender Experiment. I can't remember the author's name, but yeah, that's a really good book. It's, it's, it's a, it's a personal development book, but it's written as his life story, how he went from basically just wanting to meditate on the side of the, the, the hill every day away from people and like building this commune to then being the CEO and founder of a multi-billion dollar company. It's, um, yeah, it's a really, it's a really, it's a big page turner. It's really cool.  

Kristin:    01:13:09    Well, I'm gonna add that to my list. I have a list of 200 books or something to read, but then I have a list that's I'm most interested in these books and there's 20 of them or 30 of them that I'm gonna read first. So I'm gonna move that one up on the priority list. What is a favorite, for lack of a better word, favorite or memorable destination from your world? Traveler travels.  

Mitch:    01:13:37    Hmm. I mean, all of them is is the Go-to, I'd have to say <laugh>. Yeah. Okay, I'll, I'll say it. I'll, I'll be a bit vulnerable here. So in Budapest I fell in, I had a bit of a holiday romance, so that's one that will always stick out in, in my heart. Yeah,  

Kristin:    01:13:56    I went there with my mom. So <laugh>, it wasn't so romantic. <laugh>. I did notice a lot of couples though. It's a really good, it seems like a good place for like a honeymoon or something. It's very romantic. Yeah,  

Mitch:    01:14:09    Yeah.  

Kristin:    01:14:10    Uh, coworking space or coffee shop or van as your workspace, what's your preference?  

Mitch:    01:14:18    Oh, I'd have to say Van, but I mean, out of the other two coworking space,  

Kristin:    01:14:22    I asked, uh, we already talked about this, but how many hours do you work per day Average?  

Mitch:    01:14:27    Six to seven.  

Kristin:    01:14:28    And do you have any resources you can recommend to people who want to get started in online marketing and who want to live in a van? Maybe your YouTube channel? <laugh>?  

Mitch:    01:14:41    Yeah, I mean, yeah, my YouTube channel just Mitch Asser, but just YouTube in general. Like you can learn 95% of what you need to know just from YouTube. So yeah, just start looking.  

Kristin:    01:14:53    That's true. And what can people expect to learn in the Digital Nomad sessions? Give us your, uh, elevator pitch spiel. We saved the best for last. What is the Digital Nomad Sessions? What will people learn and how can they attend?  

Mitch:    01:15:07    Yeah, absolutely. So Digital Nomad Sessions is an online virtual summit for people who want to escape the rat race, who want to build an online income stream, a business or a career that really allows them to travel around the world, have more adventure and fun in their life, rather than just being stuck, you know, in a cubicle, um, for, or trapped in that cubicle for that in a job that they don't like. So it's really taking you through five different modules of what I believe and through my experience of building a, a sustainable career online with all of the best business experts for those particular topics. So we've got a good mix between, um, amazing digital nomads like yourself, Kristin and them digital business experts as well, who are more focused on building, um, building digitally through, through social media or, you know, other avenues. So yeah, I'm excited for it. We've got 24 speakers, um, maybe 25, sorry, I should know that. But yeah, it's gonna be from the 14th of February until the 20th of February and that people can sign up for and it's gonna be a lot of fun.  

Kristin:    01:16:11    Awesome. And guys, we have, uh, organized this as you know, if you're listening to this, it's this week, so well, when this, when this episode goes live, you can actually like sign up this week. So get on it <laugh> and I'll see you over there. And how can, uh, people connect with you on social media or your personal website if they wanna learn more about the work that you do and more about your van lifestyle?  

Mitch:    01:16:38    Yeah, amazing. Thank you for that. So yeah, just mitchasser.com is my website, or best place would be on Instagram @mitch.asser. Um, say hello, like, send me, send me a DM and say hello. Say that you, you heard this podcast and um, you know, I love to connect with you and, and I'll definitely will get back to you. So yeah, can't wait to hear from everybody.  

Kristin:    01:17:00    Yes, say that you're a badass digital nomad <laugh>. Okay guys, well thank you so much, Mitch, for joining us and allowing us to, uh, drop in on your surf session. No pun intended. And thank you guys, everybody for listening. Hit up Mitch and I on Instagram, Mitch Asser and Traveling with Kristin, and I hope to see you all in the digital nomad sessions. Go to digitalnomadsessions.com/Kristin to sign up and we'll link to everything, all the resources that we talked about in this pretty incredible episode. If I do say so myself in the show notes below. Um, I think, yeah, Mitch, we're gonna have to have a hot chocolate and catch up somewhere sometime because there's a lot to talk about <laugh>.  

Mitch:    01:17:48    Absolutely. Looking forward to it. Thank you.  

Kristin:    01:17:49    You're welcome. Bye guys. Thanks so much for listening to help support this podcast and help it grow. Please leave a review in the Apple podcast store and send this or your favorite episode to a friend for weekly travel videos, live streams, and even more interviews. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channels at youtube.com/digitalnomad and Traveling with Kristin. See you soon.  

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