The Nomad on FIRE Podcast

Guest Bio:

Allison O'Hanlon transitioned from studying Marketing in college to learning Software Development through a Bootcamp. Her employer allowed her to work remotely and she traveled with me during the 4-month Remote Year program I was on in Latin America! We discuss her transition to software development, how she got her employer onboard with remote work, what it's like being a digital nomad traveling throughout Latin America and so much more in this exciting episode!

Links Mentioned:

• The Nomad on FIRE Podcast Prize Giveaway
• Remote Year, work and travel program for digital nomads that Allison and I met on
• Airbnb platform we used to book accommodations for a variety of side trips during our Remote Year Program
• Casa En El Agua

Show Notes: 

• Allison welcome to the show! [00:00]
• Allison’s Background 1:10
• How Allison switched from Marketing to Software Development 3:30
• How Allison got her employer on board with joining the Remote Year program 5:45
• Allison’s experience on Remote Year Abeona 08:00
• Casa En El Agua side trip 12:45
• Positives of the digital nomad lifestyle 16:00
• The importance of a structured routine 19:30
• Downsides of the digital nomad lifestyle 21:15
• Getting into a good working routine as a digital nomad and switching up your environment 25:00
• Allison’s future travel plans 33:30
• Advice for aspiring digital nomads 38:30
• A perfect day 42:30
• #1 piece of advice 43:30
• Where to find Allison online 44:30
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

“What we’ve done in the last four months would literally take someone like five years” 11:57

“Traveling at that slower pace is less exhausting and gives you more time to think about what you’re doing” 16:45

“I’m not giving myself the time to be alone and recharge” 23:00

“The digital nomad lifestyle isn’t just for years and years and years of travel I think you can make it your own” 37:00

Guest Bio:

Tyron Mott is a software engineer by trade but recently made the move from Silicon Valley to the digital nomad lifestyle. He is a musician and the founder of VentureTY a site with the vision of helping people understand themselves better and craft a meaningful life. Tyron and I discuss transitioning from full-time corporate jobs to work on more creative endeavors and so much more in this exciting episode!

Links Mentioned:

• VentureTY, Tyron's site with the mission to help people discover themselves and craft a meaningful life
• Tyron on Instagram
• Remote Year, work and travel program for digital nomads that Tyron and I met on
• Regret Minimization Framework - Jeff Bezos

Show Notes: 

• Tyron, welcome to the Nomad on FIRE Podcast 00:30
• Tyron’s background and how he became a digital nomad 00:45
• Tyron discusses leaving his full time high paying corporate job as a software engineer and how following FI principles such as having a 40-50%+ savings rate helped him on his journey 07:30
• Eric gives his thoughts on journaling, finding the FIRE community and then transitioning to the digital nomad lifestyle 11:50
• Tyron discusses how his creative and entrepreneurial journey and experience with Remote Year has been so far 13:50
• Eric discusses having a similar experience so far on Remote Year and finding a good balance as a digital nomad 18:50
• Tyron discusses VentureTY and his vision for it 21:30
• Tyron and Eric discuss slowing down the pace of travel and staying in a place for longer than just one month 29:00
• Eric discusses his travel plans for the first part of 2020 in SE Asia 32:00
• Tyron discusses the pros and cons of the digital nomad lifestyle 33:45
  • Pros- Freedom!
  • Learning Spanish
  • Cons- how to leverage and how much to involve himself in the community
• Tyron discusses his experience with each of the cities we traveled to on our four-month Remote Year Program- Santiago, Chile, Lima, Peru, Medellin, Colombia and Mexico City, Mexico 38:30
• Eric gives his thoughts on the Latin American Remote Year cities the group visited 43:30
• Tyron discusses his experience with Mexico City and Mexico City as a creative hub 45:20
• One new thing Tyron has learned about himself or reinforced while traveling 47:25
• A perfect day for Tyron 50:45
• #1 Takeaway from today’s conversation 53:20
• Where to find Tyron online 54:50
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

• “You look around and you see where you are and you just start questioning  what else is there, how can I challenge myself more, what else can I do?” 02:39
• “ I was always very conscious of lifestyle inflation and was always trying to live under my means” 05:39
• “Based on how much I’ve saved, I could leave my job I could live X amount of years not have to worry about anything and just continually discover in those things I wanted to pursue” 06:05
• “I knew that I didn’t want to go for the carrot that was in front of me, but I didn’t necessarily know what my carrot was” 09:20
• “Money won’t make you free, but it gives you more opportunities to express your freedom” 11:17
• “What is the next page that I’m going to write as opposed to just copy and pasting from the previous page?” 11:50  
• “I like to think of life as a series of bets, but it's really just an experiment” 25:16
• And much much more...

Guest Bio:

David Finkelstein proves the digital nomad lifestyle is not just for millennials! David is the Founder and CEO of Instantcard, the largest online supplier of photo ID cards for the corporate marketplace. Learn how David began a new lifestyle by joining Remote Year in this powerful episode. We discuss how David runs his business from anywhere in the world and has built both a team in a physical location as well as a distributed team and so much more!

Links Mentioned:

• InstantCard- the largest online supplier of photo ID cards for the corporate marketplace. InstantCard offers Cloud-based service plus physical ID cards
• Selina Coworking in Medellin, Colombia

Show Notes: 

• David Welcome to the Nomad on FIRE Podcast! 00:30
• David’s Background and how he began the digital nomad lifestyle 00:50
• Why David founded his company Instantcard 02:05
• Managing a partially distributed team and how to foster a team environment when part of the team is remote, and part is in a physical location 04:45
• How many companies are ill-prepared for the gig economy and remote work trends 09:15
• David’s advice for hiring people on Upwork 12:00
  • Have applicants sent over examples of similar work performed
  • Ensure high rating on both the freelance and hiring side
  • Start with a small test project
  • Be quick to move on if someone doesn’t meet your expectations
  • How is their communication? How much guidance do they require? How many questions do they ask?
• David discusses the pros and cons for him of the digital nomad lifestyle 17:15
• The power of separating work and play into “boxes” 24:30
• Envisioning the digital nomad lifestyle with less traditional remote roles 27:30
• David’s future travel plans 29:30
• David’s #1 piece of advice for aspiring digital nomads 31:40
• David’s advice for testing out the digital nomad lifestyle 33:40
• David’s #1 Takeaway from our talk 35:15
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

• “How the Gig economy can allow much greater flexibility ” 03:50
• On discussing running his business while being fully remote- “We just had our second best month ever” 04:18
• “ I think people are attracted to companies with that kind of flexibility, so it’s been a good recruiting tool as well” 06:07
• “They’re not aware of how they’re business model is likely to be blown apart as a result of virtual work tools” 09:30
• “The incredible amount of flexibility that is enabled of hiring people on a project basis, on a part-time basis on an as-needed basis provides a huge amount of flexibility compared to the traditional process of hiring a full-time employee” 09:44
• “Once you choose this digital nomad lifestyle its a great opportunity, but there’s also an opportunity for distraction” 19:40
• “I would encourage you to first start working remotely from home” 31:45

Guest Bio:

Nicole Hudson is a digital nomad from the US and a consultant in the financial industry. In this episode, we discuss how to take your job remote and overcoming a "Resume Gap". We also discuss how to continue to grow and advance in your career while being a remote professional. We also discuss personal development and discovering so much about yourself while traveling.

Links Mentioned:

• Nicole on Instagram
• Nicole Hudson PMP LinkedIn
• Nicole Facebook
• Nicole's Blog: Reflection on the Hudson
• Making difficult life decisions

Show Notes: 

• Nicole Hudson, welcome to the Nomad on FIRE Podcast! 00:30
• How Nicole and I met. Nicole is a "Citizen" or alumni of the Remote Year program. Nicole and I met in Medellin, Colombia when she joined our program 01:05
• Nicole's work history 1:30
• Conversation with her employer on how to work remotely 04:15
• How you can grow in your career by taking a break to travel as opposed to being worried about the "Resume Gap" 06:30
• So many opportunities to collaborate with fellow digital nomads 07:30
• Nicole's conversation about going remote with her employer 09:00
• Nicole's history of travel and working remotely 15:15
• Nicole's 4-month Remote Year Program in Europe 16:45
• Reverse culture shock 17:40
• Nicole's future travel plans 21:15
• The flexibility of the digital nomad lifestyle and ideal time in each location 22:15
• Benefits of being a Remote Year citizen and jumping in with other groups 25:30
• Balancing between group and solo travel 27:00
• What Nicole has learned about herself and how she has changed as a person 28:20
• The importance of taking some time for yourself 31:15
• Nicole's Perfect Day 33:00
• Importance of journaling 35:00
• #1 Takeaway- Take the leap! 36:45
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

• "Pretty much everyone I spoke with said if I had the opportunity to do that I would go" 05:10
• "I'm not losing my skillset, and I'm not losing my network" 06:07
• "I had a goal every year I was going to take an international vacation" 15:40
• "When you come back from traveling your change is all internal" 20:00
• "One thing that I really learned and its changed me as a person and I love it is that I'm much more spontaneous" 21:50
• "One month allows you to get a taste of the culture but not get ingrained in the culture" 23:30
• "New ideas are really good; I'm not always going to be right" 30:20
• And much much more...

Guests Bio:

Jay and Christi of Puddles & Passports are currently on a year-long journey around the world with their two young children Chloe (5), and Camden (20 months). They share their story at Puddles & Passports where they show other families how to travel the world with children. We discuss their day to day routine while traveling, the importance of slow travel, the financial habits that set them up to be able to go on this journey and so much more in this episode!

Links Mentioned:

• Puddles & Passports Follow Jay, Christi and the kids travel journey! 
• Puddles & Passports on Facebook
• Puddles & Passports on Instagram
• Nomad Summit 2020 by Johnny FD and team
• World Wide Soccer, company that Jay founded in 2003 and then they sold the business in 2017
• Their article on vacation rentals vs. hotels
• Tips for flying with children
• Johnny from Financial Roadways, one of my friends mentioned in the episode and travel hacking expert
• Trusted Housesitters
• WWOOF
• Puddles & Passports How To Plan Long Term Family Travel

Show Notes: 

• Jay and Christi of Puddles & Passports, welcome to the show! 00:30
• Christi and Jay’s background and how they ended up in Chiang May, Thailand 01:15
• The catalyst to start living a more nomadic lifestyle 03:40
• The importance of having goals and something to work on and make progress within Early Retirement 06:15
• What does a typical day look like for Jay, Christi, Chloe (5), and Camden (20 months) while traveling the world 07:35
• The importance of staying in a place for longer when traveling with children #slowtravel 10:30
• Christi and Jay discuss work and how they spend their time on their blog Puddles & Passports 13:00
• The mission and vision behind Puddles & Passports 16:15
• Jay and Christi’s top tips for traveling with young children 19:55
• Christi and Jay talk finances and how they afford to travel around the world as a family 24:00
  • Top tips
    • They tried to live solely off of Christi’s income and save Jay’s income
    • Renting out their home while they’re traveling
    • Other savings and investments
    • Budgeting plan- trying to live off the same budget as what they would spend back home in San Antonio
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

• “How’re you surviving a 12-hour flight with a toddler?” 05:40
• “We’ve learned that staying in one place long enough to get your bearings and get a routine and a schedule in place has been a game-changer” 07:51 
• “It's unlike a vacation obviously, because we are living this long-term” 08:20
• “Vacation rentals vs. Hotels, and what that means for a family, for us what we’ve learned through being on the road for 4 months now is that we need two bedrooms” 16:35 
• And much much more...

Guest Bio:

Michael Constable of Michael Wings It is one of my good friends from college and was a huge inspiration for me to begin living the Digital Nomad Lifestyle. I think you’ll really enjoy this episode. We discuss Michael being unhappy with his life situation in Austin, TX, joining a year-long Remote Year Program and then continuing to travel on his own for an additional year until finally coming full circle into currently living a more settled life in San Fransisco, California. We discuss the Pros and Cons of each lifestyle and Michael's recommendations for beginning the digital nomad lifestyle!

Links Mentioned:

• Michael Wings It, Michael's blog and travel stories
• Remote Year, a work and travel program for digital nomads! Michael was one of the big inspirations for me starting to live the digital nomad lifestyle and begin my journey through traveling with Remote Year
• Michael traveled through Thailand with Drew Binksy. Check out his articles here and here on the trip! Also, check out Drew’s video about the trip.

Show Notes: 

• Michael Constable, Welcome to the Nomad on FIRE Podcast! 00:30
• Michael was the inspiration for me joining Remote Year and beginning to live the digital nomad lifestyle 00:45
• Michael’s Background, travel history and how he first joined Remote Year 01:05
• Michaels travel blog and experience traveling with Remote Year at Michael Wings It 05:15
• Michael’s opportunity to do a tour around Thailand with Drew Binsky 13:30
• We dive into Michael’s journey where he goes full circle from settled lifestyle corporate job to traveling in a group with Remote Year to solo travel and then back into a more settled lifestyle. We discuss the pros and cons of each lifestyle 14:30
  • Remote Year Pros
    • Autonomy and flexibility over your schedule
    • Fewer office distractions
    • Biggest pro- opened my mind up to what was possible for me
    • The people you meet and the community of digital nomads all traveling, living and working together for a year with the same group of people!
    • Network of people
    • Perception of time while traveling
  • Cons
    • Finding a consistently healthy and productive routine
    • Removed from friends and family back home
    • Feeling tired from trying to do too many things and see to many places at once
• Traveling on your own 28:30
  • Pros- freedom to go wherever you want
  • Chance to meet many new people and locals in the places you’re visiting
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

• “I think both the nomad life and the stationary life both have their pros” 04:40
• “I started writing on Medium because I was Wordpress illiterate at the time, it was much easier and cleaner to publish on Medium and its great for photos” 06:00
• “Blogging opened up a lot of doors for me” 07:10
• And much much more...

Guest Bio:

Bev Yeager of Bee-Designs or Beverly Yeager .com is an award-winning graphic designer and digital nomad. After becoming unhappy in her full-time job, Bev started her own freelance graphic design business and now travels the world living the digital nomad lifestyle. If you're interested in doing the same, you have to listen to this episode!

Links Mentioned:

• Bev's websites Bee-Designs or Beverly Yeager .com
• Nomad on FIRE Score, balancing the cost of living (COL) with quality of life (QOL)
• Remote Year, the work and travel program for digital nomads that Bev and I met on
• Bev's Instagram

Show Notes: 

• Bev welcome to the show 00:30
• Bev's Background 01:15
• Made so many changes all at one time- quit her full-time job, moved back to Massachusetts and ended an eight-year relationship 02:34
• Not sure if she wanted to continue being a designer and how she transitioned to freelancing 03:05
• Bev's advice for making significant life changes 05:00
• Take the leap! 06:10
• Starting a business working for yourself 08:15
• Bev designed the Nomad on FIRE logo!!! 11:10
• Upsides of being a freelancer 11:45
  • Time flexibility
  • Can work when you're more focused and productive
• Downsides of freelancing and working remotely 14:45
  • Set up boundaries with clients
• Routine as a digital nomad and getting set up in a new place 17:15
• One month pace of Remote Year 19:30
• Mexico City for digital nomads 21:00
• Eric's love of tacos 22:15
• Bev's future travel plans and the possibilities of the digital nomad lifestyle 23:00
•  Eric's future travel plans 26:39
• Working nights in SE Asia 28:00
• What is Remote Year? 30:15
• Advice for aspiring digital nomads 34:40
• How Bev affords this life of travel and how having a savings buffer helped her thoroughly enjoy her Remote Year experience 37:30
• How Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) and the digital nomad lifestyle complement each other so well 40:30
• It's important to balance saving for retirement and the future with enjoying your life in the present 42:30
• A perfect day for Bev 43:45
• What Bev learned about herself by becoming a digital nomad 46:10
• 1# Piece of advice for an aspiring digital nomad 48:45
• The power of community 50:00
• Where to find Bev online 52:30
  • Bev's websites Bee-Designs or Beverly Yeager .com
  • Bev's Instagram
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

• "I was just really unhappy sitting in an office all day" 02:05
• "I enjoyed the fact that it was on my terms" 03:35
• "You can't be afraid to fail" 05:17
• "I could just literally live my life traveling if I wanted to" 06:30
• "I liked doing everything by myself, just to understand it all" 10:17
• "I could go literally anywhere" 24:38
• "Stop and celebrate your wins for sure" 48:10

Guest Bio:

Andrea Mujica, originally from Florida has lived in Chile for the past 9.5 years! Andrea discusses teaching herself the necessary digital and content marketing skills to work for herself, break into the Chilean tourism industry and live the digital nomad lifestyle. She is a super positive and awesome person, I think you’ll really enjoy this episode, especially if you’re from the US and interested in living outside of the US for an extended period of time, especially if you’re interested in Chile! Check out her blog Where She Goes Today. 

Links Mentioned:

• Puerto Varas in the South of Chile
• La Joya Hostel in Valparaiso, Chile
• Paralelo Coworking Space | in Valparaiso, Chile. 9000 CLP or about $11.50 USD for a day pass 
• Where She Goes Today | Andrea’s personal blog and travel stories
• Today In Chile | Chile specific content, hotel, restaurant reviews, and top Chilean travel itineraries 
• World Packers
• Armenia, Colombia https://www.desktodirtbag.com/armenia-colombia/
• Andrea’s Instagram

Show Notes: 

• Andrea welcome to the Nomad on FIRE Podcast! 00:30
• Andrea’s background and how she first moved to Chile 01:00
• How Andrea became a Content Specialist to expand the Chilean tourism industry 05:30
• How Andrea decided to leave Santiago and live a more digital nomad style life 07:10
• How Andrea and I met 09:00
• Andrea’s Blogs- Where She Goes Today | Andrea’s personal blog and travel stories and Today In Chile | Chile specific content, hotel, restaurant reviews, and top Chilean travel itineraries 10:00
• More about Andrea’s role as a content specialist 10:57
• How Andrea broke into helping the Chilean tourism industry 13:00
• Andrea’s tips for creating your own job and breaking into digital marketing 14:35
• Pros and Cons of living the digital nomad lifestyle vs. being more settled 15:26
• Tips for finding and healthy balance and routine while living the digital nomad lifestyle 18:04
• 18:40 Using Notion as a to-do list, journaling, a task tracker and habit tracking
• Eric’s experience in Chile while traveling with Remote Year 20:15
• How Andrea budgets for $1,000 USD a month to live in Chile as a digital nomad by living in hostels and using the site World Packers to receive free rent in exchange for help at hostels 27:15
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

• “When I came back home to the United States I kinda had this reverse culture shock” 02:53
• “Everybody was in the exact same place, doing the exact same thing” 03:10
• “ I wanted to keep creating content for my blog, but also help others in the industry create content” 05:45
• “ I learned about all this stuff just thanks to Google and to Youtube. I would watch hours and hours of content” 06:20
• “In my work, I do a lot of content creation as well as web development because I realized a lot of companies don’t have websites” 12:10
• And much much more...

Guest Bio:

Brett Gelfand is Co-Founder and CEO of PAQ Case and a managing partner of CannaBIZ Collects . Brett was one of my closest friends on the 4-month Remote Year program I was on so it made sense to have him as my first guest on The Nomad on FIRE Podcast. You'll gain some great insights and hopefully, have some laughs in this action-packed interview! We discuss traveling, geoarbitrage, living in Medellin, Colombia, what it's like to be an entrepreneur and a digital nomad, and so much more.

Links Mentioned:

• Remote Year , travel program for digital nomads where Brett and I met
• Semester at Sea
• PAQ Case , Brett's main business
• CannaBIZ Collects , Brett's side business
• Startup Stoners Podcast
• Brett Gelfand on LinkedIn

Show Notes: 

• Brett’s Background [01:10]
• How Brett got to DJ Kurt Cousins Wedding [02:00]
• “Lean In” to business and in life [02:30]
• Brett was 24 years old running a Cannabis company that had just raised $20 million in capital [03:20]
• How Brett came up with the idea for Paqcase [05:30]
• What it's like to be an entrepreneur and a digital nomad [08:40]
• Remote Year was the best opportunity for me [09:45]
• Brett’s thoughts on Medellin, Colombia [11:40]
• El Poblado Area is a great place for Remote Workers [12:30]
• Cost of living in Medellin, Colombia [14:25]
• Brett’s experience with Semester at Sea [16:35]
• By following the Principles of Financial Independence Eric now has the opportunity to travel the world as a digital nomad [19:45]
• How to work through some of the struggles of being a digital nomad [20:30]
• Brett and I both plan to stay in places more longer-term as digital nomads moving forward 2-6 months ideally 24:10
• What does a perfect day look like? 27:30
• Brett’s advice- “Lean In” 30:05
• You just have to act! 32:45
  • 33:00 Don’t Settle
• Eric took the leap to quit his job and become a digital nomad 34:35
• Remote Year and the digital nomad lifestyle is a great option if you're not sure of your current life path 36:35
• Eric’s experience leaning in 37:30
• Where to connect with Brett online 38:50
• And much more...

Significant quotes: 

• “Why am I working at home by myself” 09:25
• “It's not just about the next paycheck” 10:49
• “Spend five bucks on lunch” 14:40
• “I think that’s actually the number, your money can go 2-3 times as far” 15:12
• “I basically took an extra college semester” 16:45
• “Awakened me into realizing a lot about the world, about people and about what my life could be” 17:25
• “I’m passionately really falling in love with just traveling” 18:28
• “By following the Principles of Financial Independence now I have my opportunity a little bit later in life, and it's still just as awesome” 19:45
• “Being a digital nomad helps create more discipline” 21:43
• “Work hard, play hard” 22:38
• “Let me spend 3-6 months in a city and really make it my home” 23:10
• “Everything in life is expectations” 26:17
• And much much more...