Tracy Bellevue: The Hustler

Guest
Tracy Bellevue

Digital Nomad | Marketing Consultant | Writer

Based: Worldwide (Travelling through Europe)
Instagram: @bellevueabroad
Substack: substack.com/@bellevueabroad

Episode Description
Tracy Bellevue quit both jobs, broke her lease, sold her car for cash, and left America with nothing but savings and a book she needed to write. No clients. No remote work experience. Just a determination to escape 75-hour work weeks and an empty nest.

In this conversation, Tracy shares how she transitioned from burnt-out single mum to digital nomad, building multiple income streams from marketing to tutoring to Substack. We explore the raw reality of her first 30 days abroad, the mental health memoir she's writing, the healing that only distance could provide, and why co-living spaces became essential to her journey.

This is a story about radical reinvention, confronting your past, and building a life where you ground yourself in yourself.

Key Topics

The Breaking Point (00:00 - 07:21)

Working two jobs, 75 hours a week as a full-time mum

The moment she realised: "I'm going to die if I keep doing it this way"

Two teenage sons moving in with their dad

Empty nest crisis: entire identity wrapped in caregiving

Cousin's invitation to Europe for six months

The decision to "just go"

Making the Leap (07:21 - 11:12)

Quitting both jobs, breaking lease, selling car for cash

No plan, no income, just savings

Coming from Haitian immigrant family: "There's a thousand ways to make money"

The one thing driving her: writing a book she couldn't write in America

Booking co-living in Swiss Alps with cousin

Leaving August 2024

The Hustler's Income Streams (11:12 - 17:00)

Marketing as primary income: Google ads, campaigns, brand building

Taking a candle-making idea into an entire campaign

Tutoring for additional income

Substack blog: reviewing co-living spaces with paid subscriptions

The make-as-you-go philosophy

Hard months vs. abundant months: learning to budget

First 30 Days Reality (17:00 - 21:04)

Leading up: working double shifts, wrapping up entire life, constant movement

Arriving in Switzerland: "I kind of crashed"

Walking into a postcard but going from movement to complete stillness

The adjustment to co-living lifestyle

What they didn't know they were getting into

The Book No One Expected (21:04 - 28:42)

Writing a memoir about undiagnosed borderline personality disorder (ages 16-24)

"I was just a monster, to put it lightly"

The only relationship she protected: motherhood

Feeling she owed vindication to people she harmed

"Very candid. It's really ugly."

Why she needed Europe to write it: distance from the memories

Meeting people as "just Tracy Bellevue" - not connected to her past

Knowing she has to go home to finish it properly

Letting the people in those chapters read their stories

Finding Community After Isolation (28:42 - 34:50)

Leaving America with no close friends

Years of keeping people at arm's length

"Afraid of what I was capable of"

Coming to Europe to pursue friendship and relationships

Co-living as the answer

Meeting people who only know present-day Tracy

Outside perception solidifying healing

The final piece: proving she could connect with others

Home Is What You Carry (34:50 - 40:24)

The tension between home and away

"We are the bridges between our homes, our past lives, and this life"

Going home means confronting change

"Everyone's lives have continued on without you"

The road changes you faster than staying in one place

"Nothing feels like home anymore"

Resolution: "I am my home as a traveller. I ground myself in myself"

Timestamps

00:00-00:28 Generic podcast introduction
00:29-01:29 Guest introduction
01:30-01:53 Introduction to Tracy
01:53-06:14 Background: working 75 hours/week, two jobs, full-time mum
06:14-06:41 The moment: "I'm going to die if I keep doing it this way"
06:41-07:54 Kids moving in with dad, empty house, identity crisis
07:54-08:51 Cousin's Europe trip invitation
08:51-09:33 Quitting both jobs, breaking lease, selling car
09:33-10:15 No plan, no income, just savings
10:15-11:36 Immigrant hustle mentality: "Thousand ways to make money"
11:36-12:42 The book she needed to write, leaving August 2024
12:42-13:48 How she makes money: marketing as primary income
13:48-16:00 Multiple income streams: candle campaigns, tutoring, Substack
16:00-18:30 Income fluctuation: hard months vs. abundant months
18:30-19:49 First 30 days: crash landing in Switzerland
19:49-22:34 Going from constant movement to complete stillness
22:34-25:48 The book: memoir about borderline personality disorder
25:48-28:12 "I was just a monster" - except as a mother
28:12-30:12 Owing vindication to people she harmed
30:12-31:38 Leaving America with no close friends
31:38-33:54 Europe as space to write and heal
33:54-36:20 Meeting people as just Tracy, not connected to past
36:20-38:40 Why the book must be finished in America
38:40-39:53 The bridge between two lives
39:53-41:31 Going home: "Nothing feels like home anymore"
41:31-41:54 "I am my home as a traveller"
41:54-42:44 Closing thoughts

Connect with Tracy

Brand: Bellevue Abroad

Substack: Co-living reviews and travel insights

Services: Marketing consulting for small brands

About This Podcast
Real conversations with successful digital nomads who've built sustainable location-independent income. Strategic insights on how they transitioned, what income streams they built, and what they wish they'd known earlier. No travel tips or lifestyle fluff.

Host
Ibi Malik helps ambitious professionals transition to nomadic careers without income sacrifice.

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Episode length: ~41 minutes

Published: 16th January 2026

Episode #002