Digital nomadism styles: what are land based and ocean based nomads lives like? Videocast

Hello and good afternoon joanna and dawn. Good afternoon happy to meet you in person - in the digital world of course! So three digital nomads on a well at least two different parts of the world - northern and southern hemisphere. Yes, two different continents.


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Videocast transcript

Hello and good afternoon joanna and dawn.

Good afternoon happy to meet you in person - in the digital world of course! So three digital nomads on a well at least two different parts of the world - northern and southern hemisphere. Yes, two different continents.

Yeah so dawn you are in  Argentina?   I am for now.  Buenos Aires?   Are you on a boat? No. Oh... And she's very happy about it. Okay...

So maybe you can introduce yourself ? I am dawn bates i... depending on how people know me it will either be as an author coach or as a character, a business mentor, as a sailor, tea drinker mother, sister, whatever. Lots of labels i don't tend to buy into any of them i'm just mean dawn international best-selling author currently sailing around the world researching for my next series - and yeah it's an interesting journey. I spend most of my time at sea.

That's interesting thank you! And we also have joanna which is in athens right greece right?

Yes i'm  Athens, Greece   - hello everyone this is joanna vaiou and i'm a search engine optimization specialist so my job is to help brands rank on top page of google organically with different mediums like text videos google maps pages and other types of contents and i'm also partial digital nomad which means because i don't have a regular office with employees i'm a personal brand on my own.

My business is totally remote so i can do it from anywhere in the world and i also found out when i was 28 that traveling is great for me because it made me a totally different person and more stronger and more passionate about life, and it takes me forward traveling takes me forward i love it as an experience it has changed my life. Because of the traveling i met people that i would never meet in greece and i saw that other types of lives are possible and if i never went out i'd never have experienced that this is possible for me. So i did that i met my first digital nomad when i traveled to  Barcelona   eight years before and i saw he told me that you know this is possible you can do it too and it was great for me because back then i was very depressed growing up, and i was told that as a woman i can't travel by myself - i can't leave home without my husband there or whatever so it was like yeah, people are more free here and people can travel and i'm a woman and i can also take myself and take me on a plane with my own money without anyone, you know, supporting me because i'm capable enough to support myself and smart enough to support myself.

It was great that i met other people like me and that gave me strength because yeah the environment there from which i come from it's nice not at all.

Encouraging of all this modern stuff yes it's changed my mind from the people i met and i saw that things are possible.

So how'd you two meet?

How i met with dawn? We met on linkedin right? Yeah i think it was my catchphrase come on ladies grab life by the ovaries i think that dawn you have seen my cover picture i had a bald cover picture like hey yes yeah picture like straightly grabs my attention - we say here  in Argentina   i have a blue heart i just i went i actually walked to the marina the other day and i hadn't seen the ocean like the horizon some people this might seem like a bit extreme, but i hadn't seen the ocean for like a couple of months because we've not been allowed to go more than five blocks - and i saw the horizon and i burst into tears heard the seagulls because i'd sailed along that horizon just a few months ago so yeah! Whenever i see oceans or boats with people i'm at all and he's seen is the ocean ocean people because most people just stay on the beach drink their beer or they drink the gin and tonic and they look at it they like they like sunbathe on the beach but those of us who cross oceans for fun yeah.

I look forward to hear about that, that's exciting to me. I'm there but i'm the person who eats and drinks a beer and looks at the sea but otherwise i think it's come on your experience okay where are we going next?

Next let's discuss actually the topic you brought on a linkedin not long ago

So what is digital nomadism what it means?

Because some people might have an idea but is different from the from the reality.

Yeah i think being a digital nomad it's i mean i wrote an article about it a few months ago i thought it was last month but i'm troubled been did show you getting twist it it's for me it's not just about because i wanted to make the distinction between being a digital nomad and being work from wherever and a location free.

Because the location free aspect is you can have a home base and you can go out and work in a cafe you can go and work in hotels or in conference rooms or you know or on the beach and make sure you've got really good laptops about though i really do not work together so speaking from experience and the work from wherever and what we tend to see is there's a lot of people that will go on an extended holiday take lots of social media pics, load them on their social media but they're not really as we say in the sailing world when you haul anchor there's no going you know you've gone now for me to digital nomad as somebody who has cut ties with their home base, and has hauled anchor.

When i left to do this trip i signed every i have no property now everything i own i carry around the world with me in  waterproof bags   most of them and for me being a digital nomad i said it's about personal growth it's about business growth it's about tapping into how resilient you are and it takes networking to a whole new level, because a lot of these digital nomad events that i've been invited to people aren't networking.

They're on their phone like and it's like you know second guys this is a networking event you can do your social media networking off like when you're in your own space that when you come together i mean i haven't been to that many but being a digital nomad it's about embracing the old nomadic soul within each of us the ancient traditions of human beings with modern technology and creating so much possibility breaking barriers both breaking stereotypes of journalists said you know women traveling alone without a husband dare you even think that's possible young lady.

Dawn on ocean digital nomad's life

You know i walk up to a marina and i'm like okay you know which ocean are we crossing today and people but and then they find out i've got two children who stay at home with their dad, my ex-husband, who fully supports me on this trip it's about time i took some time for myself.

Ladies take notice of it because the thing is we sacrifice ourselves so much for our families for our businesses that i think that when we step into the world and the possibility of being a digital nomad we get to embrace all of who we are because we have to be a risk-taker we have to be resilient we have to be adaptable.

We step into so many different energies of time zones and cultures and we have to learn how to communicate different their language in the rhythm of life in all these different countries that we go to if we're not willing to integrate and accept everybody and i think it actually one of my favorite catch phrases is the more we know the more we learn about others the more we learn about ourselves.

Dawn bates: the more we know the more we learn about others

And if we're going to go to another country and we don't learn about people their their journey their history their anthology anthropological backgrounds you know the ancestry of that country the foodies you know and how life flows like the ocean absolutely every day so yeah that's my kind of take on it.

Yeah what i refer for me to being a digital nomad it's about spending some time at least a little bit of time at the base not going for a weekend somewhere it's making friends meeting people as you said understanding the local specialties differences whatever.

But it's about connecting it's not about working from from from a hotel yeah i did that as an international consultant for years like being a monday thursday in another country, hotel at night, office during the day, but not really meeting people and this is... Making friends and just going with your backpack i live only with my luggage for six years now, don't know and thanks somewhere else on that you want meeting people.

Creating connections exactly like we still do but remotely digital it is it's a beautiful thing when you can connect with people all over the world.

You know someone said to me and i found this very is really quite interesting i feel sorry for you i was like what and the truth is one was like are you having to carry all that stuff was like it's a mobile gym you know like i was in the gym i'd be squatting for 40 50 kilos i'm carrying it you know with me it's all good and what was interesting this lady was really quite large so she was probably carrying a lot more on her than i was carrying in my luggage but the other thing was that she goes you have friends she goes you know these people in all these different countries that what friends do you have?

Whoa okay that was a very interesting insight because for someone who's a transformational coach and using the use of an autobiography as the most transformational at all the wounding and the limitation that i saw in that comment thank gosh that was i have loads of friend i got homes all over the world you know i know i can in any country pretty much now in any country around the world and i guaranteed a hug that will squeeze the life out of me and have the most belly laughs that my sides will aid and we can go for years without speaking and turn up in each of those doorsteps and just carry on just like that.

Because we've been through so much together as travelers and as sailors, because the thing is when you've crossed oceans and you're in the middle of the ocean and there's no land for days for weeks other than the land sometimes the land beneath you, here you know the land beneath you is the closest land.

You don't see land for weeks and that's just ah blissful you have to be good friends to do that because bones get smaller by the second when you're saying with people you don't like i can imagine sometimes i'm gonna do.

For how long have you been a digital nomads full time to tune up to two and a half years i think this time yeah for about two and a half years.

I started in new zealand did lots of sailing around there then i sailed  to Vanuatu   been  to Australia   then i was gifted a flight home by an organization  in Australia   that deals work women because of the work that i do for women in the world because i'd missed a boat crossing an ocean crossing to indonesia.

People keep telling me either bali's not ready for me or i'm not ready for bali or find out one day and then i went back to  the UK   so my boys for a month and then set sail from  the UK   and i've just finished a three month ocean crossing from the  Canary Islands   and sailed down to  Cape Verde   or cabo verde then  to Montevideo   then to las malvinas or as the brits call it the falkland islands and then down into punt the adonus  in Chile   and i've made my way up through patagonia.

Because sometimes i am on land because you know it was the point of going to a country if you're not going to go inland and discover the country lakes and the mountains patagonia i saw an iceberg that must be heat incredible yeah this is about being a digital nomad right?

We're enriching our own lives and somebody who we be we we fast forward our international global businesses you know we've always been a local girl with a global mindset and i think this is the thing about being a digital nomad you can be an introvert and build a global brand you can be that quiet person who doesn't like a lot of crowds like the city of london or athens or paris or also i mean i lived in cairo and during the uprising that was city enough for me.

But you can be that quiet because you spent so much time by yourself you get to go inwards and you get to be comfortable with who you are and show up however you want to show up you know and that's a very beautiful gift to give yourself so when are you sailing by the way do you have your own boat or are you hoping in other people does that work well i'm being a pirate not really.

I am really i have considered going pirate on many occasions so covers boats at the moment because i'm researching for the mermaids guide to hitchhiking and the mermaids guide to leadership and what i'm doing is i'm boat hopping around the world so i'm looking at how different captains leads their crew if they're leaders or whether they're just captains and so and also learning how different cultures do their sailing and how life in marinas.

So at the moment i'm both hopping and i'm collecting my boat when i get to north america ready for me to sail back across the atlantic i might just go the other way and go across the pacific but yeah we don't know i never know where i'm going next but i know that i'm making my way up through the americas and when i get to north america i pick up my boat and then it's vamos back  to New Zealand   to complete the circumnavigation yay.

Meaning so when you will get your own boat will you have a chance on some species to share yes i will be gifting back to the because the thing is is when you step onto someone else's boat you have to remember it's their home a lot the time. Yes i've done boat deliveries and this is something that a lot of ocean nomads don't understand it's not a free ride there was work to do on the boat you are stepping into someone's home and they are gifting you an opportunity to sail with them you know and they i mean i always pay my own way i always pay for my own food because i'm doing free and a vegan and you know i'm very fussy about what goes inside my body and but also and you know you have night watches to do.

You know you can't it's not all sitting on the deck sunbathing with a gin and tonic you know you you you probably only have like eight hours awake and in that time you've got to do two sails you've got to clean the boat you've got to make sure everything's working you probably doing some whelming and then you sleep for another four hours and then you're awake again you've got to be really adaptable if there is a storm that you're heading into.

I mean 18 months ago i went overboard smashed all my front teeth and lorenzo here if he hadn't been on board i love that guy he pulled me back on but we we were out in a storm six meter waves five knots of wind dominoes and we were heading into the wind sorry on the nose so it's um yeah you really have to step into your own power when you do this and really understand that when someone gifts you the opportunity to sail with them that's an honor in a lot of ways.

Because i can say it's their home they've invested time and effort maybe they've worked all their life to be able to save up and buy this boat maybe they have you know sold everything to buy to this boat and they're allowing you to come on and stay or with them and be in their private space and that is a truly humbling gift to i mean i've served with some cracking people some nutters as well but it's all been good.

Well that's pretty similar for us a long ways like to doing things like a couchsurfing or you know staying at other people's places or it's nothing is for free in this world when somebody offers you something i mean you can not have to give a little bit back.

So how long have you been a digital nomad then?

Me okay wow my first trouble was 11 years ago i went for 12 days  in New York   by myself hmm i met a friend that i had met as a tourist in a fence nice and my thing

Started from eight years ago when i started i went to  Barcelona   and i met other digital nomads and i decided that i would be nice if i leave like and the first thing to do was to become a specialist to work a hundred percent remotely.

So i can take my laptop and travel whenever i can and whenever i feel like it because it takes so much energy it takes energy its other thing to be a foam here comfortable and you know i know where to go and this is a different thing to have all this extra energy needed to book the kids to pack my things too.

To be very anxious and very waiting urgently it's it's a lot of energy going into it every travel so i try to avoid it when i am i have too many new projects because a lot of energy is invested there so that it has to do with where i am with my projects are my projects in that interface that okay.

Now i'm chilling because i see oh you do a little great work at first when you bring some goals and then you preserve them so it's not it's a different type of work at the initiation when project initiates and when a project is one year old it's different so whatever it is the first priority is always their work so even when i travel my first priority is to go and find nice cafes happy food and fast internet.

For me to work this is the first thing i i care about sorry i got you into cafes and you see the crazy woman looking for plants in the walls word is the table with a plug in the wall and the first thing i ask is is there a customer not if you have the crazy woman with  a laptop   enjoy.

Would you have like a tip for somebody that would want to become a digital nomad?

Yes i'll let joanna go this one.

Okay a deep well you need to be you need to have a mind for it also again it depends on how you want i am in person so i need my a face i will not go to hostels who shares face i will rent my own every apartment and if you if i go to the places i like oh i don't go to tyler worse cheap.

I go  to Paris   i go  to London   i go  to Estonia   the capital generally i like a city woman because i know civilization cafes restaurants no don't take me to the same by the way but you know alone in  San Francisco   at night and not be afraid so this is my type of adventure or go to  San Francisco   alone from la paz all by myself.

Booking an airbnb apartment like for one week alone and arrive in  San Francisco   at night rainy in the day that it's trick-or-treat and anybody is outside and it's raining and everybody's stressed and some i tried to find it axi to take me to the bee and - guys stop and one wants to steal my bag.

And then the taxi driver stops and they find i have been yeah nice things nice experience and again everything went well and in the end the these two little guys they were very young kids they were afraid of the large taxi driver that was defending me they stood here from greece and yeah.

They gave me my bags because i had my suitcase and the laptop bag and they tried to take my one bag and then they gave it back and they said you are very beautiful so i got my compliment as well from the guys that wanted to steal me and yes land is also adventure.

Do you have a tip for digital nomads?

Sure, yeah i think you have to trust you have to trust yourself to trust yourself to trust others and i think that and also to trust the process and that everything is gonna work out just as it supposed to because there have been places that i mean i don't stay in hotels very often.

Because with the with the work that i'm doing and the research that i'm doing and my audience you know some of them don't have a lot of money, some of them have a huge amount of money and so i've stayed in some places that are very cheap i've stayed in places that are not so cheap i've stayed i stayed in a hostel for the first time in my life.

I've stayed in a variety of kind of hospitals and now i else now i've got to the when where's like you know what they're being being apartments on the way forward everything.

You know it avoids all of the because obviously there's always moving you don't have to then worry about permission papers you don't have to worry about long deposits or like three six-month deposit about stay agent just finding there but and the thing is when you have to trust your own girl you know you have to trust your intuition because you and read the reviews you know.

But don't take them because we're all different well someone else might think is an amazing stay you don't know what deal they've got with that person that might be you know they might have stayed there and given a review because a friend wanted to build a thing and you know but just trust the process trust that you've got this you know trust that even with massive project you can still move so i'm gonna challenge your honor.

Yeah like even when you've got these big massive projects that you've got going on just trust that it's all like when you and when you feel that cool to move listen to it you know and when things don't work out go you know what there's something better planned that didn't happen for a reason i was supposed to have three boat deliveries to the caribbean and not one of them turned up one there was a perfect delay then there was where the conditions and then the the wife when the husband was talking to me about all the things i'm achieving she got a bit jealous to that.

But just trust that when things don't turn out as you want them to it's because there is something better coming away it all comes down to trusting yourself trusting your intuition trusting other people that they're not bad you know that they're not trying to rip you off that they're not out to get something it all comes down to trust absolutely 100% and trust that you're gonna find a great cafe with great food and amazing internet definitely happy to.

Sometime i'm in a country i plan to stay for some time but it doesn't go all according to plan and i'm like okay let's i'm still  in Argentina   exactly winter i have no windows i have nighttime sailing in the tropic kind of closed but i have no winter clothes and all the shops are closed so i'm like okay best tops it is then in the middle window.

So anyway lately less than 20 degrees there i'm at rocket it's kind of gonna show you we'll find a way.

So anyway ladies was nice talking with you well joanna and dawn we can always make another podcast in enough time mmm.

Wrap up

So quickly in a few seconds if you have any anything you would like to promote your own projects you have 20 seconds left.

So people want to get in touch with me about that they can email me or contact me on social media by linkedin or at wheel dorm based on instagram and book thanks we will show the links of course in your honor of course yes any questions about search engines my ration you can find your linkedin behind my name joanna about you and i have also started a new business which is i partner with real estate agency in greece and we provide advice and properties to international investors who want the golden visa for greece and buy property sell property and investing property in greece so connect with me and send me and yeah.

About joanna vaiou

Joanna vaiou is a greek search engine optimization specialist mid-large scale brands with her own remote business and a partial digital nomad. She has been featured with her success story and her quotes on many international business, personal development, entrepreneurship news and other media outlets.

Access more information relevant to seo on her website

She is also founder of international real estate greece premium directory where she connects international investors with real estate agencies in greece to provide them with the best greek property investment opportunities via the golden visa greece program.

For more information you may visit the link
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About dawn bates

As well as being an international bestselling author and author coach, dawn bates is an online entrepreneur and life coach.

Dawn bates books

Michel Pinson
About the author - Michel Pinson
Michel Pinson is a Travel enthusiast and Content Creator. Merging passion for education and exploration, he iscommitted to sharing knowledge and inspiring others through captivating educational content. Bringing the world closer together by empowering individuals with global expertise and a sense of wanderlust.



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