Nomad-life is not easy, but figureoutable for everyone. Including you!

@suzanevolves was the founder of the first co-working space in the Netherlands, which she called Nomadz. That's how we met a few yeas ago, because I had rented a desk there. It still exists today, but she doesn't run it anymore, because she lives in Thailand now, where she is, well, a real nomad. And that's where we met again yesterday, after a long time.

Someone in her Nomadz community shared a video of how it's snowing in The Hague in her Facebook group. So in response, we made this little video for them...

When I was chatting with Suzanne yesterday, I realised what a huge advantage she and me have: we do not need the security of a 9-5 job.

I really consider this a gift, because I know many people do need this security.
I know I used to. I didn’t know how to exist any other way. Everyone in my family and circle of friends had a job. There was no entrepreneur in my family, except for one cousin, who I didn’t have a lot of contact with.

But then I lost my job one day and was thrown into being self-employed. And somehow I figured things out. Actually, I’m continuously having to figure things out.

I noticed that there are a few specific things that nomads do:

• They learn something new almost every single day.
• They are not afraid to ask for help, and they readily offer help to others.
• They constantly create new connections and relationships - also by actively using the connection opportunities the internet offers.
• They are service minded and constantly think about how they can provide value (ideally something so valuable that others would love to pay for it. After all, most nomads are entrepreneurs.)
• They uplift each other and create win-win's. Especially in the New Economy, competition is a thing of the past, and community, connection and collaboration come first.

Learn and actively figure things out every day

You may read this and think “I couldn’t live without a steady paycheck…”

But the truth is, none of us knew how to do that when we first started (intentionally or unintentionally). But once we got thrown into this life, we started figuring thing out. And over time, we realised we value creativity and freedom more than (the illusion of) security.

As an entrepreneur, you have to be creative every single day.
You are solving some kind of problem every single day.
You create your life, your business, yourself and your income every single day.

It doesn’t mean it’s easy.
It doesn’t mean you never need help.

You may have to deal with judgement from your family and friends (“When is she gonna get a job??”)

You will feel isolated and lonely sometimes, because few people understand you. You’re different now. (They usually catch up, but it can take a few years. You know the old saying, First they ask you why you do it, then they ask you how you did it?)

And often you will doubt yourself because you don’t have a boss you pats you on the shoulder when you do a good job.

On the plus side, you get to work from places like this...

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Connect: seek and offer help

But because you know how it feels, you’re naturally going to be encouraging and empowering other people like you. And you’re going to seek out others who live a similar life.

That cousin I mentioned above? He runs three businesses. When I first started, I asked him for advice and how he became successful. He said, “I don’t know. I just always think I can do it, you know?”

This might not sound very helpful at first, but for me, it triggered a huge mind shift: I realised how often I stopped myself because I thought I couldn’t do it.

Now suddenly I wondered, “What if I just began to think I can?” This little statement totally empowered me. It taught me how to say Yes before I’m ready.

Be of service

Chiang Mai is a hub of people like that. It’s no coincidence @suzanevolves and I met here again.

She knows what it’s like to arrive in a new city and feel a bit lost. So she gave me loads of tips for good cafés to work from and events to go to and meet people. She build a bridge for me to enter this new space I’m going to inhabit for the next month.

She also told me that Bitcoin and crypto is quite a thing here and encouraged me to give workshops or speeches on crypto. That was so helpful and empowering!

I am typing this while sitting in the Camp Co-working space on the 5th floor of the Maya shopping center in Chiang Mai. The internet is great and so is the coffee!

And in return, I explained her a lot about Steemit. As you can see, she did get started and made a few posts.

But she hasn't been consistent because she had doubts if what she was contributing was valuable. She’s “in between things” at the moment and feels she doesn’t really have a niche. I on the other hand think that her “figuring things out on the go” might be the exact niche that could attract lots of followers, because who doesn’t want to live a free life like her?

And I think it's super important for people to know that it's OK to have periods in your life where you simply don't know exactly what comes next. I've certainly had times like this!

Sometimes we're just running too fast and life has trouble catching up with us. Everyone who's looking for their purpose should just slow down sometimes and allow their purpose to find them.

Whether we want to be actual nomads and move from place to place, or just from client to client or task to task doesn’t matter. Many people dream of quitting their jobs and living location independently. But they don't even know how to start. Or how to think and behave in order to become a person like that.

So I would totally follow a blog or vlog that shares the daily challenges, thoughts, mile stones and celebrations of someone who already lives a life that I am dreaming of. What do you think?

Well, I hope my thoughts empowered Suzanne as well, and we will see more of her here soon.

Collaborate and create win-win's

And of course, after all this learning, sharing, asking for help and thinking in terms of How to be of service we may now end up making some short videos together. Because @suzanevolves has been educating herself on videos over the past months - something I should do more of - and I have been educating myself on cryptocurrencies - something she wants to get more involved in. And both of us want to get the message about crypto out to more women. Win-win!!

Like everything in a nomad's life, this will be an experiment. We don't know yet where it will take us, but we can totally get started.

What about you?

Are you a nomad, too?
Are you planning to become one?
What's stopping you?