128: Inside the Life of a Digital Nomad with a Fully Remote Job with Sarah

Host Nienke Nina chats with the spirited and experienced digital nomad, Sarah in this episode of the Digital Nomads Daily podcast. Born in Germany and having lived across multiple countries, Sarah shares her unique journey of balancing a fully remote role, travel and her goal to live a nomadic lifestyle. 

Discover how Sarah integrates her work commitments with her passion for travel and creating global connections. This episode reveals the reality of being a digital nomad in a fully remote job and gives practical advice for those looking to blend professional and personal fulfillment through travel without becoming a full time entrepreneur.

🔥 Balancing a fully remote job and nomad life
🔥 Building global communities while traveling
🔥 The impact of mindfulness at work
🔥 Hacks for aligning work with nomadic aspirations

Transcript

Nienke Nina (00:02.005)

All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to a new episode of the digital novice daily podcast. Today I have a fellow entrepreneur on the podcast, someone that is currently just flowing and doing her own thing. And that's how we met on a strategy brainstorm business type of call. And I was like, Oh my god, you're super cool. And I actually already had you on my list of people that I wanted to interview, but it just didn't happen. So

Sarah's here in the no mat house. Welcome.

Sarah (00:32.782)

Hello everyone! Wow, I didn't know that I was already on a wishlist somewhere hidden. I'm like, what an honor! Hi everyone! Excited to talk about all things Nomad and I feel like probably with the two of us everything in between. So thank you for having me!

Nienke Nina (00:47.365)

Right? All right. So we always kickstart this episode with a few quick questions. And my first question is, how long have you been nomading?

Sarah (00:55.894)

Mmm, good one. Officially, six years. Is that short enough?

Nienke Nina (01:01.561)

Mm-hmm.

Wow. OG, nomad OG. You're basically like a nomad grandma.

Sarah (01:13.65)

Yeah, I will talk a bit more on how I understand nomading. I always had a flat somewhere, so I wasn't the backpack nomad classic without an actual base, but Six years is in and out of everywhere, is basically my life.

Nienke Nina (01:26.949)

Cool. Love it. I'm doing that right now and I'm like, wow, this is amazing. All right, all right. So, and where are you actually from?

Sarah (01:35.266)

So I was born in Germany, then I lived in Malta, now I live in Vienna in Austria. However, I also call myself part-time American. Yep. Do you live in Vienna? Are you serious? Are you in Vienna right now?

Nienke Nina (01:44.321)

Wait... You live in Vienna? I live in Vienna! WHAAAT

Nienke Nina (01:56.065)

No, I'm in Takazu right now, but I'm flying back tomorrow morning. No way!

Sarah (02:02.13)

What?

Sarah (02:07.47)

I guess we're going for a coffee on the weekend.

Nienke Nina (02:10.334)

Oh my God, guys, this is insane. Like...

Sarah (02:13.102)

Oh my god, this is crazy. So yeah, well great, so here we go. Everything in between already started. Yeah, but the funny thing is, honestly, I'm a global human, and I use the word human intentionally. So I feel I'm part-time American, part-time Moroccan at this point, part-time Mexican for sure. I feel like I'm a lot of part-time nationality, and not so much German after all, like at all actually. I feel like I have a German passport and part-time of a lot of other cultures.

Nienke Nina (02:36.633)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (02:40.649)

Yeah, oh my god, I relate to that. So it's interesting though, because when people ask me, where are you from? I would say I'm from the Netherlands and then they're shocked because I don't sound Dutch. And I'm always like, yeah, I mean, I have a passport and I'm super grateful for this passport, by the way.

But I don't like yeah, no, I saw I think a lot of people can relate to this, especially to people that have been out and about for a while. All right, cool. And so how do you how do you make your monies?

Sarah (03:12.102)

Great question. I'm like, so there's 17 secret businesses? No. So I work for an international organization called JA Worldwide, and we offer a lot of different programs for students in high school and in university. And our flagship program is all about entrepreneurship. So we actually offer students when they're 16 in school to start their own business with like real products, real money. So they have to...

produce something or offer service for like real money. And it's a seven to nine month intense project. And so I work on the global headquarters and I'm heading up our communities worldwide, all people engagement, all global events, like basically bringing humans together, which is the thread of my life. And then I also, now this is funny. The first time I'm like, I had a business which is currently close, but a new one is opening up soon, which is called how to be global.

Nienke Nina (04:05.637)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah (04:07.006)

where again, I brought people from all walks of life together. I had a podcast, was really and truly trying to answer this question, how to be global. And as I mentioned, I feel like now I'm a full on global human. So that's why I closed it because I'm not asking this question myself anymore. And so we're onto the next journey, wherever it leads me.

Nienke Nina (04:22.114)

Yeah.

Love it. Love it. And that's also one of the things that you shared with me when we were in this call. And actually, so we were on a call with Marius and with Annie all from Minoma. We were just, you know, like talking cool stuff. And I really loved how you said I close this business and I'm now on a new journey. I don't know how it looks yet. I don't know what shape it is what like you didn't come like, oh, new product.

You're just like, I am on a journey and I'm just going to flow in this journey because I want to receive and I want to create, but I don't know yet what. And I was like, wow, that's magic. That's fire. Because so many people these days, they start a product or like digital product or whatever, or a surface or anything, because they have seen it online, someone else doing it. And they're like, oh yeah, I got this skill. I can do this too. And I've done this too in my life.

Sarah (05:01.558)

Ugh.

Nienke Nina (05:20.257)

And then you just start doing it, but we forget to sort of like, or sort of we forget this alignment, uh, exercise. And I think that when people, uh, focus on passion projects, I think it's more like copy projects where passion also comes in, you know what I mean? So I'm not saying it's not passion.

Sarah (05:26.286)

Mm.

Sarah (05:39.786)

That's it.

Nienke Nina (05:42.145)

But it's like, oh, I saw someone else doing that. I have the skill. I like this. I'm interested in it. So, bomb, I go as well. And then you go in this rat race. And then after a few years of entrepreneurship, you're like, wait, why did I do all of that? Like, okay, I'm grateful, but there's no alignment. And I loved it because it's something I'm currently also in this alignment journey. So I was like, oh my God, woman, can we talk?

Sarah (06:07.88)

Yes, and now we even live in the same place. This is hilarious.

Nienke Nina (06:11.001)

Can I ask what district do you live? Okay, cool. I live in the third. I don't know where the 16th is. I've been a while in Vienna, I still don't understand the districts. I know where one, seven, and three is.

Sarah (06:13.45)

In the 16th.

Sarah (06:23.566)

Oh yeah, I mean, I'm... You three, almost at the end of the series. You don't see a thing that you're talking about?

Nienke Nina (06:28.489)

Okay, cool. Got here, gotcha.

Nienke Nina (06:34.277)

Oh my god, I still can't. But okay, so I really love that about you and about what you shared. So that's something I would really touch on in this episode because I think it can be very helpful for people that have this entrepreneurial fire and they're like, yeah, I wanna go and I wanna copy someone else's business too because I have the skills to invite people, open invitation, of course guys, but like open invitation to just like take a few steps back and help.

Sarah (06:47.415)

home.

Nienke Nina (07:03.821)

Like ask yourself a few questions to help navigate like, Hey, is this opportunity? Is this idea? Does that need to become a commitment or is just great? Can it sit in the pipeline and wait a little bit? And first we find some alignment. So how did you figure out for yourself? I'm going to close this business and I'm going, I am on a journey and I don't know what this is. So, so it's the kind of like.

Sarah (07:18.996)

Mmm.

Nienke Nina (07:32.977)

where did this start for you that same thing and you're like, okay, I'm gonna approach it this way. Like what? Yeah, like, I know this is a vague big question. But it's hard to ask this question because it's not like, hey, on what date did you figure this out? Because I know it was probably not like a date. You know what I mean?

Sarah (07:49.834)

Yeah, no. I mean, there was definitely a date where I said, okay, I'm going to close it, but obviously that's not the whole process. So I think I need to start a bit back because this is, it's, you know, the funniest thing for me right now is that you saying these things that, you know, you're like, oh my God, I want to learn so much more about it. Like I was the most terrified human to do this journey right now, because usually I'm like, I always have a plan.

There's always a plan. My plans are very flexible. I change plans all the time, but I'm never without a plan. That's just how it goes. And I'm like, okay, let's plan this out. And then I change 17 other directions, but there's still 17 plans in place just in case. So, approximately two years ago, I was not mindful at all. Like, I thought meditating, universe things,

Nienke Nina (08:20.761)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah (08:41.582)

crystals whatsoever are total, I'm like, I have no idea what these people are doing. I'm like, this is totally useless. I feel like people sitting in Bali just not doing anything. It's not good for the world. This was me, right? Fully focused on the logic brain, fully going on like, I want to do 7,000 things and then it just did all of them all at once. And then, you know, there was a lot of burnout and buff, like a lot of mental breakdowns in my life already. So then I met Maris. This is where the dots connect.

Nienke Nina (08:42.053)

Thanks for watching!

Nienke Nina (09:00.409)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (09:08.025)

The angel.

Sarah (09:09.058)

at a Nomad conference, so this is even more dot connecting, where I was hosting a panel on stage. And then afterwards there was a co, how was it called? Workation, yes, a workation for Nomads. And I was like, cool, me obviously not reading the program. You know, I was like, well, sounds great, let's do it. So what I didn't see in the program is that every morning there was a mindful practice. And the first morning I'm like, what is this? Like I remember it was mindful walking and I'm like,

Why would I do that? Like, I was totally, I'm like, this is total nonsense. I'm like, what am I doing here? Why is that? So then Marius and I, we actually made a deal because she said, Hey, I, I've been in similar, you know, years ago, I had the similar things and I thought like, what is this? And we made a deal. Like you just go with it. If you don't, if you like it or not, that's not the point, but you don't judge it. You don't judge yourself and you don't judge anyone else. And I'm like, okay, fine for a week. Let's try it. And then, so day two, I was sold.

Nienke Nina (09:56.133)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah (10:08.642)

on this whole thing because we did a breathwork session which was very short, like it was just 20 minutes, now I do like two hour transfer meetings. No, actually Frank is my breathwork teacher usually, but we do it, Maris did it, and then for the first time I actually like after this only 20 minute breathwork I cried for like two hours and I didn't know why.

Nienke Nina (10:15.533)

With who? With Frank?

Nienke Nina (10:21.969)

Okay, he's coming on later today.

Sarah (10:38.51)

I had pain all over my body, I cried and I'm like, I'm not sure what this is, but I can physically feel something. So then fast forward two years later now, I'm like full into the more mindful human space. But I think this is really important. I always thought that there's only the mindful world or the business world. I did not see any connection of like...

actually, if you're more mindful, if you do more meditation, if you're much more aligned of who you are, if you let go of your triggers, if you know your triggers, that you actually perform better in the business world. So this is what I basically found out over the past two years. And while I was in this transformational thing, I was working at the international organization I mentioned, which honestly is already much more than a full-time gig because it's all community in different countries, whatever. I was running my own stuff. I was volunteering with Nomads giving back. So it was like...

insanity, right? Like there was no space to even think about it. And then now, obviously, since I'm so much more aligned with who I am and like went through so many circles of like, okay, who do I want to be? What, why am I here? What shall I become? Like, why is this? Why, why, why? Then I realized with my own business that it was a perfect, perfect start, right? I started with

Nienke Nina (11:35.03)

Yeah.

Sarah (12:02.262)

When I was honest with myself, I'm like, I tried to quote, make everything work with my business. So I kind of like me as Sarah, I'm like, Oh, but I can't do this because it doesn't fit into like my one job or my business. So I didn't do it. And this is obviously totally stupid because I'm like, why am I actually building myself? Like I built a cage around me with my own brand to again, hide who Sarah really and truly is, which is very random.

Nienke Nina (12:30.489)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah (12:31.618)

I'm not just doing one thing. And so then I had to be very honest with myself and I'm like, I think this needs to close. But then it felt like a full-on breakup. Like I cried for like two days because I'm like, so now I'm closing this and then I lose everything. I built up, right? Like I had listens from so many people in so many countries and I'm like, so, but then I'm like, I don't feel that how to be global is fully who I am. It is still of course like.

Nienke Nina (12:42.051)

Yeah.

Sarah (12:58.962)

I'm a full-on global human, it's a big part, but there's so much more who I am and now I feel like for the first time in my life that I can and want to speak up as Sarah. And not necessarily for how to be global, for this, for that, for whatever, but I'm like, I want to create something which is Sarah, which is obviously very bold, but I'm like, I feel full-on ready, but what that thing is, I don't know, but I'm like, I'm sure there's no lack of ideas, you know? So.

Nienke Nina (13:13.366)

Yeah.

Sarah (13:28.434)

Sorry, this was a very long answer, but to like really like figure out like, and that's why I keep it. I mean, there's a full on vision board behind me. Not sure if you can see it. And, and in the middle, it says no strategy. So I don't want to build out a strategy for my life because that just leads to nothing. I'm like, I just want to go with the flow and see what comes.

Nienke Nina (13:28.818)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (13:49.217)

Yeah, I love that. I love that. You know, your answer is long because it's also it's a difficult question. And I love it because it's, it shows that yes, entrepreneurship and whether that's freelancing or building like bigger businesses, whatever that is side hustles, like it's really a self development journey on steroids, I keep mentioning this in episodes because it's just really freaking like that. But at the same time, even though this intensity is so high.

when it comes to the pace, like, I feel like that you don't know stuff overnight and all of these journeys, these, all of the journeys, whether they're small or big, all of that helps to, to create that those building blocks, right? But not if you're not mindful about it, if you don't give yourself time to reflect, if you ask yourself some tougher questions.

If you reflect with people as well, whether it's a therapist or community, or whatever that is, you know, and I also realized a bit similarly when I was at the Minoma Festival, I was like, fuck, I'm not really like, yes, I have all these skills and yes, I understand this business, but I was so much operating from my ego plus my desire to not lack money.

Sarah (14:58.574)

I'm out.

Nienke Nina (15:13.209)

doesn't need to become a millionaire, but I'm so afraid to run out because that's how I grew up. That I'm like, I'm operating from ego and fear. That's not a really good recipe for a nice cocktail. Like that's not good. So not bad, but not like very sustainable in a long way. So I really started to realize as well, I was like, whoa.

Sarah (15:31.808)

Yes.

Nienke Nina (15:38.581)

I need to ask myself better questions. I need to learn how to listen to my body. And that's where mindfulness comes in. Because yes, during a breast work session, whether it's two hours or 20 minutes, just sitting with yourself, holy crap. Like you learn a lot. And I think that maybe the running away, I was talking with a friend about this here as well. Like I feel like in, in the nomad space, guys, it's not judgment, just observation. There's a lot of like running away journeys.

But where's like the self-reflecting journeys, you know, like where is that moment that we just sense to not hop around, just, you know, that's where a bass comes in. So I find this interesting. So I've been moving from location independent, hopping around to having a bass in Vienna. It's so weird. Anyways, that's really, uh, for me, it's been a big, big transition.

Sarah (16:05.675)

Mm.

Nienke Nina (16:32.021)

How has been your nomad life then? Because it's like you go on workations, you are, like how do you organize your life as a nomad while having a base, basically?

Sarah (16:38.698)

Mm.

Sarah (16:44.734)

Yeah, it's a super interesting question because I never saw myself as a nomad, yet a friend of mine, she literally said the other day, I feel like you're traveling more than every single nomad I ever knew in my life. And I'm like, really? So I was like, what the hell? So I, because my job, so one step ahead, so like, in my role, which I do for the international organization, I do very similar things than...

me and Sarah would do too, right? It's all about connecting people, creating the communities, like making sure that people, if you've seen and heard that they have a voice at the table, all of that, right? And so with that, so my role involves a lot of going to the places where our offices are and we're like in 115 countries, so it's everywhere, right? So I'm constantly on the go for that.

Nienke Nina (17:32.089)

Ooh.

Sarah (17:38.158)

role and this is obviously how the first quote nomad journey started a bit but then what I when I really and truly got into the community it was through Nomads Giving Back where it was during the pandemic which is hilarious so my nomad my real nomad journey started during the pandemic which is funny because I met all these people in the community I'm like wait they're just like me like well they're same but different and I'm like oh this is really cool so since the pandemic is somewhat over um

Nienke Nina (17:48.037)

Hmm.

Sarah (18:07.766)

I then started to combine the work trips with like actually meeting the nomad communities on the ground. Or if I'm in one place, then I would move to locations which are close to and then really connecting with everyone on the ground. And so that's been my nomad journey, which is obviously different. And of course, because like I would say 80% of my travels is also with the organization, that's how I see it. I know it's a very privileged position I have.

I can't keep a base, right? Because I know, you know, the whole double rent and then all the, the complications of your Nomad. Like you drag your stuff from A to B, but then you can't store it somewhere and all of that. Luckily, currently that's not a challenge I have. On the other hand, of course, it is still a full-time job, right? So it's not that like, I can a hundred percent do whatever I can work from wherever. But obviously there's like a lot of work and a lot of stuff happening. So it's not quote, if you have a freelance job and you, you know, have like.

Nienke Nina (18:41.846)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (18:47.79)

Yeah.

Sarah (19:06.83)

a client or two clients that's much more flexible. But obviously there's always a trade off on everything. But I actually love to have a hub now in Vienna because before, I feel like Vienna is the first place in my life where I feel like it is a hub. Before in Malta, in Germany, it never felt like this is my home and I always wanted to leave and run away. So I feel very strongly about the runaway instead of actually sitting and trying to align. So yeah.

Nienke Nina (19:34.589)

Yeah, I love that. You know what I also really enjoy hearing is that you have basically a flexible role that is probably partly remotely, but it's also like in location, but it includes travel. I mean, in an omet space, like yeah, the entrepreneurial energy is like on freaking fire. We had a few remote job coaches here. Uh, Jordan, I think Jordan, you know him.

Uh, you know, Kristen Vera, she also does like things for Nomads Giving Back. Nomads Giving Back, uh, we talked about this with Tarik on the podcast, like way, way in the beginning, like super cool. They also sponsored a chapter in my book, Digital Nomads with Confidence. Uh, which is really all about giving back and sustainability, really cool. But anyways, what I love hearing is that you actually have a role, like

Sarah (20:00.984)

Yes.

Nienke Nina (20:23.437)

Nowadays, it becomes a bit more like it's a bit more voice around like, okay, hey, you don't need to become an entrepreneur freelance, or you don't also need to sell all your stuff, you can find a more flexible rule. And that doesn't mean that it needs to be fully worked from anywhere fully remote. And it's very interesting to hear that. So coming from like that perspective, how is your experience being

just for people to get some insight on like, how is it then to work for an employee? Because I do see that some people are like, no, it's bad. And people decide your schedule and blah, blah. And I think that is just like picking out the bad stuff if you have a bad experience. So let's keep it positive. Now, but honestly, like I can see, yes, there might be things that are not great, but what is great for you to be part of a company that has this flexibility?

Sarah (20:55.534)

Thank you.

Sarah (21:19.85)

Yeah, so it's a special case for me. However, I feel like everyone can build a special case. So I always feel like there's always a way. I'm like, it might not be the perfect solution in the beginning, but there's like, if you show, this is a big one actually after the Minoma retreat, which I did I think one year and a bit ago in Tagazut. What I came out with is like, I only.

Nienke Nina (21:27.097)

Mmm.

Sarah (21:47.294)

no matter when and where and how, want to show up as authentic Sarah. That's it. Right. If me as authentic Sarah doesn't fit into something, then that is okay. Right. That's not a bad thing. That is totally fine. But so for example, with my role, I have been with the organization for a very long time because I took part in actually one of our programs in school. So I've been involved since like 14 years with them, but

Nienke Nina (22:11.669)

Whoa!

Sarah (22:13.39)

I did in school and then I volunteered for them and then it was leading volunteers. So it's been a long journey, but the role I have now was not existing before, right? But obviously it got created because they saw the need. I'm like, hey, we want to create these communities, which I was leading in Europe worldwide. And so I feel like one thing is to like, just try to create your own role, which obviously sounds like, oh, so privileged and whatever. But I'm like, but if you don't even ask.

Nienke Nina (22:21.829)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah (22:41.422)

or if you don't even try, there's no way, right? Like how would people actually know that something like this is needed, that you have the skills? So, and I've been there now since six years. And obviously in the beginning, I was not like this, right? In the beginning, I was traveling for just the work. And then I also felt like, oh, I can't take this flight and then put another flight on it. But now after six years of me just showing up of who I am, I'm like, hey, this is the life I choose, right? Like.

Nienke Nina (23:07.609)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah (23:08.534)

This is, you know, for example, other people choose to have a family or choose to do something else and I'm like, no, my life, I choose to do it this way. And then I found a way to actually incorporate it with the role because I work globally anyway. So it's actually a pretty good advantage for the company that I'm on the go all the time, because even if I don't travel for quote official business, I always meet our colleagues on the ground or.

You know, people always ask me about context because obviously I know everyone and their mom at this point because I'm on the go so much. And yes, of course there were a lot of voices in the beginning of like, oh, so she's not going to work. And then, oh, she's doing this and that. But to be honest, I feel like that's okay. Let them talk. And like, as long, you know, as the work is done, it's fine. And now it's much more like if I'm, if I'm opening a call, people are like, oh, where are you? Versus.

Oh, where's Sarah again? Right? So the mood totally shifted. I mean, it took some years, but I feel like if you just go into a role and then if there's someone who wants to dictate your schedule, I would not, I would not go into this comp to be, I'm like, I would be like, Hey, so here's like, I will deliver the best work, but only if I can fit my life into the schedule. I'll give you extra hours and we, you know, if there is an event, we will finish it. But only.

Nienke Nina (24:03.016)

Yeah.

Sarah (24:27.422)

If I can be at my best and my best is not if you try to tie me at a desk. Right. And so this is obviously very bold, but I feel like if you don't voice it, and if you don't live it authentically, nothing will change, right? So try, try to pitch it, try to show up and you know, I'm sure it'll work out in many companies.

Nienke Nina (24:30.082)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (24:39.789)

Yeah, makes sense.

Nienke Nina (24:46.077)

Yeah, it makes sense. But also it goes back to this point of knowing yourself know how you want to show up what matters to you. So it's a lot of reflection because I can imagine if you like you would come up very strongly and very not strongly as enforceful but like very, like it would be very justifiable because it's like it you know, it's I believe you, you know.

Not me, but like, you know, that would be the thing because you show up that way. But it's like, I think if you come in like, yeah, I want to work remotely because the world is doing that. And I want that too. It's like, so you, I think it's, it's what I hear a lot is like, yeah, it's, it's all ties back to like, you know, yourself, you know, how you show up. Um, and then you can, you know, asking for other things. So even if your current company, I guess, if, if someone's listening right now, it's like, yeah, but my current company would never do that. Okay.

Take a few steps back, open up your headspace and the mind map to see what's possible. And if you get a lot of resistance, yeah, maybe it's time that you, maybe that's the misalignment. Okay, this company doesn't work for you because you cannot show up in your 100% super power authentic self.

I am, which is a lot of nomadism is also about and I think again, to the running away journey, or self reflection journey, like, are you just constantly running away from stuff? Or are you actually facing everything that you take, take with you in that imaginary backpack? That's definitely there. We all got them. And are you facing what is really happening?

Sarah (26:01.483)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Sarah (26:20.107)

Yeah.

Sarah (26:24.158)

Yeah. And I also feel in the whole nomad space, right? Like it depends on which company you work for, right? Like for a lot of, you know, like our parents' generation, they're like, what is happening? Like, what are you doing? Like, they don't understand. And obviously, probably sea level people in companies are the age of our parents, just by nature of like how companies are built. Obviously, they've been there longer. And so I feel like...

Nienke Nina (26:31.031)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (26:39.219)

Yeah.

Sarah (26:50.334)

Just taking a very different approach. And this is, it's funny because we teach this actually at our organization, but besides that, it's like, I will never be a classic perfect employee as people would see an employee. Like I would, like the company would hate me. I would die if I would literally be an employee, right? Like I want a role which has a lot of innovation and I, you know, it almost feels like I have my own startup within the organization, which

has really cool parts and really terrible parts because I'm just one human, right? So there's that. Where you're like, okay. But also what I'm seeing is like, yes, I'm traveling a lot. Yes, they allow me a lot of stuff. But to be honest, I'm also the one who does the night shifts on the weekends. If...

Nienke Nina (27:19.152)

Mmm.

Nienke Nina (27:24.36)

I'm sorry.

Sarah (27:35.342)

the shit hits the fan, right? Like I'm also full on taking on the responsibility. I'm like, no, I want this innovation. It's amazing. It involves to go to seven different places, but I'm also going to seven different places talking about the same thing over and over and over and over again, trying to rally the troops. There's, you know, we're an NGO, so there's not even enough funding, right? There's all of these ripple effects in the, in the backend. And it's so funny because we, uh, we're just also working on a summit and it.

My life from the outside looks like, wow, it's so glamorous. And I love my life, right? Like, this is how I set it up. Like this is how I want to live. But then the back end of it is like working in all time zones, for example. Right? Like no matter where I am, it doesn't matter. Like if there's a call at 2 AM, because I'm in Malaysia for some random reason, I need to take the call at 2 AM. Right. But I can be in Malaysia. And then there's also the whole thing of like multiple stakeholders are involved. And if you want to be in a company.

Nienke Nina (28:06.308)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (28:10.436)

Yeah.

Sarah (28:31.57)

and also have a more free life in terms of location independence. That is where I feel like sometimes you have to show up even more because you want, like, I want that freedom. So I will make sure that, but I show up and bring all the parties together and make sure like, no, we're running this and it's actually much better if I'm on the go because I can. So it almost feels like I'm showing up even more present because

Nienke Nina (28:42.073)

Yeah.

Sarah (29:00.306)

I also want to have the free life. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but it's a tricky fine line between, do you still have the freedom or do you just work and then you sit in Morocco and work for Morocco? But I feel like the whole showing up and pitching it, and if people don't believe in it, that's okay, but then it might not be your company. You can go down on 50% and do something. I don't know. There's like a million options to do.

Nienke Nina (29:12.718)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (29:25.365)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's like finding this balance, right? You will give a lot and then you will receive a lot. If you give too much, then it's, and you feel that way, it might be imbalanced. Again, ask yourself what is really happening. Are you just, are you being triggered? Are there just different types of sensations? Is this like an internal thing? Does this, is this actually connected to the company? Like, you know, like every, like it's a much bigger thing. And I feel like maybe this is also challenging for...

for the people that like, you know, what you said about the generations, like there's like kind of like this sort of push of like all these like Gen Zers and sort of the young millennials, they want all these things, but hello, like you can't just ask for all of that. Yes, we can. At the same time, you also need to give. And I think with giving means also giving time for other generations that maybe don't connect to life or to the world this way.

Sarah (30:12.278)

Yours, Nitya.

Nienke Nina (30:24.409)

for them to give time to like understand this and to give context, like why is this? And not just like, no, I just wanna work remotely because no, that's not gonna win you argument. Like there are few people in the space that talk about this including Sophie Wage and Daniela Faragha. Oh, I don't know how to pronounce her last name. Sorry, Daniel.

Anyways, so there's people that talk about this, like this gap, and I find it so interesting that you brought that up. Okay, cool. So, so the message is if you want to, if you don't want to do any entrepreneurial thing, but you do want to work remotely and have all of that, but have a really find a good company that offers flexible work. Uh, and if there's a lot of resistance not happening, maybe it's time to move on. Maybe. Love that.

Sarah (31:16.726)

Yeah. And be an entrepreneur within a company. You know, everyone wants to have an impact. And I'm like, I'd rather join forces of like a massive organization, because by nature you can move more things because there's already more access to many more things, right? Instead of always trying to do it all by yourself. And this is, you know, probably also I'm saying this to myself, because I was like, no, I want to do it myself. But honestly, like join forces with, there's so many global.

Also, quick thing, there's so many global organizations and they need people who have a global mindset, who know different cultures, who have been around, who've been in different places. This is so much needed. So instead of trying to like, oh, I wanna work remotely, pitch it as like, hey, I've been in various different places. I know things run very differently. Actually, this is a skill set so many companies desperately need actually.

Nienke Nina (31:45.093)

Thanks for watching!

Nienke Nina (32:08.161)

Yeah, love it. Love it. Wow. Like we talked so many good things, good things in this episode. This is like boom.

Sarah (32:17.546)

I know and I'm like, wow, we're already talking so long. Ha ha ha!

Nienke Nina (32:20.905)

Right. Oh, for me, it's like, I'm such a talking machine. It's like, it's ridiculous. So, all right, cool. I have one more question for you. So you are on a journey where you're flowing. You have on your vision board, no strategy, just flow. Um, how, how does Sarah flowing looks like in a day to day life? Like, how do you approach this?

Sarah (32:47.082)

Great question. So my number one goal is to not be distracted by every single thing I see. I feel like sometimes I'm a little kid who's like, wow, I get overly excited about everything very fast. And like I have like all the like people call literally call me into calls if they need ideas. Like whatever. I don't care what the topic is. People just say here's the thing. I'm like, OK, I have seven ideas. And everyone's like, yeah, we know. So

my flow almost looks like, okay, if there's something cool coming up, let's first pause for a second, which is the hardest thing for me to do because usually I love to jump right in. But instead of jumping right in, I want to make sure that I'm really focusing on my mental health because with all that travel, with all that nomadism, with all that work, and especially the human connection, which I do,

I suffered a lot mentally, so it was incredible and everyone was so high, but then I was destroyed after things. And I'm like, this can't be the goal that all my life energy is out, because nobody would want that even, right? If I connect people, they wouldn't want me to suffer afterwards, not because of them, but because they gave everything. So right now the flow is I want to find things which I'm overly excited about, which is not the problem.

Nienke Nina (33:49.26)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (33:59.097)

Yeah

Sarah (34:07.922)

My other challenge is I want to make sure that I'm not doing too many things, which I'm overly excited about. So then I'm full on drained and destroyed and I need months to recover. So the flow is more like, literally like on a boat. And then I'm looking around and like, okay, there's cool things floating over here, but like, which one am I actually jumping on versus, oh, I want to do them all. And then I see the dots connecting and then I'm like, oh God, how, how am I supposed to actually do all of this? So this is kind of the current flow.

Nienke Nina (34:30.915)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (34:38.245)

Wow, oh my God, it's so crazy because I'm like, I wrote about this on LinkedIn. Well, so this week as we're recording, I think I got posted this week, but it's like that. So it's a similar system where I'm just like, okay, there's all these ideas popping up. Wait, what is your human design actually? Are you? Okay, this is strange. I'm a projector and I still don't always believe it. But it's like.

Sarah (34:57.105)

generator.

Nienke Nina (35:05.789)

It's, it's like, yeah, so there's all these ideas constantly popping up, like when I'm in a shower and brushing my teeth, it's like it's a so many ideas. It's like, whoa. And before I would indeed like jump on everything. And I mean, I'm grateful for that too, because that's how digital nomads daily actually started. So yeah, like great.

Sarah (35:12.971)

Mm.

Sarah (35:24.174)

There's a lot of good in this, but there's also a lot of like, oh god, now I'm stuck in my own ideas, like how did I end up here?

Nienke Nina (35:31.893)

Yeah, exactly. And what I also realized just to reflect on what you're saying from my own journey is that because sometimes I jumped too quickly without being conscious about my time, my energy, my mental health, all of these different things, right? I put so much energy and resources in it already, but by the time I realized like, oh, okay, yeah, the great idea, but actually thinking about it a bit more going in my projector energy and like actually looking at it.

I was, oh yeah, maybe not. And this usually happens after a few days already, but then I've maybe already built a website because I can't do that in a day. You know, like stuff like that. It's like.

Sarah (36:05.65)

Oh, it does. Things are already off the rails, I'm like, wait, how did I- Where was that rabbit hole?

Nienke Nina (36:14.293)

Yeah, exactly. And those revisels can be costly sometimes because I don't know the eight hours that I that I use on building the website and writing the content strategy and all of these things. I could have used that for other stuff in my business. So I'm, I have like this system now that I'm using a notion it's like a board where I have a lot of these ideas, just put them in there and they are marked as idea. If they're like

more somewhat interested or I can maybe connect a few things, they will move to opportunity. And then there's like these other stages. Yeah, where I'm like, okay, if it's a commitment, what would it really make it a commitment? So I look at basically how we build campaigns in the agency as well. Like, okay, what are the resources in terms of people, budget, all of these things? Like how long, what is actually the launch date? So I just treat it as another launch campaign.

as I do with my clients and it's been really helping me to stay accountable to myself and not just like jump on all these little things that are, yeah, like floating around that just keep coming.

Sarah (37:15.683)

There's like no shortage of stuff coming my way. I'm like, oh God, what's happening?

Nienke Nina (37:22.345)

Actually, you know what my therapist asked me one time, she said, you know, what are you not afraid of? Like, what are you never afraid to lose, to not have aside my creativity and ideas. It will always be there. No matter, even in low moods, it would still be there. Like it's, uh, I, I'm never afraid to lose that. And if I lose it, then it's, then it's okay. But I'm really never afraid to lose that. What is it for you?

Sarah (37:50.154)

Great question, I was like...

I'm never, at this point, I'm never afraid to be myself, like fully, which I would have never said like two years ago honestly, but now I've, especially last month, I've been to like probably the darkest places in my head I've ever, ever met, like real scary dark places. But while being in there, I actually also lost all my creativity, which was the first time in my life where I'm like, it was just all gone. I'm like,

Nienke Nina (37:56.642)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah (38:22.13)

I don't even know why we were doing all of this. But being in this very dark hole, I felt like, no, I'm not afraid to be myself. I literally sat with it. I'm like, this is real scary, and I know this will pass, but I'm not gonna, I'll be myself. And myself right now is sitting here. This is who I am, and so it's a very new thing for me to not be afraid anymore, and I'm like...

If this has ripple effects, I'm like, I don't care, I'll take it. Like I'll take whatever ripple effects come out of me being authentic, because only then it feels like this is what we're doing here on this planet. Honestly. I'm like, why, if I don't, if I'm not authentic, like this doesn't, this doesn't make any sense. Like, and there's one quote, which I usually use when I do like presentations, whatever it's like, if you're not being authentic, you promise something you can't deliver.

Which is 100% true. If you're trying to be something, you're not. You can't deliver that on the long term anyway. It's just a short thing. So I'm like, I'm not afraid to show up as Sarah, no matter what the replica, the effects will be. I don't know, you know, could be terrible. It could be great. I don't know.

Nienke Nina (39:19.481)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (39:25.997)

Yeah.

Love it. Goosebumps. Beautiful. I love it. I think that is a beautiful way to end the episode. But before I let you go, I always ask my guests if they have one question for me. So...

Sarah (39:42.166)

I feel like I have a million. What, yeah, my number one question is what keeps you going generally? Because you're doing many, many things, but what's the one thing that keeps you going?

Nienke Nina (39:59.097)

Wow.

That is a hard one to answer because I think that moving to Vienna, actually, okay, so dating, well, he's my boyfriend, but dating, you know, start seeing someone that is not a digital nomad that wears a suit every day. It's hilarious. Nothing against the suit. It's very sexy, but like, you know, it's so different. Like I'm bikini girl, he's a suit guy, right? So doing that, I'm...

having like a whole change of, or like shift in like paradigms. I feel like I was stuck in the elevator a little bit. Now I'm moving up a bit again, which feels good. But I lost that thing. I think before it was connections, like people, but I don't know at this point what it is. I feel like super duper energized being here in Taghazout. Like this workation has been, I just recorded an episode on that as well.

Sarah (40:49.774)

Hmm.

Nienke Nina (40:59.765)

Not sure if it's going to be published before or after this episode, but like that really lit me up. So I think maybe at this point, I think the most active thing that I can think of is just like create space to, to just, yeah, like just to sit with myself and not be busy with solving other people's problems and giving ideas to other people and be busy with other people, basically. Like, yeah, maybe a bit more self-love, but it's, it's hard to say. Like I have to, I, yeah.

Rain check on that one.

Sarah (41:32.014)

But I love that you even said that you don't know yet, and I think that's probably the most powerful thing. That like, it's okay to not know. Which is also terrible for me in my brain, like, I always want to know. But to not know is actually telling you not. It's very okay.

Nienke Nina (41:35.501)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (41:38.829)

Yeah. It's very okay. And I think that's also something that maybe is, is this vibe online that everyone has it figured out and blah, blah. Like, it really got to me. So I, I'm showing up more now talking about authenticity with my vulnerable stuff.

And I've been doing that not so strategically because it just happened. And I see that I connect better with people because of that. And even with clients, like I had a week that I had extreme low mood. I was really afraid I hit like a massive depression or something. That was, that was something I was afraid of. But yeah, I had to tell the clients like, Hey guys, like I'm, I'm in low mood. That doesn't mean I'm not like delivering, but I need to change the way we usually work.

because I need to like have my energy really, really saved up. My cup is just not 100% full, so I cannot do this on calls constantly. So we're going more async and have our calls a bit more shorter, strategic, so I can still show up with the best energy. But yeah, I just went from like 100 to like 40, so I had to be very conscious about how I do to, how I spread out the 40% I still had left or something like that, you know.

And it was okay, but it was, yeah, like that's why I don't know, right? Because all these things happened just so freaking recently. That was the catalyst of my location. And now I'm here. I'm like, yeah, I'm back. Rawr, rawr.

Sarah (43:15.118)

That's amazing. I love it. And I feel like the number one rule for everyone is just go to Tagazoot for some magic reason. Like you're like, you're questioning your life, you might have a lot of breakdowns, but also you come out of Tagazoot as a new human. I don't know why. But go to Tagazoot is maybe the call to action.

Nienke Nina (43:21.216)

Oh my god.

Nienke Nina (43:26.921)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (43:31.061)

Yeah, a note to that. In Taggazout, there's Frank who's doing the best breath work. Mariss is hanging out here a lot. I'm not saying guys just all call Mariss because she will hate me for this. No, I'm joking. But if you want to stay in Taggazout, it's good that we chat about this. So it's very funny, but I'm actually in a really epic place right now. Maybe you've stayed here as well. I'm in Teddy Pirates.

Sarah (43:53.262)

I haven't said there, but I know where it is.

Nienke Nina (43:55.113)

So it's a magical hub. I'm so freaking grateful for this. And actually, they're so sweet because they're really I would told them like, yeah, I'm gonna go podcasting, like, can I use the room? And they actually gave me like, you know, like a few days to stay here in like the big King room. I had this proud moment this morning. I was like, wow, I'm in the King's room. But because I'm like podcasting, and I am going to host a retreat here as well. Like, yeah, so

Sarah (44:20.546)

That's amazing! Oh my god!

Nienke Nina (44:25.621)

I, okay, so dates are not 100% confirmed yet, but we'll be end of May, beginning of June. But it's all about, yeah, it's all gonna be about marketing, about like finding a realignment in your business with your why, being authentic, and do a lot of the things that I've been doing during the workation with Maris, with Minova. So we're doing this, like prepping this right now. But what I really loved also when you go to a place like this, like Taggazout.

Go to a place where you feel at home. I think that's really what Boris the owner has done here in the place. I feel so at home. Amazing people. Very, very grateful to stay here and also to record podcasts because I mean, it's been a game changer. Yes. Whoa. Okay. We're 45 minutes in. This is a, this is a full on episode. Sarah, thank you so much for being here today. I really enjoyed it. Um, I would love.

uh, for, for my listeners to be able to follow you to like, have a look at your journey. Um, so where, where can people find you online?

Sarah (45:25.046)

Yes. So best option is Instagram. So it's sarahup.global. You get a bit of everything, right? Travels, nomadism, workouts, random, like the most random thing you don't expect on Instagram is basically what you find. And then of course on LinkedIn, I feel like these two places are the top two. And then I would love to, for everyone to follow my journey. And I'm going to kickstart a new podcast soon as well. So there's more to come on that all on Instagram for sure.

Nienke Nina (45:53.809)

Love it. Love it. Love it. Guys. Thank you so much for listening. We're going to add all of this in the show notes. If you go to digitalnomadayl.com forward slash podcast, you can find this episode here and all the other episodes, including some, uh, some episodes with people that we mentioned today. So there's Maris from Enoma. Uh, there is, well, there's going to be Frank. So that episode will be here. Tarek from Nomad's Giving Back. Jordan's episode is there like, wow, there's so many episodes. So if you want to learn about how to.

Design, manage, live your digital nomad life. That's the place with a lot of cool people on here. All right, thank you so much. You're such a gem and we're gonna have coffee.

Sarah (46:30.238)

Thank you! I know! Text me when you land! Hehehehe

Nienke Nina (46:34.926)

Alright, I'm just gonna stop the recording.