How She Lives and Works Remotely From a Sailboat in the Mediterranean with Louise Lambert | EP 32

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What if you didn’t need a big plan or a lot of money to start living your dream life on the water?

Ryan Mellon talks with Louise Lambert, a virtual assistant who lives full-time on a sailboat with her husband. After losing her job she didn’t panic…she pivoted. 
Louise built a remote income stream that allows her to sail through Europe, work around 15 hours a week, and live simply but fully.

She shares what it’s really like to work from a sailboat, from grocery shopping by dinghy to hotspotting her way through client calls. She didn’t come from a tech background and never planned on becoming a digital nomad this way. But by staying open, asking for help, and taking one small risk at a time, she built a life many only dream of.

Chapters:
06:00 – Why They Chose Boat Life
08:00 – Losing Her Job and Buying a Boat
14:00 – How She Found Remote Work
20:00 – Planning Where to Sail Next
25:55 – How Much You Can Earn as a VA
31:49 – Her Most Memorable Moment at Sea

Learn helpful insight if you're feeling stuck, unsure where to start, or overwhelmed by the idea of going remote. Louise breaks down the true cost of her lifestyle, how she found work, and the mindset shifts that helped her keep going when plans fell apart.

Listen and learn how Louise made it work with no roadmap, no shortcuts, and no regrets.

Connect with guest:  https://linktr.ee/wannabedigitalnomad

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DISCLAIMER:
Listening to stories of beachside zoom calls, mountainside work views, and island-hopping entrepreneurs may cause severe wanderlust and an irresistible urge to turn your laptop into a passport to freedom. Side effects include daydreaming about tropical coworking spaces, working with Ryan to learn how you can start working and traveling and buying a one-way ticket to Bali. Get ready to start living your dream life today!

Chapters

• 6:00 Why They Chose Boat Life
• 14:00 How She Found Remote Work
• 20:00 Planning Where to Sail Next
• 25:55 How Much You Can Earn as a VA
• 31:49 Her Most Memorable Moment at Sea

Transcript

[00:00:00] Ryan Mellon: What if you didn't need a six figure business, a trust fund, or even a plan that makes sense on paper to start living your dream? ? Today I sit down with Louise Lambert, a virtual assistant who used her existing admin and organizational skills, not a fancy resume, to build a fully remote career that funds her and her husband's full-time travel lifestyle.

[00:00:20] Ryan Mellon: and they run it all from their sailboat off the coast of Europe. Navigating client calls between anchorages and provisioning groceries by dinghy, you'll learn how Louise went from losing her job to working just 10 to 15 hours a week. It's enough to sustain life abroad, grow her business, and never return to the nine and five.

[00:00:38] Ryan Mellon: She breaks down the practical side of becoming a virtual assistant. How to find your clients first and the real cost and savings of remote life stay until the end to hear the exact tech skills she used to lay in clients and the one thing she wishes she knew before starting. [00:01:00] 

[00:01:01] Ryan Mellon: Hey guys. Welcome to another episode of Digital Nomad Nation. Today we have Luis Lambert. Welcome, Luis.

[00:01:08] Louise: Hi.

[00:01:09] It looks like you're living on a boat and you're, you're, where are you?

[00:01:16] Louise: ~uh, ~in Malta right now. Hi.

[00:01:18] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:01:18] Louise: Which is in Europe. ~Um, ~it's kind of just below Sicily in Italy. If people don't know, and it is, it is a little bit of a hidden gem. ~A lot of people aren't really aware of it, or if they are aware of it, they've not visited.~

[00:01:25] Very cool. So what brought you there? 

[00:01:27] Louise: so we've spent the winter in Africa, in Northern Africa, in Tunisia, and this is kind of the first main stop off. And so it's actually our fourth visit. ~Uh, ~we visited here on the way to Tunisia. not the winter, just gone the winter before. We've done two winters there, so it's always our last kind of hopping off point before our last big passage of the season. And then it's always our first stopping off point when we start our season.

[00:01:53] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay, so where, when does your season start and end?~

[00:01:53] Louise: ~It, it really~

[00:01:53] Ryan Mellon: ~What'd you say?~

[00:01:53] Louise: ~Uh, we try our hardest to get out as soon as we possibly can and to stay out as long as we possibly can.~

[00:01:53] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:01:53] Louise: ~it depends how unsettled it is because once we leave our winter birth, we generally stay out for the whole season. We don't go into Marinas in the summer. It's too expensive apart from anything~

[00:01:53] Ryan Mellon: ~Sure.~

[00:01:53] Louise: ~don't like it. It's really hot. Um, but actually this year, slightly different because we've had guests who are coming out. So we've actually booked marina birth for a month in Malta. Um, because it's just much easier to have a base here and then if the weather's bad and we can't get them out sailing, we can just go and do stuff on land.~

[00:01:53] Louise: ~And, you know, it's not just a case of there holding on for grim death and hoping that our anchor doesn't drag, which is no fun for anyone, let alone~ 

[00:01:53] Ryan Mellon: Yeah. You guys are used to that lifestyle, but visitors are a little bit, you know, less [00:02:00] easy with being on the hook or on anchor, as they say. So, yeah. Well, that's cool. That sounds like a really cool place and, and good weather. Yeah.

[00:02:11] Louise: Pretty good. Yeah, I mean, to be fair of everywhere we've been so far, this is our favorite place. We both love it here, is bizarre because normally we spend our time trying to find the really quiet anchorages, the little fishing ports, the really quaint places. Malta is just like a full on city and it's really built up and yet we love it. And I dunno what it is about the place, but there's just something magical about it.

[00:02:37] Ryan Mellon: Okay. Very cool. So what type, what kind of boat are you on?

[00:02:42] Louise: So she is, for those that know,~ uh,~ a Bavaria Ocean 38 Center cockpit, and,

[00:02:50] Ryan Mellon: Okay. 30, 38 feet.

[00:02:52] Louise: well, she's called a 38, but Bavaria do this weird thing where they measure from. places. So she's actually [00:03:00] 39 and a half foot.~ Um, ~and she's an upgrade. We bought her last year, we started on a 33 foot boat, so like 10 meters, meters wide was the original boat, and it was kind of a starter boat to see do we like the lifestyle?

[00:03:14] Ryan Mellon: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:15] Louise: do we just wanna go back to like normal life and doing sailing holidays pretty quickly establish that we love the lifestyle. But a 33 foot boat is probably not really big enough to do it on, especially with me working and generally working from the boat. So we upgraded to her last year.

[00:03:33] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay. Do you guys have a home there or a home base?~

[00:03:33] Louise: ~so we have a flat that we rent out. Um, and, but no, we, we don't, we haven't got somewhere that we could go and live if we needed to. Uh, it's just a question of sofa, surfing and staying with family.~

[00:03:33] Ryan Mellon: ~Yeah. Yeah.~ So how long have you guys been cruising? ~Uh, full-time or almost full-time? Four years. Okay.~

[00:03:36] Louise: well, four years at the start of next month. We actually started during COVID, which was insane. ~Um, ~we had a five year plan. And then during COVID, I lost my job,~ um,~ when the furlough scheme ended in the uk and we weren't sure we were actually. In Greece at the time. I got an email to let me know I'd lost my job.

[00:03:55] Ryan Mellon: Oh, now.

[00:03:57] Louise: and we were doing our day skipper, [00:04:00] which is like the first sort of sailing qualification that was step two in our plan. So step one was go on another sailing holiday. 'cause we don't have a sailing background. We, we'd just had an amazing holiday. So one, go on another holiday. Make sure it's not just one amazing holiday. Step two, get some qualifications, but kind of behind that was a five year plan to save and save and save. And we were in year two, and I mean, we lived in Pembrokeshire, so almost all of the work available was in tourism or local government. And I'd just done five years with the housing association, really wanna go into local government.

[00:04:38] Louise: I was working in tourism and lost my job. And then we happened to see our first boat.~ Um, ~wasn't really what we were looking for, but she was a really good boat, if that makes sense.

[00:04:50] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:04:51] Louise: of went to see her just as a, we are in Greece, it's in the same arena as us. We may as well go and have a look and see what it worked. just [00:05:00] the instant that we stepped on the boat, she just felt like ours.

[00:05:05] Ryan Mellon: Hmm.

[00:05:05] Louise: like gut feeling. ~Um. ~I kind of said to my husband, I really like this boat. And he was like, I really like this boat. And that was the first time with all the boats we'd looked at that we had that kind of reaction at all. And so we kind of went back to where we were staying on the boat, we were staying on for our holiday and did some maths and went well because she's old. She's really cheap. Can we make it work without having that extra three years of savings? And because. There was so much uncertainty. We just kind of went, yeah, let's give it a go. And we kind of figured what's the worst that's gonna happen? You know, we find out it's not for us, but we'll have a great time figuring that out. And because she was such an old boat, we weren't gonna lose too much money on her if. We had to

[00:05:57] Ryan Mellon: You. Okay.

[00:05:59] Louise: us. [00:06:00] And so we had a backup of, if we decide it's not for us, we'll sell her and we'll buy a camper van and we'll try that.~ Um, ~but you know, we, we loved it. And rest is history as they say.

[00:06:13] Ryan Mellon: That's amazing.~ I love it. So, um, what type of work, ~you said you worked for, like in tourism and housing, what was the catalyst of. to get you guys out sailing, like I, were you planning on retiring and sailing? ~Um, ~were you planning on, was the game plan to just like find some re remote work,~ um,~ before you started traveling to bring in income?

[00:06:35] Louise: that would've been so sensible. ~Um, ~but no, I mean, originally the plan was to retire. ~Uh, ~I've always wanted to travel. I've always had a burning desire to travel. I met my husband,~ um,~ 10 and a bit years ago, so in my mid thirties, and I still hadn't managed it, but he had, he'd done all of that when he was younger.

[00:06:56] Louise: He had an old VW camper van, and so we used to go [00:07:00] on camping trips in that a lot, but he'd already done like a year in Europe

[00:07:04] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:07:04] Louise: We were kind of opposite. So I bought my first property at 19. He'd never had a property. He was like nearly 40. So he'd done everything the opposite way to me kind of thing.

[00:07:17] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:07:17] Louise: I still had a burning desire to go. But he was starting to put down roots. He'd bought his first property. He had a job that he loved with people that he really enjoyed working with. So I had kind of said to him, look. From the get go. Just so you know, I am going traveling and I don't know how that's gonna work with us.

[00:07:36] Louise: ~I would like to do it together, but if you don't want to, then you need to know that this is what I'm gonna do and maybe I'll change the way I do it and maybe I'll do six weeks somewhere and then come back and spend time with you and then go off somewhere else. I don't know. But you need to be aware. And he was fine with that. I think he thought it would never happen, so he was cool with it. And then we went on this sailing holiday. I mean, he's, he's not a big fan of like holidays, hotels, airline travel, anything like that. So we'd done a lot of camper van trips, a lot. Um. ~And it got to my 40th and I put my foot down and I said, we're going on a foreign holiday.

[00:07:40] Louise: I wanna go away. So we went to Croatia. ~But because I knew it was like crucial, if this didn't work, this was probably the last foreign holiday was getting with him. So I was very careful and I selected, um, a small hotel on an island. There was no other tourists around. It was adults only. It was the start of season, so it was quiet, it was perfect.~

[00:07:44] Louise: We had the best time, but because we're not really sit around the pool, kind of, people we're up and doing stuff every day, and that meant every day started and ended with a boat ride because we were on this island. And that varied. Sometimes it was a little motorboat [00:08:00] taxi, sometimes it was the local ferry.

[00:08:02] Louise: Sometimes it was a, an organized trip. For him, the best part was being on the water every day. He loved it.

[00:08:09] Ryan Mellon: Hmm.

[00:08:09] Louise: from there we came back and a friend who travels a lot and who knew how important this holiday was, kind of said, how did it go? And, and I was explaining to her, you know, he loved being on the water.

[00:08:20] Louise: And she said to me, go on a sailing holiday. It was like a whole different world because you have your own accommodation. You can choose to socialize as much or as little as you want with the other people within your flotilla, but there's generally only kind of 10 to 12 boats anyway, so it's always quite small, intimate groups. And we came back from that holiday and completely out of the blue, my husband just turned around to me and said, right, that's it. Let's buy a boat and go sailing until the money runs out. And I was. Totally blown away and was like, okay, that's one way to go traveling, but I am [00:09:00] a bit more risk adverse. So I was like, no, let's, let's have a plan so the money doesn't run out. And that was where our five year plan was kind of born from. But

[00:09:08] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:09:08] Louise: a plan within that to work. It was always to save.

[00:09:12] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:09:12] Louise: ~with with COVID, that kind of changed everything. also that first year, because there were still restrictions on travel, he couldn't go back to the factory and do the shutdown. quite a lot of our plan kind of hinged on on that money coming in. It was quite a. A big chunk of our budget. we were suddenly several thousand pounds in the hole in our first year going, well, now what? And at the same time, I had found, now, ~in mind that I'd had planned for early retirement since pretty much I started working. I hated it. could not handle it. My brain just couldn't deal with not having. A purpose not having things to do. at that point it was like, well, we need money and actually I need something and we're coming into a marina for the winter. So let's, let's see, while we're gonna be stable for kind of six months, you know, it's a long winter.

[00:09:39] Louise: Montenegro, we were actually in the marina for seven months. ~Um,~

[00:09:42] Ryan Mellon: Wow.

[00:09:42] Louise: ~let's, let's see what's around. And. ~I really struggled,~ um,~ was strange for me because I've never really had that in my life. I've always been quite employable. ~Um, ~but I was looking at jobs and a lot of the jobs were you have to be in the uk. even the remote ones were like, you know, it's remote, [00:10:00] but we want you to come into the office once every quarter for training or whatever. And that's just not feasible. And it was pure chance that I just kind of stumbled across being a virtual assistant. And then I happened to ask within my network, does anybody know anyone that's got a VA agency that would consider taking me on, even though I'm not in the country? And a friend said, yeah, my best friend's got a VA agency. She's nomadic herself. She totally gets it. Speak to her. And I did, and a month later I was working for her. And,~ uh,~ I've worked for her for three and a half years now.

[00:10:42] Ryan Mellon: That's amazing.

[00:10:43] Louise: yeah, so totally fell into it. love it. Wish I'd found it sooner,

[00:10:49] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:10:50] Louise: but, you know, making the most of it now,

[00:10:53] Ryan Mellon: So about how many hours a week would you say that you're working,~ uh,~ remotely on the, on the boat.

[00:10:59] Louise: ~so. It used to be that I am, during the summer, I would kind of work very limited hours, and then during the winter I would work as many hours as, as they wanted, um, and take on new projects. Things have changed a little bit since September because the agency work, they've kind of taken the agency in a different direction, so I don't get so much work from them anymore.~

[00:10:59] Louise: ~Um, they've started selling software as a service instead of. Your traditional VA stuff. Uh, so~ now it's just my [00:11:00] private clients it kind of varies between 10 and 15 hours a week. I try not to take on more than 15, 20 hours of paid work is like my absolute maximum. And then I have my own business that I'm working on in the background, so that takes up a lot of time as well. ~Um, ~but we are really fortunate that overheads are really low, so. I actually only kind of need about five hours of paid work a week,

[00:11:27] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:11:28] Louise: enough to sustain us, so it's a really nice position to be in.

[00:11:33] Ryan Mellon: For those people that might be thinking about living this life, you know, a, a, a couple on a sailboat like yours, other than maybe the cost of the boat, what, what are your expenses look like?

[00:11:46] Louise: ~Um, ~so our, probably our biggest expenses are winter birth,

[00:11:50] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:11:51] Louise: ~that can vary, uh, depending on where you go. So example, we've spent the last two years in Tunisia, which is really quite cheap. Uh, then that's allowed us to kind of regroup a little bit from. The cost of buying a much fancier boat last year. Uh, so this winter we've kind of said, right, we're, we're gonna have a winter in Europe. We really want to go to Spain, and it's a little bit more than we would've paid last year, but we're gonna do it. ~So I would say that's probably around two to 3000 pounds. ~Um, ~sorry, euros. That's [00:12:00] probably around 20% of our budget, 20 to 25% of our budget every year goes on our winter

[00:12:07] Ryan Mellon: Okay. And as far as like daily stuff, like groceries and,~ um,~ do you, do you have utilities or internet or, you know, how, how does all that work?

[00:12:16] Louise: we're pretty self-sufficient. And I mean this, that we set ourselves up that

[00:12:21] Ryan Mellon: I.

[00:12:22] Louise: we always knew we were gonna be doing this on a budget. my husband is an electrical engineer. He's also really good mechanically,

[00:12:31] Louise: we have our own solar power, so. We charge everything during the day. but actually we, we run very little, really,~ uh,~ everything is off an inverter, so that uses our battery power, we've just upgraded our solar and like our batteries are fully charged by nine 30 in the morning.

[00:12:51] Louise: And the only thing that runs really is the fridge.~ So.~

[00:12:53] Ryan Mellon: ~Mm.~

[00:12:53] Louise: ~That's absolutely adequate. It just means that you have to make little adaptations. Like you can't just flick on an electric kettle. We have a kettle that goes on the ho, but you know, you, you get used to it.~

[00:12:53] Louise: ~ You can't have things like hair straighteners or a hairdryer or anything like that, but, know, I've never been that kind of girl anyway, so it's, it's fine. ~So yeah, our, our utilities are minimal. Our, our kind of day-to-day costs really are groceries [00:13:00] and internet. ~Um, ~we always try and get the best deal we can, with the internet.~ Um. ~There's

[00:13:07] Ryan Mellon: what does that look like? Is that sim cards, starlink, something like that.

[00:13:12] Louise: No, it's, I won't use starlink. ~Um, ~there's too many issues with it, and it is really expensive.

[00:13:17] Louise: ~Um,~

[00:13:17] Ryan Mellon: what I've heard.

[00:13:18] Louise: people that do, and, and they swear by it. You know, it's, and I use just a local sim card. I hotspot everything from my phone.

[00:13:28] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:13:29] Louise: That varies depending on where you are. So, ~um. ~for example, because we were there for quite a length of time. We actually got a router and that was, I think it was 10, the equivalent of about 10 pounds a month.

[00:13:41] Louise: And that was unlimited data.

[00:13:43] Ryan Mellon: Oh wow.

[00:13:44] Louise: ~yeah. So in Malta, for example, a tourist sim is actually really quite expensive. Uh,~

[00:13:44] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:13:44] Louise: ~here is bizarrely really expensive, so think it's like 20 gig. No 10 gig, sorry, is about 15 euros. It's, it's crazy. And~

[00:13:44] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:13:44] Louise: ~because of the stuff I do using automations, I use AI a lot. It burns through data really quickly.~

[00:13:44] Louise: ~And then if we want to do any streaming, that's it. But there are ways around it. So here, for example, I've just taken out a, a contract because we're gonna be back and forth in this region for like six months. That's fine. And it's. a prepaid contract. It's about 2021 euros a month, but they've given it me on a special offer price for like 15 euros a month. That's unlimited data while I'm here. And then if we go, or when we go to other countries in the eu, I get 35 gig of roaming data.~

[00:13:44] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:13:44] Louise: ~we both do that. And then between us we've got 70 gig of data, which is more than adequate.~

[00:13:44] Ryan Mellon: Okay. So overall, what would you say your cost per month would be for? Like internet groceries? I imagine you need to put some diesel in the boat sometimes. Right? You guys sail a lot.

[00:13:57] Ryan Mellon: Mm-hmm. it's, it's remarkably cheap. [00:14:00] And then we have insurance. ~Um, ~but even that comes in at less than a thousand pounds per year.

[00:14:07] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:14:07] Louise: for us being full-time liverboards and even being in areas like North Africa where there's a slightly higher premium because there's some security concerns in certain parts.~ Um. ~So, yeah, probably shopping is, food. Shopping is the most expensive and eating out.~ If we eat out, we try not to through the summer. Um, we tend to, when we're in cheaper places, that's where we'll go. Okay, yeah, we'll, we'll go out for dinner this week. We'll go out for lunch, we'll do whatever. Uh, and we cook as much as we can on the boat and we try and go shopping little and often.~

[00:14:24] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:14:24] Louise: ~any food waste, but also because the boat fridge is, is not the best.~

[00:14:24] Louise: ~Um, so you have to be careful and things will go off, you know, especially in the height of summer when it's working really, really hard.~

[00:14:24] Ryan Mellon: ~Mm-hmm.~

[00:14:24] Louise: ~you know, my husband will complain that the beer is definitely not cold enough. Um, so yeah, that, and, and that varies massively. I mean, we could do a full week shopping in Tunisia, you know. And really kind of go all out for about 25 pounds a week.~

[00:14:24] Ryan Mellon: ~Oh wow. Okay.~

[00:14:24] Louise: ~in Malta, it's probably three times that it's, um, yeah, it, it's not a cheap country because it's a small island. very rocky. So there's a lot of stuff that gets imported.~

[00:14:24] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:14:24] Louise: ~there are, there, there is a lot of stuff that they grow here as well, but they cannot grow the volume of food that's needed for the number of visitors. So a lot of stuff's imported and that just drives up the cost of everything. And so we try our best where we can. When we're in cheaper countries, we, that's where we stock up. So I mean, toiletries and things like that, for example, because we're not living out of a backpack, right? So we've got some storage space.~

[00:14:24] Louise: ~So we've just left Every cupboard in the bathroom is like chock full of like toothpaste and soap and shower gel and shampoo. And you know, we've probably got enough toiletries to last us a couple of years. Um, and that's where you can make savings. And it, it's just about planning ahead if you can.~

[00:14:24] Louise: ~Like I say, not~

[00:14:24] Ryan Mellon: Sure.

[00:14:25] Louise: ~if you're living out of a backpack, that's not gonna work for you. But you're in a camper van. Or a boat and you've got a bit of storage space,~ then planning ahead and just being smart about your purchases make a

[00:14:30] Ryan Mellon: See when, when you see good deals, just stock up as long as you have room, right? Yeah.

[00:14:37] Louise: and as long as there's stuff that will actually get used, don't just buy it because it's cheap.

[00:14:41] Ryan Mellon: ~Sure, sure. Yeah, definitely, definitely. It's some, uh, sometimes that's, uh, hard, harder to do. But when you're on a boat, you have so much limited space. I can imagine you need to think about like everything you bring back, like, where's this gonna go? So.~

[00:14:41] Louise: ~and it's not just that, it's also, you know, we, we don't have transport. We to go shopping, we have to leave the boat, which we don't really like to do.~

[00:14:41] Ryan Mellon: ~Mm-hmm.~

[00:14:41] Louise: ~Then we have to get ourselves ashore, and then we have to find somewhere that we can tie the dingy safely. And then we have to walk to wherever the nearest~

[00:14:41] Ryan Mellon: ~Mm~

[00:14:41] Louise: ~half an hour the blistering sun.~

[00:14:41] Ryan Mellon: ~mm~

[00:14:41] Louise: ~it all back to the dingy,~

[00:14:41] Ryan Mellon: ~Sure.~

[00:14:41] Louise: ~to get it in the dingy with us and not topple~

[00:14:41] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:14:41] Louise: ~over. And then we've gotta get it from the dinghy up the other side. So yeah, we are very selective when we go shopping,~

[00:14:41] Ryan Mellon: ~sure. I can imagine. Yeah, just thinking about like how much everything weighs. Like, oh, we, we do need to carry this all the way back to the dinghy. You know, like, is it worth it? So.~

[00:14:41] Louise: ~always look amazing, but it's just not gonna happen.~

[00:14:41] Ryan Mellon: ~Yeah, you need to get like, uh, some pre-cut, just a little bit just to get your fix and not the whole thing, but yeah. ~Well, how do you decide like where to go next? Like where to sail next? I.

[00:14:45] Louise: ~Uh, ~a lot is dictated by the weather and then by kind of a longer term plan. So we'll always know where we're gonna be going for winter, and so. We always kind of know what our destination is [00:15:00] several months ahead. this year for example, we are going to Spain and kind of got two options. We can either go,~ uh,~ to cos, Sardinia, and then maybe across to the Islands and then up to Spain that way. Or the other option is that we go up the. West coast of Italy, which is probably my preference, but my husband feels the opposite, so. We'll see, we'll see what happens

[00:15:27] Ryan Mellon: Okay. Okay.

[00:15:29] Louise: like the west coast of Italy is probably gonna be quieter. And we do, as I say, other than Malta, do generally try and seek out the quieter places.

[00:15:39] Louise: ~Um, ~we don't like being in a busy anchorage with lots of other people. know, some people love that. It's just not for us.

[00:15:47] Ryan Mellon: It can be stressful.

[00:15:48] Louise: yeah. ~Um, ~and Corsica and Sardinia can be really. Very popular in the summer and it can be difficult to get ashore. So we've been told,

[00:15:56] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:15:57] Louise: kind of stuff stresses me out. So [00:16:00] my feeling is that I would rather do the Italy route and go to

[00:16:04] Ryan Mellon: Mm.

[00:16:04] Louise: way. ~And then maybe at the start of next season when it's quieter, maybe that's when we to go to Corsica. In Sardinia. I definitely want to go there. I've wanted to go to for years, so we definitely will go. Um, but. We'll see where the wind takes us as well, you know, um, when the weather starts to settle finally, which is~

[00:16:05] Ryan Mellon: Absolutely.

[00:16:06] Louise: ~normally may time. We'll, we'll see.~ And, and then it sometimes also depends on friends. ~Um, ~so we've met some really good friends along the way.

[00:16:11] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:16:12] Louise: ~And so at the moment, uh, one set of friends are still in Tunisia and they're like our boat besties, and we normally spend at least part of the season sailing with them. So they're just waiting for a weather window now to head to Malta.~

[00:16:12] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

[00:16:12] Louise: ~and so we'll, we'll probably stick with them for a bit, so it might depend how they feel and what they want to do as well. And that's one of the beauties of this life is that we can pretty much go. Wherever we fancy and, know, we have a kind of a longer term destination in mind, but beyond that there's, there's no pressure.~

[00:16:12] Louise: ~So~

[00:16:12] Ryan Mellon: That's cool. So you talked about having friends that boat besties. How is it finding and making friends in like the community,~ uh,~ of other boaters? Like how do you guys generally find that?

[00:16:26] Louise: ~Um. ~I, for me, it's one of the things that I love the most about this lifestyle is the sense of community. It, there's nothing like it. Like boaters will always help you out. ~Um, ~and they're some of the best people to know. And you know, it's one of those things, and we've done it for other people as well.

[00:16:44] Louise: You're in an anchorage and you, you suddenly see somebody's boat has clearly slipped an anchor and it's starting to like move. You just, it's just instinct. You jump in your

[00:16:56] Ryan Mellon: Yeah.

[00:16:56] Louise: you get on board that boat, you go and sort it out for them.

[00:16:59] Ryan Mellon: [00:17:00] Yeah.

[00:17:00] Louise: what happens is when they come back to their boat later and realize, oh, it's moved, their neighbors will tell them what's happened and then they'll come over and bring you beer or wine or something

[00:17:10] Ryan Mellon: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:11] Louise: say, you know, profuse.

[00:17:12] Louise: Thanks. ~Um. ~It is one of those things. So there are certain apps that we use. ~Uh, ~there's one called Naly, which is, it's basically like TripAdvisor for Anchorages.

[00:17:23] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:17:24] Louise: and then there's one called No Foreign Land, which is kind of more of a community based thing, but we use it to track our journeys and things as well, people will put shouts out. On there, or somebody will send you a direct message saying, I can see that you're in this anchorage. We are thinking of heading there. What's the protection like? Or we'll get a message. You can list your skills on no foreign land. So my husband is down as a engineer, so occasionally he'll get a message from somebody saying, look, you are round the corner from us, but we've got a problem with our outboard. Is there any chance of some [00:18:00] help? ~Um, ~you'll go on the VHF and you'll say. We seem to have something stuck around our prop. Has anybody got a dive kit? You know, there's, there's no end of issues,

[00:18:09] Ryan Mellon: Yeah.

[00:18:10] Louise: always help you out. And it's the, the sense of community is really, really lovely.

[00:18:17] Ryan Mellon: That's awesome. 

[00:18:18] Louise: ~going to say, you, ~we kind of meet people generally in the winter, in the marinas. ~Um. ~thrust together for quite a long period of time. So if you find people that you get on really, really well with that you really click with, that to become your kind of closest tribe then. But you bump into people along the way, you know?

[00:18:34] Louise: We'll, we'll see people in an anchorage that we met two years ago in, in Greece, and you have a catch up and you have a few beers and all very social.

[00:18:42] Ryan Mellon: ~Yeah. I love that.~ I love that about the community. I've spent a couple seasons down. On in The Bahamas, on friends boats, on the anchor, and ~uh. ~It's, it's, you know, bonfires by the beach and meetups and,~ uh,~ in that anchorage and those exumas, at 8:00 AM [00:19:00] every morning there would be this old guy like playing classic rock on the VHF.

[00:19:05] Ryan Mellon: Good morning. Good morning. Doing this like, funny like morning show, but like, does anybody need a ride to the airport? We can carpool check out this place for restaurant if anyone has kids on boards, you know, kind of getting them together so they can play with each other. And,~ um,~ if anyone's having trouble with something or needs a part for something, you know, that's how, how we started our morning every morning,~ uh,~ with that radio.

[00:19:33] Ryan Mellon: Call and, it, it was just a really good time and a great experience, and there the sense of community is very strong. So I think eventually I'll take my boat down to The Bahamas one day, but it's,~ um,~ right now I fly for free with points and so it's just too easy to jump on a plane and, and go somewhere.

[00:19:55] Ryan Mellon: Super inexpensive, like Southeast Asia. 

[00:19:58] Ryan Mellon: So what's [00:20:00] something that you wish you knew before starting this journey?

[00:20:04] Louise: ~Um, ~I think I'd wished, I, I wish I'd known that I was gonna miss work. ~Um, ~and actually I probably would've planned things very

[00:20:12] Ryan Mellon: I.

[00:20:13] Louise: if I'd have planned to work from the boat.~ Um, ~yeah. And. Maybe. Hmm. No, I think that's, that's probably it. I, I, yeah. I, the things that I thought I would miss are not the things that I miss at all.~ Um, ~and the things that I miss are not the things that I would've ever anticipated missing. So, ~uh, ~it's one of those things that I think boat life is, is very different to. Any other kind of life except maybe RV life, but you, you think you're making plans and you think you know what it's gonna be like, but it's absolutely nothing like what you expect.

[00:20:47] Louise: And that's both a good and a bad thing.

[00:20:49] Ryan Mellon: ~Okay. Yeah. All right,~ so for those listening that might be interested in becoming a va, because it is a very popular,~ uh,~ entry level way of getting to, to become remote. [00:21:00] Worker online. Do you have,~ um,~ what would like a starter salary for someone who, who, who just become a VA and wants to travel? Do you have any idea about what that might be?

[00:21:13] Louise: There's two routes really. So one is that you work for an agency,~ um,~ and that means that they get the clients, they provide the software. There's.~ Uh, ~the, the disadvantage is you are not getting as much money. So

[00:21:26] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:21:27] Louise: associate roles and they generally start at around about 20 pounds per hour,

[00:21:32] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:21:33] Louise: unless you're a specialist, in which case you might get a bit more. And then the other route is to just go fully self-employed from the get go, that the average rate at the moment in the UK is like 30 pounds per hour. And

[00:21:49] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:21:50] Louise: distinct advantages to both. I started as an associate,~ um,~ and for me, I think that was the best route, [00:22:00] though it was all kind of accidental.

[00:22:01] Louise: ~Um, ~but it gave me that kind of backup. There was a whole team behind me. There were other people to ask if I didn't know something, I could get help. I could get guidance and also there was that kind of security of them getting the, the clients, because that's probably the hardest thing. Doing the work's easy,

[00:22:25] Ryan Mellon: Yeah.

[00:22:26] Louise: clients that is, is tough.

[00:22:28] Louise: ~Um,~

[00:22:28] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:22:28] Louise: me a little while before I had the confidence to then get my own private clients as well. And that's. Kind of been for the last two and a half, three years I think I've run private clients alongside my agency work. ~Um, ~and now obviously because the agency has changed direction. I'm really glad I did that.

[00:22:47] Louise: But I think there is merit to getting some experience with an agency if you've not done this kind of work before. But obviously you will have to accept a slightly lower salary because they're gonna take a cut. [00:23:00] you get great experience and exposure. So swings and roundabouts, but yeah, somewhere between 20 and pounds an hour.

[00:23:07] Ryan Mellon: Okay. That's good. Yeah. Gives people an idea if,~ um,~ because a lot of people,~ um,~ that's one of the go-tos to get out to be a digital nomad as quickly as possible is the VA route. And I think it's a really good way to, way to do it, especially if you enjoy the work.

[00:23:23] Louise: Yeah. And I mean most people, if, if you've done any kind of office work or if you've, you know, worked in any commercial business and you are, you've done a lot of computer stuff, you've generally probably got the skills needed to at least start.~ Um, ~and it might be that you want to specialize, and it might be that you want to gain more skills as you go along, but you've probably already got skills that are in demand. Without having to necessarily fork out for training, and then you can build that as you go.

[00:23:56] Ryan Mellon: That's good advice. would you say that like, [00:24:00] living on the boat and the way you guys are doing it versus living back in the uk, owning a home or renting a flat,~ um,~ would you say like, are you saving money? Is it more expensive on the boat? ~Um, ~what is the com if you were to compare the two?

[00:24:17] Louise: it's, it's hard to compare, but I mean, mainly because a house will appreciate and value a boat, never will.

[00:24:25] Ryan Mellon: Sure.

[00:24:26] Louise: but just in terms of like monthly spend, we are spending so much less on the

[00:24:33] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:24:34] Louise: ~Um, ~you know, we don't have council tax, we don't have utility bills.

[00:24:40] Ryan Mellon: Sure.

[00:24:40] Louise: We don't have any mortgage or rent to pay. And, but, but not just that, like our quality of life is so much better. Like both of us were pretty miserable, kind of stuck in that hamster wheel of up, going to work. You know, paying all your bills. [00:25:00] Yeah. Don't get me wrong, you know, we, we had a nice enough life and we could afford to do nice things like going on sailing, holidays and what have you, we just both felt like there has to be more to life than this. and neither of us have have been healthier. You know, we're constantly out in the fresh air. We make our own rules now. We decide, you know, we, we are not, don't have any dictating like a schedule, so we just get to do what we want, when we want to do it. And thankfully for the most part, we align on that. and just the most amazing way of life. Like it is. It is stressful at times, don't get me wrong, but overall, Really quite a relaxing way of life. You know, you're not going anywhere fast. we think we're doing really well if we reach like five and a half knots, which is, you know, walking speed or a light

[00:25:59] Ryan Mellon: [00:26:00] Yeah. Yeah. About six miles an hour.

[00:26:02] Louise: Yeah. So, you know, it's, it kind of forces you to take life at a much slower pace and

[00:26:09] Ryan Mellon: Sure. I.

[00:26:10] Louise: while, I think when we first started doing it to. Almost kind of exhale and go, okay, this is, this is our life now. This is the pattern of our life. This is, and it, it was totally alien to everything that we'd known.

[00:26:24] Louise: My husband worked continental shifts, so he did two days, two nights, by

[00:26:29] Ryan Mellon: Hmm.

[00:26:29] Louise: off. So his sleep pattern was all over the place,~ um,~ and was shot for years and it, it probably took him. A good 12 months to settle into a more regular sleep pattern, for example.

[00:26:41] Ryan Mellon: I can imagine.

[00:26:42] Louise: now for, for

[00:26:43] Ryan Mellon: Sure. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I bet. Just being able to sleep at night and wake up in the morning is just an amazing thing when you couldn't do it for so long.

[00:26:54] Louise: Yep. It is, it's awesome. it's so peaceful.

[00:26:58] Ryan Mellon: Yeah. [00:27:00] Sleeping on the boat. ~Yeah. I. Love it. ~So tell me what's one of your top experience that you've had during your travels? Anything stick out to you?

[00:27:07] Louise: ~Ooh.~

[00:27:07] Ryan Mellon: ~Sure, there's plenty.~

[00:27:07] Louise: there's, there are loads. But I would say the, the most magic thing for me is when we do an offshore passage, So our first big offshore passage was Greece to Italy,

[00:27:19] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:27:19] Louise: furthest point we were around about 80 miles offshore. And if, if anything happens, there is nobody out there to save you,~ um,~ or not anytime soon anyway. that was like terrifying, but also really exhilarating. So liberating to be kind of self-reliant really. ~Um, ~and there was a moment where, we, we do four on four off when we're doing big passages. So do my four hour shift and he'll sleep and then I'll go and sleep for four hours and that's kind of the rhythm we get into. So he was down below and it was, [00:28:00] it was nighttime and I just looked up and. I have never seen stars like it. ~Um, ~you cannot explain this real like dark sky. There's no light pollution anywhere around the sky was just the most magical thing I've ever seen. you kind of look at this great expansive stars and you can see just so much more than you can on land and you just kind of realize like. How tiny and insignificant you are in the grand scheme of things, and yet here you are having this amazing, fantastic experience that not that many people get to have. You know, not many people get to see the stars and the planet in that, know, with the naked eye. In that kind of detail. ~Um,~

[00:28:53] Ryan Mellon: Yeah,

[00:28:54] Louise: that's always stood out as a really magical moment for me.

[00:28:59] Ryan Mellon: I've heard that. [00:29:00] I've heard that from, because I, you know, I, I have a sailboat as well. I, I stay in the mar in the summer times when I'm home. But,~ um,~ you know, I know a lot of cruisers that do long passages and I. That they always tell me just about how amazing the night sales are and just getting out there, getting offshore into the ocean, away from everything and just how the amazing the stars are and just the, the weather and the nature and just it's very awe inspiring.

[00:29:32] Ryan Mellon: So,

[00:29:32] Louise: It's incredible and, and dolphins,

[00:29:37] Ryan Mellon: ~uh.~

[00:29:37] Louise: dolphins and that it doesn't matter how many times I see them, it's always magic. I just love

[00:29:44] Ryan Mellon: Yeah, they swim by the boat.

[00:29:47] Louise: Yeah. And I'll say to my other half, if I'm sleeping, if dolphins come, wake me up.

[00:29:52] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:29:53] Louise: them. ~Um, ~but yeah, generally, ~uh. ~Sunrise and sunset is when we tend to see them the most.

[00:29:59] Ryan Mellon: [00:30:00] Okay.

[00:30:00] Louise: but they're quite fascinated by boats and they, they come and like, play in your bow wave that you get at the

[00:30:05] Ryan Mellon: Yeah.

[00:30:07] Louise: I mean, it's, yeah, it's just magic. It makes you feel really special. Like they've chosen to be with you. They haven't,

[00:30:12] Ryan Mellon: Yeah.

[00:30:13] Louise: in the boat, not you, but still it's

[00:30:15] Ryan Mellon: That's awesome. ~All right, well I have a couple rapid fire questions as we wrap up. Um, so what is, um. ~What is the biggest money saving trick that you've learned as a, as a digital nomad or as a cruiser?

[00:30:24] Louise: ~Um, ~I'd probably say the one that I mentioned earlier actually, about like stocking up on things where you can, in countries where they're cheap.~ Um. ~So like the toiletries for example, that literally saves us hundreds, hundreds of pounds. and then we're as self-sufficient as we possibly can be, which also saves us money. And we are just a little bit careful before we spend anything, we actually think about do we need this? Will we use it? ' cause apart from nothing else, we also don't want the boat to get. Cluttered up, and then we also try and kind of [00:31:00] plan our travels so that we spend at least some time in expensive countries where our groceries aren't gonna cost as much and try and kind of

[00:31:10] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:31:11] Louise: things that way a little bit. ~Um, ~and I think that's really important for all nomads. You know, you, you can't spend, you've got a trust fund, you can't spend,~ um,~ all your time in, you know, cities that a coffee's gonna

[00:31:27] Ryan Mellon: Yeah.

[00:31:28] Louise: 95. You know, you just

[00:31:29] Ryan Mellon: Yeah, yeah.

[00:31:31] Louise: balance.

[00:31:32] Ryan Mellon: Okay, cool. ~Tell me, what's one of the,~ tell me a place that's in your opinion that has the best food. I.

[00:31:38] Louise: Ooh. I mean, eaten some pretty epic food in Greece, but actually probably Malta.~ Um, ~we had guests here last week and he went mad in this fruit shop and bought loads of stuff, but. Honestly, I have never tasted strawberries like it. They were so fresh and it was like a taste explosion in your mouth. It was [00:32:00] amazing.~ Uh, ~and what I, one of the things I really love about Malta is it's really, really multicultural.

[00:32:06] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:32:07] Louise: you can get anything here, any kind of food you can imagine. will be somewhere on the island that's selling it and. That's probably one of the things that I really love about it. It's a very welcoming and accepting place and kind of anything goes, you know? and yeah, it's, it's just really

[00:32:27] Ryan Mellon: Love that. Yeah. What's the most valuable skill that you've developed as a digital nomad or as a cruiser?

[00:32:36] Louise: ~Um, ~I would say probably my tech skills because that, that wasn't my background. ~Um, ~it just so happened that the agency owner kind of spotted something in me and she was like my mentor,~ uh,~ and she taught me so much, so I. I guess I always was a little bit tech-minded in that I was always the person that people would come to and say, oh, I'm trying to get the system to do this report and [00:33:00] spit out this and it's not doing it.

[00:33:01] Louise: What, what am I doing wrong? And I always kind of instinctively knew how to get the computer to do what I wanted it to do, but I didn't have a tech background. And then obviously the, the. Advent of no code software has been amazing because I haven't got time to learn to code. I can do basic coding, but I don't want to code. but that allows anybody to use tools and robotic automation to do pretty much anything.

[00:33:33] Ryan Mellon: Yeah.

[00:33:34] Louise: it transpires that I have quite a logical brain. For computer stuff. if I'm trying to do something it's not natively available in that software, I will always find a workaround. And actually that's. What I love to do the most, which really surprised me.

[00:33:53] Louise: 'cause like I say, not my background, but yeah, they've been really useful skills. So particularly [00:34:00] as a va,~ um,~ because I can do the basic admin, I can do the, you know, whatever you want me to do. But what really kind of wows my customers is when I can go and say, okay, your systems, let's, let's automate some of that and let's actually free up. Time brain space, and a lot of my clients are not tech savvy at all,

[00:34:24] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:34:25] Louise: ~um, ~they're like blown away by what's possible

[00:34:29] Ryan Mellon: Nice.

[00:34:30] Louise: necessarily spending a huge amount of money. There is a lot of like low cost or no cost software out there that does amazing things that if you are only a very small business owner. free package is gonna be perfectly adequate for you, it's gonna save you so much time and so much brain space that it's revolutionary. Like I love it when a client comes to me and says, you have literally changed my life. what I live for.

[00:34:56] Ryan Mellon: That's awesome.

[00:34:57] Louise: and learning to utilize [00:35:00] tech to do that has just been amazing.

[00:35:02] Louise: I love it.

[00:35:03] Ryan Mellon: The ability to be able to do it from anywhere in the world on your sailboat.

[00:35:08] Louise: Yeah. I mean, I think that's one thing that we kind of have to thank COVID for I think that changed the world completely in that sense.

[00:35:18] Ryan Mellon: Yeah.

[00:35:18] Louise: you know, and if I look back at my younger self who had this real to go traveling, the what I'm doing now would never have been possible. Like. When, when I was at college doing my business qualifications, you know, we had, had a CD rom, we had like a OL dial up, you know,

[00:35:37] Ryan Mellon: Right, right.

[00:35:38] Louise: that.

[00:35:38] Louise: Now I have this computer in my pocket with me all the time that can connect to anything in the world that I have artificial intelligence, that I can brainstorm with and have conversations with and strategize with. It's just mind blowing. The, if you look at like, where we've come between say 20, well, [00:36:00] 2000 and, and 2025,

[00:36:03] Ryan Mellon: Sure. It's huge.

[00:36:05] Louise: and it's, it's changed the world.

[00:36:07] Louise: And so, you know, I, I always wanted to go traveling when I was younger, but I'm kind of glad that it's happened the way it's happened.

[00:36:15] Ryan Mellon: Everything,~ uh,~ fell into place just the way it, it it's supposed to. Looking back, right? When you're in the middle of it, you're, you're like, I wanna travel. I don't know what it looks. Like, or you know, but if you just keep moving towards your goals and then you look back, you're like, wow, everything kind of happened for a reason, you know?

[00:36:34] Louise: And I've always been a big believer in that. ~Um, ~and yeah, I still am.

[00:36:38] Ryan Mellon: ~Awesome. Love it. ~Well, thanks so much for taking the time out today. So where can people find you?

[00:36:43] Louise: ~Uh, ~so if you are looking for a va,~ uh,~ or if you are wanting to become a VA or a digital nomad and you want some help and guidance, you can check out my website, which is wannabe digital nomad.com wannabe digital nomad on socials as well. And I [00:37:00] give

[00:37:00] Ryan Mellon: Okay.

[00:37:00] Louise: advice and guidance and infographics and you know, I try and create useful content that will give people help and guidance.

[00:37:09] Louise: But if you also want a more dedicated one-on-one and know, help to kind of create your road plan to freedom, then I can do that with you too.

[00:37:19] Ryan Mellon: Awesome. All right, well thank you so much for taking the time and I hope you have a good rest of your day there.

[00:37:25] Louise: You too, Ryan, it has been an absolute pleasure talking to you. Thank you.

[00:37:29] Ryan Mellon: Thank you.

[00:37:30]