Digital Nomad Nation - Inspiring Stories From the Location Independent Lifestyle

The Biggest Mistake He Made as Digital Nomad with Rens Van Daalen, Youtuber and Founder of the Van Life Network | EP 50

• Ryan Mellon | Serial Entrepreneur • Season 2 • Episode 50

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What if your morning commute could be replaced by a sunrise on a mountain, a beach walk all while building a thriving online business?

Ryan sits down with Rens Van Daalen, a Dutch entrepreneur who traded traditional life for the open road. After years of backpacking broke and burnt out, Rens figured out how to earn online while living in his van and now he's helping others do the same. 

From teaching Affinity Photo to building the Van Life Network, a thriving community connecting nomads across Europe, Rens shares how he turned isolation into connection and passion into profit.

Chapters:
00:03:42 - Online Business on Skool  
00:09:10 - Digital Campfires
00:12:49 - Build or Buy Vans
00:20:52 - Wild Camping Spots
00:28:50 - Illegal Sunrise Moment

Download Your FREE Guide on 7 Ways to Become a Digital Nomad https://www.thedigitalnomadcoach.com

Discover Rens secret to finding the perfect wild camping spots, his thoughts on why Skool is elevating online entrepreneurs, and the story behind his "illegal sunrise".

You'll hear how Rens navigates the challenges of van life, staying productive on the road, dealing with loneliness, dating as a nomad, and finding the balance between adventure and stability. 

He opens up about the mistakes he made early on and the strategies that helped him build sustainable income streams. 

Listen and learn how freedom, community, and purpose can coexist even from a van in the mountains.

Follow Rens: https://www.youtube.com/c/RensvanDaalen

Grab Your FREE Guide - 7 Steps To Launch Your Digital Nomad Journey - https://www.thedigitalnomadcoach.com/

MORE FROM RYAN MELLON :

Join the Digital Nomad Masterclass: https://www.digitalnomadnation.com/masterclass

Connect with Ryan: https://allmylinks.com/thedigitalnomadcoach

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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 co-working 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!



Ryan Mellon: [00:00:00] What if you could build a thousand member online community in just one month and start earning within weeks?

Today I sit down with Rens Van Dalin. Founder of the Van Life Network and an online entrepreneur who went from failed dropshipping attempts to running two successful businesses on a community platform that combines courses, coaching, and connections.

In one place, You'll learn how he built a thriving YouTube channel using his photo editing skills are the exact steps he took to transition from broke backpacker to profitable digital entrepreneur.

Stay until the end to hear about his illegal sunrise experience in the French Alps and how a personal tragedy became the catalyst for creating something that helps hundreds of people connect on the road. 

Welcome to Digital Nomad Nation, where we inspire and empower you to achieve location independence and live life on your own terms. Today we have Rens Van Daalen. Welcome, Rens .

Rens Van Daalen: [00:01:00] Thank you so much for having me.

Ryan Mellon: So take me back to the moment, ~time or place that,~ that you felt like the digital nomad or van Life was for you. How did it all begin?

~In the very beginning.~

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, well, we got quite some years back. Um, I,~ before I got into Van Life, I used to backpack in a Asia mostly,~ um, um,~ which I really enjoyed, but for me it was. Like saving up money, going there for a few months and coming back broke basically.

And so I had to work again. And after a few years of doing that, I was like, I'm doing something wrong.

Like there's people who just travel and they earn in dollars and they spend in Indonesian rupi or whatever, and they can just continue traveling. And I got back home broke, so I have to change something. So from this moment, I started to figure out like, okay, how can I earn online money? And so from that moment, I think it was like 2017 or something, so the whole drop shipping thing and everything came up.

So obviously the first thing I did was, oh, I found a drop ship course. Let's, let's just buy it and let's, let's drop ship Now. That was, I tried [00:02:00] it. ~Um,~ in the end it didn't work out at all. Um. And from there I started figuring out more a passion. So one of my passions was, I, I didn't have the skill yet, but it became Photoshop.

So I was always interested in photography and video. ~Um,~ but I couldn't really use the software. So I started learning Photoshop, and after a while I transitioned into Affinity photo because I thought I have a cracked version of Photoshop. If I want to do it professionally, I should probably buy like a license for something.

And Photoshop is expensive, so let's just. Find alternatives. So in the end, I, ~uh,~ ended up with Affinity photo and I started posting my work, my art, basically, and people started asking me like, Hey, how do you create this? And I thought, okay, maybe I should just like create a tutorial around it. And I made a tutorial on YouTube and surprisingly, I, I found that there were only like. Four or five other channels doing affinity photo tutorials back then. So I was like, okay, this is an opportunity because I have the skill. I just have to learn how to teach it and how to [00:03:00] record and how to video edit and everything. so that's basically when I started online. So showing up more online, ~um,~ outside of Instagram and showing my work basically. And from there I got more into like, how do I turn this into a business? Then I heard people about like, build an email list, ~like, uh,~ build lead magnets so you can collect their emails and build a digital product and start small and you can grow and maybe you can offer a course or coaching or whatever. And from there, I just ventured, ~uh,~ into, ~um,~ digital nomad or into, ~um,~ online entrepreneurship actually. So it started with, started very small from just an idea to just. To getting a skill that I could sell. And from there it was more like, okay, how can I monetize this skill?

Ryan Mellon: ~Okay. Awesome. ~And so are you still doing that business or did you just ~trans~ transition fully into like the Van Life Network and like YouTube and stuff.

Rens Van Daalen: So I've got two channels. One is a Ven, uh, the Affinity photo channel where I teach the

software, and my other channel is my Van Life channel.[00:04:00] 

So the one is like, I think around 20 K, probably 19,000 subscribers, and my Van Life Channel is like 13 and a half or

something. I started with the Affinity Photo Channel, and from there I went to Teachable, which is a course platform.

You've probably heard of it. and then later, like last year around summer Skool came around and I was like, I'm gonna try this thing out. And that Skool like grew like crazy. Like it was almost a thousand members in like a month or something.

And then I had my digital products that are already sold teachable.

So I was like, okay, let's just migrate them to Skool. And I made like a thousand bucks within the first whatever, like pretty quickly. And I was like, okay, this is solid. Like now I can actually connect with my audience, which was my main purpose of going to Skool. Like now I build a community so I can actually communicate with my subscribers. They can ask me for feedback, I can give them feedback, and I can give them even more. Service. So I have a Skool which is called Affinity Photo [00:05:00] Creatives. I have my YouTube channel. But lately, like, uh, what I told you in the beginning, like what happened with my dad, it made me rethink my whole life. And I was like, is this still my passion?

Do I still want to teach people affinity photo? in a way it's my shortest way to money basically, because it is established. but it is not my biggest passion anymore. And so then I. Started rethinking what is my passion. And my passion is basically snowboarding, which is my biggest passion, and then van life which is my lifestyle. And that is how I got into the van life network. And that's why I'm like slowly shifting like everything, to the van life network. And once I can generate like a full-time income or more from the van life network, I might slowly fade out like the, ~uh,~ the affinity photo creatives.

Ryan Mellon: ~Man, super excited for this conversation. So I saw that you have, uh, the van, ~~you've started something really amazing, a cool community, uh, called the Van Life Network.~~ ~ 

So tell me a little bit about the Van Life Network and it, was there anything that was like a catalyst for you to, start this new venture?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~so the Fe Life Network is basically an online community [00:06:00] where Fe lifers can connect online, but we bring the connections offline, um, using. Features of the community platform. And the reason why I start this, or yeah, let's say the moment I started this, uh, we have to go back like, let's say half a year.

So last winter, I was basically living my dream life in my van with my motor home, with my dog in the French Alps, uh, snowboarding every day and working online on my YouTube channel and, uh, on my photo editing channel basically. and then my dad, he was, he has been sick for quite a few years, but his health was really quickly declining and so in the middle of the winter season, I returned back home and I fortunately had to spend like five last weeks with him and my family.

So we were very, very close together. And just before he passed away, I came out of the shower and I had this idea, which came from my passion of fe life, um, [00:07:00] to start a Van Life community connecting fe lifers, ~uh,~ on the road basically. My own van Life journey has been quite a lonely one, or not necessarily lonely, but an isolated one because I'm also an online entrepreneur and, ~uh,~ a van lifer.

So these are quite, two things that are, yeah, let's say out of the ordinary kind of. and so that's why I started it and. Just before I passed away, I had to, I could share this idea with him and my family, and yeah, he wa he couldn't really show his emotions anymore, but I knew how proud he was of the project.

Ryan Mellon: Awesome. what you've created is something that's like helping other people as well, like get out of the isolation and some of the loneliness that some people feel, being on the road. So like. ~You say you're, ~you're like online and you're a van lifer. It's a little bit out of the ordinary.

~Why would you say that? Like ~what are other van Lifers doing to bring in income?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Well, ~first thing, like living in a van isn't [00:08:00] like living in a brick house, so you're al always on the road. You live on a home on wheels, which is obviously like the minority of people doing that. So in that way, you are living, A weird life, let's say. Um, other than that, like. I see quite many Van Lifes,~ well,~ some have saved up a bunch of money and started traveling.

~Others do it temporarily, so it's just for holidays or weekends or whatever. And the full-timers, um, some of them do seasonal work, but let's say, um, yeah, an offline job, let's say. Um, and ~I don. Meet so many people who are actually doing it online, ~so who are doing, uh,~ who are an entrepreneur or an online entrepreneur or a content creator or whatever. ~Um, ~they seem to be out there a lot, and many of them because you see them on the internet, but in real life you don't really see them ~very, ~very often, to be honest.

Ryan Mellon: Okay. And so your part of your community that you've built has helped like bring more people together and like bring more community, like not only online, but also in person. So like how does that work?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~so I've launched a community on Skool, which is a relatively new platform. It's a community platform. ~And in Skool recently, so earlier this year, ~they [00:09:00] launched a MAP feature. This map feature allows community owners and community members to see where other people who,~ um,~ have enabled their map location to see where other members are. And so once you are in a community with other members, you can just, and especially when you're living on the road, you can kind of see where other people are. And from there you can ~act, um. ~Meet up in real, let's say. So it starts online. We start connecting online and we do this through digital campfires as we call them, which are basically Zoom calls through,~ uh,~ with our members. And from there we connect. So we become friends, we have fun together, and from there we actually take it offline using the map feature.

Ryan Mellon: ~And I love that map feature. Didn't realize Skool had that. Now, um,~ I've been looking into Skool,~ um,~ for a community, for myself, and I think ~that's, ~that's really helpful. Like, you know, 'cause all us digital nomads,~ uh,~ are spread out all over the globe. And so like, tell us, ~like if, ~if, you know, I'm working and living in a van ~and I, ~and I come to a digital campfire, like what is that about?

~Like, is there a topic? Are you, are you guys, um. Are you educating people or is it just more like, of a hangout and like, meeting up, like just like a socialization type, uh, meetup.~

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, so there's no education at all,~

~like many Skool communities are about educating or there's a guru or someone teaching something. Um, I started this community. It's my second community, and, uh, I started this community to, um. I wanted to be about the community, so not about me. I'm as much of a member as my members are, let's say.~

~So we kind of shaped the community together and we also, I asked them for feedback. I implement their feedback and so on.~ So these digital campfires. [00:10:00] We do them twice a week and they started out as two hours per digital campfire, which is four hours in total per week. But because there are so much fun now, we have extended both of them to four hours each, which is crazy. ~Um, ~but you can imagine like we have so much contact points during the week with each other that real friendships have been made.~ Um, ~and these digital campfires, they don't really have any agenda. We don't teach anything. It's just hop on like a real campfire. You gather around the campfire, you have a chat.

~Some people walk away to grab a beer or some people have to whatever, do whatever, and they can hop in whenever they want and~ we just talk anything van life or basically anything life. So. Our conversation oftentimes go to toilets, to showers,~ to,~ to, so to, to solar panels, to, uh,~ uh,~ batteries,~ uh,~ or power banks or whatever. ~Um, ~so there's no agenda. It's just hanging out ~with, ~with the like-minded people.

Ryan Mellon: I love that. Yeah, I think that's super important. And just having that community,~ um,~ you know, I've been a part of many Facebook groups for boaters. 'cause I, you know, I live on my [00:11:00] sailboat and have done some traveling there. And a lot of, like, the Facebook groups are purely like. I need help fixing my water maker or like, this is broken or does someone have a part for this?

If you're in a part of a, in a country where it's hard to get parts for things and yeah, I think it's super helpful and like having that community, ~um. ~Is like super, helpful to,~ um,~ be successful and not feel isolated. But it sounds like with Skool, like you've taken it to another level. ~Like, you know, you don't have all these, um, like meetups and stuff and, and like, like Skool provides, which is pretty cool.~

Rens Van Daalen: Yeah, I agree. And one thing that is a big difference between let's say Facebook groups and Skool, like there's humongous Facebook groups around van life. So there's van life groups with like hundreds of thousands of people, like maybe half a million of people,~ uh,~ people or whatever. But there's almost zero connection. It is what you just mentioned, like it's if you need something, if you need help or if you need information, it's basically a forum. So you post something, people give the answer and that's it. Or there's [00:12:00] people self-promoting like, Hey, look at me, I'm traveling here. ~Uh, ~follow me on Instagram, whatever. Like what we do on Skool is the exact opposite.

Like we are only about connection. So of course you can ask your question. Of course you can just like,~ uh,~ if you. Need help with something to build or whatever. You can ask feedback. And there's quite skilled people inside of the community because, for instance, one of my members, she was really struggling with her electricity, and another member hopped in and he said like, I just built my whole van and I can build you like,~ uh,~ a sketch or like a scheme, I think it's called,~ um,~ like for your electrics.

And she had no experience with electricity whatsoever. And together with the guy, she built it herself.

So. That is a ver Yeah, it became a very supportive place. Basically,

Ryan Mellon: Yeah. ~Yeah. And it's super like, ~and that's one thing about the Van Lifers that I noticed that. A significant amount of people,~ um,~ build out their own vans or they get something that's older and they renovate and they [00:13:00] upgrade and they put solar and lithium in so they can go off grid. ~It's unlike a, you know, you don't see a lot of people just buying like vans that are like made like camper vans and stuff that are like right off the showroom floor.~

~Ready to go, you know? Um, and I like that about it. I think it's a, it's a great way to not only get into it at a lower cost point, but it's also a great way to just learn how to be self-sustainable. And like,~ once you've built out your van, like now you know it from. You know, the front to back, top to bottom.

And so when something goes wrong, you're not like trying to find ~a, ~a van life electrician to come fix your stuff, or a plumber or something that doesn't really deal with,~ um,~ these types of plumbing systems, right? You can figure this out on your own. And so being self-sufficient is, I think, a really key part ~of, ~of living in a van ~and, ~and traveling like that.

Rens Van Daalen: Yeah, I totally agree. ~Well, ~there's kind of two people living in a fence. Some will want to do everything themselves. Other people, they just like outsource everything or they just buy like ~a, ~a motor home. ~Uh, ~for instance, the retired people, most of them, they choose for comfort. So they just buy a more expensive, ~uh. ~Equip motor home base, basically. ~Um, ~but usually the younger generation or the people who want to customize more or [00:14:00] whatever, they like building or they want to learn building,~ um,~ yeah, they just buy an older van and they just like equip it with whatever they want.

Ryan Mellon: Nice and customized. I think that's definitely the ~way, ~way to go for sure. ~If I were to do it, definitely would do it. Um, and one of my buddies has a big YouTube channel and all he does is show people how to, uh. Like build out the vans, like from start to finish. 'cause he, he's done like 10 of 'em every year.~

~He, he gets a new box truck or a new van and just does like a whole custom, um, fit. And then you watch him all along. So it's like super easy to learn too. Um, which is awesome. ~~So take me back to the moment, time or place that, that you felt like the digital nomad or van Life was for you. How did it all begin?~

~In the very beginning.~

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, well, we got quite some years back. Um, I, before I got into Van Life, I used to backpack in a Asia mostly, um, um, which I really enjoyed, but for me it was. Like saving up money, going there for a few months and coming back broke basically.~

~And so I had to work again. And after a few years of doing that, I was like, I'm doing something wrong.~

~Like there's people who just travel and they earn in dollars and they spend in Indonesian rupi or whatever, and they can just continue traveling. And I got back home broke, so I have to change something. So from this moment, I started to figure out like, okay, how can I earn online money? And so from that moment, I think it was like 2017 or something, so the whole drop shipping thing and everything came up.~

~So obviously the first thing I did was, oh, I found a drop ship course. Let's, let's just buy it and let's, let's drop ship Now. That was, I tried it. Um, in the end it didn't work out at all. Um. And from there I started figuring out more a passion. So one of my passions was, I, I didn't have the skill yet, but it became Photoshop.~

~So I was always interested in photography and video. Um, but I couldn't really use the software. So I started learning Photoshop, and after a while I transitioned into Affinity photo because I thought I have a cracked version of Photoshop. If I want to do it professionally, I should probably buy like a license for something.~

~And Photoshop is expensive, so let's just. Find alternatives. So in the end, I, uh, ended up with Affinity photo and I started posting my work, my art, basically, and people started asking me like, Hey, how do you create this? And I thought, okay, maybe I should just like create a tutorial around it. And I made a tutorial on YouTube and surprisingly, I, I found that there were only like. Four or five other channels doing affinity photo tutorials back then. So I was like, okay, this is an opportunity because I have the skill. I just have to learn how to teach it and how to record and how to video edit and everything. Uh, Uh, and so that's basically when I started online. So showing up more online, um, outside of Instagram and showing my work basically. And from there I got more into like, how do I turn this into a business? Then I heard people about like, build an email list, like, uh, build lead magnets so you can collect their emails and build a digital product and start small and you can grow and maybe you can offer a course or coaching or whatever. And from there, I just ventured, uh, into, um, digital nomad or into, um, online entrepreneurship actually. So it started with, started very small from just an idea to just. To getting a skill that I could sell. And from there it was more like, okay, how can I monetize this skill?~

Ryan Mellon: ~Okay. Awesome. And so are you still doing that business or did you just trans transition fully into like the Van Life Network and like YouTube and stuff.~

Rens Van Daalen: ~So I've got two channels. One is a Ven, uh, the Affinity photo channel where I teach the~

~software, and my other channel is my Van Life channel.~

~So the one is like, I think around 20 K, probably 19,000 subscribers, and my Van Life Channel is like 13 and a half or~

~something. I started with the Affinity Photo Channel, and from there I went to Teachable, which is a course platform.~

~You've probably heard of it. Um, and then later, like last year around summer Skool came around and I was like, I'm gonna try this thing out. And that Skool like grew like crazy. Like it was almost a thousand members in like a month or something.~

~Um. And then I had my digital products that are already sold teachable.~

~So I was like, okay, let's just migrate them to Skool. And I made like a thousand bucks within the first whatever, like pretty quickly. And I was like, okay, this is solid. Like now I can actually connect with my audience, which was my main purpose of going to Skool. Like now I build a community so I can actually communicate with my subscribers. They can ask me for feedback, I can give them feedback, and I can give them even more. Service. So I have a Skool which is called Affinity Photo Creatives. I have my YouTube channel. But lately, like, uh, what I told you in the beginning, like what happened with my dad, it made me rethink my whole life. And I was like, is this still my passion?~

~Do I still want to teach people affinity photo? Um, in a way it's my shortest way to money basically, because it is established. Um, but it is not my biggest passion anymore. And so then I. Started rethinking what is my passion. And my passion is basically snowboarding, which is my biggest passion, and then van life which is my lifestyle. And that is how I got into the van life network. And that's why I'm like slowly shifting like everything, uh, to the van life network. And once I can generate like a full-time income or more from the van life network, I might slowly fade out like the, uh, the affinity photo creatives.~

~But I'm not sure about it yet.~

~I'm not sure about it.~ 

Ryan Mellon: So for anyone who might wanna pursue their passion and start a community or start some online work, do you have any advice ~for, ~for someone who's just starting out?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Uh, well, ~well, my advice is like, show yourself online and,~ uh,~ start a Skool

basically. 

Ryan Mellon: Okay.

Rens Van Daalen: It's very simple. Like, ~um, ~I have one of my memories, I got in touch with her. She has a very big YouTube channel,~ uh,~ 400. 60,000 or whatever. And she teaches Spanish,

uh, but she's also living the Fen life. And that's how she got into my community.

Uh, we got to connect and I told her about Skool and she was quite hesitant in the beginning. And now she has been ~a, ~a member of my Skool for like a week and she's like. Rents, we need to hop on a call because,~ uh,~ I like, tell me all about Skool.

~Um, ~and now we're kind of figuring out ways for her to monetize her, create like, ~uh, ~teaching [00:15:00] skills, her Spanish skills,~ um,~ into a community, into a Skool.

So. She wanted to start a website, she wanted to start a mailing list, she wanted to start all these things. ~Um, ~but with Skool, you basically have everything in one. So you don't really need a website. You don't really need to build a mailing list, even though you can. But Skool, a community is basically a mailing list on steroids because you can continuously and always just connect with your members basically.~ Um, ~so that would be my very short answer to that.

Ryan Mellon: Okay. Yeah, that's solid advice. so, so where are you from and where are you traveling now?

Rens Van Daalen: I am from the Netherlands. I was born in

the Netherlands, and currently I'm traveling in Spain.

Ryan Mellon: ~Okay.~

And so tell us a little bit about like, costs, like, you know, if you were at home living in the Netherlands, renting a one bedroom apartment,~ um,~ versus van life, ~is it, ~is it significantly different? ~Do, ~do you save money? ~Um, ~living in a place like Spain, which a lot of people feel is. It can be pretty expensive.

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, well, ~[00:16:00] compared to the Netherlands, Spain is very cheap, actually.

~Um, ~so the cost of living here is cheaper. The gas prices are lower. The,~ uh, the, the, ~the prices of food are lower. Like, if you go out for, like, for a drink, it's cheaper. Like basically everything is cheaper.

Uh, so for me there's leverage though. ~Um, ~also like the housing prices or like the market in the Netherlands is just like going through the roof, so it is just very expensive to live in the Netherlands. ~Um, ~also the cost of living is higher. And on top of that, I just love. Like I can, I'm not a guy who settles down easily, like I feel at home very quickly.

But I also get bored if I stay too long in one place. So that's why I've been traveling quite a lot and that's why Van Life for me is perfect.~ Um, ~regarding the costs, like I have never really owned a house. I have never really rent,~ well,~ I have rented an apartment, but not like for the full price. Always like,~ uh, ~for a friend price, let's say.~ Um, ~but I know for sure that my cost of living right now is way [00:17:00] lower ~than, ~than living ~in a, ~in a house. Like my sister owns a house and my total cost of the month is basically her rent. Kind of,

Ryan Mellon: Okay, so just for what you get in rent in the Netherlands, you're living everything, like all your costs. Okay. 

Rens Van Daalen: So I can run my business from it, like, ~uh, ~feed my dog and feed myself and like, ~uh, ~yeah, fill up my gas, et cetera, et cetera.

Ryan Mellon: ~I gotcha. Awesome. ~how often would you say that you move around, like from place to place?

Rens Van Daalen: Uh, this is actually a funny one because inside of the community we kind of made an inside joke,~ um,~ which is basically you've got two types of travelers. So you've got,~ uh, and this is a term terms we came up with. We've got ~snails, which are people who travel very slowly and I will enjoy the spot and will live, love the lifestyle and date.

Don't chase next spot to next spot. They just love the lifestyle and so they travel very slowly. And then you've got Dashers

who are basically people that want to see as much as possible in the shortest amount of time because there's so much to see in the world and they just want to continue driving all the way all day long.

[00:18:00] Basically, I'm a snail.

Ryan Mellon: Okay.

Rens Van Daalen: I, I am a very, very slow traveler. It took me over two months to get from the Netherlands to Spain, which most people do in like three days. ~Um, ~so I generally travel about an hour,~ a,~ a week, 

~I would say. Yeah.~

~So very~ 

Ryan Mellon: that's pretty solid. ~Um, ~I did ~a, ~a road trip of the US for one year with friends and we tried to keep it to like. Three hours of driving a week, like, no, no more than that because it, the US is such a big place and ~we, ~we did wanna see as much of it as we could, and we only had,~ uh,~ one block of time, but like, traveling like just three hours a week really made it like, feel like we didn't, we weren't doing too much.

And there was also three of us, so like we could just trade and do like one hour of driving a week per person. So it was like pretty. Pretty easy, you know? Uh, 

Rens Van Daalen: sounds about perfect because then you can actually enjoy the spots where you're [00:19:00] at. And what I love about Vanlife is you drive to a new spot. If you like it, you stay for a week, or if it's allowed of course, or you get kicked out. And if it sucks, then you just continue driving to the next spot until you find one that you like.

Ryan Mellon: yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. Um, we got stuck in like Florida for like over a month. We got. Stuck in California for two months in Oregon a month. So that was four months out of our 12, just in three states. 'cause we just really enjoyed them so much. So, ~um, ~yeah, it's nice to be able to just kind of pick and choose ~and, ~and go at your will.

Would you say that you,~ um,~ use campgrounds,~ uh,~ often or are you mostly off grid? When you're,~ um,~ finding spots, like what does that look like?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~I rarely ever camp on camp grads, to be honest, so it's almost always of grid.

I've got quite [00:20:00] a big solar panel on the roof,~ uh,~ which is sufficient for my work and everything. ~Uh, ~in winter, usually because the sun is lower,~ uh,~ it's more tricky. ~Um, ~but yeah, I rarely camp on campgrounds. I just,~ we,~ we like to call it,~ uh,~ wild camping. Which is basically like the tent version of it. Like you just go somewhere, you pop up a tent and then you come there. ~Um, ~while camping in the vanlife world is basically just off grid camping,

Ryan Mellon: ~Okay. And like, how do you find your,~ how would you find your spots that you're, that would allow it? Or like, are you ever in a position where you got get set up and then like someone comes out there or the cops come out and say, Hey, you're not allowed to be here.

Rens Van Daalen: Uh, yeah, we actually had it quite recently. Um, I think about two weeks ago we were like parked up somewhere and the, our mistake was we camped or we parked around a, an old bonfire or campfire or whatever you call it, like a fire pit kind of. ~Um, ~[00:21:00] so it was. Like there was just coal laying there and we parked around it because it was the flattest spot, but it was not our fire. ~Um, ~in fact, we actually went out with our litter pickers to clean up the whole space and then afterwards the police came, or it wasn't even the police, I think they were like national park rangers or something, and they came out and they said like, Hey guys, you cannot make fire here. You cannot build a fire.

And ~um, ~you gotta move right now because if the police comes, you get a fine of like $1,200 or euros in this case. Per person. ~Um, ~so we were like, okay, of course we're out, bro. Like, ~don't, ~don't worry. ~We, ~we will leave as soon as possible. ~Um, ~but most times we find our spots through an app called Park for Night.

Ryan Mellon: Okay.

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~yeah, which is a very common app among van lifers. ~Uh, ~I think almost everybody uses it and it is great for,~ um,~ wild camp spots, but also for camp size. And so.

Here in Europe at least, I don't know about the us. ~Uh, ~I've never really traveled in a van in the us but here we use,~ um,~ park for night. And otherwise we also have, we are making our own map inside of the [00:22:00] van life network.

So we just pick out the best spots and we pin them on a Google map, which we share. So everybody,~ uh,~ in the community can actually add their best spots to the, to the map.

Ryan Mellon: okay. That's really nice. Then, you know, it's like a good spot because it's already been vetted out by someone in, in your network.

Rens Van Daalen: Exactly.

Ryan Mellon: So tell me like what's a typical day look like? ~Uh, ~living in the van,

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, well, pretty easy to be honest. Well, ~I'll describe today's morning,~ uh,~ which was,~ uh,~ I woke up at around seven. It was still quite dark outside. I'm kind of training for, well, not kind of, I'm training for a half marathon for next. Month. So I just went out for a run in the morning. ~Um,~

and then I came back, had my coffee, played with my dog a little bit, went for a little dog walk. And then the workday basically starts,~ um,~ which in this case is this podcast, but generally it's like somewhat ever to-do list. I have around the Fe Life network mainly. that's basically it. So ~my, ~my whole day, like I'm a snail, so I travel slowly. [00:23:00] And one of the reasons is because I have a purpose and I have a passion, and that is ~my, ~my community and building the community and hanging out with my members. ~Uh, ~and so most of my days actually, like van life network.

Ryan Mellon: Okay, so most days online, but ~uh, ~it looks like you have some, maybe some other vans there in your camp. So after the day is over, I mean, do you guys get together, you hang out with, um, some of the other people in the group?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~actually I've been traveling with two members who are right behind me for the past three weeks, and they're actually team members.

~So, um,~ they have been so involved in the FE Life network that I decided like, hey, wanna join and help me to build the FE Life Network. And so we've been traveling for three weeks now. ~Um, ~and so yeah, we do have,~ uh,~ our time together, of course. Like, ~uh, ~Larissa, my neighbor, she also has a dog. So my dog and her dog are playing

a lot,~ uh,~ which is cool. And there's like a little bar at the end, so sometimes we just go for coffee and do some brainstorming or whatever. and recently I [00:24:00] got invited to create ads for Skool as well.

So we're also doing like, ~um. ~Brainstorm session around ad creation for Skool, which is pretty exciting as well. So,

uh, yeah, we do have some,~ uh,~ community time in real life for sure. And actually very exciting is recently,~ um,~ we got,~ uh,~ out of a digital campfire and we decided as a community to actually organize our first.

To fan live network meet up in the north of Spain next month. So everybody wants to come,~ uh,~ from the members is happy to come,~ uh,~ or welcome to come and we hope to get like eight or more people,~ uh,~ from the community.

Ryan Mellon: Awesome. That'll be great.

So you are traveling solo, but with your dog. Tell us, uh, this is a big question and a lot of hesitation for like single dig digital nomads. Like how is like dating life on the road as, as a van lifer?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~pretty good question actually. ~Um, ~I have had. ex-girlfriends now who also lived the same lifestyle. So [00:25:00] my previous girlfriend also lived in a motor home with her dog, and so we traveled for like almost one and a half year together, which is. great way to go about it, in my opinion, because I love my own space, so my van basically. And so whenever I need to work, I can just close my door, close my windows, and get into work mode or focus mode. ~Um, ~and then she also has her own space, so it really helps if you're living the same lifestyle, obviously like it is because there are less friend lifers than. People living another lifestyle, basically. ~Um, ~so it is harder to find someone who understands the life and who,~ uh,~ yeah, basically understands the life and supports the lifestyle basically. ~Um, ~so it, I've seen quite some van lifers. ~Uh, ~I've met quite some van lifers who have struggled with the isolation, especially. ~Um, ~some of them really love being alone as well. But then also like how do you go about meeting people? How [00:26:00] do you start dating? Because most van lifers many van lifers are introverts, so they just sit in their van and they just do their thing and they're happy being alone. ~Um, ~so. For me,~ it,~ it worked out pretty well so far, and I think the community will really help also with other people meeting up.

~Um, ~right now there's two members, funny enough that are ~kind of like, ~they met last week and they're still together and apparently they're having ~a good, ~a good time.

So that's pretty cool to see.

And so I think in the future, this will really help people to get more like out there. ~Um, ~also relationship wise.

Ryan Mellon: Yeah, a hundred percent. And like, even for me, like, 'cause, you know, I'm more, I guess a backpacker, digital nomad,~ um,~ you know, going to like coworking places and,~ uh,~ in the WhatsApp groups, the events for nomads. Like ~if, ~if you can find someone who's also a digital nomad, like that's the ideal thing. Situation because you're both living a life that's aligned and if you really hit it off, most of us don't [00:27:00] have too much plans, right?

Uh, you can travel together and just go from there. So it's the best way to do it. It's definitely easier than bringing someone in from the outside who's not living the lifestyle and hoping maybe you'll convert them because it is a big lifestyle change, you know?

Rens Van Daalen: Yeah, definitely is, but what also really helps I found is like, it is important to have, like I, I'm pretty driven about like online business and if you have a partner who doesn't support that, like then you can live the same lifestyle. But if like that doesn't match, like obviously like it is just harder to find the right person because the pool of people seems to be smaller. ~So Yeah.~

Ryan Mellon: yeah, a hundred percent. and I like that your community is already possibly making some matches, so that's awesome.

Rens Van Daalen: We'll see how that goes.

Ryan Mellon: how would, how do you choose your next destination? And like what, ~what, ~what factors influence that decision?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~mostly when I switch destination, I go [00:28:00] to do, I, I I stock up, so I go to a supermarket, I fill up my water, I empty my gray water, so I kind of do a reset, which basically means I fill everything up, I empty everything so that I can stand,~ uh,~ be off grid for the next while. And then I just try to find a nice and beautiful spot basically.

Where I feel, well, I have the feeling that I'm not bothering anyone. ~Um, ~also I do have starlink, but. Oftentimes, not oftentimes, but sometimes like you need to have a clear sky to have decent internet. ~Um, ~if you're in a forest or anything close to trees, then it just works a lot less good, let's say. ~Um, ~so this is something like if I have to be on call or digital campfire or anything, live streaming, let's say like this,~ um,~ yeah, I do need a clear sky, so I cannot be in the middle of a forest. Other than that, mostly it's just like a secluded space where with a clear sky where my dog can just roam around and I can just hang out and ideally with two trees for a hammock.

Ryan Mellon: Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, that sounds great. [00:29:00] So, what's one place, uh, that you've been, that you feel is un underrated in your opinion?

~Or can,~

~is there a specific place or like experience in that place that made you fall in love with it?~

Rens Van Daalen: There is a cool experience that I had,~ um,~ with van life. It's not necessarily that I would like to go there again, but the experience was just a very nice one. ~Um, ~which kind of like, I made a YouTube a video about it and I called it The Illegal Sunrise, which was basically like,~ um,~ it was a road that. Normally closes from November until March or April because of winter. So the road just leads to a restaurant at the very top of a mountain, but they don't clear the road.

Which means like if it snows, like they don't clear it. So if you're on the top of the mountain and it snows, you're fucked, basically. ~Um, ~and so it was I think late November, early December, but the road was clear, so I decided to drive up there. I was kind of hesitant and I decided to film everything of like everything and kind of turn it into video. And then at the very top of the mountain there was some hikers and stuff, [00:30:00] and. I felt like I was in a place where I shouldn't be, but the few was just amazing. And then I met some people, I was quite hesitant, like, should I stay here or should I go or whatever. Like what if someone catches me or whatever, or kicks me out. And then I saw some hikers and they were locals and they said like, dude, you got the world for yourself. Just stay there. Just hang out there, go sleep.

Like stay for a night and then tomorrow morning you leave. And so that. Night I fell. I, I went to bed quite early because I wanted to see the sunrise. And so I woke up at like five and the whole sky turned like pink, yellow, orange, whatever. And I was just there with my dog. We had no reception, so no phone signal,~ um,~ just drone footage and my cameras rolling and that was a ~very, ~very special moment. And this place was in the French Alps?

Ryan Mellon: Oh wow,

Rens Van Daalen: Yeah.

Ryan Mellon: ~that, ~that sounds amazing. I'll have to check out that YouTube video.

Rens Van Daalen: It's pretty cool

~if I can say ~

Ryan Mellon: ~Yeah,~

~yeah, No, the whole,~

~the whole experience plus the fact that you're kind of not supposed to be there and you could be a little worried about like, you know, getting in trouble or like the weather closing you in. So I love that.~

Is there a biggest like lesson learned or biggest mistake that you've made since you've been a [00:31:00] nomad? 

Rens Van Daalen: One thing that I would do differently now is. Back then I kind of burned the bridges and went all in into like YouTube and course creation and whatever, without a financial buffer, without some financial safety,~ uh,~ which led to some stressful situations. ~Um, ~because obviously once your motivation is like, I have to earn money this week or this month, it's pretty stressful. ~Um, ~so I had quite a few of these moments that I was like, dude, it was so much better if you just. Found a normal job for like half a year and then save up some money and then try this whole thing. So my advice to my older self would be, secure some money for yourself, a few thousand dollars or whatever, and then try the whole thing.

Or maybe a half a year or a year of like financial support, let's say for yourself that you have time to actually creatively think, because financial stress really constraints like the mind basically.

Ryan Mellon: Yeah, a hundred [00:32:00] percent. ~Uh, I know some people. Uh, that I, ~I've met a lot of people who are like, just kind of went all in without any savings and they're building a business, or they're freelancing and the money is a little bit here, a little bit there, and I can definitely see the stress. So like when I'm talking to people and I'm coaching people, I always suggest at least, you know, try to get six months ~of, ~of living costs, you know, in savings, just so that you have, ~um.~

Basically a sleeping pill while you're working on that freelancing or that YouTube channel or whatever you're doing,~ um,~ working your new remote job just so that ~you, ~you feel more comfortable and have a little bit more confidence.

Rens Van Daalen: Totally agree.

Ryan Mellon: All right. Awesome. ~Well, as we wrap up here,~ I'm just gonna ask a couple rapid fire questions.

~Um, ~so first one is, what is, uh, your number one? Go to app for working remotely or travel.

Rens Van Daalen: While working remotely, I could only say Skool,

which is basically~ my whole, ~my whole business. ~Um, ~so yeah, I would go [00:33:00] with Skool.

Ryan Mellon: ~Okay. And, um, let's see.~

~Do you have a favorite? No. Let's, uh. What? Edit this out. Don't worry. ~Do you have a place in your opinion that has the best food?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, well, ~I would go for Indonesia,

Ryan Mellon: Okay.

Rens Van Daalen: but it has nothing to, it has nothing to do with Vanlife obviously. But,~ uh,~ like I have Indonesian roots,

so, ~uh, ~yeah, I love Indonesian food.

Ryan Mellon: Some good Ang Uh,~ Uh,~

Rens Van Daalen: Exactly. Just whatever

Soto like.

Ryan Mellon: Yeah, I love,~ uh,~ Indonesian food as well. I've spent a lot of time in Bali and it's like, everything's amazing. ~Awesome. Um, ~and have you ever checked out any coworking spaces?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Uh, ~not really,

no, because back when I was still backpacking, I didn't really do digital nomad life yet. And once I started digital Noad life, I have my own setup in my van. So I never really checked out,~ uh,~ cowork space.

Ryan Mellon: Okay. And is there anything that you miss about home?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~probably the one thing is endless hot showers.~ Uh, ~but that's about it. Like ~I, I, ~I love my little home on wheels.

I've got everything I need and I can totally live without endless hot showers. And if I really want endless hot showers, I can just go to [00:34:00] a campsite or just like, whatever like

that. That's. And my, let's say my fa, apart from my family, of course,

like ~I, I, ~I'm in touch with my family,~ uh,~ quite a bit, so that's fine.

Ryan Mellon: ~Awesome. Well, cool. Well, ~how can, uh, where can people find you online?

Rens Van Daalen: ~Um, ~so I am on Instagram, which is I am Rezi. So Handle is I am Rei and Rezi is 

~um, ~then on YouTube, which is my full name, so Rens Van Dalan, ~so R-E-N-S-V-A-N-D, double a LAN, uh, LEN, sorry. ~And then on Skool, which is the Van Life Network.

Ryan Mellon: ~Okay. All right. Well ~I appreciate you taking the time to come on here and tell us your story,~ uh,~ and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Rens Van Daalen: Thank you. You too. 

[00:35:00]