Sam Laliberte: Freelancing Around The World and Why More People Are Becoming Digital Nomads

Who Is Sam Laliberte:
Sam Laliberte is a freelancer, digital nomad and the host and producer of the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast. She has been working remotely and traveling the world as a digital nomad for the last two years and is the creator of 'Launch a Podcast on a Budget.' She has been running workshops for aspiring podcasters in Toronto and is also available online.

What We Talk About On This Episode of The Andrew Bilak Show:

• What is a digital nomad (1:55)
• What is freelancing and how to get involved (7:00)
• Geographic Arbitrage (13:10)
• 'What's Your Free' & finding your freedom lifestyle (19:20)
• Building a community through workshops & events (26:35)
• How to monetize your podcast (31:00)
• 'Launch a Podcast on a Budget' (38:53)
• Working as a freelancer with the brands you love (43:43)
• How to reach out to brands when you don't have an audience (52:50)
• What does success look like to you? (55:32)

Resources:
Social: Sam Laliberte
Website: https://www.whatsyourfree.com/
Podcast Course: https://www.launchapodcastonabudget.com/
andrewbilak.com
Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review The Andrew Bilak Show on apple podcasts :)

Transcript

spk_0:   0:01
Welcome to the Andrew Bill Act Show. I'm your host, Andrew Bill. AC This podcast was created to shed light on incredible people who continue to impact the world, reach new pinnacles of success and shared their stories of what they continue to overcome in order to serve others and live life on their terms. So I want to thank you for stopping by and walk into the podcast way. Welcome to the Andrew Black Show. I'm here with Sam Liberty. She is the host and producer of the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast, A show that's empowering the movement and entrepreneurial ship towards flexible work. Sam has been working remotely and traveling the world as a digital nomad for the last two years. And throughout her journey, she created Launch a podcast on a budget. She's been running this workshop for aspiring podcasters in Toronto, and it's also available online at Launch A podcast on a budget dot com. Welcome to the show, Sam.

spk_1:   0:54
Thanks for having me. Great intro. Thank you for my life.

spk_0:   1:00
Well, yeah, we're gonna be peeling the layers back here. Okay, Um, first of all, I want to say thank you for coming on, and, uh I also have to have you to think for, uh, having a hand in starting my own podcast. I actually reached out to you and I you know, I saw what you were doing. I wanted to have you on as an interview, or is an interviewee

spk_1:   1:21
interview. We think, Yeah, I kind of mix them up as well.

spk_0:   1:25
Interviewee. We'll go with that one. But you provided such invaluable insight into kind of getting started how to get a distributed, um, do's and don'ts. So I really wanted to acknowledge you and thank you for that.

spk_1:   1:37
Of course I love helping. Inspiring podcaster is starting. My show two years ago completely changed my life, so I'm Yeah, I love sharing what worked for me and what didn't. So I'm glad you reached out.

spk_0:   1:48
Amazing. I can't wait to share what you have to kind of divulge today. Um, let's start with it. Says your digital, no matter what is a digital, no matter how did you start? Um, you know, kind of give us the intro and what a digital matte is and what they do.

spk_1:   2:04
Additional nomad is someone who works online. Essentially, N is for the most part location, independent and travel is a big part of either why they're doing it or how they're living their lives. So really, they have their laptop and they can be online and work from anywhere, sometimes as an entrepreneur, sometimes as a remote worker for a company, sometimes as a consultant, it's really open in terms of what the work you d'oh. But essentially it's online and it's from anywhere. So that's what I d'oh

spk_0:   2:36
Now you listed three different possibilities. Um, is there a starting point for any digital nomad that you know? It's kind of like a rite of passage that they start with, whether it's an entrepreneur, freelance or consultant. Is there a particular way that you go with that? Or is it just kind of whatever your background or whatever you feel like jumping into?

spk_1:   2:53
I think the first question you have to ask yourself is, Do you want to be an entrepreneur and do you want to be self employed or not? I think historically this digital nomad lapsed. Hoff Lifestyle freedom lifestyle has only been accessible to those who were self employed, which is kind of a shame because I think anyone should be free. So the first question is, Do I want to be an entrepreneur and self employed? If you don't feel comfortable that the good news is, Is there so many companies now who are hiring full time remote workers? There's so many job sites you can google this remote working job sites and you can find jobs that you know of companies that will hire you even though you're not in the same city they are. And you're not gonna have to ask them every time you want to go on a trip, because as far as they know, it's really matter where you are as long as you're getting your work done. So that would be option one for someone not entrepreneurial. For someone who is and wants to be self employed, I would figure out how you can monetize skills you already have, and if you're totally lost, go to those job sites that I just mentioned and look for inspiration. What types of jobs are people hiring for that a remote and see if their skills that you have, you can then bring into the market.

spk_0:   4:01
How did you start in the freelance gig economy? I mean, that's kind of where we're heading. With this being a digital nomads, you're kind of like a freelancer. If you're not starting your business and working remotely, so can you shed a little bit of light on what that actually is?

spk_1:   4:14
Yeah. Mine actually started as a love story

spk_0:   4:17
to share.

spk_1:   4:18
Yes. Oh, I wish I could say I was so brave. And I just one day took a leap and said, Screw this and quit my job and became free. But it actually started with a long distance relationship. My boyfriend was in San Francisco. I was in Toronto and I was getting so hard to make that work. I had, like, two weeks vacation my company worked for was not open to remote work possibilities. It was always a stretch. I get to see him for, like, 23 nights, maybe every couple of months. And I was pumped about the relationship, and I didn't want Thio lose it over work. So naturally I thought, Okay, well, I'll just go get a job in San Francisco. And this was like 2016 when Trump had just got elected and it was really hard for Canadians to go to the U. S. The visas were up in the air. Companies didn't really want to touch Canadians. But I went for it, ended up getting an amazing job offer. Quit my job, signed with this new company, and long story short, they ended up pulling the offer. It was devastating. I My dream of moving to San Francisco was crushed, but more importantly, I was now unemployed. So I needed to very quickly start making money while I started interviewing again. That's what I thought I was gonna do. Just rinse and repeat that entire process. But in this journey of making money quickly as a freelancer and being in San Francisco and doing that client work there, I realized, Hey, maybe this is another way to get what I want, which is just spend more time with my boyfriend. So that's how I became a freelance or two years ago in its stock. And I've thought of a lot of different ways to create revenue which will touch on today. But it really just started as a love story.

spk_0:   6:01
I love the love story.

spk_1:   6:03
Yeah, we're still together. Now. He's digital nomad to you.

spk_0:   6:08
You kind of have a hand in getting him on board that

spk_1:   6:11
I'm actually responsible for several people quitting their jobs, which is a lot of pressure in a good way. Several close friends, my boyfriend, several listeners of the podcast You have reached out like I did it. I quit. My job feels like like having consultant you on that hopefully are good, but so far everyone's happy and it's been a good thing. But yeah, he totally quit after four months of me doing it and him just seeing it and wanting that life, too.

spk_0:   6:37
So I'm sure some people air sitting here listening, going This sounds great. I want to quit my job, too. I want to be part of this. I want to monetize and travel the world on do cool things or whatever they're spiel is right. So in that context, where's the first step for someone to become a freelancer? What's do they take a look at the skills that they have? Do they apply to things that they're passionate about or they do they apply things that they're passionate about? How's that work?

spk_1:   7:01
Yeah, so freelance is a great option where you're still self employed, but you're not a traditional entrepreneur in the sense that you've created your own product or service. That you're then really kind of going out to the market. To a freelancer is someone who is monetizing skills that they have and working for different companies who are looking to outsource that part of their workload of their operations. And for various reasons like it's very appealing for an employer to hire freelancers. They don't have to pay benefits. You know, they can kind of terminate the relationship really without cause. It's a lot more flexible. They have a very clear understanding of I'm paying for this much. I mean to get this much work out of it, and then the contract can be done. So it's actually easier than you think. It's more about just seeing who in your network could be looking for an extra hand. So Step one, I would say is find out what skills you could monetize. Step two is go to your current network first. That's how I got my first several jobs and see who could just use some extra support over the next couple of months. Let them know you're free. You have some extra hours and you're taking on new clients, and it really can be that easy.

spk_0:   8:12
So me, myself, being an entrepreneur, you being freelancer, Um, it's never glamorous. When you first start out, you have this notion in your head that whatever you get into whether when you when you quit your job, let's keep on on track with the freelancer perspective. If you quit your job, you're riding high, and you're like, I'm gonna monetize my skills. I'm gonna get to do things that I've never done before in my life. I'm gonna take control back. It's not easy when you come out the gate, right? Your story was one of you jumped into this freelancer gig economy, and you understood that it takes a while to build up the credibility or to continue to build your skill sets to actually monetize and maybe supplement the income that you're actually making at your 9 to 5 are actually making a lot more money doing that. Can you kind of take us through the journey of whether you're not? You had the foresight to understand that it's gonna be hard in the beginning, and you're gonna have to there's gonna be a lot of learning, and you know it. You might have to figure out ways to make ends meet before you actually really find your stride and start seeing, you know, the, uh, reaping the benefits.

spk_1:   9:16
Yeah, I'm a textbook case of someone who was super poor the first year and who is now two years in making more money than she was before in her, like, pretty lucrative sales job, to be honest, So it is possible, and I can speak to that, and I really believe in it. But you're one. I was totally broke. As I said, I didn't expect this. I wasn't someone who had a side hustle freelancing during my full time job. Which a lot of people D'oh built up that client roster and then finally felt comfortable taking the leap. I'm someone who went from a full time job to know job. So the first thing I had to do was figure out what it costs me to live and figure out what was the minimum amount of money I needed to make to, you know, Colton could keep the lights on in your apartment. I did have a savings account, but Ideally, I didn't want to be tapping into that. Like I wanted to use that for things more than just keeping the lights on. That was the point of it. And so figuring out what it cost me live was huge. And I just cut so many expenses, like the first year. I really it was slim Pickens. I was that person who had to say no to a lot of social events. I was that person who you know, wouldn't get drinks when they're out with their friends, who would instead of, you know, meeting up for dinners. I would invite people to come to my house. I was never taking ubers. I gotta presto, pass, stop getting my nails done like all these little perks that I had never questioned before because I always had that. No paycheck coming two weeks later. And it didn't It didn't even faze me going through my credit card statements for three months. Essentially, the process I did, and like for the first time ever, actually looked at how much I was spending on these things and had to cut back completely. And now, even though I'm making more money and can afford to do those things, you know, sitting here with naked nails. I walked here for 25 minutes in the snow this morning. I'm so happy that happened because I worked so hard for my money now and I don't want to eat it away or uber it away or, you know, flash it away on these nails. So I'm happy it happened. But you're one was Yeah, really cutting back on my lifestyle.

spk_0:   11:24
So how are you sure that because it takes, ah, special kind of, like inward reflection to say to yourself, I'm not just quitting this because I'm not quitting my job and taking the leap, because, you know, it's gonna make me feel good right now. You actually had the plan and the mindset to tell yourself this is gonna be hard In the beginning, I'm really going to have to sacrifice. But it's important that this happens, and it's important that I go through it in order to start reaping the benefits down the line. Whether that's maybe short term, you have a short term turn around, or maybe just in the long term, understanding that this is the life that you actually wanted to live. And so I think, for anyone listening, it's really important that you take the steps that Sam went through about taking a look at your expense is actually having money set aside for you to have in case things don't pan out the way that you want him to in the 1st 3 months, six months or even a year, and to just keep pushing every single day. And to really live kind of like a minimalistic lifestyle until you get your feet underneath you and really understand what the freelance journey is going to look like for you in order for you to hit your stride and how you're gonna carry yourself in the meantime,

spk_1:   12:32
and, believe it or not, that's actually easier to do while traveling. Like most digital nomads are living pretty minimally, which is really gonna be

spk_0:   12:39
celebrating here. Like, yes, this is checking all the boxes off

spk_1:   12:43
right, like I think about, you know, my Toronto rent and how much it's costing me to live here every single day with the prices and with what I have to pay. But then, when my boyfriend and I went travelling for four months this year, we did Self America. So a lot of these countries, you pay much less for where you're staying every night. Food can be pretty affordable, especially if you pay for it yourself. Like things air generally cheaper and a lot of the places we went. And so what a lot of digital nomads do is this competent concept of geographic arbitrage. Have you heard this term before? No. Okay, I recently heard what it means, but I've been doing it essentially. When you get paid in one currency, So you're building your clients either in Canadian or ideally, US dollars, which is what I have now. But then you're actually spending in a much lower currency. So a lot of digital nomads will commit to doing this for two year Have two years having no apartment, you know, building in U. S. Dollars, living in places like Chiang Mai, or apply Del Carmen in Mexico, spending very little and then return home and buy their first house with all the savings they've just spent. So there's a lot of different reasons and ways people are doing it, but it could be so smart and so thrifty and easier than you think

spk_0:   13:54
just a recap. So if you're let's keep it simple here, if you're making ah, $100 us and then on the conversion, your cost of living and the things that you spend on say you're in South America or Thailand somewhere like that, that $100. Actually, when you spend it, there is the equivalent of maybe spending, like a few $100 because of the conversion. And you're literally just reaping the benefits because you're charging your clients from all around the world in a currency that carry so much more weight. When you're using that and spending in the local currency there, that's genius. I love that geographic arbitrage.

spk_1:   14:26
Geographic arbitrage. Yeah, our budget was 50 bucks a day Canadian, which was pretty low, but we totally pulled it off like a four month trip. Just to actually put numbers was about $10,000 per person. So if you think about what you could be billing as a monthly retainer for your clients like you can be, hopefully doubling that and then having money to save so you can actually do this. And if you do this for a period of time, maybe your goal isn't to do it forever like it is exhausting. You know, traveling living out of a backpack with no home or routine is tiring. I do want to talk about that. So you set a goal of doing it for a couple years, see a bunch of countries and come home and have this extra savings to kick start adult life.

spk_0:   15:09
So that's really interesting because you said you spent your goal is $50 Canadian like not gold. But that was that was the budget. Yeah, so $50. Just to put it in a context in the city of Toronto, you could literally spend $50 on lunch. Yes, and so what is $50 a day? Get you while you're traveling in South America? $50 Canadian.

spk_1:   15:27
So we often stayed in private rooms because we're a couple, which is a little bit more expensive, but you can. If you're traveling on your own, you can stay in dorms. You can stay in Airbnb. Sze Airbnb can be really affordable if you commit to an entire month. So let's say you want to stay one spot for an entire month like you could be spending like 4 $500 Canadian for the entire month, so that could be really affordable. And then we made a lot of our own foods, like we called it Freedom Lifestyle Breakfast. We were little legal market. Get an avocado, get a big get, maybe get a mango. We had a Swiss Army knife and we would just sit on dogs and, like, amazing views and just, like, have this little breakfast for a dollar. And it was fun, like we enjoyed the concept of saving money. And, you know, when I had traveled previously, I would stay in hotels or I would do the expensive tour because it was convenient. I only had a week and I wanted to maximize the week, and I would buy new outfits, new bathing suits. And when you're doing long term travel, you have the flexibility of like looking for deals, waiting things out, traveling slower, and all these things allow you to save more money.

spk_0:   16:42
There's so many different ways that you can do it as well, because, I mean that's an incredible way. Um, but like you said, I mean, if you're used to, maybe some booze here tastes you can still do it on a more expensive budget. But once again, it comes back to being cognizant of how much money's coming in versus how much money is going out on being able to actually sustain that lifestyle. Let's jump ahead. So you actually did that. You are digital moment, freelancer. Got your feet underneath, you say, for someone who wants to continued to travel and actually have a home base like you do now. I mean, you have an apartment in Toronto, you're still traveled a lot, and you're still freelance. So how would someone go about making that jump from saying, OK, now I can go back, actually set a home base here, and then I could spend you know how much of them? How much of the year do you spend actually traveling and kind of moving forward with your freelance business?

spk_1:   17:36
Yeah. This year I think I was away from Toronto seven months. Um, yeah. So I wasn't here much. You As soon as you leave for more than six months, though, there's some tricky stuff with losing your citizenship. And some, like oh, hit benefits, were recording this podcast from Toronto, Ontario. So you want to be careful of that. I spend a month of those seven months NBC, so I still qualified. But you want to be aware of how those legal things work. I didn't want to give up my Canadian citizenship, so I did the max this year. Next year it's looking pretty similar, maybe a bit less, Um, but I'm open like we kind of have our goals of different places. We're gonna go to next year. So if you say a month next year, I could tell you where I'm planning on being. But I'm also super open to that changing like we have nothing booked. And that's kind of like our approach, looking for deals last minute, being spontaneous. So that's our approach for someone listening. Who wants to do that? I would say the New Year is coming, so it's a great time to start dreaming and making some goals and putting in an action plan of how that's gonna happen and what it's gonna take. But know that it's it's easier than you think. Airbnb is huge. If you can Airbnb your place, that takes off a huge decision for you, which is what worked for me of Well, I don't know how long I want to do this. Maybe I want to keep my stuff and have a place to come home. Um, an Airbnb allowed me to do that.

spk_0:   19:02
That's really important. And that's a huge piece that I think a lot of people might not take into consideration is understanding. Wherever you are in the world, take a look at what your country's laws are when it comes to leaving, how long you can leave without losing any type of benefits. Citizenship, um, back home. So make sure you do that in your instagram bio. It says. I help people launch podcasts and find their free What? What is finding your free? Me?

spk_1:   19:26
So that's kind of a nod to the podcast that I started two years ago. It's called The Freedom Lifestyle Podcast, and what's your free is my tagline in the domain. What's your free dot com? Because what I realize is the definition of freedom. Lifestyle is different for everyone, and I've learned that interviewing know dozens and dozens of people meeting people in these communities and hearing their motivations for y they quit or why they're pursuing this lifestyle and you know, I'll give you some examples of a young woman who I met who worked in HR, had a full time job, had her first baby. What on mat leave fell in love with being a mom, fell in love with her baby, obviously, and couldn't bear the thought of in a couple more months going back to work and, you know, outsourcing child's care and spending that time away from her. So her motivation to hustle was to start an online business that she could run from home. And that's exactly what she's done and, you know, got herself a business grant the local city and figured out whatever it was going to take to make that happen. And and, you know, that's her reason. And then I meet people who are like me, whose parents, you know, never traveled with them Aton when they were younger. So, you know, they're in their twenties and they only have a couple countries checked off. I think there's a lot of glamorization of, you know, the number of passport stamps. I have the number of countries. There's people like me who didn't grow up traveling and now really wanted to see the world, and so their motivation was just see as much as possible before you know, I referenced adult life. But, you know, for me, it means like getting a house, settling down, getting a dog, having Children. And you know that from motivation is to do it now. But every one it's different. And so that's the concept of freedom. Lifestyle. I interview people with diverse stories, but with the common notion is working wherever, whenever and on their own terms. And for everyone, it's different. There's different age groups. There's different genders. There's no like Cingular archetype of someone who is motivated towards this lifestyle. Ah, lot of people want it. It's not for everyone, but the people who want it can go after it and so many different ways.

spk_0:   21:33
I love that it sze just open. Everyone is different. It can mean totally different every subtle person, Um, and it's just kind of discovering what that what that means. So it's kind of like crafting your your ideal life. It's sitting down and being intentional about what it is you want out of your life and what freedom means to you.

spk_1:   21:50
Yeah, conscious, living intentional living. I'm all about that. And, you know, once you start making that decision one aspect of your life for me, I think the unconventional nous started when I was 17 when I decided to become a vegetarian at a very young age. And, you know, standing out a little bit for that and coming home from family dinners and having to, like, stand up for my lifestyle and why was pursuing this, And then it was, you know, being in a long distance relationship where everyone would be like, Come on, you guys are monogamous. Come on. Like, how long is this gonna work? Come on. It's like, no, like this works. This is what we're doing. Like we are in a long distance relationship, and I don't know how long it's gonna last in terms of when we're going to be back together again. But I think you can start living consciously about everything like you decide your own life. And the key is to be aware of what society wants you to want, you know, And then deciding is that for you? And if it is, that's awesome. It's actually gonna be a lot easier if you just do the normal thing that everyone around you is doing. If you're like, if I'm being honest, I don't actually want those things. You have a little bit of an uphill battle ahead of you, but once you get there, it's epic. It's empowering. It's contagious. It's inspiring. You magnetize people into your lifestyle that are also doing that than it feels more normal and you feel less weird and it just gets better. But at the beginning, it's an uphill battle

spk_0:   23:14
for sure. I absolutely love that. I'm my hair standing on End it end.

spk_1:   23:19
It is firing. Yeah, for sure.

spk_0:   23:22
So then, speaking of the podcast, how far into your digital nomad lifestyle did you say, hey, like I want to create a podcast?

spk_1:   23:30
Yeah, the podcast came first, so I still didn't know how I was going to find the freedom lifestyle. I got my first freelance gig in September, so I guess the chronological order is I quit my job and found they didn't have a job in July. Took a good month of crying and trying to save it, like getting lawyers involved. It got very messy, accepted it wasn't happening. September got my first gig for an entire month. I had a one month project, went to San Francisco, was doing the work. They're realized. Hey, maybe I could just double down on this and by November released my first podcast episode. So in November, when I launched the show, the goal was Let's just make a five episode Siri's Let's Interview five amazing women who have each found their own version of Through the Freedom Lifestyle. Figure out how they did it. And selfishly, I thought, by the end of the season, I'll have been so inspired by them I'll figure out what I want to d'oh! And in turn, it ended up being this amazing thing where people wanted more people, wanted events. People wanted an online community. I had people reaching out to me saying, Oh my God, you heard him, I'd be on your show and I just totally double down on it. And on that journey became a digital nomad. But the beginning I wanted just a CZ much fromthe show is I wanted to give to other people, like I also didn't have it figured out yet.

spk_0:   24:54
How far into your podcasts were you getting that feedback of creating created community. I want to be on your show. You should talk to these people getting that feedback that energy

spk_1:   25:01
pretty quick. I have a sales and marketing backgrounds. I put a lot of thoughtfulness and effort into marketing the show and she really creating a campaign around it. So it was very clear that I was doing this and I was posting on all my social platforms and I was the podcast girl for November in December. So it happened pretty quickly and was at a time where podcasts were just starting to take off, so that timing really worked for me. And the last episode of the five episodes Siri's was mid January in February had a live podcast taping, which is when I first started monetizing. My show had a big event where I interviewed people on stage live and sold 100 tickets to it so that quickly, really, um, and I think I had some things working for me. As I said, you know, I had a sales marketing background. It had a community of support around me already, but I also just think it was an idea and a concept that a lot of people could resonate with. And it wasn't just a singular archetype. It was. You know, I interviewed a YouTube influencer who was pulling in like 40 K a month from YouTube, and it was like, really impressive in a really crazy story, and he was doing it on the side of his full time job at the hospital. It was a, you know, a young woman in Toronto who was quitting her job to start a fitness brand. She was a fitness teacher and now wants to that full time and now owns a gym and moved out east. And then the third girl interviewed that day was a digital nomad who went on remote year and spent a year traveling the world. So it was unique stories that people could grab onto, and because of that, I just was able to build a community quickly.

spk_0:   26:35
And how do you kind of interact with your community? I know you do workshops, right? Is that the only way that you kind of interactive your community? Or do you have events? How does that work?

spk_1:   26:44
Yeah, the workshops are primarily for those who want to start a podcast to I realized that by nature of having a podcast and figuring it out myself. I developed some skills on how I could do that. People were asking me. So how could I now monetize this very entrepreneurial while I'm giving up this free advice anyway? Can I create a workshop around this and sell some tickets? So that worked out super well. I've done 12 of them and now have the course available online, So that's one community. But then, in terms of the Freedom lifestyle podcast, yeah, I typically do an event at the end of every season. So I'm coming on to the end of season three, and I'm thinking about what in person opportunity I want to create for that. And then, you know, some of the brands I work with they've really engaged me for there in person event. So I now work with fiber, which was one of my first sponsors once a month. They have an event in Toronto, and you know, they contract me to be part of that and help them work that So it's I've been super open and it's flowing, and there's opportunities that came from it that I didn't even think of so it's kind of all over the place a little bit. I think that's my biggest goal for 2020 is to really, like, streamline all of this stuff and, you know, make it flow and really figure out what things I'm gonna say yes to you. On what things I'm going to say no

spk_0:   27:58
to. I like that. Yes. No, um, paradigm there because I think it's important to also say that it's It's not wrong if you're coming into something and you don't have a general idea of where you want it to go. So you want to start a podcast, You really passionate you want? It's a great way to meet people. I mean, we're sitting across from each other, actually introduced at a wedding. Um, you know, checked out your instagram connected with you. I'm like, you know, Sam would be awesome to have on the podcast. That's just kind of let things flow. But I think if you're starting to become a freelancer, if you're starting a podcast, you don't necessarily, um, have tohave that Yes, no mentality. You can kind of say yes without a crazy structure and see how things evolve in order for you to make a correct decision about where you want to take it. But, you know, for someone like yourself, you've been doing podcasting for over just over two years now. So I think it's important that you're at a different stage and you want to move into something more structured and beam or intentional with how you spend your time, especially with all the things that you have on the go. Um, so I guess you know where I'm when I'm directing. This at is towards anyone who's trying to start something new. Um, you don't need to be a no person right out to get go and just kind of be open and see where your creativity and see where your actual projects lead you.

spk_1:   29:14
Yeah, I would say Be a yes person. Stay so open in that first year. Like I said, Yes, and most random gig dork like some gigs were a day. Some gigs were a month. Some gigs were three months, so it was very short term opportunities, and I said yes to a broad range of experiences and work opportunities. I'm so glad I did that because two years later I now know what I really like to do and what I don't like to dio. And when you could do a lot of things, it can become this challenging paradigm of like, Well, what do I want to dio? And just because you can do something doesn't mean and you can get paid for it doesn't mean that's what's gonna make you happy. And I realized that the hard way, you know, sales is a great example of that. People would always say to me, You'd be so good at sales. You should do sales. You should do sales. I was like, Okay, I'll do sales. And I didn't like doing the exact same thing every single day. And, you know, that was my type of sales. I know there's a broad range, but I think yes, say yes. Say yes. Stay open. Yeah, stay open and play in the first year. I think that was so key to my success and be conscious or be aware of people putting a lot of content out there of, you know, really value your time. Be smart. If you give away all your timeto everybody you know you're never going to make any money and you're going to be tired. And I used to worry about that. But I'm so glad I, you know, still did what felt natural to me, which was, like, take calls with anyone, be generous with my time going. People show happy blood mind. Don't always worry about where the money has come from because now those small opportunities that seemed like a waste of time. I made a great impression on these people and they thought of me for opportunities that are much more exciting later on. So it's a lot about networking and playing and open mindedness. The beginning

spk_0:   31:00
like that. Like that a lot. You hit on monetization there a little bit. I mean, you've worked with some really cool brands in your podcasting space. Um, can you walk me through what that would look like in terms of trying to monetize your podcast landing sponsorship? What does that look like?

spk_1:   31:16
Sure, I actually have a whole slide and concept of this in my workshop, so I'll try to see if I can remember it perfectly. But there's different ways you could monetize your podcast. I think that would be the first thing I would share with someone is Ah, lot of people think just by nature. Podcasting. You listen to podcasts. You hear ads on them like Okay, that's how you monitor as a podcast. I get a brand. You know, the host reads an ad for the show, but that's only one way. So ah, couple of other ways that I would share that. You'd have to think of what ones right for you. One would be a paid a player paid a listen model where essentially you have gated content, so condom that is only accessible by listeners who are paying to actually listen to the show. So maybe you have some free episodes available to everyone, but you say Hate part two of this no premium content pay for my membership site, which is usually using a technology like Patri on you can either have people pay a small amount per month to listen to this content, or you can have a fee per episode. So it's a really unique way to monetize your show that people are doing that would be based on people who have communities or, you know, content where people can learn a lot and gain a lot from that. They'll pay to listen to that.

spk_0:   32:26
I was going to say, Do you need to have, like, a pretty established community? In order for you to start charging for additional content to be released,

spk_1:   32:32
you definitely have to have some community, right? You can't start from nothing. But I think more importantly is is this Some is a piece of content that people will pay for. Is there enough value that people will feel like they got our ally on this? I think that's you decided. That's for you. The next would be affiliate marketing, which is really interesting. And I think over election is a big way that I'm making my money, so that essentially looks like the brand isn't paying you first. But if you refer them, any customers will pay you a pretty decent commission on that. So what that looks like is having a premium kind of product. I would say I wouldn't go onto Amazon Associates where, you know you're referencing different products and you're making like, 10%. It's like a dollar here, a dollar there, like you're gonna need a tonic people to buy if you're just starting out and only have a few 100 downloads, maybe figure out products where you could make, like, $1000. If any of your 200 customers then signs up, you just need to have one sale from it. So fine products that you can integrate into your show and reference and recommend that's affiliate marketing. And then the third way is, you know, classic sponsorship where you get a brand that aligns with your community, you reach out to them, you foster some type of deal, and then you advertise their offer on your podcast and they pay you and not front cost to do that. Those are the three most common. Um, and I guess the last one is probably something you're doing. I'd be curious to hear you think about it, but you have, like, a suite of other products, and service is your consulting stuff. You're different things. And maybe your podcast is a marketing channel for those things. So you're not looking to directly make money per episode Or maybe not yet, and then you actually, like lead people into other things. A lot of people do that as well.

spk_0:   34:18
Yeah, so it's not kind of like direct selling. It's kind of your building out this content platform that at any point someone can come back to it and click through and then all of a sudden explore more about you and say, Oh, wow, this is actually a person I should talk to So there's probably so there's kind of four ways to do it three ways that would kind of be direct. Um, you actually reach out to brands. They pay you money, affiliate marketing, um, gated content and then kind of indirect marketing down the line that could lead to sales or whatever it is that you do

spk_1:   34:48
our position yourself, just like a thought leader, like a lot of people are experts in their space and wanna book paid speaking gigs from it, and their podcast is great way to show themselves off. Or maybe they actually want to create B to B relationships. They want an excuse to reach out to potential customers and say, Hey, can I interview years? Theo, you know they have a conversation like this. You know, the very charming build the relationship. Oh, what's happening next? They're not talking about money, so there's lots of different ways people are making money about this, and I would encourage you to think broad about it.

spk_0:   35:17
To be honest, I think the last one there is the most important. It's also the one that doesn't necessarily translate into dollars right away. And that's building brand. Because at the end of the day, um, the bigger your brand is the Maur expansive it is the more attention that you have on yourself for the cause that you support, the more people will look into it. The more people will share it, the more opportunity you have to get it in front of Maura Eyeballs or more ears in this case. And that will lead Thio a flurry of growth in any of the other, more kind of direct revenue channels. So I think that's really important to focus on building Brand, and I think that goes across anything that you're doing. Whether you're freelancing with your building, a business, um, just kind of get attention on yourself. I'm releasing Ah, podcast on this and why getting attention is so important. It's not kind of from an ego standpoint, it's more from a standpoint of if more and more people don't understand what it is that you support or what it is that you're doing, the more you will be obscure. And if your obscure you can't really share your message at scale. And in order to share your message at scale, you know you put a valuable content you speak or write or record videos about things that you believe in or you're supporting. And in that context, that's where you truly shine through through kind of maybe in a vulnerable, vulnerable position. Or you're really just sharing your true authentic self. The more attention you have on that, the greater opportunities that will present themselves in your life.

spk_1:   36:41
Totally. I think a lot of people want to be influencers. That's very common right now, and being an influence there does not mean have any followers you have, like if you have 10,000 followers but no one trusts you or would actually make a purchase decision based on you, then you're not influential, like being influential is someone that you know. Share's value is seen as an expert is consistent with the types of things they talk about, and the messaging, you know, is generous about what they know. Like That's how you earn people's trust and that are more likely to take an action and based on your influence. So I think, yeah, being influential is different than just having followers.

spk_0:   37:22
It's at the core of the word influence. You need to be influential in order for your word to carry weight. Totally. People just associate that with likes and brand affiliations, and it sze getting convoluted so it's important to get really down deep down into the root of it.

spk_1:   37:39
Yeah, and it's cool when it happens, like I only have a few 1000 followers. But when I talk about products that I love or that I'm working for, I always have people reach out like I'm gonna buy that, like, Difficult for that or like that sound so cool, people. I have earned their trust like I've taken them on this journey. I m really I'm authentic, and sometimes you know that can turn people off because I'm too honest and too truthful. But then it's a really great way for me to build trust with people and to influence them for better. Like I would like to think I always will use my influence for good Yeah, not sell out. But you don't have to have, like, a huge community to be influential and to sell things and sell to an audience in a way that's like, very aligned with. What you care about

spk_0:   38:30
is that trust factor. This'll matter. Well, that's one person or 10,000 people. If people don't trust you that they're not gonna listen to you.

spk_1:   38:36
Yeah, I'm gonna buy

spk_0:   38:37
anything from you. That's it's it's a bad place to be in.

spk_1:   38:40
Yes, you've got to be really got to be vulnerable. I think vulnerability builds. Trust us Well. And ah, podcast is a great medium for you to do all these things.

spk_0:   38:50
So still, on the topic of podcasting, your workshop, your course launch a podcast on a budget. You kind of touched on that. Do you want to go a little bit deeper there?

spk_1:   38:59
Yeah, I think I'll be honest cause, you know, let's build some trust. I was attracted to building that course because I wanted to create passive income for myself. I think that when you become a freelancer, you start only getting paid when you work, and that's cool. But I want to be making way more money than just the hours I have in the day, and I don't really want to be working all day. I actually loved the idea before our work week and Tim Ferriss and, you know, screw this hustle culture like, How can I work really smart in a great way to do that is passive income, which means you're making money when you sleep. You create something once, and it could be sold several times, and it doesn't need a lot of human interference from you. So I just like being in these communities, reading about digital Nomad as a meeting. Digital nomads learning about passive income, I thought about what type of products could I create. And so I created a book with my boyfriend Long distance relationship book. It's an e commerce product that's drop shipped. People buy it. It gets shipped from two different factories, whether they're Canadian or international and never see the books and it just gets to the customers. That's amazing. It's just marketing. And then there's this, which is the course that I created online, took a Tana time to create the course like I've still probably not broken, even from the hours and hours I spent figuring out howto use the sound at the lighting. I wanted to be very professional and high quality, but I've built it. It's available online. Anyone, anywhere, can buy and start the course. And whenever I see that sales notification, there's nothing I have to d'oh. So that's passive income and and that's why I was attracted to it.

spk_0:   40:34
I love that. It's like the product ization model where, I mean, if we take a look at the freelance model, yeah, it can be more attractive because a you get to dictate where it is that you want to do. The work could be. You have the potential to work with interesting businesses, brands, contractors, consulting companies that you want to work with. But at the same time, you're still treating your time for money. Whether you were in your 9 to 5 or whether you're freelancing, you're still trading your time for money. Um, just the environment has changed in the context of it has changed, so I could see how people could get kind of caught up in it and being like, Yes, I'm a freelancer. I'm doing this. But at the same time, The whole goal here is you know, if you really love traveling and that's why you became a freelancer, you want to free up more of your time and so to create stuff like, uh, like your long distance relationship book, which is amazing, by the way, where cannot be found

spk_1:   41:20
L d r activities dot com.

spk_0:   41:22
I'm gonna check that out a long distance relationship, Um, and then creating your course. You know, like you said, those were very scalable, um, scalable things that don't require a lot of human interference. So you could literally, while we're sitting here, you know, in a perfect world, you could have you know, 10,000 people buy it or one person by it doesn't really matter, because at the end of the date that estimates that transaction happens, they get access to it without you having to do anything on. I think that's that's where riel money is made. Um, you know, I'm very passionate about the things that I do, but I also want to make money at the end of the day because I want it to facilitate and help further what it is that I want to do with my life on. So in order to do that, you need to reduce the amount of time that you spend in things. I mean, if you're really creative and you're passionate about certain things, I'm not saying you need to replace that, but I'm saying in terms of other elements that you want to create and get out there at scale coming back to attention, How do you get attention at scale by creating things that you can mark it to a broad market and literally the whole world can purchase it if you wanted to. And you don't have to worry about kind of putting your hands on it every single time. And that's super important. You know, product izing product izing means. Like, if you take like that course, um, you know, Sam, you offer those workshops. You've done 12 of them, right? So if you do that workshop, that means that whoever's in the room, those are the only people that are gonna be able to benefit from what you're doing right there in that space. Could you, of course, online. You know the internet forever, and you can kind of distribute that across the whole entire world if you wanted to, and get that into many people hands as possible. And it doesn't require additional time other than the initial time investment. So product izing and scaling keep your eye out for that. Think of ways to to grow your business is to grow your freelance careers to enable you to be able to spend less time doing it, maximizing the benefits and then working on maybe other passion projects, different projects working with other brands. Just keep that in mind when you're looking at ways to make money and to grow in tow, get into many people's hands as possible. Um, you're freelance work, you know, you started at Step one, and that journey has taken you to work with some pretty incredible brands. Um, you're working with the girls trip with Boss Babe for people who don't know about that. Can you explain a little bit about those companies how you came about to be in there, kind of, um, in her network and how that works in terms of approaching or getting jobs of really amazing brands?

spk_1:   43:54
So, as I said, you're one was super random. I did everything I did. Social media work. I did copy writing. I did influence her management. I did some events. Some conference says I did some sales consulting. I religious said yes to anything that would allow me to kind of work from anywhere on on my own terms. So is a lot of experimentation. And now I know what I like to do and what I think can make the money I want to make. And I only have three clients, so I have Bruce, which is an electric toothbrush company based in BC Super fun. It's, you know, just had Black Friday cyber Monday weekends. It's been a great weekend for the brand. A lot of people are buying right now. It's exciting. The 2nd 1 is Boss Babe, which is an online community for female entrepreneurs. They've done a really great job but monetizing their community, which has been so inspiring. And the third is the Girl's Trip, which is a Toronto based travel company that organizes group travel for women to bucket list destination. So those are the only jobs I have. The girls trip is super part time. I go on week long trips with them every couple of months as big as their manager of vibes, which is a cool job. Title club's manager, Vives.

spk_0:   45:10
So you're you work with them on a part time capacity. You're the manager of vibes, and you get to go to cool places like you went to toe loom Morocco, Peru working part time for

spk_1:   45:22
yeah,

spk_0:   45:22
being the manager about

spk_1:   45:24
Yeah, it's a really cool with women, and it's been really that's been really fun, eh? So that's That's a cool way to bake money and travel. And this year, like they would basically bring me to a destination. And then I would, you know, get my boyfriend to meet me nearby, and we would go to different countries nearby. Or this last time I met up with some girlfriends in Brazil, we were all turning clarity. So I try to, like, add onto the trips and add it to my schedule. But that's been really cool, and I met them from my podcast. So that was acting just like staying really open to where relationships can go, and Joe put things in the boxes of, like, how worth my time. This is they reached out to me when they were launching their brand I was, you know, had the podcast. They thought my community was relevant to who they were targeting. They asked if they could do, like, a small sponsorship deal. Okay, a few $100 for them to get their brand out there. I said, yes, of course. But I didn't just treat this like, a few $100 opportunity, like anytime they would ask for anything I would overdeliver, you know, timely. Brought a lot of positive energy, you know, wanted to make sure they were very, very happy and gave him a lot of value. And from that relationship, who would have thought? They ended up saying, Hey, we actually want to hire trip managers to come on these trips. Do you want to be our first hire? Um, so that was a really cool thing that I never thought would happen. And I think that just goes back to, like, staying open.

spk_0:   46:46
Yeah. I mean, I've fallen victim to this is Well, where if one opportunity and maybe it's an opportunity that's veiled in something else, and you don't know how to kind of internalize it when it presents itself, comes up to you. I mean, years ago, look in and be like, What can this do for me now? And you don't have the answer for that. So you're trying to place it and you can't. And if you can't place it and you can't find that that good fit in that exact moment, we tend to pass on it and passing on something like that could mean losing out on the chance of a lifetime of experience of a lifetime. And so for you to say, um, staying open to these experiences and over delivering and not knowing exactly where it will be. But you have that feeling. You like their vibe. You like the energy. Something feels good about this. It's worthwhile to actually put the effort in to see where it goes, and then it can turn out to something to be absolutely incredible. And if it doesn't, so what you learn from it, right? You learn from it. But the thing here is that I think it's so important to stay open toe opportunities like this, even though you might not think it's an opportunity, even though you don't know how to place it in your life right now and remove ego and stop thinking. How will this benefit me right now and just challenge yourself to think how this will look long term? Who are the people behind it? Do they have influence? Are they amazing people that I just want to connect with and get to know all of those things could lead to really amazing things. You have to give him the opportunity. So whatever you think, whatever path you think your life is on right now, wherever you think you're going and these things actually come into your life, they're coming into it for a reason. Because you're attracting them into your life and you're doing that. And if you can't place it, it doesn't matter. Just just kind of be open to it and say yes, stay S V open, Yes. And, uh, and and see where they go. Because here's a perfect example of the girl strip reaching out to you in early days, and you didn't know where that would lead. But you over delivered. You enjoyed, um, that kind of companionship that networking the people and it's led to some amazing opportunities for you.

spk_1:   48:44
Yeah. So and I get better at it like there's definitely distractions. And there's effort only time I've wasted by no means of my perfect like I have so many stories of things. I just spent so much time trying to make something work, and in my gut, I knew it was not the right fit. I knew I was forcing something, but I kept on that journey anyway, So sometimes that does happen. But then, when it happens in a good way, it makes it all worth it. And it can be confusing sometimes. But I think I'm getting better at like staying focused. That's when Ah, my words for 2020 is just like focus.

spk_0:   49:20
What do you for Boston

spk_1:   49:21
Boss Babe, I do affiliate marketing for them. So they've done a really great job at monetizing a large online community who they know really well. It's primarily female entrepreneurs and creating products for those female entrepreneurs. They don't have a ton of products, but they have a huge online community that they've been able to build like a multi $1,000,000 company from straight up. So they have almost two million followers on Instagram, and that's how a lot of people know them. If you look up, boss babe dot ink. They have tons of quotes. They go so viral. They're very great at creating these viral, huge online communities. But then going back to the word focus, they only have a couple of products and they focus really in on selling those products, and they've done so well. So I'm helping them with affiliate marketing for one.

spk_0:   50:09
So that's another way to look at it as well is that they built community just around ah, theme a topic. Entrepreneurship, helping women grow in their own businesses. And then products came that they could actually help them. It kind of came from a place of goodwill and just wanting to help. And then after that, you know, things can evolve into whatever that they should. But in the beginning, it's kind of building that goodwill. Good. What I'm looking for that good will and faith and and building community.

spk_1:   50:38
Yeah, and knowing your community, knowing what they want, like listening, paying attention, get really smart with different ways. You can do that. They do a lot of really cool things with, like quizzes on their website that gets people to do a fund quiz. But that tells you so much about that person, you could then market them certain products based on that. You can then feed content to certain types of people, and then you can up sell them. You can have like an intro product, which is what they dio. It paid membership, which is very affordable and available and scalable, right? Paid online membership, and then they can up sell. Those paying members who come in with an initial offer is soonest someone their psychology around this as soon as someone pays you money for something, it like creates this bond, and they're more likely to buy more things. So if you have an initial low price offer, you create this like dynamic and psychology and their head where they're much more likely to buy from you later. So hook them into a lower price thing and then sell them on higher price things based on what you know both them and what they care about. They've done that so well. It's very inspiring to work for this team like and so lucky and grateful that I got this opportunity, and that came from my network again. It was a second degree connection on LinkedIn and, you know, got the opportunity. And, you know that story is is another example of staying open because when they were hiring, they were hiring a social media manager. And at that time, I already knew social media wasn't what was going to keep me excited. I could do it. I could get paid for it. But it wasn't my passion, but I still took the interview. I really wanted to work for Boss Babe, I really aligned with their mission, and I kind of always had that mindset of, you know, if you get invited to be on a rocket ship, don't worry about what? See, you're on, just get on the rocket ship. And you pretended I really wanted to be a social media manager and they read right through it and still love to me and, you know, wanted to build that relationship and said, Look, we hired someone who we think is, you know, really excited about social media, and that's our core focus. But we want to create this role for you. Now. You know we love getting to know you. And here's what we think you'd be really good at. You know, six months later and still working for them. And they're one of my like core clients.

spk_0:   52:50
That's amazing. Congratulations.

spk_1:   52:51
Thank you

spk_0:   52:52
for anyone who's, you know, obviously aspires to work with bigger brands on. Maybe doesn't have a platform like a podcast that they could connect with people. Or maybe, you know, they don't have ah, big network. What advice do you have for someone who's say in the freelance economy and they want to work with brands, but they don't have the platform or cloud or just attention on them? Um, they are putting out content or they are putting out valuable information to build that trust in authenticity. But they really want to reach out to brands and work with those those dream brands Specifically. What advice do you have for someone who's trying to do that?

spk_1:   53:26
Yeah, again. That can also be sooner and easier than you think when you look online advertising rates for podcast. There is this awful acronym that I hate is called CPM, and it's cost per 1000 impressions and every channel. So there is, you know, um, radio. There is social media. There is blogging. All of these different marketing channel will have a different CPM in terms of like advertising rates. And for Posca podcasting, it was like 30 or $40. But at the time, I wasn't getting 1000 downloads, and that was kind of discouraging. But I said, Screw that. I'm just gonna start the relationship with brands anyway and see what happened. And even though I didn't have thousands of listeners, I really knew who my listener, Waas and I was able to target brands who really wanted to target that type of listeners. So if you don't have a huge community, an audience yet really learned to tell that story about who your ideal listener is and then find brands that are going after that type of listener

spk_0:   54:29
so smart. So you find that synergy. So you know exactly who you want to work with. Yeah. Ah, and there's You guys are already targeting that same and consumer.

spk_1:   54:37
Yeah, like the brands who come to me. While that sounds so easy and so convenient, it's never the right fit. It's always me, like trying to force and integration, and in the end it ends up being like an episode or an ad or a partnership that I'm not that proud of, So don't expect, you know, like we work fiber remote year bumble The brands that I have had the opportunity to work with, None of them came to me. All of them I want after and I started the relationship and I made the first move, which is one of my themes I stole from Bumble. And I think that's part of it as well is, you got to make that first move.

spk_0:   55:13
So as we start to wind down here, I'm you've shared so much information. Um, so thank you for doing that. I want to ask you kind of like a macro crush in, Uh, if you could kind of break down what success looks to you in three main areas, where would they be?

spk_1:   55:35
Success? Uh, first things coming to mine is feel good. I think that's a huge part of my success strategy. I take a health and wellness first, Frankly, approach. I think that there's lots of things I built into my routine that have nothing to do with actual business or skills that allow me to be very successful in business skills. So I would say feel good

spk_0:   55:59
to kill yourself.

spk_1:   55:59
Yeah, take care of yourself. Whatever that looks like makes me successful. I would say, um, really, relationships? I think that part of this journey has unfortunately meant the end of previous relationships I've had and that was really hard and uncomfortable. But you will outgrow people and it sucks. But you are a reflection of the people that you hang out with most. So I think having riel relationships around me that I'm proud of that are aligned with where I'm going. It makes me successful. And then I would say financially set up to be generous. I think that so much of my life I would always say I'm not motivated by money. I'm not motivated by money. I'm not motivated by money. I would always say that I don't know why I put that into the first, and now I'm like, definitely motivated by money, like it's probably one of my you know, three things I think about most when I'm setting my goals and saying yes to decisions is how lucrative this will be. But it's the reason why I do. That is because I love being generous, like I love being able to treat my friends. I love being able to treat other people. Pick up the tabs by Nice Gift. Like when I was in Sudbury visiting my grandma. You know, we had a spa day, and it felt so good to be like Grandma. I got that. It's on me. I love that. Really? Yeah. So I really like being generous, and I think that's a sign of success for me.

spk_0:   57:27
Acknowledge the amount of information and the energy that you brought, and I just want to thank you on for being an interviewee on the Andrew Bill. Extra

spk_1:   57:36
Thanks for having me. I know it's a lot to cover. I think you did a great job asking questions and telling that story, and hopefully there's some value. And if people want to know no dive deeper in and to any of these topics you know, as part of my influential strategy, I'm I'm generous with what I know. So please reach out and I'm happy to chat.

spk_0:   57:53
So where can people find you?

spk_1:   57:55
I'm very easy to find online. So, Sam, la Liberty L A l I b e r t e on pretty much any social media channel. But If you want to find the podcast and find out about my online course, just goto. What's your free dot com? You can also find my social profiles there, too.

spk_0:   58:11
Amazing. Thank you so much.

spk_1:   58:13
Thank you.