Secrets of Mastering Facebook Group Communities With Oli Nold of NomadX | TNE028

We’re joined by Oli Nold, a true entrepreneur and the face of NomadX, the #1 alternate to AirBnB for long term rentals. Oli is known for his intense work ethic as an entrepreneur, after having been involved in multiple successful startups. As of today, Oli leads one of the biggest remote worker facebook groups and certainly the most active. Having interviewed massive names in the industry such as @Zach Benson, @Lovelifepassport, and even Gary Vaynerchuck, also known as Gary Vee, Oli continues to provide massive value in the NomadX group.

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Today's Guest

Oli Nold
Oli was a co-founder of HomelessNHappy, a company that helps digital nomads live their best lives, personally and professionally with industry leading backgrounds in organic social media growth hacking, conversion funnels and online education and coaching programs. 

Oli met the founders of NomadX at the 2018 DNX conference in Lisbon where they hit it off and then were invited as Entrepreneurs in Residence in Lisbon with NomadX in July 2019. Following his experience in Lisbon, he partnered with NomadX to run the social community for three months leading up to the acquisition.

Check out NomadX for long term housing rentals that are over 45% cheaper than Air BnB.

NomadX Website
https://nomadx.com/
NomadX Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/nomadx/


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Regret scares the shit out of me. Regret is the fuel besides gratitude that drives my life. You will see people and they will tell you things about the things they didn't do and the silliness to why they didn't do it. And the running out of time, you sit in this room and you have time. You have time. You're 70, 80, 90 of time. If you're 15, you have time. But to sit and list all the reasons you can't is just, here's how I look at it. If anybody that looks like you has ever done it, then you can too. You're listening to the Nomadic executive posted by Omar from www.nomadables.com . Join Omar as he sits down and speaks with leading online entrepreneurs, remote workers, and digital nomads about everything from business strategy to travel and lifestyle design together, we're here to help you achieve a life of happiness, health, and freedom. And now here's your host. Omar mode.

Today's episode is an absolute banger. We're joined by Oli Nold a true entrepreneur in the face of nomad X, the number one alternate to Airbnb for longterm rentals. All he's known for his intense work ethic. As an entrepreneur, after having been involved in multiple successful startups as of today, all the leads, one of the biggest remote worker, Facebook groups, and certainly the most active having interviewed massive names in the industry, such as Zack Benson love life passport, and even Gary Vaynerchuk also known as Gary Vee whose quote you actually heard in the intro today. Oli continues to provide massive value in the nomad X Facebook group. You can find the links to both the nomad X website in the Facebook group in the show notes. So take a look. You might need a pencil and paper because this episode is going to be jam packed with actionable steps. That will put you a cut above the rest. It's my absolute pleasure to introduce all the, here we go. How's Bali.

Oh, it's beautiful, bro. Beautiful. Um, it's it's really special at the moment because there are no tourists here. Right? So it's um, it's, it's, it's obviously super sad because for the locals, right. Businesses are down economy really suffers. But on the other side for us, it's like, you know, like, it feels like the whole fucking Island to yourself.

Yeah. That's sick, man. Is it, is it mainly because of coronavirus that no, one's there? Is it because it's also off season or anything like that?

No, it's just because of corral because they locked down the Island. Right? You can't, you can't come to the Island at the moment. It's like, it's completely locked. The only people who are allowed to be here at the moment, there's obviously the locals and it's people like us because we are having businesses here. We haven't worked permits. Uh, but for the, let's say like for the, for the normal tourists is no, it's not right to enter.

Right. Check. Can you leave? And then, but you can't come back.

Uh, you can leave, but it's really tricky to leave. It's really tricky to leave at the moment. Yeah, exactly. Welcome to welcome to corruption.

Welcome to Southeast Asia. Right? How long have you been there now in Bali?

Um, it's it's three years now. Two years. Three, three, nice three. Yeah. I mean like, obviously like on and off, we're spending every year, a few months in Europe or traveling a lot, but having the house and the businesses here is three years now. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So when you said you got a work permit, this is a special work permit you get from Bali.

Um, yeah, because we are kind of like, we are, we're having, we're having business relationships here. So we're setting up different. They call like PMs, uh, which is like, these are like branch offices from our companies in Europe. So like the mother company is in Europe, but we are able to bring like a sub branch here to do legal business, uh, which kind of like provides a work permit. And we also, we pay taxes here. So we're kind of like officially registered

And that, that pretty much gives you a pretty long visa that you can stay there then. Cause I know lots of travelers that go to Bali and they're always trying to Dodge the visa situations work around them. Maybe extend their stay just a little bit longer to see where they can go.

It's a hostile bro. It's a hostile, if you do it this way, you have to, the longest you can get four for this. Guy's like two months. So every two months they have to fly in and out. Our visas are like for one year them every year. So it's one year multiple entries. So we go in and out, you don't even have to queue at the customs. You've got like a special entry at the customer. It just walks through. It's like,

That's awesome. That's really relaxed. Yeah. That's the way people should be doing it. So, so this mother company, is this all under nomad X?

Um, no, my next is one of them. Um, I have a, I have a different one I using for this purpose, uh, called homeless and happy. Um, which is in, which is in the UK.

Do all your businesses here, one by one, but let's so you got this mother company, where does Dave Williams fit in? As I spoke to him too.

Okay. Dave is normally decks. I see. And nomad X is literally what I'm, that's the project. That's kind of like, I'm not, um, I'm not, um, public in public. I'm not really talking about the other businesses because I keep them really below the radar. Yeah. Not allowed, but it's kind of like, um, yeah, let's focus on all my decks. Right.

That's really cool. I've seen you really. I mean you, that group and you're

Super active. I remember when you invited me to it, I was in instantly interested. It peaks my interest. I was really curious what it was about and I looked into it and it looks like a really solid community. So let's start with that. There let's, from what it sounds like you're very entrepreneurial you've been doing. You've been creating businesses for quite some time. Now you live in Bali and you said we, is that you and your partner? I would guess.

Yes. That's me and my partner. Lisa.

All right. So you two live together in Bali now and you work on your business and ed, does she help you there?

Yeah, sure. We run all this stuff together. Um, we're like all the businesses, um, uh, we're doing that stuff all together. She is just like, um, she's doing all the background work. She doesn't like it that much to be upfront, um, to be the face. Um, I'm completely opposite. I love it. I love to be, uh, to speak and to all the streams and podcasts and everything, you know, like, um, so yam on, um, she's, she's like supporting me massively, but usually you don't see much of her.

Yeah. So you're doing this now in Bali with your partner. You've been doing this business and you've been there for about three years now. Right? You, you, do you feel like you've made a solid, a, I guess foundation in Bali? Do you feel like your businesses are going well now? Or do you think you're just getting started and there's so much more to come?

Um, I would say both actually. Yeah, one side. Yeah. I feel like it's, it's it's it becomes really, it became really solid. Um, so I would feel like we're having a, we're having a really cool set up the way we're doing things. Uh, it feels like really stable. Um, but on the other side, yeah, man, there is so much more where we're still like, I'm still like, okay, let's get it started. You know, like there is so much more to come. I'm definitely not dumb.

Let's hear a bit about nomad X. What is it about like how'd you get started? My audience would love to hear this.

Okay. Um, so nomad ex um, no, my next started, uh, before I was involved. Um, it's about three years now. The first time they, uh, Dave set it up. So that was the original founder of, of nomadics. Um, they set it up. The idea behind nomad X was, um, Dave and his wife Chen. They started traveling. They had some really successful business exits in the States. So, um, after their last, uh, re successful accident, they kind of like decided let's go, let's go and travel the work. So they traveled to work for quite a while and then all around the world. And they realized that, um, the no, no Maxine, the digital nomad team is, is growing massively, but there was not a proper solution in terms of, of housing because there is Airbnb, but Airbnb is pretty expensive. Um, it's also mainly focusing on short term rental.

So they up with this idea and all my decks, which is from the principle basic is, is it actually like Airbnb, right? This is a platform which connects hosts and guests, but it's only for long term rentals or mid to long term, which means like we're only accepting people to stay at least a month. So you can't rent below a month, which gives us the opportunity only to attract, uh, nomads or remote workers as we like to call them. Um, we don't want to have the tourists. Um, there's nothing wrong about tourism obviously, but we don't want to have to party guests and stuff like that.

Catering more towards the nomadic community. I get that.

Exactly, exactly. And, um, besides that, it gives us the opportunity to create way better offers because our prices are on an average around 45% lower than Airbnb because we do the longterm shots. Right. So that's the, that's the idea behind all my decks, um, about, I would say like me and Dave, we met the first time, about two years ago on a big, big conference in, uh, in Lisbon

Connected through a conference. It's crazy how many connections you can make at conferences.

Oh, fucking love it, bro. I'm always like we're living in an online world, but go to the offline events and make connections, make real life connections. That's it's so valuable. Yeah. So yeah, we're connected there. Um, we connected, he was the speaker at the conference. I was a speaker at the conference. We met that this speaker center. Uh, we clicked very well. Um, and we realized there were a lot of synergies, but then after the conference we kind of like separated our ways. Um, and then, uh, I would say like a half a year later he called me up. Um, because one of my businesses by the time was, was heavily focusing on building communities and building organic outreach, um, brand awareness through social media. And he, um, he called me up and he introduced me to an, all my decks again, um, gave me more insights. And by this time he became a client of mine because I helped him to push the brand organically, um, building this brand awareness, um, every single day.

So what your business was centered around brand awareness and building brands and helping people build brands.

That's kind of like, that's, that's what I love the most. That's kind of like what I do since many years. Uh, which would I say it's, it's one of my core activities. Yes.

And so that's where you came in and he called you any, wanted you to help build a brand of nomad X.

Yes. Especially the community around nomad X, because that's another thing where we tried, we tried to separate ourselves from other platforms like Airbnb or many others out there that we are like, we're not just providing housing, we're providing community as well. So if you become a member of, of nomad X, you are getting introduced to the community and to support, you know, like with the educational programs, every single goes along with, so that's where we started. Yeah. That's where we started. And then it was like, it became, it was a, it was a small, we started with a small, um, smaller arrangement. We started to, to help out. I trained, um, his social media manager by the time, uh, then, um, yeah, we went along and the deal became more and more. I realized more and more how fucking amazing nomad X is. And I realize this is a project which I really loved, you know, it resonated so much with me.

And then last summer, exactly. Like a year ago, he invited us, me and me and Liza. He invited us to Lisbon to come to Lisbon, to stay, uh, in a normal next property for a month. Um, in return. Um, I smashed a few workshops a week. We go through like, I think it was like three or four workshops during that month in Lisbon. Um, talking about communities, talking about organic growth hacking and all that stuff we're doing. And I was a super, that was a really big success, you know, like we had like all this workshop, soul, dog, and everyone was super hype. Most of the time, me and Dave really became really good friends. We were more than just business partners, which became really good friends. And we were hanging out with all the time together. And um, and then he was like, um, yeah, I want you to become completely.

I want you to be not just know my next, you know, um, he was like, um, and I kind of like at the beginning, I was more like, I don't know, because there was one promise I gave to myself about seven years ago, seven years ago, I started my journey in the online world. I was always an entrepreneur my whole life. I had my own companies running back home, but seven years ago I started in your landlord and I promised myself, I never, ever gone back, worked for someone else. And I was like, I was a bit like that. I love it. I love it. Every single what's going on is awesome. But I'm really concerned about getting that last step, you know?

Yeah. Because I mean, we run away as entrepreneurs from working for the man, you know, and that's the last thing you really wanted to do, but that's what he came out with an offer. Right. He wanted you to work under him at first.

Right, exactly. Um, but then the is a genius, you know, like he's a really good doctor and he really convinced me, um, at one point that was like, okay, let's take, let's go all in. And that's the way. So I marched, I marched, um, my company by the time into no, my decks and we became official business partners. And that was an official thing.

The company that you were working on at home, um, you said it was homeless, what, I'm less than happy and that's a company that you merged with nomad ex.

Yes. So we merged all the assets. I'm still having the company back in the UK, but, um, we merged all the assets, which was by the time, obviously, uh, all our, we had a lot of online courses, our own online programs because it was one of the goals was also to, to bring the educational part into IDEXX, you know, like, Oh my ex wants to be like, we want to be like an all over solutions that it's community it's it's housing. Um, that was one of

Interesting. So what was your home, the other business that you were doing back home? What was that all about?

Homeless and happy was, was founded by the time as kind of like an accelerator for online startups. So we wanted to help others to, to bring their businesses, their startups online because we saw that massive need. Um, the way the story goes was mainly like, it never really became what it was made for because we started to work with this and the nurse and this online, uh, start ups. And we realized really quickly that every startup has a lot of ideas and they want to do a shit load of marketing and bring their ideas to the people, but no one has money for it. Right. And so we started to develop tactics and strategies, how you can do that organically. So invest your time instead of money and along the way, homeless and happy developed into a company which became known, uh, which was known as, as a company for organic growth hacking mainly on Facebook. That's, that's the, that's the platform where

I see. So that, so that entire company was kind of based on growth in branding. Yes. And then when you, when you merged with nomad X, you took the assets, like the courses and everything that you had in happy and homeless. Like, do I keep mixing that up as a homeless and happy?

I keep mixing that up homeless and happy that a lot of people do. Don't worry about a lot of people do. And a lot of people get offended by the name. So, um, no worries about that. How do people get habits? Oh, we got a lot of, we got a lot of shit storms about that name, but we have, because a lot of people are like texting or where texting was like, how the fuck, what's wrong with you? Someone who is homeless is never happy. You know, that's hilarious. I know it's controversial. You know, like I like to be controversial,

No bad press, right? Yeah, exactly. There was a person that I actually interviewed the other day. Her marketing company is called bad marketing. And so you get so much business.

It's cool. Right. It's but I think that that's the way to go. It's exactly the way to go. I spoke to someone yesterday and she was she's, she's doing like, she's helping couples to get better at sexuality and all I can develop new stuff. And she has like really controversial names. And we brainstormed about men like, go as offensive as you can, because there is so much out there you have to stand up. Like people need to remember, right.

You gotta be polarizing. So you can actually attract the right types of clients. Exactly. I want to pick your brain so much about the kind of business you do and what you've learned from it and all that. And we'll get to that, but I don't want to get ahead of myself here. Right. So let's, let's move on to after the merger. So you merged all your assets to nomad X and now you've become the face for it. So now you started these housing, these products for housing and community and everything put together, how is that going so far? Is it fairly new? Has it been around for quite some time?

I mean like, uh, the whole thing where we're right now, we're in Portugal. Right? Um, in Portugal we have, uh, we have about, we have a bit more than 2000 properties. Um, all of all across the country. Most of them obviously enlistment, but we're also having a lot of stuff in the countryside. So that's kind of like a round now for the last two years, I'd say, yes, the beds and Portugal was stair that's where it was founded and that's where everything started. So what would be, what, what was the plan to have a next as a next step? We, um, which was also kind of like the purpose, one of the purposes for that merge was like to expand to Bali. That will kind of like, that was the next step, because it was like, okay, we're living in Bali. We have like all the connections here we have, like, we know how it works.

So let's bring it home at X as a next step to Bali and also to a few other European countries. That was the plan for 2020. Unfortunately there is a, there is a little pandemic going on at the moment which made, which made the us, uh, stopped his lounges for now, unfortunately, but it's like, you know, like there is like, there is no tourism what you're going to do. And this is something we're not in control right now, unfortunately, but we noticed this, it will be over, but probably just like cut off that year and then doing it next year. That's the, that's the plan now. So right now, based on this work situation, we decided we're only going to be in portable, focusing on one thing and making it, uh, making it as successful, uh, in one place. So like laser focus, right. Um, and then once we are back on track, we were gonna expand out in the world,

Something I'm sure a lot of people that are listening to this right now are probably thinking it if after this coronavirus pandemic, if the tourism industry were to completely change or pivot in a different direction where tourism just decreases overall, because flights become more expensive or they have to have these 25% capacity rules, maybe people just travel less in general, a way we have less digital nomads in general, maybe one 25% as much, or maybe 10% as much that will obviously affect your business negatively. Do you guys have some sort of pivot direction or some sort of contingencies in place for something like that happens?

Uh, yes we do. But, um, I'd say we were having a different point of view than what you just described, right? The way I'm looking at it or the way we're looking at it, is it the Corona situation right now might be a massive, massive to it, right? It's it's not it's it's far, the whole world shuts down, including obviously Austin and effect that does massively because if there is no travel, there are no bookings. I don't the other side. And that's how I'm looking at it. It's an accelerator for what I, or what we preach and teach on a daily bags. Because since years and years I'm like, everyone needs to go online, bring your businesses online, work from everywhere in the world. It's definitely doable. You know, like remote work is a big, big topic. So what's happening now based on the Corona situation, everyone is locked out, is locked back home and has to work from home, which will give a complete different perspective for people.

Cause people are starting to realize, you know what, that works. Actually I could work from home. So as a next step, people will start to realize if I could work from home, I can work from everywhere in the world. Right? So th th the normal tourism might go through a very long downturn, uh, over a few years probably. But I believe that the nomadics in the remote work scene is going to increase. And that message I'm shouting out to people since years, it's just become, became way, way stronger. And if you're looking at big, big players out there, like, like Google, um, like, you know, like Facebook and they're all announcing, Oh, our employees can now work remotely and do whatever the fuck they want in terms of being located. Because it definitely works. Then we're looking at other companies like savior, who was built 250 people company, completely remote, you know, like nomad X is, um, we're not 250 people back, but we're completely remote.

And that will, which just have to, all we got to do it right now is we have to set it up. Right. We have to sit it out. You have to be careful about your flows. You have to be, you have to be really aware about where you put the body for now. And, um, even with nomad X, we're kind of like, um, doing, we're calling it the low power mode for now because I, right now I could run the coolest and most fucking big successful marketing campaign out there. It doesn't change. The boards are so close. You know, I travel, so we have to sit it out, but it will be over. At one point, it's going to be like three more months. Maybe it's six more months. Maybe it's going to be a year. We don't know something which is really unpredictable at the moment.

But one thing is, for sure, it will be all with the world is not going down once it, what we are doing right now is like, we are focusing on technology, focusing on making the platform better, focusing on also, you know, like taking a bit of a rest of a reflection, taking it, EDC, recharging the batteries, setting everything up. This is why we're doing so much of our business by him. So highly active in the community, um, because it makes be time to build it's just to build, right. Cause I wanna make sure I keep that momentum and making it even bigger. Um, so people are hyped, you know, like they never ever forget about no, my next, um, once it is over, we're going to stop. We're gonna push that start button. And then that rocket is going to be like, yeah. And that's, that's, that's the moment we're working. Right.

I totally get that. And I get what you're saying too. When I was saying, there's going to be a downturn in terms of like travel and whatnot, that's going to be, maybe it's going to last maybe a year or two, maybe three. And it's going to be a slowly as airlines start adjusting new policies and these things happen, but it's not going to obviously stop traveling the world. If anything is going to make people more restless and want to take off and start doing things and actually travel for once. And with the fact that remote work is actually exploding. Now, it's like you said, big companies are starting to bring it out. It's only going to exasperate, exasperate the problem or the solution to all of this and make help people realize that they can actually travel and go to different places. Now, something that people like you and I we've been preaching for ages is actually the digital nomad lifestyle, you know, and the digital nomad lifestyle, I feel like to a certain degree is kind of niche when it comes to that.

Obviously it's expanding and there's a statistic out there that there's going to be over 1 billion digital nomads in 2030, but that was, that statistic was pre Corona. Now I honestly think it's probably in five times, five years earlier, and it's going to be somewhere in 2025, but we'll see what happens when that happens. But this lifestyle that we've been prescribing it's in a way it's nomadic, however, it also, it deals with different aspects, right? So it deals with, um, moving to, from country to country. It deals with, um, adventure and freedom in your life. It's a whole different degree than actually doing remote work, you know, but it also caters to a very like broad group of people as niches that is people who enjoy travel for people who enjoy moving around. Um, so those are the clients that those are the kinds of customers that you're trying to get within your business here. Right? And that like that market is that market. That market cap is actually growing a lot more than it used to be. Um, what kind of marketing campaigns, you being a marketer and coming from a marketing background, what kind of outreach and marketing campaigns are you doing to reach out? And I guess scoop up these kinds of people. These kinds of customers is kind of future clients for your business.

So what, what we are doing right now, we're not doing much in terms of marketing obviously, but, um, what we're doing is in terms of a marketing perspective, um, we're trying exactly what I just described before in terms of the community, you know, like leveraging the power of community, um, obviously we're running ads, classical ads to promote that properties and stuff like that. Um, but based besides that, w we're we're doing like the organic, we're going the organic growth by creating communities. And I think calming. So I want to create as many people as possible who are going out there and talking about no, my decks. Right. And everyone is like, because that spreads the word really fast. If you have a concept, if you have a business model, which is proven and it works and people love it, people will start talking about, you know, like, and that's kind of like, that goes like a spider web, you know?

Um, it's, in my opinion, that's, that's how you build brands is that it's because people are also really suspicious these days. You know, like there is so much out there there's so much out there and people are like, literally like overwhelmed in the online world. And they see, like, if you go, it doesn't matter. Facebook, Instagram, wherever you go on on these platforms, you get bombarded with promotion act, you know, like offers and stuff like that. So I can come to you and I can, I can be as good as I can. And convincing as I can, to telling you that my business is going to be the freaking awesome, coolest solution you've ever seen. You are not going to be as convinced as someone else's coming to you and telling you, look, you know, you heard about Norma Dax and that guy all is doing that stuff that right there, because I've been that and I've watched it. And it's really, really cool. It's like, if you go to another city and you want to go and eat Chinese, you can either go on Google and they get the list with HondaJet tiny spaces, or you call up your friend who is local, and you're going to ask, where do I go for Chinese? So you go there. Right. So that's kind of like the market thing. Um, we're looking into it or that's kind of like what we are celebrating.

I get that. How do you suggest for someone who's actually never started a community before that's in entrepreneur, an entrepreneur and they want to start building a brand. What kind of steps would you give somebody like that? Who's doesn't know where to start to build a community.

It's a very, it's a very good question. And it's a good question. I get, I always get that question masked by so many people and it's, um, it's, it's pretty simple because people tend to over sink that whole community saying, first of all, always, always think about what would you do in the offline world. We're really familiar. They're really we're social human beings. Right. We know how to socialize offline. We're really good at that. You know, like, um, so if you're not a complete introvert, you know exactly how it works in the offline world. So take that and do it exactly the same light in the online work started super small. First of all, it takes a shit load of time and it takes a shit load of work. And there is no success overnight, right? And then start to be generous kind and create a lot of value and push it on a daily basis.

You know? And if you, if you're looking at my community, this 10,000 people, almost 10,000 people in there, I spent every day about, I'd say like two to four hours in that community by creating value posts all first. And there is hardly no comment, which I don't comment back. And it's always, that's always me. Yes. I have assistants. I have people, I have a team who supports me, but if you see it under my name, that's that's myself. So I get in touch. I send this people personal messages and I don't care if you are like, you know, like it don't care if you are like an entrepreneur, which just starts off. Or if you're Gary week for me, you are all, you're all the same. Like the best, the best the magic happens. If you treat everyone exactly the same, and this is how we started to community, that's exactly what you would do in the offline world. So take it to it in the online world. Exactly the same don't think because there is just this green between your me, you're not to be disrespectful or not timed, or once you close that laptop, the show is over the show is never over, you know? So as active as you stand

Genuine, provide value, be yourself, be kind, uh, yeah, like overall, just be a good human being and being engaging with everybody that's in your community.

Exactly. Exactly. And that's kind of like, that's what we, that's what we learned, you know, like when we grew up and that's, that's, that's, that's a basic principles we do as human beings. We should be kind, we should be generous. We should help each other. Right. There is no difference in the, on just because we're online now. It doesn't mean there is any, any difference, just exactly the same. And people will start loving it, you know, and create value. Always create a lot of value and try to help instead of trying to sell, you know, like never, never go in there and sell. You can, you can have your offers, you can present your product, your mission. That's totally fine, but don't be salesy. Don't be don't pitch all the time. You know? Like that's not going to work off. Yeah.

I mean, it's like the same aspect in real life, right? If you were to come up to somebody you've never met, and when you were having a conversation with them, you wanted something from them. Instead of providing them some sort of value and value can be something as simple as having a conversation with somebody and being interested in what they do and who they are and being curious, you know what I mean? Even that's value, but if you have a hidden agenda, per se, when you go up and have a conversation, like for example, you're walking down the street, you know, those guys who were holding clipboards and always trying to stop you, you know, they're not coming up to you to have a conversation. You know, they're going to come up and sell you or try to get an email or something. So that's why most people just naturally avoid them.

And the ones who end up giving them their email, most of the time anyways, are just really kindhearted people that just don't know how to say no. Right. It's just kind of the same aspect. And that translates to online life. And I feel a lot of entrepreneurs, at least not, not as much anymore, but that used to happen a lot used to think that they could kind of sneak their way around in it. You know, that they maybe say something here and there or drag someone into their funnel. And then at the end of it, just give them a picture of that, providing any value at there at all. And that used to work, but not anymore because people, like you said, are getting smarter. They're understanding that there's an offer coming at the end of the table or the understanding that they're going to get hoodwinked and something's going to pop up and you're gonna have to pay for this or something like that. You know? So yeah, the best way really is to upload and upfront your value. Just like how you try to make a friend in real life. And then after that, see how well you meshed together. And then as Gary V likes to say the hook hook and then punch, right. That's right,

Exactly. It's the way to go. It's definitely, it's, it's 100% the way to go, because I can tell you, I started to become really successful and making a lot of money and doing a lot of sales at the point where I stopped selling. Once I S I stopped selling and then things are starting to kick and that's kind of, but yeah, it's, it's, it's literally like, it's not like I removed that, saw that singing out of my head that this is a sales conversation. That yes, it is. I want point probably, but remove it out of your head, show this, as you said, show interest, you know, like be, be, be that kind of human person who's really interested. And don't just pretend to be interested because as you said, people are super smart. They get bombarded with that shit on a daily base. Once you stop selling, you will start to

Absolutely. I think that's a, it's a pretty, like, pretty tough to do as an entrepreneur too. You have inside of you, you just have like this thing that just wants to sell all the time as an entrepreneur, it's just natural inside of you. So getting that and removing it from you makes it so much easier. Whereas other people who aren't natural entrepreneurs, you have the opposite problem from what I've noticed, they are really good at trying to connect with everybody. And they're really good at providing value and stuff, but they just don't know how to sell or even have a pitch in the first place. They just keep providing value, never have a sale. Right? If I were, if I were someone who was just starting out today, I would honestly lean more towards the side of providing value and learn that more than learning how to sell. Because if you provide enough value, people are going to line up at the door to buy from you. You don't even have to sell. And so it comes in drugs.

Exactly, exactly. And that's the way it works and you are totally right. Like we're all entrepreneurs. And as an entrepreneur, you want to, you want to make that sale, you know, like, but let's go back, you know, like in the old things, you know, like, I, I remember when, like when, when was, it's about, let's say about 10 years ago, 10 to 15 years ago. Um, I was working for, um, I was working for pioneer by them, not like pioneer the DJ brand and, um, massive, massive company, you know, like worldwide, very, not very well known multibillion dollar company. Um, um, by the time, and we had the sales guys, you know, like they were a bit older, you know, like never in the forties and fifties. And they were always telling their stories, how they convince this, this, uh, this client, um, to close the deal.

So what did you do? You went for dinner and then you went on a wild party and you just had the most amazing time. There was no sale or nothing, you know, like you just went on and had a mace, amazing dimes and to get a lot of, you know, like there was a lot of booze and a lot of food and you're just like partying all night long. And every little side, everyone goes signing the contract the next day, because they had a fucking amazing time. So we should bring that back into the online world, you know, like just have a freaking amazing time and build that trust. Don't be salesy, you know, like you worked 50 years ago and it works today. That's what I tried use a different medium. It's a different medium, but the rules haven't changed. It's exactly the same. It's exactly the seminars where people do miss understand this, that they don't get it. You know, like they're like, Oh, we're online. There's internet. Oh, it's going to be safe. It's you know, like he will, but it's not going to be on the first attempt. So just go out there and have a freaking amazing time. And the rest will work out organically.

Right. I wanted to go into this before we move on. So you said you started your community, did you? I've noticed that a lot of people start the community in one of two ways, right? Either one, they start engaging with another community and they start building up their contacts. That way they engage more and maybe it's some sort of forum or Reddit or anywhere in these places. And they just get really involved. And from there, they have members that start talking to them more and they dragged them from there to their own community. Or did you have called outreach and, and started grabbing people into your community? What was the way that you started building it?

Okay. I give you my secret sauce here. Okay. The way we're doing it. So first of all, I'm looking at all the social media platforms, Facebook, in my opinion is the way to go. Um, Facebook is like 2.7 billion people out there, and everyone shares massive private information about yourselves. So we're looking, we can look at profiles and can even tell, is that a potential lead or not? And then, um, all these communities on Facebook, keyword search, you know, like if you're in wealth from hell, if you go into Facebook, wealth, and health, and you get the list with thousand groups turning around that topic, um, I always like to, again, I like to compare that to the, to the real world, you know, like, let's take your body. That's like, imagine I open up a source, drop down the road. And on the other side of the road, there is a search up who is already there since 20 years.

Right. So what we actually do, we do the, exactly the same on Facebook. We were going in and relate in communities who are running around the same topic. And we go in there, we introduce ourselves, we create a lot of value. And then we let people know that there is another community or that we have that surf drop on the other side of the road roll. So sounds really good surf boards. And we're doing really cool stuff in depth. Why don't you come over and check it out? Right. Um, so the community, the Facebook group, and it's nothing else that you're able to be like your physical shop in the real world, but we always go, we just go behind people, um, who are very new in this communities. You know, like if someone is, is there was another group and you have people in there they're in this community for a year when we don't try to convince them to come, if they come. Yeah, exactly. If they come organically, that's super cool. But to convince someone who is pretty new to a community and to tell them there is another community is doing the same stuff, but we're doing it better. It's pretty easy to convince. So we're leveraging the power of other people's community to bring them back in our community. And once we have them in there, we create so much value that they're kind of like getting that whole experience of like, why did I not come earlier? Because it's fucking amazing.

Cause something I've noticed in a lot of communities that are already made, at least in the digital nomad space is that those communities, they have a bunch of people that are communicating with each other, but the admins themselves never provide that much value. They kind of just let it be. Maybe they'll pin something on the top and it'll kind of be salesy right there in the first place. And they'll just kind of let everybody else do your thing. But something I noticed about nomadics right away was that you're in there in the front lines, commenting, engaging, throwing out all these tips, talking about Bali, talking about your, your properties, saying how you can do this, how you can do that. Just giving massive amounts of value that really stood out to me. So there's a difference right there. Now I wanted to ask, is there a way to tell on Facebook, if someone just joined a community recently?

Yes. Uh, there is. Um, if you go, if you go, um, that's, that's that's that gets really, yeah. That's, that's, uh, that's a good one. It's a secret. I usually teach that in courses, but I give it away for free. So you guys, if you go, if you go in a, in a, in another group, um, you go on the members list. Um, they are actually there on top of it. You got first, you get like the members. So you're friends with the next section is like members. You have things in common way. And then the list goes on and it's sorted by reasonably joined. So go, go behind the first 20 to 50, depending on the, on the size of the community. Um, just what we do is we're kind of like sending friend requests to these people because we know they're interested in our topic.

That's why they're in this community. So I'm sending a friend request and once the friend request is approved, I'm sending a personalized message to introduce my style. Yeah. That's what, yeah, that's kind of like it's it's so it's, it's pretty simple. It's like, it's, it's exactly what you would, you know, like imagine again, in the real world you would go to a conference, meet up or whatever, which is related to the topic you're into. You're running your business though. You would go there, you would socialize and interact with all these likeminded people. And at one point you would probably introduce them to a business car and be like, look, that's my business. That's what I'm running next time when you're, when you're around, why don't you stop by and have a look.

So, so really you're just running by your intuition of what you already do in real life and just translating it. There, there is one little thing though, right? One little caveat there that I've noticed that when it comes to that, so I've had people that have reached out to me in two ways, one type of person will reach out to and be like, Hey, how are you? Right. And then they'll be like, how are you doing? Hey, um, so I do, I like, they won't talk about what they do or why they're reaching out to me. They'll just kind of be like, how you doing? And I'm doing this blah, blah, blah. And in my entire time, I'll be thinking in my mind, what does he want? What does he want? And there's that little caveat. It that's the same way that works in real life though.

Right. If someone were to just come up to you and not actually have a reason, unless it's like a conference or something, that's social environment that you already talking to somebody. Right. But let's see if I was to come up to somebody on the street, I'd automatically think, Hey, what does that person want from me? So the same way, like if you're going to cold outreach to somebody like me, that I like the fact that you were directly already mentioning, Hey, a part of this group, you didn't want anything from me. You provided some value in that first initial message. And then you said, Hey, here's my group. So you had your entire like, Hey, this is what I do. This is what I want. Here's some value for you. Feel free to join if you want to. Otherwise, I think it's horrible to actually reach out to somebody on Facebook and be like, Hey, how you doing? Uh, let's connect. Um, like I, I have to reach out back to these people. Like, why are you reaching out to me? Or what do you do? You know, or what do you want? You know? And that kind of makes it negative and it loses the friction. So, yeah.

Right. Um, yeah, man, I, I completely agree with you the, the, the, the way I'm looking at it is like, first of all, I mean, yes, we're calling it. Let's take Facebook as a perfect example. We're calling it a social network, but to be very honest, we're using it for business, right. That's what we do. Um, I'm not spending time on watching stupid Kathleen deals or shit like that. I'm really using it for business. So people who are texting me, it's like, who are you? Not, who are you? How are you? I'm mighty. Like, can we skip the small talk and go right into it? Because I really don't have time for it. Right. And mostly these people are like, they are kind of like mostly running dodgy businesses. They're not really want to talk about, I have a different point of view as an as example, not my dad's perfect example.

You know what? I am so proud of nomad X. I am so pumped about that project. I would literally spend every day, 24, seven screaming at everyone's face how freaking cool that project is. So I go in and be like, you know what I do know about actually, because I'm so proud about it. I love it. It's so quick and cook, you have to know about it because I want to share it with you. It's not, DACI, it's no scam. It's, it's a really cool proven business model. So I'm just really proud. It's like, it's like, I'm very proud about my fiance. I would never be like I'm with that girl. But you know, like, I don't want to tell him that's Lisa, she's like the coolest fucking person in the world. And I love her to pieces and I will tell her,

And it shows you why you're doing what you're doing and why you're doing it. It shows that you have conviction in it and you want it 100%, you know, no one wants to put guy who's like half ass in something and kind of shows it to them. You know, he's going to get eaten alive. He's going to get thrown under the bus, like as long if you will. And that's for any sort of business for anybody that has that business is involved as an entrepreneur. Like if you're selling something where if you even own something we're created, something were built, something that you're not proud of next onto the next thing, because if you're not 100% dedicated and proud of it, and it's not your life's work, you're going to lose.

Yeah, exactly. I totally agree. It's exactly the way it works.

So what's, I'm going to pivot here a bit, right. Because I like, and I feel like I'm going to have a conversation with you all day, but I feel like my listeners have a short attention span. So let's, let's capitalize on this time. Um, what's the revenue model look like for nomad X and are you guys profitable at the moment? And, um, how are you going to scale it?

So, um, right now where we're obviously a startup, right? So we're not, um, first of all, it's not about the profit at the moment. Um, we're in the startup stage still now, based on the old work situation where organization took a fee, we took a few steps back. We had, um, we had, uh, we had a Cedar's campaign and drugs founding campaign lined up, um, which we had unfortunately to stop as well, which we will pick up as soon as possible. Um, so we are, we're in a stage where we're, we're looking for investors, um, very, very, very intensely. And we're looking for investors that were, there was a massive interest, but again, right now you're probably not invested in a travel business. Um, but, um, we're in that stage, but as we started up in that stage yeah, exactly. As a startup in that stage, and that's always the same for every star job. Um, we're looking into showing a revenue model, um, which is proven, and then it's about market share, right? It's about literally about getting market shares and getting as many assets out there as possible. And then we're going to talk about profit.

I see. And how about the fulfillment side? Are you getting fulfillment from creating this business? Are you the kind of person that gets fulfillment from just creating businesses in general? Or is it like this business specifically, also that brings you a lot of happiness because you give value to all these nomads and you were so involved in the nomadic culture and community yourself, like what part of it's fulfilling for you? How much do you enjoy it? Let's talk a bit about that.

I would say I get massive fulfillment and there was a lot, there was a lot because nomad X is literally like, for me, it's a perfect solution because on one side, I'm on a mission to take as many people as possible on the journey I am on working remote from everywhere in the world. Right. That's kind of like, that's what that, because I see myself as a very lucky person because we kind of like made it, we kind of like, we were really privileged, uh, to start that whole thing. Even in like the bit of the early days we worked our asses off, we're still working our asses off, but we kind of like made it, we prove it, that it's really possible. And I know a lot of people are dreaming about that. Um, I'm not talking about the laptop lifestyle. I don't like that, you know, like, Oh three hours from the beach and make sure that's not what it is.

That's not reality. No, that's not what it is, but running proper businesses and being a local independent. So as long, it sounds stupid. But as long as we have wifi, you have wifi everywhere in the world these days, uh, we can, we can run our businesses. So I want to take as many people as possible on that journey. That's, that's, that's my mission. Right? That's that's, that's what I, that's what makes me go up in the morning on the other side? Um, no IDEXX is built around that topic, but it's a very entrepreneurial and it's, we're creating a marketplace, you know, like there is a revenue model. There is a, there is, there are different streams. There is a lot of organization. There is that's it's, that's the other thing I'm really passionate about. I love building businesses. It's the other thing. So that's, that's kind of like, um, two sides. Why all my decks. Exactly. That's why I know my next is, is that perfect for me? It supports me on my mission, but it also gives me the opportunity to be, uh, an entrepreneur on a daily basis.

Absolutely. I can see why you're so passionate about it then. It's like, you found your calling. That's awesome, man.

I did mine. I did. Yeah, definitely.

Great. Um, so before we start closing off here a little bit, I got two quick questions for you, right. Um, when, when did you start your whole nomadic journey yourself? When, yeah. When was it? When is the first time that you felt like could finally step out and work off your laptop?

Um, so let's, um, I'd say seven years ago. So that's kind of like, yeah, I've been traveling all my life. Um, I started like in my, in my 18, 19, 20 years

Originally from where Switzerland Swiss. Okay, cool.

Yeah. Yeah. So I've been traveling all my life. My parents are very passionate travelers, so they always took me and my brother on, on really cool journeys. And we've been to the States and Canada and all that stuff. So I've kind of been introduced to travel in my very young years. Then I started to travel by myself, um, for the first 10 years, um, until I was kind of about 29, 30 years old. Um, I've been in and out of Switzerland and they're always like, uh, being on really long journeys. I, I used to live in Vancouver, uh, then went back to Switzerland and then back and forth. It's always traveling. But then when I was 29 30, I was like, that's not what I want. I want to go and be completely independent. And that's kind of like when the nomadic journey really kicked off, I sold all my stuff, uh, got rid of my company. And then, um, I packed a backpack and I started to explore the world. Um, never, never go home in between. Obviously could see my parents and friends back home, but never stopped in STEM. Yeah.

Awesome, man. I know a lot of my listeners would love to follow you on that path. So definitely make sure to put nomad X in the show notes and for everybody listening, it's a fantastic group. Feel free to join. And one more thing I notice on that group, you're having an interview with Gary V. Is that right? That's right, man. Congratulations on landing that run me through that a little bit. How'd you get that? And when is it happening?

So, um, so the way the story goes, a massive, massive, thank you to Dave Williams. He made it happen because, um, one of his last company is three 60. I in Atlanta, um, out of this company, he had a contact who had a contact to has a contact to one of the assistants of Gary. We, and so over a few corners, this connection, uh, started to happen. And it was like, um, he made it, he, this, this, this guy at the Gary V team made it possible to get us on a pole. Me and Dave and Gary for like 10 or 15 minutes. And even that for me was like, because Gary was like verus probably the, my biggest inspiration over the last few years. Uh, I love that guy. It's like crazy. And I love the way he, yeah. He is like, like no words needed that we all know that right.

A fantastic person and an even better entrepreneur definitely role model.

Exactly, exactly. So, yeah, bro, we at, we went on that call and um, um, we, we had that call and it was like 10 max, 15 minute call, um, that the show was going to be on, hold on bro. Now. Uh, because we just plugged it in. It's gonna be on the 2020 in my work, 21st of July. Um, but in the rest of the world, it's going to be like on the 20th, we're going to stream life in the, in the Facebook community. We want to have that, um, as, as an exclusive thing for our members. So hopefully I'm also increasing the members, right. Getting a lot of people in into it because they want to listen to carry me. He was like super cool on the call. And we spoke a little bit about remote work and what's going to happen to the digital nomads. And then he was literally just like, how can I support you guys? And I was like, bro, I just would love to feature you on one of my streams because we're having so many cool people, but you are like the King of everything. He was like, fine. Let's do it. I'll fight slop. And you're going to contact my assistant.

So this time, man, it's amazing. Isn't it like the way that he is, you know how he is on his keynotes and stuff? Is he like that on the phone too?

Yeah, I was, it was, it was actually, it was a phone call. So it was not soon, there was no video. It's literally just a conference phone call. But you could tell from the first sec, because I was like, it's just a phone call. Is it, is this going to be him? You know, like

I disbelief. Right,

Right. But you can tell by the first second is like the way he talks. It's like, this is like super straight forward. Um, yeah, he is. No, but what do you see? What do you see out there? And it was literally like, because he could obviously see how Corona affects also our business. Right. He was straight on and he was like, okay, you know what, guys let's do that straight because I know what impact this can have for your business. If we're doing this together, I'd love to help. I'd love to, to court. And um, he is just, yeah, he's super, super generous guy.

Awesome. I will definitely be tuning in that day. You'll see me there.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, I'm already having sleepless nights.

Yeah. Well really looking forward to it. Okay. Two, two final questions here that I close off every podcast with and I ask every one of my podcasts guests. Um, number one, since those seven years, I know you've been traveling all your life, but since the moment that, and not even though seven years, but even before that, since the moment that you started traveling by yourself at 18 and doing these solo trips and staying in different places, how has your perspective of life and people changed?

Wow, that's a good one. Uh, it changed massively. They changed, it changed in a way that, um, I'm not, I can't, I don't get it how we still have racism out there because it changed my whole perspective about humanity, about how people live and how people, I just love it. I love the fact that we have so many different cultures out there and I laughed with Splore as many of them and learn from all of them, because I think every culture has so much to give and so much what we can learn from, especially. I mean, I'm Swiss, you know, like I come from one of the close minded countries in the world, so, um, yeah, man, it opened up. It's like, I, I just love, I love people. Um, I always did, but um, I've been proven on a daily base. That's the way to go. And that's kind of like what makes me happy?

Absolutely. That this is something, I talk a lot about myself as well for a lot of my podcasts, but in general in life too, I feel like if pretty much everyone in the world got to travel solo, at least once, maybe just for a few months, I don't think racism would exist. I think couples would be much stronger. I think there'll be much less hate in the world. It's because everyone's so or so many people, not everyone, but so many people, especially in America where I'm from are so stuck in their bubble. They never actually leave this small spot. And when you're in a small area, it leaves to small thinking to bubble thinking. And when you have that thinking, it becomes an echo chamber of just, yeah, this, this race is bad or those kinds of people are bad. But when you go out in the world, like you said, you start realizing everyone's kind of the same on the inside. Everyone feels the same. You have those same wants and desires. And I talk about this all the time, but I think it's incredibly important to just keep repeating, to help people understand that, Hey, like, even though you might not think like this right now, go out and travel for a bit, go live amongst other people and see what they're like. And you'll see what I mean.

Exactly. I totally agree. And if you're doing it, you know, like doing it in the real way, um, I think like one of my most hard opening and eye opening experiences was as an example, what's my name was like traveling India. And I was pretty broke by the time I lived like on a $10 voucher the day. But I tell you what, bro, I just like I've I had like so many don't get me wrong. I'm still like, you know, like India is not my most favorite country. Um, there was a lot of really bad experiences obviously. And um, but, but it was just like eye opening. It was hard opening. And it was like, it brought me to the, to the wheelchair, you know, like the wheelchair going to the, with the locals, riding on Indian trains, surf class, not first loss, even if forced floods like cheap, you know, like with them, listen to them, you know, like do that real shit.

Um, when I was, when I was, when was so broke by the time, but this people, they gave me food, they gave me shelter, you know, like, yeah, no one came up. It was like, you're fucking white. I don't like, you know, like, it's like, no man, it's that? Yeah. Go into the real shit. You know, like don't do the all inclusive, uh, tours and all that stuff. No, go out there and travel. It's not dangerous. It's not have a good taste of what's doable and what's not doable. Don't wear your Rolex if you are doing, um, you know, like Colombia. Yeah, exactly. And so I was just like, have a, have a bit of a taste of what's what's right or wrong. Exactly. Exactly. But go and do the real stuff, you know, and that's gonna change your life.

Yeah. And then of these five star resorts and go on out and travel on vacay for about two weeks, go live it in the trenches and you'll understand why and you'll come back and you become so much better of a person.

Exactly. Exactly. It's going to change your life forever. Um, it's something no one can take away from you because I'm not, I'm not scared anymore about losing money, losing businesses, losing, losing bacterial things. Because I know I have so much experience and I had the privilege to see so many different things, which will guide me through the rest of my life. And that's no one, no one can take away from them.

Absolutely. That, that is a fantastic lesson to learn. Now, one final question here, right? To close this all off with, and that is, if you all, as an entrepreneur, someone who's created multiple businesses, someone has been digital has been nomadic for about seven years now, working in managing their businesses, just with an internet connection. If you could give somebody who wants to follow in your footsteps, who wants to do what you've done, who wants to create businesses? And I know this is exactly what your entire mission is all around, but what piece of advice that one piece of advice would you give them to get started?

Get your fucking ass, go to work

Hustle,

Awesome hustle. As much as you can, right? There is no other way to do it. If you want to be successful, you're going to work your ass off day by day. You know, like there is one out of a million who makes a successful story overnight. And we always have this intense that like it, because again, you know, like, because it's online because it's the internet, we all kind of, you're not like we can make shit loads of money in a short amount of time. It's completely wrong. There are a few 0.0, zero 1% who probably are this lucky, but that's the same in the offline world and the offline world, you have zero point blah, blah, blah percent who are having a business idea, executing it, uh, or, you know, like having a rockstar who wrote a song overnight and become a multibillion dollar. So it happens, but it not happens to us. You know? Like, don't look at them.

No, there is no way if it happens to you, Oh man, tell me the story I want to listen to. That's awesome. And I'm super happy for you, but every other one 99.9, nine, 9% of us, we have to work as hard and as much as we can to make it. And that's what we have to do and it will pay off. It will pay off. You have to go through all this downturns. You have to bleed, you have to cry. There are a lot of tears. There are a lot of loses along the way. It's going to smash you in your face. It's a fucking roller coaster. Uh, never aim for the goal. Just enjoy the ride.

Absolutely grind it out. I remember I heard this, I heard this quote once and I think it would be a good quote to end this on a, I forget who it was, but I think it was Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I'm not a hundred percent certain. He said, if I did everything that I ever wanted in life, I got, I became the world champion in bodybuilding. I became the governor of California. I did a couple of other things, everything I wanted, I wanted, but there was a difference between me and other people. I wanted it with every fiber of my being. Other people just want something half-assed or kind of half won and they never put in the work for it. And because I wanted it with every fiber of my being, I got it. I, I, that wasn't the exact quote, but I kind of reworded it in my way. Right. I agree, man.

I agree. I 100% agree and I think that's a perfect way to end that interview because that's pretty, it's pretty much spot on.

Thank you so much today for coming on Ali. That was an incredible conversation. Really, really valuable.

Thank you RO I highly appreciate for having me. I hope it creates a lot of value. I hope it inspires and um, keep up the good work for all. I think it's amazing what you do. You're a damn fucking inspiration and that help you take as many people as possible on that journey.

That's it for today. Thanks for tuning into the nomadic executives before you go. I beat every grateful. If you could leave a rating or a review, this podcast will be forever growing in the direction that best serves you. So help me make the necessary tweaks to bring you the most value. Otherwise, shoot me an email for any questions, concerns, comments, or even if you would like to be featured as a guest, you can email me@omarmodigitalatgmail.com. That's O M a R M O digital@gmail.com. Now onto some closing words, thanks for tuning in to the pneumatic executive. If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to leave a rating or review your feedback helps us reach others who need a spark of inspiration. See you next time.