Notes From a Neuro Nerd: The Science Behind Living Your Best Life
Welcome to Notes from a Neuro Nerd, where brain science meets practical tools for living with purpose, clarity, and joy. Join Monica—a certified life-purpose coach and neuroscience enthusiast—and her partner, Austin, as they explore the mindset shifts, habits, and tools that can help you build a fulfilling life.
Tune in to uncover the ‘why’ behind your thoughts and behaviors and get actionable, science-backed strategies to boost your well-being. If you're ready to design your best life, you’re in the right place!
Notes From a Neuro Nerd: The Science Behind Living Your Best Life
73. From Virtual Assistance to Life Coaching | Savvy Talks Interview
When we saw our Peace Corps dreams disrupted by the pandemic, we launched into a digital nomad lifestyle that's been nothing short of a whirlwind adventure. From the early days of virtual assistance to the creative realm of web design, and now, the deeply rewarding work of life purpose coaching, we've woven our entrepreneurial spirit with an insatiable love for travel.
Our candid conversation with Kris Marie Dano on the Savvy Talks podcast peels back the curtain on the highs and lows, the epiphanies, and the perseverance it takes to thrive in this lifestyle.
Check out the Savvy Talks podcast here!
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Hello and welcome to the profitable Nomad Couple podcast. This is a show where we share all of our secrets about building a sustainable location independent lifestyle.
Speaker 2:We're Austin and Monica. We're a digital Nomad couple here to help you develop an entrepreneurial mindset, ignite your passions and develop a purpose-driven online business.
Speaker 1:Get ready for weekly insights and inspiring stories to empower you to live life on your own terms.
Speaker 2:So are you ready to unlock the Nomad mindset and embrace a life of limitless possibilities? Let's dive in. Hey guys, it's Austin here. This week's episode is going to be a little bit different. This is an episode that we recorded for the Savvy Talks podcast with our new friend, chris Marie Dono. There are a lot of really good takeaways from this, and we had a really good conversation with her, and so we wanted to share it with you here, so tune in and hope you enjoy the episode.
Speaker 3:Welcome to another episode of Savvy Talks podcast, where we talk about money, mindset, habits and motivation. And today's guests are a power couple who are experienced digital Nomads who have built successful online businesses while exploring the world. With the combined 17 plus years of Nomadding and 11 plus countries, they have gained valuable insights into building and scaling online ventures. As certified life purpose coaches, they help other travel lovers create purpose and build their dream businesses. So let's all welcome Austin and Monica Mangelsen. Hi guys, it's a pleasure to have you here.
Speaker 2:Hi, Chris. Thank you so much for having us on and for letting us be part of this conversation.
Speaker 3:Yes, awesome. So before we dive in, let's have the audience get to know you more, what you do, what you love doing and what you guys are passionate about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've been married for about five years now. We met in college and we like traveling has always been a part of our relationship. We went on a humanitarian trip together when we were engaged. It was a very important thing for both of us that we incorporate that into our relationship and entrepreneurship. That was something that Monica always wanted to do. It never really crossed my mind growing up, but I loved it. It's been an incredible journey and it's been like it's been a really neat learning experience for both of us and it's been really fun to do it together as a couple.
Speaker 3:Awesome and it did start into like you guys already, or like Monica already, have like a business by her own and she was already traveling. Did you guys meet while traveling or did the business started after you guys are in a relationship for a couple of years?
Speaker 2:The business started after we'd been married for about two years. It was right after COVID. Our business was a COVID baby. It's how it started. It's evolved a lot since we started. So we have been virtual assistants and then we shifted our business to web design. Now we do more coaching. So it's gone through a lot of evolutions and changes.
Speaker 3:That's interesting when you said, like the pre-pandemic right, that's when you started, and how did that happen where you guys traveling? Because I know there's kind of like I've heard some stories where nomads or travelers get trapped in a certain country. Did that also happen to you guys?
Speaker 2:We did get trapped, but not in a different country. We got trapped at my parents' house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so right before the pandemic we actually had gotten jobs with the Peace Corps and we were super excited to go out and love on the people in Mozambique for a bit and it's a two-year stint. So we had sold our housing contract and we had sold most of our stuff and everything. And then, two weeks before we were supposed to leave is when the world came to a screeching hall. So all of a sudden we didn't have a place to live. We didn't have any. Most of our things were gone. At the time we had someone lined up to buy our car, which thankfully that fell through. So we at least had a car and with that car we drove from Idaho all the way to California to stay with Austin's parents and supposedly when we went there we were thinking we were only going to be there for two weeks, maybe a month, and ended up being a very long time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and how is traveling and business kind of like integrated together? Did you guys planned it ahead of time during the pandemic, Because I know there's a lot of like you can't go out so you have so much time going through like business plans or something like that. Or did you just like we're going to have a business and then when the band of traveling gets out and then we can just go and travel?
Speaker 2:So the lack of travel is actually what it was a catalyst for us to start our business. So we were working these jobs that weren't super great for us. They weren't a good fit for us as, like our personalities, they weren't a great fit for our relationship. We hardly saw each other, and mostly Monica, but we are both feeling it. We were very like we had cabin fever, really bad, you know, and so we were really anxious to travel again, to get out there and to be moving again. And so Monica started looking up jobs that we could do online so that we could travel. And that's how we, that's how the whole thing kind of got started. That's what launched us into becoming virtual assistants first, and so we kind of figured out on the go how to balance traveling and running the business. You know, it's kind of like the trial by fire.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the really kind of like in there and the the, the idea of getting a business while you're also doing what you're why you start passionate about which is traveling is really interesting and I believe a lot of people, the audiences who would really relate to it they want to do it, but there's a lot of fear going on and for you, for both of you, who's also doing it together as a couple, how do you think or what kind of advice do you think you could give them to just like aside from, just start, like what kind of like tips that you can give them so that they can overcome the fear that they're currently having right now?
Speaker 1:A mantra that we both have really latched onto is just to take messy action, right. So the way to really conquer your fear is just by by taking an imperfect action, I think. I think what happens is our brain really its whole job is to protect us and to keep us alive, right. And so when we're trying something new that the brain doesn't know and hasn't seen work before, we're flooded with this fear and anxiety designed to keep us safe. So the more we can just kind of take little action, take messy, imperfect action, the more we can show our brains like hey, like this is okay, I can do this and survive. And the more you get into that habit of just being willing to take a messy action and take a step forward, the more that fear is going to go away.
Speaker 2:I think on top of that we have, sometimes we have these really grandiose visions of what we want our life to be like. Or sometimes we know what business we want to start or what kind of what job we want to have, and it's a matter of getting from where we are to getting there. Sometimes we don't even know exactly where we want to be, but we know we don't want to be where we're at in our life. And it can be really overwhelming to look at this future version of yourself and to think, like how the heck do I even get there? Like that's so far. I don't know where to begin.
Speaker 2:And I think you know, piggybacking off of what Monica said, instead of looking at the big, huge picture of okay, I want to, you know, I want to be running this full-time coaching business and I want to have all these clients. You know, take it one step at a time. What's something that I can do this week? You know, if I've never coached before, maybe I start by taking a class to learn how to be a coach. Maybe I take some marketing courses and maybe all I need to do right now is sign up and register for the course. Maybe the first step is to go talk to someone who's been a coach before or a web designer. If that's what you want to do and I think if you can break it down and just find something that's really manageable in the moment, then it's a lot easier, because then it's not a big unknown, it's just a little thing that you can see the other side of that. So it's easier to take that step into the unknown and then that fear starts to vanish with every step that you take.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that. It's one of the things that really gets people to like one of the greatest fear is taking that step into the unknown. But if you take it and you just keep on going and just continue taking steps, but also with cautious and planning, and I felt like that would really kind of work out and just make some innovations along the way. I guess, and for both of you who kind of do it together, how does that work? Did one of you decided to do a life coaching and you guys talk it together, or did you really take the business together instantly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a really good question. It's been really fun and challenging at the same time to try and mesh our two personalities together and kind of find something that works for both of us. Like I said, when we first started, it was all Monica's idea. If it were up to me, I never thought of being a business owner. It had never crossed my mind. I wasn't too interested in it. Monica wanted to, and so she convinced me to get started and we went into it together and it started out with something that Monica had found and was interested in, which is virtual assisting.
Speaker 2:We did that for about a year and then we both realized mutually we agreed that it wasn't the best fit for us. It was a good step in the right direction, kind of going back to what we were just talking about. It wasn't where we wanted to be fully, but it was a definite step in the right direction, and we knew more about online business. We knew more about ourselves, but we knew that we needed to find something different. So what we did was we each wrote down a list of all the things that we enjoyed doing as virtual assistants and all the things that we did not enjoy doing as virtual assistants and we wrote those individually and then we came together as a couple and we compared our list. We said, okay, what do we both like to do? What do we both not like to do?
Speaker 2:And as we went through this list we circled, I think, five or six things that were on both of our like list and then we picked one of them and we moved forward with it and it was graphic design, graphic and web design, and so that kind of launched us into learning more about being coming web designers and we ended up being a good balance for each other there too, because she was much more the Monica's the visionary, she's the creative, she's the big picture person, she has the dreams for our business, and then I'm the integrator, so I take that dream and I kind of help make it happen. And so she in this business, she was the designer, the creative, she laid out all the websites and then I helped with the technical side of you know, plugging in your domain and getting everything connected to the URL and the hosting and all that stuff. And then I transitioned into coaching. How did that happen? That was also a mutual thing.
Speaker 1:I think, just really quickly, just to interrupt you that we have been very intentional about building a business together. That was one of the reason virtual assisting wasn't a good fit for us is because we both had our separate clients. We would sit in the same room and we would work, but we wouldn't interact with each other. We didn't have anything in common when we were building our business. One of the main motivators for building a business was to have something we could build together. When we decided that we were done virtual assisting and we wanted to pivot that is why we really took the time to dig into what each of us like is because we wanted to build something together. That's when we started looking for things that would complement each of our personalities better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good addition to what I'm running on about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you guys have a really good combination of integrator and visionary with business. Does it also apply with traveling? You have opposite things or someone who does this and then someone who does the other thing, like someone who books and research the planning and the other one is to do other things, like maybe carry bags or something.
Speaker 3:But, heavy lifting. Does it also apply with traveling, especially if it really have to do some research? Because the time zone in terms of having also a running a business and the visa and all of that get into it together.
Speaker 2:Actually, yeah, I never really thought about it before until now, but I think we have about the same divide in travel as we do in business. Monica is the visionary at least once a day, but most likely more. She'll come to me with a reel, as she's found like Austin, we need to go to Croatia, or Austin check out this place in Spain. We need to get there. She wants to travel the world so bad and there's no place on the planet that she would not want to go to, and so she has all these dreams about where she wants to go, and then we decide together where we want to travel to next and where we want to spend the next few months. Actually, you're really good at booking flights, but I think generally I will plan tours. I'll make sure we have all of our booking information ready so that when we get to the airport, everything's ready to go and I have all those documents and everything.
Speaker 1:I would say I'm really good at booking the flights and then our apartment for living.
Speaker 2:And activities like figuring out what we want to do.
Speaker 1:Well, and then after that I'm just kind of done. So Austin and Franza have figured out the nitty gritty of like how are we going to get to our apartment, like what's around our apartment, what are some friend groups we can integrate into, and things like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's definitely the same divide integrator and visionary.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a really good combination in both business and also in traveling. But how does the business works in terms of you guys also traveling Like the paperwork, like the government stuff, the taxes do you always have a certain days or a month that you go back to your country? Sorry, I forgot to ask when are you guys kind of settled and you registered your country?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we are US citizens and our business is actually registered in the states, so it's registered in Wyoming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the US citizen has a citizen based tax system. So that's a mouthful geez Citizen based tax system. So basically, no matter where we are in the world, we are taxed in the US, which is kind of a bummer in a lot of ways, but it does make taxes really easy. We just know, like, where we're paying them in the States. So we do have our business set up in the States. We don't live in the States. We'll go back and visit family members. We have some nieces and nephews that we absolutely adore. So we make sure we go back and visit at least once a year, more normally more than once, as they're kind of growing up. It's always fun to see them go through the different phases, but for the most part we don't really have a home base, we just kind of move around.
Speaker 1:When it comes to running a business and traveling, one of the things that we are big advocates of is slow traveling, so we don't go on vacation hardly ever, right? So, for example, we are here in Colombia and we are living in Colombia for three months. We're maxing out our visa, so the shortest day we typically look for is maybe a month. So a month to probably about four months is about our limit in each place, and the reason we like to be in a city longer or in a place longer is it gives us time to work without feeling guilty that we're like in this cool place and we can't go see things, and then it gives us time to be able to take off work and go see things and go dive into more of the culture. So it really takes the guilt out of out of all of it on both sides, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and how does the balance works for you, for both of you, with, like, trying to explore a new place, a new city, a new country, while also still running a full time business together?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think a lot of it comes down to just prioritizing what we want to do. So when we get to a new country, we typically have like we've typically we've already looked into it we have some idea of what we can do there and what we are interested in, and we prioritize a handful of things that we absolutely want to do before we leave the country, whether it's a certain tour or a certain landmark we want to see or a certain activity, and then as soon as we get there, or even before we get there, we'll book that and so we'll prioritize that kind of off stage time from our business to go do these those things. So that's kind of a big tip, I would say, is a lot of people they'll plan their recreational activities around what's already scheduled for their business. One huge benefit to being a solo pernure, a duo pernure, couple pernure, a couple pernure One big advantage to being your own boss and having the flexibility to create your own schedule is you can schedule your off stage time.
Speaker 2:So schedule your recreational time that that's really important to you. Maybe it's a family event, maybe it's a date night with your spouse or whatever it is, and then you can work your business time, your work time around that, and so, instead of your free time filling in the cracks of what's left over, you make that a priority and you set that aside, and you make sure that you have time for what makes life enjoyable for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that part of like trying to prioritize, and especially when you mentioned like a date night and like couple of things to like doing together and have to do business also. But how do you handle things that kind of like gets on fire in terms of like business while you're also already have planned going out somewhere doing date night or doing an activity, for example, like maybe a website crash or something just like maybe an urgent from a client that just needs some guidance for right now? Like, how do you kind of like prioritize and handle or like handle them?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we've been really fortunate to avoid most situations like that. We kind of have set up our business around the idea that we're not always available for our clients, so we're not expected to be answering emails 24 seven. That being said, when we do for example when we were launching websites, the around our launch we prioritize that launch over everything else. So we knew, for example, okay, we're launching a website on Wednesday, we're going to make it go live on Monday, and so Monday through, probably Thursday, we are not doing anything where we're unavailable, just in case something were to come up.
Speaker 1:So we do look at things coming up in our business, deadlines coming up and things like that, and incorporate that into our schedule. It's the same with travel Like, for example, we like to travel on Wednesdays because typically we can find better flights on Wednesdays and so when we travel we block off Wednesday, probably through the rest of the week we don't take meetings, we don't plan any big projects or anything like that. So we have time to move into our apartment, to get settled, to get to know the area a little bit and then use back into work.
Speaker 2:Catch up on sleep.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, especially sleep.
Speaker 2:Yes so.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry go on.
Speaker 2:I was just going to add to what she was saying. I think it comes down to setting healthy boundaries with their clients and, like we love our clients, we love what we do and we love working with them and we definitely prioritize them when it makes sense, but they are, I guess the way you could say it is they're a part of our life but they're not our whole life. And I think it's important to set healthy boundaries with them and let them know that you are absolutely there for them with what they need in their business, like we're their coach, we're there to help them. But also we need to let them know that we are going to be unavailable on certain days or that you know we prioritize each other over everything else, kind of thing. So I think setting those up in place really like ahead of time really helps avoid those situations where you have to be on call right there, you know, in that moment.
Speaker 1:That's really well said.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I love the idea of like blocking a couple of days just to give like a margin to make sure that you guys are settled, especially when you're like hopping from one city or one country to another. And I also love the idea of like setting boundaries. I think most freelancer service providers one of the things, especially those who are new into the industry that's one of the things that they kind of like struggle with because they want to set the boundaries but they also fear of like having to. Maybe the client would feel rude or like they don't. They want to work with them together and then their new industry and they really want to have a client or they want to work with a certain clients.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, and that's that's very important to just like know that this set boundaries and then you're traveling to also like block a couple of days. But because we we work in like online space, how does the internet work? This is kind of like one of the biggest issues that I always get, because sometimes we get like good reviews in Google or like Chip advisor about the internet or like the reviews that we get from other people, but when you're there, things just happen.
Speaker 3:It just doesn't work the way, how you want it. How do you guys handle it? Do you have like a backup? Do you have like a satellite or something like a modem that you carry?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it would be really smart.
Speaker 2:We don't. We know lots of digital nomads who do. I don't remember the name of it, but I think it was a Kristen Wilson. She's like a. She's a really big name in the digital nomad space and I know that she has some really good recommendations for specific tech that you can buy and take with you. We don't have that.
Speaker 2:We've actually had very good fortune with our internet services and what we typically do is like we'll definitely make sure that the place that we are booking and are you know wherever we're traveling to has on their listing says that they have good Wi-Fi. We'll absolutely read all the reviews of people who have stayed there and see what they say about it. So it's not just the host word. If we still feel a little bit weary about it, we'll send a message to the host and we'll ask them to run an internet speed test and send us the results, because then we can see firsthand what it actually looks like.
Speaker 2:And then something else that you can do is to book a place. So if you're not going to travel with that little you know pocket modem thing, you can book a place that's nearby to other other places that would have Wi-Fi. So make sure you're close to cafes or close to a library or somewhere public that you can go, so that, if you are, you did all the previous things and you're supposed to have good Wi-Fi and you get there and you don't or maybe you have a day or two where the power goes out. You have a backup as like a different place that you can go to to do your work.
Speaker 1:The other thing we have really good. We have a really good phone plan, so we always have cellular data that we can use. If, for example, the internet goes out and we have a call with a client, we'll jump on our phones and do the call that way. So I guess we kind of have a backup, but it's not a backup.
Speaker 3:Yeah, good data is also. I think it's important to have that just in case, because you carry your phone everywhere, so wherever you go you can just get it and most of the places have signals. Do you use like a SIM card from each country or do you have your own? I think there's like an eSIM where it's available to multiple countries.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we actually really lucked out. We're on a family plan with Austin's family and so we actually use a US phone service, but they're on an international plan, so we literally have service all over the world. We have T-Mobile. We're not sponsored by T-Mobile, but that's who we have and they partner with a lot of other cellular companies. So I know normally that's a really expensive option that a lot of digital nomads don't like, but for us, because we are on the family plan, it ended up being a lot cheaper than even trying to buy SIM cards in every country.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and since you guys are on the go, like living in a suitcase, I guess, and also running a business in a suitcase, how does the equipment work, especially also going like a guesting for podcasts? You have microphones, you have laptops how does that all fit in one bag, or do you have like a one bag for business and a two bags, or like personal, personal stuff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually we're in the process of trying to figure out how to consolidate a little bit. Right now we have two mics and then, in order to connect them to the computer, we have this little red interface is like this little red microphone box. It's not the most compact and so it takes up a backpack. So we normally, what we normally do is we we like to travel with just two carry ons. We have like backpacking backpacks that will fill this trip. You know, kind of depending on the logistics of the airline that we go through and stuff, we will check a bag and then we'll have like our personal carry ons. So we'll do like all of our podcasting equipment and laptops in one carry on and then all of our stuff in the checked bag. So it kind of varies depending on where we're going. We are trying to compact it a little bit so it takes up a little bit less space.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that makes sense and just like carry them wherever. And I think it's because when you have like a baggage and you it's kind of like too many things together and exploring the area would also be a bit of a struggle in a way. And when you're when you're kind of like traveling, I know you probably get like emails or like, maybe, packages. How does the packages that works especially order an Amazon or something and how do you guys receive it?
Speaker 2:Again, we are so fortunate that we have we've kind of established our home base with our parents. If we get a package on Amazon or if somebody wants to send us mail, it'll either go to my parents in California or Monica's parents in Washington.
Speaker 1:We kind of try to plan it based on who we're going to be visiting next. So someone's like, hey, I have a package for you. Or like, oh, we really need to order this thing off Amazon. Like we have to think ahead. Okay, like for Christmas this year we're going to go this Austin's family and so we send all of the packages to Austin's family's house.
Speaker 2:So if if you are currently like living as a digital nomad or this is something that you want to do but you don't know how to do the whole mail package thing, I would highly recommend having your having all of your mail forwarded to a close family member or a friend, someone who you can trust to send all your stuff to. That would be the easiest solution. I know there are some services that you can pay for will where they will accept your packages and hold on to you then for you until you get home. It's a paid service, so if you can avoid that by just forwarding to a family or friend, that would be preferred.
Speaker 1:Yeah, honestly, we have found that we don't need to order things online nearly as much when we're traveling as we do whenever we're in the States, because we can go out and find things that we need. You know, if there's anything that we forgot or that broke or whatever, more often than not we're able to find it, or we're able to find out that we didn't actually need it as much as we thought we did.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you just kind of like have them, you just pick it up and then take it when you got packages and that works for you and I love that you guys have the resources to just like it just work out that way, like, oh, we run a business, we travel and, yeah, we have this and it just work that way and it's interesting to like. I felt like this is made for you and for those who are like wanting to get started or like start a business while traveling. What do you think is five like or some lessons that you have learned that you guys are doing it together in terms of juggling the business and traveling together?
Speaker 1:Well, the first one that came to mind while you were talking is just to be resourceful. You know you have so much inner wisdom that you just don't even listen to most of the time, right, and so the more you can tap into that, the more you're going to be able to overcome different situations when really unique and clever ways to handle really unique situations. Yeah, I just don't think we give ourselves enough credit for how creative we can be and how I don't know how quick on our feet we can be whenever it is.
Speaker 1:Innovative. That was not very quick on my feet, think of a word, but how innovative we can be when interesting situations or problems arise.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was thinking you're going to be awesome.
Speaker 3:It's something to add on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's really good to know, because there's a lot of things that comes together with traveling and doing a business.
Speaker 3:I've heard a lot of things that are good and also are a struggle that if you want to do this, you have to be ready of planning or you have to be ready with using this kind of resources to do certain things that you want to do while you're working and traveling. I even heard some people to like oh, you should listen to this course if you want to do both of the things, or nomadding in general, because there's a lot of things that this is one of the things that people are now doing like a hype thing, that people but I know you guys have been doing this for 17 years and that's a lot how do you think, if ever there's like a couple out there that are still deciding to like, do the business together? I know I asked this earlier, but what are the things that you think they should take, if ever they have to give them three things or advice to get started and be able to plan it well ahead, especially with those who have kids or who have a third party, like maybe dogs or pets.
Speaker 2:I think one big one, really big piece of advice and tip that I could give it kind of goes along pretty well with what Bonacue was saying is to so it's more important to be resourceful than it is to have the resources. So a lot of times we are in our heads about, you know, I don't have enough money to start, or, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do with my kids if I have kids and I want to do this. Or you know, I don't know how to figure out how to get my internet to work or my phone plan. I don't know what to do with that. And there's all these things that we can come up with that would be barriers to entry to start whatever lifestyle it is that you want to create for yourself.
Speaker 2:But instead of focusing on the resources that we have or don't have, be resourceful. Find a way to figure out what you need to figure out. If you don't know how to do something, ask someone who knows how to do it. Learn how to do it. There's so many incredible resources on and offline to teach us what we need to learn, and it's just a matter of being resourceful and figuring out. Like not waiting to be spoon-fed answers. Not waiting for your life to be perfectly aligned to take the next step, but to really start to take life into your own hands and to figure things out on your own.
Speaker 3:I love it, Nice, Okay. So I think that's a really it's been a really great valuable insights that we're getting, and now we are down to the last ending questions, which is the first one is what are you guys' favorite mantras?
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of them we kind of mentioned before is just to take messy action. Other than that, we both kind of have our own separate mantras. So I love and I okay this. I just barely heard this quote like two weeks ago and it has resonated with me to my core. So it's you only live once, but if you live, if you do it right, once is enough. And that's by Mae West and I just absolutely love. I feel like that just encompasses every core value that I have.
Speaker 2:Probably my favorite mantra that stuck with me through the years has been don't wait for an opportunity, go create the opportunity. The very first time I heard this it was my mom telling it to me, when I was so afraid to kiss a girl. And I was talking to my mom about it and she I was like I don't know like the best time to kiss this girl. And she's like don't wait for the best time, just make the best time, like okay, I mean there's so many more applications to that beyond kissing somebody. But that's that was my first exposure to the idea. But I love that idea of not just waiting for things to fall in your lap but to create an environment and to create your life in a way that opportunities come to you.
Speaker 3:And then the next one is what would, what advice would you give to the 15 year old Austin and Monica? Yeah, this was a really good question.
Speaker 1:15 year old Monica had a really hard time rocking the boat. She had a really hard time feeling like she needed to play really small and like not rock the boat at all and not say anything controversial Not, I mean, I'm we can all go into like our childhood traumas, right. But if I could go back to my 15 year old self and just say you deserve to take up space, you get to write the book, you don't have to follow a traditional path, you get to decide what your life looks like, and just like really, I would just sit there and say it to myself over and over and over again, because I'm sure it would take more than once for that to get through my thick 15 year old school. But yeah, just that you deserve to take up space and you are the author of your own story.
Speaker 2:Love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah 15 year old, austin was very insecure, and so I think my advice to myself would be to not worry and focus so much on what other people are thinking. A lot of times, what we're afraid of. A lot of times, we are afraid of other people's thoughts and like what they think of us, which aren't even true, like maybe we're afraid that so and so thinks we're not you know this enough or that enough, and they don't even think that. But we think that they think it and that creates so many blocks to becoming like to us, reaching our full potential, and so I would tell myself not to worry so much about what other people are thinking about me and just to be myself, to let myself be my authentic, the authentic version of myself, and just that's what I would say.
Speaker 3:And yes, with all those things like how can people follow your nomadic life or reach you guys out through your business and how can people reach you? Or like, where are you most active?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we love sharing our journey on Instagram and it's just at Austin and Monica. We're also on Facebook a lot. We actually have a Facebook group for anybody who is looking to become a digital nomad or just interested in the life at all. It's digital nomad startup circle, or you can find us on our website Austin and Monicacom.
Speaker 3:Awesome and I would be putting that guys in the show notes, so feel free to check that out also and just click on the link. And the last one is do you guys have any promotions or freebies that the audience can get into or check out? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:We talk to a lot of people who do a lot of really cool things online and then we talk to a lot of people who look at these people who are doing cool things online and want to start traveling and they don't know how they can do it and how they can make money. So we created a freebie to bridge that gap and we have collected over 85 different ways that you can make money while traveling the world and we've put that together in a freebie for anybody who is interested.
Speaker 3:Awesome and that would be also in the show notes and I will be adding that. Thank you again for being here, it's been fun and see you guys in your social media We'd definitely be following you the nomad life of an amazing couple. So, yes, thank you, and see you guys on the next episode.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for joining us here on the profitable Nomad Couple podcast. We appreciate you listening to us today.
Speaker 1:If you enjoyed this episode, share it on Instagram and be sure to tag us. At Austin and Monica, together, we can inspire others to embrace a location independent lifestyle.
Speaker 2:And while you're there, we'd love to connect with you, so make sure you follow us for more tips and inspiration on living your dream location independent lifestyle.
Speaker 1:Until next week. Remember that you have the power to shape your own path. So stay curious, stay adventures and stay connected.
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