Digital Nomad Stories

Opportunities, Remote Work, And How To Leverage Them

• Anne Claessen • Season 2 • Episode 154

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Ever wondered how to balance a career, passion, and travel? Join my conversation with Sarah Blinco and find out.

Sarah is and expat, content creator, and full-time remote worker from Australia. She gives us a peek into her life as a an expat in the UK, sharing her experiences of working across time zones and managing content creation along with her remote job. She'll also talk about her decision to move back to the UK, and how she's gearing up for the winter season.

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Speaker 1:

Hey Nomads, welcome to Digital Nomad Stories, the podcast. My name is Anne Klaassen and, together with my co-host, kendra Hasse, we interview digital nomads. Why? Because we want to share stories of how they did it. We talk about remote work, online business, location and dependency, freelancing, travel and, of course, the digital nomad lifestyle. Do you want to know more about us and access all previous episodes? Visit digitalnomadsstoriesco. Alright, let's go into today's episode. Hey, hey, nomads, welcome to a brand new episode of Digital Nomad Stories. Today I'm here with Sarah Blinko, and she is a blogger and YouTuber. Her ad form is called Travel, live, learn and she is an expat in the UK, also works remotely, has been digital nomadding for a while, for years and years so I'm really excited to hear her story today. Sarah, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So, sarah, can you tell us a little bit more about what you do exactly? So I already said, you have a YouTube channel, you have a blog, but what does life look like for you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I'm one of many who have a few things going on. So I work remotely, full time for a healthcare company in Australia. We my partner and I actually were expatting and nomadding around the world and we literally got locked into Australia when COVID happened. So we've just rejoined the lovely world of the rest of your listeners and moved back to the UK, but I actually stayed with the company that I ended up with back in Australia. So I work in communications and marketing. So it's a nice, really nice opportunity to be back here and working for them. But we also have our travel, live learn content that we've been working on for many years as well, on both YouTube and the web. So sort of fingers in many pies and just enjoy content creation and really the ability to be able to be creative and do the things that you love wherever you are in the world, and that's the sort of thing that we're pursuing right now.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. I love that. Also about remote work because you're not commuting, so you have so much time to spend on like wherever you want to spend it. So, for example, content creation, having a side hustle, something like that, building your own business. So that's really cool to hear. How does it work with time zone differences, because I know the UK and Australia is a crazy time zone difference, so how do you manage that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, sure, look, it's been a bit of an adjustment. A lot of my days do begin at 5am or 6am when I'll jump on meetings. So most of my meetings are I'll have, say, two or three or four hours of meetings in the morning and then I'll grab some breakfast and then take a break and then come back to working during the day. So, yeah, I just sort of wake up and start work straight away. Usually it has been an adjustment. It's been okay, though, the past few months, because we've been in summer. As a lot of you will know, I might be dreading the winter just a little bit, when it's cold and dark. So ask me again in November how I feel about this fruit. Yeah, but I don't mind it. I don't mind the flexibility and the opportunity to continue to keep working with my colleagues in Australia Well at least you don't have to leave the house, right?

Speaker 1:

I always found that like thinking back when I had to go into an office in winter, in the cold, when it was still dark, just like leaving the house was the thing that always got me.

Speaker 2:

It's a bit dire, isn't it? We do have a small challenge, but we do love him. We actually brought our little Westie dog. His name is London. We brought him with us from Australia. He's about two and a half now, so we have to go outside at some point to take him for a little walk and a little toilet break and everything. And I don't think last time we lived here I didn't notice the cold as much because I think I could stay rugged up, but now we have to go outside. That's a bit of you know. I think that's a bigger challenge and the times are in difference at the moment for us.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly. So, sarah, how did you end up here, like, why did you choose to move to the UK from Australia? And kind of like, yeah, what made you restart the expat life again?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, sure we get asked that a lot when we come here and people hear our Australian accent so like why are you here? We have always enjoyed travelling and the ability to go places and be inspired, and the UK and when we're living in London in particular, it's a perfect spot to base yourself, whether as an expat or a remote worker or a digital nomad, because Europe's on your doorstep, right and, of course, there's beautiful places all over the UK that you can explore. So our story was we didn't really get to finish our time. A lot of people go travelling or do their digital nomad life or expat life and they choose to go home wherever that may be. We didn't really get that choice.

Speaker 2:

Covid hit and unfortunately, my dad was also got very sick with cancer at the same time in April 2020. So we went back to Australia and got locked in there. So 2020 was a bad year. It was a bad year for everyone, but we sort of, I guess, had that unfinished business piece and that wonderlust for better or worse. So we always thought that we might come back for a third time. Lucky, and that's why we ended up coming back over to the UK.

Speaker 2:

We do have access to ancestral visas here all my partner does, and I jump on the partner visa with him, which means we have five years to live and work in the UK and then we can apply for our permanent leave to remain. And that was the other thing. Right before COVID, too, we were two months off being able to apply for basically our permanent residency. So we started again. But you know, in our minds, you've only got one life and there's so many things we want to do and we really thrive on.

Speaker 2:

There is a real creative community over in the Northern Hemisphere here and so many beautiful souls who feel the same way as us. You know, love travelling, love, digital nomad life. You can go over to Portugal or Spain and meet people like you and me and have these conversations. You know and I think that was something that I really missed when we're in Australia just, we find these kinds of conversations inspiring and motivating.

Speaker 2:

You know, you can see the possibilities in the world and the one thing even though the pandemic changed a lot of things for the worse, it's changed the way we, you know, the way the masses look at work and look at our day to day, and that's beautiful, isn't it? Cause it's something that we've seen the opportunities in for years. You know the flexible working and the ability to do more in your life than beyond that sort of rat race hamster wheel. And we just thought why don't we just just come back to the UK and give it another go and see where life takes us and experience the things that we had on our list previously? But we thought we had forever to do. We realized we don't have forever to do it and so that's why we came back.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and great that you have the that visa that gives you a five years and then you know you can apply for permanent residency in the UK. I mean, what a great opportunity.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it. You know we do pay for the healthcare that comes along with that through the NHS, but at least you know the UK isn't perfect and nowhere is, and the UK has its own struggles now that weren't here when we lived here previously. Covid has hit the UK hard and I think there are things that are definitely still recovering. But, yeah, the opportunity to come here and be able to base ourselves here and have access to be able to work and healthcare, it's an excellent opportunity. We are quite blessed with that. But it's, you know, I think it's if people don't necessarily have access to that kind of visa for somewhere like the UK there are. It's exciting to see the many digital nomad visas that are opening up here and in Europe, you know, because any of the areas around here are great to base yourself, to be able to travel to so many different parts of the world, because we appreciate it, I guess, from Australia, because there's lovely things, there's awesome things to do in that part of the world, but it's still so far away, you know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's. I think that's the thing with Australia. It's just so far from everything else and it's such a massive country, so you know when. When you're there, you explore Australia itself. But like hopping around, like what I am used to, you know, growing up in Europe, that's not really possible. So, yeah, it's definitely very different.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, yeah, exactly, you take it for granted. I talk to you know, my colleagues, the colleagues here in the UK, for example. I talk to them and I think they're they're kids, they're so lucky that you know, the summer holidays are on right now and they go to Portugal and they're like, oh, I don't want to go. I'm thinking, wow, you're so lucky. You don't realize how lucky you are, but it's on your back, you know, it's on on your back doorstep. So of course you don't realize. But yeah, for us, we, we don't take it for granted, it's, it's fantastic.

Speaker 1:

Exactly what made you leave Australia in the first place when you went on that first digital nomad trip.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's a good question. Look, I think it's one of those things where Australia is fantastic and there's so many opportunities and so many things to do there, but some of us just have itchy feet right and we want to see other places, and not just see other places. I think I've never been the sort of person who's been satisfied with just a holiday life. I want to go and be able to spend time in cultures and meet people and hang out, and a couple of days here and there doesn't really give you that opportunity. So again, being able to take time out and live in other places, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere where we are, it has an advantage over being in Australia and I guess we're lucky.

Speaker 2:

We look at it as in we can always go back, but we can't always necessarily have the opportunity to be wandering around the world, and you know, cooper and I we're not as young as some people who are nomadding, but I'm pretty excited to say that I see so many different age groups now realizing that the world is there and you take advantage of it. I think it's sort of sad to see sometimes that traditional view where people save all their money and wait to retirement to do all these amazing things, but then you know, life happens, as we were talking about, I think, off camera. So I think you know, don't wait for that sort of life to happen. Take the opportunity now, and for Cooper and I our opportunity was the chance to grab a visa and come and live overseas and see all the things and do all the things that we want to While we can. Yeah exactly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think you hear a lot of stories, I mean also on this podcast. So I had many of our guests are in their 20s, you know, it's relatively easy to leave everything behind because, I mean, I'll speak for myself. At least, for me it was still a big step, but I didn't have a family, I didn't have a house, I didn't have a job, you know. So it was everything was open anyways. So I just chose to leave at that point, which I think, looking back, made it relatively easy. But even if that is not the case for you, I think hopefully you know many of the stories that we also have here on the podcast and that we share is that you're never too old.

Speaker 1:

There's always a way right. And the digital know-it-life can look so different for different people. Like some people like to base themselves somewhere, like you in the UK, and then travel from there. Other people, they like to go fully nomadic and spend a few days in a place and then move on. Some other people they like to spend six months in a place. So there's all these different ways to be a digital nomad Exactly. And how do you kind of like structure your digital nomad life? You obviously have your base in the UK. How often do you travel Like? Do you work when you travel, and what does that look like for you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, sure, I think, because we're content creating, and a lot of it is travel content. We sort of are always working, cooper and I. So at this time around we so I'll have my sort of routine during the week where I'm working for my base company in Australia and Cooper is also a teacher, so he'll work, he's been supply teaching or he'll take up a contract, so we sort of have our careers that boost that income, if you will. But outside of that, you know, on our weekends and in the evenings we are often editing videos or editing blogs or brainstorming ideas for what's next, and we use our travel trips as opportunities to create content. Obviously, but we do.

Speaker 2:

You know we're mindful of times where we have burnt out, and I'm sure many of your audience will relate to that as well, because when you're doing what you love all the time, it's awesome and it's fun until you're tired and then you've over committed yourself. So we do now try to create space for fun and for work, and also you do need to switch off. It's not really healthy to be working all the time. I think that's one of the benefits of having a dog as well. He'll come and like, stare at us and say right, it's time to go for a walk. And we recently actually took him down to the Kent Coast here in England. So we've just spent a couple of nice rainy summer weeks On the Kent Coast. We did have a couple of sunny days, but we wanted to take him on a dog friendly trip. It sounds silly but he's our child. So that's what we did and we split that time between working and filming and creating and just going on adventures, going for long walks, exploring the restaurants and things like that. So I think for me, because I have burnt out a couple of times in my life and career, because I enjoy what I do, I have learned that lesson that you need to step back and almost always just you know organizing time in advance, the work time and the downtime.

Speaker 2:

And actually a business coach once gave me some really great advice. He said when you're planning, so say you're looking at working on your year ahead in January. If you know yourself, when you tend to burn out like how many weeks you need to or you're fine to work, you know, say you might be fine to work for eight weeks, but then you start to get pretty tired and grumpy at the world. She said, if you understand yourself, when you need those breaks, plan them at the beginning of the year, like, put them in your calendar, whether it's a long weekend or you have one or two weeks off, or you know plan those ahead so that you not only have something to look forward to, but you've got that downtime to really, you know re-energise and you know build up your motivation again to keep doing the things you love. And I think it's really good advice because a lot of us tend to just keep going and going and going, including the travel bit.

Speaker 2:

Right, you know digital nomads, where, hopping from place to place, or we're always trying to find, you know, somewhere great to work or to cover or experience, so there's always something we're doing. But just try and plan that downtime in advance is really important for your own wellbeing, and I've heard a number of nomads talking recently about all the different types of cool models that are happening now. So you know, working for six months, for example, and then travelling or nomading for six months, so having that base for six months but then going somewhere else and wandering for six months, and I love that there's a whole array of different models being shared amongst our peers now that inspire everyone to find the right balance for you. So, because I think everyone's different. So, but yeah, it's evolving into a really nice space, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely, and I think it's such good advice to plan ahead. And I think, as digital nomads, you know we can work. We can work for that anywhere, but it doesn't mean we have to work from anywhere.

Speaker 2:

It's not true, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

It's such a common trap that we fall into At least I have done this so many times that I just kept working because I could Like, why would I take a break? Because I can just take my laptop and go wherever and visit family and work there, and then go like on a quote unquote vacation and work there, and then after a while it was like, oh wait, I haven't had an actual vacation in this many months, or even a year or longer. So yeah, it's easy to forget, but you definitely need time off.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you want to also enjoy, you know, be mindful and enjoy that time with your family or experiencing in your place, rather than being in your laptop screen the whole time. And I agree, I've totally done it before as well. And then, all of a sudden, the times flown by and you're like what did I do except write my blog?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I mean it takes up a lot of time work. I mean I like working when it just takes up so much free time. You know.

Speaker 2:

I think the trap is a lot of us actually do like working and and we love what we do. But if you're not carefully, don't take that break you can burn out and lose that love and that's a sad thing, even when it happens and you've got to build your strength up again To get back on the horse.

Speaker 1:

So if you can avoid it, as you said, yeah, totally, absolutely a worthwhile thing to keep in mind yeah, very valuable that you learned that through your own experience and Because you've been doing this lifestyle for so many years. What are some other things that you learned on the road? You know, like maybe some things that you didn't really expect but that just are Are very valuable lessons that you can share with us now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, look, that's a really good question, I think, potentially Going back to what we were talking about earlier, and you know, I'm quite passionate about Ensuring that people know that you should follow your own heart and your own gut instinct.

Speaker 2:

You know there's there's people all around you who will always have a different desire for you or See that you should be at home, for example, or doing something else with your life, or not understand what you're doing. But if you feel, you know, if you feel pulled to do something particularly in our case, living abroad, traveling, digital nomading, creating your own business you know, if you feel called to do those things, 100%, do them and also don't be limited by your age or other limiting beliefs that Particularly other people put on you. So I'm quite passionate about trying to inspire people to really, you know, if you are pulled in a certain direction, take the chance, go and do it. What is the worst that can happen? Right, like if you've got a backup plan. As long as I mean maybe this is like my older person's hat on, but I honestly think that if you've saved some money and you've got a backup plan and You've got your credit card or enough money to for a ticket home or an emergency, then what's the worst that can happen? You go away for a few months or six months if you really hate it which you don't you end up settling in and loving it, right.

Speaker 2:

If you really hate it, you can always go back, and I think there's an easy trap to fall into that you feel like you're missing out. You know, if you leave to go and do these things, that you're leaving the job or you're leaving your home opportunities. What you don't realise is, as a first-timer, you, by by taking these opportunities, you grow. Don't you become so much of a Bigger, cooler, braver, smarter person that you can go back home at any time and and you're so employable, or you have so many more skills and you just look at the world differently and you, you take it on differently and your opportunities all of a sudden grow. So I think that's probably the biggest, one of the biggest learnings for me stepping out of my comfort zone and and doing this a few times.

Speaker 2:

And and we both you know, cooper and I have both lived as an expat here in the UK. This is our third time We've also spent time traveling and working in other places, and yet each time we go back to Australia, we realise that people, especially in terms of career people, do want you to work for them and people do want you around them because you've got so much to offer. You you're just, you know, you're worldly, you're mature and you have some cool experience and you've seen how things are done in other places, which is just you know. That's, that's invaluable, isn't that? So I think that's one of the key things that I've learned and that I'm passionate about sharing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, all these experiences count, even if you feel like maybe they won't, but they absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1:

I also learned that you don't really have to choose. I thought when I went off nomadding, I thought, okay, I have to choose. Either I travel and be a digital nomad and focus on that, or I'll have a career turns out. Nowadays, in 2023, you don't have to choose, you can have both. And I do think that it is challenging to focus on career and travel and maybe you would have to, you know, be a bit creative and that maybe you want to have some months or years that you focus a little bit more on Either travel or your career and then switch, switch it out. You know like, maybe after a while you're like okay, my career is where I want now next step, I want to focus a little bit more on travel. But you definitely don't have to choose, you can now have it all.

Speaker 2:

Well, look, I completely agree with you and I think the more the time goes by, the more I start to see that you know, you can't control everything around you anyway, and there are many aspects of what happens in your life that they happen anyway. So you know, even if you were trying to cling on to your career instead of traveling, something could happen. You know, you know redundancies happen, jobs change. So I've learned to, and just seeing things happen to people around me, I've really learned to try and Think, you know, plan ahead and be sensible, but also go with the flow, because sometimes the universe does make changes and throw crazy stuff in your path to make you think differently and to make you look at. You know, or maybe I, maybe I should be going that way instead of you know this this way I was focused on.

Speaker 2:

So it's nice to learn the lesson that just sort of be led a little bit. You know, look for the signs. It sounds a bit woo-woo, but it's completely true. And the more you do this and especially, I think, as you're saying, especially as you dip your toes into the world quite literally for all of us, you start to see it more like that, don't you that, that something comes in your path and like, oh, that feels like a sign. I wonder if I should just sort of follow that for a bit. It's fascinating, and I think it's. It's more obvious to us when we're, you know, embarking on these types of lifestyles than perhaps if you are Are not. Yeah, I absolutely agree.

Speaker 1:

I think you just get so many opportunities by meeting people being in different places, but also just talking to different people who are in different careers and live in different countries.

Speaker 2:

It's insane and yeah, I totally agree. I think all these opportunities.

Speaker 1:

If you don't know how to choose, go for what's easy, I think, and I don't mean staying in a comfort zone. But I what I mean is, if something is working, lean in.

Speaker 2:

Path of least resistance. My friend, totally with you. Yeah, because that's the way it's meant to be right. How many times of your friends sort of Maybe, for example, being trying to force a particular job or promotion and it just hasn't been working and they might make it happen, but it just ends up a disaster, Whereas on the other flip side, when things tend to happen smoothly, whether it's finding a place to live or a new opportunity, when things flow, they turn out that they usually, more often than not, totally end up being the right thing. So, yeah, I completely feel you there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, how did it go with Launching travel if learn? How did that go for you? Like what was the kind of steps that you take took to get your blog and YouTube channel off the ground, and like what you're what you're working on, because I know that many people are interested in becoming content creators. It's a very popular Professional career that you, that digital nomads, can do, so can you talk a little bit about how you got started?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, look, I've got the traditional story of when we first moved overseas and just set up a little website to try and, you know, in an effort to share our stories and new experiences with friends and family and I discovered that I really enjoyed it. I'd already come from a background in media I used to be a magazine editor so moving into the online space and creating content, particularly around travel and lifestyle and things was, was fun for me and I really enjoyed it. So, but it just started off innocently enough like an online diary really, and then I started to discover I think this was back in like 2011 or 2012. I started to discover that there were some great opportunities to be had you know, partnerships with with different companies, or Jumping on excursions and telling their stories. You know, trips to Europe and things like that. So gradually just started to build the website from there. But the best thing about that experience as I'm sure many of your your audience will know and aspiring content creators will learn the best thing about that experience for me was actually teaching myself and learning from all the mistakes. You know, learning WordPress, learning SEO and and doubling in all these things. Going to conferences We've got a favorite travel, a conference, actually a travel content conference we go to called team backs each year and you know, you, you meet those great people, other content creators, in the travel space. You learn something new, that that you can apply to not only your own Projects, but then I've actually got great jobs in the corporate world from the skills that I taught myself Through setting up, through setting up a blog like this.

Speaker 2:

And similarly, my partner Cooper. He is the our video editor. So a few years ago he became interested in that, started doubling in that, taught himself premier, pro and and all the skills around video, and you know they're they're great skills to have now and he has also taken those skills to his other jobs and and supported like Education communities in in creating videos. You know they didn't have anyone to help, you know, produce things like that and he was able to lend his skills, but it's also helped him land other other opportunities. So I think they're there, really are.

Speaker 2:

It's a two-fold thing. It's that beautiful creative outlet that you have and the opportunity to learn new skills that then you can apply to Making money. So you know, I think, if you are interested, there's never been a better time. You know there's so many more resources now that show you how to Create anything, whether it's a Website, a blog or start video editing things like that. You can, you know, jump on skill share or YouTube. Obviously, there's so many free resources, so just start.

Speaker 2:

I think the best, the best thing I did was Learn to. I got into a routine of setting aside half an hour or an hour each day to not just create but also keep learning. So I think you can get lost in the fun doing, but keep Teaching yourself, keep learning what the next new skill is and definitely the best. One of the best things Cooper and I've ever done is Take ourselves off to, you know, a content creator conference like t-becks, where you learn the latest about what people are doing in the industry and even if you just take one new thing away to be able to Apply to what you're doing, you just, you just keep upskilling yourself and you have a great time in the process.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly what I really love about what you just said is that when you start something like a blog or when you start your own business, you can make money with that thing. So whether you're blog or whether you're business, but you also have those skills forever. So even if your business or your blog quote-unquote flops and it doesn't work out and you don't make any money that way, you can still take those skills and get yourself a job or, you know, like freelance orders. So many ways not lost, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and the great thing is that, as you said, you know the the creator economy is just growing and growing, and growing and and there's this you know there's need for these skills everywhere. And Even if you're to pitch these skills to the small businesses in your neighborhood, which I've done in the past, you know there's so many businesses around you who you look and they need help with creating content for their websites or their social media, and you can make money out of that and you can turn it into a fully fledged business if you want more than just pocket money out of it, and then you can also take it on the road with you. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Thank you so much for sharing all your great advice and what you've learned on the road. Sarah, what will be next for you? I know that you just like moved back to the UK not too long ago, but do you have any travels planned, anything exciting that you're working on?

Speaker 2:

Sure, sure. I think we are just excited to see what the future holds. I should mention, we are also, as part of our nomad life, we we discovered house sitting, so we have we accidentally ended up with a Facebook group of I think it's over 16,000 people now, just like you and me, who are, you know, travel curious, digital nomads and into house sitting. So we we create a lot of content on our YouTube channel and blog, travel Live, learn around things like house sitting and remote work and the routines and motivation and things that we've talked about today. So we will continue to build on that knowledge base and share it with whoever's interested and hope to inspire other people on the journey with us.

Speaker 2:

But I think, being back here, my main goal is to not hold on to that travel bucket list and think that you know, I can do it in the future. I think, after what happened with COVID and losing a loved family member, the lesson for me was you come back here and get those things done, you know, go to the places we wanted to go, and then I'll add more stuff to my list. So, in answer to your question about what the future holds, yeah, it's pretty much. Get as much trouble and no madding in as possible.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, not waiting around for who knows what.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, exactly, just do it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. Well, Sarah, I thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us today. I think everyone can probably go to travellevelearncom for all your posts and also YouTube, also Travel Level Learn. Is there anywhere, anywhere else where people can follow along?

Speaker 2:

Sure, if anyone wants to find me, I'm Sarah Blinko on Instagram, but come and find us on YouTube and say hello, and we always enjoy, you know, talking to fellow remote workers and digital nomads such as your lovely self, and so thank you very much for having me today. Excellent, perfect.

Speaker 1:

You can also find all the links in the show notes. Thank you for listening today. I'll see you next week and that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate it very, very much. I would appreciate it even more if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts for me. That way, more people can find this podcast, more people can hear the inspiring stories that we're sharing, and the more people we can impact for the better. So, thank you so much if you are going to leave a review. I really appreciate you and I will see you in the next episode.