Freedom and Time Management as a Nomadic Lifestyle Entrepreneur

Learn how Rosie structures her day to maximize personal freedom, balances work commitments with a flexible schedule, and the significance of finding time freedom in a busy world.

Connect with Rosie:

• discoverysessions.com
• @thebeachbell on instagram

Connect with Anne:

• Leave a review or voice message at digitalnomadstories.co
• On instagram @annes_nomadstory
• Learn more about my business: The Podcast Babes

Transcript

Digital Nomad Lifestyle With Rosie Bell

Speaker 1 0:02

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 independency , freelancing , travel and , of course , the digital nomad lifestyle . Do you want to know more about us and access all previous episodes ? Visit digitalnomadstoriesco . All right , let's go into today's episode . Hey , hey nomads . Welcome to a new episode . Today I'm here with Rosie Bell . She's a location-independent writer , editor and lifestyle entrepreneur . I'm really excited to have her on the show today because she is a long-term nomad . I mean , she's been nomading for years and years , so I know that she has so much experience to share with us today and I'm really excited to share her story with you . So , rosie , welcome to the show .

Speaker 2 0:58

Hi , hello . Thank you so much for having me .

Speaker 1 1:01

Awesome , so can you tell a little bit more about you ? Like I just said , you're a writer , editor , lifestyle , entrepreneur , which is quite broad , so can you share a little bit more about what do you do on a daily basis ? What does life look like for you ?

Speaker 2 1:16

Okay , well , thank you for the introduction . So I am a travel journalist first and foremost . That was my first nomad job and I'm a lifestyle entrepreneur in that I've created businesses . I run several online businesses that facilitate the type of lifestyle that I want to have . So lifestyle comes at the forefront of all of my decisions , whether that's the weather I want to have , the food that I want to eat , the languages I want to hear on a daily basis , the temperature that I want to touch my skin , the people I want to be around . That is what informs my decisions with everything that I do , essentially , and I help people who want to design their lives in similar ways .

Speaker 2 1:55

So I've been a location independence educator for a couple of years at Discovery Sessions . I mentor people who want to travel and work online as well , because , as you probably also know , this is a really , really magical lifestyle , but there is a lot of confusion around it . You know , how do I begin , where do I go , what's a nomad visa ? All of those questions that might be straightforward for us , but a lot of people have burning inside them and they think that there's so many things stopping them from starting to live their lives this way , and I try to demystify the information around that and I also write for publications travel publications on both sides of the Atlantic , so you've probably heard some of them already , like National Geographic , lonely Planet , formal Travel Guide basically , whoever will pay me to write about my experiences . But I've been doing that since 2017 , which is when I started my digital nomad career in Central America .

Speaker 1 2:51

Very , very cool , amazing . So you do a lot of different things , right ? You start running several different businesses and mentoring and writing . How do you structure your days or your weeks ?

Speaker 2 3:02

Well , I'd say probably the most important thing or the first thing that I wanted was I always knew that I'm not a morning person . I always knew that I didn't want a job that would require me to go into an office and be very active in the morning . So I did have a full-time office job in London years ago it seems like centuries ago now and that was one of the most difficult things for me . So I start my days very , very slowly . I have a cup of tea , you know . I'll wake up , maybe around 10 , maybe work out in the morning if I feel like it , start working on whatever it is that I have going on at the moment , whether it's a deadline or content for my blogs , or I also do travel trivia .

Speaker 2 3:43

That's something I didn't mention , but we'll come up to that later . And yeah , and then I try to finish around sunset and go for a sunset walk or a sunset workout , but essentially I like to start my days very , very late and casually . No one's calling me , there's nowhere I have to be , and that's that's how I like it . That's exactly how I like it .

Speaker 1 4:02

That's exactly how I like it . Yeah , no meetings , just working when you want to work , waking up when you want to wake up .

Speaker 2 4:09

Exactly waking up when I want to wake up . I do have meetings in that , you know I'll have calls with people that I'm mentoring , or I also host virtual travel trivia , so I do have to be present for that , but I never schedule anything in the morning . You won't catch me there , nope .

Speaker 1 4:32

Love that True freedom . Entrepreneur right . Location freedom , but also time freedom is what I'm hearing you say , because you know that you don't want those meetings in the morning .

Speaker 2 4:37

I do not know . That does not work for me .

Speaker 1 4:40

Yeah , so you mentioned that that was right from the start . You did that , or did you ? When you started nomading , did you feel like , okay , I have to , you know , work all day , every day , and like try to make this work ? Or was that always a hard boundary that you had like no morning meetings , and also , do you work weekends ? Or do you have any other kind of work boundaries that you set for yourself ?

Speaker 2 5:04

I would say the mornings are something I've always known about myself . I do tend to work on weekends because , for instance , if I have a deadline for my , deadlines for Forbes , for instance , tend to be on Mondays , so I will work on the weekend to get that in and I don't really mind because I might not work on a Tuesday or I might not work on Friday , so I don't actually mind that . But the mornings is really important to me because I'm also a night owl and just when I know I have to get up really early , it seeps into my brain and I never get the best sleep . And that's something that has always been this way from the beginning , because when I did start out , when I got into travel journalism , I was in a very comfortable position where , you know , I was on a one year sabbatical , I didn't really have to work . So generally my lifestyle was already at the forefront of what I was doing . So it was quite natural to keep to that .

Speaker 1 5:53

Yeah , cool . So can you share a little bit more about your sabbatical , Because you mentioned you started in Central America right when you started nomading in 2017 . So did you save up for that ? Or did you have a plan like , okay , this is going to be a year that I'm going back home , or like what was the setup that you created for yourself ?

Speaker 2 6:12

Well , actually it's a little bit of a convoluted story , but it actually begins two years prior , in 2015 . When I went on my first ever sort of trip alone my first ever solo travels , and I went backpacking , that was . So I was living in London London is , I guess , where I'm from . No one ever guesses that because I have every accent and no accent . So I was living in London pretty unhappily for a while , I have to say and I went on that trip , which just was so mind opening . It was like that's when my life began , when I went to Central America and saw these beautiful places and these incredible beaches and I was like why have I been languishing in London all this time ? I'm perplexed , anyway . So I knew that I was going to leave . Eventually , I knew I was going to leave . London had a bit of a family tragedy .

Speaker 2 7:01

That happened in 2017 , at the start of the year , and I was like , okay , this is the time now . Now I'm out of here and I gave myself a year to sort of fall back in love with the world and figure it out . And prior to that , what I'd been doing was I had my own swimwear brand actually . So I was designing swimwear . I was , you know . I had an e-commerce site , I was doing pop-up stores and I was doing everything by myself , but I had gotten quite disillusioned with working in fashion or just like the fashion industry and all of the you know the things that come with that , and I was looking for that next thing that I could do that was fully , completely remote , didn't require any products that needed to be shipped , didn't need a place that people associate you with being from , and I wanted to work completely online place that people associate you with being from and I wanted to work completely online .

Speaker 2 7:45

So essentially I decided to go back to Central America and give myself a year to figure it out . But what I had noticed when I had the swimwear brand is the part of the entire thing that I enjoyed the most was actually writing articles for the blog . It was a Hawaiian branded swimwear company , so I was writing lots of stories about Hawaii and beach travel and I thought , okay , well , I really enjoyed that , so let's try writing . So I would set up a blog .

Speaker 2 8:10

I was writing about Panama and Central American beaches and then a friend who I just casually mentioned this to sent me a link for world nomads looking for people to write about their lives in Panama . So I applied and I got it and I was paid $300 for an essay about just my everyday life and then I thought , oh , wait , hold on , people will pay me to write just about what I do and where I am . Okay , let's look into this . So , essentially , being in Panama actually kind of kickstarted my travel journalism career because I was there , I knew it inside out and there weren't many people actually who were English speaking writers , I guess , who also were writing for blogs and those big publications that lived there and before I knew it , lots of work was coming to me and now Panama is still one of my destination focuses for my writing and I just finished working on the Lonely Panama guidebook , which is kind of actually what led me to Panama just reading that guidebook one day , which I found in a hostel , so it's a really nice full circle moment there .

Speaker 1 9:10

Yeah , exactly Full circle moment . That's so cool , amazing . So I love that you gave yourself that year to figure it out . It sounds like it was pretty relaxed because you had given yourself a year anyway . So then if there was a few months without anything happening , then it was fine , because you were expecting it to take a year and yeah , I think that takes the pressure off a little bit . Probably . I think

Building a Nomad Lifestyle From Scratch

Speaker 1 9:36

that's so smart . That's not what I did , so don't do what .

Speaker 3 9:40

I did no , I .

Speaker 1 9:41

I was like okay , I need to make this work right now or I cannot pay rent . So I would not recommend that . Do what Rosie did . Don't do what I did .

Speaker 2 9:51

Well , but I can understand that lots of people are in a position where they have to do that . You know , sometimes you don't control your financial situation and it is kind of a do or die situation and it feels . It very much feels that way . So of course I was , as I mentioned , in quite a comfortable financial position , that where I could do that . But that's not the reality for for a lot of people , Unfortunately yeah , true , but it's also , I think , seeing the opportunities right .

Speaker 1 10:16

So you had an opportunity come to you by a friend sending that link , but then you apply right . I don't think this is luck . I just want to be very clear . I don't think this is luck . I think this is seeing the opportunities applying for that . And then also , you probably wrote an amazing article that then launched your career in this field . How did you go about Going to different places that are expanding from there ? Because , you mentioned , you started writing about Panama , but now you write about loads of different places . So how did that go ? Did you just move as in , like , physically move to different countries and then started writing about those and then pitch that to the same publications ? Or was there another way ? Did you travel more , like , did you travel to write an article ? Did you write articles where you just happen to be traveling ?

Speaker 2 11:04

well , I was writing about Panama , but I was writing about the beach and the sunshine lifestyle in general . So I think it was quite easy to write about anywhere that was basically not miserable and dark like London . So , yeah , I was writing about other destinations in Central America and then now I kind of write mostly about Latin America and the Caribbean , so those tropical places . So Panama was , I guess , the springboard , but I did write about basically anywhere that you could go that could like soothe your soul with good weather , amazing people . I wrote culture stories as well . So Panama was definitely the starting point , but I guess I had that little bit of a broader niche . So it was I was able to expand and I'd also like to touch on something that you said earlier about it not being luck .

Speaker 2 11:50

It definitely wasn't luck , but I think that we can sort of make our luck or help luck . You know a little bit along the way . So a friend told me about that , but then I applied for it or someone you know . You can't just sit back and let things happen for you . You kind of have to make , create your own luck a little bit as well , give luck a helping hand . I just wanted to add that , based on what you said , because I thought that's something people say Obviously . I'm sure you've heard this so many times You're so lucky as a nomad , you're so lucky , you're so lucky that you get to live in Mexico . But you know , there's hurricanes , there's earthquakes , there's , you know , whatever . There's going to places , there's border jumps , there's visa applications , there's all of those things . It doesn't just happen overnight .

Speaker 1 12:34

Absolutely , and I think also oh , you're so lucky that you work remotely is what I get a lot . Well , it's not luck that I work remotely . I , like made a very , very conscious decision to not go into an office and not go for the career that I planned for myself and instead just go , you know , do a complete 180 and do something completely different , and that's why I work remotely now . But yeah , also , no luck like no . No luck involved .

Speaker 1 13:01

There is all decisions and seeing opportunities , I think yes , and being open to them yeah , exactly how fast were you traveling at that initial stage of well sabbatical year actually ? But like your first nomad year , were you traveling fast , as in few days in the place , or were you doing like a month in the place , several months ? Can you share a little bit more about kind of your travel and also lifestyle around that time ?

Speaker 2 13:27

Yes , of course . So I went to move to Panama because Panama was the place I'd fallen in love with on that prior Central America trip . So I was going to move to Panama and then , luckily , within my first week , I went to a pub crawl on my own and then got along really well with the organizer , who happened to have a fabulous room available with Pacific views and gym and rooftop pool and all that stuff , and she invited me to come and live with her and I just moved in . So it was really really nice to have that base . So when I had to do other trips , I always went back to my house . I always knew that I had , that I never gave up that apartment and that they've become two of my best friends now and we're still very close . So I had that as my base and then I would do little trips here and there . So I went to Brazil for one month my first , rio carnival and then I went back to Europe for a while because I was in a couple of weddings and then when I would start getting , you know , press trip invitations , I would go , but from Panama . So I always had that base and I still like to live my life that way .

Speaker 2 14:29

I'm very , very , very much a slow mad . I know that , you know , as it's all well and good to move around , but I do need to know that there is a place . I'm going and you know I've got my , I've got my toothbrush there and I feel comfortable and I feel grounded I something about the toothbrush . You know I'm not forgetting anything . I feel comfortable to actually unpack . If I'm not staying somewhere for up to a month , I don't unpack because I I there's almost no point . I don't think I don't feel like there's any point . I don't feel like I'm going to release and relax myself here . And I'm going to release and relax myself here and I'm probably going to forget something when I unpack , especially if you're moving around really quickly . So I definitely like to have a base and then go and do smaller trips from there . But how it happens now I'm actually probably so . I summer in Europe and I'm wintering in Latin America . That's how I'm doing it now .

Speaker 2 15:17

I don't have one place that I stay for the whole year , because Europe was actually really nice . In the summer I come here and I spend time with my family in London . I spent lots of time in Spain , always try to go to Portugal as well , and then last winter I spent it in Brazil and the winter before that was Mexico . So definitely what you're hearing here is I need the warmth . I love the sun . You won't catch me in winter if I can avoid it , but yes , I do like to be comfortable .

Speaker 2 15:45

So you know , if I can stay somewhere for three months , great , but I'd say one month is my minimum , unless I'm going to , you know , visit a friend or oh , you're in Valencia , see you there next weekend . But in general , I like to have at least a month somewhere just to feel grounded , because you know you actually have to work as well . It's nice to create a schedule if you're staying somewhere for a short period of time . It's hard to , you know , you can't sign up for a gym . There's no point . You know , if there is , they don't have these short-term contracts , just things like that that you know . You know , find your local supermarket that you like and start going to meetups and building community . If you're only there for two weeks almost , I feel like what's the point .

Speaker 1 16:21

But that's just me yeah , I think you have a good point , especially because what you said , you'll be working and if you're there for a month , you only have four weekends . If that , right , because I often also travel on weekends , even if your weekends is not Saturday , sunday , right . If you have different weekend days within your week , that also counts . But , like , you won't have that many days to actually explore because , for most people , you'll spend still like , a lot of time looking at a computer screen because that's how we fund this lifestyle , right , which is very , very important . But yeah , that's something to consider . If you really want to get to know the place a little bit better , you'll have to have some days of exploring and enjoying the place , and a month is really not that long . It goes so quickly . Also , it always goes so quickly absolutely agree with you .

Speaker 2 17:09

Fomo is real . Fomo is real if you're somewhere for two weeks . Let's say you're in Rome for the first time , of course you have to go and do all the Trevi Fountain and all that tourist stuff . Of course you have to do it . But then what if , know , a big work project comes in at the same time . You constantly are feeling pulled between different places and then you're not enjoying yourself , which is the whole point of why we're doing this so that we can travel and work but enjoy ourselves and you're not . If you're tired , burnt out , feeling like you're constantly pulled in different directions , don't have enough time for anything , the whole point of this lifestyle is to enjoy it .

Speaker 1 17:44

Yeah , exactly 100% . So I feel like when you started nomading in 2017 , which is seven years ago , right , that's really a while ago you already had quite a good idea of what you wanted , right , like sleeping in in the morning , super important warm weather and that's still what you do and also having a home base . That was really important for you , and that slow travel , so that's really cool . I think a lot of people need time to figure out what they actually want , but it sounds like you really had a very good idea about that . But what are some things that you learned in the past seven years , or things that might have been different what you expected ?

Speaker 2 18:20

Oh , that's a really good one . Oh , that's a really good question , something that I learned . Well , if I'd say one thing that I regret , or a regret that I have in a sense , is I wish I had tried to start doing investigations earlier into alternative ways of living , because I was very unhappy in London for a very , very long time .

Speaker 2 18:44

But I guess I just sort of just accepted my fate . In a sense . I wish that I didn't sort of hit rock bottom before I went to go and seek out greener pastures . So I would say , maybe don't get too comfortable in your discomfort and you don't have to hit rock bottom to make changes in your life . And I'd say , another thing that I learned is you can actually start where

Crafting a Digital Nomad Lifestyle

Speaker 2 19:09

you are . So , for instance , mistakes I made when I had my swimwear brand when I lived in London , and things that I did when I was a new guy . So when I was doing the swimwear brand , I was teaching myself everything . I was teaching myself everything . I wore every hat . I taught myself how to actually design this stuff pattern cutting . I paid someone 700 pounds to build a website and they ran away with my money . So I actually taught myself how to build websites . So I now can do that . You know I was going to meetings , networking , everything .

Speaker 2 19:39

I did everything myself and I never asked for help , and that's why it also took me a long time to do it . Probably I didn't enjoy it as much because maybe , yeah , maybe to an extent , I was also perhaps burnt out . I wasn't enjoying it the same way because I didn't ask for help . I wanted to do everything by myself , and something that I've done differently now is , if I feel like I've seen identified business bottlenecks , I've reached out to a business coach . Get people to help you . You don't have to do everything by yourself . And then the second thing I would say is that you can actually start where you are . So again , comparing my swimwear with my travel journalism with my swimwear , I was teaching myself everything . It was an industry I knew nothing about , so there was quite a steep learning curve , whereas when I got into writing , it's something that I was already doing I was always already writing the content for my blog , for my swimwear my .

Speaker 2 20:32

Hawaiian branded company . So , especially if you want to change your life and maybe if you are in a bit of a dire situation where it is do or die and your bank balance is low , you can start where you are . You don't have to completely retrain and , you know , do go to do a three-year degree or whatever . You can actually start with your existing hobbies , skills , passions , interest , whatever to help you pivot and redesign yourself . Just move whatever you do to a different avenue .

Speaker 2 21:00

For instance , I was writing stuff for my swimwear brand and then I parlayed that into a career as a travel journalist and then , during the pandemic , when there was kind of no travel and also , therefore , no travel writing , I parlayed that travel journalism background to doing travel trivia online , because people wanted to play with somebody who was a travel journalist and could , you know , tell them stories and infuse some magic into the quiz , because anybody can host trivia by themselves . They do not need somebody to do it . They don't need to pay somebody to do that . But that was something that I was able to do . So you can actually use your existing skills and just find a way to move them to a community online where people want what you have to offer , and you don't actually have to restart all over again or redesign your entire identity . You can start with what you already have skills , wise .

Speaker 1 21:48

Yeah , I think that's a great , great tip . And also , what I'm hearing you say is that you really was . You were like leaning into what you like doing . Right , because wearing all the hats for your swimwear brand , that was like not enjoyable , but then the riding part was . So then how can you do more of that and less of the other things ? Well , for you that was travel riding .

Speaker 1 22:10

But I think , even if you would have decided to keep the swimwear brand , or right , I think you can still then delegate a lot of the stuff that you don't like doing and potentially build a team around yourself . That's what I did in my business to also do more of the things that I like doing . So I think there's so many different ways to do this , but just that mindset of , okay , well , this is just again looking for the opportunities what am I good at , what do I enjoy doing , and how can I do more of that ? And then , like you said , what do I have already that can set me up for that ? So how did you , or did you actually also work on that skill set , and did you like take any courses ? Or did you , or did you actually also work on that skill set and did you like take any courses , or did you work with people to improve your writing , or how did you go about that ? Once you've decided , you know what this is . This is what I'm gonna go for um , yes , yes , I've taken .

Speaker 2 23:01

I've taken online courses . Well , also because I was , I've created my own online courses about travel writing and I wanted to get inspiration , but also just for myself . I was signed up to every freelance writer newsletter how to pitch , how to land your you know , those big publications . I still actually attend those webinars . If you know , for instance , bbc Travel's editor is giving a webinar on pitching . Even though I've already written for BBC Travel , I can still always improve my pitching . You can always still get better . You can still keep sharpening your knife while you're already in that profession . So , yes , I absolutely still go to webinars . I have a business coach that I've worked with . Yeah , I absolutely still am improving , because I think , you know , we can't just rest on our laurels . If you are a good writer , you can still always get better . If you're're a good business coach , you can learn from a different business coach . Somebody always has something to teach you , whether they're in your same field or a different field .

Speaker 1 23:55

So , yes , I'm definitely still improving as I go along yeah , exactly , a very growth mindset is what I'm hearing , which is very , very important . That's really cool , yeah , so what is next for you , rosie ? Is there anything that you're I don't know working on ? That's super exciting . Yeah , tell me more of what . What can we expect from your end ?

Speaker 2 24:19

well , I , as I had mentioned , have been uh , I've been a nomad for a while now and I've gotten a lot of questions about this lifestyle , everything from are you lonely or , you know , do you actually make any money , how do you make it money ? How can I be a digital nomad all of those things some good questions , some bad questions , and so essentially , what I'm doing is I'm compiling all of that into an online course , a complete online course for digital nomads . That will be around six hours , with all of the information that I've got during the years , I guess , in a way , to sort of answer all the questions people have asked me , also when I mentor them . So that's what I'm working on now . So , within discovery sessions , it's more of just like what we have like informational articles , but I'm also building a whole entire location independence education emporium , so I'll have lots of different courses there for maximizing your freedom , freelancing , traveling .

Speaker 2 25:15

That's sort of my next focus , while still , of course , completing my travel journalism responsibilities . So I've just handed in an assignment . Now I'm about to start working on another one about Panama , definitely juggling lots of things at the same time , but that's what's next . That's my main focus working more on discovery sessions and those courses , because you know so many times , especially when I go to nomad conferences or networking events , and people ask me for something and I didn't have anything to give them . Well , now I will .

Speaker 1 25:46

Very cool , amazing . That sounds like a super valuable resource for sure . Can you share where people can find out more and where people can follow you as well ?

Speaker 2 25:55

Absolutely yes . If you'd like to follow me on Instagram , I am the beach bell , so like the beach is calling me ring , ring , ring , and so no E on the end . And you can also email me thebeachbell at gmailcom . You can go to discovery sessionscom for all of my location , independence , content and the courses will live at learndiscoverysessionscom . And lastly , also if you'd like me to host your fun trivia , I'm also available for that and that's on my portfolio website , which is rosiebellnet . You can also see all of my travel articles . Everything that I've written , or my favorite articles that I've written , are all listed there . So there's lots of ways that you can come into my world , get to know me , ask me questions , book your mentoring session , whatever you like . I'd love to hear from you if you are an aspiring nomad yeah , amazing .

Speaker 1 26:46

Well , make sure to also add all the links to the show notes . So when you're listening , just go to the show notes . You'll have an overview of all the links so you can connect with Rosie however you want . Definitely recommend checking out some of her articles on her blog , because I think they're really interesting and and obviously very well written . You are very experienced writer , clearly , so that's very cool . Definitely recommend that , rosie . Thank you so much for coming on the podcast . It has been a blast to hear your story and share it with our audience today .

Speaker 2 27:15

It's been such a pleasure . Thank you so much for talking to me on this beautiful summer day . Thank you for taking the time and I can't wait to hear the episode .

Speaker 1 27:23

Yes , all right Well , thank you for listening . See you in the next one .

Speaker 3 27:26

All right well , thank you for listening see you in the next one , 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 .