Fulfilling a promise
When Owen was heading off to college last year, one of my goals was to be more of a digital nomad. Since I work for myself and almost exclusively remotely, I thought his absence would be a great excuse to live and work in other places around the globe. I had grandiose ideas of Italy, France and Spain. Maybe Bali? The world was my oyster and my playground. Or so I thought.
Best laid plans
Well, travel didn't really happen, although I did spend a week with my brother and his family in Atlanta and some time in Florida with my Mom and her husband. I think I wasn't ready to admit I was an empty-nester and couldn't pull the trigger. But I was introduced to a platform called HomeExchange by one of my clients, and, speaking to her friend who's been using the platform for years, the seed was planted. This would be my chance!
Carpe Diem
I told everyone I knew that I wanted to spend the month of September elsewhere. But where? I got offers from people from across the world, but it started to feel daunting. Then Asheville, NC presented itself but the couple couldn't find a dog sitter in the end. Luckily my inbox delivered a message from a couple in Vancouver who wanted to come to NYC for several weeks. Viola! We met over Zoom, confirmed the details and I booked my flight.
Basically Canadian now
I've been here for over a week and it's been such a nice change of pace. My apt. is about 15 minutes from the train, so a lovely walk whenever I want to head downtown. And I've been able to meet a handful of people out at bars and restaurants. All are so friendly and want to connect, share their favorite recommendations and love hearing about my HomeExchange journey. Everyone is fascinated by it. It's a true conversation starter. Plus, apparently 50% of Vancouver residents aren't from here, so it's a very transient and multi-cultural city.
Put down the phone
The biggest help for me has been putting down my phone. When I'm out, I look to start talking to the bartender, waitress or even people next to me. We're all starved for conversation today and everyone has been more than willing to chat. It's been so refreshing and has helped me find so many cool things to do that I didn't have in my planning phase.
But I've also just let myself see where things go. Last weekend I ended up hopping off a bus because a street looked cute, and wandered the shops, had lunch, found a random beach (!) and then walked across the bridge into downtown.
You're not from around here
Of course lots of people ask if I'm here for work or pleasure. I tell them both. And when I talk about what I do for work, I don't get into the specifics, just enough that they know I work for myself. Because as we all know, that's the least interesting thing about me or any of us.
As I meet people and connect it's more about just sharing who we are, where we're from, what we enjoy doing. I got winery recommendations from someone from France, beer recommendations from a street fair vendor, hiking and other recommendations from people at a cafe. Because, we all love our cities and want to share them and we love to tell people the things we LOVE to do. And we're all thirsty for connection.
Having a Personality Brand isn't going to land me clients in Vancouver, mainly because I'm not trying. But it has already forged friendships and memories. Advice and support. In fact, this week I also met up with a friend of a friend, who I've never met, and we did a day trip out of the city to this amazing view from a Gondola. (Yes, this is real.)
And having a relationship with my clients means they all know I'm here and it hasn't impacted my work at all. I did a podcast recording, and will be running two workshops. But the beauty is I start early and end early, leaving me plenty of time to explore. This definitely won't be my first foray into the nomad life and I'm excited to see where I end up next.
If you enjoy my content, have attended a free workshop, or simply want to do something nice, I'd love for you to buy me a coffee (or glass of wine). This simple tool was built to allow readers or fans of creators to easily thank them for putting out content. So I'm giving it a whirl.
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