Why You Should Network And Join Communities With Nienke Nina

What is networking and how can it help you?

Networking is about creating an authentic connections and finding common ground. This is not just for business because networking will open hundreds of doors in your personal life. We would love to share some of these benefits with you.

Creating new friendships

One of the biggest challenges of being a digital nomad is loneliness. Hoping quickly from one place to another, not having time to build any type of friendship or even to maintain them can be hard. Nienke Nina shares out that friendships don’t necessarily have to be physical and you can create online friendships like she does all the time.

Online friendships can help alleviate or prevent loneliness. For example, you can hop on calls, send voice messages, or have zoom calls. The best thing about this is that these people living your same lifestyle understand your daily struggles, challenges, and what your life looks like.

Help you improve your health

Ultimately, we are social animals and need the community around us to grow and be happy. Building relationships will help improve your mental health, especially when you focus on connecting with like-minded people who have similar interests feeling like you are part of a group or tribe that has a like-minded mentality will fill you with support, new ideas, and a sense of belonging.

It will open doors in the business world

Networking, especially in more professional platforms- but not exclusively- like LinkedIn, can open many doors to job possibilities. But not only that.

👉🏽 It can give great visibility to your own business or service

👉🏽 It will allow you to bounce ideas for your business with other people that count different skills than you

👉🏽 You are able to give and receive support

👉🏽 If you need help with your project or business

Where can I network?

There are many places where these connections can be formed online, but Nienke Nina as a digital nomad herself, recommends the following:
💯 Facebook groups of the place where you are, or you are going. Our great article points out the best digital nomad Facebook groups of the most famous nomad hubs.
💯 Linkedin
💯 LinkedIn groups
💯 Private Masterminds
💯A fun idea is to create your own Facebook group! This is exactly what we did with our Digital Nomads Freedompreneur group. We share tips and advice and answer questions. Come check it out!

Networking is more of a community lifestyle

Nienke Nina is the first one to admit that as an extrovert, this isn’t as much of a challenge to just put herself out there. But as an introvert, you don’t have to go all in at the first moment. There are ways to smoothen the process. For example, instead of talking in a big online group, you can reach out to a smaller crowd or maybe even to just one person at a time.
One of our podcast guests, Marcel, as an introvert himself, is helping people like him go out in the world, form a community, make friendships, and build a network.

Go check out his episode!

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Other episodes you might like:

🎧  Episode #07: Overcoming Fears and Building Community with Digital Nomad Magali

🎧 Episode #26: Digital Nomad Introverts Never Need To Be Lonely With Marcel

🎧 Episode #46: The 5 Best Ways To Find Friends For Digital Nomads With Marina

How Web3 Can Be Part Of Your Digital Nomad Life With Lars

“Everything is an extension of yourself and where you are interested in so if you show up to these places where you know you are likely to find people that like the same things as you, you resonate. When you resonate with people, you connect.”

Meet digital nomad Lars

Lars moved abroad when he was 18 and even though he wasn’t a digital nomad back then, this is where his journey began. His digital nomad journey started in Bulgaria and is currently in one of the popular digital nomad hubs, Bansko, Bulgaria.

We always ask our digital nomad guests how they make their money and have three different income streams. His first income is mentoring founders through an accelerator program in Alabama, USA. Secondly, he helps people crowdfund apartments with NFTs and also helps the community do it. His third income stream is pretty new and exciting, as he is organizing a digital nomad community event this year.

What is web3?

Curiosity and innovation are a big part of the digital nomad lifestyle. Web3 is one of them and it’s a new way for how people to interact on the web. Web1 was the very first internet and focused on reading, for example, pages on Wikipedia. Web2 was more focused on sharing and way more social. Here you can see the platform we use today like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. web3 it’s more about redefining ownership and making an income.

How are digital nomads using web3 today?

Based on Lars’ description, we can see that we are still using web2 and web3 is coming. These are all transitions and it’s not an overnight shift. So with web3, you can create something that adds value and make a living from it. This is very much connected to the digital nomad community and how many digital nomads make money.

Ownership is challenging content on the web. The content you put out there or the group you create is yours, but if the algorithm changes or the platform disappears, the value is also gone. The ideation with web3 is that you have more ownership of the thing you created and you can share pieces of the ownership with others through blockchain.

This shared ownership creates a bond between people, which is why web3 is very interesting for creating communities and digital nomads. Lars shares an example that we love at Digital Nomads Daily: anyone on the podcast could have an NFT and showcase that they have been here and been part of this. Because we are still transitioning from web2 to web3, there is still a lot to learn. Lars shares:

‘‘The essence of what that means is that there still has to be a lot of updates towards how this works. You can select what I can and cannot see for that. But the problem is that it is built like if it’s out, there is out there from the blockchain. And you can’t really remove it, and there are positives and negatives to that. I believe that if you do it with intention, it could be something great.’’

Building a digital nomad community utilizing web3

Lars is not only into web3 but also has a thing for community building and making meaningful connections. It’s something that many digital nomads have, making our community so powerful.

So Lars was thinking about how he could capture all the people with whom you have that significant like-minded feeling when you meet a digital nomad. This is a feeling all digital nomads experience, whether offline at events or online.

At the same time, he also realized that many people try to do this in groups like WhatsApp or Facebook, but he does not own those mediums. So if the algorithm changes or the platform is gone, the group no longer exists. This is where he realized that he wanted to find a way to utilize the permanency of the blockchain, together with the feeling of online communities.

The newest community event for digital nomads

This thought process is the starting point of his upcoming community event where he gathers 180 like-minded people. It’s a 4-day journey and an immersive experience combining networking, music and knowledge. During this event, you will connect with digital nomads, conscious entrepreneurs, freedom-seekers and location-independent professionals.

This event aims to build deeper connections and explore new ideas about how you can create your freedom lifestyle. Something very uncommon but exciting is that there are 90 tickets but 180 spots. This means that when you buy one ticket, you get one extra ticket and could gift it to someone or buy it with someone. The idea behind this is that it will enhance the feeling of being surrounded by like-minded people. Some of the even’ts features are:

😍 4 days at Hilton 1 room for 2

😍 3 music events 

😍 1 day conference

😍 Expert workshops

😍 Breakfast for all days 2 people

😍 Vivel business page

The event is happening in Turkey from the 24th to the 28th of May in 3 locations. Cappadocia is known for the hot air balloons and Mersin is located on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. The third location is Adana and because this location is affected by the earthquake, Lars and his team will also focus on giving back to the local community. During this event, you will experience music, panel discussions with creators and industry leaders, workshops, mindfulness experiences, and, of course, learn a lot about web3.

If this sounds like something you would want to join, click here to get your tickets.

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Meet digital nomad Lars

Find him on Instagram @larsnft

Contact him through Larsnft.com

Check out the events on Instagram @vivelxyz

Check out the website of the event links.vivel.xyz

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode # 74: Building The Ultimate Freedom Lifestyle With Jon

🎧 Episode #: 78: Is Remote Work Facing its Most Fruitful or Scariest Year With Liam

How Side Hustles Boost Your Freedom Lifestyle Goals With Nienke Nina

“You don’t have to do it alone! Side hustles can be way more fun and effective when you are working on it with others…”

Nienke Nina’s digital nomad side hustles

Nienke Nina has been a digital nomad for over 5 years and has experimented with many side hustles. In 2022 she started a new project, the podcast you are listening to today and she wrote a book called Digital Nomads With Confidence. But those are not the only thing Nienke Nina has been working on because she also develops content marketing strategies for solopreneurs while having a full-time remote job. So you might wonder, how can she still enjoy her digital nomad lifestyle while maintaining all her income streams?

How digital nomads make money online

Many digital nomads are entrepreneurial in some shape or form. On the Digital Nomads Daily podcast, we often talk about how digital nomads make money online and luckily, our digital nomad guests don’t shy away from sharing this. After interviewing hundreds of digital nomads, we see 4 types of digital nomads defined by how they m making money online.

Digital nomad solopreneurs and freelancers

Before the pandemic, the vast majority of digital nomads made a living from service or product-based income. Think about the social media managers, video editors, website designers and virtual assistants. These people work with various people on multiple projects, and it can offer a lot of flexibility if you are successful.

Digital nomad entrepreneurs and business owners

This group is very similar to the one above, but the biggest difference is that as an entrepreneur/business owner, you are not working on your own but with a (small)team. Many digital nomads who start as freelancers pivot into an agency type of model once they start outsourcing their work. Like digital nomads Anne and Tiff who joined the podcast in 2022.

Digital nomad remote employees

It’s a popular option for people seeking security and stability in their day-to-day life through a fixed workplace and income. Remote work is becoming more popular and finding a fully remote job isn’t easy but not impossible. We discussed this with Michelle, who joined episode 53 where she shared must-Know resume tips to land a remote job.

A mix of everything

This is probably the most common and growing type of digital nomad. It’s not only much easier to start a side gig these days, more people realize that by putting all eggs in one basket, your employer also isn’t as secure. The recent layoffs also show that having a job isn’t the safest option after all.

Why you want to start a side hustle

You want to start a side hustle for many reasons, and the most common is financial goals. In this episode, Nienke Nina shares what more, aside from making an extra buck, side hustles can do for you. We listed down a few of the biggest benefits of why you want to have a side hustle:

💯 Increase your financial security
💯 Get more flexibility
💯 Explore your creativity
💯 Work with your passion
💯 Build your portfolio
💯 Make a career change
💯 Expand your network
💯 Become an expert
💯 Use your free time to better yourself
💯 Grow your confidence

How to make your side hustle fun and successful

In episode #77, Nienke Nina shared how she started her podcast by asking herself 5 important questions. She uses these questions every time she thinks about a new project before getting her hands dirty. Eventually, the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast changed Nienke Nina’s life and a couple of things happened because of the podcast:

🔥 Received multiple job offers
🔥 Found new clients for her marketing work
🔥 Collaborated with digital nomad-friendly companies
🔥 Connected with industry leaders and CEOs of impressive companies
🔥 Became an expert in digital nomadism
🔥 Participated as an expert in global digital nomad events
🔥 Wrote and published a book

The podcast deepened her connection with the digital nomad community and she discovered a new passion. In 2022 Nienke Nina focused on inspiring stories and insightful tips to help others build and manage their freedom lifestyle. This year, it’s time for action and actually help freedom seekers get stuff done, so she is organizing a free masterclass.

This masterclass is for everyone who wants to start a side hustle but doesn’t know where to start or for those who started already but are completely stuck.

During the masterclass, Nienke Nina will teach you her secret ingredient to make all these side hustles successful while traveling the world and while having a remote job without going crazy.

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Is Remote Work Facing its Most Fruitful or Scariest Year With Liam

“I believe that we will talk more about async work than remote work because almost all async work can be remote whereas sync work cannot be remote work.”

Meet successful entrepreneur and digital nomad Liam

He started his remote lifestyle way before digital nomadding was sexy and had been a nomad for 15 years. For Liam, it was a way of escaping winter and living a more fruitful life for a few months in the year elsewhere. Today he runs multiple software companies, including Time Docter, he is the co-author of the book Running Remote and the organizer of the largest remote work conference, Running Remote. Liam is an entrepreneur and remote work pioneer by heart and loves the slow-paced, aka slowmad, lifestyle.

Like many digital nomads who joined the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast, he built multiple income streams over the years. Aside from his software companies, the book, and the conference, Liam also consults and invests. Back in 2019, Nienke Nina joined Running Remote and met some digital nomads who shared their stories on the podcast like Kenny, who joined episode 14, and Jordan, who shared tips for remote job seekers in episode 12.

Running Remote: Master the Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Remote-Work Pioneers Hardcover – by Liam Martin and Rob Rawson. Get your copy here.

The big shift to remote work isn’t that fruitful

Liam is an expert in making remote work and aside from building and leading remote teams, he also collects and shares insights about adopting remote work. We asked Liam the biggest trends to look out for in 2023 and he shared that 2023 is probably the most fearful year for remote work and digital nomadism. But why is one of the biggest remote work advocates addressing this?

While remote worker advocates and remote-first companies focus on the benefits, many companies aren’t quite ready for this innovative way of working. The pandemic was an unexpected push towards enabling remote work, but since it wasn’t by choice, many companies focus on returning to the original way of work, which means going back to the office.

The impact of leaders non-remote first leaders like Elon Musk

The pre-pandemic mindset of where and how we get work done is a major pushback, but it intensified even more when Elon Musk bought Twitter. He basically called bullshit on remote work and was not the only one. So if large companies, especially tech companies, are not a fan of remote work but rather against it, how will this industry move towards normalizing remote work? To move the ‘remote first needle’, leading companies, influential leaders, and other stakeholders need to become the adopters of remote work.

The future of remote work is less about getting managed and more of self-management

Workers want to work primarily from home for many reasons, but not everyone wants to travel the world. Managers do not want their employees to work from home because they fear people are not working. These types of thoughts are fed by the idea that people can only be efficient in an office, but many studies have shown that this isn’t the reality. Again, if large companies aren’t adopting remote work, this mindset will remain and Liam shares,

‘‘They haven’t really understood that working remotely isn’t just recreating the office at home. It actually requires a completely different methodology with a different management philosophy in order to execute that’’

The future of work is asynchronous management

We have talked about asynchronous communication with remote work experts like Jurgen, Chase, and Iwo on the podcast. As a digital nomad, and you may not realize this, you often do your work in an asynchronous environment and use async communication styles to get your work done. For example, instead of sending a lengthy email, you would send a screen recording and probably manage your task in a project management tool like ClickUp, Trello, or Asana.

So digital nomads, freelancers, and remote workers are already masters of collaborating and communicating without doing it live and this is at the essence of asynchronous management. Liam shares that the vast majority of the workforce hasn’t been exposed to it, so this new way of work is underexposed and not part of the new reality. So going back to Liam’s point, working remotely isn’t just about recreating the office vibes virtually, it’s about adopting an async-focused management philosophy.

A great book about self-management is Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen and Liam recommends adding this to your read list.

How does the work force look like beyond 2023

While self-management is a must-skill for digital nomad and remote workers, Liam shares that it won’t move the needle when it comes to normalizing remote work or async work. In fact, according to him, the outlook is relatively grim and the focus should be more on understanding upper management. So the conversations should both address the benefits and challenges of remote work to make a strong case and win the war on remote work.

How to make your remote work environment more fruitful for your business and employees

A great recommendation by Liam is to test the waters before going all in. Many digital nomads these day also apply this when they transition into the digital nomad lifestyle and the same goes for companies experimentring with async or remote work.

The first step is recognizing that it’s not recreating the office but building towards a different methodology of how work gets done – which is asynchronous management. Companies can organize an async week where they prepare for this week of collaborating and communicating in an async work environment. Companies new to this working style take around 3 weeks to prepare where they will answer the question “What do we need to put together so that we do not need to communicate for an entire week efficiently?”

This process covers in a nutshell:
➡️ Where do we document important company knowledge

➡️ Where do we organize our tasks and projects?

➡️ Where do we communicate?

The answers to these questions are focused on what tools your employees will use and here are some examples:

➡️ Company and process documentation: Notion or triannual

➡️ Project management tool: Asana, Click up, Trello, Monday.com

➡️ Instant messaging tools: Slack, Twist or Microsoft teams

➡️ Asynchronous tools for video communication: Loom or Vimeo Record

➡️ Synchronous tools for video communication: Google Meets, Zoom or Skype

These are just a few tools. Before diving into the async week, you also want to survey your employees and ask how happy they are right now. After the experiment, you will run the exact survey to see how happy they are now and capture important learnings.

Running Remote – the largest conference to learn about remote work success strategies

We mentioned in the introduction that Liam is one of the organizers of Running Remote, which is the conference where remote-first companies, remote leaders and experts come together. Back in 2019, when Nienke Nina joined the conference was already powerful, but this year the conference and its mission are bigger. This year’s conference is about inspiring and selling the new way of work and Liam shares that if even one company is going to flip over and say, ‘‘yes, we are committing to remote work,’’ he achieved his mission.

At Running Remote, you will learn through keynote talks, panel discussions, workshops, and digital learning content in the community hub. Liam shares that the real magic of the event is in networking and making meaningful connections and encourages everyone to come a few days earlier to Lisbon.

Nienke Nina will be there with Digital Nomads Daily and we highly recommend you to consider getting a ticket! It’s also a great opportunity to meet 50+ experts such as David Allen, creator of the GTD framework, Sunaina Lobo, Chief HR & People Officer at Marqeta, Brian Elliott, Head of Future Forum & SVP at Slack, Annie Dean, Global Head of Team Anywhere at Atlassian, and Q Hamirani, Global Head of Work Anywhere at Airbnb.

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Meet digital nomad Liam

Find him on LinkedIn Liam Mclvor

Find him on Instagram @Liamremote

Find him on Twitter @liamremote

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #54: What Makes a Remote-First Company Culture with Chase

🎧 Episode #69: Making Remote Work Actually Work With Iwo

🎧 Episode #71: Digital Nomads Aka The Early Adopters Of Remote Work With Mitko

5 Key Questions Before Starting A Side Hustle with Nienke Nina

“There are so many reasons why time is challenging… I want to challenge you to think about time as a bigger concept and not just the hours itself.”

Do you really want to start a podcast?

That’s the first question digital nomad entrepreneur Nienke Nina asked herself when she started the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast. The answer was yes for her, but it was a conscious decision focused on a long-term vision and an impulse because podcasting sounds cool.

So this is focused on how your new project or side hustle would actually feel and come to life and if this is something you can do in the long term. Nienke Nina did many side hustles next to her full-time remote job, but they didn’t always make her tick overtime. So before hitting record and diving in, she took a moment to sit and understand the bigger picture of starting a podcast.

You can use this question for any project.
So again, do you want to start _______

The bigger picture

The next question is about visualizing the bigger picture. Many digital nomads and freedompreneurs focus on designing their own life. So they consciously think about where they want to live, with whom they want to spend their time, and how they want to make money. The digital nomad community attracts remote workers, freelancers, solopreneurs, and people who do a bit of both — so remote employees who have a side hustle, like Nienke Nina.

See the bigger picture as a gigantic pie where your new project or channel is just one piece. Your end game is not about becoming the biggest podcaster or YouTuber. Instead, go deeper and understand how it can help you thrive. A podcast can promote your business, attract new clients and grow your network.

So ask yourself how this project nurtures your business and how it fits your current lifestyle.

Everything in business takes time

Everyone, yes everyone, has only 24 hours in the day. Running a business, any size company, takes time and time management is even more challenging for busy entrepreneurs. Nienke Nina suggests thinking about time as a bigger concept and looking at how much time you spend on things in the week, your energy levels, and how much time you have for your project. This helps you better understand how your new project can fit your life.

🔎 Analyze your current calendar
🧩 Mark all your regular activities, including me-time, social time, and work time.
📌 Find moments of free-time in your calendar
🤑 Allocate time to work on your side-hustle
🔎 If you can’t find any gaps, reevaluate your activities and create time.

You are not alone and do it all on your own.

You might not see this on someone’s social media, but many entrepreneurs don’t do it all alone. Successful entrepreneurs like Marie Forleo, Jenna Kutcher, and Gary Vee, just to name a few, all have a team.

You don’t need a large team when you start, but you can think about what tasks you can outsource. This is especially handy if you don’t have a particular skill or simply can’t find the time. Your side hustle can be a team effort. It’s not only practical thinking, but you also have an accountability partner and probably more fun working on your side hustle.

When you think about your project, think about the production process. Here are a few things you can think about outsourcing for your podcast.

👉 Finding and selecting podcast guests

👉 Podcast episode preparation

👉 Editing the podcast

👉 Publishing podcast

👉 Podcast collaborations

👉 Guest communication

👉 Researching brand partnerships

Finding your unique voice

This is the strategy and creative part of building your podcast. You want to consider what your podcast is about, who your audience is and what are the common themes of your podcast. You also want to consider the look and feel of your content, your posting schedule and where you’re going to promote it.

Over time, this can shift a little bit, which is entirely normal. What is important is that you have a clear vision of your content and stay open-minded for tweaks and new ideas.

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #75: The Life Changing Benefit Of Living Abroad With Nienke Nina

🎧 Episode #73: Why Choosing To Become A Digital Nomad Freelancer with Dianni

🎧 Episode #49: 8 Freelancer Mindset Challenges to Overcome For Success With Steve