Grow Rich By Embracing Cultural Diversity With Nadia Harris

“We will get these authentic experiences if we step back, listen and observe and look at how this can make us richer from the inside.”

Meet the remote work advocate Nadia Harris

Nomadding Nadia grew up moving around a lot and loves traveling. Since 2018 she has been more or less constantly on the go and that’s when her digital nomad journey took off. She calls herself a part-time digital nomad because she has a place Nadia calls home in Poland.
Nadia is a multi-passionate entrepreneur and does various things to make a living. She is mostly known for her work as a remote work consultant, where she works with companies and implements remote work, policies, legal operations and all things you need to scale the company. She also has a side hustle which she has been doing for nine years already! Many people don’t know about her, but Nadia speaks five languages (German, English, Polish, French and Russian) and is a legal and medical live interpreter. We love that Nadia shares this with us because it shows that you can monetize the skills you got and not all side hustles are creative side hustles.

When you don’t feel like you belong anywhere

The digital nomad lifestyle comes with many perks and challenges at the same time. Some of these challenges are small and others are big like Wi-Fi connections. What is interesting about cultural challenges is that they are unique to everyone, but all digital nomads and international teams face them, each human in a unique way.

Nadia knows this all too well because she grew up as a 3rd culture child. She was raised in a Polish/American family in Germany. One of the most challenging things for her was a feeling of belonging as each unique situation, from playing with friends to singing songs with her grandma, has its own language and culture triads. This created a strong urge to explore the world and seek a feeling of belonging, but it wasn’t easy.

Nadia moved to the states and during the first 2-3 months, she loved it, but then she started to neglect things. Her joy transformed into a strong feeling of missing everything she had left behind. Then, she went back to Europe, but the feeling of not belonging creeped back up again. She realized that it’s not just one place, which is why the digital nomad lifestyle is a great fit for her life needs.

Typical cultural challenges digital nomads experience

Many digital nomads are curious and this is a characteristic we often discuss on the podcast. Nadia is also curious-minded and she loves getting out of her comfort zone, although this doesn’t mean it’s flawless. She shares that while she loves it and needs it to feel connected with herself, she also gets scared.

‘‘There is always a moment where I’m like, what the hell am I doing? How is it going to be? Of course, I have this each and every single time, but I still manage to overcome it.’’

The grass is always greener on the other side

One of the biggest challenges Nadia faces as a digital nomad is that the grass is always greener on the other side. Typically, digital nomads always need to adapt to their new surroundings, which taps into the simplest things like how much something costs or the vibes in general.

Don’t be an intruder but an observer.

Another thing Nadia learned is never to be an intruder but an observer instead. By observing people, you can learn about the local habits and treat them respectfully. So digital nomads have the opportunity to understand better that every culture is unique and so are all the people around you. In other words, the place you visit is not your territory and you are the one that’s invited.

‘‘I think that the whole concept of digital nomadding is not about me “look, this is me, I have the money to travel, I have the visa to travel, and I don’t care about you. I’m just going to have tons of fun. But the concept is to broaden your horizons and to get all these experiences.’’

 Nadia shares that you experience this only by simply just to sit back, observing and acknowledging that all this will make us richer from the inside.

Why companies should hire digital nomads

The digital nomad lifestyle isn’t just for solopreneurs and freelancers, many digital nomads have remote jobs. It’s exciting to see that more companies are hiring remotely, but what we love to see is that hiring digital nomads is the new normal. Nadia is a remote work expert and consults with companies and we ask her to take on why companies should hire digital nomads.

It’s not a shocker that Nadia 100% agrees that digital nomads are great assets for an international and/or remote company. Since digital nomads are espoused to many cultures and constantly need to adapt, these skills are great to have in an international team. While companies tend to impose their culture and working systems on others, digital nomads are more experienced with cultural clashes and people from other cultures. They can help increase awareness and create a place where people feel like they belong.

🌟 Set mutual rules and boundaries and encourage people to speak out loud
🌟 Acknowledge that each culture has its habits and embrace the fact that we are different
🌟 Understand and define the communication style and make sure people act on it
🌟 Focus on what people can teach you instead of you imposing your habits on your people

Lastly, numbers are just numbers and companies can only adopt a better inclusion mindset if they think beyond numbers and focus on people feeling they belong.

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 Nadia

Find her on Instagram @remoteworkadvocate

Find her on LinkedIn Nadia Harris 

Check out her website www.remoteworkadvocate.com

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #67: 7 Digital Nomad Tips For Facing Cultural Challenges with Mirjam

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

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

The Life Changing Benefits Of Living Abroad With Nienke Nina

“It’s been a wild ride! Like really real wild. There have been moments that I ran out of money, moments that I had too many projects going on and I couldn’t figure out my schedule and here have been moments I felt so sad… This relates a lot to why I started Digital Nomads Daily.”

Living abroad was the best thing that ever happened

The digital nomad journey of Nienke Nina didn’t precisely start the same as how people decide to become digital nomads these days. Her first experience abroad as a student in Denmark was a stepping stone to this new and adventurous lifestyle. Back then, she didn’t speak English and one of her goals was to learn the language.

In Denmark, people from different countries joined the program and it was her first time living in an international environment. After six months, it was time to go home, but that was not what Nienke Nina wanted. So she applied for internships abroad and her next stop was Milan, Italy. Working and studying abroad are very different experiences and Nienke Nina missed a sense of community during the internship. Luckily she made a friend who ended up a housemate. She extended her stay and decided to write her research thesis also in Milan and going back to the Netherlands was not an option.

Meeting the first digital nomad

After living abroad in Europe, Nienke Nina decided to move to the Philippines. You might wonder, why the Philippines? During one of the trips with her friends, they invited her and from that moment on, she set eyes on moving to Asia. After a couple of months of preparing, she found a job, bought a one-way ticket, and moved to the Philippines.

She took the role of community manager in a startup focused on education. While she lived it, the startup life wasn’t always as sexy as it sounds. Working many hours eventually created signs of burnout, but this wasn’t a discussed topic back then. A friend of Nienke Nina suggested coming to Bali for two weeks to work remotely and get some air from the big city of Manila. He was a business owner working remotely and the first digital nomad she met.

Bali is a digital nomad magnet and a great place to start

The Indonesian island is a digital nomad magnet and people who joined the podcast started their digital nomad journey in Bali too.
For example, our guest Tiffany went for a holiday and ended up staying too. Digital nomad Kenny went to the island during his sabbatical and redesigned his life.

After living the lifestyle for two weeks, Nienke Nina also got hooked. But why do people love Bali so much? It’s a great destination and especially for newbie nomads. Here is why:

❤️ Attracts many digital nomads and entrepreneurs
❤️ Affordable cost of living for a high quality of living
❤️ Many conscious living activities and healthy food options
❤️ Beautiful scenery like rice fields and stunning sunsets
❤️ Lots of co-working spaces with good internet speeds

This is why Bali is one of the best places to start your digital nomad lifestyle.

How to really become a digital nomad

So after Bali, Nienke Nina returned to Manila to plan her new lifestyle. You see, it sounds easy just to pack your bags and leave, but the transformation was rather large Nienke Nina realized this. She quit her job, returned to Bali, and found a remote job. Like many newbie digital nomads, she was curious about how others do it and started interviewing other digital nomads. She recorded this and this is how Digital Nomads Daily came to life. Back then, it was a blog and since 2022, it’s a community platform and podcast for digital nomads.

Living this lifestyle is a lot of fun, but Nienke Nina shares that it can be challenging. Even now, after so many years of nomadding, she still faces many challenges and this is part of the lifestyle. This podcast is one way to find comfort, inspiration and motivation. She also shares that tuning in with yourself and learning how to listen to yourself is very important. So keep asking yourself reflective questions about your personal, social, work, and goals.

Final takeaways

🌱 Nothing happens overnight, so take your time and allow yourself to experiment.
🌱 Try living abroad for at least a couple of months once in your life, whether it’s as a digital nomad, volunteering, or learning a new language.
🌱 Tune in with yourself and ask reflective questions to help design your life.
🌱 Be open-minded to new things and learn because only then you can grow

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 #39: The 5 misconceptions of the digital nomad lifestyle with Charlie

🎧  Episode #50: Creating Your Career Around The Lifestyle You Want To Live With Natasha

🎧 Episode #51: How To Live A Balanced And Joyful Remote Life With Ali

Building The Ultimate Freedom Lifestyle With Jon

“The learning has been that I’m much bigger than my business is at the moment, I have so much more potential. So, how I’m doing at the moment doesn’t show anything about my value or my happiness.”

Meet freedom seeker Jon

Can you imagine living in a self-made house in the middle of the Estonian woods? Jon is a freedom seeker living an extraordinary life and is somewhat of a digital nomad. While other digital nomads love to travel or live abroad, Jon’s ultimate freedom lifestyle is being surrounded by nature, consuming little and working whenever he wants. He used to live in the Philippines and used to have a corporate life as an analyst. He discovered his passion for entrepreneurship and focused on building something for himself.

Like many other guests on the podcast, he has multiple income streams. He has an online business, a tea company and receives grants from the European European Innovation Technology Institute EIT.

Designing his own life

The ultimate dream was to build his own house and be free from others and typical society things. He saw a documentary about the island and found a beautiful land in the forest in Estonia on an island called Saaremaa, situated on the west coast.

He lives a conscious lifestyle and learned how to build his own house from scratch using sustainable and green materials. He is also testing sustainable building materials, and the project is currently growing. Since his business is climate-friendly, he receives grants from the EIT because they fund European green companies. It is a very unusual way of making a living but aligns very well with the essence of the digital nomad lifestyle – designing your own life.

What is crucial for building healthy habits?

Building habits is vital for everyone but even more so for freedom seekers. When you live a lifestyle where you decide what time to wake up, when to work, and how much you want to work, you need to make some decisions and set boundaries. This isn’t how many people are raised and it comes with some challenges.

Digital nomads who travel experience similar challenges. In fact, everyone who takes ownership of their life will face this. Healthy habits are the key to success and we asked Jon what habits are crucial for him to live a healthy and happy life.

🌱 Starting a new habit means repeating it before it becomes a habit.

🌱 Reward yourself after you complete the action

🌱 Let the habit sink in and give yourself time, say 40 consistent moments.

🌱Make the environment comfortable for you to stick to that habit.

🌱 Do it together with a friend or other commitment partner.

🌱 Share your new habit on social media and activity report about it.

🌱 Financially commit to your habit so you won’t lose the investment and get results.

Mindset tips for digital nomad entrepreneurs and solopreneurs

Jon is an entrepreneur in many ways and he shared some of the biggest lessons of his entrepreneurship journey in this episode. We love talking about this on the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast because it’s inspiring and motivating to learn from other digital nomads.

Digital nomad entrepreneur lesson 1

Take care of your foundation, meaning your mental and physical health. This is the foundation of your business because it impacts your work and environment if you are not feeling OK. So it’s effortless to get lost in the doing and forget your own mental and physical health and you have to be mindful of this.

Digital nomad entrepreneur lesson 2

Health goes further than your body; another focus should be developing your mental fitness. You do this by reading, being surrounded by people who positively impact your life, and by setting boundaries.

Digital nomad entrepreneur lesson 3

Your business is not a reflection of you and Jon shares that he realized that he is much bigger than his business is at any moment. He knows he has so much more potential and how he is doing now doesn’t show anything about his value or happiness.

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 freedom seeker Jon 

Find him on LinkedIn @jonender

Other episodes you might like:

🎧  Episode #25: How To Optimize Your Brain To Increase Performance With Angela

🎧  Episode #51: How To Live A Balanced And Joyful Remote Life With Ali

🎧 Episode #57: 5 Tips To Live A More Intentional And Balanced Life with Kasia

Why Choosing To Become A Digital Nomad Freelancer with Dianni

“It took a bit of trial and error to figure out what I actually want this to look like and how I am going to make it work.”

Meet digital nomad freelancer Dianni

She started her nomadic lifestyle backpacking and has been enjoying a travel lifestyle for four years also. At the beginning of her journey, she wasn’t a digital nomad though because she would save up, travel and go home when she was running low on cash. Then, she would return to the United States to work and save up enough to head out and explore the world. The longest she would stay abroad was around six months but Dianni desired more.

How Dianni started her freelance career

Before freelancing, Dianni taught English in Spain. It’s common for Americans to start their abroad journey teaching English and digital nomad Natasha also did this in Spain. Dianni had one of these pivotal moments because it was time to pack her bags again, but she decided to find a way to stay abroad and became an au pair. The downside of this was that as an au pair, she wouldn’t earn enough to live her dream life so in another pivotal moment, she decided to figure out how to enjoy her travel life while working online.

Her answer was starting her freelance career. Dianni is a creative digital nomad and has one thing in common with Nienke Nina, podcasting. She has her own podcast, While She Is Away, which brings in some income combined with affiliate marketing, but her main income stream is her freelance work. She offers podcasting-related services like editing, management, and setting up podcasts for others. She also does some community management User Generated Content.

Becoming a digital nomad

Starting a new career can feel overwhelming and sometimes very unpredictable because you are unsure when you will get the job or your first clients. Combining this with the digital nomad lifestyle adds even more stuff to think about. Dianni decided to ease the process and work with a coach. Her strong passion for podcasting helped her define her freelance services and the process of transforming into a new lifestyle took around six months. So while it looks online that people pack their bags and leave, many digital nomads take time to think it through, create a plan and build a solid foundation before nomadding. It doesn’t sound sexy, but the overall experience will be less stressful, so you can enjoy your new lifestyle even more.

The perks of the freelance lifestyle

Some people might argue that freelancers aren’t real business owners, but if you are a solopreneur and have your own thing, at Digital Nomads Daily, we see freelancers also as business owners. We ask Dianni the biggest perks of the freelance lifestyle and she shares:

1️⃣ Less responsibility because she receives the task, does the work, and then gives it back to her client.

2️⃣ More flexibility to work on long or short-term projects. She prefers long-term projects and podcasting services work great as it involves a series of episodes compared to a blog post or website where you might only do a one-time project.

Figuring out your freelance style comes with experience, so if you are thinking about freelancing but aren’t sure about your offerings yet, go experiment and find out what sparks joy and take note of this.

If you want to ask more questions about this or learn from others, join our Digital Nomad Freedompreneur Group. We will share life lessons and stories from other digital nomad entrepreneurs and freelancers.

Life lessons with digital nomad Dianni

On the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast, we love to ask about BIG learnings and support other nomads. This lifestyle had many fun elements and we all love it, but let’s face it – it’s not picture perfect!

It’s not easy to work online from anywhere.

The lifestyle is very romanticized, so we are interviewing digital nomads. Dianna shares that she would just go to Europe to work from her computer, and everything would fall into place. She was wrong about that and learned that you need a ton of discipline to contour distractions and focus on work.

Fast pace travel doesn’t work

During her backpacking years, she would hop from one spot to another spot quickly. As a digital nomad, she has to prioritize different aspects, like a Wi-Fi connection, a proper workspace, etc. So logistically, it was also figuring out how to work and travel simultaneously. On top of that, travel takes time, so spending a lot of your time unpacking, packing, working, socializing and traveling gets tough.

Digital nomads needs also need sense of home

Feeling grounded is a common theme in this lifestyle and we talked about it with digital nomad Kasia on the podcast. Staying in the same place for at least a month allows you to do all the sexy and fun things, work online and take care of your well-being. Knowing how you are REALLY doing helps you learn more about yourself and grow on multiple levels.

All struggle digital nomads struggle

Anxiety, impostor syndrome and uncertainty about your next steps are entirely normal in the digital nomad lifestyle, especially for freelancers and business owners. Everyone has experienced this, no matter if you are in your first week, haven’t even started yet, or are in your 3rd year.

All of this above is part of this journey and our advice from talking with hundreds of nomads about this is to take it easy and find a community to support you. Our group is one of these places where we openly do this, so make sure to join us!

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 Dianni 

Find her on Instagram @whilesheisaway

Check out her TikTok account @whilesheisaway

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #39: The 5 misconceptions of the digital nomad lifestyle with Charlie

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

🎧 Episode #64: Tips For Organizing Your Daily Digital Nomad Life with Eddie

Why Digital Nomads Love Living in Chiang Mai with With Evelina

“For me right now the biggest struggle is trying to find the balance of when I want to work and what type of routine do I want to have… There are so many challenges in that sense.”

Meet newbie digital nomad Evelina

She started her digital nomad journey only a couple of months ago but already lived abroad teaching English in Thailand. After her contract ended, she wanted to figure out how to live abroad longer and decided to start her freelance career. Evelina has been in business for five months now and her work is focused on web development, social media, and virtual assistant and groups it into digital marketing.

One of our podcast’s most mentioned daily challenges of the digital nomad lifestyle is finding the right balance. Many digital nomads are entrepreneurial and running a business while traveling can be tricky. Evelina is also experiencing this currently as she has many ideas for her business, but of course, she also wants to enjoy the place.

Why Chiang Mai is a great hub for digital nomads

There are many awesome digital nomad hubs and it all depends on your desires, work life and what you seek to find in a place. This changes over time and at this point in her life, Evelina loves being in Chiang Mai because it allows her to have a social life while keeping a high focus on work. But is Chiang Mai all about work? Of course not! Here are a couple of things this small city has to offer:

👉 Eat a looooot of pad thai and other Thai foods
👉 Discovering nice coffees shops
👉 Explore the mountains and go for hikes
👉 Hanging out with other digital nomads

What is the best way to meet people in Chiang Mai?

The city is known to be a safe destination and Nomadlist has it ranked number #5 the day we published this podcast episode. It has a good community and you can find digital nomads all year round. The easiest way to meet people is to join a coworking space for a couple of days, join several Facebook Groups for digital nomads and look for meetups. Evelina found a group interested in one of her favorite sports, volleyball.

We listed a couple of benefits of being a digital nomad in Chiang Mai that Evelina and other community members shared with us:

Why digital nomads love Chiang Mai

✅ Affordable to live
✅ Fast internet
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Digital nomads all year round
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Easy to make friends

Why people don’t like Chiang Mai

❌ Limited activities around so much to do
❌ No beaches around
❌ Some roads are very dangerous (especially using scooters)
❌ People don’t speak English well

So one of the best places to find digital nomads in Chiang Mai is coworking spaces. We recommend digital nomads, especially newbie nomads who are just dipping their toes in this new lifestyle, to get a week or monthly pass to start making new connections.

💻 Elephant Cowork
💻 Planters Space
💻 Hub53 Coworking and Coliving Space
💻 Yellow Coworking
💻 Chiang Mai Buristro Bar Cafe
💻 Punspace Nimman
💻 The Brick Startup Space

Do you want more tips about where to meet digital nomads while traveling? We wrote a book Digital Nomads With Confidence where we discuss 101 daily digital nomad questions including where to meet people.

Get a copy of the book here and start your digital nomad journey with confidence!!

The first 5 months of the digital nomad lifestyle

Like any human being, we all have doubts, limiting beliefs, and fears popping up from time to time. It’s very normal and even though digital nomads live amazing adventurous lives, they also feel this. Evelina shares that she tries not to glamourize. Some people may say “oh I’m so jealous of what you are doing…” and this is understandable because others only get to see a sneak peek of what it looks and feel like.

Behind the scenes, she ask herself questions like:
🤨 What am I doing with my life?
🤨 Should I have a career at home?
🤨 Should I be thinking of buying a house?
🤨 Should I be settling down somewhere?

These are valid questions and we know that many digital nomads face this but luckily for you, we are here to talk about this openly. And this is why we love sharing real stories and real experiences on the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast and Evelina also tries not to glamourize the lifestyle.

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 Evelina

Find her on Instagram @evs_adventures

Find her business on Instagram @clikkmedia

Check out her website www.clikkmedia.com

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #21: 10 Years Of Traveling The World With Daisy

🎧  Episode #39: The 5 misconceptions of the digital nomad lifestyle with Charlie

🎧 Episode #59: How To Feel At Home In Your Next Digital Nomad House With Julie