Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: The only thing scary for me was standing in one place. I knew I needed to do something different because what I had been doing was not working. So to be completely honest, like, there wasn't a lot of fear of going to Mexico. It was.
It was more fear of not going and not doing something.
So I had, like, fear motivating me to just get the heck out and do something. And I say this, not this shade to my hometown. I love it. That's why we're moving back. I. I believe North Idaho. But, yeah, I guess, like, the fear was being stuck in the same rut.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I like that mindset because not a lot of people actually get there. Not a lot of people get to that point of realizing that I don't want to get stuck in this rut. A lot of people just, you know, they just happily hum along, and then two decades of their lives just passed by.
[00:00:58] Speaker C: You weren't born to sit in traffic, work for approval, or wait for Fridays. You were built to be free.
Welcome to Rich and Remote, the show for the ones who dare to do life differently. Here we talk about building businesses that give you choices. Where you work, how you live, and what you create. What you create.
This is for the entrepreneurs who crave freedom, financial freedom, location freedom, and freedom from everyone else's expectations. If you're ready to design a life on your own terms, you're in the right place.
Rich and Remote, hosted by Alex and Carla Booth.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: All right, welcome back, everyone. This is Rich and Remote. You got Carla, you got Alex. We're here for an episode, just us talking about something that is near and dear to my heart, which is leaving your hometown. Carla's done it. I've done it. Not all my friends have. It has been a challenge to get out of some of these hometowns, and today is a really fun episode to talk about because all of us have faced that decision at one point, whether we have done it or not. And, yeah, I think it's an interesting choice. Not only entrepreneurs have to face that everyone has to face at one time, and we're looking at it from an entrepreneur point of view.
What are the pros and cons of leaving? And some of us are even circling back. Some of us have left, and now we're heading back. So, Carla, what do you have to say today to the listeners?
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Yeah, so I'm going to give them some background.
I grew up in the Philippines, and the Philippines is a developing country.
And in my country, a lot of people desire to leave the country and to leave their hometowns. It is typically kind of like a sign of success, actually. So that's something that we always think about. When I was a kid, people would encourage you to take up careers or jobs that will eventually get you to the United States, to Canada, the uk, Australia, other developed countries. For me, I've never really had a job, like a regular job. So I liked doing business in the city where I grew up in, which is Davao City. But eventually I sought out to leave my hometown or to go to other places, mostly for personal growth.
I just knew that there was a really big world out there and I wanted to see it.
What about you, Alex? What was that thought process for you? Like, what was it like growing up where you grew up?
[00:03:46] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Well, first off, it sounds like you're saying for the. For your situation, just leaving the Philippines in general is like a sign of success, right?
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: So I think, like, totally different perspectives here.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Where I grew up, like, no one leaves. No one. And if you. I mean, if you do leave. Okay, that's dramatic. But, you know, some people will leave, but it is sticky. And, you know, it was very kind of, honestly poor. It was a poor area where I grew up. It's completely changed where I grew up. So I grew up in northern Idaho, and it went from poor. No one knows about it. They hear about it. All they think about is potatoes. And you must be extremely uneducated. You'd hear the incest jokes, whatever.
And I mean, to tell you the truth, it was a slice of paradise, actually. It's gorgeous. If you grew up there, you just. You are a very lucky person. But there's just no jobs for you outside of your basic service level jobs. So for me, the only way I could reach the goals I wanted, which, on a personal note, was just kind of giving my family an opportunity to have a different socioeconomic status. I had to leave after college. I had to get out of Idaho. And for us In Idaho, leaving 95% of the time means going to Seattle, Washington. It's like our New York. It's our big city where you essentially go.
And so for me, it was almost like, essential if I. If I want to actually make it in life, I want to make more money. I have to leave. Funny enough, that has completely changed. Like, Coeur d' Alene is blowing up. People are moving there with all the money now. And if I had stayed, I actually might have positioned myself even better because it's just a booming economy. So it's funny how things kind of change. But, yeah, that's a little look into how it was when I originally was there.
But what did success look like for you guys? Was it simply just leaving the Philippines or was it like making it to Manila? What was it like for you, Carla?
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot of the people who grew up in Mindanao, which is the southern part of the Philippines, not the capital, a lot of people really want to go to Manila or bigger cities like Cebu and Manila to work.
Those are like the industrial hubs, technology hubs. I think when I was in high school, that was also the time when a lot of US companies started to outsource their customer support to the Philippines. And Cebu was really like popping. And that's where I graduated high school.
At the end of the day, I think success was number one if you work for a big company, like a big name. That's why I actually tried to apply to big companies before. I just didn't, I guess pass their exam. But I, I tried to apply to like PNG and Unilever. You know, as soon as I graduated, somehow I just didn't get the job.
But for us, success was either making a lot of money working for a big name company or this is a little silly working in a nice office with AC or with air conditioning. Honestly. Yeah, we. The bar was not that high.
But if you had those jobs like office jobs and you can look like respectable, that was, that was kind of like a win in, in the Philippines. I think it still is. Yeah.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, the funny thing is like in. In Idaho at the time when I grew up weren't like too far off like if you work for a bigger known company and even like being. I remember for us there's like if you were alignment. Alignment are like the people who climb the telephone poles and they fix the, the wires like o have a good job. And there's just. It was, it was more like cool jobs and then high paying that were the status for us. But none of it was, none of it had anything to do with like executive title or anything like that. Yeah.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So for me, after I didn't get the jobs for PNG and Unilever, I just thought I'm gonna start a business. And to be completely honest, I left my hometown when my mom passed away. After my mom passed away because she was really like my tie to my hometown. I liked, I did travel a lot, but I liked being around her, I liked being close to her and I liked being there whenever she needs like literally anything.
So you know, unfortunately my mom passed away and when that happened that was kind of like my push, maybe it's time for me to leave the Philippines. And the big factor for this was, of course, me realizing that my income doesn't have to be tied to my location, but for me, it was also doing the currency arbitrage, right? Like, I wanted to invest in the Philippines, I wanted to save in pesos, and I want to earn in US dollars.
So this was a time when I was like, really considering any, any way to get in the online market and make money in US Dollars. And of course, my mom influenced me a lot in real estate. That's why I started investing in real estate very young. And we have properties right now together, Alex. But you knew, I started very young and I knew that making money in US Dollars and then buying properties and in pesos was going to give me a huge advantage. So that was really, like, it for me.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: I like that you guys kind of have, like, I know it's. It's a lot harder probably to like, get out of the Philippines. You have so many different battles, but I like that it's. You guys had a lot more clarity, I guess, for, like, what did success kind of look like for us? It felt like. I just explained to you it was not your typical, your typical view of success, but it also, because my hometown changed so much.
I mentioned this at the beginning that, like, I left, I went to college, and then I moved to Seattle, Washington. I got those big jobs. I was at Microsoft, I was at Amazon. But over that time period, my hometown changed so much that the people who did stay, and they were landscapers, they were just these home service companies, they started making so much money, they all started their own little companies because there's just so much demand. And they absolutely cleaned up, you know, so it just, that wasn't clear to us when I was younger. And now it's like if you were the person who was in town who built a skill around some type of home service, you could have just absolutely raked it in and still are.
So it's funny, I feel like I've been in a little bit of an identity crisis, I guess, to determine what does success look like. I think since leaving, I've kind of redefined that.
Success is obviously like living a rich and remote lifestyle for me.
But funny enough, you and I are actually moving back to my hometown.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: I know I'm pretty excited about that. I obviously have never been to Alex's hometown, but we owe our family over there a lot of Thanksgivings, a lot of hugs, a lot of Christmases. So I'm really, really excited for this next chapter of our life.
I have a question for you, Alex. What were some doubts that you had about leaving Coeur d' Alene and moving to Mexico? Because I know there was a moment after the pandemic when you moved back, right, for a little bit, and then deciding to literally not just leave your hometown, but leave the country.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I had moved back to Idaho for a year from Seattle. Right.
And I had left Idaho again to go back to Seattle and was there for, like, two or three months before, like, a breakup happened. And then I went back to Idaho and was there for five months. So it wasn't necessarily. It didn't. It didn't feel like I was. I was there. It felt like the only thing scary for me was standing in one place. Like, I knew I need. I knew I. I knew I needed to do something different because what I had been was not working.
So to be completely honest, like, there wasn't a lot of fear of going to Mexico. It was. It was more fear of not going and not doing something.
So I had, like, fear motivating me to just get the heck out and do something. And I say this, not this shade to my hometown. I love it. That's why we're moving back. I. I bleed north Idaho. But, yeah, I guess, like, the. The fear was being stuck in the same rut.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I like that. I like that mindset, because not a lot of people actually get there. Not a lot of people get to that point of realizing that I don't want to get stuck in this rut. A lot of people just, you know, they just happily hum along, and then two decades of their lives just passed. Passed by. And it's good that you had that fear. Did you feel that it was good that you had that fear?
[00:13:25] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Everything I wanted was on the other side of that fear. Right. And I think that's how I've. I've found in life, like, everything I want is on the other side. Whatever that fear is, it. It comes along every now and then. And then, you know, I'll have a moment where I'm seeing, like, a Nike commercial in my head and just telling myself, just do it. You know, it's as corny as that is, and it's. Yeah. So it's funny. You can be completely in love with your hometown. There can be a tremendous amount of opportunity. You can want to be there badly. But it might be the right move for you to leave, like, for my case. Right. I had desperately been Trying to get back there. I want to be there. I wanted everything, but I needed to leave personally just to get out of that rut. Right.
So it's kind of interesting.
How about. How about for you? I recall you said your first, like, international trip or. I don't know if you moved to Australia or if that was. No, I.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Just a trip.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Okay. So what was your, like, first place you lived outside of Davao?
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Lived Phuket, Thailand.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Okay. That's big. That's another country. Pick.
Yeah. What was. What was the fear there for you?
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Honestly, there wasn't a lot of fear for me when I actually moved to Phuket. And at that time, I was still maintaining a place in. In Davao. So my ex boyfriend and I, we kept a home for three years, both in Davao and in Phuket, Thailand. And we just, like, switched, you know, places. And it was mostly because I wouldn't leave the Philippines and he wouldn't leave Thailand. And so we just kind of, like, made it work. I didn't have a lot of fear because I was very excited of this, like, international life. My mom encouraged me, my sisters encouraged me, and I trusted my ex boyfriend. Right.
That was pretty good because I would say Southeast Asia, the culture was pretty close.
The. The nature was pretty close. You know, I didn't have to, like, adjust to snow or bears.
So that was. That was a pretty easy transition.
But for me also, the not needing to make money there because I was making money online, that was also another plus.
And I wanted to share something. The other day, I actually watched this YouTube video of one of our friends, Kevin. Kevin Yee. Shout out to Kevin Yee.
He had a video about. So he used to live in the States, and then now he moved to Vietnam. And how if you just, like, got reminded all over again how it's such a good plan for. For some people to do that, to live a simpler life in Asia, where cost of living is pretty low, and then stacking up your cash, but building your business and, like, locking in. Right. So I know that for some people, that is not a very easy mental hurdle. Just like the people that you met at the resort, right? And they asked you, how do you do it? And you said, you just do it.
[00:16:33] Speaker A: Exactly.
I'm maybe not the best person to give the details about that.
For me, it's just, like, simple. It's like, you know, you need to do it. Just go do it. Like, put all the fear aside. But honestly, now that you just said that, I think of another fear that I Probably did have, which was I was working at Amazon at the time.
I did not have permission to leave.
I already did like a Microsoft. Like I left Seattle. I wasn't necessarily supposed to be doing that. This is during the pandemic time. So we're all working from home and then I left the country. So it was.
But like, that's kind of where my just do it mindset maybe would have. I got lucky and I got away with it. Right. Where like some people might want to plan that out a little bit better.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that is a great segue to kind of like our next prompt, which is, you know, I think the biggest hurdle about thinking if it is doable or not is you realizing if you have enough from your regular life to take to the new like remote life. Right. So, for example, if you've only done brick and mortar business or a physical job or like a super regular job, like a cashier at Lowe's or something like that, obviously it's very hard to think about what am I going to do online? What remote jobs can I get? So what did you think for you, what were some skills in your old life, former life before remote turned out to matter the most now that you're building an online business and you have a way to make money remotely?
[00:18:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: Well, I think it was the fact that every. Every time I tried to get a job, I ended up in like the same position. So it almost is like my experience got written for me.
It was. It was customer success. Right. Like over and over again I kept getting pushed into that same industry. But I think like skill sets, which is client and customer relationship. I knew I was really good at that and that helped me monetize. After doing some consulting going through, I to act like I had an offer ready to go. I knew what I was going to do and I have just stuck with that ever since. Would be a lie, Carla. So I'm trying to like simplify it because I. I went through like probably 20 different iterations of what I actually wanted to offer people and sell.
But it was all around kind of the same concept of providing retention and customer success, helping businesses get bigger, grow revenue with their current customers.
So I think that skill set is something I transferred over.
How about you? I'm really. Because I know you're a copywriter, right? Like that had to feel like your golden ticket.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: Yeah, Well, I was a trained journalist. I actually had column at a newspaper for five years. And so when it comes to like content creation, I was there early.
I had Blogs as early as when I was 15. So I was always writing.
I would say that was a skill that I was able to kind of cross over and really gave me a lot of advantage when I moved to having a fully remote business. Because then I translated that to content creation, copywriting, even like writing proposals and my follow ups and writing persuasive ads, writing any form of marketing content for my business and for other people's businesses. I used to do revenue share deals with other coaches and consultants. I would write VSLs for them. I would write long sales pages. So that gave me a huge leg up. So I would say any skill in communication gives you a huge advantage with starting anything remotely.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: One thing I just want to bring up too is you had the skill of communication writing. I had this very particular skill of customer success.
They both could fail for sure as we're trying to, to find a role. I knew though, if I, if I needed to, there's backup skills I can do. Like, I'm not ashamed to take a job that I think is beneath me. I am not ashamed. I have done landscaping for many years in my life. I will do that. I will pay the dang bills. You know what I mean? Like, and I don't think anyone out there who's like potentially listening to this and considering I don't want to leave my safety net in my home where I have, you know, friends and family, that could be, be my backup. You, at the end of the day, no one's coming for you. Right. Like, you got to build it yourself anyways and don't put any job beneath you as long as you keep going after that one goal. Like take your. I took 20 shots like I said, in order to get my offer. Right. I fortunately had a little bit of a bankroll because I spent so much time in corporate so that that helped me through and. But if I didn't have that bankroll, I would have been, I would have taken another job while I was working on building my business.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: Ye.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: So I just, I don't think that people listening to this are gonna be like, oh, I'm gonna leave my hometown or leave wherever and I'm gonna just put all my eggs in one basket and you know, it's gotta work. That's a mindset that you got. You do have to have. But don't be afraid to have some type of alternative way of making money is what I'm saying.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that if we just take time to be quiet and gave ourselves like an objective assessment of what am I good at? What am I?
What do I like doing? There's different versions of business out there, right? Like there's, there's so many businesses, there's so many problems that you can solve and there's so many people that are willing to pay for that problem to be solved. And so just follow for me, just follow that line, Follow that line of the problem you want to solve, the people you want to serve, the people who want to pay for this problem to be solved. So how can you get to those people? Right. And then offer them that solution?
My other kind of question would be for people who already have businesses. So if someone has a brick and mortar business, they're used to thinking that they have to be there or that they have to, that they can't leave or otherwise it will fail or close.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: So instead of going to a physical location, you're saying like switching to online.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Yeah, switching to online. Or just maybe giving themselves that flexibility. Maybe there's step one to rich and remote. Or maybe they're already rich, they just can't figure out the remote part.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I think you need to take it a little bit of a baby step like at a time too.
So if, whether that means like you pick up that second job or that hobby, that side project where you're starting to work online and then that starts to come up with some type of revenue for you and pretty soon you're able to shift it over and fully commit. I feel like dipping your toes in, in my case, like the pandemic hit, I had no choice but to work online like the entire company of Amazon did. There were some, there is definitely some learning curves to doing that. Yeah. But I feel like you just kind of have to test it out a little bit. It's really, it's a difficult transition to go from going to a physical location to being online.
Socializing is almost like non existent. Right. You really have to figure that out. And you have to, I think when you travel to a new area too, you're not going to know people. So if you're not a social person, if you don't have that social energy, like you're, you're gonna struggle. And that's a huge part of your life. So you need to.
What I mean by this all is you can't be trying to figure out a business, trying to figure out social life and moving to a new town like all at once. And while you're changing your life completely like you can, but it's just going to be a challenge. I'd recommend you just taking baby steps, taking a side project, and trying to earn a little bit of income on the side before switching over. What do you. What do you think?
Is that bad advice?
[00:25:02] Speaker B: No, no, I think. I think that's good. Honestly. Actually, I have one of my reels that popped was how to move to another country. And my main advice is spend vacations there.
And if that place, like long vacation, like, if you can do like two weeks, start at two weeks. After that, maybe a month. And if it's a country with four seasons, do at least two seasons before deciding to move there. I think that would be very prudent because there's so many things that you don't know unless you go there. So obviously along the way, you figure out the money part, the business part, and the socializing, but you don't have to jump in. And then if it doesn't work out, you're gonna call yourself a failure. No, maybe. There's just some things that we need to do smartly.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: And I think in order to do that, a lot of people are listening, like, hey, I go to a job. I can't actually go check out these places for that amount of.
So I am going to make a jump.
Honestly. I recommend people like taking a that long vacation, but then extending it and bringing their computer if they have the ability to work on their computer, and asking to work remotely for a week or two weeks. Right. Just like almost forcing it on your employer to let you do it. I know that's not like, the greatest advice, but I'd say go for it. That forces you to be able to do it, and it gives you the ability to try out. What does it look like working remotely from these places?
One thing I was hoping to talk about today, Carla, was for me, leaving Idaho, it's so much my identity, right?
So. And I know being from Davao is a big part of your identity too. And I feel like this is actually like the hardest part about leaving your hometown. You're leaving your friends, you're leaving your family, you're leaving all the things that make you you behind.
And I'm curious, like, did that eat you up? Did that bother you? I sure as hell bothered me. So I'm curious, like, how did you go about handling that?
[00:27:05] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, the.
The past eight years, seven years, really changed my life.
The big thing was my mom passing away and of course, me deciding to finally take the plunge and leave my hometown. And then the pandemic happened.
So I had to. I was forced to start and Go all in on an online business because my two physical businesses had to close temporarily, right? My events company and my flower shop. And then I also just like you had a breakup with a long term boyfriend. And then also I was. I felt I was stuck in Thailand while this was all happening. Literally stuck like a refugee.
So a lot of like crazy things happened. So I would say that in my identity and thinking about that wasn't a priority for me. What I discovered, though, what I discovered is after I got settled in Mexico and after I finally decided, hey, this is where I want to be long term. And this is about 90 days into my. My first 90 days here in Mexico. That was when I started to talk to immigration lawyers about really like staying here long term.
After all of that logistical stuff settled, that's when I sat with myself and I thought, huh, wow, this could mean my life could look very, very different from now on. I had that big realization. I even. I think I even cried. I grieved a little bit because there was also a lot of negative things happening back home in the Philippines. Corruption, nepotism.
Just a lot of things that I felt like I grieved a part of me. And then for a little bit, I felt lost. I was in a Mexican town surrounded by Americans and Canadians, and I'm a Filipina. I had no Asian friends.
I didn't have deep relationships around me because I only came here like 90 days ago. I had that moment where I just felt lost. I had, you know, it took my head out for a spin.
And it wasn't a full blown depression, but it definitely made me sad. It made me grieve a part of me a little bit. And. And that's the moment when I knew a part of my life ascended, if that makes sense.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: So I met you at your weakness, at your low point.
[00:29:42] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: It all makes sense now.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: You saw I was vulnerable.
I was a wet, sick chick.
[00:29:50] Speaker A: But let me ask you this. Was leaving your hometown worth it? Over all of those, the fear we talked about, the logistics of what will I do if I'm used to being in a physical location, relying on your skills and then also to, like, your identity, all of that is a hurdle, right? And a lot of people are facing. Was it worth it?
[00:30:12] Speaker B: Absolutely, for me, was absolutely worth it. I have this interaction with one of my real estate brokers in Davao where she casually asked me, how many houses are you paying right now? I was living in Davao at this time and I said, huh, I think about 10. She was like, what you're paying for 10 houses. How are you doing that? How are you making that money in Davao? Like, it just blew her mind. She just. She was like, are you serious? And this was because of my business. My business was doing very well. So I. I share that. To say it wasn't about money. Me leaving my hometown was about money because I made good money when I lived there.
So obviously I wanted more, and I wanted to accelerate the things that I was doing. And then the big push really was my mom passing away. To be completely honest with you, I would probably not have left if my mom didn't pass away. I hope to God I meet you in some other way, Alex. But maybe in Bali, in one of my vacations.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: But was it worth it?
[00:31:18] Speaker B: Worth it? Absolutely worth it. I grew a lot. I met you, and I learned a lot about myself.
[00:31:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I'd say for me, it was definitely worth. It was really hard for me to leave because of the identity thing.
That was the hardest part, was leaving behind family, for sure. But I'm. I'm a snowboarder. That was what my identity was for everyone. Annoying. Like, that is what I. I did from a child to my. My late all. You know, even all through my 20s. Like, I am a snowboarder through and through, hundreds of days a year, my walls are plastered.
Going to a place where my first time was like, leaving Idaho, went to Seattle. I could still do it, but it wasn't like, the center of my universe anymore, and that was scary. And however, the people I met made it totally worth it. Like, the diversity of people, different ideas, different experiences, it grew my mindset so much that I was able to become more successful, relate with more people, get my mind outside of the box, think differently. It changed me dramatically.
I advise anyone who hasn't left their hometown to absolutely do it, even if it's not intended to be permanent, Just do it for that part alone. And I'd say my second kind of situation was like leaving the US To Mexico.
And that was even scarier because then I really had to give up that snowboarder in. Man, we don't even have freaking waves of the surf here. We do, but they're horrible.
So, like, I have been here for almost five years, and I've almost had that part of me die. And it was the most special part of me with snowboarding.
But you know what? It never did die. It's never completely gone away. And I still have all of the same friends, same connections. Everyone still knows that's who I am. And I Am going back.
So I was able to achieve both. I was able to leave, experience new things, grow, build up businesses, and now I'm going back to revive that part of myself.
So I'd say at the end of the day, for me, it was completely worth it as well.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: Yeah. For me, at least, the exposure to different cultures is always worth it, because. Vice versa, too. There's a lot of things in my culture that I'm proud to bring to the world. I'm proud that I grew up in the Philippines from Davao. I'm proud that I came from the province. I'm proud of the values that we have around community and family and, you know, belief in God and things like that. I'm proud of all of those things, and I bring it with me, you know, wherever I am.
So aside from the fact that you. There's more for you to gain in terms of, like, maybe money, opportunities, new experiences, there's also, for me, there's also a delight in showing the world a piece of, you know, home.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: There's not only is there a lot to gain, there's a lot to give.
That is for sure. That is so good. Yeah.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: Well, I genuinely love this topic. I'm really curious what other people's experiences are. If they. If they regret leaving their hometown, if they regret not leaving their hometown, you know, what is their current situation? Hopefully this episode helped a little bit because I think it is a. It's a pivotal part in everyone's life. I remember literally crying my driving out of my hometown for the first time. You know, it's a scary thing, but it's the best thing I've ever done and also the scariest and sometimes feels like the worst. But I know it was the best. Right. So it's an interesting topic.
[00:35:03] Speaker B: Yeah. I know in this podcast we talk about business, growing businesses, growing a location, independent business. But that's the rich part, I guess the remote part is some. Sometimes these conversations are not all about money. And there's definitely a lot of. Lot to. To discuss and kind of like flesh out when making these decisions.
What are, like, the top two practical pieces of advice that you can give, whether it's logistics, financial, for people who are looking to, you know, leave their hometown?
[00:35:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I would say pick a. Pick a place that generally still has supports some of your interests and has some career mobility. So for me, that was Seattle. Still. I could logistically get back home pretty easy. It still wasn't that bad. It was far enough where I was definitely away.
It was far Enough where it was completely new people. It had skiing, snowboarding, it had mountains. So it had my interest there, but more so than I even had in Idaho. It was new and. And there's a tremendous amount of professional growth. So I had everything I needed there to get the most out of leaving my hometown. I don't think I would have gotten what I would have gotten if I left my hometown and gone to a place where I didn't have those things and I couldn't grow and prosper. So you want to leave, I think, for your first time, to go to an area where you can actually develop into a better person.
So I think choosing that location wisely is key.
The second thing I would mention is you got to literally have some.
How do I say? Discipline. Discipline is so key. Right. And that discipline can mean a lot of things. It might be restraining yourself from going out drinking all the time. It might be restraining yourself from staying inside and not going out drinking. Right. It could.
It could be a lot of different things. But you. You do need to still have. Have discipline or else that fear is going to keep you inside. It's going to keep you from moving forward and being better. So I think just practicing discipline and taking advantage of the opportunity you have.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: I like that. I love that point about discipline because a lot of career digital nomads always talk about how when you're moving around or you're nomading and you're going to these fun places, it can so easily be a bad experience, right? Like, people get entangled with the wrong crowd or they, they do drugs or, or drinking. They, you know, because it's all new to them, they end up just being so enamored by these things.
And for me, my, my two tips would be, number one is like, spend a lot of time alone to think about your choices. Just put a little bit more thought and intention into it. Ask yourself, is this really what I want? You know, if you're going on Tinder and you're swiping on a few people, is this worth my time or do I really want to meet this person? Right. And I would love to. Right? So just, you know, thinking about things through and not be swayed by. Not be swayed by whatever you saw on TikTok or whatever your friends are pressuring you with or whether you will look like a failure back home if you can't make anything work. I think just think about your. What you want first and foremost and be intentional. That's my tip number one. And my tip number two is if you're looking to maintain a good income or a good way to make money, always just follow what are the problems that need to be solved and where are the people that are willing to pay for that problem? So that's it. You can find them all online. You can find all of these online. Reddit, Quora, Facebook, any social media platform. There's a lot of answers for you.
[00:39:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, Carla, I think this was a great episode. Hopefully the listeners got some value. I definitely had some time to reflect and in full circle, we're moving back to my hometown. So that is just ironic.
[00:39:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:22] Speaker A: All right, everyone. Carla, you want to say anything to sign us off?
[00:39:28] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. If you have any tips for someone like me about moving to a really cold place, comment it on this episode. I will. Read them all or send me a message if you have any advice, anything that my husband's probably not telling me so that I can. I don't feel scared. I would love some advice.
[00:39:48] Speaker A: Lots of chapstick, Carla. Lots of chapstick.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: I'm looking forward to it.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: All right, guys, we'll see you in the next episode. Thank you all.
[00:39:57] Speaker B: Thank you. Bye.
Thanks for listening to Rich and Remote, where freedom isn't a dream, it's a decision.
This is Karla, this is Alex Booth, and this is our journey to our dream rich and remote life.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: If this episode inspired you, share with a friend who's ready to live life differently, too. This is perfect for entrepreneurs who crave financial freedom, location freedom, and freedom from the opinions of others.
[00:40:28] Speaker B: And don't forget to leave a quick review. It helps more freedom seekers find this show. Big thanks to our sponsors, Huckleberry Consulting, GetCsmith and Proximity Outsourcing.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: See you in the next episode. And check out our online hangout spot, richandremote.com.
