How I Got Started As A Digital Nomad
So you want to be a digital nomad, but part of you is thinking… how the heck do I even begin?
This is the conversation I wish someone had with me before I booked that first one way ticket and watched my life crack open in the best way.
I am Christa Romano, founder of the Digital Nomad Life Academy, and a career coach specialized in helping people create passion-led, location-independent remote businesses. I have helped thousands of beginners go from stuck to sovereign. Today I am going to show you a simple, doable path into this life, even if you feel terrified, behind, or unsure of your skills.
And because I believe in grounded action, I will weave in my own story to prove what is possible when you choose courage.
👉 If you want to go deeper after this, watch my free 90-minute masterclass on how to get started as a digital nomad: www.digitalnomadlifeacademy.com/masterclass.
You will learn the exact steps my students use to start their remote business without burning everything down.
Let’s go.
How to begin as a digital nomad when you are scared
Here is the thing. Fear does not mean stop. Fear means look closely, then move.
I did not start this lifestyle because I was fearless. I started because I was done waiting. After a neck fracture at twenty, I learned the most important truth of my life: time is a gift, not a guarantee. That lesson wrote the first page of my bucket list. Ninety two items. Mostly travel. All heart.
Years later, I was in New York, doing the so-called right things. I landed the “dream” job in travel PR. The brand names sparkled. The reality did not. Office politics. Buzzy titles. Silent Sundays in my soul.
Then the clients left and so did I. Fired. Ego bruised, yes. Also free.
I picked up freelance gigs from Craigslist, walked in the park on Tuesday afternoons, and made more money on my own terms than I had at the agency. For the first time, I felt space. Space to ask a better question.
If I want to travel, what is the next decision that puts me closer to that reality?
Not the perfect decision. The next one.
I chose a bridge. Teach English in Thailand. Easy entry. Pays the bills. Places me in a region I want to explore. That bridge mattered. Bridges change everything.
Why the first step is not your forever step
The most common block I see is the myth that your first move must be the final answer. It will not be. It should not be. My TEFL plan was a launchpad, not a life sentence.
Before Thailand, though, the fear spiked. Panic attacks. Nighttime spirals. Family worry. Friends projecting their own fears. If that is you right now, I see you. You are not weak. You are human. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the choice to keep moving with it.
I got on the plane.
I landed in Koh Samui and saw teal water, palms, a golden Buddha peeking above the trees. I knew in my bones that I was exactly where I was meant to be. That knowing is available to you too. Sometimes it just waits on the other side of a boarding pass.
How I made my own luck in my first months abroad
After my certification month, I headed to Bangkok to find a teaching job. Mid-semester meant slim pickings. I did what had already worked: I looked for freelance work. Another Craigslist listing. A simple blogging role.
At the interview, they looked at my background and said, you know digital marketing. We need that. Do you want a better job?
I walked out with a higher salary, an international team, and the chance to grow fast. Within months, I was asked to build and run an English language real estate magazine. Editor in chief in my twenties. That kind of leap would have taken a decade in New York. In Bangkok, it took initiative and timing.
Did the opportunity fall in my lap? No. I had put myself in the only place where that luck could find me. I applied. I showed up. I said yes.
The two years that followed were magic. Community. New skills. Weekend island hops that felt like postcards. Then life called. Losses at home. A fire. Family needed me. I went.
And here is another truth. Going home does not erase your progress. It clarifies it.
I tried on the old version of me for a minute. Pencil skirt. Subway. Interviews. A friend sent a text that snapped me back to myself. Where is the barefoot girl dancing in the rain? That question pierced the fog.
I gave myself permission to try a different route. I accepted a future job offer in Europe that required waiting. In the meantime, I took a contract role with a US tech startup just to earn. Then I did one small thing that changed everything.
I took my laptop to a pool chair in Costa Rica.
I opened my inbox. I worked. And I realized I never needed the office at all.
I called the startup founder. Do you actually care where I am if my results are great and I am online for calls? He laughed. I do not care if you are in Costa Rica or on Mars. Just deliver. That sentence felt like I had won the lottery.
So I cancelled my return flight. I crossed into Nicaragua with new friends. I surfed, worked, and explored. I invited my mom to meet me in Medellin because I heard there were other laptop workers there. We ate arepas and talked about dreams. I stayed for months. Then Ecuador. Then Brazil. Then more countries than I could have fit into that original bucket list.
Here is the part that matters for you. My entry point was not elite. It was scrappy, resourceful, and human. I took a bridge job. I freelanced. I said yes to real-world chances that aligned with my values. I kept moving.
Why you do not need a perfect plan to start
Let me dismantle a few beliefs that keep people stuck.
You think you need a lot of money. You do not. You need a runway that buys you time to make better decisions. I sold furniture, got my deposit back, and saved aggressively for a few months. I left with a few thousand dollars, a working plan, and a commitment to get paid as quickly as possible.
You think you need a polished online brand.
👎 You do not.
✅ You need a willingness to pitch, learn, and iterate.
You think you need to already be an expert.
👎 You do not.
✅ You need one marketable skill you can sell while you build others. When you are in motion, opportunities multiply.
You think entrepreneurship is too hard.
🌦️ Some days it is.
💃 Many days it is energising. Every day it is worth becoming the person who can handle it.
And here is the reframe:
Your first move is not forever. It is a data collection mission. The faster you run experiments, the faster you find your fit.
What actually works: The beginner path in 7 simple moves
If you are overwhelmed, exhale. Here is a starter roadmap that blends courage with common sense. Read it, then pick one action to take today.
Choose a bridge. Select the simplest, fastest way to start earning from anywhere. Teaching English. Customer support. Content writing. Virtual assistance. It is not forever. It is momentum.
Reduce your burn. Sell what you do not need, release your lease, cut unnecessary costs. Buy time, not things.
Go where opportunity is dense. Popular hubs make it easier. Think places with coworking, community, and affordable living. Being surrounded by builders elevates your energy and your options.
Pitch like it is your job. Because it is. Apply daily to roles that match your current skills. Aim for contract work first if that feels easier. Keep your asks simple. Keep your delivery strong.
Say yes to stretch roles. If someone offers you a role that lets you grow faster, consider it. I said yes to editing a magazine because I trusted my ability to learn. That yes changed my career.
Build relationships on purpose. The people you meet will shape your trajectory. Offer value. Follow through. Be the person others love to recommend.
Keep your end game in view. If your long term goal is your own remote business, start laying bricks. Choose a service you actually like. Learn it. Package it. Sell it. Repeat.
That is it. Simple. Not easy, but simple.
How to navigate the messy middle without losing steam
There will be days when the Wi-Fi is temperamental and the time zone is confusing. There will be ups and downs. Here is how to stay grounded while your life expands.
Create a work rhythm. Set non-negotiable hours, even on the road. Freedom gets sweeter when you protect your focus.
Measure progress, not perfection. Track outcomes. Celebrate wins. Learn from mistakes.
Anchor to your values. You are not travelling to escape your life. You are travelling to live it more fully. Let that guide your choices.
Keep learning on a schedule. One new skill at a time. Depth beats dabbling.
Stay honest with yourself. If the role you are in is draining you, adjust. The goal is sustainability.
Remember, I started with a remote job before I built my own programs. Both paths are valid. Both build confidence. Both are steps toward the same horizon: a self-authored life.
What makes this lifestyle worth it
It is not only the passport stamps. It is the person you become. Confident. Capable. Calm under pressure. Willing to try. Willing to ask. Willing to choose yourself.
I look back at that girl on the plane to Thailand, knees bouncing with nerves, and I want to hug her. Not because she had it all figured out. Because she did not. She just chose to trust herself one decision at a time.
You can do the same.
If you want the handrails, I built them.
I am a career coach specialized in helping people create passion-led, location-independent remote businesses.
Inside my world, you do not need to arrive with a niche, a network, or a plan. You will leave with skills, a simple offer, and a clear path to clients. The community alone is worth its weight in gold.
If you are ready for a practical starting point, watch my free 90-minute masterclass on how to get started as a digital nomad:
👉 www.digitalnomadlifeacademy.com/masterclass.
It will help you choose your bridge, audit your finances, and outline your first pitch week.
💭 Frequently asked truth bombs for beginners
Q: What if my family does not approve?
Your choices will likely mirror those of other people. That can feel confronting for them. Stay loving. Stay steady. Let your results speak.
Q: What if I am terrified?
Me too. I had panic attacks the month before I left. Fear is loud before big leaps. Breathe. Take the next step anyway.
Q: What if I fail?
You will make mistakes. Good. Mistakes are tuition. Adjust and continue.
Q: What if I do not know my passion yet?
Pick a useful skill that pays. Passion often grows from competence and a sense of contribution.
Q: What if I want a remote business eventually?
Great. Start with a bridge income, then carve out consistent time to build your offer and your client pipeline. You do not need to flip your life overnight. You need to move with intention.
🔑 Key takeaways you can act on today
You don't need a perfect plan to begin. You need your next right step.
Choose a bridge job that pays you quickly from anywhere. Momentum matters more than prestige.
Move to a place where opportunities and community are easily accessible.
Pitch daily, learn weekly, and say yes to roles that stretch you.
Your first step is a starting point, not a sentence. Adjust as you go.
Keep your long-term vision visible. If you want your own remote business, lay one brick every day.
Your move
This life is not about quitting your job to run away. It is about choosing the version of you who shows up fully. The version who trusts herself to figure it out. The version that stops waiting for permission and starts creating options.
You are capable of that. More than you know.
If you want my help, I am here.
I am Christa Romano, founder of the Digital Nomad Life Academy.
I help people like you create passion-led, location-independent careers that feel good and pay well.
Come learn the exact steps in my free 90-minute masterclass on how to get started as a digital nomad: www.digitalnomadlifeacademy.com/masterclass.
Bring your notebook. Bring your courage. Let’s build your future together.
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(1) How I Got Started as a Digital Nomad
[Christa] (0:00 - 37:17): Hey guys, Christa from Christabellatravels here. Today I am about to share with you how I got started as a digital nomad. This story goes all the way back to the very beginning, eight years ago. And when I say eight years, October 22nd, 2013, I booked my first ever one-way flight to Thailand. And that really is such a special day to me in my heart because that really was a day that my whole life changed, where everything started.
So yeah, I wanted to share my story with you in honor of my eight-year anniversary. Also, shout out to one of my coaching clients, Paolo, who is in the process of becoming a digital nomad himself. He is a podcast manager and really motivated me to create my own podcast to share my story. So I just want to thank you in advance for listening and I really hope that this helps inspire you.
This story is specifically for anybody who you feel like you really want to travel the world, you want to have more freedom,
you feel like you're stuck in the corporate rat race,
or maybe you're not in the corporate rat race at all, but maybe you know about it and how bad it is and you don't want to go in there.
Or maybe you just got fired from your job,
or maybe some big shift happened, a breakup, some kind of catalyst like that.
Anyway, basically, you want to change in your life, but you just don't know how to make it happen.
In the future episodes of this, I will be revealing to you all kinds of tips and tricks that you can listen to or that you can really take to heart and use them to change your own life. But this episode today, I'm going to be talking about moi, just myself and my story. And yeah, I hope that it really inspires someone out there to seize the day, do the shit that you're scared of, and know that the net will appear when you do. Okay, so let's get into it. All right, so this story begins in, I guess for me, oh my gosh, wow, where does the story really begin? Okay, so from way back, way back,
I always wanted to travel the world. I remember being a little kid and just like enthralled with just the idea of Greece and Asia. And when I was in college, I was so excited, so excited to study abroad. And I had given myself the entirety of my junior year to live in Rome.
My last name's Romano, and I just was really excited to go connect with my heritage. And to make a very long story short, two weeks before I was meant to get on the airplane to go to Italy, I had this freak accident. I was at a party, and I was very drunk in my 20-year-old experience, American, and there was a pool. Basically, I dove into the pool. I hit my head on the bottom, and that resulted in me fracturing two vertebrae, aka I broke my neck. And damn, that experience rocked my world. I think I got to say the details on that for another episode. But basically, this event was really the catalyst of my life as I know it today.
Even though it took a few years for the traveling aspect of what I really wanted to manifest in my life, years and years later. I can look back on it and know that this is, it was the best thing that happened to me, as painful as it was, as shameful as it was, as traumatic as it was. It was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it made me understand that life is fragile. I don't want to say that life is short. I think that there's lots of time in life if we get an opportunity to live it, but we might not get that opportunity. That opportunity could be taken from us at any minute. So when I was still recovering from that accident, there was a day where I was feeling pretty hopeful, actually, that I was going to recover scotch-free, which happened. I am 100% fine now, by the way. I spent this whole day making a bucket list. I had nowhere to go. I had nothing to do. I really let my mind go wild when I was making this bucket list.
I was writing down like, play with the elephants in Thailand and party in Rio de Janeiro for carnival and see the pyramids of Egypt. A lot of it was travel stuff. Some other stuff, like write a book and whatever, but a lot of it, I want to say 70% was travel. And I had 92 items on the list at the time when I made it in 2009.
So flash forward, 2010, one of the things on the list was become a real city girl. I'm from the suburbs of Boston and just, for me, the city was always something that was really exciting for me. So when I graduated from UMass Amherst, which is in the middle of nowhere, I was like, all right, it's time to move to the city.
And if I'm going to take my bucket list seriously, I got to move to the big city. So I moved to New York and got a job at a marketing agency. And it was awesome.
That marketing agency, by the way, I totally lied to them on my resume when they asked me where I lived. I told them I lived in New Jersey because I didn't want them to use my Boston address as a reason for them to not hire me. So I was like, yeah, I can totally start next week. And literally, with very little money in my pocket, I hopped on a Chinatown bus and went there for the interview, eventually got the job. And then, yeah, a couple of weeks later, I was moving into this apartment in Brooklyn. And those first few years of living in New York were really, really exciting. Oh, my gosh, being like 21, 22, 23 was a blast, just so much fun.
But as you get a little bit older, it was when I was 25 that I was like, okay, time to really focus more on my career. And what do I want to do? Well, I want to travel, but how can I travel and get paid for it? Because I was kind of living paycheck to paycheck at the time, because that's what you do when you're in New York. So I started applying for other jobs that I thought could integrate travel with my professional life. And what I decided to do was travel public relations. And I got a job at a PR agency that had travel clients. And the clients were like the Department of Tourism for Bermuda, and different hotels. And at the beginning, this job seemed really freaking cool to me, because I was going to get to take journalists on all these trips to go check out the destination and then have them write about it.
That's what PR is, by the way, if you didn't know. It's when it's basically getting press for your clients. But this job was... The job itself was fine, but the environment for me was the most suffocating, oppressive, nightmare environment I could imagine. It was an office of 50 women only. And I just found the girls to be so bitchy, catty, and judgmental, and scary, kind of. I didn't have a great relationship with my boss, and I felt a really, really toxic environment. In the end, about three of my clients all decided to not re-sign in the same month. And I got let go. Just this clean cutthroat, like, oh, we don't need you at this moment. So you're done. And I got let go. I got fired, which was, wow, the biggest crushing of my ego ever. I never, ever thought that I would be fired, but I got it. And I remember sitting there and being like, this is the best thing that's ever happened to me, even though I'm devastated. Because I just, yeah, that environment was super toxic. So basically, from there, I was like, okay, now what do I do?
Because I live in New York City, and I got no money. I need to make money, and I need to make money now. Being financially independent was always something that was super important to me. Asking my parents if they could help support me financially was just really not an option. So the best thing that I could do at the time was pick up some odd jobs. I had been feeling really burnt out from the agency life, because just considering the toxic environment that I had just left, I really wasn't sure if I wanted to go back into that.
I actually had a lot of luck on Craigslist, go figure. I think that there's probably not a lot of people that have... I think there just wasn't a lot of competition for people with my skills. Maybe people just don't naturally think of Craigslist as a place to apply for jobs that require a college level experience and the ability to write well, etc. So I got a bunch of random jobs on Craigslist, and I was getting paid under the table. Actually, I was getting paid more just doing these random jobs on random days of the week than I was when I was at the PR agency.
All of a sudden, I had a Tuesday afternoon free to walk through the park in New York City, and I was just like, wow, why haven't I been doing this before? This is crazy.
So basically, I kept this gig freelancing scenario going for about eight months, and it was really cool. I actually started really enjoying it, but career has always been super important to me as well.
Having a good career that I can be proud of was a value of mine. So in the summer of that year, my lease was coming up, and I had to make a decision.
Am I going to re-sign that lease where I was paying $1,600 a month or something in New York? Do I re-sign this lease and stay here without having a proper job and a stable income, or do I move back to Boston? I didn't want to do that. Or do I just do something else? And I remember asking one of my best friends there, just saying,
I just don't know what to do. And for her, she was like, Christa, I love you, but I would love for you to stay here, but I don't know why you would stay here.
And I think it was just she kind of gave me that permission to think outside of the box. And it was another friend as well that was like, oh, I'm over New York too. We should just go travel.
And I remember being like, oh, travel. I always wanted to travel. There's so many things on my bucket list about traveling. Yeah, we should travel. Great idea. Let's do that. And so for me, I had a deadline. My lease was ending. I had to get out of there. So I started pouring over research on how I could travel and make money. Because again, money was really tight and going into debt was absolutely not an option for me. So yeah, after research, research, research, there was no Instagrams at the time, by the way. There weren't all these influencers telling me what was possible. All I really had available to me were blogs. So there were a couple of key blogs, but there was this one guy, his name's Johnny. He has a blog called One Step Forward. And he wrote about how he was an English teacher in Thailand. And that actually, if you go teach English in Thailand, it's a decent enough pay for you to live very comfortably.
Thailand is well situated in Southeast Asia, where there's so many cool destinations to go see. And that it's really easy to get an English teaching job if you are a native English speaker. So for me, I was like, that's it. I don't know what else I'm going to do for work. And I didn't care where I was going to go. There were so many places on my bucket list, I could have gone anywhere. But this seems like a very clear, safe, easy enough path laid before me option. So I decided to do that. I'll never forget calling my mom, telling people at the bar that I was moving to Thailand. And the judgment, the judgment, oh my god, people literally were looking at me like I had six heads. It was very intense of an experience, I will say. A lot of people, yeah, just... Here's something that I've realized is when you decide to do something that's really, really different, it makes people question their own life decisions. And that threatens their ego, and they end up criticizing you as a result to protect their own ego. I didn't know this at the time.
I probably internalized a lot of it. And as a result, the month leading up to me going to Thailand, I had booked my plane ticket for October 22nd. I would say like starting at the end of August, I started to get really, really scared.
I was just, I remember my mom crying to me one night telling me that I was going to get sold into sex slavery and like getting really lost, looking up the horrible Boxing Day tsunami that happened in Thailand and just, you know, like just catastrophizing the situation, thinking like all these horrible things that could happen. But for me, I had already decided to give up my lease in New York. My roommates already had a replacement. I didn't have another job. And I had my bucket list, which said that I needed to travel and that I wanted to have big travel experiences before I retired.
So, you know, I was terrified. I've only ever had panic attacks during that month before Thailand in my life, but I had several of them. They were striking me like in the middle of the highway. Like I was freaking out, guys. Okay. And I really wanted to emphasize this just because I think so many people that hear about my story or like they know what my life is, they think that I'm this invincible, fearless person and that they would be way too scared to do it. No, it's not like that. I was fucking terrified. Okay. I was terrified, but I did it anyway. And that's what real courage is. And if you're terrified of doing something, you can still do it anyway. You don't need to let your fear be totally debilitating, feel the fear and do it anyway. This is what I always tell my clients.
So I boarded my first ever one way flight to Thailand, October 22nd, 2013. And what's crazy is I spent that whole flight, like agonizing, like, Oh my God, what did I just do? What did I just do? What did I just do?
And I remember, I will never forget the feeling of looking out my airplane window, just about to land on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand and seeing just all these palm trees and this teal water in the Buddha statue sticking up from above the palm trees and seeing this vision. And it was like, I had seen this vision before. And I had, I had seen countless images of this place. And all of a sudden I was seeing it for real with my own eyes. And that is when I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
I don't know if you've ever had an experience like that, but that is just truly the most like spiritual experience. I think you can have like knowing in your core that you're where you're supposed to be is very, very special. And I wish for you that you have an opportunity to feel that someday too, if you haven't yet. Anyway, long story short, Thailand was life changing. I got there with no expectations, just, you know, like maybe I think I had $2,000 in my pocket. Oh, I didn't even tell you that before I moved because I really like needed to scrounge for money. I sold all my furniture, got a thousand dollars from that.
I got my $1,500 security deposit back and I just worked my butt off as much as I could the few months before. So I think I had saved like $6,000 and then I spent a thousand of it on the plane ticket and then 1,200 of it on my teaching English certification because you needed to get certified with a TEFL, also a TOEFL, there's an ESL, there's all these different certifications. I got a TEFL. So I spent 1,200 on that. And then I had, yeah, like less than $4,000 to my name when I arrived in Thailand.
And I needed to stretch that until I got a paying job, but the TEFL was going to take like a month to get. So I spent the month on the island of Koh Samui in a classroom of like eight other foreigners from all over the world and we were all learning how to teach English and that was so cool and beautiful because I was like, whoa, these people like have the same idea as me. That's amazing. We're so like-minded. I didn't even know that there were other people out there like me, because everybody at home was telling me that I was so different from everybody else, and it really made me feel super isolated.
But all of a sudden, in Thailand, there were all these people who were just like me. They had the same ideas, and that was really cool. So that first month of getting my TEFL was amazing. I felt really purposeful. I got to learn a lot about the Thai culture. I also learned a new skill. I met really cool people. I partied. I had so much fun. I lived on the beach. It was fabulous.
Anyway, when my TEFL ended around mid-November, I thought, okay, like I like living in big cities, so it's time to go to Bangkok and look for a teaching job. Because it was mid-November, that was in the middle of the semester and the only teaching jobs that seemed to be available were ones where the teachers had quit because it wasn't a good environment or the school was never able to fill that spot anyway, either because it wasn't a good environment or because the school was in a really far away location from the center of the city. So I kind of felt like, shit, like I don't want to sign up for a year of teaching my first year and end up in a shitty situation.
So what can I do to hold myself over until the next semester begins? So what did I do? I went back to what was working for me a few months prior and I went on Craigslist and I was applying for random jobs on Craigslist. And when I say random jobs, guys, I wasn't selling foot pics. I was doing respectable work, okay? I was applying for like blogging jobs and things like that. So I applied for this job that was advertised as a blogging position, part-time, remote. So I was like, okay, this will do. But the guys, like they read my resume and called me in for an in-person interview. I remember I met them at a Starbucks and it was these two British guys. Oh no, one guy was German. Anyway, they were like, yeah, so your resume, you have digital marketing experience, you have public relations experience, you've worked in an agency in New York. What are you doing applying for a part-time blogging position? We actually have a startup and we're looking for a native English speaking digital marketing person. Do you want this job instead?
And this job was going to pay me twice as much as any teaching job. I was going to get to work in a high rise office building and I was going to get to do something that was relevant to the career that I had been working on. But this time it was different. I wasn't going to be in a catty cutthroat New York City agency environment. I was going to be working in-house for a startup with international people who thought just like me, who weren't going to judge me for the shoes that I was or wasn't wearing. And that for me, it was a full body, fuck yes. I was like, fuck yes, I want this job. Thank you. Fuck teaching. Not that teaching would have been bad. I still think it would have been a fine way to get started. But really, really grateful that this magical opportunity just kind of, I don't want to say it fell into my lap. It didn't fall into my lap. I didn't get lucky. I was, I maybe was in the right place at the right time, but I put myself out there, right?
I got on that plane. I applied for that job. So let's not take that away from me or anyone else who has a cool life. They didn't get lucky. They made their own luck. So yeah, I got hired by this company called Dot Property and they were creating the first ever English language real estate website in Thailand. There's so many foreigners and expats that live in Thailand. This was like really a great idea for a startup. And me getting to work there in the early days, it actually was only a couple of months later that I got hired that I remember a CEO saying, you know, like these real estate agents in Thailand, they're so old school. They want listings catalogs. Like we need to make our own print magazine. Does anybody know anything about print magazines? Oh Christa, what about you? And I remember being like, um, I have a journalism degree and they're like, great, you're going to create a magazine. And then suddenly I was the editor in chief of Thailand property magazine.
Still to this day, like one of the coolest projects I've ever created. I am responsible for this magazine that I think still exists in Thailand now, but yeah, this like 70, 78 page glossy real estate magazine that circulates around the English language population in Thailand. And what's crazy about that is I never ever in a million years would have been given that experience as an entry level person in New York city or someone who had a few years of experience. But in Thailand, you know, the competition was so much less for professional people that I just was there in the right place at the right time.
I, I made my own luck. I put myself out there and I got the job. There was nobody else that was more readily available and suitable for the job than me. So basically I spent the next two years in Thailand. I thought I was going to, I thought I'd maybe be in Thailand for like six months. No, I stayed for two years. This tends to be what happens to people when they move abroad. They tell themselves, Oh yeah, three months, six months, one year.
They always say for like twice as long because you never know. But when you do put yourself in those situations, that's when you allow miracles to happen. So yeah, my life was just full of miracles. My God, the people that I met, the events that I got to go to, I was living a very high society life. I was living on the 27th floor of this luxury high rise apartment, a gym and a pool. And I was paying $300 a month for it. And I had lots of leftover money to go traveling to different islands in Thailand and different places in Southeast Asia. And the people that I was meeting, I think I've said that six times, but the people are everything when you travel. So life in Thailand was just pure magic. I fell head over heels in love with the expat life, with living abroad. And I really didn't want to go home. I really was pretty committed to living abroad. But so many things happened back home while I was away.
Quick hit list, two of my aunts died in the same year, one very tragically and the other one just earlier than she should have. And there was a huge fire at my house, basically like an electrical outlet sparked and then exploded one of the rooms, which was where I had left all of my stuff, by the way.
So all of my stuff that I had left at home that I wanted to come back to was incinerated. This fire was basically the catalyst to my parents separating, which ultimately led to their divorce. And yeah, just a lot of really, I don't know, heart crushing things were happening. And my dad was like super depressed. And I just felt like after two years of me just living the high life and having so much fun in Thailand, I really felt like a deep responsibility to go back and be with my family. So reluctantly, I ended up booking a flight, quit my job, and I went back on a one-way ticket to Boston. And it was good. It was good to be there for a month to be there to emotionally support my family. But in the end, I just realized me
being here isn't doing anything for anybody. Why am I here? I'm not happy. I was happy where I was. I was happy back there. I was happy following my dreams. I was happy crossing things off my bucket list. What am I doing here? Why am I here? So I started thinking, oh, should I move back to New York? Because I did like it there. And maybe now that I have way cooler professional experience, I can get a better job. So that was the plan.
I remember texting one of my friends who was still in Thailand, a picture of me wearing this black pencil skirt and blazer about to go to an interview in New York, and him just saying, who are you? This doesn't look like you. Where's the Christa that we know who's covered in neon face paint and dancing on the beach with her hair wet from the rain that just poured on her while she was frolicking barefoot in the grass? Where is she? Where is she? And yeah, I just remember taking a good look at myself in the mirror and being like, fuck, where is she?
That's who I want to be. That's the girl that I love. That's my authentic self.
Not this mask of wearing a black pencil skirt and getting on the subway just to be underground the whole time and never seeing the sunlight because the buildings are too tall and spending every week drinking alcohol in a dark bar because we can't get to the beach because it takes three hours to get outside of Manhattan.
I had this come to moment where I was like, I got to get out of here. I got to get out of here. I got to go. I need to do something else, anything else. Where can I go?
Moving back to Thailand felt like I didn't want to do anything with my tail between my legs. And I thought, OK, well, I left Thailand because it was so far away. It was like a 12-hour time difference and a 24-hour flight. Maybe I can move somewhere that's closer. Maybe I can move to Europe. Maybe I can move to South or Central America. So then I started looking for jobs. Actually, through the network that I had met in Thailand, I ended up getting a job offer at an agency in Malta. But it was going to take a few months to process my visa. And I also just wanted to spend a little bit more time at home. So I told them this was, I think, October, November that I was like, OK, can I start in February? So I was going to move to Malta, which is an island in the Mediterranean, by the way. I was going to move to Malta in February. And then in the meantime, I just had a few months to kill to make money. So what did I do?
I went back to applying for freelance jobs. And where did I go? I went on to Craigslist. And I found a tech startup that was hiring content creators to just create content to fill up this app. So I applied for this job. I got it. I had really cool experience on my resume at this point, by the way, saying that I was the editor-in-chief of a magazine in Thailand. So I got hired. And again, the guy that hired me, he was like, whoa, you have really cool experience. What are you doing applying for this kind of job? And I told him the whole thing like, yeah, I really want to move abroad. And I just I want to do something different and unique with my life. And I'm just killing time. So he was like, well, we're going to need our first digital marketing person soon. Maybe you want to work with us? And I was like, no, I'm really excited about living in Malta. I think I want to work in an office. I like having co-workers. I like the social aspect. So he was like, all right, well, we'll just keep in touch and you can just keep doing contract work for us in the meantime. So I'm always the go-to travel friend for anybody back in the United States.
And I remember December of that year, so I'd been working for this tech startup for a couple months. And my friend Emma messaged me and she was like, I really want to travel. I need to use my vacation time before the end of the year.
Do you want to go somewhere for New Year's? So we did a bunch of research. We decided to go to Costa Rica and popped on down to Costa Rica late December. And yeah, popped down to Costa Rica. And I decided that I would book my plane ticket to just be one extra week longer than Emma.
So, you know, cause I wasn't really experienced with solo traveling at the time, but I was like, well, there's no reason for me to rush back to Boston where it's freezing and snowy. So I'll just stay for one extra week. Yeah. We had a great trip to Costa Rica, Emma left. And then, you know, I, the day that she left, I opened up my laptop and I was like, right. Okay. Time to go back to this contract gig that I was doing. And I was sitting by the pool with my laptop and I had this crazy light bulb moment that I was like, why would I go sit in an office to do my job when I could just do it from here? Like this is way better. Why, what am I doing going to Malta
This guy at this tech startup was telling me that I could have exactly this and I'd be crazy not to take it. So I ended up calling him and I was like, Hey, is that job still a thing? Is it available? And he was like, yes, we're literally just ready now to hire our first marketing person and would love to have you like you already know the business. And basically I got hired from within went from being a contractor to being hired as a remote employee. This like conversation I'll never ever forget. Because this was really like solidifying the light bulb moment was when I told him, okay, so thank you so much for the job offer. Can't wait to get started. Do you need me to be back in the States before I start? And he was like, I don't care where you are. You're, you're a remote worker. Like you want to be in Costa Rica.
You want to be in Thailand. You want to, you want to go to Malta, like wherever, just if you're online nine to five Eastern time, be online when you need to be online, make sure you have good Wi-Fi, make sure it's quiet so you can have these calls and go wherever you want. I don't care. And for me, that was like my ticket. It was like ding, ding, ding, jackpot lottery winner, literally felt like I just won the lottery. Like that I was just given this crazy freedom. It was amazing.
And I was going to get paid more than the Malta job too, by the way.
So that was epic as well. So yeah, I, uh, canceled my return flight home and then I was just in Costa Rica with a job and nowhere particular to be. So I checked into a hostel and I met all these people that they were like, Oh, we're going to Nicaragua tomorrow, Sunday, fun day, San Juan del Sur. Shout out to anybody who's been to that party. It is insane. I crossed the border a few days later with these people to Nicaragua, got to see another country and lived on the beach, learned how to surf. It was insane.
And then I remember calling my mom and being like, mom, I think, I think I'm going to stay here for a while. This is really beautiful and awesome. And her just being like, Oh, like I want to travel. It's so cold and snowy here. Let me come meet you. And I was like, well, you know, I've been hearing a lot about this place, Medellin in Colombia. And I think a lot of remote workers go there and it would be really nice to meet other people who work on their laptop too. So do you want to meet me in Colombia? And my mom just being like, I'll go anywhere. So yeah, a week later, boarded a flight to Colombia to this beautiful, you know, Valley city in the mountains, Medellin and, uh, spent a week with my mom. She left. I was still, I stayed there. I ended up staying in Colombia for two months. And then I decided, Oh, Ecuador, Ecuador is right there. Why don't I go to Ecuador? Popped over to Ecuador, stayed there for two months, decided then I would go to Brazil, stayed there for a month. And basically the rest is history. Like six, 60 countries later, years and years, you know, I've, I've really seen so much of the world.I got to cross off so many things on my bucket list guys. I did go party in Rio de Janeiro for carnival. I did see the pyramids of Egypt. I did obviously hang out with elephants in Thailand. I drank beer in Germany. I smoked shisha in Marrakesh. I slept in the desert all night. I went whitewater rafting in Austria. Like, Oh my gosh, I did. Can I just tell you, I've done some fucking amazing things and how, why, how did it all happen?
I dreamed it from the beginning. I envisioned myself doing it way back in 2009 when I made that bucket list. And, uh, I, I had no idea how it was going to manifest, but the universe has a funny way of doing things and showing us the path. So I'm really glad that I listened to my intuition. I'm really glad that I, you know, back in the day before I was getting on that first one-way flight to Thailand, that I felt the fear, not that I wasn't scared. I was terrified, but I did it anyway. I faced my fear. I did the thing that I was scared of.
And as a result, I was rewarded in the most miraculous, unbelievable ways ever. And that is really a principle that I live by very much. And so, um, you may be wondering like, okay, so you were a remote employee and I was, I worked for the same, for the same tech startup for years, but now I work for myself. As you heard at the beginning of the podcast, I'm a coach. I made the transition from being a remote employee into working completely for myself about two years ago, right before the pandemic actually, where I had had so many people messaging me on Instagrams saying like, how do I live this life?
And there, you know, there was only so much I could do in the DMS to tell these people like how they can change their life. I've literally been talking on this podcast for God knows how many minutes. So, you know, it's a, it's like, I have a lot to share. I have a lot to say. And I decided like, I should just do this professionally. I'm so passionate about helping other people create their own life of freedom that I'm going to do this professionally. So I transitioned into launching my own coaching business.
It, I, I'm, I feel very proud to say it was pretty much like an immediate success and I've only continued growing it and growing it. And now I run regular programs where I take 32 people at a time and help them identify what is a skill that they can learn. They don't need to have a skill to start. They don't actually need any, they literally don't need anything. You could be a waitress, you could be a high school graduate, or you could be 20 years into your career. I don't care. In my programs, I help you identify what is one skill that you can learn. Then you learn the skill in the program. And then I teach you how to create a small service provider business around that skill. And what's cool is everybody does something different. I really believe in focusing on what is right for you individually based on your personality, skillset, and interests. Because if you're doing something that you don't really like to do, there's no way it's going to be sustainable and you're going to end up moving back home with your tail between your legs and it's going to be embarrassing and like terrible. So I help people choose what's the right thing for them. And then we take it from there.
And I'm so proud of all my previous clients who have completely changed their life. They're like living in different places. They're chasing their dreams. They're making as much money as they want. And yeah, I'm just, I'm really, I just love, love, love, love my job. I'm so grateful I get to do this. And what's awesome, like guys, when you come into my program, if you're interested, not only do you have all of my travel experience, I'm an open book, ask me literally anything, but like I know what it's like to be a freelancer. I know what it's like to live abroad and work in an office. I know what it's like to be a remote employee. I know what it's like to be a coach. I know what it's like to be a content creator. I know what it's like to be an entrepreneur. I really have, I bring a lot of experience to the table and just can't wait to share it with my clients every day.
It's the best, best thing ever. I freaking love it. So if you were inspired by my story, hope you were then, you know, I hope that you slide into my DMS and tell me that you listened to this podcast. Nothing would make me happier than to hear that it struck a chord with you in one way or another. And if you're really interested in my coaching, even better slide into Christabellatravels coaching on Instagrams. That's like my secret IG account that, you know, I never reveal until like the very end of a very long winded, uh, long winded content creation thing. Um, so that only the people that I know that are really interested ever learn about it. Um, and if you slide in then to that account, Christabellatravels coaching. Um, I will, I will see your message and I will get back to you. So let's talk, let's change your life and, uh, let's get you out of the matrix. Thank you so much for listening means the world to me and see you somewhere out there. Thanks. Bye.