March 27, 2025 • 52 mins
#153 - Meet Ryan Mellon, a man who completely transformed his life by breaking free from the grind of 80-hour workweeks to embrace a life of global adventure. For over a decade, Ryan worked grueling 14-hour days, splitting time between fixing deep fryers and sorting packages at UPS, until a transformative two-week trip to Costa Rica ignited a vision for something different.
This captivating conversation tracks Ryan's methodical journey from overworked employee to successful digital nomad coach. After convincing his friends to join a year-long RV adventure across America, Ryan discovered he could leverage his real estate license to earn remotely – the pivotal realization that launched his location-independent lifestyle. Seven years later, he's worked from 23 US states and 22 countries while developing multiple income streams.
Ryan breaks down the three primary paths to digital nomadism – remote employment, freelancing, and entrepreneurship – offering practical insights for anyone considering this increasingly accessible lifestyle. With 66 countries now offering digital nomad visas and co-living spaces emerging worldwide, the barriers to location-independence continue to fall.
The episode brims with riveting travel tales, from motorcycle journeys through rural Vietnamese mountains to living on catamarans in crystal-clear Bahamian waters. Ryan shares both the extraordinary benefits of digital nomad life and its genuine challenges, including navigating internet reliability and combating occasional loneliness.
Now operating as a "hybrid nomad," Ryan splits his time between summers on his Virginia sailboat and winters abroad, with Bali emerging as his absolute favorite destination. His coaching practice helps others create their own versions of freedom, whether that means full-time travel or simply more flexibility and autonomy in daily life.
Ready to reimagine what's possible in your work and life? This conversation might just be the permission slip you need to explore new horizons. What adventure awaits when you step beyond conventional boundaries?
To learn more about Ryan and his coaching be sure to check out his website thedigitalnomadcoach.com and you can also check out his Instagram account @thedigitalnomadcoach.
Want to be a guest on Journey with Jake? Send me a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/journeywithjake
Visit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind. Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.
Visit geneticinsights.co and use the code "DISCOVER25" to enjoy a sweet 25% off your first purchase.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When I first started this podcast about three and a
half years ago, I had no ideawhat a digital nomad was.
Since then, I've discoveredthis fascinating community of
people who travel full timewhile working remotely from all
over the world.
My guest today, ryan Mellon, isnot only a digital nomad
himself, but also a coach whohelps others navigate the path
(00:20):
to this unconventional lifestylethe path to this unconventional
lifestyle.
Through his coaching services,ryan guides aspiring digital
nomads on how to build asustainable,
location-independent career.
Today, ryan will share his ownadventures and insights from
life on the road, offering aglimpse into the world of
digital nomadism and the freedomand challenges it brings.
So sit back and enjoy RyanMellon's incredible journey.
(00:44):
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will feature adifferent guest or guests, as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you'll also
(01:05):
hear the failures and trials, asthey share experiences and
stories from the differentadventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
their way.
My goal is to take each of uson a journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination as it is about
(01:28):
the journey.
Hello everyone and welcome tothe show.
My name is Jake Bushman and I'mthe host of Journey with Jake.
(01:48):
Today, I had the privilege ofspeaking with digital nomad
coach Ryan Mellon.
Fun fact, in the middle of ourconversation, we actually lost
connection for about 10 minutes.
Thankfully, the magic ofediting means you won't even
notice it happened, but it's areminder of the reality of
chatting with someone who'sliterally a world away, in
(02:08):
Ryan's case, all the way in Bali.
Before we dive into myconversation with Ryan, I want
to mention that Journey withJake is part of the Podmatch
Podcast Network.
If you're looking for somegreat podcasts across topics
like business comedy,self-improvement you name it
check out podmatchcom forwardslash network.
You're bound to find somethingthat piques your interest.
(02:30):
If you haven't already, pleasesubscribe to the show wherever
you listen to your podcasts, soyou never miss an episode.
And hey, if you're curiousabout what I look like or want
to see my guests, we're also onYouTube.
Just search for Journey withJake podcast and you'll find us.
I also love hearing fromlisteners, so be sure to follow
me on Instagram at Journey withJake podcast.
Drop by, say hi, share yourfavorite episode and let me know
(02:54):
if there's someone you'd liketo hear on the show.
Maybe it's you.
I'm truly grateful I had thechance to speak with Ryan.
His journey from grindingthrough long work hours to
embracing life as a digitalnomad is inspiring.
If you enjoy this episode, Ithink you'll also love episode
40 with Jackie Carbo, where sheshares her experiences pursuing
(03:14):
travel and remote work.
All right, let's jump into myconversation with Ryan Mellon,
all right?
Well, I am excited today I'vegot Ryan.
Is it Mellon?
Did I say it right?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Ryan Mellon.
Ryan Mellon, welcome to Journeywith Jake.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Thank you, I'm really happy to be here today.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And I know we're a little bit far apart from each
other.
Right now, I believe I thinkyou're in Bali, you're in
Indonesia and I'm here in Utah,so a little bit of distance
between us.
What time is it?
I mean, I'm recording it atnight here.
It's six o'clock here.
What time is it there in Bali?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So yeah, so I'm, I'm recording from the future.
It's Friday at 9am.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Friday 9am.
So yeah, this is awesome.
I got the future talking to thethe present, I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I can give you some lotto numbers at the end once we
stop recording.
All right, perfect.
Thank you, ryan.
I love that.
Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Like I always do on the show, I want to know a
little bit about who you are.
I know you're considered thedigital nomad coach.
We're going to talk about that.
Before we dive into all that,though, yeah, tell me a little
bit about Ryan, kind of whereyou're from, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Sure, yeah, so I'm from Virginia.
About seven years ago I wasworking two jobs, nine to five,
in the restaurant business as amaintenance manager fixing deep
fryers during the day, and thenI went to UPS in the warehouse
at night and the evening.
So I was working about 14 hoursa day, six days a week, and I
(04:36):
did that for over 10 years.
It was a little bit grueling.
I was reading some books likeFour Hour Workweek and
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts, andlistening to travel bloggers and
I really started gettingexcited about getting out and
seeing the world.
So I booked a flight to CostaRica.
I was able to manage to get twoweeks off from both my jobs at
(04:59):
the same time, which took a tonof negotiation.
I flew to Costa Rica by myselfand did my very first solo
travel trip.
I didn't speak any of thelanguage.
I had no plan, I just flew intoSan Jose.
I had a place booked for thefirst night, our first couple
nights, and that's it.
And then I figured it out fromthere and it was an amazing
(05:20):
journey.
Those two weeks I ended upmeeting tons of cool people from
all over the world.
Some of them were traveling forlike months and years on end
which I didn't even realize wasa thing Ended up on both coasts
of Costa Rica in the jungles,ziplining through the jungle,
climbing volcanoes, swimming intheir crater lake.
It was just a reallyeye-opening experience,
(05:42):
especially to be able to do italone and meet friends and make
friends while I was there.
And then just having such agreat experience, when I came
back to both my jobs, I was notlike refreshed to go back to
work, like I just had this greatvacation.
I was like really like wow, I'm, what I'm doing now is not
(06:02):
sustainable.
I hate it and like I want outas soon as possible.
I told both my jobs I was likegive me one year and I'm out of
here, like, and they thought Iwas just joking.
To be honest, that's, that'spretty much what happened.
It was a little bit more than ayear.
So I went back to both my jobs.
I was hanging out having somedrinks with my best friend and
(06:23):
his wife one night and they werelike you know, when we retire,
we really want to take a roadtrip of the US and and see the
states and just take our time.
And I'm like let's do this now.
Like I just I'm coming off thishigh of going to Costa Rica and
stuff.
I'm like, let's, let's figurethis out and do it now while
we're young.
(06:43):
Like why not?
So I convinced them to quittheir jobs and I quit both my
jobs.
We did save up enough money.
The game plan was for us tojust save, save, save to have
enough money to get us throughthat year road trip.
So we did that and we quit ourjobs and we hit the road October
(07:04):
of 2017.
And we hopped in an RV and wedid 23 states over that one year
and it was just an amazingadventure.
But halfway through the year Irealized it was really coming to
an end quite quickly.
So I was like, man, I'm goingto have to go back to my both my
jobs or figure something newout when we get home.
(07:25):
And like I don't want to dothat.
Like what we're doing now, liketraveling, is just awesome.
So I've got my real estatelicense previously, so I have my
two jobs and I had starteddabbling in real estate.
So I called up a good friend ofmine who was a real estate
investor who was doing a lot ofvolume on properties like
flipping houses, buying rentals,stuff like that.
(07:46):
I says, is there any way I canhelp you while I'm on this road
trip, while I'm out of state,buying deals?
And she's like absolutely youknow, and during this time we
had a lot of foreclosures on themarket, so we just really
started targeting, buying thoseup, and so, between me and
partnering with another agent inmy office who could be the
boots on the ground, I was theguy like just blasting out
(08:09):
contracts on like 10 houses aweek and we ended up doing like
20 to 25 deals in those last sixmonths of my road trip.
And that's when I realized like,oh, wow, like I don't have to
go back to my jobs, like I'mmaking money and traveling.
So that was kind of theepiphany for me.
(08:30):
That road trip ended, myfriends went back to work and I
stayed home for just a couple ofmonths and then I got on a
plane and flew to New Zealandand I did eight countries and
six months, all while working,and that was really the
beginning of me being a digitalnomad.
Since then I've been workingand running my businesses from
(08:54):
23 US states and 22 countries.
I usually travel every winterand I'm home in the summer, so I
call myself a hybrid nomad.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Hybrid nomad.
So is home still, virginia,when you're home.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, so home is still Virginia.
I'm home in the summer times.
I live on my sailboat.
It's a good time to be home,the weather's great and it's
just a great time to be on theboat.
Wow, okay, so you live on theboat in the summer, then it's my
home base.
Yeah, and it's a very.
You know it's a one-bedroomapartment on the water and it
(09:26):
doesn't cost me too much.
You know it keeps my costs downand I'm not going out and
buying big screen tvs and newcouches because I have nowhere
to put it.
So it really does help like, uh, keep my costs down while I'm
gone.
So right now, the boats becauseit's virginia, we don't have to
pull the boats out of the waterin the winter.
It doesn't get get that cold,so it stays in its slip all
(09:46):
winter.
And so my cost because I wasable to pay for the boat that I
have in cash my costs are justmy slip fee, a tiny bit of
electric that's not being used,and insurance while I'm gone.
So it really it's not.
Too I don't have this hugemortgage or anything like that,
which really helps me to be ableto just hop away.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Wow, yeah, that's nice.
It's like you're.
You're in that nomad frame ofmind.
Even when you're staying on theboat in the summer, you still
kind of you know you're able tohop away quickly if you need to.
That's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, I have friends that come up from the Bahamas in
the summertime to get away fromhurricane season, so we have a
good group of people at themarina to hang out with and we
do weekend trips to the easternshore and go anchor out and do a
little traveling on the boatstoo.
So, yeah, I love it.
All.
Right, let's go back to yourchildhood for a minute, Virginia
(10:40):
.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You were born and raised in Virginia.
Is that kind of?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Born in Pennsylvania until I was eight, so I consider
myself born and raised inVirginia, since I was there
since I was eight.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Any siblings or anything like that?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, so I have two sisters and one brother.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I'm the youngest.
Okay, you're the baby, allright, it's the baby of the
family, very good.
Now, when you were a kidgrowing up, was there any, did
you do any kind of traveling asa family, or was that traveling
kind of out of the realm for you?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It was minimal, very minimal, yeah.
When I was a teenager, my momstarted taking me to a few
places.
We went to Arizona, florida,stuff like that, so I got to see
a little bit of some places,but nothing international, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So yeah to see a little bit of some places, but
nothing international.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Okay, so yeah you didn't have any of the
international flair at all.
No, no.
But I did get to see a coupleof cool places in the States,
but we didn't travel a lot as akid.
So I feel like now I'm reallygetting it all out of my system,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
All right, let's go back to that, the work, because
two jobs that's a lot of hours.
I mean you're doing the nine tofive, which that's work enough,
right?
And then you're working at UPSin the evening.
You said six days a week.
For 10 years you were doingthis.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, yeah, 14 hours a day yeah, it was a lot.
And then Sunday was my only dayoff.
14 hours a day, yeah, it was alot.
And then Sunday was my only dayoff.
The restaurant I worked at Iwas working fast food like
Chick-fil-A, so they were closedon Sunday, so that was my only
day off.
Yeah, it was me just.
You know keeping that placerunning, fixing ice cream
machines and deep fryers, andyou know doing that during the
(12:20):
day and helping out, running,bringing up customers and
running the drive through allthat stuff and then warehouse
work at night.
So, yeah, it was a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Wow, yeah, that's a that's an intense schedule.
When you got those two weeksoff and that sounds like you
said you got to do a little bitof negotiation, you had to kind
of, like you know, work it tomake it happen.
So like, okay, ups, I can getthem off, I can get off with the
fast food.
Working that and you did it.
Did you have any idea at thetime what this was going to do
for you?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Absolutely not.
No, like I was a little scaredright, like hopping on a plane
by myself going somewhere I'dnever been and I don't speak the
language.
It's a big jump, you know.
But I think I did a lot ofpreparation and the fact that I
read a lot about solo travelNomadic Matt is a big blogger
still that I read a lot, andthen reading 4-Hour Workweek and
(13:13):
Vegabonding really we're likeI've got to just try it and if
it all goes to shit, I can youknow I can I can come back and
just go back to my jobs.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
But yeah, I never expected it to be a
life-changing situation so youwould kind of prep yourself with
, like nomadic mat andvagabonding, different things
like that.
Why costa rica?
What was the?
Why did you choose thatlocation?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
so costa rica.
I chose Costa Rica because it'smore.
It's it's well known as one ofthe more safe places in Central
America.
Also, I just like beaches andthose tropical vibes, so it was
like winter time.
Any, I hate the cold, eventhough I live in Virginia.
Most people might not considerthat cold, but if it's below 75,
(14:00):
it's too cold for me.
So getting away to somewherewarmer in the winter was also a
huge bonus.
And it's a small country right,so it's pretty easy to get
around and see a lot in twoweeks.
So I think that was one of thebiggest things that led me to
Costa Rica.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
What'd you say?
You had like two nights is all.
Like you had your first twonights set up and then that was
it.
Yeah, what did that?
What did that do for you andyour confidence and stuff being
able to like, hey, I can makethis happen without having a set
plan.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It just came back to all the pros that I've been
reading online that said youknow, having no plan and just
going by yourself, and back thenI was staying in hostels.
Okay, so that was also a newexperience for me.
This was like my very firsthostel experience and that
changed everything for me,because now you're in a place
(14:53):
with a bunch of other solotravelers, we're all in the same
boat and it's really a 10Xsurfer, making new friends and
meeting new people.
And also what was good about itwas it was near the airport and
I was staying two nights, soyou had a lot of people that
just arrived, but you had a lotof people that have done the
whole country and now they'reflying home, so I was able to
(15:16):
just talk with them over drinksin the evenings by the pool.
You know like you're leaving,you know where are you going,
but, more importantly, like,tell me your top five things
you've just done here in CostaRica.
And a lot of several thingskept coming up, places and
things to do.
And then from there, that'swhen I just started like OK,
this is my next destination, andjust kind of picking it out on
(15:39):
the map and going, because ifyou have everything planned out.
There's no room for likeserendipity, right?
Or like just new experiencesand meeting someone and being
like, oh, we really get along,they're going here, I can go
here with them, you know.
So like having no plan isreally how I've been traveling
ever since I always plan atleast my hotel.
(16:02):
Now I'm in a villa in Bali andI stay in long-term places.
I'm not in hostels anymore Ithink I've aged myself out of
that but there's still plenty ofways to meet people, even when
you're staying in hotels orairbnbs or apartments.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
So when you got there to costa rica and I know I'm
kind of harping on costa ricahere for a minute, but it's just
because it's just so amazing tome that you know you've been
just hustling for 10 years, youknow, just working hard, got
yourself the two weeks.
You're like this is for me, I'mdoing this for me, doing it for
r.
Were you ever scared?
I mean, like when you fly inthere, were you like what am I
(16:42):
doing?
I mean, did you ever have anysecond thoughts?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, I mean definitely on the way there it
was a little bit scary.
You know, I think I arrived atnight and I hate arriving at
night in foreign countries,especially when I don't speak
the language.
I speak a little bit of Spanishnow and get around Spanish now,
but I couldn't then and like Ijust remember being like because
(17:05):
I only do carry-ons, I was likethe first one off the plane,
out the doors at the airport,and I just got like hit with the
people that are like all readyto take you, you know, trying to
get you, take you to your hoteland stuff, and like just being
overwhelmed with that.
And like you know, you alwaysworry about like getting in the
(17:25):
wrong vehicle with the wrongperson.
But I did my research on theproper transportation to take
and stuff and so it is a littlebit scary.
So you need to think ahead onsome of those things.
As soon as I started meetingpeople in the hospital and
seeing other people there thatwere also traveling solo, you
know, you just start to buildthat confidence day by day.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I kind of want to touch on the whole hostel
situation for a second, justthinking about your years that
you've been doing this now.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It sounds like it's a pretty neat community then.
I mean it sounds like peopleare.
You know, there's other solopeople, things like that.
So it sounds like there's alittle bit of community there,
sure.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, I can explain just a little bit about hostels
and like what it is for like alot of people that don't know
and for a lot of people thathave just seen the movie and
they're like, oh, like no way,because the movie is kind of
like a horror movie, right,chopping people up and whatever
yeah it's not great.
I never seen it, I've heardabout it and I won't watch it.
But I've stayed in over 100hostels.
(18:26):
So when I was beginning, I wasyounger and I didn't have a lot
of money, and so hostels arevery inexpensive.
You have like dorm rooms whereyou sleep, you know, just bunk
bed situation with other folksthat are traveling as well.
The great thing about hostelsis and they also most have
private rooms as well, so youhave the options and then also
(18:49):
times you'll have like guysrooms and girls rooms.
So like for solo femaletravelers, some might be more
comfortable in an all girls room.
There is a sense of community,there's lots of.
You have the room but you onlyliterally keep your stuff there
and you sleep there.
The rest of the place is likepool, restaurant, bar, open
(19:11):
areas outdoors, so it's a lot ofco-mingling space.
So really you're hanging out inthose spaces and you're only
going to the room to sleep andthat's it.
So it's not like you know, alot of people think of sharing a
room with some strangers.
It's like, oh no, it'd beterrible, but you're never in
there, you're just sleeping.
(19:31):
So a lot of places have pooltables and foosball tables, and
most of them have pools in theseareas, so there's just a lot of
area to meet other people andco-mingle and it's a lot of
backpackers and it's a youngercrowd for sure, definitely the
twenties crowd, twenties, midthirties.
And some of the hostels you needto filter through right.
(19:53):
Some of these are like juststraight party hostels and
that's all that's happening andyou're not going to get as much
sleep.
So if you're into that andyou're younger, that's fine, but
as you get older, you might not.
You know, you kind of tend tobe like all right, you know, I
like actually need to get somesleep.
If I want to go zip liningtomorrow or do this or whatever,
(20:13):
I can't party every night ofthe week.
You need to start choosing yourhostels wisely.
I've up until I even last yearin Denmark I stayed in a hostel
and there are some really classyhostels and it can really
reduce your expenses.
You can also get private roomsand hostels now too, with en
suite baths and stuff like that,and if you're a solo traveler,
(20:35):
it's still a great place to meetpeople.
And so now I've moved on tomore like long-term stays.
Like I have this villa here fora month.
It's an Airbnb and I have alittle because I'm working and
having calls and stuff like that.
It's just a little bit betterenvironment for me now that I'm
in my late thirties too as well.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So, like you said, you're aging yourself out of the
hostel scene a little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I would imagine, though, with over 100 hostels
you've been to over 100 of them,like you said I'm guessing you
still have friends that you'vemet years and years ago from
hostels that you're stillfriends with today.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Absolutely yeah, no, I mentioned that Denmark trip
last year.
Those guys I met.
I met a couple of friends inthe hostel.
They're Danish, so I went tovisit them in their home country
on my way home from Greece,just on a whim.
Yeah, you meet a lot of coolpeople.
I had my friend from Germanyfly into the States twice
already to hang out and we metin the basement of a hostel in
(21:37):
Australia on like pizza and 50cent beer night, you know, many
years ago before COVID.
So yeah, you do make friendsthat you keep around and keep in
touch with on on Facebook and Ihave traveled with them and met
up with them since then andgone to their home countries and
vice versa.
So, yeah, you do make somelasting friendships from from
(22:01):
staying in a hostel.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
So it's amazing to me .
You did this two week trip andit sounds like it changed you,
because you came back to the 14hour days, the six, you know six
days a week type of thing, andyou're like I'm just a year,
that's all I can do.
I'm going to do a year, save upsome money.
Were you just itching to getout of there?
I mean, was it like, was ittough to get through the year?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, painful, super painful.
And then, once I had my friendscommitted to the road trip, it
was all hands on deck.
We all cut out going out fordrinks and eating out and
everything.
We just got focused in on thisgoal.
I made a set a date.
Like we're going to leave, youknow, right in fall.
(22:44):
We're going to go south toFlorida, to the Keys, and we're
going to try and stay south allwinter, so we're in the warmest
part as we progress through thewinter.
And that worked out pretty good.
Like we had Thanksgiving in KeyWest on the RV, like the ocean,
a hundred feet away.
It was once.
Once we had that date to leave,I was just so focused on just
(23:05):
getting my savings to where itneeded to be so that I didn't
have to work for a year.
And like it's so surprising howquickly you can cut out, just
like so many things that are notimportant to make that happen.
And one thing I will say islike we both own houses.
At that time we had cars, so wehad to figure that stuff out
and we ended up renting ourhouses out.
(23:26):
That house that I ran out, myvery first house that I bought.
I've never lived there since Irented it out for that trip and
I've not been back.
And that's been almost eightyears, I guess.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Are you still renting it out?
You still own the house.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I have a portfolio of rental properties now and
that's one of them.
So I've transitioned through myreal estate journey from doing
just deals as an agent tobecoming an investor.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Dang Okay cool.
See, this is what's interesting, because it's like, okay,
here's this guy, ryan, who's outthere living the digital nomad
life, and yeah you, you starteddoing the whole, working for
this company.
You had your real estatelicense, you started sending out
contracts so you could stay onthe road, which is cool, cause I
think, like what'd you say?
Six months in, you're like thisis going faster than I want it
(24:17):
to.
So how do you, how do people dothis?
Cause you're a coach.
You coach people on being adigital nomad.
If someone's out there saying,man, I want to do what Ryan's
doing, how do you do it?
Get just a dirty short versionof it, I guess.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yeah, absolutely so.
There's three types of digitalnomads, in my opinion.
You have people that work aregular nine to five for an
employer that allows them to beremote, or I even have people
that that allows them to beremote from home and whether
they discuss with their employerthat their home is really at
home in their state or in Mexico.
(24:52):
That's the kind of the decisionthat they need to make, and
some people just fly under theirradar and don't tell their
employer and it works.
Some people ask so you have theemployees.
Then you have the freelancersthat are usually like doing like
their virtual assistants ordigital marketers or content
creators.
Those are the probably like thetop three, that are pretty easy
(25:16):
to get into on a beginner'slevel, entry level.
And then you're doing freelancework, like online through sites
like Fiverr and Upwork, andyou're taking on clients one at
a time and working withdifferent clients, right.
And so you have the freelancers, and I would say that makes up
probably about 70 percent of thedigital nomad community is the
(25:37):
freelancers.
And then you have another goodchunk that are entrepreneurs
that own businesses, like me,that run their businesses from
the road.
The best way to it reallydepends on where you feel most
comfortable in those three areasof starting to become a digital
nomad, like, do you just wantto work a remote job and clock
(25:59):
in and clock out during thesehours and you have your free
time?
Or do you want to have to havea little bit more freedom as a
freelancer but you've got tohustle to find those clients and
keep them going.
But your income is, you know,adjustable.
Like you have control of that,like you're really good at what
you do and you pump out a lot ofclients and you create more
(26:21):
value and you increase yourprices, you can make more money.
And then business owners youknow it's also the same it has
the most responsibility.
Of course, the sky's the limiton your income as well.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Pretty much three different categories, like you
said to be a digital nomad, andyou said what?
Eight years now, or so, you'vebeen doing this yeah, just about
seven, eight years do you seeit ending anytime soon, or do
you think no way.
This is like.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
This is me now yeah, no, I don't see it ending.
I, like I said, I'm a, I'm ahybrid nomad, so I still have a
home base and not everyone doesthat.
There's a lot of people thatare just traveling for, like,
indefinitely and they have nohome base other than just like
friends and family at home.
Right, they don't have a houseor apartment or anything like
(27:08):
home base, which is nice in thesense that you have none of
those expenses.
Right, because I'm home sixmonths a year at summertime,
when it's a good time to be home, I can still reconnect with
friends and family.
Also, because I have aportfolio of rental properties,
my leases don't expire until itgets to springtime.
(27:28):
Technically, I should only haveturnovers and if I want to buy
a new property and renovate it,I'm there for all of that.
So it's kind of like my grindseason for real estate is being
home in the summertime, then inthe wintertime it just goes to
managing things, because I domanage my properties personally,
(27:49):
which it gets a lot quieter,and usually I don't have move
outs.
I'm doing the coaching all yearround and the coaching can be
done from anywhere, and that'sbasically just one-on-one
coaching right now, helpingpeople become digital nomads,
but over the next two weeks I'mactually shooting like a five to
10 hour video course of how tobecome a digital nomad, breaking
(28:11):
down all the steps.
That people can buy the courseand it's going to reach a lot
more people because it's a lotmore affordable than my
one-on-one coaching, of course,because it doesn't involve my
time as much, and then I'm gonna, once that's out, we'll have
like a option to upgrade to justa small monthly cost to do
(28:32):
weekly calls so we can do q anda's and kind of like group
coaching for those people thathave gone through the course.
So that's kind of what I'mworking on right now while I'm
here in Bali.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
So you've been doing it for a while, even before the
pandemic, does it since thepandemic?
I mean, is it just, is itskyrocketed Because that's kind
of the vibe I get talking toother people that digital nomads
have like really gone up since,since COVID.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Absolutely.
One of the good things thatcame out of COVID is just the
incredible amount of people thatare allowed to work from home
now, so that's a huge thing.
Also, people just getting theitch to get out and see the
world right.
Everyone's locked up for twoyears.
Life's short, you know.
Let's get out there.
So yeah it's.
The world has became so muchmore digital nomad friendly in
(29:19):
so many ways so that, as well asyou're seeing a lot more like
co-living and co-working spacespop up, you have a lot of
digital nomad hotspots, whichare like places where lots of
digital nomads group, and Baliis definitely one of them.
Chiang Mai and Thailand isanother one.
(29:40):
Portugal, buenos Aires, mexicoCity You've got a lot of these
places.
Medellin and Colombia that arejust have this huge digital
nomad community.
So you have that support.
You have the co-working spaces.
With the fast internet, you cango to a co-living space which
is kind of like.
(30:00):
It's almost like a hostel inthe sense that you're there with
other strangers but you haveyour.
It's a older it's not as muchof a younger crowd usually, but
you have your own private.
Everyone has their own privateroom, and sometimes these can be
like in mansions in thecountryside that they've
converted into.
(30:21):
You know with a bunch of roomsand so you have your own room
and you're there with 10 otherpeople but you have a lot of
community space and theinternet's really good and a lot
.
You guys go down and kind ofwork your days together.
Even though everyone's doingtheir own thing.
You're working together.
There's like group dinners andyou group outings and stuff like
(30:42):
that.
So also there's now 66 digitalnomad visas out there now, 66
countries with digital nomadvisas.
New Zealand just added theirslast week.
So it's a little bit shorter ofa digital nomad visa than I'd
like to see.
They only give you 90 days, butthere's no minimum income
requirements that a lot ofcountries have.
(31:04):
In the past we all kind of flewunder the radar on tourist visas
working remotely.
But the problem with that isusually they're like 30 to 60
day visas, so you got to getextensions or you got to do a
border run, which is to leavethe country, come back, get a
new stamp.
So now that's taken out of theequation.
(31:25):
So like right now I'm here inBali on a one year digital Nomad
visa that I'm technically aresident and I can open bank
accounts, I get discounts onmedical and stuff because I'm a
resident.
I can get longer term leases atcheaper rates because they know
I'm allowed to be here forthese times.
(31:45):
It really has gotten a lot morefriendly to be a digital nomad,
as well as Starlink, likeplaces that didn't have access
to great internet.
They can just put Starlink onthe roof and you can be in the
middle of nowhere, and nowyou're good.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
You said something when you're talking then you
talked about, you know, covid.
We're all kind of locked up andso people get that itch and
they just they want to see theworld.
You've been seeing the world.
Tell me some of your I don'tknow some of your best
experiences, maybe, maybe acouple of stories about for you
seeing the world and what it'sbeen like.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, so even during COVID I kind of traveled a
little bit.
I had friends who were about tostart a charter business on
their catamaran in the Bahamasand I met them in my marina.
They were docked there for asummer and so I actually got to
(32:39):
go and stay at at anchor on a 50foot catamaran and work
remotely with them.
They were also digital nomadswhile they because this whole
experience was to scout out thearea before they launched after
COVID to do the charters and so,yeah, like I got to stay on a
catamaran like on floatingcrystal water, wake up every
(33:02):
morning and seeing like dolphinsswimming around the boat, you
can just hop in the water andswim with dolphins and then
spent the day working on mylaptop.
Back then Starlink was stillnot a thing yet, so we would I
always have a hotspot like adigital, like a global hotspot
that runs on SIM cards and wewould get local SIM cards and
(33:22):
work like that and that workedokay.
So that was a good experience.
That.
And also we were isolated frompeople, right, like we're on
anchor, just a couple of peopleon this big boat, and we would
go to shore and there were acouple of restaurants open not a
whole lot.
I mean Bahamas, the Exumas atthat time was like all to
ourselves, because usuallythere's three to 400 boats in
(33:44):
that anchorage and at that timeI think there was maybe like 80.
So it was just like you had thewhole place here.
So that comes to mind for likeCOVID experience.
And then since then, like someof the most memorable
experiences, is Vietnam, theNorth, doing the Haijiang loop.
(34:06):
It's called the Haijiang loop,so it's a four day motorcycle
trip through the northernmountains of Vietnam and it goes
all the way up to the Chineseborder and it's just this one
big loop.
And so you show up in themiddle of the night I was trying
to find my hostel and then thestreets, like three in the
morning by myself and like haddogs barking.
(34:29):
It was all sketchy situation.
But I got to my place and thenext morning they give you a
motorcycle for the day to getacclimated, and it's like it's
not a full blownblown motorcycle, it's got gears but you don't
need to use a clutch.
So they give it to you to kindof get get a feel for how to
ride and stuff.
And if you don't want to ride,there were a lot of people that
(34:50):
would just hire a guy right andit was just a dude on a bike and
you would sit on the back andhe you do the haisheng loop,
like that.
So if, if you're notcomfortable riding, you could do
that, but they would put usinto groups of like 10.
And then we'd go and everythingwas planned out.
It was like 255 miles over thefour days.
(35:11):
It's like all these super coolmountainous roads like through
the north.
The views were absolutelystunning and like the very first
place we stayed in is in themiddle of nowhere countryside,
almost like a barn with a secondfloor where we all just slept
on the floor, like side by sidein two different rooms, and then
(35:33):
on the first floor there waslike a little kitchen, a little
like living area with one lightbulb and they put out a huge
spread of food for us.
They had one karaoke machineand the v in vietnam karaoke is
huge and they all got us.
They all got us a little bitdrunk on, like the local
moonshine.
So we were all just likesinging karaoke through, you
(35:56):
know, until like one in themorning, then waking up, not
feeling like riding anothereight hours through the
mountains, but we all gotthrough it.
And then, you know, we had acouple more nights just like
that, where they have plannedstops and these little
countryside, towns and stuff,and like you felt like you're on
the tour de france becauseyou're like going through these
(36:18):
little vietnamese villages inthe north and the north the most
northern part of Vietnam isvery rural and it's not too
developed and you see, like kidshelping farming the land and
like you know, move, movingcattle and stuff and like
they're high-fiving you as yougo through the village and stuff
on your bike.
Like you know, like they don'tsee a lot of people like from
(36:40):
outside, like foreigners, youknow, in their, in their area,
other than on motorcycles.
So second day, eight hours onof of driving and then staying
in another place, and justbeautiful mountains, the North,
and and just how amazing it wasto like see, because the north
of Vietnam, like outside ofHanoi, is very rural and there
(37:05):
you know just a lot of ricefields and farming.
So you see kids like helpingout with farming, like pushing,
you know, herds of cattlethrough the streets, you know,
and they're this tall, you know.
Yeah, just some amazingexperiences, just seeing like
the nature and all of that wewent up to the Chinese border,
(37:26):
checked that out and over thosefour days it was just like an
incredible experience.
I will say that it was like waycolder than I expected because
it was like the North and themountains and when you come to
Southeast Asia you don't packlike gloves and jackets and
stuff.
So every chance I we got whenwe stopped anywhere we're all
(37:47):
buying like more layers becausenone of us brought the warm,
warm enough clothes for thistrip.
And it was exhausting likeafter the four days I just like
booked a really nice hotel, justslept for like two days.
Incredible trip.
And it was really cool to seejust the nature of Northern
Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
That's amazing and it's, you know, a place like
Vietnam you don't think of toooften.
It's not high on a lot ofpeople's tourist destinations,
so it's cool that, as a digitalnomad, you're able to go there
and experience it, experiencethe people and get to do a
fantastic you know adventurethrough the mountains on
motorbikes.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's like not for everyone.
I will say, like you, it's alittle bit more gritty and like
you, you've got to be a littlebit resilient and and a little
you should probably be an avidtraveler before you start with
Vietnam, because even with, like, the language and stuff, it's a
(38:43):
little bit challenging.
It was the hardest place.
Even at the airport, tryingtook three hours to clear
immigration.
It was just chaos and no oneknew what was going on.
There was very little englisheven in the airport.
They wanted like us dollars as afee and like who is?
Luckily I'm an american and Ialways have some emergency us
dollars.
But there were other peoplethere like how are we gonna pay
(39:07):
these fees?
And they wanted us dollars.
So I was actually giving out usdollars to other people and
they were like sent venmoing memoney and stuff.
But yeah, it's, it's, it's a,it's a different one.
And like just crossing thestreet in the city in Vietnam is
like it's a little terrifying.
You've seen probably videos orlike Anthony Bourdain or
(39:29):
whatever and like just the packsof motorcycles, oh yeah, just
everywhere.
And the only way to cross thestreet is just go and pray and
like they don't hit you.
It works.
To cross the street is just goand pray and like they don't hit
you.
It works, but like that'sthat's the only strategy, is you
just kind of leapfrog your waythrough this and it's a little.
(39:49):
It's a little terrifying, butit's a very cool place.
It works out every time.
They know they know how tomaneuver around people that are
trying to cross the street, butthere's not going to be like a
time where they're all stoppedand there's a crosswalk yeah,
it's not happening, gotcha, wow,amazing.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
What are some of the challenges that you have as a,
as a digital nomad?
What we say would be the thetoughest part?
Speaker 2 (40:17):
uh well, internet sometimes, like you might have
just experienced uh you justdon't know what you're going to
get, and sometimes you're in themiddle of a call and you get
something drops.
It's gotten a lot better thanit used to be, but it's still a
challenge in some countrieswhere the internet is not as
good as home, of course, sothat's a big one, and there's
(40:37):
ways of looking foraccommodations that have good
internet that I do.
So bookingcom is my number oneplace to book, like hotels and
apartments, and there's a placefor the people to rate the Wi-Fi
on its own, so that's a greatplace to start.
Airbnb now allows the host tohook up the Airbnb app and test
(41:00):
their internet and post it ontheir site.
And if it's not posted and youreally like a place, search the
reviews for internet Wi-Fi, makesure if it's bad or good,
people are going to write aboutit, and if you can't find
anything, message the host aheadof time and say, hey, can you
test the speed, take ascreenshot and send it to me.
(41:21):
So that's definitely achallenge.
Another challenge is like itcan.
Sometimes it can be lonely ifyou're solo traveling on the
road, but it's really as mucheffort that you're putting in
into it.
I oftentimes, if I find myselfbeing lonely, it's because I'm
just like staying at home andI'm not getting out the door and
like going to a co-working forthe day, or like going out to a
(41:44):
time left at dinner where youbook a table with five strangers
.
So there's plenty of places tomeet people.
You just need to put in theeffort.
So that's a thing that is achallenge as well.
Other than that, I would saylike if you travel too fast, if
you travel a lot of countriesquickly, it's really easy to get
(42:05):
burnt out.
So I always tell people likestart slow, go slow.
You want to max out your visas,especially if you're on a
tourist visa and pretty much allyour places.
Get in a routine, really absorbthe culture, get to know the
area where you can walk aroundand not need Google Maps, and
(42:25):
meet locals and have a routineso that you're not on a plane
and being jet lagged and likehaving to block out travel, work
days to travel and like thenchanging time zones, like all
that stuff can be very stressful.
So going slow, more slow, islike the best way to prevent
that.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
As you look back over the years that you've been
doing this, is there anyparticular place that comes to
mind that if you only have oneplace that you can go back to,
where would it be?
Speaker 2 (42:55):
Well, I'm here.
It's Bali.
I love Bali.
This is my fourth time to Bali.
There's very few places that Iwould describe as magical.
Another places that come tomind is like Vietnam and Peru,
mexico.
I really love Mexico.
I've spent a lot of time inMexico as well.
There's some really cool placesin Mexico.
I do love Bali because the costof living here is very low.
(43:18):
There's most beautiful beaches.
It's one of Indonesia's 17,000islands so just for those that
don't know and it's about thesize of Maryland, the state of
Maryland.
It doesn't seem like a lot ofdistance to get from place to
place, but the traffic is liketerrible here because the
streets are built for like twogolf carts and that's about it,
(43:41):
and you've got SUVs and tons ofscooters and motorbikes and
stuff, so it is challenginggetting to other parts, but it's
.
It's not.
It's not like angry traffic,like New Yorker traffic, like
everyone's chill, no one'shonking their horn.
We all get through it.
So but I do love Bali for likethe locals are like the most
friendly through it.
(44:01):
So, but I do love Bali for likethe locals are like the most
friendly, inviting people.
They're so amazing.
They'll help you out if youneed anything.
They're great very low cost ofliving, eating, you know, eating
out, laundry, transportation,all that.
Even finding places to rent canbe, you know, anywhere from
$500 a month up sky's the limitif you want a private villa with
(44:23):
a private pool and stuff, andthere's a lot to do here.
You have Ubud, which is likerainforest, and they have a
monkey sanctuary there and theyhave rice fields and rice
terraces and you can ATV throughthe jungle.
It's a huge spot for surfers.
And then there's also lots ofsmaller islands off the coast
(44:45):
that are pretty cool as well,that you can get to by boat.
So I've been to probably about10 or 11 islands in indonesia,
some some of the cool ones, likenusa penida.
There's a very unique beachthere, clinking beach, that
you've probably seen oninstagram.
It's like named one of the topbeaches in the world.
Then you have the gilly islands, which are like three islands
(45:07):
and three really small islandsoff the coast here, where magic
mushrooms just grow out of theground.
It's like perfectly legal there, like they just like serve it
up in milkshakes at the bar andeveryone goes.
And watches the sunset, and thesunsets are already amazing on
their own throw in somemushrooms and yeah, it's, it's
(45:28):
just.
It's just a very interestingvibe.
No vehicles like allowed, themotorbikes or anything allowed
on the island, so it's you justwalk.
Or if you have a lot of luggage, it's like horse and carriage.
It's pretty crazy vibes, likevery different vibes from Bali,
but I just I love Bali for somany different reasons and
(45:49):
that's why I'm here.
So I'm actually looking at somereal estate, maybe buying some,
maybe buying a place here andAirbnb-ing it when I'm gone.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Wow, good for you.
What does the future hold foryou?
What are you thinking?
Speaker 2 (46:02):
So I think it looks like continuing to build up the
coaching, especially like theprogram and the community.
Helping other people becomedigital nomads is, you know,
it's more of a mission Like.
It's something that I getexcited about.
I think I have enough incomecoming in through my rentals to
cover my monthly expensespassively, so this coaching is
(46:27):
really all about something thatI'm doing that fills a void of
helping other people and likemore mission based, so I'm
really excited about it.
I've been doing the one on onefor about a year and a half, but
having a community and havingcourses to sell.
I'm really excited about havingthat to be able to help more
(46:50):
people at a much better pricepoint as well, and just being a
hybrid nomad, being home on thesailboat in the summer and maybe
here in Bali every winter.
So that's as of right now.
That's what what it's lookinglike.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
So if someone wants to, you know, is interested and
says, oh man, I need to learnfrom Ryan how to how to be a
digital nomad.
Where can they get in touchwith you?
How can they find out some moreinformation?
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Absolutely so.
My website is the digital nomadcoachcom and there they can
sign up for a free guide sevenways to become a digital nomad
and I talk about all thedifferent ways to nomad like van
life sailing around the world,being a hybrid nomad like me
staying in a co-living place.
So that's free.
And then, after you get thatfree guide, you can also book a
(47:38):
free 30 minute strategy sessionwith me if you're interested on
the coaching, so I can kind ofhelp you figure out a game plan.
And also you'll be the first toknow once the courses and
community are launched, whichwill be somewhere in March, so
coming soon.
And then I am the digital nomadcoach on Instagram, facebook
(47:58):
and YouTube.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
My final question for you and this has been
fascinating.
Thank you so much, ryan, fortaking some time and sharing who
you are and what you've gotgoing on, and just your love for
living this lifestyle.
I think it's pretty neat.
My final question it's aquestion I ask everybody on the
show is for you, then, what doesadventure mean to you?
Speaker 2 (48:17):
That's a good one.
Mean to you, that's a good one.
Adventure is waking up excitedabout your day, whether it's
working at a cool new cafe downthe street or, like you know,
doing a motorcycle trip throughthe north of Vietnam or
ziplining through the jungles ofCosta Rica.
I think it's just thatexcitement that you get with
(48:38):
your day of living this type oflifestyle.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Ryan, thank you so much for coming on Journey with
Jake.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
I'm happy to be here.
Thanks so much for having me.
It was really good.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Thank you so much to Ryan Mellon for coming on the
show and sharing his journeyinto the world of digital
nomadism.
It was inspiring to hear howthis lifestyle has impacted him
personally and how he's nowgiven back by coaching others
who want to embrace the digitalnomad life.
If you'd like to learn moreabout Ryan and grab his free
guide, Seven Ways to Become aDigital Nomad, head over to the
(49:09):
digitalnomadcoachcom.
You can also follow him onInstagram at the digital nomad
coach and check out his podcast,Digital Nomad Nation, for more
valuable insights.
Ryan, thank you once again forsharing your story with all of
us and, of course, a huge thankyou to all of you for tuning in
each week.
Your feedback and support trulymean the world to me.
(49:32):
If you enjoy the show, it wouldbe amazing if you could take a
moment and leave a rating andreview on Apple Podcasts or
Spotify.
It helps more people discoverthe show.
If not, no worries, I'm justgrateful you're here and I hope
you find a bit of enjoyment andmaybe even some motivation from
each episode.
Be sure to join me next weekfor another great conversation.
I'll be speaking with JohnCheney, an entrepreneur from my
(49:54):
home state of Utah and atalented pianist.
We'll dive into his adventuresas a musician and entrepreneur.
It's a conversation you won'twant to miss.
Just remember, it's not alwaysabout the destination, as it is
about the journey.
Take care everybody.
When I first started this podcast about three and a
half years ago, I had no ideawhat a digital nomad was.
Since then, I've discoveredthis fascinating community of
people who travel full timewhile working remotely from all
over the world.
My guest today, ryan Mellon, isnot only a digital nomad
himself, but also a coach whohelps others navigate the path
(00:20):
to this unconventional lifestylethe path to this unconventional
lifestyle.
Through his coaching services,ryan guides aspiring digital
nomads on how to build asustainable,
location-independent career.
Today, ryan will share his ownadventures and insights from
life on the road, offering aglimpse into the world of
digital nomadism and the freedomand challenges it brings.
So sit back and enjoy RyanMellon's incredible journey.
(00:44):
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will feature adifferent guest or guests, as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you'll also
(01:05):
hear the failures and trials, asthey share experiences and
stories from the differentadventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
their way.
My goal is to take each of uson a journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination as it is about
(01:28):
the journey.
Hello everyone and welcome tothe show.
My name is Jake Bushman and I'mthe host of Journey with Jake.
(01:48):
Today, I had the privilege ofspeaking with digital nomad
coach Ryan Mellon.
Fun fact, in the middle of ourconversation, we actually lost
connection for about 10 minutes.
Thankfully, the magic ofediting means you won't even
notice it happened, but it's areminder of the reality of
chatting with someone who'sliterally a world away, in
(02:08):
Ryan's case, all the way in Bali.
Before we dive into myconversation with Ryan, I want
to mention that Journey withJake is part of the Podmatch
Podcast Network.
If you're looking for somegreat podcasts across topics
like business comedy,self-improvement you name it
check out podmatchcom forwardslash network.
You're bound to find somethingthat piques your interest.
(02:30):
If you haven't already, pleasesubscribe to the show wherever
you listen to your podcasts, soyou never miss an episode.
And hey, if you're curiousabout what I look like or want
to see my guests, we're also onYouTube.
Just search for Journey withJake podcast and you'll find us.
I also love hearing fromlisteners, so be sure to follow
me on Instagram at Journey withJake podcast.
Drop by, say hi, share yourfavorite episode and let me know
(02:54):
if there's someone you'd liketo hear on the show.
Maybe it's you.
I'm truly grateful I had thechance to speak with Ryan.
His journey from grindingthrough long work hours to
embracing life as a digitalnomad is inspiring.
If you enjoy this episode, Ithink you'll also love episode
40 with Jackie Carbo, where sheshares her experiences pursuing
(03:14):
travel and remote work.
All right, let's jump into myconversation with Ryan Mellon,
all right?
Well, I am excited today I'vegot Ryan.
Is it Mellon?
Did I say it right?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Ryan Mellon.
Ryan Mellon, welcome to Journeywith Jake.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Thank you, I'm really happy to be here today.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And I know we're a little bit far apart from each
other.
Right now, I believe I thinkyou're in Bali, you're in
Indonesia and I'm here in Utah,so a little bit of distance
between us.
What time is it?
I mean, I'm recording it atnight here.
It's six o'clock here.
What time is it there in Bali?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So yeah, so I'm, I'm recording from the future.
It's Friday at 9am.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Friday 9am.
So yeah, this is awesome.
I got the future talking to thethe present, I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I can give you some lotto numbers at the end once we
stop recording.
All right, perfect.
Thank you, ryan.
I love that.
Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Like I always do on the show, I want to know a
little bit about who you are.
I know you're considered thedigital nomad coach.
We're going to talk about that.
Before we dive into all that,though, yeah, tell me a little
bit about Ryan, kind of whereyou're from, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Sure, yeah, so I'm from Virginia.
About seven years ago I wasworking two jobs, nine to five,
in the restaurant business as amaintenance manager fixing deep
fryers during the day, and thenI went to UPS in the warehouse
at night and the evening.
So I was working about 14 hoursa day, six days a week, and I
(04:36):
did that for over 10 years.
It was a little bit grueling.
I was reading some books likeFour Hour Workweek and
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts, andlistening to travel bloggers and
I really started gettingexcited about getting out and
seeing the world.
So I booked a flight to CostaRica.
I was able to manage to get twoweeks off from both my jobs at
(04:59):
the same time, which took a tonof negotiation.
I flew to Costa Rica by myselfand did my very first solo
travel trip.
I didn't speak any of thelanguage.
I had no plan, I just flew intoSan Jose.
I had a place booked for thefirst night, our first couple
nights, and that's it.
And then I figured it out fromthere and it was an amazing
(05:20):
journey.
Those two weeks I ended upmeeting tons of cool people from
all over the world.
Some of them were traveling forlike months and years on end
which I didn't even realize wasa thing Ended up on both coasts
of Costa Rica in the jungles,ziplining through the jungle,
climbing volcanoes, swimming intheir crater lake.
It was just a reallyeye-opening experience,
(05:42):
especially to be able to do italone and meet friends and make
friends while I was there.
And then just having such agreat experience, when I came
back to both my jobs, I was notlike refreshed to go back to
work, like I just had this greatvacation.
I was like really like wow, I'm, what I'm doing now is not
(06:02):
sustainable.
I hate it and like I want outas soon as possible.
I told both my jobs I was likegive me one year and I'm out of
here, like, and they thought Iwas just joking.
To be honest, that's, that'spretty much what happened.
It was a little bit more than ayear.
So I went back to both my jobs.
I was hanging out having somedrinks with my best friend and
(06:23):
his wife one night and they werelike you know, when we retire,
we really want to take a roadtrip of the US and and see the
states and just take our time.
And I'm like let's do this now.
Like I just I'm coming off thishigh of going to Costa Rica and
stuff.
I'm like, let's, let's figurethis out and do it now while
we're young.
(06:43):
Like why not?
So I convinced them to quittheir jobs and I quit both my
jobs.
We did save up enough money.
The game plan was for us tojust save, save, save to have
enough money to get us throughthat year road trip.
So we did that and we quit ourjobs and we hit the road October
(07:04):
of 2017.
And we hopped in an RV and wedid 23 states over that one year
and it was just an amazingadventure.
But halfway through the year Irealized it was really coming to
an end quite quickly.
So I was like, man, I'm goingto have to go back to my both my
jobs or figure something newout when we get home.
(07:25):
And like I don't want to dothat.
Like what we're doing now, liketraveling, is just awesome.
So I've got my real estatelicense previously, so I have my
two jobs and I had starteddabbling in real estate.
So I called up a good friend ofmine who was a real estate
investor who was doing a lot ofvolume on properties like
flipping houses, buying rentals,stuff like that.
(07:46):
I says, is there any way I canhelp you while I'm on this road
trip, while I'm out of state,buying deals?
And she's like absolutely youknow, and during this time we
had a lot of foreclosures on themarket, so we just really
started targeting, buying thoseup, and so, between me and
partnering with another agent inmy office who could be the
boots on the ground, I was theguy like just blasting out
(08:09):
contracts on like 10 houses aweek and we ended up doing like
20 to 25 deals in those last sixmonths of my road trip.
And that's when I realized like,oh, wow, like I don't have to
go back to my jobs, like I'mmaking money and traveling.
So that was kind of theepiphany for me.
(08:30):
That road trip ended, myfriends went back to work and I
stayed home for just a couple ofmonths and then I got on a
plane and flew to New Zealandand I did eight countries and
six months, all while working,and that was really the
beginning of me being a digitalnomad.
Since then I've been workingand running my businesses from
(08:54):
23 US states and 22 countries.
I usually travel every winterand I'm home in the summer, so I
call myself a hybrid nomad.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Hybrid nomad.
So is home still, virginia,when you're home.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, so home is still Virginia.
I'm home in the summer times.
I live on my sailboat.
It's a good time to be home,the weather's great and it's
just a great time to be on theboat.
Wow, okay, so you live on theboat in the summer, then it's my
home base.
Yeah, and it's a very.
You know it's a one-bedroomapartment on the water and it
(09:26):
doesn't cost me too much.
You know it keeps my costs downand I'm not going out and
buying big screen tvs and newcouches because I have nowhere
to put it.
So it really does help like, uh, keep my costs down while I'm
gone.
So right now, the boats becauseit's virginia, we don't have to
pull the boats out of the waterin the winter.
It doesn't get get that cold,so it stays in its slip all
(09:46):
winter.
And so my cost because I wasable to pay for the boat that I
have in cash my costs are justmy slip fee, a tiny bit of
electric that's not being used,and insurance while I'm gone.
So it really it's not.
Too I don't have this hugemortgage or anything like that,
which really helps me to be ableto just hop away.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Wow, yeah, that's nice.
It's like you're.
You're in that nomad frame ofmind.
Even when you're staying on theboat in the summer, you still
kind of you know you're able tohop away quickly if you need to.
That's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, I have friends that come up from the Bahamas in
the summertime to get away fromhurricane season, so we have a
good group of people at themarina to hang out with and we
do weekend trips to the easternshore and go anchor out and do a
little traveling on the boatstoo.
So, yeah, I love it.
All.
Right, let's go back to yourchildhood for a minute, Virginia
(10:40):
.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You were born and raised in Virginia.
Is that kind of?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Born in Pennsylvania until I was eight, so I consider
myself born and raised inVirginia, since I was there
since I was eight.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Any siblings or anything like that?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, so I have two sisters and one brother.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I'm the youngest.
Okay, you're the baby, allright, it's the baby of the
family, very good.
Now, when you were a kidgrowing up, was there any, did
you do any kind of traveling asa family, or was that traveling
kind of out of the realm for you?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It was minimal, very minimal, yeah.
When I was a teenager, my momstarted taking me to a few
places.
We went to Arizona, florida,stuff like that, so I got to see
a little bit of some places,but nothing international, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So yeah to see a little bit of some places, but
nothing international.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Okay, so yeah you didn't have any of the
international flair at all.
No, no.
But I did get to see a coupleof cool places in the States,
but we didn't travel a lot as akid.
So I feel like now I'm reallygetting it all out of my system,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
All right, let's go back to that, the work, because
two jobs that's a lot of hours.
I mean you're doing the nine tofive, which that's work enough,
right?
And then you're working at UPSin the evening.
You said six days a week.
For 10 years you were doingthis.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, yeah, 14 hours a day yeah, it was a lot.
And then Sunday was my only dayoff.
14 hours a day, yeah, it was alot.
And then Sunday was my only dayoff.
The restaurant I worked at Iwas working fast food like
Chick-fil-A, so they were closedon Sunday, so that was my only
day off.
Yeah, it was me just.
You know keeping that placerunning, fixing ice cream
machines and deep fryers, andyou know doing that during the
(12:20):
day and helping out, running,bringing up customers and
running the drive through allthat stuff and then warehouse
work at night.
So, yeah, it was a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Wow, yeah, that's a that's an intense schedule.
When you got those two weeksoff and that sounds like you
said you got to do a little bitof negotiation, you had to kind
of, like you know, work it tomake it happen.
So like, okay, ups, I can getthem off, I can get off with the
fast food.
Working that and you did it.
Did you have any idea at thetime what this was going to do
for you?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Absolutely not.
No, like I was a little scaredright, like hopping on a plane
by myself going somewhere I'dnever been and I don't speak the
language.
It's a big jump, you know.
But I think I did a lot ofpreparation and the fact that I
read a lot about solo travelNomadic Matt is a big blogger
still that I read a lot, andthen reading 4-Hour Workweek and
(13:13):
Vegabonding really we're likeI've got to just try it and if
it all goes to shit, I can youknow I can I can come back and
just go back to my jobs.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
But yeah, I never expected it to be a
life-changing situation so youwould kind of prep yourself with
, like nomadic mat andvagabonding, different things
like that.
Why costa rica?
What was the?
Why did you choose thatlocation?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
so costa rica.
I chose Costa Rica because it'smore.
It's it's well known as one ofthe more safe places in Central
America.
Also, I just like beaches andthose tropical vibes, so it was
like winter time.
Any, I hate the cold, eventhough I live in Virginia.
Most people might not considerthat cold, but if it's below 75,
(14:00):
it's too cold for me.
So getting away to somewherewarmer in the winter was also a
huge bonus.
And it's a small country right,so it's pretty easy to get
around and see a lot in twoweeks.
So I think that was one of thebiggest things that led me to
Costa Rica.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
What'd you say?
You had like two nights is all.
Like you had your first twonights set up and then that was
it.
Yeah, what did that?
What did that do for you andyour confidence and stuff being
able to like, hey, I can makethis happen without having a set
plan.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It just came back to all the pros that I've been
reading online that said youknow, having no plan and just
going by yourself, and back thenI was staying in hostels.
Okay, so that was also a newexperience for me.
This was like my very firsthostel experience and that
changed everything for me,because now you're in a place
(14:53):
with a bunch of other solotravelers, we're all in the same
boat and it's really a 10Xsurfer, making new friends and
meeting new people.
And also what was good about itwas it was near the airport and
I was staying two nights, soyou had a lot of people that
just arrived, but you had a lotof people that have done the
whole country and now they'reflying home, so I was able to
(15:16):
just talk with them over drinksin the evenings by the pool.
You know like you're leaving,you know where are you going,
but, more importantly, like,tell me your top five things
you've just done here in CostaRica.
And a lot of several thingskept coming up, places and
things to do.
And then from there, that'swhen I just started like OK,
this is my next destination, andjust kind of picking it out on
(15:39):
the map and going, because ifyou have everything planned out.
There's no room for likeserendipity, right?
Or like just new experiencesand meeting someone and being
like, oh, we really get along,they're going here, I can go
here with them, you know.
So like having no plan isreally how I've been traveling
ever since I always plan atleast my hotel.
(16:02):
Now I'm in a villa in Bali andI stay in long-term places.
I'm not in hostels anymore Ithink I've aged myself out of
that but there's still plenty ofways to meet people, even when
you're staying in hotels orairbnbs or apartments.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
So when you got there to costa rica and I know I'm
kind of harping on costa ricahere for a minute, but it's just
because it's just so amazing tome that you know you've been
just hustling for 10 years, youknow, just working hard, got
yourself the two weeks.
You're like this is for me, I'mdoing this for me, doing it for
r.
Were you ever scared?
I mean, like when you fly inthere, were you like what am I
(16:42):
doing?
I mean, did you ever have anysecond thoughts?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, I mean definitely on the way there it
was a little bit scary.
You know, I think I arrived atnight and I hate arriving at
night in foreign countries,especially when I don't speak
the language.
I speak a little bit of Spanishnow and get around Spanish now,
but I couldn't then and like Ijust remember being like because
(17:05):
I only do carry-ons, I was likethe first one off the plane,
out the doors at the airport,and I just got like hit with the
people that are like all readyto take you, you know, trying to
get you, take you to your hoteland stuff, and like just being
overwhelmed with that.
And like you know, you alwaysworry about like getting in the
(17:25):
wrong vehicle with the wrongperson.
But I did my research on theproper transportation to take
and stuff and so it is a littlebit scary.
So you need to think ahead onsome of those things.
As soon as I started meetingpeople in the hospital and
seeing other people there thatwere also traveling solo, you
know, you just start to buildthat confidence day by day.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I kind of want to touch on the whole hostel
situation for a second, justthinking about your years that
you've been doing this now.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It sounds like it's a pretty neat community then.
I mean it sounds like peopleare.
You know, there's other solopeople, things like that.
So it sounds like there's alittle bit of community there,
sure.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, I can explain just a little bit about hostels
and like what it is for like alot of people that don't know
and for a lot of people thathave just seen the movie and
they're like, oh, like no way,because the movie is kind of
like a horror movie, right,chopping people up and whatever
yeah it's not great.
I never seen it, I've heardabout it and I won't watch it.
But I've stayed in over 100hostels.
(18:26):
So when I was beginning, I wasyounger and I didn't have a lot
of money, and so hostels arevery inexpensive.
You have like dorm rooms whereyou sleep, you know, just bunk
bed situation with other folksthat are traveling as well.
The great thing about hostelsis and they also most have
private rooms as well, so youhave the options and then also
(18:49):
times you'll have like guysrooms and girls rooms.
So like for solo femaletravelers, some might be more
comfortable in an all girls room.
There is a sense of community,there's lots of.
You have the room but you onlyliterally keep your stuff there
and you sleep there.
The rest of the place is likepool, restaurant, bar, open
(19:11):
areas outdoors, so it's a lot ofco-mingling space.
So really you're hanging out inthose spaces and you're only
going to the room to sleep andthat's it.
So it's not like you know, alot of people think of sharing a
room with some strangers.
It's like, oh no, it'd beterrible, but you're never in
there, you're just sleeping.
(19:31):
So a lot of places have pooltables and foosball tables, and
most of them have pools in theseareas, so there's just a lot of
area to meet other people andco-mingle and it's a lot of
backpackers and it's a youngercrowd for sure, definitely the
twenties crowd, twenties, midthirties.
And some of the hostels you needto filter through right.
(19:53):
Some of these are like juststraight party hostels and
that's all that's happening andyou're not going to get as much
sleep.
So if you're into that andyou're younger, that's fine, but
as you get older, you might not.
You know, you kind of tend tobe like all right, you know, I
like actually need to get somesleep.
If I want to go zip liningtomorrow or do this or whatever,
(20:13):
I can't party every night ofthe week.
You need to start choosing yourhostels wisely.
I've up until I even last yearin Denmark I stayed in a hostel
and there are some really classyhostels and it can really
reduce your expenses.
You can also get private roomsand hostels now too, with en
suite baths and stuff like that,and if you're a solo traveler,
(20:35):
it's still a great place to meetpeople.
And so now I've moved on tomore like long-term stays.
Like I have this villa here fora month.
It's an Airbnb and I have alittle because I'm working and
having calls and stuff like that.
It's just a little bit betterenvironment for me now that I'm
in my late thirties too as well.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So, like you said, you're aging yourself out of the
hostel scene a little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I would imagine, though, with over 100 hostels
you've been to over 100 of them,like you said I'm guessing you
still have friends that you'vemet years and years ago from
hostels that you're stillfriends with today.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Absolutely yeah, no, I mentioned that Denmark trip
last year.
Those guys I met.
I met a couple of friends inthe hostel.
They're Danish, so I went tovisit them in their home country
on my way home from Greece,just on a whim.
Yeah, you meet a lot of coolpeople.
I had my friend from Germanyfly into the States twice
already to hang out and we metin the basement of a hostel in
(21:37):
Australia on like pizza and 50cent beer night, you know, many
years ago before COVID.
So yeah, you do make friendsthat you keep around and keep in
touch with on on Facebook and Ihave traveled with them and met
up with them since then andgone to their home countries and
vice versa.
So, yeah, you do make somelasting friendships from from
(22:01):
staying in a hostel.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
So it's amazing to me .
You did this two week trip andit sounds like it changed you,
because you came back to the 14hour days, the six, you know six
days a week type of thing, andyou're like I'm just a year,
that's all I can do.
I'm going to do a year, save upsome money.
Were you just itching to getout of there?
I mean, was it like, was ittough to get through the year?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, painful, super painful.
And then, once I had my friendscommitted to the road trip, it
was all hands on deck.
We all cut out going out fordrinks and eating out and
everything.
We just got focused in on thisgoal.
I made a set a date.
Like we're going to leave, youknow, right in fall.
(22:44):
We're going to go south toFlorida, to the Keys, and we're
going to try and stay south allwinter, so we're in the warmest
part as we progress through thewinter.
And that worked out pretty good.
Like we had Thanksgiving in KeyWest on the RV, like the ocean,
a hundred feet away.
It was once.
Once we had that date to leave,I was just so focused on just
(23:05):
getting my savings to where itneeded to be so that I didn't
have to work for a year.
And like it's so surprising howquickly you can cut out, just
like so many things that are notimportant to make that happen.
And one thing I will say islike we both own houses.
At that time we had cars, so wehad to figure that stuff out
and we ended up renting ourhouses out.
(23:26):
That house that I ran out, myvery first house that I bought.
I've never lived there since Irented it out for that trip and
I've not been back.
And that's been almost eightyears, I guess.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Are you still renting it out?
You still own the house.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I have a portfolio of rental properties now and
that's one of them.
So I've transitioned through myreal estate journey from doing
just deals as an agent tobecoming an investor.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Dang Okay cool.
See, this is what's interesting, because it's like, okay,
here's this guy, ryan, who's outthere living the digital nomad
life, and yeah you, you starteddoing the whole, working for
this company.
You had your real estatelicense, you started sending out
contracts so you could stay onthe road, which is cool, cause I
think, like what'd you say?
Six months in, you're like thisis going faster than I want it
(24:17):
to.
So how do you, how do people dothis?
Cause you're a coach.
You coach people on being adigital nomad.
If someone's out there saying,man, I want to do what Ryan's
doing, how do you do it?
Get just a dirty short versionof it, I guess.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yeah, absolutely so.
There's three types of digitalnomads, in my opinion.
You have people that work aregular nine to five for an
employer that allows them to beremote, or I even have people
that that allows them to beremote from home and whether
they discuss with their employerthat their home is really at
home in their state or in Mexico.
(24:52):
That's the kind of the decisionthat they need to make, and
some people just fly under theirradar and don't tell their
employer and it works.
Some people ask so you have theemployees.
Then you have the freelancersthat are usually like doing like
their virtual assistants ordigital marketers or content
creators.
Those are the probably like thetop three, that are pretty easy
(25:16):
to get into on a beginner'slevel, entry level.
And then you're doing freelancework, like online through sites
like Fiverr and Upwork, andyou're taking on clients one at
a time and working withdifferent clients, right.
And so you have the freelancers, and I would say that makes up
probably about 70 percent of thedigital nomad community is the
(25:37):
freelancers.
And then you have another goodchunk that are entrepreneurs
that own businesses, like me,that run their businesses from
the road.
The best way to it reallydepends on where you feel most
comfortable in those three areasof starting to become a digital
nomad, like, do you just wantto work a remote job and clock
(25:59):
in and clock out during thesehours and you have your free
time?
Or do you want to have to havea little bit more freedom as a
freelancer but you've got tohustle to find those clients and
keep them going.
But your income is, you know,adjustable.
Like you have control of that,like you're really good at what
you do and you pump out a lot ofclients and you create more
(26:21):
value and you increase yourprices, you can make more money.
And then business owners youknow it's also the same it has
the most responsibility.
Of course, the sky's the limiton your income as well.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Pretty much three different categories, like you
said to be a digital nomad, andyou said what?
Eight years now, or so, you'vebeen doing this yeah, just about
seven, eight years do you seeit ending anytime soon, or do
you think no way.
This is like.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
This is me now yeah, no, I don't see it ending.
I, like I said, I'm a, I'm ahybrid nomad, so I still have a
home base and not everyone doesthat.
There's a lot of people thatare just traveling for, like,
indefinitely and they have nohome base other than just like
friends and family at home.
Right, they don't have a houseor apartment or anything like
(27:08):
home base, which is nice in thesense that you have none of
those expenses.
Right, because I'm home sixmonths a year at summertime,
when it's a good time to be home, I can still reconnect with
friends and family.
Also, because I have aportfolio of rental properties,
my leases don't expire until itgets to springtime.
(27:28):
Technically, I should only haveturnovers and if I want to buy
a new property and renovate it,I'm there for all of that.
So it's kind of like my grindseason for real estate is being
home in the summertime, then inthe wintertime it just goes to
managing things, because I domanage my properties personally,
(27:49):
which it gets a lot quieter,and usually I don't have move
outs.
I'm doing the coaching all yearround and the coaching can be
done from anywhere, and that'sbasically just one-on-one
coaching right now, helpingpeople become digital nomads,
but over the next two weeks I'mactually shooting like a five to
10 hour video course of how tobecome a digital nomad, breaking
(28:11):
down all the steps.
That people can buy the courseand it's going to reach a lot
more people because it's a lotmore affordable than my
one-on-one coaching, of course,because it doesn't involve my
time as much, and then I'm gonna, once that's out, we'll have
like a option to upgrade to justa small monthly cost to do
(28:32):
weekly calls so we can do q anda's and kind of like group
coaching for those people thathave gone through the course.
So that's kind of what I'mworking on right now while I'm
here in Bali.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
So you've been doing it for a while, even before the
pandemic, does it since thepandemic?
I mean, is it just, is itskyrocketed Because that's kind
of the vibe I get talking toother people that digital nomads
have like really gone up since,since COVID.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Absolutely.
One of the good things thatcame out of COVID is just the
incredible amount of people thatare allowed to work from home
now, so that's a huge thing.
Also, people just getting theitch to get out and see the
world right.
Everyone's locked up for twoyears.
Life's short, you know.
Let's get out there.
So yeah it's.
The world has became so muchmore digital nomad friendly in
(29:19):
so many ways so that, as well asyou're seeing a lot more like
co-living and co-working spacespop up, you have a lot of
digital nomad hotspots, whichare like places where lots of
digital nomads group, and Baliis definitely one of them.
Chiang Mai and Thailand isanother one.
(29:40):
Portugal, buenos Aires, mexicoCity You've got a lot of these
places.
Medellin and Colombia that arejust have this huge digital
nomad community.
So you have that support.
You have the co-working spaces.
With the fast internet, you cango to a co-living space which
is kind of like.
(30:00):
It's almost like a hostel inthe sense that you're there with
other strangers but you haveyour.
It's a older it's not as muchof a younger crowd usually, but
you have your own private.
Everyone has their own privateroom, and sometimes these can be
like in mansions in thecountryside that they've
converted into.
(30:21):
You know with a bunch of roomsand so you have your own room
and you're there with 10 otherpeople but you have a lot of
community space and theinternet's really good and a lot
.
You guys go down and kind ofwork your days together.
Even though everyone's doingtheir own thing.
You're working together.
There's like group dinners andyou group outings and stuff like
(30:42):
that.
So also there's now 66 digitalnomad visas out there now, 66
countries with digital nomadvisas.
New Zealand just added theirslast week.
So it's a little bit shorter ofa digital nomad visa than I'd
like to see.
They only give you 90 days, butthere's no minimum income
requirements that a lot ofcountries have.
(31:04):
In the past we all kind of flewunder the radar on tourist visas
working remotely.
But the problem with that isusually they're like 30 to 60
day visas, so you got to getextensions or you got to do a
border run, which is to leavethe country, come back, get a
new stamp.
So now that's taken out of theequation.
(31:25):
So like right now I'm here inBali on a one year digital Nomad
visa that I'm technically aresident and I can open bank
accounts, I get discounts onmedical and stuff because I'm a
resident.
I can get longer term leases atcheaper rates because they know
I'm allowed to be here forthese times.
(31:45):
It really has gotten a lot morefriendly to be a digital nomad,
as well as Starlink, likeplaces that didn't have access
to great internet.
They can just put Starlink onthe roof and you can be in the
middle of nowhere, and nowyou're good.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
You said something when you're talking then you
talked about, you know, covid.
We're all kind of locked up andso people get that itch and
they just they want to see theworld.
You've been seeing the world.
Tell me some of your I don'tknow some of your best
experiences, maybe, maybe acouple of stories about for you
seeing the world and what it'sbeen like.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, so even during COVID I kind of traveled a
little bit.
I had friends who were about tostart a charter business on
their catamaran in the Bahamasand I met them in my marina.
They were docked there for asummer and so I actually got to
(32:39):
go and stay at at anchor on a 50foot catamaran and work
remotely with them.
They were also digital nomadswhile they because this whole
experience was to scout out thearea before they launched after
COVID to do the charters and so,yeah, like I got to stay on a
catamaran like on floatingcrystal water, wake up every
(33:02):
morning and seeing like dolphinsswimming around the boat, you
can just hop in the water andswim with dolphins and then
spent the day working on mylaptop.
Back then Starlink was stillnot a thing yet, so we would I
always have a hotspot like adigital, like a global hotspot
that runs on SIM cards and wewould get local SIM cards and
(33:22):
work like that and that workedokay.
So that was a good experience.
That.
And also we were isolated frompeople, right, like we're on
anchor, just a couple of peopleon this big boat, and we would
go to shore and there were acouple of restaurants open not a
whole lot.
I mean Bahamas, the Exumas atthat time was like all to
ourselves, because usuallythere's three to 400 boats in
(33:44):
that anchorage and at that timeI think there was maybe like 80.
So it was just like you had thewhole place here.
So that comes to mind for likeCOVID experience.
And then since then, like someof the most memorable
experiences, is Vietnam, theNorth, doing the Haijiang loop.
(34:06):
It's called the Haijiang loop,so it's a four day motorcycle
trip through the northernmountains of Vietnam and it goes
all the way up to the Chineseborder and it's just this one
big loop.
And so you show up in themiddle of the night I was trying
to find my hostel and then thestreets, like three in the
morning by myself and like haddogs barking.
(34:29):
It was all sketchy situation.
But I got to my place and thenext morning they give you a
motorcycle for the day to getacclimated, and it's like it's
not a full blownblown motorcycle, it's got gears but you don't
need to use a clutch.
So they give it to you to kindof get get a feel for how to
ride and stuff.
And if you don't want to ride,there were a lot of people that
(34:50):
would just hire a guy right andit was just a dude on a bike and
you would sit on the back andhe you do the haisheng loop,
like that.
So if, if you're notcomfortable riding, you could do
that, but they would put usinto groups of like 10.
And then we'd go and everythingwas planned out.
It was like 255 miles over thefour days.
(35:11):
It's like all these super coolmountainous roads like through
the north.
The views were absolutelystunning and like the very first
place we stayed in is in themiddle of nowhere countryside,
almost like a barn with a secondfloor where we all just slept
on the floor, like side by sidein two different rooms, and then
(35:33):
on the first floor there waslike a little kitchen, a little
like living area with one lightbulb and they put out a huge
spread of food for us.
They had one karaoke machineand the v in vietnam karaoke is
huge and they all got us.
They all got us a little bitdrunk on, like the local
moonshine.
So we were all just likesinging karaoke through, you
(35:56):
know, until like one in themorning, then waking up, not
feeling like riding anothereight hours through the
mountains, but we all gotthrough it.
And then, you know, we had acouple more nights just like
that, where they have plannedstops and these little
countryside, towns and stuff,and like you felt like you're on
the tour de france becauseyou're like going through these
(36:18):
little vietnamese villages inthe north and the north the most
northern part of Vietnam isvery rural and it's not too
developed and you see, like kidshelping farming the land and
like you know, move, movingcattle and stuff and like
they're high-fiving you as yougo through the village and stuff
on your bike.
Like you know, like they don'tsee a lot of people like from
(36:40):
outside, like foreigners, youknow, in their, in their area,
other than on motorcycles.
So second day, eight hours onof of driving and then staying
in another place, and justbeautiful mountains, the North,
and and just how amazing it wasto like see, because the north
of Vietnam, like outside ofHanoi, is very rural and there
(37:05):
you know just a lot of ricefields and farming.
So you see kids like helpingout with farming, like pushing,
you know, herds of cattlethrough the streets, you know,
and they're this tall, you know.
Yeah, just some amazingexperiences, just seeing like
the nature and all of that wewent up to the Chinese border,
(37:26):
checked that out and over thosefour days it was just like an
incredible experience.
I will say that it was like waycolder than I expected because
it was like the North and themountains and when you come to
Southeast Asia you don't packlike gloves and jackets and
stuff.
So every chance I we got whenwe stopped anywhere we're all
(37:47):
buying like more layers becausenone of us brought the warm,
warm enough clothes for thistrip.
And it was exhausting likeafter the four days I just like
booked a really nice hotel, justslept for like two days.
Incredible trip.
And it was really cool to seejust the nature of Northern
Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
That's amazing and it's, you know, a place like
Vietnam you don't think of toooften.
It's not high on a lot ofpeople's tourist destinations,
so it's cool that, as a digitalnomad, you're able to go there
and experience it, experiencethe people and get to do a
fantastic you know adventurethrough the mountains on
motorbikes.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's like not for everyone.
I will say, like you, it's alittle bit more gritty and like
you, you've got to be a littlebit resilient and and a little
you should probably be an avidtraveler before you start with
Vietnam, because even with, like, the language and stuff, it's a
(38:43):
little bit challenging.
It was the hardest place.
Even at the airport, tryingtook three hours to clear
immigration.
It was just chaos and no oneknew what was going on.
There was very little englisheven in the airport.
They wanted like us dollars as afee and like who is?
Luckily I'm an american and Ialways have some emergency us
dollars.
But there were other peoplethere like how are we gonna pay
(39:07):
these fees?
And they wanted us dollars.
So I was actually giving out usdollars to other people and
they were like sent venmoing memoney and stuff.
But yeah, it's, it's, it's a,it's a different one.
And like just crossing thestreet in the city in Vietnam is
like it's a little terrifying.
You've seen probably videos orlike Anthony Bourdain or
(39:29):
whatever and like just the packsof motorcycles, oh yeah, just
everywhere.
And the only way to cross thestreet is just go and pray and
like they don't hit you.
It works.
To cross the street is just goand pray and like they don't hit
you.
It works, but like that'sthat's the only strategy, is you
just kind of leapfrog your waythrough this and it's a little.
(39:49):
It's a little terrifying, butit's a very cool place.
It works out every time.
They know they know how tomaneuver around people that are
trying to cross the street, butthere's not going to be like a
time where they're all stoppedand there's a crosswalk yeah,
it's not happening, gotcha, wow,amazing.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
What are some of the challenges that you have as a,
as a digital nomad?
What we say would be the thetoughest part?
Speaker 2 (40:17):
uh well, internet sometimes, like you might have
just experienced uh you justdon't know what you're going to
get, and sometimes you're in themiddle of a call and you get
something drops.
It's gotten a lot better thanit used to be, but it's still a
challenge in some countrieswhere the internet is not as
good as home, of course, sothat's a big one, and there's
(40:37):
ways of looking foraccommodations that have good
internet that I do.
So bookingcom is my number oneplace to book, like hotels and
apartments, and there's a placefor the people to rate the Wi-Fi
on its own, so that's a greatplace to start.
Airbnb now allows the host tohook up the Airbnb app and test
(41:00):
their internet and post it ontheir site.
And if it's not posted and youreally like a place, search the
reviews for internet Wi-Fi, makesure if it's bad or good,
people are going to write aboutit, and if you can't find
anything, message the host aheadof time and say, hey, can you
test the speed, take ascreenshot and send it to me.
(41:21):
So that's definitely achallenge.
Another challenge is like itcan.
Sometimes it can be lonely ifyou're solo traveling on the
road, but it's really as mucheffort that you're putting in
into it.
I oftentimes, if I find myselfbeing lonely, it's because I'm
just like staying at home andI'm not getting out the door and
like going to a co-working forthe day, or like going out to a
(41:44):
time left at dinner where youbook a table with five strangers
.
So there's plenty of places tomeet people.
You just need to put in theeffort.
So that's a thing that is achallenge as well.
Other than that, I would saylike if you travel too fast, if
you travel a lot of countriesquickly, it's really easy to get
(42:05):
burnt out.
So I always tell people likestart slow, go slow.
You want to max out your visas,especially if you're on a
tourist visa and pretty much allyour places.
Get in a routine, really absorbthe culture, get to know the
area where you can walk aroundand not need Google Maps, and
(42:25):
meet locals and have a routineso that you're not on a plane
and being jet lagged and likehaving to block out travel, work
days to travel and like thenchanging time zones, like all
that stuff can be very stressful.
So going slow, more slow, islike the best way to prevent
that.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
As you look back over the years that you've been
doing this, is there anyparticular place that comes to
mind that if you only have oneplace that you can go back to,
where would it be?
Speaker 2 (42:55):
Well, I'm here.
It's Bali.
I love Bali.
This is my fourth time to Bali.
There's very few places that Iwould describe as magical.
Another places that come tomind is like Vietnam and Peru,
mexico.
I really love Mexico.
I've spent a lot of time inMexico as well.
There's some really cool placesin Mexico.
I do love Bali because the costof living here is very low.
(43:18):
There's most beautiful beaches.
It's one of Indonesia's 17,000islands so just for those that
don't know and it's about thesize of Maryland, the state of
Maryland.
It doesn't seem like a lot ofdistance to get from place to
place, but the traffic is liketerrible here because the
streets are built for like twogolf carts and that's about it,
(43:41):
and you've got SUVs and tons ofscooters and motorbikes and
stuff, so it is challenginggetting to other parts, but it's
.
It's not.
It's not like angry traffic,like New Yorker traffic, like
everyone's chill, no one'shonking their horn.
We all get through it.
So but I do love Bali for likethe locals are like the most
friendly through it.
(44:01):
So, but I do love Bali for likethe locals are like the most
friendly, inviting people.
They're so amazing.
They'll help you out if youneed anything.
They're great very low cost ofliving, eating, you know, eating
out, laundry, transportation,all that.
Even finding places to rent canbe, you know, anywhere from
$500 a month up sky's the limitif you want a private villa with
(44:23):
a private pool and stuff, andthere's a lot to do here.
You have Ubud, which is likerainforest, and they have a
monkey sanctuary there and theyhave rice fields and rice
terraces and you can ATV throughthe jungle.
It's a huge spot for surfers.
And then there's also lots ofsmaller islands off the coast
(44:45):
that are pretty cool as well,that you can get to by boat.
So I've been to probably about10 or 11 islands in indonesia,
some some of the cool ones, likenusa penida.
There's a very unique beachthere, clinking beach, that
you've probably seen oninstagram.
It's like named one of the topbeaches in the world.
Then you have the gilly islands, which are like three islands
(45:07):
and three really small islandsoff the coast here, where magic
mushrooms just grow out of theground.
It's like perfectly legal there, like they just like serve it
up in milkshakes at the bar andeveryone goes.
And watches the sunset, and thesunsets are already amazing on
their own throw in somemushrooms and yeah, it's, it's
(45:28):
just.
It's just a very interestingvibe.
No vehicles like allowed, themotorbikes or anything allowed
on the island, so it's you justwalk.
Or if you have a lot of luggage, it's like horse and carriage.
It's pretty crazy vibes, likevery different vibes from Bali,
but I just I love Bali for somany different reasons and
(45:49):
that's why I'm here.
So I'm actually looking at somereal estate, maybe buying some,
maybe buying a place here andAirbnb-ing it when I'm gone.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Wow, good for you.
What does the future hold foryou?
What are you thinking?
Speaker 2 (46:02):
So I think it looks like continuing to build up the
coaching, especially like theprogram and the community.
Helping other people becomedigital nomads is, you know,
it's more of a mission Like.
It's something that I getexcited about.
I think I have enough incomecoming in through my rentals to
cover my monthly expensespassively, so this coaching is
(46:27):
really all about something thatI'm doing that fills a void of
helping other people and likemore mission based, so I'm
really excited about it.
I've been doing the one on onefor about a year and a half, but
having a community and havingcourses to sell.
I'm really excited about havingthat to be able to help more
(46:50):
people at a much better pricepoint as well, and just being a
hybrid nomad, being home on thesailboat in the summer and maybe
here in Bali every winter.
So that's as of right now.
That's what what it's lookinglike.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
So if someone wants to, you know, is interested and
says, oh man, I need to learnfrom Ryan how to how to be a
digital nomad.
Where can they get in touchwith you?
How can they find out some moreinformation?
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Absolutely so.
My website is the digital nomadcoachcom and there they can
sign up for a free guide sevenways to become a digital nomad
and I talk about all thedifferent ways to nomad like van
life sailing around the world,being a hybrid nomad like me
staying in a co-living place.
So that's free.
And then, after you get thatfree guide, you can also book a
(47:38):
free 30 minute strategy sessionwith me if you're interested on
the coaching, so I can kind ofhelp you figure out a game plan.
And also you'll be the first toknow once the courses and
community are launched, whichwill be somewhere in March, so
coming soon.
And then I am the digital nomadcoach on Instagram, facebook
(47:58):
and YouTube.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
My final question for you and this has been
fascinating.
Thank you so much, ryan, fortaking some time and sharing who
you are and what you've gotgoing on, and just your love for
living this lifestyle.
I think it's pretty neat.
My final question it's aquestion I ask everybody on the
show is for you, then, what doesadventure mean to you?
Speaker 2 (48:17):
That's a good one.
Mean to you, that's a good one.
Adventure is waking up excitedabout your day, whether it's
working at a cool new cafe downthe street or, like you know,
doing a motorcycle trip throughthe north of Vietnam or
ziplining through the jungles ofCosta Rica.
I think it's just thatexcitement that you get with
(48:38):
your day of living this type oflifestyle.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Ryan, thank you so much for coming on Journey with
Jake.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
I'm happy to be here.
Thanks so much for having me.
It was really good.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Thank you so much to Ryan Mellon for coming on the
show and sharing his journeyinto the world of digital
nomadism.
It was inspiring to hear howthis lifestyle has impacted him
personally and how he's nowgiven back by coaching others
who want to embrace the digitalnomad life.
If you'd like to learn moreabout Ryan and grab his free
guide, Seven Ways to Become aDigital Nomad, head over to the
(49:09):
digitalnomadcoachcom.
You can also follow him onInstagram at the digital nomad
coach and check out his podcast,Digital Nomad Nation, for more
valuable insights.
Ryan, thank you once again forsharing your story with all of
us and, of course, a huge thankyou to all of you for tuning in
each week.
Your feedback and support trulymean the world to me.
(49:32):
If you enjoy the show, it wouldbe amazing if you could take a
moment and leave a rating andreview on Apple Podcasts or
Spotify.
It helps more people discoverthe show.
If not, no worries, I'm justgrateful you're here and I hope
you find a bit of enjoyment andmaybe even some motivation from
each episode.
Be sure to join me next weekfor another great conversation.
I'll be speaking with JohnCheney, an entrepreneur from my
(49:54):
home state of Utah and atalented pianist.
We'll dive into his adventuresas a musician and entrepreneur.
It's a conversation you won'twant to miss.
Just remember, it's not alwaysabout the destination, as it is
about the journey.
Take care everybody.
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