Navigating The Global Tech Scene as a Solo Female Traveler With Margaux Miller

In this episode of the podcast, we are joined by Margaux Miller, a global community builder in the tech industry. Margaux shares her experiences as a woman in tech, her advocacy efforts, and how she leverages LinkedIn for networking during her travels and remote work. She delves into balancing work and travel, including tips for slow travel, the benefits of staying a month in places, the implications of renting out a home, and the advantages of targeted networking. Margaux also shares her intricate process of researching locations based on parameters like Wi-Fi access and proximity to co-working spaces before settling in for work, emphasizing the importance of insurance and local advice. Her journey shows the evolution of work and travel, providing keen insights for potential digital nomads and other solo female travelers. Enjoy!

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Hello, and welcome to the WorldWanders podcast, a proud part of the
Wanderbarn podcast network. I'm Ryan,I'm Amanda, and we're your hosts.
We're a traveling couple and digital nomad'staking you on our adventures as we explore
locations, destinations, and careers.Enjoy the show. Hello everyone, and
welcome back to another episode of theWorld Wanders podcast. We are super excited

(00:25):
that you guys are joining us fortoday's episode of the show because today we
are joined on the podcast by specialguest Margo Miller. As a global community
builder, Margo connects top talent worldwidethrough tech events, online programming, and
pro bono initiatives. An advocate forwomen in tech, she founded the Manitoba
Women in Tech Group and sits onthe advisory board for Women Tech Global Network.

(00:49):
She's passionate about remote work, andMargo leverages LinkedIn during solo travels for
networking, which we definitely need totalk about because that's super cool. She's
also a startup enthusiast and hosted toStart Canada podcast and enjoys exploring new cities,
new cities startup scenes. Margo's anavid reader and podcast enthusiast. She
turns cities into a chapter of herdiverse professional journey. So very excited about

(01:12):
this conversation and Margo, welcome tothe show today. Hey, thank you
so much. Always fun having abio before you come on. Do you
know what? For so long,because we've done and been on the other
side of it, and I alwaysfeel like it's so weird when somebody is
talking about me when I'm sitting righthere. So for so long we didn't
do that, but it actually makesediting so much easier to just do the

(01:33):
bio with the guests. I actuallyused to do it on the show that
I had at one point too,so I hear you. Okay, yeah,
hopefully we didn't torture you too muchfor that sixty seconds. That was
a good one. It's only badwhen someone like reads every university than been
certificate and thing that you have.I'm like, those bios those are the
worst. That was okay, Yeah, thank You've done a criminal record check

(01:55):
as well well. Basically basically awesome. We always like to kick these off
by asking where in the world ourguests are, so we'll throw that question
your way, Margo, where aboutwhere you're joining US from Yeah, this
is an easy one. Right now. I'm actually back in my hometown in
Winnipeg, Canada. I tend totravel like off and on a few months
at a time, come back fora bit. I'm not fully nomadic,

(02:16):
so and I really like it thatway. The way I refer to myself
is that I'm a remote professional becauseI do have like a normal career,
full time position, but it happensto be fully remote. We are a
global company that I work with,so we can be anywhere pretty much in
the world, so long as wemake our meetings, often in the US
time zone. And so yeah,like I have a place in Winnipeg and

(02:37):
I come home here and it's likereally safe and nice. I came home
on time for Christmas and then I'mhere for a little bit. But before
that was gone for three months inEurope and it kind of goes in this
pattern back and forth like that.But yeah, right now, nice and
easy back in my hometown. Yeah, No, that's so awesome. I
really love the idea of like,you know, having a home base and
then being able to travel and stufflike that. So it's kind of what

(02:59):
we did this past year. Althoughyeah, Mexico's kind of our temporary home
right now, but sort of Iguess as permanent as it is, it
gets I want to hear like somuch about how this started some curious for
you. Is it like, wereyou into travel and you wanted to get
a remote job or did you geta remote job and then you're like,
oh, cool, I can travel, Yeah, good question. I think
it was probably like a weird mixof both in a way. So historically

(03:23):
I always thought working remotely would beamazing, but I think I didn't realize
the potential of it or how manyroles out there that there were. I
think I had this pressure feeling oflike, well, if I had my
own business, I could do whatI wanted. But you know, within
businesses it was hard. Obviously,the world has been changing the last few
years where there's a little more flexibilityin that people see the value like a
lot of companies aren't realizing. Butat the same time we are seeing a

(03:45):
lot of companies going back to pullingpeople back in the office. But so
when I was first looking at this, I was always someone who grew up
traveling. Really fortunate that my parentsreally encouraged it. They even took my
brother and I to live in Australiafor a year when we were teenagers,
and again we're Canadians. That wasa big move and so we definitely were
exposed to this, which gave usboth the travel bug very much so,
and so we always were traveling.But I'd go on these trips and then

(04:09):
I feel this pressure to like beback in the office Monday morning, and
you'd be racing back on a Sundaynight, paying the high price fee to
get back, only to be liketired the next day. Anyway. Meanwhile,
had I stayed somewhere and flown whenit was like a good deal,
I could have been like really freshat work, been hit those like at
those days, but just not physicallyat home, just on my computer.
But I always thought, this isso silly. Wouldn't life be amazing if

(04:30):
you had an effect work from whereverI was, at least for a slightly
extended period of time, like extendedtrips a little bit or whatever. This
is my mindset originally was just aslight stretch from what I had right which
was a normal in office job.But then the pandemic happened and we all
got sent home and In that period, I realized that I was very capable
of successfully like delivering on my projects, even when I was at home where

(04:53):
some people I know they've tested thathad a really hard time. My output
is still extremely high, in fact, maybe even higher. I am a
social person. And then then I'mnot distracted by like the water cooler,
talking all those things, long lunches, coffee, like going for coffee whatever,
right when you're home. I justlike work out in the morning,
walk to my office and then inmy house, and then get to work
immediately. So I realized I coulddo it. I did a really good

(05:15):
job at it. And then Ifound the current job i'm at on LinkedIn.
I read the description and thought,wow, this is a dream job,
totally remote, and then at andI but I wasn't necessarily searching only
for remote jobs. I would havetaken an in person job at the time
because my mind, like my mindsethadn't fully switched. Now though, three
years into that role, I can'timagine, like I'm surprised I wasn't targeting

(05:40):
it more actively, considering I hadalways felt burdened by like not being able
to extend trips and all that stuff. I was talking about. So yeah,
it was a bit of like someweird hybrid of both. I always
kind of knew there was a betteroption for me, but I didn't really
know it was realistic or where tofind it. Found this amazing job,
and it turned out like even moreamazing because not only was it the function
I wanted to be doing, butalso was fully globally remote, which is

(06:01):
quite rare. Like, it's quiterare that you're fully remote and they don't
care if you're outside your city,your province, or country. It's really
just up to me to know whatCanada's Tech's rules are for that. But
otherwise the company doesn't care so longas I make my meetings. Yeah,
No, that's awesome. That's Ryan'sjob is very much like that too,
which has been like a huge blessingfor us to be able to continue our
travels as well. I know,I was talking with somebody the other day

(06:25):
who's like, Oh, She's like, I didn't realize that there was a
difference from work from home jobs andremote work jobs, which I actually didn't
know this either, So I justfound this out like this week, where
I guess she has like a workfrom home job, so she can't even
like go to a Starbucks or likework from the airport. It's like that
stuff has to be either like it'slike PTO or like you know, time

(06:46):
off basically or needs to be approved. And I was like, huh,
I'd like no idea that there wasa difference in this. And it's also
interesting. We were just down inArgentina and we went to this like American
Thanksgiving event and I was talking tothis girl who not only works two jobs,
both of her employers don't know shehas another full time job, so
she's like doing some sort of likehacking the system there. But she's supposed

(07:09):
to be based in Atlanta, Georgia, and so she's got this whole setup
where she like wires into her likecomputer in the morning and she checks like
the weather so she can dress appropriatelyfor meetings and stuff. And I was
like, dang, girl, Likethat's she just find a job that they
like, you could just be noway good for her. But I feel
like that's a risk, you know, and a lot of people aren't willing

(07:29):
to take that or do that.But Wow, and your comment earlier about
the diff between work from home,I think that's a really important one.
To flag for people, because Ithink there's this appeal to be working in
the kind of roles that you know, if you mentioned Ryan has and I
have. But yeah, you haveto look like read the posting carefully because
and it might also say like USremote or Manitoba Remote or you know,
like the province remote or whatever,in which case that likely means somewhere between

(07:53):
what you just said, which isyou can be outside your home, but
you can't be outside your city,province, whatever. And oftentimes they do
done for information security, right,Like you'll have a VPN that you have
to sign into and it's like reallyhard to sign into it if you're not
like in certain space and blah blahblah. So sometimes there's that kind of
stuff that can that can put ablocker up. Yeah, so much more

(08:13):
ease and enjoyment comes from working witha company where like people do it and
you don't have to feel kind ofguilty or like you're being judged for being
like, hey, I'm taking aflight this afternoon or whatever. Yeah,
No, that's what I was thinking. I was talking with this girl.
It was like so much of yourtime and energy, like just like thought
process, like ram of your brainmust go to like making sure that you

(08:37):
don't get caught by these two jobs. Yeah, you're out of an example,
even like adding that anxiety I gofor when I'm home and get it.
I go for walks on the frozenriver here in the winter every morning
pretty much. And I listened totypically like a podcast or a shortened book
on like one of those books summaryapps or something like that, and I
was listening to one this morning,and it was basically saying that you're obviously

(08:58):
we all know what have its bigconversation few years about developing good habits right
and how that can lead to success. But it was talking about that and
also like the mindset around them,and with this example that you're giving,
if someone who spends a lot oftime on kind of you know, quote
unquote the wrong thing when you're constantlythinking about the same thing. So every
day she wakes up and goes,I check the weather, I figure out
my outfit. That becomes a habit, and then that just becomes like normal

(09:18):
state where she has this like minianxiety every morning of doing this thing which
starts your day. Then in thislike anxious state, even if it's like
subtle or slightly subconscious. I'cur she'snot panicking every morning, she's got a
routine now, but it's a routinelike kind of for the wrong thing.
And the book was also talking abouthow you have habit they just become like
your normal life, so you don'tlike, you don't notice you're doing it.

(09:39):
But and you can only have somany habits, and so you have
to basically get rid of a habitto like a bad one, in order
to have the space to replace itwith a good one because again, like
we obviously all only have so muchcapacity in time in a day. So,
yeah, it is unfortunate that kindof story, because you're putting your
day immediately in the hands of kindof a like quote unquote negative or bad

(10:01):
habit, right, and then you'relike this poor woman. I don't want
to say that what she's doing islike totally wrong, but it's like it's
we do all have this subconscious stuffthat affects us, right, And there's
tons of books and studies about habitsand mindset and how it affects like the
next thing you're doing in the nextthing, and then ultimately affects every day
of your life. Yeah, totallyI think that that's a good point.
That was my takeaway too, oflike this must be just like a stressful
life. Although the double like twosolid incomes would be quite nice. It's

(10:24):
like double income, one person,no kids. Yeah, oh my god,
that's actually commlical. Yeah. Yeah, well I'm curious for freelancing kind
of organization. And then you're allowedmore than one thing. Yeah, you're
totally totally. I thought there wasjust ways that you could like make that
work where it's like you're not steppingon an even to anyone's toes, and
you're potentially not going to get likea fired done really bad ter Like if

(10:45):
you're a contractor or freelancer working yourown hours, you can work eighty hours
a week if you choose to,like they don't care as long as you
get your work done. It's adifferent beast for sure. Yeah, exactly.
And so I'm curious for you obviously, like pandemic happens, get a
remote job you're at home or allstuck at home, that type of thing,
and world starts opening back up.What did it kind of look like
for you as you were like,hey, maybe I'll just take this job

(11:07):
on the road, Like, canyou talk us through, like what that
journey has been like as you've startedto travel and that type of thing.
Yeah, that's been a really funone and it's been honestly, really gradual.
And I think that's another like reallygood piece of advice there. I
think we see people really living thesereally like attractive lives, and you know,
they're always traveling, or they're likesix months somewhere, or they move

(11:28):
so literally for a year, thatkind of stuff, and maybe there's a
barrier that people put up because thatfeels daunting or it feels like I'd have
to arrange so many things in mylife to go over that long like that
feels like a lot for me.I'd rather than do that to myself.
I did this kind of gradual buildso when the when kind of the world
opened up again, I was alreadyin this role, so I wasn't totally

(11:50):
taking advantage of what it had tooffer. Kind of one day woke up
and realized, one, you know, things are open now, I could
probably be utilizing this freedom that Ihave a lot more. And so then
I just on like a little bitlonger trips, like say a friend of
mine in a different city in Canada, was had like an engagement party,
or was you know, had abachlerretta or something. I had a big
birthday. I would go to thatcity, say Toronto, for example,

(12:11):
and instead of just staying for aweekend again with like expensive flights and whatever,
I'd realize, oh, I couldjust get a co working space or
she's got a square bedroom. I'llstay for an entire week and then just
kind of work from there and let'ssee how it goes. And it would
go perfectly fine. No one wouldeven know at work or notice or care,
right because you're still at all yourmeetings, You're working normal days.
You're just slightly different time zone.And then I would go for two weeks

(12:33):
and then you know, something elsewould come up and I'd go, okay,
I'm gonna be in Vancouver. Well, I wonder if I could also
be in Seattle, like right acrossthe border for a week after Okay,
cool, Yeah, that worked,that was easy. Okay, great,
you know, three weeks, fourweeks and then before you knew it,
Like last spring, I was inMexico for two months, and I have
some friends in this one city,so I picked there because I knew people.

(12:54):
They had someone who had an apartmentthat I could rent, and then
like just more recently, I wasgone three months straight and Europe, and
I'd have like maybe a speaking Gigerand I'm seeing Gig in there because I
do that stuff on the side ofmy day job, so I kind of
like build my trip around that.But you know, you realize that like
okay, getting an Airbnb when yourent for a month or more, significant
discounts, like it doesn't even showactually, like I advice to people,

(13:16):
when you put more days, it'llgive you a discount, but until you
click and open it, you sometimescan't fully see it. It's interestly kind
of where with the user interface ifanyone's listening from Airbnb product, but when
you you end up seeing like quitea steep discount. So for example,
to give you an example, Ijust stayed for a month in frog Chechia,
like right downtown and like right alongthe river bank close to the dancing

(13:39):
house central area. Nine hundred Canadiandollars what tire Moffet furnished place like right's
great area. So this is whatpeople like I think. So anyway,
I do all those things and thenit just made me like there was just
a comfort level that grew, right, and now I'm kind of like,
how can I get the right visasto be out of the country for six
months or a year, right,and not like break my citizenship in visas

(14:01):
and get in trouble. Right.So now it's like, you know,
my mindset gradually grew, and definitelyI'm like more and more taking advantage of
it. But currently I still dolike to come home, be with my
close friends and my family, havethis safe space where my with my house.
But that mindset starting to shift aswell. But yeah, I don't
I haven't had the desire to belike a total nomad living out of a
suitcase. I have really liked thisbalance of a few months away, a

(14:24):
few months of the people I love, a few months away. You know,
this back and forth that's really workedfor me, and I think everyone
just has to find what works forthem. But it's definitely been a gradual
journey from like extending a weekend toa week to three months not feeling anyone
enough. Yeah, yeah, Iwas curious, did you grow up in
Winnipeg. Oh, I'm curious whatit's been like kind of spending more and
more time away from the city andif you've noticed that's kind of impacted your

(14:48):
relationships and social circle there. Sointeresting, Ryan, that is a great
question. I was like people inmy network would joke that I I was
miss Winnipeg when I was in myearly twenties. I literally love our city.
I always have. I was superinvolved. I'd be on committees and

(15:09):
running events and that every like Gallaand golf throner man and all this stuff.
Right, Like, I was heavy, heavy involved in our city.
I still very much am a supporterof Winnipeg. I think it's an underrated
city that has a lot to offer, especially when like cost of living is
great and we all have like summerhousesand cabins because the cost of living is
great, and that there's lakes everywherenearby and like so summers are amazing.
So there's a lot of really goodBut to your question more directly about like

(15:31):
relationships and what it looks like,it is interesting. It has made me
feel slowly every time, a littlemore disconnected from the city. I think
that the world has a lot tooffer, and I don't think that takes
away from where you're from. Butthat's a common thing that people a narrative
that people use I think by accident. I think it's people think it's cool

(15:54):
to like say, oh I wasin Paris and it's so amazing, and
oh I wish my city was likethat, But it's like, no offer
different things like you can't live rightdowntown in Paris for the price you can
in Winnipeg, and you can't youknow, then have the disposal income to
go to other cities like Paris thatyou can when you live here, you
know. So it's like there's amillion of those examples I could give you.
I think that it's the biggest thingfor me, which is a funny,

(16:17):
kind of totally different topic, Ryan, is that I am single,
and the more that you travel,the more a smaller city that's like a
little more traditional like Winnipeg feels verysmall in what you're looking for in the
dating pool. Which this could bea whole other podcast, but yeah,
I can imagine like if you spendlike you said, you spent time in

(16:37):
Guadalajara, Like Guadalajara is like whatsix million, eight million? I think,
yea, yeah, like it's ahuge city. I'm sure there's just
like so many more options. Yeah, and in Europe everyone's so international,
like they understand that side of mea lot more easily. In Winnipeg,
I think there's a lot more orlike smaller cities in Canada, US,
whatever, Like it's not just Winnipeg, but there's a bit more of a

(17:00):
mindset of like most people I knoware in very serious, long term partnerships,
they're married, they're having kids right, Like I'm in my mid to
late thirties. So it's like that'swhat you're seeing, right, So whereas
when you're in busy, very metropolitanEuropean cities or wherever in the world like
that are more aligned to that,you have a lot of people who are
on the same path, like theymight never have kids, are very career

(17:22):
oriented, they've lived in six differentcountries, they speak four languages. Like
that's really normal of what you're findingin people you meet that. You don't
find a big group of those peoplein prairie cities. You just don't.
It's just not as it's just notas metropolitan maybe at the right word,
but I don't know, it's notas much like that. Mm hmm.
Yeah, that's really interesting. Ifeel like when we kind of started our

(17:42):
nomadic journey and we were probably onlyin Canada, like maybe four or five
months of the year. When wefirst started, we just come back for
like the warmer months based in Alberta. So, I mean, you're from
Winnipeg, so you're from a verycold place as well. But I was
like, I'm from a like thefrozen tundra. I do to spend winter
there. But I felt like,just like the longer we did that,

(18:03):
it's like, you know, it'slike so much time was passing and so
many things were happening that we weremissing. And I also feel like it's
just like our lives were becoming somuch different from our friends at home.
Not to say that we don't havegreat friends at home, because we do.
We have friends that we see,you know, every year when we
go back, and it's always reallyspecial and meaningful, but it just became
like more obvious that it's like,you know, we're not like kind of

(18:26):
in the same social circle, Likewe don't do things every weekend every more
anymore, because you know, we'renot here most of the time of the
year. And then our community gotkind of based around, you know,
other nomads like Becky for example.It's a you know, a great nomad
friend of ours. Who's the personwho connected us. And it's like you
kind of just build a community ofpeople who like get you a little bit

(18:47):
more. So it's kind of curious. Yeah, have you started to build
kind of your like your nomad communityquote unquote, Yeah, it's really interesting.
I've always been someone who's okay withfriendships evolved over time, so especially
because like after we lived in Australiawhen I was fourteen, we came back
and there was a big group ofpeople back home that were like in clicks.

(19:07):
It was very much kind of likethat mean girl era where you had
to pick certain groups of friends likevery you know, stereotypical, and so
I think we learned young that itwas okay to change your friends because we
kind of have to. We wereforced to get friends when we went there
to Australia for the year, andwe were forced to kind of like repick
groups of friends and we came back, and so I think like ever since
that formative experience, I've been someonewho was okay with a friend saying like,

(19:30):
you know, going into a direction, or me going into a direction.
And when my friends started to havekids, and I wasn't in that
path like those friendships look different,right, they started to hang out with
like other moms more than with youbecause you were there kind of like going
out friend or were their adventure friend, right, And so things start to
evolve as I like, I'm ayou know for those who can't see because
we're audio here, Like I'm wearinga blazer right now, even though I

(19:52):
am like and I bring blazers whenI'm traveling in with a carry on only,
Like I'm still a professional. Andthat's like I'm a very business fook
person even though I'm in this lifestyle. You know, they're not mutually exclusive.
So I think there's like a bucketfor everyone. I have a lot
of what I call business friends now, like women in business who are like
me or we've bonded over like alike minded drive and joy of networking and

(20:14):
the joy of doing you know,go to business events. Not everyone likes
that, So that's a bold forme. And I think this is just
one more evolution in that where it'skind of like your friends of kids and
you start to lose them a littlebit, but you still love them deeply.
That's kind of I would I wouldmake I would say that that's akin
to this my local friends in Winnipeg. I still love them deeply, but
those friendships are starting to look alittle different and I am starting to like

(20:37):
lean into what was once like mybusiness friendships is now you know, my
kind of like travel business friendships.Other women who do public speaking, other
women who are traveling and staying inco living, co working spaces, or
you know, trying to take advantageof the opportunities available in this lifestyle,
in women in tech, that kindof stuff. So yeah, there's definitely
an evolution, and it's hard tobalance because you feel a bit sad or

(20:59):
guilty. You may be guilty isthe right word in a way, because
you don'tant people to think that youthink you're better than them because you're living
this travel lifestyle, because that's notwhat it is. No one's better than
me for having a kid or notas well. You know, it's like
it's not that's not the bottom line. It's just that things start to look
a little different. Yeah, forsure, it's just like shifting into different
life phases and sometimes it becomes challengingto keep up and stuff like that.

(21:21):
So yeah, definitely get that.I feel like we've definitely had a lot
of that, and I'm kind ofcurious for you, like what it looks
like when you're planning a trip.I mean you're planning, you know,
as a solo female, so I'mcurious, like what considerations going with that.
And then when you're looking for likeairbbs, places to stay, you
know, I'm assuming probably proximity toco working spaces. Just all the planning

(21:41):
that kind of goes into like,Okay, I'm going somewhere for like one
to three months, and you know, this is what I need out of
that out of that trip. Definitely, I would have lots of advice and
tips for this. I think thefirst is if you are a woman listening
who is unsure, and even ifyou're young, like way younger than me.
I said my age earlier. Butif you're like in your early twenties
and you're thinking, like I thinkthat I want to do this, but
it seems intimidating at a woman byyourself, I would only tell you to

(22:06):
do it. You will learn aboutyourself and grow, and you will meet
a ton of amazing people because whenyou don't have a friend shielding you,
you work harder to make other friendsand those will be amazing friends. When
I was in the UK just recently, I stayed with a friend in her
house with her husband and two kidsfor five weeks. Can you believe it?
They're very kind people. But Idid that and that woman was a

(22:27):
friend I met when I was liketwenty one backpacking in New Zealand, and
we were that good of friends thatI was able to do that now like
thirteen years later or whatever it was. So you're just gonna win from you
and from taking that risk, Iwould say. So that's like the first
thing. And then okay, haveyou plans that you don't feel uncomfortable when
you go, Well, there's tonsof options there. If you are young,

(22:48):
still in your good with hostels,like go stay in the hostele.
You'll meet a ton of people.But if you're trying to work and you
need like that quiet space and kindof the focused space, co living,
co working spaces or something to lookup literally look up those two words together,
co lib, cowork. They're basicallylike houses with numerous rooms in them
where maybe like everything is shared sharedkitchen, shared bathroom, shared common spaces,
but you have your bedroom with adesk in it, with high speed

(23:10):
Wi Fi and you can lock thedoor, and then there's usually a co
working space that comes with it,so like an actual room with a bunch
of desks or cubicles, or aspace nearby in another space like another house
or something nearby where you can cowork. Again, like guaranteeing good internet and
all the plugs you need and allthat stuff, which brings me to the
point of when you're doing this lifestyle, you are not on vacation, and

(23:30):
so there is a lot of workthat you have to do to make sure
that you're set up properly. Soyou know, sometimes when you search for
hotels for a trip, let's sayyour path is like using Expedia or like
looking up I don't know, differentdeal websites for hotels. When you're looking
for like an extended period, Ioften use air VnB because I like feel,
like I was saying earlier, likethe rates you can get long term
and you can get a space.But I have to search the word Wi

(23:52):
Fi, like in my filters andkeywords. That's one of the first things
I'm looking for. I can't lookat just like price and location and leave
that off my it's really really highup there. And then you have to
make sure that you're going a fewdays early to be able to like test
that Wi Fi and see and thenif it's not strong enough for international Videon
calls, which I have to do, then you need to find a coworking
space that's nearby enough where you whereyou know the route and you know the

(24:15):
transportation, because come Monday morning whenyour work starts, you better not have
any interruptions because if you start tohave interruptions, that's when your employer or
your boss or whoever is not goingto want you doing what you're doing.
If you don't ever show uplipp inyour delivery, then they have nothing to
complain about. They have no legto stand it on right, and they
will just genuinely also be okay withit because you're proving that you're not going
to let it interrupt your work.So I think like there's a lot of

(24:38):
factors there that I look at.With every n you can like a button
that says does it have Wi Fior not? Yes or no, and
it'll only give you those options.But then my recommendation would be go into
the comments and search internet Whyfi witha hyphen Whifi without a hyphen, like
try and get any reviews to comeup in the comments like reviews section that
has to do with internet or WiFi, and then that way you can

(25:00):
kind of see and look at thedate on them. If they're a few
years old, they've probably fixed thewi Fi since then. But if there's
somewhat reason and there's a comment aboutkind of like intermittent wi Fi, go
to your next option. You know, like, don't take that risk,
I would say, because even thoughco working spaces are amazing to go into,
there's plenty of days I just wantto stay in my space and work
and yeah, you know, likeyeah, that's when you don't have the
option to stay in your airbnb towork, right exactly. You're like hot

(25:23):
spotting data to make that happen,and it's like and when you're in other
countries it can be really cheap todo that, but it's still like such
a pain in the butt. Yeah, you can verify wi Fi Now you
can do like speed tests as thehost and like verify what your Wi Fi
speed is, which is not everyhost does that, but I think if
they're setting up screenshot in their picturesand you could like see what, contact

(25:47):
them, Yeah, because I hatewhen you like contact them and they're like,
yeah, it's like really fast,and you're like, can you tell
me how fast it is? Andthen they give you like numbers and you're
like that's not fast internet. Yeah, right, right right, awesome.
Well, one thing I was curiousabout was what have been your favorites so
far since you started kind of specificallyworking and traveling favorite cities and regions and

(26:10):
then kind of going off that,like what's on your like the top of
your list for places you want togo. You know, this is a
funny question for me because I havealways been a person who does not have
favorites. Like anyone who knows me, this is a really funny thing.
Even when I was young, Ididn't have like band posters on my wall
as a woman, you know,as a young girl, I didn't have
like a favorite band and a favoritelike, you know whatever food. Like

(26:33):
just always been the kind of personwho's like, well, today, I
want sushi, but I also lovepizza, and like, oh Italian food
so good? Oh Indian food,man, don't you like some good Indian
But like my answer would never bea straight out I couldn't pick. So
Travel's kind of the same thing.I think my mind just goes to like
recent places I had a great experience, and so I just mentioned prob a
minute ago. Fabulous experience there.It is a very well priced city compared

(26:56):
to a lot of other European cities, especially for like a big capital city
that's pretty neat. So it's morelike Central Europe, which I hadn't really
done. I had done a lotof like the obvious European countries a little
more west. That was like anice change for me. I definitely did
not learn the language, but enjoyedreally really awesome people that I met there,
and I think they have an appetitefor meeting people from other countries like

(27:18):
me who are trying to like integratein the business community when I'm there in
the startup community and support women intech and that kind of stuff. Even
like I ended up speaking at theCzech Chamber of Commerce when I was there
because I met some of the rightpeople and just said like, hey,
this is what I do. Doyou have a need for this, and
they had like an appetite for it. So I think, you know,
it's all where I just like havehad good experiences in recent days. But

(27:41):
I also read before that was inLisbon and loved lis Bin my visitings of
friends in the UK and so myhad friends there, so that was great.
You know. So it kind ofis like it's like my food example,
I'm not good at giving a favor, but there are a lot of
amazing places in this world. Maybebefore you answered part two, I'll flip
the question then, has there beenanywhere where you're like this was not like
maybe like you don't hate it,Well, if you hate it, you
could share that too, but maybeit's like this just was like not a

(28:03):
great place for the type of tripI'm looking for, like being a solo
female working and traveling. Okay,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
fair, that's that's that I canmaybe try and answer. You know again,
I all find like a silver liningand like something positive about everywhere I
go because it all helps you grow, right, and it always a good
experience in that way. But youguys are in Mexico and I was in

(28:25):
Guadalajada, which is what you saidbefore, is like eight million people.
I was there in spring. Ihave good friends there and had a great
experience. However, there were thingsI didn't expect inland Mexico or at different
places in Mexico. You didn't haveto do your research. There are dangers.
My close friends there, I wasin a residential neighborhood, like I
was staying with a friend of afriend, renting your room off them,

(28:45):
and so I was in like anice, like safe seeming neighborhood, like
you could walk around, looked lovely. But all these shops I wanted to
go to were across a railroad trackand they wouldn't let me walk across it,
not even in the day. Andthere's like a road in a sidewalk,
like it was a normal thing towalk across. You weren't like running
across a field, but they wouldn't. They were like, you are not
allowed to walk across there, nomatter what, even during the day.
And I did it a few timesand then told them and they freaked out

(29:07):
of me. They're like, you, gabbo, what are you dude?
It's so dangerous But it didn't appearsduring the day. But I guess this
is where like you kind of needlocal guides is a little bit, you
know, there are dangers and obviouslyagain for people can't see me, I'm
a pale redhead, so I wouldstand out in these you're like one hundred
percent not Mexican. There are someredheads from Jalisco. That's where Canelos from.

(29:30):
Ah, there you go. Imean totally, there's people in every
country that look every kind of way, and that's an amazing part of our
world. But typically I would standout this funny though, just to add
one note there, it's I findit's one of the hardest things about travel
because you want to like respect whatlocals say and their advice, and that
gets you lots of good places,but you also like basically everywhere has like

(29:52):
that, like don't goes on likeit's like the Lion King Elephant Graveyard I
remember in Panama City, And ifyou talk to Panamanians from Panama City about
Cologne, it's like, oh,if you go to Clone, you're gonna
die, Like yo, get robbedand die there. Do not go there.
But then you talk to lots ofpeople who go there. You talk
to foreigners and they're like it wasit's not nice, but like it's fine,
you can right, be right.It's always like hard to know.

(30:15):
It is hard to know, andthen you do have to make some of
your own decisions and like obviously stilllisten and pay attention, like I was
still very vigilant when I crossed it, like I wasn't willing nearly crossing it,
like you know, cheom bubblegum andcurling my hair like I was like
walking looking had my phone in myhand with like my friend's number dialed just
in case, do you know whatI mean? Like like there's things you

(30:36):
can do as a female at theold Tarvel to still be like intelligent,
like having those phone numbers, havingsomebody, and if you don't, then
you just don't go to those places, like like there are little things you
can do, but to spend timetrying your question. The other thing about
it was it was way dustier thanI expected it to be, which I
guess you should know because it's literallyon like sand planes. Essentially, it's

(30:57):
like the city built on dirt andstay. But it was like i'd go
for a run or even just likea walk. I'd walk to go get
ice cream or something, and you'dcome back and like your feet and you're
like you couldn't walk in sandals.Your feet would be just like black.
So I was really surprised, likein a city I wasn't expecting to feel
like gritty all the time. Andit's just like a lot of their houses

(31:18):
don't have air conditioning. It's justlike super common, not too so you
kind of have your window cracked allthe time. Then there were like tons
of noises outside the window, justbecause like the neighborhood cats that made tons
of boys at night and dogs too, And there was a train nearby,
and so it was like I remembermy first couple of weeks just thinking I'm
dirty and I'm not sleeping well becausethese noises. And then' like okay,
and you get over it. Youget some beer plugs, you wash your

(31:41):
feet in the sink, you findyou find a good way to stand on
a stool and watch your feet,like do you know what I mean?
Like whatever, you gotta find somegood tacos and you're like, okay,
I get what people are here now. Oh yeah. There was a market
at the end of my street andit was amazing. It was every Monday,
they had this like big pop uplike food truck kind of thing and
it was all the Mexican classics andI just like eight churros by myself every
Monday night. I think I lovethat. Yeah, Mexico is noisy that

(32:07):
My parents were just down in Decemberand they're like, we want some are
quiet to stay and I was like, don't come to this country. Then
this whole country is not for youif you want some of our quiet building
material like different. I don't knowif they leave in the window open,
like you're gonna hear the noise.It's just kind of part of It's a
lot of like density. I alsohad like tons of wonderful experiences, but

(32:27):
I think it's sometimes I just don'tresearch that deeply. I'm like, I
have a friend there, so I'mgonna go and it's gonna be great.
And then you kind of go andgo okay, Like I think in Canada,
we definitely are We take it forgranted, how free it is here,
how safe it is here, andso there it was a little bit
of a reality check of like,oh, there are people that live differently,
like it's you know, and youhave to you have to be a
little more careful. But yeah,you have to be more thoughtful when you

(32:49):
leave your house, especially if youlaving by yourself. And I think especially
as a woman. Yeah, andso I think if you are a solo
female traveler, you know, kindof looping into of our questions together here
there's things you can like intelligently doto prepare. There's probably lots of content
on that, and we could havea whole other episode on that too,
I'm sure, Menda. Yeah,yeah, And so looping back to Ryan's
part two, do you have anylike, do you have any bucket list

(33:10):
places that you want to go oranywhere that's on your radar that you're really
excited about. Yeah, gosh,I want to go to so many places.
I literally want to go everywhere inthe world. But I'm also not
gonna hop around a ton of playtimes within the same like short trips.
So if, for example, likewe were saying before, if you go
somewhere for a month, you geta deal. And it's also like by

(33:31):
the time you get to know acity, it takes you minimum two weeks
to you know, start walking aroundwithout Google Maps in your hand and knowing
where the baker is that you reallylike and you know all that kind of
stuff. And so yeah, Icould check off ten countries in one trip
to Europe in a month. Butalso, if you're working, don't put
that burden on yourself, Like that'sa tip I probaly should have given it
earlier as well. If you aretraveling and working, like stay somewhere for

(33:54):
a month, you'll I highly recommendit. You get to really experience that
place, embrace it, maybe maybesome like actual friends and contacts, not
feel like, you know, lonelyin that sense. There's all these benefits
and then and so yeah, solike that's a big tip. But as
far as places that I really wantto go, I would really like to
travel and maybe this is a vacation, I don't know, but to Jordan,

(34:15):
to Petra, to see Petra,So that's like high on my list.
And then there's like some neighboring countriesaround there that I would love to
go see. It's not like maybean ideal time to go to some of
those neighboring countries right now, butthat they've been high on my list.
I don't know if I work fromThomse like time zone wise, but yeah,
been on the radar. But gosh, there's so many places. Do

(34:37):
you have anything planned for like laterin twenty twenty four, Yeah, I
have a bunch of like small things. So, like I briefly mentioned,
I've been leaning into mceing and publicspeaking a lot more since having the podcast,
and I've done a bunch voice workand stuff. It's been like a
really awesome journey over the years.And so I will be am seeing a

(34:57):
community conference. So I'm a communitybuilder by day, which you brifually mentioned
to my biome, and so I'mgonna be mctating a community conference in London,
England by a group called Love byCommunity, and that'll be awesome.
And then in the spring before that, I'm going to Atlanta, I'm going
to Latvia. I'm speaking at aconference in Latvia and April actually called tech
Hill, which should be really cool. And then in the fall, one

(35:21):
of my good friends is having hera big milestone birthday in and she's renting
a villa in Italy, so I'mgonna pop out there. And then after
it's the week before Octoberfest, soi gotta go to Octoberfest because I've already
there. And then the following weekthere's this big innovation week in Prague back
in check Yeah, so i thinkI'm gonna pop back there. And then
in between all that, who theheck knows, But there's like the World's

(35:44):
I Royster. But so it's alittle different. They're not like really big
chunks right now, but I thinkprobably I'll extend a lot of it.
Like if I'm gonna go to theUN for that community conference anyway, then
you know, why not stay forthe whole month kind of thing? And
those are the funny sentences that wecan say when we have the lifestyle that
we have, Like why not justday for a month? If I'm going
for a day, it's allowed tosay, yeah, I know, one

(36:04):
hundred percent. I feel like nowit's so hard for me, Like we
just went to Hawaii for two weeksjust to see like Ryan, to visits
Ryan's family, and I feel likeit's like such a long trip from Mexico.
It's not that far from Canada,but it was pretty long for us
with a toddler. And I waslike, I feel like just going for
two weeks just feels like we've likewasted this like long kind of expensive flight,

(36:24):
like we should really go Like weird, how our narrative has changed with
that? Yeah, Like we werelike, should we just go to Japan
from here? Like we're basically halfwaythere right, which is like whose things
that I know? But we saythat it's totally true, and you know
what, And it's so funny becauseI need to catch myself because I'm like
my friends I'm talking to do backhome, like all they would possibly get

(36:45):
is a two week holiday and thatwould be long for them. And some
companies even only allow you to gofor like a week at a time,
you know. So it's so strangeto like catch yourself. But I am
exactly the same way. If Idon't stay for at least a month,
I'm like, was that worth mymoney for that expensive flight? Which is
wild? But I don't know,maybe there's a happy medium and the way
we should think about it, becausehere's the side of the coin. This

(37:07):
all sounds fun and it sounds likewe're a bit spoiled, but I often,
like last year, I actually onlytook five actual days off, like
proper holidays, because I'm going toall these cool places and it kind of
feels like you're traveling in your ownvacation and so like, and on the
weekends, I'm doing all these coolthings, so I kind of forget that

(37:28):
I haven't like taken actual days off. So there is kind of like a
potential risk of like buying too muchinto this lifestyle. And like not noticing.
I actually got to a point whereall of a sudden was like I
had to take some days off.I have risk burning out if I don't,
because traveling around also takes a lotof energy, like resettling in your
new space, doing all those checksI was talking about earlier, making sure

(37:49):
your WiFi is good, getting everythingready. You're kind of working a little
bit on like weekends. When youdo that. Travel days can also can
be stressful, depending if you havea good routine going. And so it
was like very go, go go, and then I didn't realize I had
done that, and so I hadto like pull back and go, Okay,
this year, when I go formy friend's birthday in Italy, these
kind of things, I'm actually goingto take a week off work because I
could work in the villa still whenthey're out doing something during the day and

(38:12):
meet them at night. But andmy brain almost wants to do that.
It's like a it's almost a badhabit of working too much now, which
is so there's this real two sidesof the coin. When you have this
freedom. Has that ever happened toyou ryan where you like forget or is
am I just kind of a workaholicapparent. Oh yeah, no, I
definitely find you have to do alot more work to like separate work in

(38:32):
life when you're working home, whichI find coworking spaces can be good for
that for me. But yeah,it's funny because we had a lot of
experience just traveling before doing the likework, save money, sell everything,
go travel, and I found myselfkind of craving that up bit after a
while, where you kind of havein your mind working and traveling will be
the best of both worlds. It'slike, definitely can be. You can

(38:55):
get into situations where you're working toomuch and so you're not enjoying your travel,
and then you're when you're doing yourtravel stuff, you're not you're thinking
about work and you feel like,oh and they're not doing kind of either
to their maximum express That's well said. I definitely am facing that and still
like learning how to do it properly. Yeah, I think it can also
be tiring too, because it's likeif you have I mean, we're definitely

(39:17):
on the same page with like havingat least a month somewhere if we're working
full time, because I feel likewe learned it early on. I think
it was like our first digital nomadadventure. We went over to Asia and
I think we spent a week inSingapore and then like a week in the
Philippines, and then we got toI think Malaysia after that, and we
had like three weeks or something inKuala Lumpur and we were like, this
is amazing. We have so longwe can settle. I think just on

(39:38):
that trip we were like, Okay, a month, this is kind of
like our minimum if we have towork the whole time. Because it's like
you want to spend so much timeoutside of your work hours doing things,
which means you're like out in theevenings, you're out on the weekends,
and I love that, but Ialso like like just hanging out at home
sometimes, right like just chilling inmy pajamas, having a slow Saturday.

(39:59):
But I feel like if I'm likeI have four weekends and this is all
the stuff I want to do,I feel this pressure to like go,
go, go, which, likeyou said, it kind of risks burnout
because it's like you're hustling to workand then you're like also hustling to explore.
Yeah. I think you said that'sso well and it's actually really interesting
to hear somebody else's articulate it becauselike the both of you, because it's
absolutely what I phase and how Ifeel. So I have to imagine like

(40:20):
many people in our situation, inour in our really wonderful situations, are
also phasing that, which can bekind of the downside. And I a
bit you people who are thinking aboutthe lifestyle are thinking like, oh woe
is me, But yeah, youdo, like you do have to really
be careful because you can just burnyourself out and that's a real thing and
it can suck. And so Ithink it's like we you have to,
I mean, listen to these thingsand dig it seriously and like try and

(40:42):
pay attention to where that balance is. And I agree with you. I
I'll go somewhere even for a weekand work the whole time if I'm not
careful, and then you will havelike literally seen nothing or you'll just be
at your max capacity. Yeah,totally. Yeah. One last thing I
kind of wanted to pick your brainon. It's related to this because I
feel like, like I kind ofmentioned I can't remember if we'd hit record
or not. Twenty twenty three forus was very much like we're settled in
Mexico, but I think we figuredout we traveled like four and a half

(41:05):
months out of Mexico the year,so we did a couple of big trips.
It's kind of the first big tripsthat we did with our daughter outside
of taking her back to Canada whenshe was little little. But I'm curious
for you kind of what that's beenlike in terms of like, like you
have this house that you're responsible for, Like how you kind of balance like
leaving the country and leaving all yourstuff and then coming home like like logistically

(41:28):
like do you have people who arecoming to stay at your house? Do
you rent it out? Do peoplecome to check it? Just like yeah,
lock and key, like hope everythinggoes well. Like I'm kind of
curious the logistics of like I'm ahomeowner. I have the responsibilities of a
home, which is beautiful when youcome home and you get to just like
hang out, but then also whileyou're away, like how you kind of

(41:49):
coordinate all of that. Yeah,it is absolutely so wonderful to come home
to like a safe space with allyour stuff, with a big comfy couch,
you know, with your blankets andall your and all your clothes and
all your things. It's very nice, but it definitely can be stressful or
like cause anxiety to look after aplace when you're not at home. I
think actually more likely than being stressed, what happens is like fully forget about

(42:12):
it. And then that's also notgreat, because stuff does start to fall
apart on a house, especially whenyou're only home for a couple months at
a time, and you want tojust like to see your friends when you're
at home, and then you leavefor a few months. Eventually you start
to notice major things in your housethat need to be done, which is
kind of what I faced this lasttime coming home. So typically when I'm
gone, I've been very lucky.I've had a couple of friends stay in
my house, even potentially paying likea small fee to be there. I

(42:35):
think you can just get lucky sometimes. Of like, people break up often
who live with partners, and sometimesthis sad news coincides well with one of
my trips, and then go,your divorce is so convenient. It's of
course that's we don't celebrate those things. No, I mean sometimes we do,
yeah, I guess circumstantially, ofcourse. So I've been really fortunate

(42:59):
with things like that happening. Wellthat's such a weird thing, so really
fortunate, But the timing has beennice where everybody won in those situations.
That's worked. I also have hadlike historically I had little cousins who were
still living with their parents who werejust super happy to be out of the
house. So there's no money exchange. It's just like you had someone looking
at your place, like it wouldcost me more technically because they're using the
water and stuff, but like forthe safety of having someone in your house

(43:21):
in case the you know, winterpipes break or whatever, that was always
good. If those things were bothnot possible. I do have family in
town, lots of family, andso my parents or someone else will come
like check on the house every fewdays. You should check your insurance policy
if you're gonna do that. Inmany places, like in Canada specifically,
most insurance policies will be void ifyou do not have someone in the house

(43:42):
every three days summer two days,summer four days. But literally, like
if a pipe breaks, which likemy crand parents house. One time,
my brother's looking after it, thetoilet on the second floor cracked and water
was coming through the floor just random, like the toilet just cracked, like
it wasn't winter, it wasn't therewas no reason, it just was like
it just happens sometimes. And hadhe not gone in the garage, like
he checked it much of the houseit all looks fine. And then before

(44:04):
he left he checked the garage andthere was water coming through and he noticed
and had he not done that andlike gone to the house, and it
would have been more than the threeday period, which they can tell because
like how much damage has been doneand whatever, they or they checked the
alarm because if you have an alarm, they can see when the code has
been punched in. That's a veryeasy way for insurance to check. And
so they would have it would havebeen like flooded, bricked the floor,
and they would have just had topay for everything. There would have been
no insurance claim. So really knowingyour policy is super important. Actually having

(44:29):
like some kind of proof that someone'scome check on it is important, Like
I never would that sounds I know, and most people don't do that or
even know that. We only foundout from some of these things happening to
people. So it's very frequent thatyou actually have to have someone there.
My parents have to just check theirpolicy because they're going on a trip right
away too, four days for them, so really really important. But all
of that can if you're not ina city with all your family and friends.

(44:51):
Like there's things you can do.There's property management companies you could like
airbnb or rented, but then againyou probably need someone to like manage it,
change of sheets and clean it,like make sure they check it and
find and all that stuff. Likethere's a big burden to renting it out
like that. S people might belistening thinking like why don't you make money
while you're gone, And it's likeyes, but that also is a lot
of work, and like is theamount of work and stress of managing that

(45:12):
worth the intake you're going to get? For some people, maybe they need
that, but depending on and likelet's not like we can all need that,
Like we all wouldn't want that nightexactual income, but there's a lot
of stress that can come with it. So yeah, there's a lot of
the sais you have to make.Typically I'm pretty light on on that.
I just try I live pretty cheapwhen I travel in order to be able
to do what I do For asmuch for like, as long as I'm
going and not have a ton ofstress of like trying to rent my place

(45:35):
every single day, because that canbe really hard when your trips are kind
of ad hoc mm hmm, yeah, for sure. I Mean there's so
much like consideration that goes into ifyou're going to have people you don't know
stay in your house, Like I'massuming all your closer and your closet and
your dresser, Like you don't reallywant somebody like in your room like going
through your under a drawer, right, Like, there's a lot of work

(45:57):
to prepare a house to be airbnbto be rented, and then you know
that's on top of like having somebodywho can check them in or making sure
you have a good system and makingsure you you are cleaner that can come
and turn things over, et cetera, et cetera. So I think it's
I think it's definitely like an optionfor people to explore, right, But
it's I think it's not just assimple as like I have this house like
come rented on Airbnb. You know, I know people that super successfully and

(46:21):
like love it and they pay foreverything by airb and din your house every
time, but every day they're gone. But they're also in like pretty hip
cities and I am not so thatthat makes it a little more difficult.
Yeah, I was just gonna saytoo. Then there's a whole extra series
of additional problems that can become headachesif you have other people living there,
especially airbnb people come in and partyingor whatever. Totally Like imagine you're trying

(46:44):
to like set up your Wi Fiin your new place and navigate to your
co working space because the WiFi isnot working, and then someone's messaging you
being like, hey, your toilet'snot working at home, Like yeah,
okay, WiFi is not working atthe other place. Yeah, your place
you were supposed to set the personup with Yeah exactly. When we were
just in Hawaii, I was likemessaging with like two different plumbers, one
for like the house for renting andone for the apartment and being like,

(47:05):
hey, trying to manage like multipleplumbers and multiple plumbing issues, like which
one are you again? Yeah?Yeah and neither nowther was like serious,
thank god, Like there was nothingthat was like seriously happening. There was
a tiny leak and the property weown and there was just we're having an
ongoing issue, and then we livein like an old Mexican house, so
it's just like an ongoing issue.But it's just like we're like, how
is this like happening right now?We're like, you know why, we've

(47:28):
got two separate plumbing issues trying tocoordinate two plumbers, which is like a
whole thing in and of it.But I feel like that's the thing,
right People would joke like, well, that would never happen at the same
time, like what are the chances? But it's like, actually be surprising
amount of stuff that goes wrong,and like renders are allowed to complain about
absolutely anything they want to, Likethere's a there's a black mark on my
sheets, Like it's probably like ayou know, it's probably a marker mark,

(47:51):
but they're like they don't want tosleep in that sheet, So now
was I much to go clean?And it's like they're you know, they
have the right to complain about technicallywhatever they want to do that day.
So yeah, it's there's pros andconstant bleth. Then obviously if we can
figure out wherever them. I've doneit pretty like low lifts so far,
but the more I go for longerperiods. The more that I'm in it's
like tough spot now of deciding doI still want the house. Real estate's

(48:13):
really great and it's nice on thatsafe place to come home to, but
a whole house to myself can bea lot of maintenance when I'm home,
and then it's kind of like you'rejust constantly feeling like you're doing too much
responsibility when you're home, but likerenting it the whole time, we just
talked about a lot of difficulties withthat kind of stuff. Maybe just pay
a property management company and you justeat that ten percent that it is to
pay them, because you basically willbreak it even like you won't make a

(48:35):
ton of money, but at leastyou keep the equity of the home.
So okay, that's that's kind ofa good option. Or maybe I just
sell it, which is like definitelycrossing my mind a lot lately. But
it's I go back and forth,like one selling on side. What's that
it's a good time to sell inCanada right now? It seems, oh
yeah, there's there's a option.See look at you can even tell my

(48:55):
voice. It's like it's a stressfulthing to make these big decisions. And
this is where, like earlier Iwas talking about you work your way up,
you know, from square one oflike extending trips to going for months
at a time, And now I'mat that point where it's like I haven't
been able to mentally cross the bridgeof getting rid of all my stuff in
house. Yeah, Like it's likeI have, like I have this barrier
there. Maybe you and I cantalk about it offline, because I know

(49:19):
you have kind of made that biggermove to Mexico. I need someone to
tell me, like getting rid ofall your stuff is fine, You'll be
fine, you know, Like Isay, it's a mental big more than
anything else. Totally. Yeah,Yeah, I definitely get that. One
thing I wanted to ask Margot waswhen you're going new places, how do
you kind of plan and kind ofset yourself up to get to know people
there, both professionally and personally.Yeah, love this question because I use

(49:45):
LinkedIn, which most people do notuse, I think when they're trying to
like make friends in a new city. Partly it's because, like I said,
I'm like very I like business events, and I like startup events,
and I like those communities and likethe women in tech community, and you
can find all those things really easilyfor people's LinkedIn profiles because people have really
great information on there now. Sotypically what I'll do is look up a

(50:07):
few things. So I might goto like like people actually put a lot
of events on Facebook. Still you'dbe surprised, or event right very common,
like event website for ticketing right,So I'll go on those, or
I'll just Google search like frog womenin Tech events between these dates, or
you know, London startup events betweenthese dates, and I find the set
of I find the set of stuffgoing on. Then I'll look at whose

(50:29):
names are attached to that event.Usually they'll be like an organizer name,
like the person's name or an organization'sname, but oftentimes there's actual people.
They'll be like our speakers are thesethree speakers, And I'll look and I'll
often see like a speaker, orto say there's one event, say it's
like a Woman in Tech Breakfast,and I see see three female panelists and
then the event organizer. I'll messageall four of them on LinkedIn privately,

(50:49):
because you can easily buy them.They got their name there in their company,
like go to LinkedIn type in,you know Linda on LinkedIn. Find
the person, send the message saying, Hey, I'm coming to town.
I plan to come to your breakfast. Like if it's a free event too,
like you're going to mingle and meetpeople at that event. So you've
already found an event with a communityyou like. And if you're not a
business person, use a different example. Go find a soccer event or a

(51:10):
football event or something right, there'sprobably like a breakfast for like some local
fundraising soccer team. You'll find somethingright, and a lot of them often
are free. Again, but evenif they're not, like, if it's
the right group for you, maybeit's worth you paying the lunch fee or
whatever. So I'll I'll message themsaying, hey, I'm coming to your
city. I'm from Canada, buti'm you know, a big advocate for
women in tech. I work intech. This is what I do.

(51:30):
Like tie it in like why areyou relevant to them? And then I'll
say I'm planning to come into yourbreakfast and would love to maybe like meet
you in advance or like make surewe connect at the breakfast because I think
we have like shared interests whatever.And it's like a really clear, good
call to action why should they care? Why would they like you as well?
Like what's in it for them?Kind of thing? Make it a
good concise message. It's led toso many wonderful connection to opportunities. Sometimes

(51:54):
I can't go to the event.I'll say like, like, actually literally
what happened to Broguwaise? I saidto this lady, Hey, I'm actually
going to miss your breakfast. It'sthe day before I arrive. But I
love all the things you stand forXyz. Here's our connection information. Is
there any other event you have whileI'm in town? So? Is there
any other event you have while I'min town? Here's my dates that I

(52:14):
could attend or speak at. Here'smy background, because I Reverdy said earlier,
I like doing that side of thingsright. And when you're speaking at
something, now your name's out there, you make a lot of connections because
people see you. They want toknow who you are, why are you
here from this other country? Sooftentimes the person will write back and give
you an event happening that you cango to. This to a great fit,

(52:36):
and sometimes they will even put youon stage, which is why I
ended up speaking at the c ChechChamber of Commerce when I was there because
I sent four LinkedIn messages. That'sawesome. That's such a creative way to
network. Like I feel like there'sso many platforms now and you know,
so many Facebook groups, and youknow, I feel like when people ask
me, I'm like, oh,digital nomad Facebook groups, like that's the
best way to beat or like expatFacebook groups, which I still think are

(52:58):
great options. But I really lovethis way of like meeting people, especially
with what you're doing, Like it'sa great way to connect with, you
know, other women, other womenin tech. And also I love the
a're putting yourself out there for like, hey, do you have events and
maybe opportunities for speaking, because that'salso something you're passionate. Yeah, And
it's a subtle sentence, like I'mnot saying it's only why I would go.
I still want to breakfast anyway.But it's like some people will hook

(53:19):
on to that and they'll have somethingcoming up where they're like, oh,
actually we could use someone who's notfrom here, because we always have that
same mcre. We always have thesame speakers. You know. It's like
you and this cool person out oftown for a bit. They can see
my background on my profile right,so it's like they know. But yeah,
I would call this more like targetednetworking because you are only somewhere for
a period of time. There's amazinglike you say, there's amazing nomad connection
groups and Facebook groups for different citylike activities. Again, if you love

(53:44):
soccer or singing, or you lovewhatever, like there's you can find a
group everywhere. So that might bea better avenue for some people. But
I want to meet like the personwho runs the group and like go for
coffee with them and know what theyknow about how to plug into that thing
whatever it is, even if it'sa fun activity. Again, it doesn't
have to be business. I justthink it goes so much further. And
so many people in our world arereally willing to help one another. And

(54:05):
so I've had some people say like, hey, no, there's no other
events, but would love to takeyou for coffee. There's this cool coffee
shop, it's local, it's nearhere. Do you want to come meet
sometime? You say yes, Nowyou have this like the person who was
going to be speaking at the eventis now you're like personal coffee meeting as
opposed to just like you're one ofmany people in the audience at this event,
Like, to me, I'm sosurprised more people don't do it,

(54:25):
and maybe this will help some ofus. Yeah, I know, that's
awesome. I love that amazing.I feel like we've covered so much.
I feel like we could keep pickingyour brain. But I feel like we've
covered so much stuff. I feellike here seems like a good place to
wrap up. So I'm curious,do you want to share with listeners where
they can go to find you,if they want to connect with you,
follow you, get to know you. I don't know, hire you for

(54:45):
a speaking gig. Where can theydo all of that? Thanks for the
plug, Yeah, I mean Iwas just talking about LinkedIn, so let's
start there. It's just Margot Milleroftentimes on a lot of my profles I
have Margo A. Miller so formy middle name, but Margo is spelt
funny. If you're trying to findme, it's m A r ga U
X like medgo in France, SoMargo Miller and that's on like pretty much

(55:09):
everything. I'm most active on LinkedIn, Instagram and then maybe X after that,
but pretty much those two are mymain ones. But you can find
me on pretty much all of them, and I will answer your messages,
but yeah, try me on onLinkedIn or Instagram first, and definitely just
DM me if you have questions orwant to connect or have an event in
mind. Yeah, this is allreally fun part of being part of its

(55:32):
global community that the two of youare nicely featuring here, So thank you.
Yeah, absolutely, we'll make surethere's links to all that in the
show notes. And yeah, thankyou so much for you at timpted.
This has been such a fun conversation. Thanks, thank you for having me.
Thanks for listening to this episode.If you want more, make sure
to check out the World Wanders Insideravailable on Patreon at Patreon dot com.

(55:52):
Slash the World Wanderers for show notes, head over to the World Wanders dot
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(56:14):
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