69) Why You Don't Have to Travel Full Time to be a Digital Nomad ( Sarah's Story)

Being a digital nomad doesn’t mean you have to live out of your suitcase full time and only travel to far-away exotic places, it actually means you can live whatever life you want. Today’s guest career coach Sarah Singer decided full-time travel wasn’t her desired life and had chosen a life of more routine, and balance and lives near her hometown with her husband in the woods. So today, I want to cover why being a digital nomad doesn’t mean travel and backpacking, but just the opportunity for full freedom of choice in your life from career to routine, to where you want to live out your dream life.

Connect with Sarah:
@sarahfcsinger
Website

Chapters

• 0:05 How Sarah became a paid coach and landed her first client
• 23:38 Why you don't have to be a full time traveller to be a digital nomad
• 44:18 What is your Ikigai?
• 47:12 Why you should invest in yourself
• 51:03 What is the Career Assessment process like?

Transcript

Christa: [00:00:00] Hey there, and welcome to the digital nomad life podcast. I'm your host, Christa, also known as @christabellatravels on social media. And I'm also known as a founder of the Digital Nomad Life Academy, where I take people from all walks of life, all different backgrounds, all different careers, and help them create a purpose driven, freedom focused lifestyle.

Christa: Today, I'm actually interviewing one of my really great friends. previous superstar clients. Her name is Sarah. Um, we actually just got the pleasure of meeting up in real life the other day. We actually also got to meet up last year, but we'll, you'll hear about that later on in the episode. Um, but I really wanted to interview Sarah today because I believe that she is living the kind of quote nomadic Unquote lifestyle that I think most people actually desire.

Christa: Um, you know, if you are a listener of my podcast and you know me and my story, you know that I live abroad on the other side of the planet in [00:01:00] Indonesia and I love the digital nomad beach style lifestyle. I don't know if it's just me, but I think for most people, they might want something a little bit closer to home.

Christa: Something that's maybe a little bit more grounded. Maybe they have a partner that they don't want to give up to go globetrotting. Or, you know, a bunch of family members that still are living in the matrix that they don't want to completely detach from. So, Sarah, I think has accomplished all that so beautifully.

Christa: And, uh, yeah, I think it's been about two years since we worked together. So, so, so much has changed in your life, Sarah. It's been such a pleasure to witness all of it and I can't wait for you to share your story with the listeners. So with that being said, um, yeah, excited to dive into, you know, having a home base and, and being a nomad, having one foot in the matrix, one foot free, having a partner who's not nomadic and just balancing all that.

Christa: And also how you got to where you are today. So, [00:02:00] uh, thanks so much for being here. Thanks so much, Krista. I'm so excited to be here, finally. Yeah, I know. So for the listeners, what I just referenced is we actually did record a podcast last year when I was in Boston and we did it in real life, but we just had all these crazy technical difficulties.

Christa: So, um, yeah, I'm excited for you to introduce yourself now at the position that you are at now. So how would you introduce yourself? 

Sarah: Awesome. Well, hi, everyone. Thanks so much, Krista. I'm Sarah Singer. I am a career and life design coach. I also do organizational consulting, and I'll just start with maybe like a brief intro.

Sarah: I was previously working in global mental health for many, many years. My background is in the nonprofit space, and I was helping Uh, lead and implement mental health programs around the world in a nonprofit. I loved my prior world and work and job. Um, so I found, uh, Krista and the DNLA like, I guess, yeah, almost two years ago, uh, when I was looking to make [00:03:00] a major career and life shift and fast forward, I now have my own business where I, I'm honestly just totally booked up.

Sarah: It's crazy to imagine. Um, I've gone through so many life and, you know, huge shifts. Personally, I'm excited to share more. I won't spoil all of those changes here. and I'm actually just like, so glad that we're doing this episode today versus last year, because I feel like this will paint a much more realistic and, big picture story.

Sarah: So thanks. Glad to be here and happy to dive in. 

Christa: Yay, I love it. Okay, so if anybody is listening and you are in the nonprofit space, any kind of NGOs type of work, then hopefully this story will really, really resonate. And I know that, um, there's also kind of an important piece of your background that you were around a lot of academics, right?

Christa: So, um, let's actually just, before we dive into where you're at now, Which just shout out to Sarah, like when she says she's fully booked out, I got some of the insider details on her [00:04:00] business. And I was just was like, damn girl, you're really feeling it. Like just, uh, yeah. So, so proud of you and how far you've taken your business.

Christa: You're just a really, uh, doing the most. yeah, let's rewind back the clock to where you were at before you and I met. cause I think that's just what probably whoever is listening will relate to, like, where were you at, um, in terms of the work that you were doing, how you felt about your lifestyle and what you wanted out of life.

Sarah: Yeah. So I think that's a perfect place to start and maybe we can take it like, yeah, two years ago, I got promoted in my old job literally two years ago, I think to this day, actually, which is so crazy. Um, so it's, I've never shared the story out loud, but I got promoted.

Sarah: I worked my ass off to get this promotion. I was so proud of it. I helped design a whole process where we were going to grow this mental health team. Um, I got the letter in hand and the promotion and Krista, I'm not [00:05:00] exaggerating. I cried and I didn't cry out of joy. I cried because I was like, is this it?

Sarah: Like I worked so hard for this. And I think I came home and told my husband, like what happened? And I just, I realized that something needed to shift because if I got that change and didn't move the needle on my happiness or fulfillment, I knew that there was more to my life than just my career. So that's a true story.

Sarah: And fast forward, I think. Then I found her podcast. So hopefully this will inspire someone else who finds this episode. And I signed up for the DNA. Um, but I was living and working in Boston. I was total workaholic. I still work a lot, but I was just honestly pretty burnt out. Um, I traveled a lot. I was, um, yeah, just like in this academic path.

Sarah: And I think I was surrounded by a lot of clinicians and people who were, you know, really valuing academic degrees, which I still do too. But New England for anyone who's listening in the U. S. is very academic and just [00:06:00] career driven. And so that was kind of the aperture. I was focused on, but I didn't really know what else I wanted to do beyond what I was currently doing.

Sarah: Um, so then, when we started working together, I was able to really just unpack what I would do beyond the idea of working in a nonprofit setting, doing management or doing clinical work. Like, I knew there was a way to take my skill set to something else. Um, I always wanted to explore coaching. I think I felt like, Oh, coaching isn't legit or, you know, established enough, or there's not like a PhD.

Sarah: So what makes someone qualified to be a coach? Um, but when I gave myself permission through our work together, I realized like, I'd actually be perfect for this and it is legitimate and it's the power to change lives. So I think through that process, you know, we can share more about it. I was able to make all of the shifts, but yeah, that's where I was.

Sarah: Also add that I knew we were going to be moving out of our apartment. Um, we had an end date. So we kind of had this like ramp up period where I knew I had to make a shift and I just wasn't sure what the direction was going to be, [00:07:00] like where we would move from there. 

Christa: So you had that ending of your, lease basically, and you knew that was on the horizon before you and I met?

Christa: Yeah, yeah, that's cool. I would I don't know if I knew that part of the story. Well, I feel like when people come to me, it's always in just divine timing like that. So yeah. yeah, to summarize, the burnt out from the rat race matrix sort of situation. Knowing you want to do something else and just not really knowing what and um, I love what you said about the thing about like, oh, is coaching legit or whatever.

Christa: If it doesn't have a PhD, then what makes someone credible? Where do you think those Beliefs and that story that you were telling yourself about coaching came from. 

Sarah: Yeah, I've done a ton of work on this obviously. And now I feel like I get to help people unlock this for themselves all the time, which is so cool.

Sarah: I mean, it's a hundred percent societal. It had to do with where I live, [00:08:00] where I worked, my colleagues, friends, family. The truth is I don't think anyone was putting that pressure on. Me besides me, right? So it's really up to ourselves to define what's valuable and how you want to live your life and career.

Sarah: And I can't blame anyone else. But I think I just was caught up in what I saw in front of me. Um, and also candidly, I think there's egos involved, right? If someone spends their entire life or career working towards, and this is not to any individual. But if a society is built upon these structures where people work years to get to where they want to go for someone to come in and shake up, you know, societal norms, or to just start their own business or make changes can bring up triggers and projections and other people.

Sarah: So I learned that through you. So yeah. 

Christa: Okay. Well, glad that you were able to break free from those chains of just the societal pressure and influence and, uh, yeah, just follow your own authentic path. So you were listening to the podcast and then we [00:09:00] started working together and, uh, yeah. So when we first started working together, you had been considering coaching, but weren't really sure.

Christa: And when did you make that decision that you were like, yes, actually, this is what I want to do? 

Sarah: Yeah. so one thing I forgot to mention, but I think is relevant to your answer is I will literally, you could, you Ask anyone who knows me well, I would ask everyone else for what I should do with my life. I just was so indecisive for many years.

Sarah: I actually feel like I'm the opposite of indecisive now. And I'm really proud of that. But I was literally like looking around for signs, like gnomes, I would call it coming from the sky. It sounds a little, I'd be waiting for the signal, like, okay, now I'll be a therapist. Now I'll go get a PhD. The gnomes fast forward.

Sarah: They never came, right? Because we have to decide these things for ourselves. And so I feel like, yeah, it's been a couple months of working together. I realized, like, those norms weren't coming. I had to make a decision. So I feel like pretty soon on, maybe in, the spring. Yeah, the spring of us working together.[00:10:00] 

Christa: Yeah. So you made the decision to go all in on your coaching business, and then you did, I think you got your first clients while we were still like, within our first maybe three or four month container. Yeah. Do I feel like you had a cool story about, I think how you got your first client? Yeah.

Christa: if I re if I remember correctly, but I, I wanna hear you tell the story. 

Sarah: Yeah. 

Sarah: I was out in the wild, I think is what I called it. And I, I saw someone who I thought would be my ideal client. Um, and I had literally like 10 seconds to decide, okay, am I going to position myself as a coach or what are we going to do here? Thankfully, my friend did and this person was going through career shift and my friend was like, Oh, you should chat with Sarah.

Sarah: She's a career coach. And then I ended up positioning it. We can chat more about the specifics, but I ended up proposing an offer. She didn't want to pay. We ended up doing a complimentary sort of internship thing and actually it worked out pretty well. Really well, because I was able to build my entire program and get a ton of experience and [00:11:00] testimonials.

Sarah: And then, yeah, but it was, it was pretty stressful and, um, it was a great experience. The other way was the first paid client was, I was taught chatting, I think with you about how am I going to find my first paid client? And I was really like, I like to say manifesting, but also doing aligned action, like not just sitting in my room, like, you know, visualizing.

Sarah: And I was chatting with a friend. he literally just like walked in our door. I was chatting about what I was doing. He's like, Hey, I'd love to work with you. And again, I had, I don't think I share this with you. I had like 10 seconds to decide, am I going to charge him? What are my rates? And then I said, yeah, let's do it.

Sarah: And then I think, I said, my rate was like 50 bucks an hour or something. And he was like, great, let's do it. I just made it up on the spot. Um, and he gave me a hundred dollars in cash. And I remember holding that dollar bill and I was like, this is it. Now I'm paid coach. She's legit now. Love it.

Christa: Yeah. Those first few, those first dollars that you make are just, you know, it's like what, uh, brick and mortar businesses do. [00:12:00] They hang the dollar literally. It means so much. It's like, it's official now. So yeah. Yeah, such a big exciting moment. Um, I just wanted to zoom into those stories and actually I feel like the way that you told them is exactly the point that I want to get across.

Christa: So for a lot of people that are listening, they probably would love to start a business, but the idea of getting clients and marketing yourself feels really overwhelming. for anybody listening, if you're like, how would I ever do that? Just like Sarah, you were in that position where like, how would I do that?

Christa: you would actually just be so surprised about when you get really clear on who it is that you want to work with, you start to be able to recognize them, quote, in the wild, as you said, and then when you recognize them, now you, as you said, get to position yourself as the Career person that you want to be and in this case for you you wanted to position yourself as a coach So you just showed up as a [00:13:00] coach and then the people that you were talking to Responded to you as if you were a coach and that is how like 90 percent of every Everybody in my program get started.

Christa: It's just this act of embodying who it is that you want to be being confident and of course, knowing what it is that you're offering it to the specific kind of person. So just a little business takeaway but anyway, okay, so you got your first client and, uh, basically it's just been kind of onwards and upwards since then.

Christa: And, I guess, well, let's just real quick talk about where you're at today. So we can really see that benchmark of like where you were, you would just gotten your first client charging 50 an hour. And now I know you're in a very different spot than that. So where are you at? 

Sarah: Yeah. first thing is I don't do hourly coaching anymore.

Sarah: So that was okay. Good. I didn't want to be like, we talked about this. No charging by the hour. No, but that's the point. Right. But you [00:14:00] had to start somewhere. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, no, I don't do that anymore. So that's the first thing, but it was an amazing, it was a great, it was, it was a good start. so since then, I've had yeah.

Sarah: Dozens of clients, you don't even know how many at this point. Um, I have in the moment, like 9 or 10, I call it like the IP sort of more intensive coaching clients where I'm working with them for several months. I have a whole program and transformation that we work on together where I'm helping purpose driven individuals and fields of, for example, mental health, education, public health development to.

Sarah: Figure out what their purpose is in life and in their careers to design and craft a life and career that they don't need a vacation from. And the concrete changes that people make are amazing. People switch their careers. They actually start their own, purpose driven businesses or, you know, side hustles or, or initiatives.

Sarah: and they make major life moves and I've really just enjoyed, uh, all of that work. it's been transformative. Literally. I've had a few clients recently, and I [00:15:00] don't say this to toot my own horn. I say this because I, I just feel such gratitude, say like they want to be me when they grow up. And I'm like, what?

Sarah: Like we're at the same age, but it makes me feel like. I'm helping people to unlock what they didn't think was an option for them because they were in these, you know, pretty burned out, like public health spaces. one of my clients just said this work changed his life and he just got this new, amazing job as a community food bank manager and left, his work that he was doing for six years.

Sarah: And he said he would never have been there without coaching. So yeah, it's been amazing. And then I do organizational consulting as well. The same type of work I did prior so able to keep my hat in, uh, sort of both worlds what I did prior and where I want to head moving forward and I, I love it and I'm super busy and enjoying it.

Christa: Wow. Um, as you were describing the kind of clients that you work with, you were like, yeah, they're in the mental health and public health space or, um, they're kind of. You know, or whatever the words are NGO workers and they're burnt [00:16:00] out and they want to make a major career change or a lifestyle change.

Christa: And I'm like, Oh, interesting. That sounds like someone I know exactly like it sounds like exactly like you. So, so interesting. Would you like to comment on that? 

Sarah: Yeah. So part of what we did in the, in the DNLA. Uh, is to really think about what's our niche and what specific population we want to help.

Sarah: And I remember I wrote this out a few years ago, we started working together and I called her Stella. Stella was just the name I came up with. I think I've evolved it since, but I wrote the whole thing down. And I, I think the advice was you can pick yourself if you actually would want to work with someone like that.

Sarah: So I did. I've actually worked with people not like me, I've worked with some people who are in marketing or communications, but they want to do something purpose driven, it doesn't matter. But I think by finding the specific niche, I know me, and I also know many people like me, I'm able to best serve that population.

Sarah: End. The reason I brought up those really kind things, my client [00:17:00] said is because it demonstrates, I think that there's actually thousands of people like this that want to make a shift, still do something fulfilling and meaningful, make an impact, maybe just do it in a different way than they did prior.

Sarah: And I think that's an underserved, um, space and not something that especially people in that, work, environment really talk about because it can be a little bit like taboo to put yourself first. So. I think it's a special, uh, niche, which really needs support. 

Christa: Mm. Nice. Um, I wanted to kind of zoom in on that.

Christa: Oh, your, your ideal client sounds just like you, because for anybody listening and you're looking to start a business as Sarah, as you just said, you can choose an earlier version of yourself. And when you do do that actually just makes your communication about what it is that you do and how you can help someone so, so, so much easier.

Christa: I always give the example of my ideal client. Her name is Callie. She's in her mid twenties. She lives in New York City. She's super burnt out. She wants to travel the world. [00:18:00] She feels like she's trapped. She can't stand being in the matrix of the rat race anymore. And if you like, maybe whoever you are listening to that, you're like, Oh my God, I'm Callie.

Christa: Um, and yeah. And Sarah, I think at some point you basically, you could have fit that. And yeah, yeah, yeah. And now you're helping people that were just in the very similar situation that you were in even more niche in like the specific kind of industries. And, uh, yeah, as you said, there's just, there's thousands of people out there that you can serve.

Christa: So they're just the sky is the limit with, with the business, actually, which is really exciting. Thank you. Yeah. Awesome. So let's pivot the conversation a little bit because I want to talk about your lifestyle. So, um, you know, we've been really focused on career, which of course, like, you know, crying when you get a promotion is a pretty big indication that something about your career needs to change.

Christa: but, uh, What was it also about your [00:19:00] lifestyle that you were desiring to be different and can you just walk us through the journey that you've taken, evolving that because I think your, your goal has moved a little bit since, um, since we first started working together as well. 

Sarah: Totally. So I think I'll start with a story of when I was working in Peru, that was really the inception of this, then where I thought I was going to go and then where I am now.

Sarah: So the story was, I was working in Peru for a few weeks with my prior, uh, role. And I remember, first of all, Peru is amazing. If any of the listeners have never been, but when you're working and traveling. Especially in global health, you're not actually like seeing the country. You're just working in, you know, an office or in the clinics or wherever where you're serving.

Sarah: So I was working really hard during the weeks. And on the weekend, I had a few days off. And my coworker and I went on this like, They had a tour bus. It was the easiest thing we could do. So that was the first kind of red flag was like, I didn't want to be on a tour bus, but that's the only amount [00:20:00] of time I had to actually see, the country.

Sarah: So I was like, okay, that's easiest. We'll do that. But on the tour, I remember meeting this family and they're probably actually about my age now, because this was maybe three years ago when this happened, they were a young family. They had a young kid and they I promise I rarely cry, but I think they brought me to tears when I met them also.

Sarah: Cause I was like, holy, this is exactly who I want to be. They took a few years off from their life in England. They had a young kid, they were traveling. They were what I call now slow manning. They were homeschooling their kid. and they were just. Happened to be, you know, spending several months in Peru.

Sarah: And I remember just being so jealous that they got to do that as a family and feeling really resentful that I only had two days to do this, of course, grateful that I could be in Peru for work, but feeling really sad that my husband wasn't there, maybe he was my boyfriend at the time that I had to squeeze these things in during [00:21:00] work.

Sarah: And it just didn't feel what I wanted. Um, so I always go back to that story in my head because it felt like that was. The dream that I had to be able to travel with a family. and so then, yeah, fast forward, like I said, our lease was going to end. And so we thought about where we'd want to live next.

Sarah: The idea was going to, we were going to take this cross country road trip around the U S working remotely, which we did last year. Um, and then we were going to travel and do the digital nomad thing and starting in South America. and yeah, fast forward. That just didn't really pan out for a lot of reasons.

Sarah: Um, and I can share more about some of the challenges and the lessons learned and all the things that came from that. Um, but we did take the road trip. It was amazing. It was also really hard because we were going super quickly. Um, and I think I realized we needed a bit of stability and a bit more of a home base.

Sarah: and I can share more about that, but I will pause if you like that story of Peru doing the road trip. We've done some home sitting, pet sitting this year, we spent a few [00:22:00] months volunteering Life got crazy, and I can share where we are today. 

Christa: Wow. Okay. Love that story. Um, specifically the moment where you were taking a tour bus, because that was just kind of like all that you can, all that you could manage.

Christa: I feel like that's such a great anecdote of having this little moment where you're like, wait, something is completely misaligned here. And like, how did I, how did I get here? Like, this isn't what I was, this isn't what I was looking for. Um, I had a moment like that too. I, The job I always talk about that I really couldn't stand.

Christa: I was working in travel public relations and I took a trip to the Bermuda for like, to cover it for public relations. And I just worked the whole time in an office. And I was like, I thought I was going to get paid to travel, but this isn't traveling. It's just getting paid to work in another place, basically.

Christa: so yeah, so anyway, love your story as well as meeting the family. Two, um, a little piece of emotional intelligence wisdom is when we feel jealousy, [00:23:00] we could make it mean something about ourselves or We could use it as a way to show ourselves what we're actually really desiring. And, um, it sounds like that was a pretty big moment for you to make a switch and actually start pursuing the thing that you actually desire.

Christa: Can you share a little bit now about. Sort of how you've evolved into what you're doing now, cause you're not on a road trip. You're not traveling all the time. But your life is still pretty awesome. 

Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we tried a year of nomadic life and also working full time, which again, I think is a pretty realistic example for many people, whether you're working full time, starting your own business or in a nine to five, I do the entrepreneur world.

Sarah: My husband's at a nine to five corporate setting. Again, I think it's realistic traveling and doing that. Uh, it was tough. We spent probably way too much time with our family. So thank you to my mom and dad for, you know, [00:24:00] helping us to be able to stay in between travels. We spent a few months, like I said, volunteering in We did house. We did pet fitting. Um, and we did this road trip and we realized we just, we need our own home base, but we didn't want to be, first of all, on the rat race in a major city, uh, having to keep up with that kind of crazy mortgage and just always keeping up with the Joneses. so that's like the one end we didn't want.

Sarah: And we also weren't going to be able to do, the full time, you know, moving to Bali or, or spending all that time in South America, like that family right now. Um, So really, um, where, where we, and I say, we, as in my husband, I've been talking about me in this example have landed is, yeah, we, we bought a house.

Sarah: We bought this like amazing cabin in the woods. we love it. Uh, we came to that decision, uh, through a few different, you know, considerations. One is that we actually moved back to this area where I'm from originally. my parents, were actually moving to France and that spurred this whole conversation of, Where do we want our home base to be?

Sarah: Do we want to buy their [00:25:00] house? Do we want to move back to this area? And I'm really glad that that'll happen because we were able to decide for ourselves. We actually want to get our own place. We want to keep the roots in the US. It's important. It allows our family to have a space to come back to here.

Sarah: we have a lot of friends, family, community for our health. It's all important to have a home base and we want to Airbnb it. Um, but yeah, we don't want to be in a major city. So I'm just so grateful. Um, we're in the woods. We love it. And it's a place that we'll get to hopefully cherish for many years to come.

Sarah: and, and lay our heads, um, in between travels and yeah, always, always have. 

Christa: So nice. Yeah, I think this is really something that I wanted to emphasize in this episode too, because, something that a lot of people say to me is they're like, uh, yeah, like working remotely would be amazing, but I don't want to travel.

Christa: I don't think I want to like travel full time or I don't want to live out of my suitcase or I want to have a home base. Can we still work together? And I'm like, I don't care what you do with your free time or, or where you end up being [00:26:00] like, I, I just got a house as well. Like, I want to have a home base too.

Christa: I just chose for it to be in Bali versus you chose for it to be, um, yeah, in a beautiful natural part of the world, but not too far away from where you grew up. And that's just amazing. Like you can, what would you say is a way that you are taking advantage of your. Location independence, Even though you have a home 

Sarah: yeah.

Sarah: So, I mean, I think the first thing is we're not in a major city. So I'm still in Massachusetts, but we're in Western Massachusetts. We're in between major cities. Since we've made this move, we've had, I've had a lot of friends actually ask and how we did it or people we meet around here. I think that I know it's a privilege, but I also want to say it's something we chose and I've.

Sarah: Chose to invest in this program and the DNLA. I made the career and life switch. It doesn't just happen. So that's a way that I use the freedom and the independence to work [00:27:00] remotely. I think another way is that I can travel. So even though, um, like I said, my, my partner is in a corporate setting, we don't have to do everything together.

Sarah: So like we can kind of co create a life together. Plan that works for us as a family and I can do my own thing. So coming up, um, I'm going to be joining the nomad cruise that was inspired by you. And I can't wait. And that's two weeks at sea, which maybe you can put a, you know, you can share more about that.

Sarah: But yeah, my husband's not doing that. I'm doing that on my own. He needs to work, but my work can bring me on, on this conference. And then he got approved vacation to join me in Japan for, for two weeks. I feel like that's the perfect example of. How I can use my flexibility, to be able to do this. 

Christa: Yeah, for sure.

Christa: Like, so you're basically going to be traveling for at least a month. With two weeks, um, on the cruise itself and then another two weeks, um, afterwards in Japan. So yeah, so you're going to be traveling for an entire month and even though your husband doesn't [00:28:00] have the full capabilities of being able to be with you the entire time, he'll be able to meet you for a couple of weeks and actually you could probably stay. I could totally. Are you going to stay for a little bit?

Christa: I need 

Sarah: to figure it out. Um, I may or I may not only because I want to actually get back and set up our house to Airbnb. 

Sarah: So that would then allow for travel later in the year. So if I come back, it's only because I want the flexibility to be able to set up our house. Cool. Um, yeah. Yeah, because we're going to take another big trip later in the year.

Sarah: So but yeah, I have the choice. I think that's what matters. That 

Christa: is what matters. That is a hundred percent what matters. I remember like the days when I used to feel jealous of other people and, uh, Oh my gosh. One of my, one of my big stories was that it was in Greece on a two week trip. Um, and was talking to these Australian guys and they were like, Oh, how long are you here for?

Christa: And I was like, 10 days, like thinking that that was amazing. Cause that was my, all of my vacation time. So I was like, I'm really going for the, I'm doing the most here. [00:29:00] And I remember them being like 10 days, like they were disgusted. And I was like, is there another way? Like, how could I do? How could I do longer than this?

Christa: But yeah, there's so many different ways to design your life where what I'm hearing from you now is okay. It's like, it's like, if you could actually write a checklist of everything that you wanted in your life, you're like, okay, I want a loving husband check. I want, um, I want a house in the woods. Check, I want a fulfilling career.

Christa: Check, I want to travel the world whenever I want. Check, I want to make sure that when I travel the world, I get to travel for however long I want, but I don't have to decide in advance. I can actually just decide when I'm there, if I want to stay longer or if I want to go home. Check, and um, yeah, you just get to create, like you are, you're such a creator, and it's just so magical, and you don't have to create the same lifestyle that I wanted to create, Which makes it even more magical.

Christa: It's not this like cut and paste, like the [00:30:00] digital nomad life is not, it has to be living out of your suitcase or you have to be in a tropical environment in order for it to count. It's like, what makes it count is that you literally get to be. the creator of the lifestyle. So I just love that you're doing all that.

Sarah: Thank you. And I love that you said that because to be honest, if you would, we'd have this conversation six months ago, I think I would have asked myself, does it count? And maybe I even, I don't know. It's taken a long time to get to this place, right? I think it took the trial, the tribulation, seeing what didn't work, realizing what was better for all of the factors of our life, career, health, family, mental health, all these things, like, I had to experience all that to be able to design what I'm doing now.

Sarah: So I also want to say that, too. It's not like the checklist I had. Two years ago is the same one now, right? It's evolved and it's expanded and I think that's how life works. 

Christa: Yeah, but even better because at the time, at the time you were writing the checklist and you're like, I think I want to [00:31:00] live out of a van for a little while, check.

Christa: Um, and you did that and that's another thing too, you get to keep changing your mind. I'm curious what you think about the concept of a five year plan, because I feel like, I don't know, I think I've actually always been this way, where I always was just like, why is everybody following these unspoken rules?

Christa: Where did these unspoken rules come from? And people asking me like, oh, where do you see yourself in five years? And I'd be like, I don't know, like five years from now, like so much can happen in five years and I'm not going to be the same person in five years than I am today. So why do I have to come up with a five year plan?

Christa: and I still don't, I like love not having a five year plan. Yeah. So, yeah. 

Sarah: I love this question. So I'm definitely. I've evolved, I think, in the last couple of years, but I'm still type A. Like, I'm still hyper organized. You're like, I'm a five year plan person. But I think this is the part that's really cool about this question is like, at least from a New England or sort of USA, you know, [00:32:00] perspective, when you think of one's five year plan, it's like you're in a job interview and they're, and they'll asking you, so where do you see yourself in five years?

Sarah: How will this job align with your vision? Right. And it's about your job and your career. So. I don't have that actually anymore. In fact, I literally do not know what my five year plan is for my business because I'm evolving it and growing it every day, but I think the difference is I do have a big picture vision of what our life would look like in five years, like, I want to have kids.

Sarah: We would love a dog. Like, we want to have a loving, you know, family and travel and all these things. And I do have actually like a goal sheet. But I think that's the point. It's not just about your career or like one domain in your life. It's so much more holistic. and it's bigger picture and I'm open to what comes my way.

Sarah: It's not rigid. It's more of just having the vision because I do feel like by us having a vision, That's how I got this house because I had the vision, right? If I didn't have the vision, I wouldn't have been able to make [00:33:00] a decision quickly to be where I am. So I feel like it's both. 

Christa: So, so, so true. I mean, you know, I'm huge on, vision boards.

Christa: Like it's always the first assignment that I give to people. I'm like, okay, you need to make a vision board. Cause yeah, like you said, you need, you do need to have dreams and to be clear on those dreams. Like you need to have a direction that you're moving in, but I think, what the point that I'm trying to get across here is that when you're not climbing the corporate ladder, you don't have to be so tunnel vision on one goal.

Christa: And then if you somehow don't make that goal, it's like, you're not moving fast enough, or you haven't moved far enough. It's like, you can just change directions and you just have the open, like a, this is a totally open road. As long as you're still moving and having a good time, then you're growing. So yeah, exactly.

Christa: what would you say is one thing that shifted for you that made maybe the biggest impact? 

Sarah: Great question.

Sarah: but I'd say it's really [00:34:00] learning to trust my inner compass as corny as that sounds a little bit more and caring less what people think.

Sarah: So, you know, not going to others what to do about your life. I mean, I still ask. I get mentorship, those types of things, but being clear about what I want internally for myself and empowering other people to do the same and to challenge the status quo and the norms. and the second piece is to then go for it once you get that clarity and it's really hard and it can be scary, but I feel like.

Sarah: It would have been easy for me to just shirk away from the challenges because they felt too overwhelming or outlandish or whatever. Um, but to just trust that intuition and actually take action on it and then get clarity from there. 

Christa: Beautiful. Yeah, I think there's a few parts in your story where I'm like, Oh, yeah, I heard you listening to your intuition there.

Christa: And, what I said earlier about the bus, like the the bus tour around Peru, where you can kind of look at that moment. And it's like your brain, your body, [00:35:00] everything is like, This is not aligned. Like this, something here has to change. So I don't think it's corny at all to listen to your intuition. I think it's just, you know, do you know what?

Christa: It's not corny. Whoever is listening to this, if you think, if you think that following your intuition is corny, you have been unfortunately subjected to the matrix. Because like, Listening to your intuition is the wise, right thing to do. Literally always. Like, we have our intuition for a reason, but society doesn't want us to follow our intuition because they want us to fit into the little box, which is where they predetermined that we would be in the grand scheme of the matrix.

Christa: So yeah, I think that, uh, you following your intuition is ultimately what allowed you to break free and create the beautiful. picture perfect life that you desired for yourself. So [00:36:00] actually earlier we were kind of talking,about like having one foot in the matrix Can you comment on that a little bit like what that even what that means to you?

Christa: Yeah. 

Sarah: I could talk about this for hours. So basically what I think this means is like I said, we're not he's like, I'm not this like Instagram person or I'm just like, I say Instagram person because I think we can all picture who that is of like, Picture perfect life traveling out of a backpack or whatever.

Sarah: that's not going to work for me.

Sarah: Also the, like, Slaving away and I don't feel like I did. I'm not I want to be fair. I wasn't slaving away before. But as I think about the corporate America and nine to five lifestyle, it's set up in that way, right? Um, I don't want that either. So, yeah, I think having a foot in both matrix and sort of the ideal version of what we want means for me that like, I still have all my friends and family and challenges and I've definitely grown and shifted and there's people who I'm closer with and people who are, maybe professionally on a different wavelength from anymore.

Sarah: That's [00:37:00] fine. but I, I tried to sort of do my own thing. And I did feel to be honest, like it got really hard. I didn't want to give up. All of these things that I worked so hard to build for many, many years and decades. Um, and it wasn't that I was consciously trying to give them up, but the farther and farther I got, I felt it was hard to sort of stay grounded and connected.

Sarah: And yeah, family matters to me. These things matter. But I also want to be able to have that flexibility. So I feel like by being here, moving to the woods, as I like to call it, like, there are no Joneses to keep up with. This is in my backyard where I grew up. But I get to design what I'm doing. There's no comparison.

Sarah: And I still have to do, like, my dishes and laundry and go grocery shopping and have routines and try to get, you know, fit. And I actually, Feel like that's important by not having that routine. It was for me personally, um, really challenging. So I'd like to have a space where I can come home, have that routine instability, and then be able to go and travel for a few [00:38:00] months and have that option too.

Christa: Can you talk a little bit about what your routine is like? I think this is a very mysterious thing to a lot of people. to the point I made a whole episode all about my routine. Um, I think it's called my daily, weekly and yearly routine or something like that, or my schedule, but what is yours like, 

Sarah: Yeah.

Sarah: So just to be clear, when you say what is mysterious, do you think about that to people? 

Christa: Um, what is mysterious? Well, I think. Okay, so when you are working in a nine to five, you're essentially like a cog in the wheel. Like you're one cog in the full wheel of the company or the business. So what you do is very routine and you tend to kind of do the same sort of work over and over and over again.

Christa: You go into the same office. Um, your hours are the same. Your weeks are generally the same. Um, but when you work for yourself, You are not the cog in the wheel, you are the wheel, [00:39:00] and you really need to be, like, taking care of the different spokes, and then of the tire, and of the centerpiece, and, I don't know, I don't have the, I don't remember how to describe the rest of the wheel, but, um, yeah, like, you, you are in control of the whole thing, and also, your, your day is no longer 9 to 5, it's like, how are you going to cut up your 24 hours?

Christa: Totally. Um, so yeah, 

Sarah: Love it. So I'll speak to where I'm at now. Forget the last year, but first of all, we're actually dog sitting right now. So I feel like my routine looks a little different than what it will be when we have to say goodbye to the dog, but the dog is real life for many people and we want one.

Sarah: So, um, I mean, basically how it looks since we moved in very recently. It's like, I try to keep a normal schedule. I mean, I think that's the first thing. I'm also working with people who have normal schedules, right? So I wake up in a normal time. I'm not sleeping in, you know, like, we'll go take the dog for a walk.

Sarah: Um, I really tried. One thing I've done is to do [00:40:00] much more like healthy meal prep, be able to. Cook a little bit more for real meals. Like I used to eat a yogurt at my desk every day and bring it into the office. I don't do that anymore. Like I'll literally sit and have a proper meal. I think that even in itself is huge.

Sarah: Um, and then I try to work normal ish hours, but if I don't want to take a call at nine, um, I don't have to, right? Sometimes I'd take early calls because my clients need it, but I try to give myself space in the morning. Um, and I try to wrap up at a normal time. I think the difference is sometimes. I will work in the evening because I want to like, I actually get creatively excited or I want, I have ideas.

Sarah: I want to think about, I don't necessarily always feel like I have to write. Sometimes they have to deadlines still exist. That's a difference, right? It's like a choice. Um, and then some days I don't feel like I want, I want to work and I should totally work a few hours. Like, that's also okay. You know, 

Sarah: and yeah, all the other things that come with routines, like [00:41:00] try to give myself better boundaries of vacation and give myself time off, but I'm my own boss.

Christa: Yeah, I love that. The not having to ask for permission is is so big. I feel like there's just a lot of people that well, every everybody needs mental health days once in a while. It's not certain people. It is literally everybody needs mental health. Um, we all have errands to run and, uh, yeah, it's just nice to be able to just say yes to yourself whenever you need it, but also to, to your point about like, you know, sometimes I just don't really feel like working.

Christa: I don't know if you saw in the DNLA, like yesterday, someone posted about how she feels guilty taking breaks and I responded and I was like, that is actually such a matrix. thing that like you get, you get to decontition yourself from when you are working for yourself because like you can just get so much more done when you feel energized.

Christa: Like you were saying, yeah, sometimes at night I want to work [00:42:00] because I have a creative energy boost. And I think what, if you work for yourself long enough, you start learning to just When those moments come, they're unpredictable. So just harness it, just because if you harness it and you actually capture it and you, and you sit down and get shit done in the moment when you feel inspired, you can get like as much done in a few hours as you could sometimes in a few weeks, if you are actually really tuning into your energy like that.

Christa: So 

Sarah: of course, a hundred percent. And I will say too, for any listeners, it's not like I still guilty of that. I feel guilty sometimes when I take breaks, like I got sick last week. I had, I felt guilty, like, how will I tell my clients I can't meet? But then I did, right? Like, I, it was, it was hard at first. So I just think that's important to say, but the deconditioning takes time and then you do get to decide.

Sarah: And it was better for my clients. I didn't meet when I was sick and they were so happy to meet another time. So yeah. So they were, they received it well. Of course. But I think that's the point. [00:43:00] It's not like you just switch off this, you know, if someone's been conditioned for. 30 years, you know, to ask for permission.

Sarah: It's not like you start your own business and immediately you're you're changed 

Christa: So true so true. Yeah, it's kind of wild after you've been Like, you know, it's been a couple of years for you now Um, it's been longer for me but it's like I mean I also still have moments where i'm like god like how am I ever gonna get anything done if i'm not working every single day this week, and, it's just like the longer that you do it, the more you realize how conditioned you really have been.

Christa: Um, because when you're in it, you don't notice because you've always been doing it that way. So it's not different. Um, and everybody else is doing it that way too. So nobody, nobody questions it. And then it's like, once you kind of step outside, then you can look back. And in those moments where you're like, wait a minute, I feel guilty.

Christa: And then you start realizing how often you feel guilty and [00:44:00] how actually deeply conditioned. Yeah, we really have been. So 100 percent is there anything, any other words of wisdom that you want to share with anybody listening who might want to become a digital nomad, or just want to set themselves free, do more meaningful work, like actually we, let's talk about the meaningful work.

Christa: Sort of thing. Yeah. That's like what you base your whole business off of. 

Sarah: So, um, I mean, I think that maybe I can merge those two points into one. I mean, basically what I'd want to say is I think there's many ways that one can do meaningful work. Like I took that concept of IKIGAI so seriously, and I do this with my clients too, So I love to offer this as an exercise, which you guys can Google online, but the idea of IKIGAI is figuring out. What you love to do, what you're good at, what you can be paid to do and what the world needs. And it's a Venn diagram. And through that, you can get clarity on things like your mission and your purpose and all of these different [00:45:00] aspects.

Sarah: So my ICA guy for many, many years was what I was doing prior, and I'm 100 percent sure I was on my ICA guy of, you know, helping the world through global mental health for a decade. I loved it. So I'm confident in that. And at the same time, I think once ICA guy can change, And so like we were chatting about giving permission to explore different ways to make a difference in the world, to find your purpose and to do something meaningful.

Sarah: And for that to evolve, it's just so powerful. So yeah, I think that's what I'd want to invite. The listeners is to give yourself a chance to, to try something different. You can still do good, even if you're not necessarily, in your current job or something that you can search online, you can create something and still make a huge difference.

Sarah: And I feel like every day that I get to help my clients, whether it's an organization or a coaching client, I'm empowering them to make a huge change. In the world. Like I said, with that example of. The client who's doing this community food bank work, like, yeah, [00:46:00] that's amazing. He's now going to be helping hundreds of people in his community.

Sarah: I got to help him find that unlock for himself. So it's not about me, it's about him, but I feel like I played a tiny, tiny role in helping him be able to serve that community. So that's my contribution to his, you know, community and society that way indirectly. And, And by working with him one on one, it's just so fulfilling in a way that I didn't have prior.

Sarah: So I get to work one on one and the global community in, in sort of a population health way, 

Christa: Yeah. Mission, mission driven people help other mission driven people. So just makes sense that you're now in a new version of your ICA guy. something that you said earlier actually, reminds me, you were saying that It's not like you manifested your life, you actually took action on it, and the lifestyle that you're living now, you have people around you that are like, how did you do it?

Christa: And you're like, well, it was a choice, yes, okay, I'm in a privileged situation. And I chose to be here. And [00:47:00] you mentioned that you chose to invest in the DNLA. And now you have your clients doing that investing in you for you to help them change their life. Um, but can you talk a little bit about just this concept of investing in yourself?

Christa: I, I believe that a lot of my listeners have probably never invested in themselves in a big way like this before. can you touch upon what investing in yourself means to you? Yeah, 

Sarah: I think before I signed up for your course, I had never invested that amount of money in myself besides college or graduate school, you know, but when I found you, it was so aligned. I think I decided in like a day to sign up. I think I think we were maybe it was a few days we were messaging on Instagram. I think the reason I say that is because I had made the decision a few months prior that I wanted to invest in myself.

Sarah: So I think that's the first thing is to give yourself permission that you want to make a change and be open to the ways in which you will have a vehicle for that change. and then by doing it, I've seen [00:48:00] that it's shifted my entire life. And now I've invested in other mentorship and, you know, wellbeing initiatives and courses, and like that investment pays off obviously for myself, but for my business, for the people I serve, for the communities that I help, right?

Sarah: So if I don't invest in, take care of myself, I'm not going to be able to help others. so I'm not perfect at it.

Sarah: I don't always invest in myself in a way that is needed both holistically and financially with something like a course, but yeah, it pays dividends. So that's what I'd love to offer for the listeners. 

Christa: Yeah, for sure. what I believe my own definition of investing in yourself is it's like, it can look like so many different things that you don't just have to invest money.

Christa: Right. for anybody listening, if you've never invested in a coach, the reason why coaching is at whatever price it's at is because your. Saying, you know what, I don't want to be spending all the years that it's probably going to take for me to try to [00:49:00] figure it out myself. I just want what I want right now.

Christa: And so I'm going to pay to have what I want right now for someone to just show me how to do it and essentially teach me how to fish. It's not like you're buying a business, which would be, maybe an investment in a different kind of way. But yeah, investing in coaching, it's like you're investing in.

Christa: Your own personal growth that once you're done with that coach, you just are another person on the other side. And now you're so up leveled and that can affect all areas of your life. So it's like, you know, investing in your health, making breakfast for yourself in the morning, like it's time, time is money, but you're investing your time into that because your health is important to you and it's going to pay dividends and in the long run.

Christa: So. Yeah, learning from someone who has done it before, who's where you want to be, is just, to me, the shortcut in life. And I think you're the perfect example of that, Sarah. Your life is so different now than it was a few [00:50:00] years ago. 

Sarah: Yeah. Thank you. But I also want to say it's like, what's so cool, that's so different.

Sarah: And also there's some core similarities, like I'm still me, right? Like, I still have my same family, some same friend, like. I say some same friends. It's like all those things I had are still there. My life has just expanded so much more beyond what it was. I think that's what I want to say too. It's not like throw out the old and with the new, it's like, how can we evolve and grow, as humans.

Christa: Yeah. Beautiful. if someone wants to work with you, what would be the 

Sarah: way that? Yeah. Um, I would love to chat with anyone who's interested in connecting. And if this aligned with you, I think the best way is to look at my website, Sarah singer. co or my Instagram, Sarah FC singer, and let's chat. 

Christa: Great.

Christa: Amazing. And if anybody wants to connect with me as well about the DNLA, I didn't really share what it is. So just really quick. If you don't know what the DNLA is, it stands for Digital Nomad Life Academy, and it's a 12 month [00:51:00] program where you get access to coaching calls with me and a couple of other amazing digital nomad entrepreneurs.

Christa: Every single week we cover all time zones and I also give you step by step instructions on how to build a completely location independent business like Sarah's so that whether you want to live in the woods of Massachusetts or you want to live on a tropical island like I do You just get to choose and you get to live, create a business.

Christa: That actually is something that's aligned with who you are. I also work with the concept of ICA guy. And if you listen to episode 33 of this podcast, um, it's called how my career assessment process works. That is how I'm able to suggest to people a kind of career that makes sense for them.

Christa: And Sarah, you, you went through that process once upon a time. Yeah, exactly. It works. 

Sarah: The coolest thing was I went back through my, like I said, I'm still at Taipei and organize. I went back through my old notes from that.

Sarah: And it's so cool because all the things that we identified and for us to help me think about that I wanted to do, like I'm [00:52:00] literally doing them now. It's wild. It was a night. I think we talked about things like. What are your three core stories that are important to you that you want to share? So for example, I remember talking about mental health, both how I've navigated that personally and professionally.

Sarah: Um, maybe my family shifts and like leaving the kind of that matrix, all of that relates to what I do now. So it's so cool. Um, among many other parts. 

Christa: So cool. Yeah. Basically, um, the, the process that I take people through is it's this huge sheet. Do you know how long it took you to fill out? If you remember?

Christa: I remember 

Sarah: I was in Florida and I just camped out and like spend some deep work time on it at the beach. And it was, it was amazing, but it was a lot. 

Christa: Yeah, it is a lot. It is a lot for sure. I would, I would estimate anywhere between like three and seven hours. Yeah, I think that's right. It's like a pretty intense questionnaire, but then once you're done, I have all the information I could possibly need about you.

Christa: And then I'm just like, oh, it's so obvious. Like, have you thought about this? And then you, [00:53:00] like so many of my clients, you're like, oh, I kind of was actually already thinking about that. But I just get to pull it out and we just get to zoom in on it and just, go straight for it. So, and here you are, having made all the shortcuts.

Christa: Not that you didn't work for it, of course, but um, you've really just grown so, your, your whole life, like you said, has expanded so much in a few years. So it's amazing. 

Sarah: Thank you. Thanks to you for everything. And, um, yeah, this was so much fun. 

Christa: So grateful. All right. Well, if anybody is listening and you want to, um, connect, then slide into my DMS at @christabellatravels on Instagram, you can use the keyword Sarah.

Christa: That's S A R A H. Sarah podcast. And then I'll know that you came from this episode. I probably will send you an automated reply that says, Oh, I hear you listen to the episode. Tell me a little bit about yourself. And that's just because I cannot stand surface level conversations. Honestly, just tell me, tell me who you are, and then I'll be able to respond [00:54:00] to you and actually share with you.

Christa: If I think that you're a great fit for the DNLA, or if I think that you're a better fit for Sarah, um, or I can just, you know, send you in the right direction. Just so that we can support you as best as possible. That's what this podcast is here for, it's to help people become free, whatever that means to you.

Christa: So thank you so much for being here, Sarah, will talk soon. Thanks everyone. Bye. Bye. Thank you.