00:00:00:03 - 00:00:22:23
Ibi
So, John, welcome. It's a pleasure to have you on the podcast. I mean, we've been living in this castle now for, what, two weeks, but I feel like we didn't really, you know, get a chance to talk about your whole digital nomad life. So I'm really curious to get to know you more. And if we can start with, how long have you been a nomad?
00:00:23:00 - 00:00:30:13
Ibi
How do you live as a nomad and make money as a nomad and travel as a nomad? I'm curious. Just let's hear about you.
00:00:30:15 - 00:00:32:08
Jeanne
That could be the entire episode, I think.
00:00:32:13 - 00:00:34:09
Ibi
Perfect. Thanks.
00:00:34:11 - 00:00:58:00
Jeanne
Thanks for having me. Yeah. It's true. Two weeks, living together. But, you know, go as fast as one. About my nomad journey so far. Yeah, I've been a nomad for four years. I would say a bit more than four years now. I'm one of those. Exactly one of those post-Covid baby. And it's been it's been a journey, for sure.
00:00:58:01 - 00:01:08:16
Jeanne
It's, it's a lifestyle that I love and that I would recommend to a lot of people, but I fell into it kind of by chance, or I didn't really plan for it or wanted to do it.
00:01:08:17 - 00:01:11:00
Ibi
What was the chance? How did it happen?
00:01:11:02 - 00:01:31:12
Jeanne
I was bored, I was bored. It was the second kind of lockdown in Paris. We were a little bit, you know, it was like you can only go to work and then you can go home and that's all you can do. Anything else is closed. So I was completely bored. My roommates were out, I was alone in this apartment in Paris and going to the office during the day.
00:01:31:14 - 00:01:57:15
Jeanne
So, I decided to do something a bit different. Then I said, okay, I'm going to learn Spanish. That was my goal at the time. I was like, okay, I'm going to shoot better. I'm going to have something to do. So I decided to learn Spanish and I took some classes online, and then I went to my boss and I told him I want to learn Spanish, but I would like to do it from Spain because in Spain you don't have a curfew, because in Spain you didn't have the same rules as in France.
00:01:57:15 - 00:02:08:03
Jeanne
So I felt like maybe I could go there. And, it was a bit of a convincing. Yeah, it was a bit hard to education.
00:02:08:03 - 00:02:09:19
Ibi
Was there some pushback at first?
00:02:09:20 - 00:02:19:21
Jeanne
There was a lot of pushback because I was working for an event agency, which is a job that literally asks you to be on site and to be on the production, side. Plus client facing.
00:02:20:02 - 00:02:27:22
Ibi
As an events manager. Yes. Okay. Exactly. Were you also there when the like were you the point person during these events?
00:02:28:00 - 00:02:55:01
Jeanne
I was yeah, I was the person like designing and producing the events. So I was on site in the office with the clients. So it's not a job that is typically remote at all. But because of Covid, we had, developed some forms of digital and online events, some digital like online buildings and a lot of different strategies to to keep making events during Covid.
00:02:55:01 - 00:03:14:06
Jeanne
Right. We had to, to change the activity. So because we had all of those events, that were online, I was able to tell my boss, okay, I can still do those even if I'm outside of the country, and I can. The clients don't have to know. I can still produce the same way that I'm that I'm doing in Paris, at least for two months.
00:03:14:06 - 00:03:36:17
Jeanne
That's what I asked. I was like, okay, Marjan. April 20th, 21 I want to be in Madrid. I want to learn Spanish, I want to, yeah. Yeah. So there was a chance and I went to Madrid. I spent two months there just got an Airbnb. I had no idea what like Digital Nomad was. Co-living was like I had just was like, I want to learn Spanish and I want to do it in Spain and I don't want to lose my job.
00:03:36:19 - 00:03:37:19
Jeanne
So that's how it started.
00:03:37:21 - 00:03:59:21
Ibi
So it was like you had secured your income in a way. You had locked it in with your current employer, even though it wasn't a remote job at first. You negotiated to to a remote job. Would you say that, the demand for online events had at increased or appeared, which allowed facilitated you to do that?
00:04:00:00 - 00:04:20:17
Jeanne
Yeah, it completely appeared like we ended up with Covid. It was like, oh, from one day to the other, everything got canceled. Like there were no more. There was no nothing to do. So the only thing we could do was to try to think of things. And I was so lucky because at the time I was like, when lockdown hit, I was still an intern.
00:04:20:17 - 00:04:42:04
Jeanne
Then I got employed by the same company, but as an intern they didn't like. I didn't cost much, so they kept me. No, they would have probably not kept me otherwise. And then it became, yeah, my first job basically. And yeah, the online events like we, we developed a lot of different, things that works really well.
00:04:42:04 - 00:04:50:19
Jeanne
Like, that's what like, kind of launched the urgency. Yeah. And that, but I never thought it would take me, you know, like I was doing those from home.
00:04:50:21 - 00:04:51:16
Ibi
Yeah.
00:04:51:18 - 00:04:52:19
Jeanne
Or from the office.
00:04:52:21 - 00:05:21:23
Ibi
Yeah. It makes sense. Makes sense. Actually, it's a common theme that not only have other podcasts, guests mentioned, but generally, I think, is is a big trend through that Covid period was that the demand shifted. And as people became more remote, the demand for remote specific services or remote led activities increased. Such as, as you just mentioned, remote events, which were not really a thing before.
00:05:21:23 - 00:05:23:17
Jeanne
They were not. Yeah.
00:05:23:19 - 00:05:40:05
Ibi
And so it's really cool that the the demand can sort of shift and it creates new opportunities for people. And then there's, there's intelligent people who see further opportunity within that that I can do this job from Spain. So let's go to Spain so we can practice Spanish and then probably. Are you fluent in Spanish now by the way?
00:05:40:06 - 00:06:01:01
Jeanne
Not at all. Because I ended up in the Navy and the I got like a room in a shed apartment hoping that I would be with Spanish people. But I was like, oh, I want it to be a surprise. I wanted to be an adventurer. Will not ask questions. I would get there and there were all French. There was not a one Spanish person, in this apartment.
00:06:01:01 - 00:06:29:19
Jeanne
So I struggled a bit to learn Spanish. But I realized, like, I remember the first week thinking, okay, this is the life I want. That's that's how I want to do it. Like, I'm better in Spain at the time because it was more flexible and in France with Covid, but in general, it felt like, okay, I can do this, I can travel and work and it really felt like an adventure the first time, but I had no idea that it would be how it could be life that I felt kind of like I was the only one.
00:06:29:19 - 00:06:42:13
Jeanne
My roommates were like either students or they had a job for a few months or things like this. I was like, no one around me was working like remotely from somewhere else, not from home.
00:06:42:15 - 00:07:02:01
Ibi
And at this so it's it's post Covid and you know, the job market shifted and you've made this decision to move to, to Spain. Did you notice at that point that or did you feel that you knew what digital nomads were, what that concept meant, or was it more of an experiment?
00:07:02:03 - 00:07:24:21
Jeanne
It was an experiment. I didn't know what it was, what it meant. I didn't know anyone else doing it. And which, frankly, I wonder how I could have not known, but I guess I just never thought about it. Before that, it was a thing. And I discovered the digital nomad world, or even world when I learned about living for the first time.
00:07:24:23 - 00:07:47:03
Jeanne
So for me, they both came together in the sense that it was because I was looking for accommodation. A bit different, a bit, specific that I found coding. And then in there I was like, oh, all clients are remote workers, digital nomads. And I was like, do what they do to let's. Yeah. It was, and from there it was like a rabbit hole.
00:07:47:03 - 00:07:55:22
Jeanne
And very easy to fall into it. And you meet one person that does the same thing, and you realize that it's a small thing in the community. And, yeah.
00:07:56:00 - 00:07:59:07
Ibi
So what happened? Did you fall into it in Spain? Was that the.
00:07:59:07 - 00:08:21:06
Jeanne
Thing? I came back, I came back after the two months in Madrid, I came back, I went again to negotiate with my boss. And I'd say, it's great. That's what I want to do. Now, how can we make it happen? And we found this agreement. I was like, okay, so during the high season, I'm in Paris, which was for us like summer and Christmas time, like around the holidays.
00:08:21:07 - 00:08:26:04
Jeanne
And the rest I can go away two months at a time. So how.
00:08:26:04 - 00:08:29:05
Ibi
Long did you have to be back in Paris? Like two months. There? Two months back?
00:08:29:05 - 00:08:47:06
Jeanne
Yeah, maybe a bit more. At the time, the first negotiation was like I spent the summer, which I set out with my apartment in Paris. I had my room. It's like, you know, I hadn't given up my life in a way yet. But, yeah, coming back from Madrid, I said, okay, I want to do that. I'll go back to them for the next one in October.
00:08:47:06 - 00:09:13:04
Jeanne
So maybe 3 or 4 months, four months later. And in the meantime, I was like, okay, I'm also going to get rid of my apartment. I'm also going to move everything back to my parents, like health nomads. And I'm going to try really to organize my life around it. And so I stayed in Paris for a few months, then I moved out, and then I was looking for I didn't learn Spanish, right.
00:09:13:04 - 00:09:34:09
Jeanne
I didn't speak Spanish. So I was like, okay, I'm going to go back to learn Spanish. And at the time, I wasn't feeling confident to go to Latin America because just because of the, time zone. And it was easier with like I wasn't yet feeling so confident in the remote, part of the job. So I said, okay, Spain mainland or I don't want to go back again.
00:09:34:09 - 00:09:49:07
Jeanne
So I was looking into the Canary Islands and while looking for an apartment in Tenerife or something a bit different, like a roommate, then I found like nine co-living at the time and I was like, oh, okay, that sounds like it's for me. Actually, that sounds exactly what I want.
00:09:49:09 - 00:09:51:12
Ibi
And did you then book it for two months and.
00:09:51:12 - 00:10:14:17
Jeanne
Books for two months? Yeah, I booked for two months. I finished the season in Paris in October 2021. Yeah, I went to nine for two months and I, I remember arriving there and being like just yeah, same. No expectation. Not really. Like I don't want to know too much about it before. I want to be surprised. I wanted to see more like an adventure.
00:10:14:18 - 00:10:26:23
Jeanne
So I remember arriving. There was no one in the house, almost. I arrived late, everybody was out and there was one girl and she was French. And I was like, again.
00:10:27:01 - 00:10:27:10
Jeanne
She was.
00:10:27:10 - 00:10:28:19
Ibi
French to get rid of them.
00:10:28:21 - 00:10:44:11
Jeanne
Yeah. No, I was the only one like. But she's still one of my best friends to this day. She stayed three days like she was there three days. Then she left. But we ended up meeting again. And like today, she's. She's a good friend. That.
00:10:44:13 - 00:11:11:17
Ibi
Damn. I have so many questions. Okay, I love this. Okay. So I mean, firstly, I think it's very brave that, you saw the potential for something and then you tried it. And I think that's something that people struggle with a lot that you don't have to just jump off the cliff straight away and quit your job and, you know, have a 50,000 pounds saved up or whatever you want saved up.
00:11:11:17 - 00:11:18:08
Ibi
And then I'm going to make this happen. You can adapt your life as it currently is to a nomadic lifestyle and make it work.
00:11:18:10 - 00:11:18:23
Jeanne
Totally.
00:11:19:04 - 00:11:37:05
Ibi
And that's firstly really, really cool. How did you find the difference between the first two months when you, just rocking up in Spain versus the second two months where you were in the Canarias in a co-living after having already tried it for some months. What was the differences that you found between the two?
00:11:37:07 - 00:11:56:06
Jeanne
The second time I was feeling much more confident in how to handle, like working remotely. In itself, I had never really I had done it during lockdown, but this time everyone was at the office, like my entire team, like the shifting people I was working with. Everybody was in the office. I was the only one out.
00:11:56:07 - 00:11:57:18
Ibi
The lockdown is past now.
00:11:57:18 - 00:12:17:13
Jeanne
Yeah, lockdown is past Madrid. I was, everybody was kind of still, like, working fully remote. But then everybody went back to the office and then to the second time. It was a bit tricky because of that, because of, like, I was the only one I had to manage the communication with people, while they were all together.
00:12:17:13 - 00:12:36:05
Jeanne
So I felt like I was missing out. And during the first experience, in Spain, in Madrid, I felt that a lot. I felt super alone in that. And also I had no community whatsoever, no one doing the same as me. So it was like like I was going to two random cafes struggling like the the basic struggle of a nomad, right?
00:12:36:05 - 00:13:00:03
Jeanne
Like, oh, do you have Wi-Fi? No. Okay, then, like having, I just I didn't have a routine yet and I hadn't figured anything. And it I guess the second time really like I felt like, okay, I have this the remote parts of the job completely figured out a little bit, but mostly the biggest challenge was like, oh, tell the people that do the same as me, that people don't understand me.
00:13:00:08 - 00:13:18:00
Jeanne
There are people that I can relate to that I don't have to justify myself to, which was the biggest thing for the first, when I went to Madrid and then when I came back and for the four months where I was like, yeah, I'm doing my apartment, I'm packing my suitcases, and I'm going again. And people were like, for the evening, what do you mean, why?
00:13:18:02 - 00:13:20:14
Jeanne
What would you do then?
00:13:20:16 - 00:13:47:11
Ibi
Yeah. Yeah actually. And that's super interesting. So when when, when we used to have like young analysts or grads join you know, into graduate programs or apprentice programs and stuff. We'd often say when we were doing trainings the first six months, you're just going to learn how to write an email, how to talk to your boss, how to show up for a meeting, and how to do, like all the basic things, because that's what you have to do when you start a job.
00:13:47:11 - 00:14:05:19
Ibi
You just then the basics. And the same is true in the nomad world that you start, and you have to work out how you're going to get Wi-Fi and how you're going to get enough productivity to wake up, the right time and get to work at the right time. And, you know, have some community around you that motivates you to work and, yeah.
00:14:05:21 - 00:14:08:19
Jeanne
How to stay accountable. How? Yeah.
00:14:08:21 - 00:14:26:13
Ibi
Yeah, yeah. Done. And what are your experiences with those challenges? With those struggles? Do you find that it's just something that affected you at the beginning in the short term, or do you find that after a while you kind of just like it became second nature? Are there still some of those challenges that affect you?
00:14:26:15 - 00:14:46:17
Jeanne
Still? I would say the thing is that what was an issue at the beginning, a lot of things have changed in the sense that they have become more, especially with the community. But for me that was the biggest change. But in terms of like doing the work and just working, remotely, like the challenges are the same from day one to now.
00:14:46:17 - 00:15:07:02
Jeanne
What I hope that I knew or that I would have learned, I would have seen more examples or how to code or something. It's probably like the way to handle them. Yes. Still, today, the Wi-Fi is not reliable in a lot of places still today. Like people are going to hear me behind, but it's part of the life.
00:15:07:07 - 00:15:24:12
Jeanne
It's you have to adapt to it. You have to accept it. It's like the counter, like it's the little price you have to pay. Sometimes this kind of discount for. It's for the flexibility and the freedom. And it's just at the time I was much more stressed about it and I was paying way too much attention to it.
00:15:24:12 - 00:15:45:03
Jeanne
And challenges are the same, I think. I don't think you you get into more of a groove, into more of a routine, but it's the way you see them and the way you handle them. And what do you like? Yeah, that's it's okay actually. Doesn't really matter. What. Yes, I'm going to lose a little bit of time because the Wi-Fi is messed up in this cafe.
00:15:45:03 - 00:15:50:14
Jeanne
Well, it's okay, I'll just. Yeah. It's fine. It's not that big of a deal.
00:15:50:20 - 00:15:51:22
Ibi
You can work around it.
00:15:52:00 - 00:15:53:22
Jeanne
You can work around it always.
00:15:54:00 - 00:16:20:06
Ibi
That I love the mentality. I think the mentality about okay, so a digital nomad life is a flexible life in its nature. Yeah. If you as a person are inflexible, then you're not going to be able to live a flexible life. I think that's a core premise of it. Right. And so that flexibility that, okay, if I don't get work done today because I didn't find good Wi-Fi or whatever, you know, life happens, shit happens.
00:16:20:06 - 00:16:30:10
Ibi
I mean, at home you'd have the same problem. The dog got sick and you had to miss a day or the car broke down. You have to do whatever. It still happens the same way. It just life gives you different challenges.
00:16:30:12 - 00:16:49:06
Jeanne
Totally. It's a bit. The thing is that not everybody is afforded this freedom and this flexibility that I understand. Like today I work for myself. But at the time I was working for an employer and I was very lucky that, yeah, it was a system like my company at the time was also flexible and was giving me a lot of freedom.
00:16:49:06 - 00:17:06:22
Jeanne
And as long as the job was getting done, that was the most important. I know it's not the case for everybody and someone starting on a nomad journey, or even like just doing one remote experience they can going for small cheaper, because it doesn't have to be the one who has to jump into the full digital nomad life.
00:17:06:22 - 00:17:22:11
Jeanne
That's what you were also saying. But even if you don't have this kind of flexibility and this kind of freedom, Yeah, I guess it's the, there is this book that is really good that is called slow productivity.
00:17:22:13 - 00:17:23:15
Ibi
Slow connectivity.
00:17:23:15 - 00:17:24:10
Jeanne
Productivity.
00:17:24:10 - 00:17:25:11
Ibi
Slow productivity.
00:17:25:11 - 00:18:06:20
Jeanne
Yeah. But can you point, that I read recently and I is kind of how to. Yeah. To slow down, to still be productive but not at the cost of our mental health and of, you know, feeling overwhelmed constantly in all of these things. And one of the things that is in the book that, made me think was the fact that even if you're not afforded all this flexibility and this freedom in your job or in your whatever you're doing at the moment, there are always ways that you can find it, even if you're if you have to be connected from 9 to 6, even if you have like all those constraints, like there
00:18:06:20 - 00:18:30:10
Jeanne
are always like little ways that you can find the flexibility, whether it's like, blocking some time in your calendar for fake meetings or like using olives, notepads that are like, oh yeah, I have to to keep moving my thing to pretend that I'm online on teams. All of these things. Like most of the time people don't notice, I would say.
00:18:30:12 - 00:18:52:05
Jeanne
And also we don't we underestimate the power of communication. And that and the fact that sometimes just saying to managers, to our bosses, to whoever we're working with, yeah, like I'm going to be working from this time to this time just because, a way right now, like most of the time, people actually don't mind at all.
00:18:52:06 - 00:19:21:01
Ibi
It's very true. It's really true. And, I think I think a lot of it is about mentality. And I think hiding things makes life a lot harder. If you're open about things and you, if, if people see you as someone who's working towards an objective and they, they see that you're dedicated to what you're doing and they trust you to get the work done, then it doesn't matter if you go away on teams.
00:19:21:03 - 00:19:23:11
Ibi
Yeah. You know. Yeah.
00:19:23:13 - 00:19:48:14
Jeanne
But it's about being reliable. I feel like it's about that as well. Right? When you're completely working remotely and like you were asking someone to trust you to be, to have this flexibility, this freedom to work from another country, from another state, from it's also about being reliable enough. And I guess that's more. Yes, the lifestyle comes with a lot of flexibility and freedom, but also with responsibility like anything else.
00:19:48:14 - 00:20:02:09
Jeanne
Right. And it's about, yeah, I guess you cannot slack off that much in the end. You can be more flexible, but you also have to prove how reliable you are and one comes with the other one.
00:20:02:11 - 00:20:29:18
Ibi
Let's talk about slowing down. Yeah. Right. So as a nomad, people think that we, every two days changing locations, that we're working from a new beach and a new coffee shop every single day. But it's somehow often not true and actually quite an unsustainable model, in the grand scheme of things. So as someone who describes himself as a slow Matt, what does that mean to you and how do we slow down?
00:20:29:18 - 00:20:32:00
Ibi
What does it mean?
00:20:32:02 - 00:20:49:12
Jeanne
I think I started very slow because I started by saying, oh, I'm going to stay two months at the same location just because the initial goal for me was to because I didn't know what a digital nomad was, I was really feeling like, oh, I'm going to become Spanish. I want to be like, I want to live. I live in Spain.
00:20:49:12 - 00:21:09:11
Jeanne
I want to become part of the place, part of the culture. And I've, like I always felt frustrated whenever I was traveling before, like for short trips that I never got to, like, feel like this was my life. Now. And that was one of the main things for becoming a nomad for me at the beginning was like, oh, I want to feel like I'm living life.
00:21:09:11 - 00:21:36:05
Jeanne
I'm living life in so many different places, and I'm becoming different versions of myself, and that takes a bit of time. So that was the initial like why I wanted to do things a bit slower and always start with these two months. Also because I felt like it was more I, it made more sense to be more productive and just allowed me to find a little bit of a routine and things like just, how do we slow down?
00:21:36:05 - 00:22:01:05
Jeanne
But I think that's a very easy thing to do. It's about thinking that we don't have to see it or we don't have to do it all. We just have to be present and enjoy things as much as possible. And I'd much rather enjoy fully a place than I enjoy half way three of them. And I don't have them need or want to see every city, every country to go to, every nomad hub.
00:22:01:06 - 00:22:07:07
Jeanne
I really want to experience things fully. And that comes from yeah, that takes a bit of time.
00:22:07:09 - 00:22:31:18
Ibi
I love that, I love that. So what's really interesting is I think a lot of people start off by thinking, I'm going to, I'm going to test the waters with one week or two weeks, and then they try it for a week and then they're like, damn, that was so intense. I can't I can't handle this. And it's pretty awesome that you tried it for two months as the first one.
00:22:31:18 - 00:22:42:05
Ibi
Was that a coincidence or was that do you feel like you got lucky or something, that you took that decision? Or was it like, oh yeah, I want to consciously do it as a two months, not stress kind of thing.
00:22:42:07 - 00:22:59:11
Jeanne
It was it wasn't intentional because the goal was to learn Spanish. So I was like, I need a bit of time there. I'm going to take classes, I want to meet locals, but also I need to work. So I was like, I need a bit of time. So it was completely a coincidence. And it was never like something that I thought about fully.
00:22:59:13 - 00:23:25:18
Jeanne
And then because I had like the season kind of arrangement with my job, it just made sense to do that. And then I went to college and I was like, oh, well, two more like after one months. I remember at the end of the first month, I took a quick trip back to I don't remember where somewhere. And I was like, I remember arriving at the airport, I was not leaving, I was just going for a few days trip, and I was like, I had this deep fitting of like, that's not enough.
00:23:25:18 - 00:23:48:05
Jeanne
Like, I'm not done here, right? So to try to remember this feeling is that like, I want to you never done with a place you never experienced everything you could have experienced. Because one minute, one experience, one meeting can just shift everything. But, But I always try to to remember this feeling of like, oh, yeah, I really want to be able to enjoy things fully.
00:23:48:05 - 00:24:10:03
Jeanne
And I forget it's a lot of the time. Today is like, I was in Mexico two months this this year again, this like two coincidentally, I guess, and the first month I was in Mexico City and I, I was in the presence I forgot kind of I think that I was in an entirely new place that I was discovering another culture.
00:24:10:05 - 00:24:36:14
Jeanne
It's very easy to end up trapped in the in your routine in the day to day, like, work behind the screen and things like this. So and maybe when you go faster, you don't have that because you're constantly moving and you're constantly like changing environment and meeting other people. And I guess it, it also comes with like a, a positive side that is like you are more present maybe in this sense.
00:24:36:16 - 00:25:02:16
Jeanne
But it's not, I don't think it's sustainable in the long run. So I like to mix it today. I like to do like maybe two months, per year, like two times two months per year, like, in one destination and then like, maybe a few weeks, right. Shorter trips and things like this. But I also spend a lot of time here in Normandy because now it's my job and a lot of time in Sicily because I have a partial part time home base now.
00:25:02:18 - 00:25:05:08
Jeanne
So I'm slowing down.
00:25:05:10 - 00:25:23:07
Ibi
So let's talk about that. Let's talk about Normandy. So how did you end up in Normandy, and how did you end up going from an events planner or an events manager doing remote events in between Spain and Paris? How did you end up here in Normandy?
00:25:23:09 - 00:25:41:21
Jeanne
So it's funny because during those two weeks, we had a lot of people here that were saying, look, I'm not married to my job. I do the job to like for an end goal, which is to get money that allows me my travel. And I've never seen work this way. I've always seen it in the way that it's like I want to be fully passionate by what I do.
00:25:41:21 - 00:25:59:08
Jeanne
I want it to be like such a big part of my life that I don't. I can't really tell what work and what life is, which is how I end up and ended up into events because it was fun to me at the time. It was something that was fun. I love to go to events but then like to.
00:25:59:08 - 00:26:18:05
Jeanne
I love to party at the time, like so I was like, well, I'm just going to make it my job slowly, slowly. And that's what happened with living as well. I was at nine living at the time in Tenerife, the first one I ever did, and I remember being like overwhelmed by options at the time. I was like, okay, now I go back to Paris.
00:26:18:05 - 00:26:40:12
Jeanne
I have this winter season and then I have those two months again that I can go wherever and do whatever I want. And it felt like I had so many options. I could go anywhere, do anything. And I kind of, decided that I would wait for a sign. I would wait to see what happens. And I was asking around, okay, what kind of living should I go to?
00:26:40:12 - 00:26:57:15
Jeanne
Which ones do you recommend? And someone mentioned this place. Someone said, oh, I've been to this new living. It just opened a few months ago. It's called Chateau Co, living in the Normandy. And it's a great place to reset, to be productive. It's in the countryside, it's in the castle. And I was like, sounds nice, but it's in France.
00:26:57:15 - 00:27:00:20
Jeanne
Like, where would I why would I even do that? So back.
00:27:00:20 - 00:27:01:14
Ibi
To France.
00:27:01:14 - 00:27:20:22
Jeanne
It's two hours and a half away from my job. Like there is no point for me to do that. And, but a few days later, I was in a Facebook group looking at co-living, and I saw, posts by César, who's the owner of this place, saying that she needed someone to help during the weekends to organize some activities.
00:27:21:00 - 00:27:42:00
Jeanne
And my thoughts at the time was like, okay, I have weekends and I have a job, but I also have weekends. Maybe I could do that. And I don't know. I was like thinking, oh, maybe that could help me like fund future travels. And I could just, having a place where, like, I'm volunteering and helping out would, allow me to,
00:27:42:02 - 00:27:47:05
Jeanne
Yeah, I don't know. I just thought, okay, maybe that's on my sign. Like, maybe that's the place.
00:27:47:05 - 00:27:49:06
Ibi
The natural curiosity kicked in.
00:27:49:06 - 00:28:06:16
Jeanne
A little bit. Yeah. I was like, I think I'll just send an email, you know? So I sent an email up and let's see what happens. I got a positive, like, kind of, and so we went on a call. Before I knew it, it was like, okay. Yeah. You coming in a few months, you're coming here for three months at the time.
00:28:06:16 - 00:28:28:08
Jeanne
And then I went back into negotiation again with my boss at the time, and I was like, so I want to go three months, but it's normal. So it's super close. And it was like, okay, perfect. So if there is an issue with an event, you can come back. It's needed around here. There was no one yet and like to it was my second experience in living, but this time not as a guest, this time as a host.
00:28:28:12 - 00:28:50:01
Jeanne
So it was a totally different experience. But I had the same mentality of like, I'm going to pour my heart into it, see where it goes, and we'll see if it's, it's during the week. I was doing my job during the week, and I was doing that, and it was super nice. I really liked it the first, few weeks, the first group and I really attached to people like the community feeling was great.
00:28:50:01 - 00:29:10:07
Jeanne
I, settled into the role, pretty nicely. But then the activity completely intensified for me in Paris. I started to sign more like a big, big event at the time. And so I started to go back and forth. So every week I was going on Tuesday to Paris, coming back on Friday here and working during the weekend here.
00:29:10:09 - 00:29:13:01
Jeanne
And I did that for two months.
00:29:13:03 - 00:29:15:03
Ibi
That's intense. That sounds intense.
00:29:15:07 - 00:29:40:11
Jeanne
It was intense. It was like 80 hours work week during the week, just the normal week in the week. I think it was really crazy. What happened is that at the end of those, few months, I, I thought, okay, I mean, I really like, the Chateau, still really like my job, but I also don't know, like, I felt really that I didn't experience it fully.
00:29:40:11 - 00:30:02:07
Jeanne
Like, I felt that the co-living part. Like I was always in and out, like I was a bit burnt out so I could stay longer. So I stayed as a host a few more months, as traveled a little bit, but I stayed a few more months, and very slowly and naturally, I ended up, like, leaving my job at the agency and moving full time to the castle.
00:30:02:09 - 00:30:28:06
Jeanne
Part was an agreement again. Another negotiation that was like I do three months on the spot, posting three months away. And during those three months away, I can travel, I can go to other colorings. I can keep the digital nomad lifestyle. I really felt that to be a good host and community leader, I needed to understand the lifestyle and keep living it for myself because I didn't have so much, so much time in the end to do it.
00:30:28:06 - 00:30:41:17
Jeanne
Like I found this place. I really liked it. I loved the job. It became my full time, role. But yeah, I felt like I still needed to, to be a nomad, to understand the nomads that come here.
00:30:41:18 - 00:30:49:22
Ibi
And so how did you support your life in those other three months? If you had left your job at the, the agency.
00:30:50:04 - 00:31:11:03
Jeanne
I was freelancing still a bit. So I left this job at the edge of the sea. But I also kept them as a client, as a freelancer. So I still doing projects with them. I did projects with a couple other agencies for a little bit. I kept this, but it wasn't sustainable. It was too much varying too much in terms of, the intensity that it needed.
00:31:11:03 - 00:31:33:21
Jeanne
And it was if I end up having a project while I was here on spot, I would end up again in this, like, kind of almost burning out, by doing too much. So I just, had, conversation with Kazza here and I told her I want, I wanted to become my, like pretty, my full, my full run.
00:31:33:21 - 00:31:51:00
Jeanne
So even when I'm not here, I can help. Like even when I'm not on spot, I can also work remotely. So then I that's when I started to do the marketing. The communication. And yeah, so that I was able to support myself year round basically.
00:31:51:02 - 00:32:06:21
Ibi
What I'm hearing, a lot of which is very inspiring, is good communication with bosses, with managers, and openly setting expectations. Does that resonate with you, and how do you feel like, how do you feel it goes.
00:32:06:23 - 00:32:28:22
Jeanne
I feel it goes both ways. Like if you want to think people, no one will ever reproach it to, not to like, communicate too much, or to ask for too much, or to say too much, like it's always issues come from like the lack of communications, and you can always ask for something. It doesn't mean you can have it, but you can always ask for it.
00:32:28:22 - 00:32:51:11
Jeanne
Think there is no cost in it. And so yeah, I feel like I always had a lot of trust with the people that I work with as well. Like it's super important. For me to really get along with people that I work with to trust them, that they trust me. And, I also, yeah, I struggle with boundaries, I guess.
00:32:51:11 - 00:32:56:01
Jeanne
So, like, maybe it gets a bit more.
00:32:56:03 - 00:32:58:23
Jeanne
Like.
00:32:59:01 - 00:33:03:16
Ibi
Personal. Like your connection with your boss is closer.
00:33:03:18 - 00:33:25:17
Jeanne
No, it becomes a bit more blurry in the sense that I want people to really be able to rely on me and trust me. And so I end up. And also because I'm very passionate about the things that I do and I think really want to invest in, in them in terms of time and energy. Then, yeah, it becomes a bit more blurry.
00:33:25:17 - 00:33:45:22
Jeanne
And in general, my role keeps evolving and I get on a little bit more and a little bit more responsibility or and I'm always also wanting to be in places that you know, where you are heard. So, the agency I was working for, we started, we were just three. It was like a startup, like very, very small.
00:33:45:22 - 00:34:07:06
Jeanne
And then it grew. It was the first year as well. Like, I always kind of arrive at the beginning of the project and I get to evolve with it and I get to grow with it. And that takes, that helps with the communication as well, I guess, because you have more space to do it. It's not I would I wouldn't be able probably to do that I wouldn't want to work for.
00:34:07:08 - 00:34:14:00
Jeanne
It could be a big corporation or a big company with a lot of set worlds and much more vertical communication.
00:34:14:02 - 00:34:30:22
Ibi
Do you feel it, that it's the energy that you give at the start of projects and, and the kind of motivation that you have at the start of projects that really attracts people to you, that respect you and give you more responsibilities and that you have the freedom that you desire.
00:34:31:00 - 00:34:51:12
Jeanne
Yeah, I think it goes together. It's it goes together because you show you invested in your you want the best for not not just for the company or for the job, but for the people you work with. Like it's it's idea of the day. Or again, it goes against, what people say that like, okay, I'm, I'm not married to my job and I don't want to be that as well.
00:34:51:12 - 00:35:17:18
Jeanne
But also, like, it's such a big part of our days, like we spend more time with coworkers and with managers and with colleagues than with our families or friends most of the time. For most people, it's true. Might as well get along as well like them if we're lucky enough that it happens. But, if we have the choice or if we I guess also initiate this kind of, dynamic, then it helps.
00:35:17:20 - 00:35:35:21
Ibi
Absolutely. I love that I have so many more questions for you, but I actually I think I run out of time to ask them for this one, but I would love it if we could meet again for another one, maybe sometime in the future. It was really a pleasure to have you on the podcast and I wish you absolutely the best.
00:35:35:21 - 00:35:37:09
Jeanne
Thanks a lot. It was great.
