IBIs Digital Nomad Stories

Ibi Malik
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Real conversations with successful nomads who've cracked the code on location-independent income. Strategic insights on how they transitioned, what income streams they built, and what they wish they'd known earlier.

  1. Jul 24

    Haz Memon: The Community Builder

    Haz Memon doesn't believe in scaling. He's turned down market opportunities to expand to ten, fifteen, twenty locations because he knows that growth destroys depth. Instead, he's built something most entrepreneurs would call backwards: a sustainable co-living business by drilling down instead of expanding outward. He brings people together. He connects human beings in ways that transform them. And in the spaces he's created, over 2,487 people have passed through—including ten couples who fell in love without him trying to make it happen. His philosophy challenges everything digital nomads believe about location independence. Freedom, he says, is not about being able to move whenever you want. It's a state of mind. It's about being so content where you are that movement becomes a choice, not a necessity. Which means you can be free in one location if your mind is free. And which also means you might need to build a solid baseline—good relationships, financial stability, community—before you can actually enjoy driving into the sunset. This is a conversation about building community without scaling, defining freedom accurately, and what it really takes to achieve the lifestyle everyone's chasing. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction, greeting 00:03 What's on your mind right now - being at Chateau 00:20 Do you want to retire early? 00:38 What is it that you do - bringing people together 01:00 How many couples have you made - 2,487 people, 10 couples 01:41 Theory about digital nomads and entrepreneurship 02:07 Ibi's parallel theory about co-livings and drilling down 03:13 Tribal thinking, creating depth vs. scaling 04:03 What does freedom mean exactly? 05:14 Do nomads need to be location independent for freedom? 06:09 Co-living isn't just for digital nomads 07:02 Destination vs residential vs hybrid co-livings 07:52 Focus on destination co-living for digital nomads and remote workers 08:52 Real example: London office worker using co-livings for remote work days 09:59 What are you trying to create? A sense of belonging 10:28 Freedom is a state of mind, being yourself without judgment 11:22 Co-living as home, welcoming guests as family 11:43 The importance of coming with open mind and open heart 12:28 Co-living Hub project and certifications 12:59 Co-living mafia question - standardization vs soul 13:47 What certification looks at: infrastructure, accessibility, sustainability, community 14:48 Two years of research with co-living founders, debunking fake co-livings 15:43 [Community-driven solution approach] 16:00 [Letting go and trust lessons] 17:00 [Growth versus contentment philosophy] 18:00 [Opening spaces in Switzerland and Greece] 19:00 [Personal philosophy on location and passion] 20:00 [Living in spaces - three months, then five minutes away] 21:00 Lived near first space for five years, then had to let go 22:28 Opening second location taught him to trust others Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/haz-memon Guest website: https://www.ourescape.co Watch: https://youtu.be/jXIhuXyjhls

    Haz Memon: The Community Builder

  2. Jul 10

    Jennifer Chuu: The Comic Artist

    Jennifer Chuu didn't want to go to university. Four years felt too long, so she went to Vancouver Film School for one year instead, studying game design. Just enough to know what she was getting into before she actually got into it. Then she worked for a games company, developing worlds in tiny digital spaces. Sometimes she designed pet habitats for a game called Dream Pet House. Sometimes she created characters and assets she loved. The work was solid. It paid well. But it was also strategic. Every paycheque was a brick in the wall she was building to eventually leave and chase her real dream: being a comic artist full time. When she got laid off at 23, she didn't panic. She had savings. She had time. She had hunger. She told her parents: give me one year. One year to debut herself in Taiwan as a full-time comic artist. She did it in exactly that, creating a series about a boy named Leo who got on a circus train to chase after a mermaid. And somewhere in the middle of drawing Leo's journey, she realised something profound: she wanted Leo's life. She wanted to travel and work like he did. She wanted to see what was beyond her own fish tank. Now six years into her current comic "The Witch and the Bull," she travels everywhere the Mediterranean Sea touches. Not to escape her work, but to deepen it. Every coastline, every stranger, every clashing belief becomes material for her characters. She's learned that discomfort is where growth happens. That your characters hold pieces of your consciousness. That living your story doesn't mean you have to sacrifice telling it. This is a masterclass in using travel to create, and creativity to justify travel. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Digital Nomad Stories podcast 00:37 Ibi's introduction to Jennifer's unique journey 01:08 Overview of Jennifer's story and \"The Witch and the Bull\ 01:34 Transition into main conversation 01:46 Jennifer works on comics, currently six years into \"The Witch and the Bull\ 02:07 Game artist career in New York for eight years 02:40 Working for Zynga creating 2D game assets 03:14 Designing pet habitats and environments for Dream Pet House 03:32 Jennifer's favourite design: detective Dutch hound house 04:13 Passion in game design versus other game companies 04:52 Laid off at Zynga, decision to pursue comic artist dream 05:22 Game artist job as savings strategy for dream 05:54 Vancouver Film School one-year game design course 06:18 Entering manga contests and parents' concerns about career 06:50 Parents asking for commitment, one year to debut in Taiwan 07:29 Creating circus train mermaid series over two years 08:01 Taiwan publication through Japanese company, webtoon format 08:54 Webtoon digital scrolling format versus traditional pages 09:00 [Publishing the Taiwan series and moving forward] 09:30 [First travel experience and Croatia inspiration] 10:30 [Character Leo inspiring real-life travel] Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/jennifer-chuu Watch: https://youtu.be/9CLSISbJ9qY

  3. Jun 26

    Kristen Womble: The Creative Consultant

    Kristen Womble spent years living divided. There was travel Kristen and there was home Kristen, and they didn't talk to each other. She'd studied abroad in France at twenty, and when she came back, her friends made jokes. The study-abroad clichés were merciless. So she learned to hide it. She kept her travels private, her home life separate, maintaining two distinct identities that never quite fit together. The more she hid, the more fractured she felt. She was being dishonest with the people she cared about most. There was this gap between who she actually was and who she was pretending to be, and that gap was painful. Then one day she made a choice: she decided to stop hiding. She decided to be brutally honest about who she was, what she was doing, where she was going. And something remarkable happened. The division started to heal. Now she's a writing coach and publishing consultant who travels roughly a third to half the year whilst maintaining a home base in Washington, D.C. that exists purely for her personal life. She has Sunday family dinners. She plays on a weekly soccer team. She's built what most digital nomads spend years trying to achieve: true integration between both sides of her life. Not a compromise between them. Not choosing one over the other. But actually having both, fully, without the shame or the secrecy. This is what freedom looks like when you stop dividing yourself in half. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction by Ibi 00:39 Ibi's introduction to Kristen's journey 01:06 Kristen's current lifestyle, writing coach, travel balance 01:29 Closing intro statement 01:38 How long nomadic, started 2022, now has home base in D.C. 03:20 D.C. home base, metro system, politics, distance from city centre 04:10 Pickup truck tangent and vehicles in American cities 05:00 [Main topic: Career path and consulting background] 06:00 [Main topic: Writing and publishing consulting] 07:00 [Main topic: Unstructured travel beginning, first solo trip] 08:30 [Main topic: Setting boundaries for first unstructured travel] 10:00 [Main topic: Identity crisis and siloing experience] 11:30 [Main topic: Study abroad experience in France] 13:00 [Main topic: Communication challenges with people back home] 14:30 [Main topic: Breaking the division, becoming transparent] 16:00 [Main topic: Benefits of being honest about travel] 17:00 [Main topic: Nomadic mindset and meeting new people] 18:00 [Main topic: Balance between travel and home base needs] 19:30 [Main topic: Family dinners and soccer team importance] 21:00 [Main topic: Community and roots whilst traveling] 22:00 [Main topic: When she got home base, end of 2024] 23:30 [Main topic: Career as location independent consultant] 25:00 [Main topic: Freelancing journey and business building] 26:30 [Main topic: Risk taking from position of safety and security] 28:00 [Main topic: Luck and timing in career] Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/kristen-womble Guest website: https://passkeypublishing.com

  4. Jun 12

    Yelena McElwain: The 10-Year Retiree

    Yelena McElwain discovered FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) at 25 when she read Tim Ferriss's "The Four Hour Workweek." But she didn't want to start a business like Ferriss did. Instead, she kept working as a data analyst, saved intentionally, and hit her financial independence number in ten years. Not because she was aiming for exactly ten years, but because she had a concrete target based on her spending: roughly 200 times her monthly expenses, or 25 times her annual spending. When the 4% rule is working in your favour, that's your ticket out. She didn't quit immediately when she hit her number. She continued working for another 3-4 years while projects started shifting in directions she didn't want to go. Then she left, travelled full-time for three years, settled in Denver for another three, and now she dives on shipwrecks, practises yoga, and teaches meditation. She teaches Instinctive Meditation, a practice rooted in The Radiance Sutras, honouring individual nature rather than forcing rigid techniques. Here's the twist that breaks all the assumptions about early retirement: she spends less now than when she was working. Her childhood in 1990s Russia taught her frugality, her Russian parents prepared her to always be ready, and that foundation made saving as natural as breathing. This is not a story about luck. It's a spreadsheet equation anyone can solve if they treat freedom as a number rather than a fantasy. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:37 Ibi's intro of Yelena, FIRE formula explanation 01:05 The 4% rule, ten-year journey, diving and meditation 01:34 Conversation beginning 01:45 How long nomadic, six years almost 02:00 Three years full-time nomad, three years half-time 03:00 Quit job whilst full-time nomading, got tired of travel, moved to Denver 03:30 Countries visited, Mexico, Colombia, Vietnam, Bali 04:30 Average 10-12 countries per year, one month each 05:45 Dive master training, diving on shipwrecks 06:24 Discovered FIRE at 25, Tim Ferriss \"Four Hour Workweek\ 07:21 FIRE wasn't earth-shattering initially, unsure if it was for her 08:00 Tim Ferriss business path versus saving path 08:40 Data analysis career, studied economics 09:50 Data science explosion, right place right time 10:15 FIRE inspiration, saving mentality, not becoming big spender 11:00 Russian childhood foundation, frugality mindset 12:00 Set monetary target based on spending 13:00 The 4% rule explained, 200 times monthly spending 14:30 Portfolio growth assumptions, inflation adjustments 15:30 Real estate versus stock market investments 16:30 Ten-year saving journey, reaching financial independence goal 17:30 Continued working 3-4 years after hitting number 18:30 Projects not going in desired direction, decision to quit 19:30 Travelling whilst still working, remote work flexibility 20:30 First month or two identity crisis after retiring Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/yelena-mcelwain Guest website: www.meditation-compass.com Watch: https://youtu.be/1RPghL9albQ

  5. May 29

    Andreea Rusu: The Connector

    Andreea Rusu was sad and depressed in her Bucharest flat in June 2021, post-COVID, with no money to travel. So she bought a one-way ticket to Spain, spent half a year researching on YouTube and Google, and discovered the World Packers platform. She applied to 40 volunteer opportunities, got accepted to 12, and ended up in Anceu, Galicia—a 100-person village in rural Spain—to do some Instagram marketing for a co-living space. What was meant to be a one-month stay became five months, then extended to two and a half years of returning repeatedly. Because when she arrived, something shifted. On a date before the trip, someone had asked her, "Who are you?" and she could only answer, "I'm Andreea and I'm a video editor." At Anceu, surrounded by strangers who became family, she finally discovered the answer. She wasn't just a video editor. She was a community builder. A connector. Someone who made strangers feel like they belonged. Now she's building a directory bridging two worlds: community builders looking for places to volunteer, and co-living spaces looking for community builders. She's experienced 15-plus co-livings, understood the power of genuine curiosity, learned that what you feel is valid even when you grew up in a conservative environment that told you to shut up, and realised that being a community builder is actually a full-time job in mental space—even if volunteering looks part-time. If you want to know everything about co-living, about finding yourself by helping others belong, about the personal development bootcamp that is community building, Andreea is your person. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction by Ibi 00:37 Andreea's story intro, depressed in Bucharest, one-way ticket to Spain 02:00 Discovery of World Packers, applied to 40 opportunities 03:00 Anceu co-living, Galicia, rural village 03:30 First month experience 04:20 Marketing volunteer role discovering co-living concept 05:30 Applied to 40 opportunities, accepted to 12, found Anceu 06:50 Stayed one month, emerged as community builder 08:15 The date question \"Who are you?\" identity crisis as video editor 09:30 InsideOut project by J.R., rural revival cause 10:30 Using InsideOut as excuse to stay longer 12:00 Two types of communities, online and offline 13:00 Building community in tiny 100-person village 14:30 Trust people, don't guide them through everything 15:00 Conservative upbringing, fear of speaking openly 15:45 Learning from others' stories, discovering multifaceted self 16:30 \"What you feel is valid\"—psychologist moment 17:00 Control freak lesson at team dinner, learning to trust 18:30 Lived there on and off, one year nonstop 20:00 Community expanded from co-living to village to neighbouring villages 21:30 Personal development bootcamp aspects 23:00 Permission to fail, observer role, awareness of impact 24:30 Friends around the world, friendships built through co-living 25:30 Material benefits, no rent, maintaining freedom Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/andreea-rusu Watch: https://youtu.be/jo-hT8Yy9ZQ

  6. May 15

    Ab Khurana: The Experimenter

    Ab Khurana treats his entire life as a series of experiments, including the experiment of having a normal life. Two years ago, the timing was right to settle, so he signed a lease in San Diego, built a routine, joined sports leagues, dated normally—all the standard stuff. Then, two years later, the timing was right to leave, so he left. Some people would call that a success. Some would call it a failure. Ab just calls it valuable experience. He doesn't theorise about what he wants. He runs experiments and observes the results. His framework: try ten things, you'll love three, hate three, and feel neutral about four. But only once you've actually tried them, not just imagined them, will you know what to orient your life around. San Diego taught him he's definitely a beach and sun person. That making new friends as an adult matters to him. That two years of routine felt good but not complete. Now he's pursuing the specific things his twelve-year-old self always wanted to do whilst the window is still open. Machu Picchu, check. Erupting volcano in Guatemala, check. Scuba diving certification despite being scared of water, check. Next up: the Galapagos Islands, a safari in Africa, a month on a farm with WWOOF making things with his hands instead of pushing pixels. And eventually, being a tourist in India, the country where he spent his first thirteen years but hasn't visited since. This is a masterclass in building self-knowledge through empirical living. When you stop predicting how you'll feel and start collecting actual evidence, you stop wondering what you've missed and start knowing what matters. The tetherball metaphor applies: you can stray as far as you want, but you're still tethered to something solid—whether that's good parents, close friends, or the three things you've discovered you genuinely love. Trust your inner fire. It's unique to you, and that's the point. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:41 Guest introduction 02:05 Two and a half years nomadic in two stints 03:33 San Diego experiment, lease and routine 05:04 Why he left, timing and freedom before commitments 06:38 Long-term relationships and family considerations 07:56 Twelve-year-old dreams and pursuing new experiences 09:18 Maslow's hierarchy of needs discussion 10:05 Fulfilling relationship needs through community 12:34 Nomads more open and untethered from roles 13:29 Only getting one layer deep, something missing 14:20 Strengthening existing relationships 15:23 Electron metaphor, travellers vs settled people 16:57 Hopping on friends' trips, maintaining connections 18:21 US vs Europe vacation time, 15 days vs 35 days 19:42 Tetherball metaphor, being grounded whilst travelling 21:48 Good parents as foundation, unconditional love 23:41 Ten experiments framework, love 3, hate 3, neutral 4 24:58 Self-awareness through experimentation 25:54 Ibi's grounding, music and fire metaphor 28:11 Inner fire, comparing to others leads to analysis paralysis Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/ab-khurana Watch: https://youtu.be/Tv0I1FYH2sI

  7. May 1

    Elle Ota: The Modern Athena

    lle Ota spent her summers underwater, diving to fourth-to-sixth-century Roman shipwrecks off the coast of Sicily. She studied classics and ancient Greek, worked as an underwater archaeologist, and seemed destined for a PhD analysing ceramics under microscopes. Her professors pushed her toward academia. The track was clear. But Elle had a problem: she has an enormous social battery, and a career staring at pottery shards in labs felt fundamentally lonely. So she made a choice, she picked living people over thousand-year-old ones. Today she works remotely for the Human Rights Foundation whilst running the U.S. fundraising arm for a Ukrainian aid organisation. October 2022 changed everything, she moved to Europe the same month she first volunteered in Ukraine. The parallel timeline revealed something crucial: remote work didn't just enable travel, it enabled impact. She could hold down her 9-to-5 promoting democracy and human rights whilst balancing weeks in conflict zones managing aid operations. Without location independence, none of it would be possible. She's lived completely out of a suitcase for two years, gaining perspective from Europeans and South Americans in co-livings across the continent. Not surface-level tourist perspective, the depth that comes from living with people, hearing their stories day after day, understanding how they think. She surfs, climbs mountains, learns to scuba dive despite childhood fear of water, and has built a life that lets her chase both adventure and meaningful work. When you ask if she's brave, she gets uncomfortable and she knows activists who've been tortured, soldiers in trenches defending their country. Her work feels comparatively small. But that's exactly the point: she's found a way to contribute whilst feeding her enormous energy to try everything. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:37 Guest introduction 01:56 Moving to Europe October 2022, transitional period 02:44 Part-time to full-time nomad journey 03:27 Value of having a base to return to 04:40 Returning to same places for familiarity 05:02 Living completely out of suitcase, 23kg limit 07:18 Kiev as difficult home base, travel logistics 08:29 Human Rights Foundation 9-to-5 work 09:19 Ukraine volunteering origin, October 2022 parallel timeline 10:31 Remote work enabling Ukraine volunteering flexibility 12:08 Nomadism enables building best version of life 14:09 Ibi's background and motivations 15:11 Maslow's hierarchy and trying different things 16:58 Gaining depth of perspective from living with Europeans 19:24 Nuance of understanding European countries beyond surface level 21:13 First-hand vs second-hand perspective, both valuable 23:53 Sicily discussion and tourism perspective 25:40 Underwater archaeology background, Roman shipwreck 27:18 Academia career path consideration 28:52 High social battery, choosing people-focused work over ceramics 30:52 Ghosts and archeology spirits discussion Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/elle-ota Watch: https://youtu.be/hxsuI1ZNMI8

  8. Apr 17

    Miranda Miller: The Midlife Nomad

    Miranda Miller didn't wait for the remote work revolution. She was already there. Since 2006, fighting for $15-an-hour writing contracts as a single mum in small-town Canada, scrapping together work on Elance whilst waitressing and working factory shifts. Then someone offered her $1,000 a day to work conferences. She had two babies. She initially said no. But then she called her mum to arrange childcare. Australia, London, the US—she caught the travel bug and never looked back. Eighteen years later, she's survived every era of remote work. The pre-COVID grind when nobody understood what she did. The COVID burnout when boundaries dissolved and she took on too much. The recovery when she had to intentionally reset, kill projects that weren't working, and choose what actually mattered. Now she runs Midlife Nomads, a community helping 40-plus professionals make the leap to location independence. Not the backpacker hustle. Not the 30-year-old grind. A different pace. Different priorities. Comfort over adventure. Sustainability over exponential growth. Three years of building slowly, choosing the right people over fast expansion. This is a masterclass in reframing. When you stop seeing failures as losses and start treating them as experiments, eighteen years of trial and error becomes eighteen years of compounding wisdom. She's killed beloved projects, turned down opportunities, bought fifty domains she'll never use, and learnt that the real skill isn't saying yes to everything—it's knowing which opportunities to pursue before you run yourself ragged. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:37 Guest introduction 01:48 Been remote since 2008, part-time then full-time nomad 02:12 Travel durations and recovery time 03:10 Midlife Nomads origin and purpose 04:08 Different pace and priorities for 40-plus travellers 05:57 Starting as single mum, $15/hour struggles 07:15 Elance platform and women writers' network 08:15 $1,000/day conference work pivot 09:12 Catching the travel bug 09:25 Factory work, hospitality, finding what she's good at 10:23 Internet as levelling the playing field 11:33 COVID impact: doors slamming shut, burnout, boundary issues 13:33 Selling time vs expertise theory 15:02 Packaging services and productising expertise 16:39 Contract mindset and reframing 18:49 Anxiety about proving productivity whilst nomading 19:27 Reframing mindset from corporate to outcomes-focused 20:12 Seeing others model the lifestyle, monthly check-ins 21:22 Becoming a beginner again, permission to suck 21:58 Building sustainably vs get-rich-quick 23:48 Three years building Midlife Nomads slowly 24:44 Daily routine and grounding practices 26:04 Energy management and seasons 27:01 Self-imposed pressure and recovering from perfectionism 28:18 Too many ideas problem, Writer's Den vs Midlife Nomads 29:35 Reframing failures as experiments, knowing which opportunities to pursue Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/miranda-miller Watch: https://youtu.be/Ishui5vvCbE

    Miranda Miller: The Midlife Nomad
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Real conversations with successful nomads who've cracked the code on location-independent income. Strategic insights on how they transitioned, what income streams they built, and what they wish they'd known earlier.

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