Unprecedented times require unprecedented actions - From digital nomad, to opening my own office

One year ago, I planned to travel the world - like I do every year. As a digital nomad, I was used to combining my work with one of my passions: discovering new places, meeting people from different cultures, and going on adventures.

365 days later, I find myself sitting on a chair in my own office. You read that right. I have my own office. I bet you never saw this coming, and neither did I!

Now you might ask yourself: Hold on a minute, why does she need an office as a digital nomad? It does not make a lot of sense as the whole point of being a digital nomad is being a NOMAD! Destinations like Israel, South Africa, Mexico, India, and Canada were my "office", life, and playground. But... I have left that digital nomad life behind me. 2020 was a year full of unprecedented times, including an unprecedented use of the word unprecedented - but alas, it was time to make some necessary changes:

It's a chilly Thursday evening and I'm sitting in my chair with my notebook on my lap. It is a typical day in March in our age-old house by the Amsterdam canals. I can hear the wind and the rain whipping against my bedroom window. Being one to never let the rain dampen my spirits I think forward to the journeys and adventures that I have planned this year - all of which involve clear skies, sun, and definitely not this shitty weather. As for business trips, next week I will be traveling to Switzerland and then to Frankfurt to onboard a new customer. I ponder the idea of how I can spend the rest of the days when I'm not working whilst I'm there. Maybe I could visit my friends in Switzerland to go for a weekend hike? Or drop by my best friend in Austria who just became a mum? Then suddenly my phone begins to ring. It's Tom, fictionally named (for confidential reasons of course), a real customer that I am supposed to be onboarding next week. Due to his role as a project manager, we have a tense, lengthy discussion. Afterwards, I slump onto my bed and stare at the blank wall that resembled my blank expression. I don't know what to think, for once I am speechless. We coach and train our clients on-location but not this time. Tom informed me about the current, unprecedented situation in Germany. Due to Covid-19, all on-location workshops are canceled for the foreseeable future, including my coaching sessions. This was the first of many tough calls I received that day: our coaching programs were all put on hold, all of my speeches were canceled. Not even delayed, they were canceled.

My first thought?

F***, did I just lose one of my clients? Who else will follow? What is going on?

After some sleepless nights and a few more worried calls from our stakeholders, who were anxious and full of doubt about how the upcoming weeks will unfold, I made a decision.

I decided to seize the situation and turn this into an opportunity for us. My team and I quickly sprung into action by developing a brand-new coaching format that is engaging, interactive, and uses a blended learning approach program that can be held online. We also fully automated the back-end to ensure a smooth workflow for the executing coach, the participants and improve the overall customer experience. Excited about what we've created, I call Tom back to pitch him our new coaching program. Guess what? He hates it. He doesn't believe it will work. He's worried (or should I say his CEO is) that we won't meet the promised KPI's. Tom then gives us the bad news that they will stick with their initial decision to put the program on hold.

Have you ever been in a situation in which you instinctively knew what you were doing was the correct way to move forward? This was me. I asked for a meeting with Tom and the management board to pitch for a second time. I continually proposed that this new approach will be even more effective in ensuring consistency and quality that is crucial in change management projects. However, it was apparent their CFO was not on my side. He feared that their ROI would go down the drain. So much so that he asked me to vouch for my approach by signing a waiver saying that I would be held personally responsible for the success or failure of this project. In other words, they didn't want to take responsibility for the outcome of this new strategy.

That is when I understood something crucial: it wasn't that they didn't trust in me or my team that we could do it, they DIDN'T TRUST THEMSELVES.

Without doubting for a second, I signed, trusting and believing that my team and I can do anything we put our minds to. Will it be different? Yes. Will it be challenging? Most definitely. Will it be uncomfortable? Hell yes, but nobody said that it would be easy, cause if it was everyone would do it.

Tom was the first customer to take the leap of faith. After intensive conversations, discussing all kinds of "what-if scenarios" and probably a bit of my "fake it until you make it attitude" they allowed us to continue with ALL on-going projects. This development had a big effect on my lifestyle: From basically living in airports, traveling to 3 countries per week, and switching between multiple languages to now being at home. All-day. Every day. How do I change my life from a digital nomad to a ... whatever it is I am now?

Today I'm no longer a digital nomad, I'm a digital entrepreneur with her own office. I never thought it possible that I’d feel grounded and connected to a home for months at a time. I established nourishing routines, spent quality time with my friends and family, and slowed down.

I never would’ve thought these words would come out of my mouth: I don’t miss traveling for work. During the last year, the team was growing - and still is. We tripled our team size in just a few months, and now we all work remotely and digitally. And I'm still able to travel - if it's allowed that is, but one thing has changed: I travel when I want to, not when it's required by a new job. With this new lifestyle, I needed to have more space for my work stuff. I always had a co-working space, but never my own office. This all changed just a few months ago. I found myself a new office and with this new office, new equipment closely followed. When I give workshops, speeches, and coaching online, I have to ensure a high standard of quality and my equipment provides me the tools to do so effectively.

Most importantly for me is having the right notebook. I decided to work in addition to my MacBook Pro with an LG gram and what can I say: It's a perfect match. On the one hand, it's lightweight and compact. That's not only important for journeys but also for my way to my new office which is 10 minutes away with my bike. On the other hand, the LG gram is equipped with state-of-the-art technology (at least what I can tell you). What do I like about it the most? The design. In all honesty, a big factor in making the decision was on how it meets the eye instead of the technical requirements. But not to be forgotten is the security set-up of the fingerprint functionality. It feels good to sleep at night knowing that my clients' data is protected. To get the most out of my LG gram, I have a laptop stand, an external keyboard, and a mouse pad.

To ensure a high standard, my technical equipment extends beyond just my LG gram. I use an external camera with a ring light for the perfect exposure. In addition to that, I have a green screen to be able to show a professional background instead of my sad shelf. And last but not least I have an external microphone to complete my set of technical equipment. In the future, I think using an additional screen will have to be added to my technical selection to make my visibility and life easier.

I am also lucky enough to have an amazing office community. I share my office with a dear friend and fellow entrepreneur Svea, and her lovely dog Lissy.

Now you finally have an overview of my new life as a ... let's call it a digital entrepreneur.

What things would you add to my technical equipment to make my work easier and my online work more professional?

I'm looking forward to insights about your lives in your (home) offices and what technical equipment is necessary for you. And now: Let's welcome you to my new office:

If you are in Amsterdam (and the situation allows it), feel free to come to visit me in my beautiful office for a cup of tea or coffee.