Episode #22: Nomad Cruise Founder Johannes Voelkner on Kitesurfing, Brand Loyalty and Building Nomadic Communities

Episode Summary

Johannes Voelkner takes us on his digital nomad journey, which started in 2010. He shares many of his initial failures and setbacks, all of which led him to start what would become one of the largest Facebook groups for digital nomads. He explains how that ultimately lead to the founding of The Nomad Cruise, which now attracts nearly 500 participants per voyage and is one of the largest ‘workation’ events in the world. Johannes then takes us behind the scenes and talks about how he runs and grows The Nomad Cruise as a business. He explains his process for identifying and hiring his team, his process for managing distributed staff and volunteers across time zones, the project management software he uses, and the operational systems he has developed for organizing the Nomad Cruise conference. He also explains why he incorporates a “night of failures” on every cruise and shares his personal belief in the importance of repeated failure in order to create the eventual outcome of success, and wanting to foster a supportive environment on the cruise for people to talk about their failures. He also reflects on how he has been able to cultivate fierce brand loyalty from customers, staff and volunteers who continually return for cruise after cruise, and why building ‘community’ is his core passion and driving inspiration. He also discusses his personal day structure, work routines, and his passion for kitesurfing as a destination sport that inspires many of his personal choices in travel locations.

Get The Maverick Show's

Monday Minute Newsletter

Unsubscribe at anytime. You can read the
Privacy Notice and Terms of Use here.

Kick off each week with 3 personal
recommendations from me that
you can read in 60 seconds.

About the Guest

Johannes Voelkner

Johannes Voelkner is the Founder of the Nomad Cruise where location independent entrepreneurs and digital nomads come together for a business conference on a cruise boat twice a year. After becoming a Digital Nomad in 2010, it was two years into that journey when Johannes realized that he definitely missed having like-minded people around him. So he took action and started to build the community that ultimately led to one of the largest digital nomad Facebook groups and the accidental creation of Nomad Cruise which is now attracts nearly 500 participants on each voyage and is one of the largest ‘workation’ events in the world. He is also the founder of Homebase Global, a travel community for remote workers.

What You'll Learn

The behind-the-scenes story of how Johannes built the Nomad Cruise from a single Facebook post to an international business conference with nearly 500 attendees
How to build a company that cultivates fierce brand loyalty and raving fans.
How to envision, hire, manage, organize, and execute events that build real community, offer impactful business networking, and result in meaningful friendships

Links From the Episode

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you click through any links and make a purchase, you should assume that Maverick will receive financial compensation (at no additional cost to you). We greatly appreciate you using our affiliate links because it helps to support the show and cover production costs of the podcast.

JOHANNES’S COMPANIES

BOOK JOHANNES RECOMMENDS

The Four Hour Work Week

OTHER MAVERICK SHOW INTERVIEW MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

APP JOHANNES RECOMMEND

Asana

LOCATION WHERE THE EPISODE WAS RECORDED

Jericoacoara, Brazil

JOHANNES’S TOP 3 TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

JOHANNES’S TOP 2 BUCKET LIST TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

OTHER DESTINATIONS MENTIONED

Check Flight Prices to Any of These Destinations

FOLLOW JOHANNES

Instagram

Time Stamped Show Notes

[02:03] MATT AND JOHANNES TALK ABOUT KITESURFING AND JERICOACOARA, BRAZIL

A town on the Sand
Caipirinha Street
Café Jeri Rooftop Sunset Party
Johannes describes what he loves about Kitesurfing

[06:34] JOHANNES’S DIGITAL NOMAD JOURNEY

Working remotely in South Africa
Developing a location independent income
Launching his first e-book and getting only 5 sales
Turning a failure into a community building tool
Building a Facebook group for digital nomads

[14:06] THE ACCIDENTAL FOUNDING OF THE FIRST NOMAD CRUISE

Creating a Nomad Meetup on a cruise
Branding the “Nomad Cruise” one week before the first cruise
Wanting to arrive in a new country with 100+ friends
Deciding to do some workshops one week before the cruise

[18:25] SCALING AND PROFESSIONALIZING THE NOMAD CRUISE

Scaling Nomad Cruise to a 50-person team of staff and volunteers
Matt’s impression of the Nomad Cruises he has attended
The Maverick Show podcast guests that Matt has met on the Nomad Cruise
Matt’s presentations on the Nomad Cruises
Business networking and friendship formations on the Nomad Cruise

[26:00] HOW JOHANNES BUILT THE NOMAD CRUISE TEAM OF STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS

Choosing to hire only from the pool of Nomad Cruise participants
Observing people on the Nomad Cruise to select the best leaders

[28:41] MANAGING A DISTRIBUTED TEAM AND EXECUTING THE OPERATIONAL SIDE

Optimizing processes and using a lean team
Using Project Management software and Video calls to coordinate across time zones
Building systems, documenting processes, and continually optimizing
Empowering staff to run the systems

[35:06] LEADERSHIP STRATEGY AND CULTIVATING BRAND LOYALTY