Long-term digital nomad Kristin Wilson speaks publicly for the first time about how she completely burned out at age 21 and had a grand-mal seizure just months after winning the U.S. National Collegiate Surfing title, dashing her dreams of professional surfing and forcing a major life pivot. She talks about how she reinvented herself and went on to sell tens of millions of dollars of real estate in Central America, and landed an appearance on House Hunters International with a Danish Lord and a Brazilian model. She then tells the story of how she pivoted again when online gaming regulations changed in the U.S. and she saw an opportunity to build a business helping professional online poker players physically relocate outside of the U.S.. She talks about how she founded and expanded that company, attracting the attention of ESPN, Bloomberg and other major media outlets. She opens up about her personal journey living primarily outside her home country of the U.S. since 2003, in over 50 countries, and shares the strategies and tactics she has developed for sustaining an itinerant digital nomad lifestyle over the long-term. She explains how to create community support structures, how to optimize work-life balance amidst the excitement of travel, and how to culturally adapt and form deep connections with each place you live to mitigate loneliness and travel fatigue. She then shares her personal morning routine, productivity hacks, and recommends a very remote travel destination with one of the highest concentrations of plant and animal life in the world, where you can see colorful toucans flying around and very few people.
Episode #03: From House Hunters International to Relocating Professional Poker Players: Sustaining a Long-Term Digital Nomad Lifestyle with Kristin Wilson
Episode Summary
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About the Guest
Kristin Wilson
Kristin Wilson is an online entrepreneur who has lived in over 50 countries. After failing many middle school career inventory tests, she decided to chart her own course in life by designing a career of her own. By age 21, she had completed her MBA, lived abroad as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Costa Rica and studied international business in Australia.
After honing her skills in real estate and development for 7 years throughout Central America, she founded the first and only global relocation company for professional online poker players and sports bettors, Poker Refugees. Kristin has since helped over 1,000 people move, retire or work abroad. Today, she dedicates her time to helping people become digital nomads, managing the Facebook Group “Long-Term Digital Nomad Success” and documenting the digital nomad lifestyle on her travel blog and YouTube channel, Traveling with Kristin. Kristin has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, ESPN, The New York Times, Huffpost, Yahoo Sports, HGTV’s House Hunters International and more.
What You'll Learn
- How to create and sustain a long-term digital nomad lifestyle, including tips on overcoming
loneliness and isolation, being aware of your limits, creating an intentional community,
balancing work and life, and organizing your travel logistics. - How to seize upon a business opportunity, build your location-Independent systems and
processes, and then scale your company through outsourcing. - How to structure your day for maximum productivity, control your environment, optimize
your time, and manage business-related stress while traveling the world and working remotely
from different time zones.
Links From the Episode
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KRISTIN’S COMPANY
APPS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
EVENTS MENTIONED
WORK/TRAVEL/CO-LIVING PROGRAMS FOR DIGITAL NOMADS MENTIONED
KRISTIN’S TOP BOOK RECOMMENDATION
KRISTIN’S TOP APP/PRODUCTIVITY TOOL RECOMMENDATION
KRISTIN’S FAVORITE BLOG
KRISTIN’S FAVORITE PODCAST
CELEBRITY YOU WANT TO HAVE DINNER WITH
KRISTIN’S TOP 3 DESTINATIONS
KRISTIN’S TOP 3 BUCKET LIST TRAVELED DESTINATIONS
OTHER DESTINATIONS MENTIONED
- Thailand
- Philippines
- Bali
- Australia
- Iceland
- St. Lucia
- Italy
- Croatia
- Estonia
- Rome
- Greece
- Krackow, Poland
- Niseko, Japan
- Las Vegas
- Costa Rica
- Spain
- Athens
- Bulgaria
CONTACT KRISTIN
Time Stamped Show Notes
TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES FOR KRISTIN WILSON EPISODE
[03:47] LIFESTYLE DESIGN AND SUSTAINABILITY PILLARS FOR NOMADS
- Overview of Kristin’s current lifestyle
- Kristin’s travel itinerary and highlights from the past year
- Travel destination where she went Snowboarding
[14:00] SUSTAINABILITY PILLARS OF LONG TERM WORLD TRAVEL
- Kristin’s Digital Nomad Sustainability Pillars
- How to Overcome Isolation and Loneliness
- Understanding Why You Want to Travel
- Creating Global networks of friends
- The Main Formula for Long Term Nomad Success
- The Importance of Knowing Yourself and Knowing Your Limits
- Arranging Accommodations Around the World
- The Expanding Digital Nomad Support Infrastructure
- Co-Living, Intentional Communities and Building Deep Social Relationships
[44:53] KRISTIN’S PASSION FOR SURFING AND WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP
- Kristin’s College Experience
- Her Passion for Surfing
- Winning the National Collegiate Surfing Championship
- How a Grand Mal Seizure Changed Her Life
[55:20] KRISTIN’S REAL ESTATE JOURNEY
- How and why she ended up on a Real Estate business
- Opening a Coldwell Banker Franchise in Costa Rica
- Selling Tens of Millions of Dollars in Real Estate
- Realizing The Cost Of Living is Lower in “Paradise” than in most U.S. cities.
- Behind the Scenes of Being Featured on House Hunters International
[1:06:43] KRISTIN’S ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY
- Why she started her business PokerRefugees.com
- She talks about “Poker Black Friday” and how she saw an opportunity
- Kristin explains her business model value proposition
- She shares the challenges she encountered in growing her business
[1:17:17] HOW TO SCALE YOUR BUSINESS AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS
- Kristin talks about the early stage start-up period of her business
- The inside experience building her systems and processes
- Kristin’s hiring and scaling process
- How she built her business infrastructure
- Her switch to an outsourcing model
[1:21:44] TIME MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY
- Kristin’s techniques for time management and productivity
- Her Personal Decisions Around Travel Pace
- How She Controlling her environment
- How She Structures Her Day for Maximum Productivity
- How She Deals with Stress in her Business
[1:28:41] THE LIGHTNING ROUND
- Kristin’s book recommendation
- Kristin’s top app recommendation
- Kristin’s favorite podcast
- Famous person Kristin would most like to have dinner with
- Kristin’s top 3 travel destinations
- Kristin’s top 3 bucket list destinations
