Guest Bio
Linda McCall is the co-founder of Nomad Stays, a global accommodation platform designed specifically for digital nomads seeking community-driven, longer-stay experiences. Raised in the remote outback of Australia’s Northern Territory, Linda grew up dreaming of faraway places—though she never imagined her journey would include serving as an international first-class flight attendant, working with the Saudi Royal Family, or building a global travel brand. With a professional background that includes Qantas and the Australian Air Force, Linda brings discipline, adaptability, and a deep understanding of global travel to her entrepreneurial work. A lifelong adventurer at heart, she has solo motorcycled across the United States and even taken to the skies in hot air balloons—always saying yes to the next bold experience.
Show Summary
In this episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast, host Jason Elkins speaks with Linda McCall, co-founder of Nomad Stays, about building a hospitality platform designed to serve the rapidly growing digital nomad community.
Linda shares how her global travel career and military background shaped her entrepreneurial mindset, ultimately leading her to co-create a booking platform that solves real-world challenges remote workers face. From inconsistent accommodations to a lack of community connection, Nomad Stays was built to bridge the gap between traditional travel booking sites and the unique needs of location-independent professionals.
The conversation also explores how the company adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of networking and relationship-building in business, and why embracing change is essential for long-term success. Linda’s story is one of resilience, bold decision-making, and the power of saying “yes” to new opportunities.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Nomad Stays was created specifically to support the accommodation needs of digital nomads.
- ✓ Digital nomads are not a one-size-fits-all group — their travel styles and priorities vary widely.
- ✓ Community plays a central role in creating meaningful nomadic experiences.
- ✓ Booking an initial one-week stay allows nomads to test a destination before committing long-term.
- ✓ The platform emerged as a direct response to gaps in traditional booking systems.
- ✓ Strong professional networks are foundational to entrepreneurial growth.
- ✓ Saying yes to unexpected opportunities often leads to transformative life experiences.
- ✓ Transitioning from military service to entrepreneurship requires adaptability and courage.
- ✓ Remote workers face unique logistical and emotional challenges that traditional travelers may not fully understand.
- ✓ Flexibility and resilience are essential traits for navigating both travel and business.
What You’ll Find on Nomad Stays
- ✓ Curated accommodations tailored for digital nomads
- ✓ Properties suited for week-long trial stays or extended bookings
- ✓ Hosts who understand remote work lifestyles
- ✓ Community-focused travel experiences
- ✓ Destinations designed to support productivity and exploration
- ✓ A growing global network of nomad-friendly properties
Learn more about Nomad Stays and connect with Linda at:
https://www.nomadstays.com
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Podcast Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated on recording, and has not been edited by a human. It may contain lots of mistakes, crazy words, and stuff that makes no sense. The host and the guest are not responsible for the accuracy of the transcript.
Jason Elkins (00:01.356)
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Big World Bates Mall podcast for the adventure traveler. So happy to have each and every one of you back today. I’m also super excited to have my guest today. We’ve got Linda McCall. Linda is the co-founder of Nomadstays. Linda, welcome to the show. Happy to have you here.
Linda (00:18.742)
Jason, it’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Jason Elkins (00:23.512)
We’ve, I’m so excited. We’ve had a couple times we tried to do this and we had some tech issues. I think we got all that worked out today. So I’ve had the pleasure of seeing your face on the screen a few times and I’m very excited to continue that for about an hour or so. Linda, before we get started, well, actually let’s do this. I heard your accent. You’re probably not from the same place I’m from. Where are you from?
Linda (00:48.535)
Yeah, good pick up. So as you can hear, I’m a…
Jason Elkins (00:53.444)
I’m pretty pretty clever
Linda (00:57.408)
I’m Australian, so, and I’m an Australian living in France. so my accent is probably not as Aussie as it would be if I was living in Australia. Because we tend to be very, very drawn in Australia as well. So, you know, accent. So sometimes it’s quite hard to understand.
We actually cringe a bit when we hear our accent, you know, on television or something and we go, wow, do we really sound like that?
Jason Elkins (01:40.516)
It’s interesting when you’re away from it for a while, things change. And I just want to ask you this. I don’t know. I got off on this track already, but I’m curious because when I traveled to places like Southeast Asia, specifically, remember when I went to Bali, there’s a lot of Australians that go to Bali and the locals there just assumed I was Australian. I would just speak speaking in my normal voice and they’re like, you must be Australian. And I could not figure that out. But then I realized
Linda (01:45.247)
Absolutely.
Jason Elkins (02:09.974)
Maybe they don’t hear the accents quite as easily as we do. And so I’m curious in France, when you speak English with people there that understand English, are they able to pick up on your accent or did they just assume you’re from the United States or England or something?
Linda (02:25.1)
well, that’s a really good question. They do. And,
They do and they think we’re British. They kind of go, you’re from England and we’re like no, no, no, we’re Australian.
Jason Elkins (02:38.306)
Yeah, well, of course.
Jason Elkins (02:45.503)
I suspect you get that from people from the US as well though, don’t you? I’m not sure a lot of people in the US are able to pick up on the difference between Australian accent and the British accent. So, anyway, I was just…
Linda (02:53.192)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, they say New Zealand because they say, you’re from New Zealand. And we’re like, no, we’re Australian. So we get all sorts.
Jason Elkins (03:05.412)
you
Jason Elkins (03:09.476)
Yep. So, well, anyway, I just, I was curious about that because an Australian living in France, I actually did want to get that out right off at the beginning. Um, but before we go any further, cause we’re going to go way back, we’re going to figure out how the heck you got from Australia to France and all the stuff that happened in between. But before we do that, I think, uh, you know, I think let’s share with our listeners, what is Nomad stays? There’s a lot in the name that maybe would give them some clues, but what’s kind of the 30 to 62nd elevator pitch for Nomad stays.
Linda (03:37.994)
Yeah, okay. So Nomadstays is a booking platform for digital nomads for accommodation. So weekly and monthly accommodation, specifically nomad friendly. So you can instantly book a place for a week or a month and up to three months to stay. we focus on the good Wi-Fi and
somewhere to sit, a desk, like we were talking about yesterday, or definitely sort of fell apart halfway through, you know, something. And so we look to, you know, to have a good office space, you know, possibly a community in the area. So we’re really focused on the digital nomad and the problem of a digital nomad, simply because we
Jason Elkins (04:20.269)
Right, right.
Linda (04:34.985)
discovered the problem ourselves. We discovered a problem of, as we were nomading around Australia, that we couldn’t find accommodation easily for a month or even for a week.
Jason Elkins (04:39.385)
Yes.
Linda (04:58.793)
We were going through all these rural towns and there was just so many places that were empty and we were like, these are great places for digital nomads to hang out. So at the time we were helping co-working spaces and to sort of help their communities in the rural areas to get the entrepreneurs to start, you know,
We’ll just have a, you know, a collision space and just helping that ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurs.
So that’s how No-Math Days came about. We were solving our own problem.
Jason Elkins (05:40.26)
So I.
Jason Elkins (05:45.636)
And a lot of businesses come out of that and I I admire that and I’m also you know I know that we’ve got listeners to the show that that are nomads consider themselves nomads They clearly identify with the term and I know we have a lot of listeners that That don’t we might even have some that are like, what do you guys talk? I don’t know if that’s possible But I think there may be some people that maybe that they’ve heard digital nomad, but don’t really know what that means Let’s
Before we kind of define what a digital nomad is, and we all kind of, there’s probably a few different definitions, but before we do that, I suspect that there’s a lot of travelers that are not nomads, don’t consider themselves nomads, but you know, this is a digital age. They’re still traveling with their laptops. They’re probably still doing some work projects when they’re on vacation. you know, people want to be connected. So when you say that.
the needs or the problems that digital nomads face, I suspect there’s a lot of other people that this conversation might relate to as well. Wouldn’t you agree? Yeah. Okay. And I just wanted to say that so they don’t drop out of the conversation. Well, I’m not a nomad, so this doesn’t impact me, but go ahead.
Linda (06:48.935)
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So we identified…
Linda (07:00.708)
Yeah, yeah, I totally get that. And it’s interesting you say that because we’ve identified about 30 different types of, well tracking about 30 different types of digital nomads and how they relate to being a traveller. And so that, you know, there’s the family nomads and there is
solo nomads, there are couple nomads, there are nomads who don’t identify like you said with being a nomad because they think that the classic nomad is like in a bikini at 19 to 25 and that’s know quintessential digital nomad but actually what is really becoming apparent and this is coming through
being at digital nomad festivals and things like that, that the more people who turn up at these festivals are between the ages of 35 and 55. So we’re seeing a lot more of that and a lot of people would just say that they’re pre, maybe pre-Expat, independent locator, location, independent location, sort of
Uh, workers, other people are business workers. have executive nomads, we have hackers. No, I’m not saying hackers in a bad way, but they’re like, um, people who just are real. Like tech nerds. um, so, um, they are people experimenting with, um, you know,
all sorts of tools and building stuff. So they’re really intense tech nerds. And those people will carry their own screens with them and get them shipped off. And then you’ve got the remote worker and then you’ve got this just so many different types of digital nomads in the executive nomad, know, so there’s during COVID.
Linda (09:22.776)
we actually were interviewing a girl who was a lady who was an executive. And she had left the executive office and decided that she was determined to get out of the country and keep exploring as a nomad. So she found a back door into a country through Serbia to get into Europe. so basically nomads are constantly traveling.
And they are finding ways across borders that aren’t normal. But they’re not being, they’re not doing the wrong thing. They’re just finding loopholes and that because they’re the constant traveller, they’re, they’re adventurers, they’re explorers. They want to, you know, see what’s possible because what they’re saying and what they’re, and what’s possible are two different things. So.
As you know, and as I know, you know, we’re always curious. We’re curious travelers. And I’ve been doing this for 10 years now. So as a digital nomad, and I always identified with the digital nomad. However, we’re seeing different types of nomads coming through all the time. So
Actually, I’m staying in a place where, you know, there’s a couple, a gay couple who don’t identify with being a digital nomads, but they said, you know, we’re going to India to remote work. So we’re taking our office to India, just, you know, to have six weeks off and be away. But we’re still working.
Jason Elkins (10:50.819)
Right.
Jason Elkins (11:20.324)
I’ve noticed in my travels that many of the people that I meet don’t consider themselves nomads. But then when I ask them, how long have you been traveling or when’s the last time you’ve been home? And they’re, I’m, you know, on month two or three and I’ve got a couple more and then I go home. So regardless of the label, I don’t, I’m not suggesting anybody carries a label they don’t identify with, but it’s more of a.
You know, they have the same needs. have the same challenges, finding places to work from. And when I look at an application, you know, that, that does part-time short-term rentals, I won’t even mention any names, but if I look at one of them, you know, what I notice is most of the guests that have stayed in those places. So if I go through the reviews, most of the guests I see.
We’re there for different reasons. know, they, well, we stayed here for a few nights because we wanted to be close to the hospital. We stayed here, because we had some, know, we wanted to visit family. Someone was getting married or whatever. And so I read through and 90 % of the reviews are from people that probably don’t have the same challenges that I do that, you know, if the wifi is a little wonky, they probably don’t really even notice.
If, um, you know, if there’s no workspace, they don’t probably notice, they don’t generally care. Um, some of them do. So that puts me into a situation where it’s kind of a guessing game. I’m just, I’m just rolling the dice and I’ve learned the hard way that if I book a place for a month based on reviews from people that stayed for two or three days, I show up and I’m, oh, this is not going to work. And I’ve already paid for a month. And so I’ve slipped into the pattern of I only book a few days.
to sure I like the place. But then by the time I’ve decided, yeah, I like the place, the internet works and there’s places I can walk to to get some food, by then they’ve already booked and I got to leave in three days because I didn’t commit to a longer time. you know that, you know, I could see a look on your face. You can relate to that.
Linda (13:18.845)
Yeah. Yep. So…
Yeah, I know the problem well, and that’s why we designed the platform to you know, to book for a week and then have a look around. Like, I think that people make the mistake of just not feeling that, you know, staying for a week and feel the area, like feel what it’s like, find communities, you know.
because, you know, they might be renovating next door and you don’t know that until the next day. And, you know, all sorts of things can happen. I think that, you know, booking a week is, is always like, it’s, it’s kind of an easy way to do things. Because if you do like it after a few days, then you can say, okay, well, I really, I’m gonna, you know, stay here for a month and
Jason Elkins (14:05.346)
Lend.
Linda (14:22.865)
But if you don’t like it, you’ve only stayed for a week. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (14:24.524)
And hopefully it’s still available. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And hopefully it’s still available, but a week gives you more time. A week gives you a little bit more of a lead time when you do three days, the chances, you know, it’s day two before you realize you want to stay in, but by then you’re risking it. And it reminds me our very first Linda, the first time that we were going to record a conversation. I was in a brand new place. I got there the night before I woke up about an hour or two before you and I were scheduled.
And there was a parrot screaming outside of my outside of the door. It’s a pet parrot in a cage just right next to my door. And it woke me up and I was like, my gosh, now what are we going to do? And, so yeah, it’s, it, the struggle is real. It’s very romantic in a sense. It’s like, we were in these cool places and they’ve got noisy things and dogs and parrots. And, but it does create a challenge if you, if you, especially if you need to record conversations and that type of thing.
Linda (15:12.774)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Linda (15:22.202)
Yeah, absolutely.
Jason Elkins (15:23.004)
it, and, I definitely, I feel like, I don’t know, but I feel like a more traditional, I don’t know if I want to say vacation or travel. I’m not really sure what I’m saying. Somebody that’s not the nomad, that’s traveling. I think that they could look at a platform like yours and find something great. Much easier than I can go to a traditional platform and find something great for me because.
If they see something on your platform and it happens to have a desk they don’t need or it happens to have great wifi that they’re not necessarily using or it happens to have a community of nomads there, those things are not gonna be detractors. Those things are not gonna impact their vacation. So they could probably do just fine and still have access to those things if they want.
Linda (16:12.44)
Yeah, and you know, our community of stay trusted stays, they recognize the problem of a digital nomad. And that’s what we really love about our trusted stay partners, because they they know that you need to have, you know, to be able to make phone calls at three o’clock in the morning, because you might be talking to another part of the world.
and they know that you might need a co-working space and they’ll, you know, generally have one nearby if they do. They also know that the digital nomad generally likes to go and explore. they, you know, they’re the sort of people who like to go and do adventure in between doing work. So it might be surfing or hiking or
you know, exploring somewhere new. So they are aware of your traits and what your, your needs are. it’s basically the new business traveler and, and it’s growing and it’s growing more and more because, people are building more while they’re traveling. They’re seeing the good thing about travel is that like us, we
um, founded digital, you know, nomad stays from our travels. We found the problem on our travels. And usually when you travel more, you, get more information about the areas around you and the problems that, uh, and, you know, that are there and not being solved. as entrepreneurs, we were like, Oh, wow, I could solve that problem with a digital, you know, something and I’ll build it. and, uh,
I’ll test it and build it. yeah, I think it’s important for our stays and our trusted stay partners that they know your problem and they know that they are specific for your needs.
Jason Elkins (18:11.064)
love it.
Jason Elkins (18:31.044)
You’re absolutely right because it doesn’t take long to figure out, you know what, if I’m having this problem consistently, it’s probably other people are having the same problems consistently. And just the, the thought that pops into mind is like, man, I would love it if I showed up somewhere and right on the wall, there was like, here’s where to get your laundry done. Here’s where to, here’s the closest electronic electronic supply store.
Linda (18:55.181)
Yes.
Linda (19:00.013)
Yes!
Jason Elkins (19:00.324)
here is a great place to go and meet people. Here’s where the ATM is with the lowest international withdrawal fees. I know we have Google. I know people are listening to this. Well, Jason, you have that in your pocket. Yeah. But if you’ve never traveled like I’m traveling, it’s easy to say, look on Google, because I do. man, it’s such a pain. And in a lot of these places, you can find a laundromat.
Linda (19:12.183)
Yeah. Yeah.
Linda (19:24.387)
Yeah. You know what?
Jason Elkins (19:28.49)
laundromat on Google and then you walk a half a mile dragging all your stuff and you realize it’s been out of business for six months because they don’t update things. So anyway, yeah.
Linda (19:36.663)
Yeah, yeah. We actually stayed with a, at a place, which is one of our trusted partners now. And, you know, as soon as we arrived, they told us all the things that we needed to know, because they identified with, you know, what we needed. And the
Jason Elkins (19:58.116)
Mm-hmm.
Linda (20:02.338)
The was an entrepreneur herself and she introduced us to a co-working space, took us to an event. You know, it’s great when you get people like that and they’re the kind of people that we really, we really, we love to partner with.
Jason Elkins (20:10.36)
Yeah, that’s a huge one.
Jason Elkins (20:23.236)
Yeah. The, the coworking spaces is a big thing for, for most of the nomads. Cause I can stay about one or two days in my room working before I’m like, I gotta get it. You know, I didn’t, I’m not doing this lifestyle so I can sit in an Airbnb and work. want to go to a coworking place. I want to go to a cafe. And every time I go somewhere, it takes me the first day or two is sorting all that. Sometimes it takes me a few days before I find a decent coworking space. Cause yeah, you go in there and.
Linda (20:50.773)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (20:53.486)
You take the tour and think, okay, yeah, this will work. And you pay your money and then you get connected to the internet and it’s horrible. Or it, you know.
Linda (20:59.67)
Yeah, because people like people and… Sorry, go ahead.
Jason Elkins (21:07.446)
yeah, you’re right. People like people because that’s the coworking. It’s just being around other people. If you work in an office, you might think, you know what? I’m sick of my coworkers and I really just wish I could just work from home. And some people that works perfectly fine for them. But when you step out of the workspace, the traditional workspace and start traveling, I think for a lot of us, not everybody, but for a lot of us, it’s like, man, I kind of miss the office. I kind of miss.
feeling like there’s other people working around me. So I’ll go to a coworking space or even a coffee shop sometimes. I won’t even necessarily talk to anybody, but I feel like I’ve got colleagues. I feel like we’re all on this mission and we’re part of a team, even though they’re doing their own thing and you know, they’re maybe speaking different languages. I don’t even talk to them, but it just emotionally, it just feels like I’m engaged with the world and I’m not some.
Linda (21:49.107)
Yeah.
Linda (22:01.009)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (22:04.79)
lonely guy sitting in an Airbnb looking at a computer screen all day. So you can relate, can’t you?
Linda (22:08.946)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think we just, you you just brought up a really good point too, and that is community. People just love to have community and they look for community. So we’re really fully aware of that. So we built our Nomad Marketplace as well. So we, you know, can connect you with community. have
digital nomad experiences that are built to, you know, be an experience with other nomads. And so you can start your journey as, you know, a first time nomad and go into, you know, choose an experience and maybe you’ll meet some people that you really, you know, can engage with easily.
and you’re traveling with like-minded people. like co-working spaces, co-working spaces, you know, have events on, a good co-working space has events on all the time and they help you connect with the local businesses. it’s kind of like a…
Jason Elkins (23:06.884)
Mm-hmm.
Linda (23:32.208)
You know, it goes further than the co-working space because the co-working space, you know, connects you with the community around and you can ask them questions about who does what. It’s kind of like almost like going into the pub when you go into a new town and say, where do I get something? Where do I find this? Whether you do in Australia anyway.
Jason Elkins (23:53.09)
Yeah. Cause here’s right. Right. And my experience has been, you know, cause I can hear, maybe I imagine some people that haven’t chosen that lifestyle back. Well, you talk about like-minded and community, and then they might come up. might think, well, geez, you go to all these places. Don’t you want to connect with the local community and.
Why are you talking about connecting with other nomads? Why would you want to hang around a bunch of expats when you can, you know, immerse yourself in the community? I get it. That’s just fine. And I’ll tell you what, when you show up in Colombia and you meet the local people and hopefully you’re able to speak some Spanish or communicate and they start asking you, so why are you here? What do you, are you, where do you live? Where are you from? The conversations get complicated and then.
Linda (24:25.541)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (24:46.914)
You’re here by yourself, you don’t have any family, what are you doing? Sometimes there’s a little bit of a challenge, you know, no matter how much I want to connect with the local community, it’s kind of sometimes a little tough to just show up and expect them to take you into their homes and show you around and go do stuff with you. And so I guess where I’m going with this is community and connection, even though we’re traveling around, meeting new people.
For a lot of people, myself included, connecting and community is one of the biggest challenges. It’s the thing you leave behind when you leave the US or Australia or whatever.
Linda (25:20.72)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s interesting you say that. Yeah, it’s interesting you say that because recently, as you know, took, we, you know, had, we took over a new company called Remote Casa and that’s based in South America. And part of that,
sort of emergence of remote CASA coming into Nomad stays was that we got the community that came with it and the community that Dan and Anna, who were the founders, had built over the last two years. they had built a really successful
community called Nomad Brunch Lunch, sorry, Nomad Brunch Club. And the Nomad Brunch Club has been highly successful in just in Columbia, Medellin and Lima, Peru, at building this brunch club that people
Jason Elkins (26:31.17)
Cool.
Linda (26:46.092)
you know, every month get together. It’s really, you know, very, very successful on WhatsApp as well. The Nomad Brunch Club just gets bigger and bigger and it’s now we’re just, you know, trying to expand that around the world to help people just have, you know, a starting point in their journey. So
when they arrive in these locations that they have somewhere to go and meet other nomads. And you know, our ambassadors are the ones who run, know, choose to, you know, volunteer to host these brunch clubs now because that, that, that connection is just so important.
that just initial connection. It’s wonderful for if you’ve, know, all the sort of nomads who are like us who have been doing it for a long time. It’s like a breath of fresh air to have somebody to, you know, invite you to a brunch club and actually, you know, talk to other entrepreneurs and see what’s happening around and why other people are traveling. So it’s great.
Jason Elkins (27:52.228)
you
Jason Elkins (28:06.904)
Linda, as you say that, occurs to me, I probably haven’t shared it with our listeners very often, but pretty much the main reason I have a podcast is because I want to connect with people and it can be a challenge.
Linda (28:22.123)
Yeah? Yep.
Jason Elkins (28:22.308)
when you’re traveling full-time solo traveler. And with the podcast, I get at least once a week where I get to have a conversation with somebody that’s fascinating that is involved in the adventure travel space or even the nomad space like we’re discussing now, because I think it’s a huge crossover. And there have been times that it’s really tough. The first year was…
super exciting and everybody’s like, wow, look at you. You’re going to go travel the world. You’re doing all this stuff. And they don’t see some of the moments where, you know, you’re sitting in an Airbnb with a crappy pan and a plastic spoon trying to make dinner and thinking, what am I doing? Where did I go wrong? You know, and you miss everybody. And I think if you were, I, I curious what you think, but
Linda (29:05.334)
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Elkins (29:17.508)
my, my take on it from all the people I’ve spoken with and just listened to conversations is probably the number one reason people quit traveling is that right there is that feeling of, wow, I’m in all these amazing places, but I don’t have anybody to share it with. And, and you get to the point where you’re like, you could walk out the door and see all this amazing stuff in wherever you are. I’m in Mexico city. It’s amazing. But after a while, sometimes it’s just like, well, there’s nobody to share it with. So you end up.
You know, eating ham and cheese sandwiches in your room at night watching Netflix by yourself. Not me, but maybe somebody would do that. Maybe I did that last night. I don’t know, but anyway, so that’s, that is an important part of the community.
Linda (29:52.171)
Yeah. Yeah.
Linda (30:00.203)
Yeah, and you know, I think it’s like any club. Clubs are a really great, you know, starting point as well. Coworking spaces, clubs, as in, you know, clubs of your interest. So if you’re a rower, you know, going to a club, you and I both were hot air balloonists, that was a club. And that kind of connection
Jason Elkins (30:25.742)
Mm-hmm.
Linda (30:28.65)
of your passions is just so important. you know, I was in a random place. was in, well, it’s not that random, but I was in Hong Kong when I first got involved with hot air ballooning. And it was just somebody who said, hey, I’m in the, he actually had to happen to be one of the balloon pilots, but he said, hey, I’m part of the balloon club in Hong Kong here. Do you want to help me, you know,
lay out one of the balloons on the helipad and get it certified again. And I was like, that just sounds really random and so interesting. And so that got me involved in, in, you know, ballooning, hot air ballooning and being part of a crew for hot air ballooning and took me all over the world. So
Jason Elkins (31:08.484)
Yes.
Linda (31:25.251)
Those kind of things, some people are nomads who travel with their passion.
Jason Elkins (31:33.188)
I wish, yeah, I’m so happy you brought up the ballooning because that’s something that I was super excited to chat with you about. I need to figure out how to get back in it because obviously it’s really hard for me. Like everything I own is in my suitcase. I’m not going to carry around a hot air balloon. But that is something that I missed. The connection with people. I remember my crew chief in upstate New York. I did a lot of flying.
Linda (31:39.837)
Yeah, that was amazing. Amazing connection.
Linda (31:52.796)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (32:03.352)
And I remember one day he, I don’t know, we were stressed out about something. I don’t remember what it was. And he said, Jason, remember it’s not about the balloon. And it was something about a people thing, you know, about the crew or some, some sort of something was getting stressed out. You know, I was getting stressed out. said, Jason, it’s not about the balloon. Remember that. And it was like, yeah, you’re right. It’s not about the, cause hot air ballooning for anybody that doesn’t know that’s not something you can do. It’s.
Linda (32:20.167)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (32:32.228)
possible to do it by yourself. But it’s not, it’s, you know, very, unlikely. So it usually involves other people, a really, really small balloon. Yeah.
Linda (32:36.613)
Well, that’s only if you have a clue. Yeah, it definitely does and champagne, which is the best part.
Jason Elkins (32:47.016)
yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s all about connecting with other people. Okay. So we’re going to use this as a segue to now get back into. We’re not going to start with the ballooning. We’re going to go back further and then we’re going to work our way back up, discuss some ballooning stuff some more, and then kind of work our way back up to the current time. So how far are you willing? You tell me how far you’re willing to go back and then I’ll try and push you to go a little further, but, help us.
Linda (32:50.631)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (33:14.744)
How do we understand Linda how you got from where you were to where you are now?
Linda (33:19.399)
Well, gosh, you know, I think you and I very similar. We have such a similar story. It’s really interesting because I came from the military background and so I joined the military at 19 and then
Jason Elkins (33:39.842)
Hold on, hold on, hold on Linda, Linda, someone doesn’t just pick up and join the military. We got to go a little further. What was, what was going on? Like when you were young, what were you like, were you thinking about the military when you were young? Cause I know it just kind of happened to me. I didn’t really give it much thought, but, what was going on with you when you were young? Did you, yeah, go
Linda (33:48.666)
wow.
Linda (33:58.565)
Yeah, I will.
Yeah. So I was brought up in the outback of Australia and on Aboriginal stations because my dad was a builder, dad was very much, he was, wanted to join the military, you know, when he was younger, but he had, he wanted to be a pilot. So he had eye issues. So it was in my family to be in the military. So my brother joined as a helicopter pilot.
And he said, you’re not joining the army, you’ll become a rough girl. So I had to join the Air Force. So it was a, it’s a very much in a family.
Jason Elkins (34:43.275)
As someone who joined the-
I’m sorry, I was saying as someone that joined the army, yep, you made the right choice, Air Force.
Linda (34:48.793)
very much a family thing.
Linda (34:53.829)
You know, I think it’s really fascinating too, because when I was in the military, I was part of the adventure club and I did some parachuting as well with the adventure club with static line parachuting and you were doing, you were a paratrooper. Is that right?
Jason Elkins (35:18.818)
Yeah, I did do that. Yep, I did.
Linda (35:19.684)
Yeah, that’s amazing. So my cousin was a paratrooper as well. I know. Oh, sorry. Okay. So the adventure club was just a weekend thing that it was all part of the military, but you could just be part of it. So they’d go abseiling off, you know, towers and climbing for the weekends. they, you know, you could do a course, you know, learning to paragon.
Jason Elkins (35:23.458)
What’s the adventure club?
Linda (35:48.823)
parachute and so we always have. I always remember this weekend of parachuting because somebody dropped out and they said, Linda, you know, did you want to go? And I said, yeah, definitely. I’ve, you know, got to get a pass and whatever. And then we rock up at this place and the guy who’s our instructor had no legs because he had a parachuting accident.
Jason Elkins (36:15.257)
Hmm.
Linda (36:16.801)
You know, so we did this weekend course where we could learn to parachute and then on the last day we were actually having to do our jump and we woke up to the song of Van Halen jump, blaring through the shed and then we had to jump that day.
Jason Elkins (36:40.545)
Wow, nice.
Linda (36:45.63)
It was really interesting to have that experience. And I loved it. I loved every minute of it. that was the, you know, that was just something that you were allowed, you were able to do if you were part of the club. So I always said yes. And that’s the key, I think, to all things as a
Jason Elkins (37:05.486)
That’s very, very cool. Yeah.
Linda (37:12.415)
you know, somebody who travels a lot. If someone show, you know, offers you something that is a really interesting and you think, wow, that’s like maybe something I couldn’t do to say, yeah, okay, let’s, let’s explore this.
Jason Elkins (37:30.82)
I think that’s a valuable lesson that, cause a lot of people kind of walk through life a little bit fearful and a little bit like I want to, I don’t want to change my path. I’m not comfortable doing things. And boy, I’ve learned that every time I put, make myself uncomfortable, something cool comes out of it. It’s not always fun, but it’s something comes out of it. So yeah. All right.
Linda (37:47.137)
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I totally 100 % agree with that because, and you know, I often say that because I think every single time if I look back in my life, you know, I was absolutely terrified of scuba diving. I went scuba diving, I went to Phuket one time and
I was in a club, in a pub somewhere and I walked into a scuba diving shop and then the same people happened to be in the pub next door and they said, are you going to come scuba diving with us the next day? And I said, no. Like I was terrified. they said, no, come on, come with us. And we’re like, I went, okay.
And it turned out I ended up doing all of my courses and being a rescue diver. And so if I had have said, if I didn’t say no to that experience, I would have missed out on this whole world that existed without me. And so that is the beautiful thing about saying yes. And you know what, if it doesn’t work out, it’s okay because you learn something, hey.
Jason Elkins (39:01.604)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (39:13.932)
Yeah, they say that that which does not kill you only makes you stronger or something like that. Cause, but, but you’re right. I mean, we learn a lot of, we learn a lot of lessons and I mean, the best, my best experience is traveling and probably just in life in general is when I look down a dark, I look down a dark alley and I think, I should not walk down there, but I do.
Linda (39:17.726)
Yes.
Linda (39:31.808)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (39:40.42)
You know, or, Ooh, there’s a group of people over there. They look angry. What’s going on? Maybe I’ll go check it out. And it usually turns into something really fascinating. And, I, dunno, I’ve got maybe a little bit of a dopamine deficiency and I seek some of those things. Maybe you do too. I dunno. I won’t speak for you, but
Linda (39:57.601)
Yeah.
Yeah, I think I possibly do. Because, you know, I don’t think twice about, mean, a friend of mine, I was going to take a year off work. My life beforehand was as a flight attendant, international flight attendant. And I remember saying to my boss, I…
you know, I’m taking a year off and I want to go and live and work around the world. and I, and there’s, and he said, I heard about a job in Saudi Arabia, month on month off. Maybe you should do that. I said, yeah, connect me up. Like see, I’ll apply for sure. And sure enough, I ended up working for the, you know, Minister of Finance and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Saudi Arabia.
Jason Elkins (40:40.292)
Hmm
Linda (40:54.153)
working on their private jet from month on month off, which was just so crazy because it wasn’t what I was about. I wasn’t looking for it, but somebody offered me an opportunity and there I was. Next minute I knew I was in the interviews. They’d flown me to Dubai and I was in these interviews and
Jason Elkins (40:59.275)
okay.
Linda (41:21.473)
One of the questions in the interview was, so how do you think you’ll be in a remote area in Riyadh? I had no idea where Riyadh was at that time. And I said, oh, I’m fine. I grew up in the outback of Australia. was the most… And so I was like, yeah, I can do that. No worries.
Jason Elkins (41:40.58)
I’m from the outback.
Linda (41:52.001)
And then when I got to, know, and then they gave me the job, you know, months later, they ring me up at, you know, crazy time in the morning and said, you know, Linda, you’ve got the job. And I said, have you got the right person? And so I get the job and I fly to Jeddah for the first time and…
Jason Elkins (42:09.252)
You
Linda (42:17.153)
And then to do some training and then I went to read and I was like, wow, I really didn’t know what I was talking about. It was like, wow.
Jason Elkins (42:27.236)
Tell us more because I’ve never been to Riyadh. let’s, let’s, let’s discuss that with like culturally, like what was that experience like?
Linda (42:36.479)
Yeah, that was insane. But it was what I explain it as the most exciting and scary, you know, it was like this sort of roller coaster ride, I guess you’d call it, of adventure because it was like, wow, this is really cool. no, that’s so not, you know. So two weeks into arriving in Saudi,
we had a bombing imminent and I was like, Hmm, I’ve heard of a bomb scare, but not a bombing imminent. That means it’s going to happen. Right. And then they said, yeah, you know, like intelligence is telling us that, you know, the Marriott hotel was on the top of the top 10 list of, you know, possibly being hit, but,
Jason Elkins (43:14.884)
Yeah.
Linda (43:32.532)
So we just had to sit tight and they all looked at me because I’m ex-military and all the crew and I said, well, you know, I guess all we can do is prepare, keep your shalers and your buyers, which is what we had to wear on top of all our clothing and your shoes at the door. But there was just so much I didn’t know and so much I learned so quickly being in Saudi Arabia.
You know, the language was, I had no, none of the language. We couldn’t drive at that stage. You’re allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia now. We weren’t even allowed to go to Saudi Arabia unless you were invited by the king, which I was. The job was with, you know, it was, it was,
You know, I was invited, but you actually had a piece of paper that said you’re invited by the king. so, because it is the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. so I learned stuff so fast and it’s kind of those adventures that I love the most because you’re, you’re in it and you just learn on the fly and
You know, we were talking about community before because of my background in the military. We were invited to an event on a compound and I was only there for like a day or so and I got the pilots and the crew and I said, come on, let’s go to this event that we’re invited to on a compound. And I’d never been to compound before. And they said, no, no, we’re going to stay behind. And I think a couple of pilots came with me.
And there I met the US military guys. The place was just full of US military people and because I’m ex-military, I felt at home. And I was like, oh my comrades. So that was, you know, I had a starting point with them. And then I built
Jason Elkins (45:39.652)
Mm-hmm.
Linda (45:48.638)
for the girls that were back at the hotel, I built a great relationship. They would put on parties for us and we would be invited. But if I didn’t have that experience of being in the military and feeling like they were my comrades, I would have walked in and I wouldn’t have had any connection point. So the military
experience has followed me and served me throughout my whole life so far. Given me amazing opportunities and also everywhere I’ve gone I’ve always had some sort of connection. So it’s been a really important part of my journey I think.
Jason Elkins (46:29.582)
Linda.
Linda (46:46.052)
having that military connection. I’m pretty sure you’d feel the same thing.
Jason Elkins (46:52.77)
yeah, absolutely. And I’m curious when you went into the air force, did you have a choice of what you did? Did they decide for you? What did you end up doing and how long did you stay?
Linda (47:03.292)
So I was a troopie. So I was like non-commissioned and I started off as a steward and then I went into communications afterwards and then I married an Air Force pilot. So I wasn’t allowed to…
be a troopy and be married to an Air Force pilot. So I left after that.
Jason Elkins (47:38.788)
Okay. Is that a, is that a rank issue? Because you say Trupi and I think, you know, I was a non, you know, an enlisted person, non-commissioned officer, as well. So, but a pilot would be an officer. So was that the issue is that it was, it was just that he was an officer and you weren’t right. Yeah.
Linda (47:41.797)
Yeah.
Linda (47:48.731)
Yeah, yeah.
Linda (47:53.87)
Yeah, yeah, we weren’t allowed to fraternize is what, yeah, we weren’t allowed to fraternize. That was the problem. so I had to leave my job and, and that’s when I went into the airlines after that. So.
Jason Elkins (48:11.446)
okay. Yeah. I was wondering, I wanted to ask kind of what was the gap in between the air force and, the airlines. Did you, what was your, I don’t know, maybe this is obvious, but what was your motivating reason to go work for the airlines? What was, what was behind that?
Linda (48:19.024)
Yeah.
Linda (48:28.572)
I’ve always been one who just loves anything to do with flying. When I was in the Air Force, before I was in the Air Force, I was in the Air Force cadets and I learnt to fly gliders. then, I, it’s just this whole kind of, and I wasn’t a great, I wasn’t great at school. so I was, my aptitude apparently wasn’t that good.
Jason Elkins (48:44.036)
okay.
Linda (48:58.532)
So I spent my whole life in, you know, in serving jobs. So I was, you know, the flight attendant and then I think I got to the age of about 43. And I thought, you know, there’s one challenge that I’ve really wanted to do in my life. And I had the opportunity because normally I would say to Mark, my partner,
let’s go and ride motorbikes across another continent. And he’d say, no, I’ve got some work to do. And then I’d think, and then I thought, what if I, what if I, what would I haven’t given myself permission to do in my life and spend the money on that I’ve always wanted to do. And that was to learn to fly an airplane, you know, to, you know, to pilot my own plane.
So that’s when I started learning to fly fixed wing aircraft. And so it was that push that helped me jump out of working in corporate, like as a flight attendant, sorry. And that, I call it like a proof point. So when you…
you know, achieve something that you think you can’t do because you know, you’ve listened to other people say, you know, smart people can do that kind of job, or can do that sort of thing. You jump out of this and you you prove the fact to yourself more than anyone that you can do it, you kind of go, okay, well, if I can do that, then I can go and become an entrepreneur and jump into the next challenge because
Jason Elkins (50:44.612)
you
Jason Elkins (50:51.62)
What else?
Linda (50:56.287)
I was getting to the point in this job that I was in that as a flight attendant that it was all too cushy. Everything was really easy. I knew all the systems. I knew how to do things and I could hear myself complaining about things. And then I went, right, something has to change. So I created this next challenge in my six weeks holiday to learn to fly an aeroplane and get my pilot license.
And then I can, if I can do that, then I can do the next challenge. And so I did, then I became an entrepreneur and then I became a founder.
Jason Elkins (51:35.62)
All right. So yeah, let’s let’s talk about the entrepreneurial. Let’s talk about the entrepreneurial journey. What was the the how would you describe the beginning of that? What did you do?
Linda (51:48.826)
Yeah, I call them bum clenching moments because it is just quite scary, you know, to go off and do something that you have to go and create all of the systems. You have to pitch, you know, your job, you have to learn the marketing, you have to learn every part of the business, as you well know, and you, you
Jason Elkins (51:55.876)
Okay.
Linda (52:19.118)
have to learn technology. And I wasn’t, I still don’t call myself a tech person as such because I don’t code, but there’s just so much learning every day. It’s like a fire hose. It’s like drinking from the fire hose. And it is a really scary thing. And I remember a good friend of mine from the airline, he said to me,
He said, Linda, this is really like scary. Like what if you fail? And I went, I learned something. I would prefer to fail and learn something than to not do it because if I didn’t try it, I’d never know. um, yeah. So I always remember him saying that because, uh, you know, you think, Oh, wow, this is really scary. But
You know, let’s give it a go.
Jason Elkins (53:21.528)
You know, this, what you’re sharing and the fact that you’re also a balloonist because you really got into ballooning as well. You, did you ever, I don’t know if you, I don’t know if you got to the crazy point of buying a balloon or just flying someone else’s balloon. but
Linda (53:28.214)
Yeah.
Linda (53:36.296)
No, I was only training as a balloonist. You’ve got hours in a… I’ve got training hours in a balloon as a trainee pilot, but I didn’t go solo.
Jason Elkins (53:48.792)
Yeah. Okay. How many, how many people, how many people can say that? That’s pretty cool. That’s a, it’s kind of random, right? Probably. You’ve probably heard that before a random. so you could relate to this.
Linda (53:55.808)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, but you know that. Yes.
Jason Elkins (54:05.25)
I was, I was just going to share, met a pilot back in, I had grew up around ballooning, got my license at a young age and then got away from it. Did the army did other things. And when I came back into ballooning, I just, I remember a guy that I ran into an older guy that was kind of from my dad’s generation. He’d been around in the ballooning for a long time and he was saying something to me along the lines of, you know, Jason and a
And a balloon is different than other like airplanes or helicopters or even cars or buses. Pretty much every transportation mode out there. When you begin your journey, you have a destination in mind and you’re going from airport A to airport B, assuming the flight plan goes well. If you get in a car, you’re going from your house to the grocery store. There’s pretty much always a direct, a course and a destination in mind.
Linda (54:51.393)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (55:02.392)
we’re with ballooning as you know, and maybe some of our listeners would know or would be able to imagine when we take off in a balloon, very seldom do we have a plan for where we’re going to land. It’s a, know it’s going to be downwind somewhere. You know, we know it’s going downwind because we can’t go, you know, but downwind is can be a lot of different directions and altitudes and all this stuff. So the point was that he said, you know, when I get in a balloon,
Linda (55:17.29)
Peace.
Jason Elkins (55:30.648)
I get my passengers in the balloon, most of them, 98 % of the time, every passenger in the balloon with me, it’s their first time in a balloon. know, ballooning is not something people, it’s a bucket list thing, right? So especially if you’re selling rides. you’ve, yeah, so you’ve got a bunch of people in the balloon that have never been in a balloon, have no concept for what they would do in any sort of emergency. There’s just, you’re just completely there in your hands. You don’t have a co-pilot, it’s just you and them.
Linda (55:42.601)
Yeah, yeah, totally.
Jason Elkins (56:00.828)
And he said, when I take off, I’ve got all this responsibility and I don’t know where I’m going. I’m taking all these people with me to a place. I don’t know where I’m going. But what he said that really made the impact was he said, but I have faith in my ability to figure it out along the way. And there, as far as a metaphor ballooning and entrepreneurship, it’s the same thing. Right. Yeah.
Linda (56:16.064)
Yeah.
Linda (56:25.578)
Absolutely. you know, I actually, one of my very first coaching packages was about, it was called your new flight path. Because after I learned how to fly, I’m like, this is just a whole bunch of systems that, repeatable systems that need to work to get you on, you know, to take off safely and to land safely.
And if stuff goes wrong, you’ve got a procedure for that as well. You know, what we would call prepared force landings. you know, your instructor makes you do a velocity drop, you know, the velocity drops that you do. Or, you know, in a fixed wing, you would do, they’d just take the keys out of the, and say, okay,
land the plane and so you have to know that this thing can glide but you need to know the numbers and the systems and and how how you can get there and And it’s it’s the same thing as an entrepreneur. You have to know you have to build systems however That it’s at the moment. I think it’s like changing aircraft all the time Different types of aircraft so
Jason Elkins (57:24.141)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (57:49.282)
Yeah, you wake up one morning, you’re in Osiris, the next morning you’re in Ascesta.
Linda (57:49.556)
And learning. Yeah. Yeah. And having a low wing and then landing a tailplane and, you know, with a tailplane, a tailjagger, sorry. And so everything is changing so rapidly at the moment because of AI. And
The business models are changing. You have to create new business models. You have to watch what behaviors are happening and where the rules are changing. you know, so you have to stay really up to date with it at the moment. We’re really finding it quite, the change quite rapid at the moment. I’m not sure if you’re noticing the same thing, but so you have to be really adaptable.
are and really flexible with the change without getting too concerned, like without flapping.
Jason Elkins (59:00.036)
That brings up another thing that I’ve heard and I’m sure you’ve heard it as well is the most important thing about flying, whether it’s a balloon or presumably an airplane as well. I think I’ve heard it said, fly the plane, fly the plane, means your always number one responsibility is to fly the plane. And what they mean by that is the distractions.
Linda (59:26.066)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (59:26.584)
Right? Those, those things that come up, you’re, flying the plane and the door falls off. What’s your job is not to deal with the door. Your job is to fly the plane no matter what happens. Fly the plane. And it’s like that in law. Yeah. And it’s like that in life. It’s like that in business, especially entrepreneurial business. And it’s hard, especially if you’re doing it by yourself and you don’t have anybody there reminding you, Jason, fly the plane.
Linda (59:35.09)
Yes.
Somebody’s got to fly the plane.
Jason Elkins (59:54.668)
Instead of, get distracted by this or that and kind of forget about business for a week or two. And then you’re like, I forgot. I quit flying the plane. need to get back on the controls and fly the plane. So, but anyway, so what kind of, so what, what kind of, what was your first business? You mentioned coaching. So it sounded like you were doing some coaching work. Maybe you still are. I’m curious. What was your first entrepreneurial endeavor?
Linda (01:00:24.295)
there.
Jason Elkins (01:00:24.51)
what did you learn most from that? And, and then lead us into what you’re doing now with Nomadstays.
Linda (01:00:31.143)
Okay, so my first entrepreneurial endeavor was I had a business called Healthy EQ and I studied a diploma in Eastern Philosophy and as a Shiatsu therapist and as a hypnotherapist and then I did a whole lot of my master coaching with NLP.
So I, and yoga, I did yoga teacher training. with all of those modalities that I had trained in while I was still a flight attendant, I started a business called Healthy EQ. And what I learned from, what I learned once a week, I would go to the markets and I’d set up and just watch people’s reaction to what I was offering. I’d listen and I’d take
down addresses and talk to people. And I learnt a lot from doing that because I was testing the market. I was adapting to what people needed, what people felt comfortable with. what I learnt was the opportunity to collect people’s email addresses, get them on your database, start a conversation.
was really, really important because all the other therapists around me weren’t doing that. They were looking at me going, what’s this girl doing? And, you know, it was really simple, really, really simple things like that that I learnt really quickly. One of the other things I learnt really quickly was to use LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has been a place where I go every day. It’s my office away from the office as well as, know, Pumble and Slack and that sort of thing that we use in our business. Yes. so LinkedIn on there every day, a community there as well.
Jason Elkins (01:02:40.248)
That’s how you and I connected. You and I connected on LinkedIn. Yeah, yep.
Linda (01:02:53.648)
The reason why I liked LinkedIn and I got onto LinkedIn first early because, and I’ve built a really great network there, it’s a good place to test talking about something. And I used to call it my scary place because that’s where other entrepreneurs are and business people are.
And they’re all judging you, I would say. But the thing is that you shouldn’t take that as a scary thing because if it is your scary place, then be there for sure. Build a network of people because you just never know who you’ll meet and who you come up with in the conversations and the ideas that you come up with.
because of LinkedIn. And, you know, I’ve had virtual coffees with people on LinkedIn and had lifetime friends from them. So, as well as business colleagues. And I think it’s absolutely a place, if you’re not on LinkedIn, it’s a great place to be and to start writing and
to start being the creator and start the conversations. Even if they’re not great, it doesn’t matter. Just start the conversation, write an article, post it. Be the person who makes the connection.
The thing about business is, and I think what most people don’t understand about business is that it’s about building relationships and that’s all it is. Number one thing, build relationships. And you know, we all love talking, so, and we all love to build relationships. So build relationships on LinkedIn for sure. It’s just the number one thing that’s helped me from the beginning.
Linda (01:05:10.797)
The other thing, yeah, I would say probably building a database or, you know, collecting names and serving people, being of service to people and doing the same thing by building relationships on LinkedIn by being of service to people. Because even if you just, you know, help one person, that’s cool.
Jason Elkins (01:05:36.548)
No, it’s, it’s wise words. And I understand there’s some reasons people are resistant to doing any sort of content creation. I mean, I live in that world. and that could be even just posting because, what if I post and nobody responds or worse? What if someone calls me an idiot or, know, and I deal with that. We’ve done 160 some episodes now and
Linda (01:05:53.985)
Yeah, kids.
Jason Elkins (01:06:03.5)
Every time I post one, like, I hope somebody watches. hope somebody listens. And I know they do because I could see it in the, you know, in the background. But at the beginning, man, it was really, really tough. but, but like you said, and showing up and adding value is like, you know, I connect with a lot of people that are on the show and. You know, it’s just like, Hey, come on the show. Well, yeah, we’ll have a conversation and, and, and hopefully they will use it to promote.
Linda (01:06:14.21)
Yeah.
Linda (01:06:19.919)
Just show up.
Jason Elkins (01:06:31.364)
promote it to their audience. then, and then now we’ve got a reason to continue the conversation and continue working together. And some of them hire me to do websites and some of them don’t. And that’s okay. It doesn’t matter. It’s all it’s it is. And LinkedIn is a great place to do it. And I would, I know not, not talking about any social media sites, but I think that’s a pretty good one. Even if you are intimidated by it, just get in there and start connecting with people, you know, be real.
Linda (01:06:32.875)
Yeah.
Linda (01:06:43.563)
Yeah.
Linda (01:06:47.563)
Yeah, yeah.
Linda (01:06:57.067)
Yeah, but my point really was with LinkedIn is that if it is scary for you, then just go there, face the scariness and just be there. Because that’s what it’s all about. It’s about the adventure of not knowing what’s going to happen, but hey, just build a relationship in the meantime because it doesn’t hurt you. And what it does is serve others. It helps others even if somebody is an A-sayer in the side, that doesn’t matter.
Jason Elkins (01:07:06.094)
That’s why you gotta do it. Yeah,
Jason Elkins (01:07:22.244)
Mm-hmm.
Linda (01:07:26.795)
It really doesn’t matter. But if you come with a give first mentality, then you’re always going to help someone.
Jason Elkins (01:07:44.74)
Yep, So real quick before we wrap up, do want to, how long has Nomadstays been around? You kind of discussed why you started it and kind of what you’re doing, but I just want to touch on it a little bit more before we wrap.
Linda (01:08:01.981)
Yeah. Okay. So Nomad stays started just, well, we opened just in COVID, just like the day before COVID, which is so bizarre. And it was interesting because at that time, you know, just before that, before we were about to launch, I was walking the streets in Scotland and Ireland, talking to hotels about
Jason Elkins (01:08:13.7)
A lot of businesses did, yep.
Linda (01:08:32.45)
know, what are the problems that they were having? And did you know that there’s this new market, you know, called digital nomads and they were all going, what are you talking about? And, and then COVID came and, you know, in a strange, and I hate to say this, you know, good way, it’s, we didn’t have, we didn’t have to keep educating people on what a digital nomad was, because they were whole world new.
Jason Elkins (01:08:43.588)
you
Linda (01:09:00.418)
after COVID what a digital nomad was. So we just went head down and we, through COVID and we launched, but we created a lot of content. We showed up, we showed up for communities, we showed up for coworking, we showed up for events online, we were interviewing people with other business, business and bare feet. And we
we were just being there for others. So that really served us well and we really knuckled down. And then once COVID sort of, you know, after that, everyone’s like, digital nomads, let’s do that. It was kind of good timing and bad timing at the same time. So it was kind of a, yeah, but it was great because we didn’t have to
Jason Elkins (01:09:55.332)
Yeah.
Linda (01:09:59.299)
just educate people anymore because the whole world knew something different had happened and that’s when the market just kept growing and growing and growing. We’ve had a lot of people try and copy us from that but they’ve come and gone. So we’ve just been consistent and helped people with finding accommodation. We’ve just been totally consistent through the whole time and now we’ve grown into
Jason Elkins (01:10:06.339)
or
Linda (01:10:29.125)
89 countries.
Jason Elkins (01:10:33.56)
Wow. Very, cool. and so we don’t, it doesn’t need to be about Nomad stays, but my next question is basically what question do you wish that I would have asked you? Or do you think that I forgot to ask you that you want to make sure our listeners know about you, Australia, personal growth and expansion life in general, anything. What else is there anything else that we need to touch on before we wrap up?
Linda (01:11:01.783)
look, I think it’s just about saying yes to the adventure. More than anything, because, you know, Nomad’s Days isn’t a place, you know, where you book accommodation. It’s a lifestyle. It’s, you know, we’re there to serve people who have chosen that lifestyle, who are thinking about choosing the lifestyle, who want to try it out, who want to find community, find events.
So we’re there to help the digital nomad and this new way of travel. But in all of that, just say yes to the adventure, step into the scary space and really enjoy the journey because I think if you take on the adventure, that is the best part.
It’s all about just saying yes to an adventure.
Jason Elkins (01:12:03.244)
Love it, love it, love it.
Linda (01:12:09.572)
Because it’s alright not to know.
Jason Elkins (01:12:10.596)
Whether that is jumping out. Yeah. Whether that’s jumping out of an airplane, learning to fly an airplane, scuba diving. We talked, you know, ballooning or we’re going on LinkedIn. So Linda, Linda, thank you so much. This has been a real pleasure. I’m happy that we made this workout. No parrots screaming in the background and I look forward to getting more involved with Nomads Days myself. And thank you so much for joining us.
Linda (01:12:40.116)
thank you for having me. And honestly, it’s been great to talk to a fellow balloonist and fellow adventurer. And stay adventurous and thanks for having us on. It’s really fantastic.
Jason Elkins (01:12:51.428)
It has.
Jason Elkins (01:12:58.444)
And I, and I will say to you, I’ll wrap it up with, soft landings. So people that are into ballooning understand soft landings is kind of a, you know, tight lines for fishermen, soft landings for balloonists. So Linda, look forward to seeing you again real soon. Thank you so much. All right.
Linda (01:13:06.468)
Thank you.
Perfect. I love it. Okay. Thanks, Jason. Cheers for now.
Jason Elkins (01:13:17.358)
Thanks.
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