From auditor to nomad: a story of self-awareness and success
Many people who seek to become nomads believe their skills aren’t transferrable to the nomad world. But this is the story of Melanie, an auditor who became a succesful team leader by using her unusual skills to transition towards a wanderlifestyle…
The roots
Melanie grew up in Germany and studied business. She then worked for one of the big 4 auditing firms for 5 years. This experience led her to understand processes and the details needed to achieve a company's goal.
After these 5 years, her dream of leaving and the call from Australia got too big, so she took a sabbatical and started travelling, with the ultimate goal in mind to become a digital nomad. She had decided to eventually go to Chiang Mai - the nomads mecca - to open herself up for opportunities and learn the skills she needed. Little did she knew she already had them!
Before going to Chiang Mai and as she was in Cambodia, she met a successful dropshipper (a very sought-after nomad job). She got curious about his activity and hoped to open her own shop but felt totally overwhelmed by all the gurus out there, who made her feel like she wasn’t ready to succeed.
Mel eventually joined the Facebook group Chiang Mai Digital Nomads where she saw an offer from a person who needed help for his dropshipping business. It seemed like the perfect opportunity, as it would teach her the business and give her insights for her to open her own shop. In June last year, she received her first salary of 1500 USD, which made her financially independent right from the beginning. She and her manager started working together remotely but would meet 2 weeks later in Chiang Mai.
69 Likes, 24 Comments - 🌏 World Traveling German Girl (@down_the_yellow_brick_road) on Instagram: "Über den Wolken... / above the clouds! #newzealand #nz #beautifulnz #skydive #bayofislands..."
Use your skills to grow
Melanie first started building up the company’s customer service. She created templates to respond to customers and got a general feeling for all the things that could go right and wrong in the business.
When she finally met her boss, he said this could continue to be a completely remote role as it had worked fine for the first two weeks and she didn't need a lot of guidance. There she was, a truly financially independent digital nomad! She travelled through Myanmar and Malaysia with the job and went on a home break for Christmas. She then kept on working until now. This job had been fully remote from the start, she never ever went to an office and only met her boss a couple times (which doesn’t mean they aren’t in contact daily). Since she started working, Mel managed to travel to Mauritius, Cambodia, New Zealand, Thailand, Philippines and Nepal with the job this year.
Thanks to her participation in the business - taking care of the back-end and developing processes to prevent anything from going wrong with the logistics part - her boss had more time to focus on marketing and the business started exploding less than three months after she joined. Her manager decided to hire more people and set up a 24 hour customers service platform, an adventure Mel participated in, and the rest is history…
Lessons from the field
Melanie is now running a team of 10 virtual assistants. In less than 2 years, she grew more professionally and personally than during her whole time as a steady employee. But what does this success story teach us? Not only did Melanie have clear goals and ambitions, but she also knew to trust her skills and grow in her field of excellence. People say luck happens when opportunity meets preparation, and she’s a fantastic example of that!
When becoming nomadic, many of us completely abandon our former skills and chase new ones, but let’s remember that it takes time to build expertise. We all have resources in us! It’s up to us to own them, be courageous, self-aware and entrepreneurial!
What’s your skill and how do you think you can use it to become a nomad? Have you also been through a similar path?
About
Melanie is a German auditor, she’s been working fully remotely since June 2017. If you loved her story, follow her on Instagram or connect on Linkedin. You can also check her German-speaking blog about her trips to Australia and New Zealand.