It’s been quiet around here for a while, so we figured it’s time for an update! Join us on a journey from freelance to full-time as we catch you up on what’s been happening in the Gnomieverse recently.
From China to Freelance
Over the years, we’ve experienced a few seismic shifts in our lifestyle. First, we moved to China, where we taught English for many years. Then, we switched to teaching English online, which launched our digital nomad journey around ten years ago.
When China changed its regulations regarding tutoring, we had to pivot quickly. Rachel had already created a profile on Langu, an online teacher marketplace, and I started doing a bunch of in-school and after-school tutoring with students in the US, in addition to more freelance writing.
At one point in 2023, I was balancing several different online teaching jobs and writing for various blogs and publications. My calendar had several different schedules and colors on it, and it was exhausting keeping up with everything.
Rachel Builds a Personal Brand
Meanwhile, Rachel was starting to shift gears in her teaching career. She joined a program to learn how to get her own students as an online English teacher and began updating her LinkedIn profile to reflect her new direction. That brought in a few students, which gave her a solid starting point.
After our trip to Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Panama, and Mexico in early 2023, she started creating content for her own Instagram profile. A few reels went viral, and her teacher account gained more visibility than Grateful Gnomads ever had.
While Rachel was gaining momentum with her teaching business and exploring new opportunities, I was starting to feel burned out. When we landed in Puerto Vallarta for a month-long stay, the exhaustion really started to hit me.
Burnout and Roosters
While spending a month back in our beloved Puerto Vallarta, I was feeling especially wiped out. Some days I had to get up at 5 am to start teaching. Not only that, but the place we were staying in had roosters that sounded like they were right below our bed. Sometimes they would start crowing at midnight, and I would barely sleep a wink.
We were about to head back to the US for the summer, and I didn’t know what it was going to be, but I knew that we needed a change. I proposed staying in Asheville at a family house while job and apartment hunting, and it’s something we seriously considered.
A Surprise Job Opportunity
In the meantime, I noticed a post while scrolling IG one day that caught my attention. CashorTrade – the fan-to-fan, face-value ticketing app and website I had been using for a decade – was hiring someone to help with Fan Engagement.
Reading over the job description, my first thought was that it was the perfect job for me. I updated my resume, wrote a cover letter, updated my LinkedIn profile, and sent it in. I didn’t even tell Rachel about it…
Then one night, when reviewing our schedules for the following day, I told her I had an interview in the morning.
”Oh yeah I almost forgot… I have an interview at 9 am, so I’ll need quiet in here.”
”An interview? With who?”
”CashorTrade…”
”Wait what?! CashorTrade?! Like… where we buy Phish tickets??”
”Yeah that’s the one…”
She was excited, and so was I, but I was also a bit nervous. I tried to sleep – roosters be damned – and got myself ready for the interview. I thought I nailed it and that the job sounded like the perfect fit, but I had to play the waiting game.
Meanwhile, Rachel Was Keeping Busy
While I was waiting to hear back about the big job interview, Rachel had her hands full with a few different things. She was still growing her teacherpreneur profile and had taken on more work with Bridge Education Group – the company we got our TEFL certificates with back in 2011, helping propel us to well-paying teaching jobs in Beijing.
Bridge had been a longtime affiliate partner of ours through the blog, but now Rachel was involved in a bigger way – speaking in webinars and summits, and even creating a full program for them called The Teacherpreneur Academy.
At that point, she was balancing her own teaching schedule, her work as the instructor and coach for the Academy, and still making time for this blog and our newsletters. Thanks to those of you who have remained loyal subscribers – we really appreciate it!
Interview Round Two (With Roosters and Power Outages)
I ended up getting a second interview with CashorTrade, which I was stoked about. Of course, the roosters decided to crow, AND the power cut out during said interview. It wasn’t the best look as my potential future boss had just asked me how I would pull it off working remotely full-time.
I still thought the interview went well, and I was really hoping to get the job. It was exactly what I needed at the time.
Jazz Fest Break and Good News
We left Puerto Vallarta and headed to New Orleans for a week of Jazz Fest revelry. Neither of us worked that week, and it was amazing. We volunteered for a day at the festival, got on the guest list for Daze Between, and went to late-night shows every night. Bucket list goal achieved!
Sitting at the New Orleans airport over a week after my 2nd interview, it seemed like I didn’t get the job after all. In addition to being exhausted, I was getting a bit bummed out.
Then I went to fill my water and hit the bathroom while we waited for space in the lounge, and I checked my e-mail just to see what a mess it was. Right there at the top was an e-mail from CashorTrade welcoming me to the team. I was elated!
We had a celebratory cocktail in the lounge and made a toast to new beginnings.
Settling Into New Roles
I started at CashorTrade in June 2023 and spent the summer working while visiting family and friends. It was a great learning experience – I dove headfirst into marketing: managing a ton of Facebook groups, running giveaways, creating content, reaching out to communities, and spending pretty much every waking moment in the live music world. Talk about a dream job for me!
Rachel was still hustling – teaching private students, contributing part-time to Bridge, and crushing it on both fronts. But switching from one job to another (and sometimes back again in the same day) was starting to wear on her. It’s a tough mental load to carry.
After nearly 15 years of teaching, she started wondering if it was time for a break. But giving up that income wasn’t something she took lightly.
Then she got an email from Bridge…
Rachel’s Big Move
In late summer 2024, just before our 3.5-month trip to Europe, Bridge offered her a new role: Content Marketing Assistant, 20 hours a week. She was a little unsure about juggling the job while traveling, but I encouraged her to go for it – and she did.
As you might expect, she crushed it.
While she didn’t get to do quite as much sightseeing as she’d hoped, she pulled it off. We traveled through Poland, the Czech Republic, Albania, and Hungary, and she balanced the new role while still teaching several students. I’m still impressed at how she managed it all.
Embracing the Full-Time Life
Turns out I wasn’t the only one who noticed how well Rachel was doing. At the start of the new year, Bridge offered to bump her up to 30 hours a week.
Even back when we were “full-time” at Wall Street English in Beijing, she’d never worked 30 hours a week doing just one thing. But she was ready. She’d already been thinking about stepping back from teaching and didn’t want to keep putting so much energy into finding new students and planning lessons.
So she accepted, cut back on her teaching hours, and fully leaned into the new role.
By the time we kicked off our 3.5-month trip through Central Europe, I was already feeling settled into my full-time role at CashorTrade. One of the best parts was my working hours. I was online from 3 to 11 pm or sometimes 4 to midnight – which gave me the whole first half of the day to explore, get a workout in, and enjoy a relaxed lunch before clocking in.
Reflecting on the Journey
Here we are – sitting by the pool in Puerto Vallarta, eight years after we first arrived here as fresh digital nomads. Back then, we were both putting on orange T-shirts and getting up at 6 am to teach Bao Bao (the generic name for little kids in China).
We had no idea what we were doing as digital nomads and were very much living our “Improvise your life” slogan. It’s been quite the journey over the years, full of ups and downs, highs and lows, and massive life changes.
While it’s taken some getting used to being a part of a team again and having (almost) set hours, we are always able to surrender to the flow, and I think we’ve done quite well for ourselves!
We are enjoying the steady paychecks and not having to balance multiple schedules. It’s nice to punch out in the evening and not worry about that late-night class or that article that’s due tomorrow. Both of our companies support us on our nomad journey, and our colleagues love hearing travel tales.
What’s Next?
So what does the future hold? We’re not quite sure, but we’re happy where we are right now. We’re spending the winter in Puerto Vallarta catching up with old friends and enjoying tacos & tequila.
As is tradition, we’ll head back to the US around Memorial Day and spend the summer visiting family and friends and seeing shows. We have a few huge milestones this summer – our 10th wedding anniversary and my 40th birthday – so celebrations are in order!
We plan to travel to the UK and maybe another country or two in Europe this fall, taking a week off to explore with her folks and then working the rest of the time. Maybe we will finally sign up as house-sitters. It would make sense at this point…
Nearly a decade into our nomadic life, we’re definitely starting to feel the pull to plant a root or two. I don’t think you’ll be seeing us buying a house or car anytime soon, but we might try to finally make Puerto Vallarta home and get residency in Mexico along with a year-long contract for a place.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. This was a fun one to write, and we’re happy to share this update with everyone. As always, please reach out if you have any questions about the nomad lifestyle or if you’re looking for travel recommendations.
Thanks so much,
Sasha (and Rachel)
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Awesome post buddy – very inspiring to see y’all chasing your dreams. Definitely keep me posted on your wedding anniversary and birthday plans, would love to see you two this summer!
“I’m sick and tired of following my dreams. I’m just gonna ask them where they’re going and catch up with em later!”
Thanks for the kind words dude! Summer is coming into focus – Phish Chicago will be our anniversary celebration, then back-to-back weekends of WSP/STS9 in Asheville. My bday is on a Wednesday so probably just something chill around there with family and friends, then I’m doing the Gizz fest in Colorado to close the summer out! Hope to see ya out there.