Ep. 286: How This Digital Nomad Couple Creates Income From Their Passions with Jaxon and Angel
In this episode, I speak to Angel and Jaxon who met in Bali Indonesia in the middle of the pandemic. After Jaxon spontaneously booked a last minute flight to Indonesia after a friend and music producer invited him to come.
Coming to Bali changed the direction of Jaxon’s life and was happy to meet Angel at a beach bar. Ever since that day they have been dating and have started their own YouTube channel together.
Now they are both digital nomads and have a bunch of clients they are currently working for which includes creating social media designs and video production.
Listen on to find out how Jaxon and Angel create income from their passions.
Listen Below:
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Transcription:
Debbie:
Hey, everyone!
Thank you so much for being here!
I am so excited to speak with my guest today, I am here with Jaxon and Angel!
Hi! How are you both?
Jaxon:
Hey! We’re great, how are you?
Angel:
Hi!
Debbie:
I am wonderful! I am so excited to speak with you bothe because I’m always so curious how couples make it as digital nomads, as remote workers on the road, so can you both tell us what your offbeat life is like? How do you have an offbeat life?
Jaxon:
Hmm, that’s a good question, I think there’s many different parts of it, I mean, you can go first a little bit.
Angel:
No, it’s okay, you can go first.
Jaxon:
Okay. I mean it started within the past year, we really tried to do work from anywhere.
So, I mean, I came to Bali about one full year ago and I was doing remote work at the time for a company and like more freelance work, video production and I actually only come here for a few months at that time and then I met Angel here and we just had a really good connection, we met at a beach bar, basically and since then we’ve been able to just travel around and work remotely here in Bali.
Myself, I’m doing more video production and she’s been doing more design, creative style for her business and everything,
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
And you can talk more about that.
Angel:
So, basically I’m more of a graphic designer before I met Jaxon, I’m still working on it but not remotely. But since meeting Jaxon, I was like, “Oh okay, how do I go about working remotely, because it’s easier and I’ll have more time for whatever I want to do.”, so, I started looking at how to work remotely, something like that. So, yeah, we have a good vision.
Debbie:
That’s awesome! And it’s really great that you can both take your work with you anywhere and you weren’t necessarily working remotely but the job or the work that you’re doing, you can take it and Jaxon, you know, you’re already set, you’re already working remotely. And so, when you’re both traveling around, because obviously you love that, you love travel and you love new places, how did you decide that Bali was going to be the place for you? That it was going to be kind of where you’re going to stay for a little while or is that something that you’re just at now and later on it’s going to be different?
Jaxon:
Good question. I think, I mean, Angel came here before I came here and when I came here, I was only going to stay a few weeks. I was just going to meet my friend here, hang out for a few weeks, maybe relax, have fun and go back and then I realized that I like Bali quite a bit, not only because of the culture and the people but also because of like how the culture, people are so nice here, it’s really different than like living in Canada for instance, it’s just different vibes and it’s much more sustainable life at least for me because you can really enjoy life a lot more, people are a lot more relaxed, like it’s not always so stressed about work and even if you’re working as a digital nomad there’s still so many opportunities here to meet people also. There’s a good connection for wifi in most of the cafès, it’s pretty good community here. Across Indonesia we’ve been to other cities too, like Jove, Jakarta and Bandung and Jakarta as well, and they’re also great but I think Bali is just the culture and the lifestyle.
Angel:
It’s a different life, it’s nice, yeah.
Jaxon:
It’s nice, yeah.
Debbie:
And I hear that Bali also has a lot of nomads there, right? It has a really good digital nomad culture, so you don’t feel like you’re a sore thumb, like you don’t feel like you’re sticking out because there’s a lot of people who can understand and relate to what’s happening.
Jaxon:
That’s true, but yeah, what about your experience? What made you want to come to Bali for the first time?
Angel:
So, first time, I was not a Balinese, living somewhere in a city in Indonesia, but after I want to try to move to Bali and I want to see what happens there and try new experiences and that’s why I moved to Bali and I’m with Jaxon now.
Debbie:
That’s awesome! It’s so interesting how people meet each other and then you find your partner and you’re able to do that. Since you both have met each other, have you gone to other places to try out your lifestyle as nomads?
Jaxon:
I think so. I think there’s still a lot of places we still want to go but I think we’ve been to, we’ve traveled around Indonesia a lot, to the other cities and places in, especially because she went to college in a different area in Java which is another island, and there’s a really big city there, the culture is very different but still beautiful.
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
And we’ve been to, I mean, where her sister lives as well, for example, another city, there’s so many different cities in Indonesia, there’s so many islands here, it’s beautiful to go explore.
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
For this now, we’re staying in Bali for a little bit longer and then, I think in the fall we want to travel to other countries, Thailand, we want to go check out Mexico and see next I mean, I think we still want to have some more, that’s like warmer, with beaches but we’d still like to travel around and in the future we’ll just see, make more content for YouTube, more travel videos and see where that takes us to as well.
Debbie:
I mean, with what you do, it’s just a lot of possibilities for all of that and then you mentioned your YouTube channel, when did you start that?
Jaxon:
It was about,
Angel:
A year ago,
Jaxon:
Yeah, just over a year ago now,
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
I mean, it was in June, the end of June,
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
Of 2021 and it’s been almost, just over a year now since we started that,
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
At first it was pretty slow, like the subscriberism, and now, it’s starting to pick up quite a bit, especially with YouTube shorts and also trying out different video ideas for long form videos but yeah, we’re about 1,200 subscribers now and we’re going more, basically everyday and yeah, it’s definitely a passion for us, we love to create videos and content, on the side I make music, I have a passion for that too as well, yeah, hopefully in the future we’ll grow even more from there.
Debbie:
That’s amazing and then most of the things that you put on your videos are travels and what you both do when you’re on the road?
Jaxon:
So yeah, what do you say?
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
I mean, we’ve made videos like around Bali a lot but we also made,
Angel:
Mostly about Bali stuff.
Jaxon:
Mostly about Bali, but we made videos too about cities and the best food to have here, the best cafès to work in,
Angel:
Like culinary, something like that.
Jaxon:
Yeah, culinary, and also like, just like some of the best experiences, the places to go, there’s a lot of places in Bali that for example, the tourists come here and they kind of stick to one area but there’s a whole other island, there’s so many places to go and see that are not as known,
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
We’re trying to make videos, more about those places too as well.
Debbie:
Yeah and those are really good videos to do because most of the time like you mentioned, Jaxon, people just see what’s really popular and then like a short ride away or just even a few hours away there’s so many things you wouldn’t even have known unless you’re a local to that area, so those are really interesting things, because there’s always so many different spots, like even here, like I live in New York City, people don’t know just a few hours upstate there’s like a ton of hiking that people don’t know about in New York,
Jaxon:
Right.
Debbie:
So you know, when you think of New York you just think of like Manhattan and big buildings and you’re like, “New York is a huge state.”, so, I’m sure it’s like that obviously in Bali and all over Indonesia as well and so many more prettier spots.
Angel:
Yes.
Jaxon:
Yeah, there’s a lot to see that what you just see on like a, well, what you just see on the popular YouTube channels, I mean, they cover some of the basics, but there’s definitely a lot more that’s not even covered yet and nobody’s covered yet, so we’re trying to go into those places and expose them and share it because there’s so many beautiful places to see, especially around in South East Asia, there’s so much to do here. So…
Debbie:
Yeah, definitely. For the both of you, is this something that you would like to do more of, is this the platform, YouTube that you really want to maybe do full time? Or is this just kind of like a side hobby for you while you’re doing your work as well?
Jaxon:
What do you say?
Angel:
We still have to think of what we’re going to make for the next video, we’re really concerned about that for now, yeah.
Jaxon:
And YouTube is good, is one of the best platforms to grow, like if you want to make money eventually, because, I mean there’s Instagram, there’s TikTok, I think TikTok is another good one if you like short form video and you can grow fast, but I think if you really want to invest your time and like create really good videos for YouTube, it’ll pay off because YouTube’s kind of the thing where a lot of creators say, starts really small and then you go really slowly and then you, as soon as you hit that thousand subscribers you start to grow a little bit faster and you really start to go more of a, more into, if you put a lot of work and effort into it you can actually grow it into a channel you can monetize eventually. Instagram and TikTok is harder to monetize, so that’s why we’re trying to focus most of our attention there, hopefully maybe one year from now, maybe, we’ll be able to make a decent amount of revenue off there but also our goal is for sure to as well.
Debbie:
Yeah and that’s a really good idea because I think I’ve seen other creators try to do everything at once and it becomes really, really overwhelming because your time is you know, very short, especially if you’re still doing like full time work, if you have another business or whatever it is that you’re doing and then you’re trying to do like 10 platforms at the same time, “Like, oh my gosh! I can’t do it!”, and then you get burned out and then you end up not doing anything and I love what you’re doing, you’re focusing on one thing and then doing the other things next. Why did you both decide that YouTube was going to be your place instead of maybe like a blog or maybe TikTok, why YouTube? What was it about it that really made you love that platform?
Angel:
Maybe because on YouTube, you can express yourself the way you want to. You can share whatever you want on YouTube.
Jaxon:
I think that is true, I think it’s like, you know, it’s good to start your own blog and I think you can be very successful too as well, it’s a different way, I think for us it was, I think YouTube just because there’s already a good platform you can go off of, you can kind of see what videos are trending, what topics and create a new style of videos around those and we saw an eventual way to monetize, like a clear path, there’s a clear vision, if you meet the minimum requirements – 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours then you can monetize your channel and you can get ad revenue off that, right, so, we saw that as a clear, we have to achieve these goals to get here so we still have a vision towards that. I think with a blog it’s kind of more up to like us independently, if we want to start it, we have to find our own clients, find our own people to and other places to revenue off of, so I think this is probably why and also, we want to express our feelings in like video, and not over text as much or audio, we really prefer video format for sharing our travels.
Debbie:
Yeah. I mean YouTube is, is obviously has been growing and there’s so much that you can do there and also you can definitely use different content like you had mentioned Jaxon, like you can use shorts, you can use it cause now YouTube has shorts, you can also use it for TikTok and Instagram so you can just start recycling everything and even the audio, you can just take out an audio and you can have a podcast from your video so, it’s pretty awesome how you could take all of these things and just put them all together.
Jaxon:
Yeah, definitely. True, that’s very true, YouTube’s a diverse platform for that, yeah.
Debbie:
Yeah and you can even transcribe your audio and make it into like your, a part of your blog too, so it’s like…
Jaxon:
There’s so many ways for that I think. So, I think YouTube’s, I think if you’re a creator out there now and you don’t know where to start, I think like YouTube is a good place, I mean, Instagram is good for kind of posting your stories and content but it’s hard to like monetize it unless you really have a clear vision towards where you want to go, and TikTok is great for getting the word out there and growing fast but I think, yeah, if you really want to find a way to have a long term path, I think YouTube might be a really good choice if you’re not there now, so.
Debbie:
Yeah and that’s the thing I think, we all want to grow really fast, right? Everybody wants that but usually that doesn’t happen that way, you’d really have to spend the time, a lot of energy in and it takes a really long time to grow something and you know, it happens to people, obviously, where they’d get discovered and start growing but for the most part, 80 or 90% of people who make it big, it took them a really long time. Years and years to do it. So, that’s the way to do it, most of the time, unless you get, you know, you become like viral or something.
Jaxon:
Yeah, that’s true and it comes in waves, like everyone thinks, “oh, it’s going up.”, well, not always, you go up and you go down, some weeks, some days is like down and you’re like, “what do I do now?”, “what do I create next?”, I mean, definitely for us, we’ve seen waves, I think if you always just stay focused, always try to stay motivated and you’re just always posting content, then yeah, in the long term you’ll definitely grow. As long as you keep improving and trying to make your content better, for sure.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. So, for the both of you, now that you’re together and you’re nomadic, you’re digital nomads, what are some of, I guess struggles that you have to make this work because you’re still working and you have your YouTube channel, it seems a lot, right? But then you’re also trying to balance this stuff out and also see things around you but then you’re also making content, I know that’s a lot to handle, how do you, I guess, make it all work and not have burn out?
Angel:
Just take it easy, be easy going, just go somewhere if you feel bored or, I don’t know what I have to do, just, get some coffee or donuts, or whatever you want, like that, so that you’ll be in a good mood for another content or work or game, something like that.
Jaxon:
It’s true, I think it’s like, yeah, it comes in waves too as well, like I think there are certain days we’re like, “Ooh I just want to make so many videos, make content”, I have all this work to do for my other freelance job, then it’s like, you definitely have days where you’re just like feeling low, like on those days, we just try to relax, think of new ideas, go out to enjoy the beach, the sunset, maybe we’ll get like a coffee or tea at our like favorite cafè as well, just take a break, as well and not always work 24/7. Yeah, it’s definitely good to take those times, yeah, I think for the struggles, I mean, there’s always struggles as like a nomad, when you’re traveling and like especially with the wifi connection that’s always a come and go. We have a hotspot we use a lot of our data, so we use that when we don’t have a good connection which helps us quite a bit and I think also for like transferring money between countries, getting paid in one currency, transferring to another currency, there’s always a lot of fees involved in that but we use a few different services for that like Wise, and other services where they can kind of like, pay less fees, basically, that helps us too, a lot. There’s some struggles in that I would say, for sure, but we find ways to work around it.
Debbie:
Yeah and those are good struggles to have as long as you’re living somewhere that’s pretty awesome, so, that’s, you know, you can always work around them.
Jaxon:
Yeah.
Debbie:
And also, I was thinking, with you, because are your, like, are the people that you’re freelancing with, are they in the US? Are they in Canada?
Jaxon:
Yeah, good question actually. For myself, it’s more towards yeah, Canada, US and also a client in India too as well, so, I have a few different people from different time zones. I think you have to schedule around that, so for example, I’ve previously was working for a client where I was working the night shift if I’d have been in North America, but over here it would’ve been during the day and that worked quite well because I was working during the day, even if it’s technically a night shift there because of the time zone difference, now I’m working more day shift here too as well but for other companies where I can kind of work flexible whenever we need the work done and I think for Angel, you mostly work for same during the day, local companies and stuff as well.
Angel:
Yeah, for a local company, yeah.
Debbie:
Yeah, if you’re working for overseas companies, your money is going to go a lot longer when you’re living in Bali, which is pretty awesome and it’s so crazy how if you’re living here in the United States or even in Canada, like you’re just working so much and your money barely goes anywhere, but then if you’re living in somewhere like Bali or Vietnam and even the Philippines like, your money just goes so much longer which means you don’t have to work as much, you could enjoy life there so that’s another perk of living in South East Asia is that you can find work.
Angel:
Just go outside, have fun and chill.
Debbie:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
Yeah, we noticed that a lot like I definitely, we want to travel to other countries but like it’s, if you can live to at least a country where your money goes further, that’s in Asia, Europe or wherever that is where it’s not a super high, expensive for everything then you can enjoy life a lot, you can work less hours and yeah, if you for instance make US dollars or Euros, Canadian dollars and you work in a country that has a lower currency exchange rate then yeah, you will be able to save more money and enjoy life and work less.
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
That’s kinda like what we’re trying to do as well.
Angel:
Yeah.
Debbie:
Yeah, that’s the dream because you obviously don’t want to work yourself to the bone and also you have a better lifestyle but also you can save a lot more too because if you want to work more, you can take that money and just start saving that because you don’t need as much to live in certain areas, in certain countries, so that’s another perk.
Jaxon:
Yeah, definitely, like we have a dream of like eventually building our own like villa or you know, somewhere in Asia, or Bali or wherever it is,
Angel:
Villa, yeah, in Bali or in Asia.
Jaxon:
But yeah, it’s a long term goal but eventually we want to use some savings to build that and maybe rent that out AirBnB or whatever, it’s kind of a long term vision but yeah, it’s kind of a, it’s nice, I mean you can, if you want to buy property here and you make a currency in another country then yeah, it’s a lot more affordable, you can buy a beautiful villa here for such a price you can never afford like in Canada or US, it’s really different for that reason.
Debbie:
Yeah, I know, it’s kind of crazy because I live in New York City and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, like nobody can afford any houses here in New York”, like you have to go somewhere that you know it’s not here but in Bali, like that’s amazing and it’s just a different lifestyle, it’s just a different way of living and you’re also living in paradise, but I hear a lot of people that are afraid to leave the US, you know, even if they’re remote like they’re just afraid to leave because it’s the unknown, you know? So.
Jaxon:
Yeah, that’s true, I think it’s like that. I think it’s the same where I come from, like Canada, people, not everyone, I have friends who like to travel a lot but there’s a lot of people, including my family and stuff, they, sometimes when they go to new places, you know, it’s like there’s the unknown, there’s always that unknown where it’s like you’re not really sure what’s going to happen but I mean, that’s the same with me, when I first came here, I booked a, basically like a single ticket and I just came spontaneously, I didn’t know what was going to happen and I just wanted to try something new and I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen, I mean the worse that can happen is that it doesn’t work out, you can go back, but if you go and something happens great, well then, yeah it can be a new start for you, for sure.
Debbie:
Yeah, I mean not doing things because of fear or something you don’t want to go through and especially if, it’s nothing, it’s all hearsay, people will try to scare you most of the time, so unless you’ve lived it and everyone’s experiences is so different, like what happens to them will most likely not happen to you unless it’s just like, rampant, like it does that in like that area all the time, you know, so, but most of the time, everyone’s experiences are so different so you have to experience it yourself.
Jaxon and Angel:
Yeah, that’s true.
Jaxon:
I mean, you too, when you came to Bali, your friends and family, maybe they said, “Do not go.”, or maybe they said it’s a different culture, even if it’s the same country.
Angel:
Yeah, they say even if it’s the same country but they still say it’s a different culture, a different city has a different culture, like that.
Jaxon:
Yeah, so I mean your parents also said like, “Maybe don’t go.”.
Angel:
Yeah, don’t go far, but I just wanted to go, so.
Jaxon:
So there’s always that fear.
Angel:
Yeah.
Debbie:
Yeah, it’s like it doesn’t matter where you’re from, like your parents or whoever is always going to be like trying to protect you and stop you from doing things.
Jaxon:
Exactly, that’s so true.
Debbie:
And you’re like, “No, I’m going, I don’t care!”.
Jaxon:
Yeah, I think, just do what you want to do, I mean, just find some passion you like, try to make it into a living or at least a hobby, first of all, and yeah, see where it goes. It doesn’t have to make a lot of money to start with but at least it’s something that can maybe be made into something with a good potential future, right? You know, yeah.
Debbie:
Yeah, definitely and that’s the thing, like you don’t know where it’s going to lead you. You could start one thing and then you can meet people or, or even you can decide that you don’t like it at all and then you pivot and find something else. It’s better to just do something, fail at it, understand that it’s not for you and pivot and finally find what you’re looking for than just not do anything and still stay where you are.
Jaxon and Angel:
Yeah.
Debbie:
And be miserable forever, so that’s even worse.
Jaxon and Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
That’s very true, it’s good to try new things in that way, definitely.
Debbie:
So, for the both of you, let’s move forward to about maybe 40, maybe 50 years from now and you’re both looking back at your life, what legacy would you like to leave and what do you want to be remembered for?
Jaxon:
Let me think about that, that’s a really good question.
Angel:
Yeah.
Jaxon:
I would say like for me, I’d like to leave a legacy, I also just like to enjoy life at the same time, I mean I think it’s kind of both where if it was my legacy I would say I like to just be remembered for trying new things, traveling, hopefully our YouTube would be able to be successful, maybe grow a lot by that time and maybe even start an online company or something by then too as well, I think leave some kind of online footprint of where we have, what we’ve built and pass it on to another generation, somehow, that would be great, but also, I think outside of video and YouTube, I really enjoy making music, I’ve been a music producer for a few years and I’ve also made some songs on Spotify, released some albums and just make a little bit of money from that too as well, I think I would definitely love to make that into something bigger, I want to make more music, play more live shows and stuff, yeah and that also could go another direction, so, I’m just seeing what’s going to work out, and those are my two passions but what about you, what’s your legacy down the road?
Angel:
Yeah, I think the same with what Jaxon said about YouTube and travel, yeah.
Debbie:
Yeah, well it’s good that you’re both together because your future seems to align together.
Jaxon and Angel:
Yeah, that’s true, yeah.
Debbie:
That’s amazing and you know every time you do something like it’s always good to live it to your fullest because most of the time like our legacy is not really to like what we do, it’s what you know, it’s really about what people feel about us and what they remember about us, you know, and obviously your actions and what you leave behind is really great but how you make people feel as well and when you’re able to leave something for others or you know, you have another generation who could take it, it’s so interesting, right? Like how you remember somebody, you know, or even when you talk about what you did in the past, like I can’t imagine being 80 years old and then talking to like young kids or like even your grandchildren and be like, “Back in my day, remote work wasn’t even, it was just starting out, people thought it was crazy, now, you’re like going to the moon and stuff, like,”.
Jaxon:
Yeah, that’s right, it’s also good if you have kids or have like a family in the future we want to, yeah, inspire them, just tell them to follow their passion, do what they want to do, you still have to make a living but as long as you are finding what you want to do, if it’s travel, if it’s content, if it’s whatever, I think it’s always good to inspire them, the next generation and everything too as well.
Angel:
Yes, exactly.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely, so, if our listeners want to learn more about you both, where should they go to find you?
Jaxon:
They can go to a few places, they can go on our YouTube channel, it’s Wanderlost, you can go on there, that’s where a lot of our videos we post are, we do have Instagram separately, we have yours –
Angel:
I have Angel Priskilas for my Instagram.
Jaxon:
Yeah and mine is Lost Masala, that’s my Instagram, so we both have Instagram, I have TikTok as well, same Lost Masala but I would say if they really want to watch some of our content we’ve made, YouTube is the best place to go to, we have our links on there anyway, so just check out our YouTube channel, if you like our content or just want to message us, yeah, feel free and if you like our content, definitely subscribe, it helps us out for sure.
Debbie:
Awesome, well, thank you so much Jaxon and Angel, we really appreciate your journey, for sharing it with us, we can’t wait to find out more and follow you!
Jaxon:
Sounds great!
Angel:
Yeesss!
Jaxon and Angel:
Thank you so much!
Listen to Jaxon and Angel’s extended interview where they talk about what’s it like to live in Bali as digital nomads.
What you’ll find:
In this extended interview, Jaxon and Angel talks about what it’s like to live in Bali as digital nomads.
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