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This week I speak with Jomie Casas who helps entrepreneurs create automated businesses they love.

Jomie is a nomad entrepreneur, travelling one country a month, while scaling the change she wishes to see in the world, one CEO at a time.

She is an expert at building teams and systems to create more passive income streams.

Listen on to find out tips on how to automate and create a nomadic business from Jomie.

Listen Below:

 

Show Notes:

Debbie:   

Hey everyone, thank you so much for joining us. I’m here with Jomie. Hey Jomie how are you?

Jomie:  

Hey, I’m good. Thank you. Nice to be here.

Debbie:

Thank you so much for joining me. Can you tell us a little bit more about you and why you live an offbeat     life?

Jomie: 

I used to have an e-commerce company and closed my company to start something new. I closed this company so that I could go back and do consulting and helping other people build passive revenue streams through a product based nomadic business.

One day I packed my bags and decided to fly to Georgia of all places. And I just did it. And got clients afterwards and worked with a few different companies. A lot of them are in e-commerce such as Amazon and others have their own product based brands. I help them get clear on what their bigger mission is and like make that into their brand and help them grow.

How to deal with transitions.

Debbie:  

How did you decide that you wanted to be a consultant?

Jomie:

That’s a really tough question to answer because it’s really hard to leave something that is essentially successful and others perceive it as a successful life. But sometimes you just look at your life around you, and your nomadic business and realize it’s not what you want it to look like.

It may have made me happy up to a certain point in time, but I had to acknowledge at that moment that I wanted something different and that I wanted something more.

It may sound like it happened in two seconds, but not really. I closed my company at the end of 2017 and then I went through some soul searching process over the next couple of months after.

In the first half of 2018 I was doing a lot of meditation, spending time in nature. And that’s when I learned about the whole nomad lifestyle. While I was googling Eastern Europe because I wanted to go there and see all the castles and whatever. And that’s when I found out about the nomad lifestyle and it clicked.

Something clicked inside, and I knew I wanted that. I don’t know what being a nomad means, but I want that. And then as I read more about it and researched more about it, the more I realized I could do it and it was the perfect time for me. I didn’t have my company anymore.

I sI had some savings because of my company and I could basically just start over from scratch. My whole life, my whole nomadic business, I could just like take it out and start fresh. So that’s how it was for me.

The first steps to take to become a nomadic business.

Debbie:   

So what were the first steps that you took in order to realize this dream that you have to be nomadic and to be location independent?

Jomie:   

The first thing to do is, to be honest with yourself. Be honest with yourself and what you want in your life right now. Other people may not understand it. My family did not understand it at all cause it’s scary.

No one in my family is a nomad. It’s something new and something scary. You have to be honest and have the courage to say, okay, I want this, I’m going to do something about it. Then the next step would be to do your research. Where can you go, where do you want to go, what is it you want? And if you don’t know, you can choose to do baby steps first.

Before I flew to Georgia, I went to Bali which is about one hour away from the Philippines. I stayed there for a couple of days to make sure I was OK with the transition. Once I realized it was something I enjoyed I began to think – instead of going home from Bali, I can go to Singapore. So I went to Singapore after for a few days and then to Malaysia.

If you just do baby steps, it will help you learn if becoming nomadic is right for you. People travel differently and it’s about finding the perfect combination that works for you.

Setbacks you may encounter when you are living abroad.

Debbie:           

Did you any encounter any setbacks or was there anything that surprised you while you were traveling?

Jomie:            

Yes. Renting out places. You get to see the places that you rent online, basically Airbnb or booking.com. So you can rely on the reviews, but you don’t really know for sure until you’re there. So what I end up doing and what I’ve learned from other nomads is to book a day or two just to check out the place and then if it’s a good place then you should book it for a longer period of time.

What to consider before becoming a digital nomad.

Debbie:        

For someone who is looking at your life and listening to your story, who wants to do something similar, what would be the best thing that they can do to actually create this lifestyle?

Jomie:    

For anyone who wants a nomad lifestyle, you need to have a source of income that you can do remotely. That’s the number one thing. It can be having your own e-commerce company, a consulting business or there are some people that I know who save for work for about a year or two year and then they go on a trip for a year. For the entire year, they go on a trip until their money runs out, then they go back to work again.

Everyone does it differently and you have to define what works for you. For me, I do consulting with business owners, for other people they do drop shipping or e-commerce or writing books or some other way to make income. So a steady source of income would be the top thing you would need.

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• 11 things to consider before becoming a digital nomad.
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Debbie:     

That’s always the hardest thing to do. Especially if you’re a freelancer. If you’re nomadic, it can also be really hard if you want to work and travel at the same time because the work can be unsteady and the money. So definitely create different types of streams of income so you have something during the lean times.

Jomie:            

It is tough I guess especially if you are freelancing for example, cause it’s not a steady job, although I have met nomads that work in a full-time job. My boyfriend actually works full-time in a company that allows him to work 100% remotely. So there are a few nomads companies.

Maybe you can approach your employer and see if they can let you work remotely. Some of them might be open to that. Especially nowadays since it’s not a new thing anymore. I don’t know my lifestyle, it’s not in the room. Working remotely is not a new thing anymore. Approach them and ask if you can work partially or remotely for a month to experiment if it can be beneficial for everyone.

Debbie:   

It never hurts to ask your bosses and the company that you’re working with If you can do your work remotely. If they agree, it can make the transition so much easier than just taking off, leaving, and being stressed out all the time.

New Speaker:   Being an employee somewhere where you have a steady income and still working remotely versus leaving everything and starting your own thing is two completely different things. One is not always better than them but it depends on what you prefer.

Jomie:  

That’s actually so true. I’ve only been doing this for a little over half a year, so not very long, but I’ve already met a couple of nomads who all do it differently. No one does it the same way. Their sources of income are so varied. There’s no one bulletproof way to do it.

You just have to figure out what works for you at your comfort level. Mine was a bit extreme, but also because, l I’m 31 so I’ve had a decade-long of experience in my career, so I’ve done a lot of stuff already. But for others who are just starting out and want to get into the nomad life really early that might be a safer, better option for you because you will need that income while you’re traveling.

How to create income as a business coach.

Debbie:       

How were you able to finance this chosen nomadic business that you have from the start and how do you continue to create income today?

Jomie:      

Through consulting, I take on anywhere between one to two clients every month and it really depends on what I do. What I do for them depends on where they are in the stage of their nomadic business. Some of them are referrals, some of them are cold contacts that I get from social media.

My background is in marketing, so looking for clients is something that I already know how to do. It really depends on your experience as well. So it isn’t that much of a struggle for me. Those are my main sources of income rate right now. I may decide to go back into e-commerce at a certain point because it is a good source of passive income and build my own brand again.

But this time maybe more travel-focused because that’s what I’m passionate about right now. In the past when I had my company, I was passionate about clothing and sexuality. So I had a lingerie business, that’s what fit who I was at the time. So that was the brand I built.

Now it’s a little different. My nomadic business evolves who I am and I guess I’m quite lucky that I am able to generate the income I need to support the lifestyle that I want. And that’s basically what I want to help others do as well. And that’s what I’ve been helping my clients do.

Benefits of lazy entrepreneurship

Debbie:   

I’m a big advocate of being a Lazy Entrepreneur. When I tell people about it, they are often confused and say what do you mean by a lazy entrepreneur? You’re lazy. What is that? Then I explain- you build a business, create a system and then delegate work to others, so later on you don’t have to do everything yourself and focus on growth. A lot of people think you have to hustle forever in your business, but you really don’t.

Jomie:       

That is so true. And I get that lazy entrepreneur, the moment said it I’m like, yeah, exactly. And look, we all go into business obviously to make money, make an impact and do something good with your talents. But, it does not mean you have to work 60-70 hour weeks forever.

The hustle is part of it. Definitely. Especially when you’re getting it off the ground. But if you’ve been in business for a couple of years, two years, three years or more than that, then you cannot justify working the same hours as you did when you first started. That means something is wrong here. You’re not putting in the systems in place and you don’t have the right support in place for you to grow the way you should grow.

That probably means you’re still wearing 10 different hats. Even if already proven the concept of your nomadic business and you have had successful ready. I see that all the time with my clients. They tend to think they need to do everything.

They want to implement 1 million strategies and but usually, the best strategy for them is usually simple and someone else could do it for them. And this generates 60- 70% of their income. In a way, it’s not as complicated as you think and it shouldn’t be that complicated.

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• How to embrace the Lazy Entrepreneur mindset.
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So yeah, the Lazy Entrepreneur, I get that. I really resonate with that a lot.

A lot of my growth also came from ideas from the team that I built. I didn’t get it right the first time, I didn’t hire the right people the first time. I did make mistakes. But then that’s how you learn. That’s how you realize, okay, this is the kind of team I need around me, this is the kind of people that I want around me.

And then you start building that and once you have your Dream Team around you have to let go and then let them do their thing and you’ll be amazed with all the stuff that they come up with.

If you allow them space to test their ideas, make mistakes because they are going to make mistakes and allow them that freedom, they’re really going to surprise you in great ways.

I’ve had my team put out fires for me even before I knew about them. If you do it right, it can really become like a machine that runs on its own and to a certain extent that also grows on its own. Cause your team grows it for you.

That’s what I really loved about it. That’s what I’m trying to help my clients do right now cause it’s totally possible for everyone no matter how small or how big. It doesn’t have to be for big companies because I’ve worked with a team of 40 people and I’ve also worked with clients who had five employees. But it works both ways. You can have high performers at both levels.

How to find the right team to outsource work for your nomad business. 

Debbie:   

How do you find the right team for your business? That’s one of the things that a lot of people struggle with is finding the right types of people to work for them. And to be dedicated to their vision.

Jomie:    

This will all go back to your brand as well. People think that a brand is just creating a logo, website, and then boom, that’s it. But that’s not what a brand is. A brand is everything that you are, everything that you believe in, everything that you stand for. And you always start with that.

Let’s say you get clear on what their belief system is, what your values are, and then you put that into a brand manifesto. You actually have it written in a document and you start all your job posts with that.

This is what my company believes in, this is our values, this is the vision that we have, whatever. And you’re going to start attracting the people who believe the same thing.

You’re going to attract people, you don’t have to motivate every day. You don’t have to motivate them that much because the reason you attracted them in the first place was because of your values, what you believe, what you want to accomplish in this world.

It becomes easier cause they’ll willingly show up every day because they love you and they love what you’re doing. And that’s basically what happened to me and that’s what I do for my clients.

Marketing strategies for your business.

Debbie:     

I think that’s what we all underestimate is that finding those people is not as hard as you think. If you are clear on what your own vision is because they’re going to be behind you. If you are really passionate about what you’re doing then they’re going to be doing the same thing as well. Then you nurture those relationships because they are really crucial to growing your nomadic business.

What have been the best marketing strategies that have worked really well for you?

Jomie:  

There’s no one strategy that works for everyone. It always really depends on what your business is and what you’re trying to achieve. For example: for my last client it was wholesaling, for another client it was all about getting influencers involved.

For another client, it was more about direct marketing. So the strategy always depends on who you are and what you’re trying to achieve.

I’ll go back again to the whole branding perspective. That is really the best marketing strategy that you can do is to get clear on your brand because everything will come from there.

There are a lot of entrepreneurs who think that they have to do the newest thing that they see in marketing. Things that will help them grow when sometimes what you need is very simple. I think simple, easy and that fits well with your brand and what you’re trying to do, that’s usually what brings the biggest returns.

There isn’t just one strategy or tactic that works for everyone. The only thing that does that applies to everyone is getting clear on your brand, getting clear on your vision, why you’re doing it and how are you doing it?

Debbie: 

Let’s fast forward to 30 years from now and you’re looking back at your life. What legacy would you like to leave and what do you want to be remembered for?

I want to be remembered as the coach who helped businesses impact and changed the world. I’m really big on making your mission into your brand and I think that everyone, every entrepreneur has that bigger mission.

They may not know it yet or maybe they have, they’ve seen glimpses of it and I want to help them make that vision bigger because everyone has all the tools we need right now to save the world.

Debbie: 

So let’s get to some fun questions. Some people like myself, I nerd out on interviewing inspiring people like you and hiking. What about you? What do you nerd out on

Jomie:

My boyfriend and I are talking about buying a sailboat sailing around the world. Not sure about that. We both don’t know how to sail. I’ve never really been in a boat, so I’m not sure where that idea came from. But yeah, we’re actively looking at sailboats right now. And another idea was to drive across Europe.

Debbie:       

Is there any question that you wish people asked you more?

Jomie:    

How to build a nomadic business they love? Most of the time I would get clients who would ask me how to get their business to make more money or how to automate their businesses, how to get it running without them.

That’s usually the problem that I solve for my clients, but I wished that I would get more people who would ask me how to build businesses that they love.

Debbie:   

If our listeners want to know more about you, where can they find you

Jomie:

You can find me at jomiecasas.com/

Debbie:

Well, thank you so much Jomie for speaking with us today. I really appreciate it.

Jomie:    

Yes, I’m so happy to speak with you, this was a really fun conversation and it is good to get to know you, Debbie.

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Listen to Jomie’s extended interview where she shares how to build a business from your vision.

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