IBIs Digital Nomad Stories

About IBIs Digital Nomad Stories

People with interesting lives. No lessons, no frameworks. Just someone's story, the way they want to tell it.

Publisher

Ibi Malik

Category

business · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Jan 2026

Latest episode

30 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

20 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Selin Türman: The Coding Chef

   Guest: Selin Türman — Community Manager, Burgas Coliving · Founder, Co Club Based: Burgas Coliving, Bulgaria I'm in the courtyard at Burgas Coliving with Selin, my first guest here in Bulgaria, and we aren't alone. Sat with us is her first printed copy of Recipes that Build Communities: Summer Edition, fresh from the printers. "Until I had it in my hand, it felt like a joke. Like a dream." This is what happens when you give a community manager who loves feeding people the space to create something. You get a cookbook that matters. But this conversation isn't just about recipes. It's about how one person has built community through food, code and curation: from a seasonal cookbook, to an AI chatbot that helps nomads cook for a crowd, to Co Club, a platform that's reimagining how digital nomads find home. One subscription, credits the way ClassPass does it, and eighteen co-livings on it so far, every one of them with her name on the recommendation. "I don't have to put my hand on the stove to know that it's hot." Along the way Selin shares something many guests decline to discuss: her genuine passion for AI, and what it means for community building. Co Club was built with Lovable and vibe-coding, no traditional coding required, because she wanted to build it, not because she studied computer science. You don't have to be technical to build something technical. Once you see that it's possible, the fear falls away. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction: people with interesting lives, and welcome Selin 00:29 The cookbook arrived yesterday: “until I had it in my hand, it felt like a joke” 01:42 Like a baby: the Summer Edition, and maybe the other three seasons after all 02:28 Every recipe has a story: shared dinners at Duo, the Azores, and coffee by the ocean 04:50 Why food: a year and a half as community manager, and always on the cooking team 07:43 A cookbook on every bed, and Katya’s point that some people hate cooking 08:48 Ask Selin: an AI chatbot that cooks for eight, and a cookbook the community adds to 11:37 Co Club was vibe-coded: you don’t have to be technical, and the dawn of a new era 13:15 Why Lovable: a master’s thesis on AI tools, Nordic startups, and an interview with Victor 16:56 The butterfly effect: from WhatsApp photo albums to a booking platform 19:21 Modelling excellence: a recipe is copying someone who did it well 21:14 Ibi’s AI setup: the $200 plan, prompts that run all day, and six solutions visualised 25:13 The handpan example: a viral video, six agents, and four hours instead of two days 30:35 What Co Club is: ClassPass credits for co-livings 33:04 Pay one rent and the whole world is home: Barcelona, and dropping the word “subscription” 36:23 Tax deductibility, and earning credits by photographing the Sunday board 37:51 Curation is what I pay for: psychologists, therapists and that uncle 39:33 Eighteen co-livings: “you don’t have to put your hand on the stove to know it’s hot” Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/selin-turman (https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/selin-turman) Guest Instagram: https://instagram.com/selinturman (https://instagram.com/selinturman) Watch: https://youtu.be/es-hzg562cQ (https://youtu.be/es-hzg562cQ)

2. 

   3 Sept 2026

   Matt Davison: The Facilitator

   Guest: Matt Davison — Co-Living Founder & SEO Specialist Based: Cape Town, South Africa Matt Davison left South Africa because of its tainted past and spent fifteen years travelling the world trying to find somewhere else to call home. He found the answer in a co-living in Palma de Mallorca — not a place, but an idea — and then came back to Cape Town and realised the place had been there all along. It took him another year to find the right house. Two and a half years later, Cape Co-Living is a home rather than a business, and he calls himself a community facilitator rather than a host. This conversation isn't about the business model. It's about the memories. The dance party he came home to at eleven at night. Three hundred dolphins breaching at sunset with champagne in hand. A birthday at Gold Restaurant that felt like stepping into Africa itself. It's also about the harder things: a guest targeted and robbed, and how the whole house closed around him afterwards. The stark inequality of Cape Town, and the honest conversations Matt has with guests before they arrive. A hungry man on the street, a guard, and a piece of chicken. Underneath it all is a question about what makes a co-living a co-living. Matt's answer is that the host has to bring the frameworks — the Monday meeting, the name written next to the plan — and then get out of the way. Facilitate, don't control. It's a conversation about coming home, building with intention, and what it means when a house full of strangers starts to feel like family. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction, and why Matt 00:49 Three months at Cape Coliving, and the end of an era 01:22 Why he wanted a co-living: fifteen years of travel, and how isolating it can be 02:24 Palma de Mallorca, the co-living that changed his life 03:22 Back to Cape Town, and a year spent finding the right house 04:00 The dance party in the lounge 04:45 A 7:30am call from Philly, and a guest who wasn't a guest 06:13 Waking him up: you got robbed 07:14 Targeted and drugged, and why they warn guests 08:00 How the house closed around him, and trauma bonding in co-living 08:57 Staying vigilant in South Africa 09:34 Booking three co-livings because they all began with C 10:58 Never booking flights early, and the elephants on the booking page 12:06 All I heard was island: arriving at Robben Island by accident 13:13 Electric fencing, and what it feels like to touch it 13:52 Expectations of Africa, and embracing the mystery 14:45 The inequality, and where it starts to equalise 15:37 Informal housing, and what jars people on arrival 16:43 The question Matt asks every applicant before they come 17:40 The man who wanted the chicken, and the guard who stopped him 19:26 A normal Tuesday 20:18 Whether to give: night shelters, expectation, and the sandwich 21:31 Drugs, kids on the street, and the harder right answer 22:26 Wisdom teeth, painkillers, and walking the street without your wits 24:29 Seeing homeless people differently Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below. Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/matt-davison (https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/matt-davison) Guest website: https://traveltractions.com (https://traveltractions.com) Watch: https://youtu.be/vxkT1mxltTI (https://youtu.be/vxkT1mxltTI)

3. 

   24 Jul 2026

   Haz Memon: The Community Builder

   Guest: Haz Memon Career: Community Builder & Co-Living Founder Instagram: @ourescape.co & @this.is.haz Website: https://www.ourescape.co --- **About Haz's Work** Haz Memon is the founder of Our Escape (https://www.ourescape.co), a destination co-living space designed to bring communities together and create genuine human connections. He's also the creator of Co-living Hub and architect of co-living certification standards designed to raise the quality and authenticity of co-living spaces worldwide. His philosophy: depth over scale, community over growth, and freedom as a state of mind. --- Episode Description Haz Memon doesn't believe in scaling. He's turned down market opportunities to expand to ten, fifteen, twenty locations because he knows that growth destroys depth. Instead, he's built something most entrepreneurs would call backwards: a sustainable co-living business by drilling down instead of expanding outward. He brings people together. He connects human beings in ways that transform them. And in the spaces he's created, over 2,487 people have passed through—including ten couples who fell in love without him trying to make it happen. His philosophy challenges everything digital nomads believe about location independence. Freedom, he says, is not about being able to move whenever you want. It's a state of mind. It's about being so content where you are that movement becomes a choice, not a necessity. Which means you can be free in one location if your mind is free. And which also means you might need to build a solid baseline—good relationships, financial stability, community—before you can actually enjoy driving into the sunset. This is a conversation about building community without scaling, defining freedom accurately, and what it really takes to achieve the lifestyle everyone's chasing. Timestamps 00:00-00:03 Introduction, greeting 00:03-00:20 What's on your mind right now - being at Chateau 00:20-00:38 Do you want to retire early? 00:38-01:00 What is it that you do - bringing people together 01:00-01:41 How many couples have you made - 2,487 people, 10 couples 01:41-02:07 Theory about digital nomads and entrepreneurship 02:07-03:13 Ibi's parallel theory about co-livings and drilling down 03:13-04:03 Tribal thinking, creating depth vs. scaling 04:03-05:14 What does freedom mean exactly? 05:14-06:09 Do nomads need to be location independent for freedom? 06:09-07:02 Co-living isn't just for digital nomads 07:02-07:52 Destination vs residential vs hybrid co-livings 07:52-08:52 Focus on destination co-living for digital nomads and remote workers 08:52-09:59 Real example: London office worker using co-livings for remote work days 09:59-10:28 What are you trying to create? A sense of belonging 10:28-11:22 Freedom is a state of mind, being yourself without judgment 11:22-11:43 Co-living as home, welcoming guests as family 11:43-12:28 The importance of coming with open mind and open heart 12:28-12:59 Co-living Hub project and certifications 12:59-13:47 Co-living mafia question - standardization vs soul 13:47-14:48 What certification looks at: infrastructure, accessibility, sustainability, community 14:48-15:43 Two years of research with co-living founders, debunking fake co-livings 15:43-16:00 [Community-driven solution approach] 16:00-17:00 [Letting go and trust lessons] 17:00-18:00 [Growth versus contentment philosophy] 18:00-19:00 [Opening spaces in Switzerland and Greece] 19:00-20:00 [Personal philosophy on location and passion] 20:00-21:00 [Living in spaces - three months, then five minutes away] 21:00-22:28 Lived near first space for five years, then had to let go 22:28-23:39 Opening second location taught him to trust others 23:39-24:17 Difference between owning and operating 24:17-24:39 Now I choose to visit vs. need to visit 24:39-25:54 How to stop yourself from continuing growth 25:54-26:25 Reaching contentment, happiness level scale 26:25-27:01 Don't worry about stagnation - Co-living Hub, photography, horse riding 27:01-27:34 What have you done in the last year? 27:34-28:24 Got married, threw party of my dreams, visited breathtaking locations 28:24-29:09 Unplanned Greece adventure, driving to island edge, sunset, local feta cheese maker 29:09-29:42 Digital nomads chasing romanticization without baseline 29:42-30:37 Need baseline of sustainability and freedom before driving into sunset 30:37-31:05 Level of contentment, everything figured out to some extent 31:05-31:33 If happy and content, everything after is ecstasy, closing remarks About This Podcast Real conversations with successful digital nomads who've built sustainable location-independent income. Strategic insights on how they transitioned, what income streams they built, and what they wish they'd known earlier. No travel tips or lifestyle fluff. Host Ibi Malik helps ambitious professionals transition to nomadic careers without income sacrifice. To watch the video follow this link: https://youtu.be/jXIhuXyjhls (https://youtu.be/jXIhuXyjhls) Follow for weekly episodes featuring professionals who've successfully built nomadic income streams. Episode length: ~31 minutes Published: 24th July 2026 Episode #18 The Community Builder Who Chose Depth Over Scaling I'm sitting in my usual spot here at Chateau Co-Living, talking to someone who has built something most entrepreneurs would dismiss as too small. Haz Memon creates spaces. Not real estate investments. Not business ventures. Spaces. The kind where 2,487 people have passed through, where ten couples met and fell in love (though he merely created the space for them to find each other), where genuine community happens because he deliberately chose not to scale beyond what he could keep sacred. He's a digital nomad in what he calls the "sloth phase." He doesn't hop between countries chasing experiences. He has four to five locations where he feels genuinely at home, where the bakery owner knows his coffee order, where he's integrated into the culture so deeply that familiarity feels like roots. He measures his life not in business growth or financial milestones, but in happiness levels. And by that metric, he's already won. This is the story of someone who rejected the entire playbook. Creating Space, Not Forcing Connection When Haz talks about what he does, he doesn't say he runs co-livings. He says he brings communities together. He connects human beings in ways that can transform them, enlighten them, create professional relationships and genuine friendships between them. "I bring people. I connect human beings in ways that can transform them, can enlighten them, can create professional relationships between them." And when pressed about the couples who've met in his spaces, he's careful with the language. He didn't make them couples. He created the space for it to happen. "I've created the space that they can connect and that has happened. Just within the spaces that I've created, we've had 2,487 people pass by these spaces." Out of thousands of people, ten couples emerged. Not because he engineered romance, but because he designed the conditions where real people could be themselves and find others who understood them. This distinction matters. Because the entire co-living industry has become cluttered with spaces that call themselves communities but function as service apartments. Rooms with WiFi. People as neighbours, not family. Haz saw this problem clearly. He spent two years researching with co-living founders who all said the same thing: more and more spaces are calling themselves co-livings when they're really just residential buildings with a few communal rooms. So he created the Co-living Hub and built a certification system, not to control the industry like a "co-living mafia," but to define what actually makes a space a community. The certification doesn't just look at how many bedrooms there are or how many Instagram-worthy communal spaces exist. It looks at whether there are actual community events and meals. Whether guests genuinely interact or just pass each other in hallways. Whether the space contributes to sustainability and making the world better. Whether people actually feel they belong. "We look at community, and when I say community, we look at are you hosting community events and community meals? Do these guests actually interact with each other, or are they just neighbours in a building?" Because a true co-living, Haz believes, is like coming home to your family. You walk in and you feel safe. You feel like you belong. Not because anyone tries to make you feel that way, but because the space was designed with intention and the people in it came with open hearts. The Philosophy of Staying Still Here's where Haz's vision gets radical: he's not a travel influencer chasing the next destination. He's not a digital nomad in the way most people understand it. He's in what he calls the "sloth phase." "I do like to spend a longer time in one space or one destination, just because I prefer integrating into the culture as much as possible, rather than hopping quickly from one place to another." He has four to five places he calls home. Not bases he passes through. Places where he knows people. Where there's familiarity and connection. Switzerland. Greece. And a few others where he's spent enough time to understand the rhythm of the place, to have relationships that matter, to feel rooted even while being mobile. This is a completely different version of location independence than what gets marketed to digital nomads. There's no constant movement. No new airport every week. No collecting countries like stamps. Instead, there's depth. Integration. The kind of freedom that comes not from going everywhere, but from choosing your places carefully and living in them like you actually live there. "I could be constrained to one place, but then that's also constraining myself from one way of thinking, one way of culture. Whereas expanding and diversifying that sort of familiarity between different spaces is allowing myself to challenge myself in terms of what sort of cultures I can get along with." And this brings us to his fundamental definition of freedom. It's not what most nomads think it is. "Freedom, I think, is a state of mind more than actually being able to move whenever, wherever you want. It's more about having the sense of like, I can leave when I want to, I can move to a place where I want to. But I can actually be free just where I am." You can be free in one location if your mind is free. You can be trapped whilst constantly moving if your mind is trapped. Freedom is internal. It's about having the option to leave and knowing you don't need to. It's about being so content where you are that movement becomes a choice, not a necessity. The Contentment Threshold Ten years into being a digital nomad, Haz reached a conclusion that contradicts everything the hustle culture teaches: he doesn't want to keep growing. He deliberately kept his co-livings small instead of scaling to ten or fifteen locations. Not because he couldn't. Market opportunities existed everywhere. But because scaling would destroy the thing he values most: genuine community and real freedom. "I never had the ambition to be a millionaire building cool living spaces, scaling cool living spaces to ten, fifteen, twenty locations. My goal was always that I can reach some sort of state of mind where I feel I'm free to do what I want, where I want, and how I want." He measures life differently than most entrepreneurs. Not in revenue. Not in locations opened. Not in followers or influence. In happiness levels. "What happiness level scale I'm at. And if I am at a certain level, I don't need to grow. I don't need more money, I don't need more friends. I don't need more experiences." This isn't resignation or settling. It's reaching a threshold where the baseline is solid. His relationships are good. His work is meaningful. His life is stable enough that he doesn't need to chase more to feel secure. And from that place of stability, he's free to actually enjoy the adventures that come. In the last year alone, he got married, threw the party of his dreams, visited locations that took his breath away. He drove to the edge of a Greek island without planning where he'd stop, met a local making feta cheese, watched sunsets, experienced moments that most people chase their entire lives trying to create. But here's the key insight he shares with digital nomads who are still chasing the romantic version of this lifestyle: "If you're not living the baseline of sustainability and freedom, you can't drive into the sunset. You have to reach a level of content that everything else in your life has been figured out to some extent." You can't enjoy the freedom until you've built the foundation. You can't travel into the sunset if your job is unstable, your relationships are messy, your finances are precarious. You can't be truly free while you're frantically trying to achieve freedom. The Integration What Haz has built isn't just a co-living business or a digital nomad lifestyle. It's an integration of three seemingly contradictory things: genuine community, intentional nomadism, and sustainable happiness. He didn't scale to maximize profit. He scaled to maximize depth. He didn't chase movement to prove freedom. He found freedom in choosing where to be and then actually being there. He didn't optimize for growth because he'd already optimized for contentment. He has side projects. He does photography. He still discovers new things. He can pivot quickly if something interests him. But he does it from a place of abundance, not scarcity. From freedom, not fear. The digital nomads who need to hear his message are the ones exhausted by constant travel, burned out from building, lost in the chase for the next location and the next achievement. His message is simple: maybe freedom isn't about going everywhere. Maybe it's about going somewhere and being completely free once you're there. Maybe growth isn't always the answer. Maybe contentment is. Haz Memon is a community builder and founder of Our Escape (https://www.ourescape.co), a destination co-living space, along with other community spaces across Switzerland, Greece, and beyond. He's also creator of Co-living Hub and architect of co-living certification standards. You can hear his full story about community building without scaling, redefining digital nomadism, and finding freedom through contentment in: [EPISODE URL] Digital nomads and location-independent professionals featured on Ibi's Digital Nomad Stories podcast share insights into building sustainable remote careers. Listen to all episodes: www.ibimalik.com/podcasts/ibis-digital-nomad-stories

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