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IBIs Digital Nomad Stories

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by Ibi Malik

15 episodes

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Real conversations with successful nomads who've cracked the code on location-independent income. Strategic insights on how they transitioned, what income streams they built, and what they wish they'd known earlier.

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1/9/2026

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Recent Episodes

June 12, 2026

Yelena McElwain: The 10-Year Retiree

Guest: Yelena McElwain Career: Retired Data Analyst Based: Nomadic Instagram: @meditationcompass Website: www.meditation-compass.com   Episode Description Yelena McElwain discovered FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) at 25 when she read Tim Ferriss's "The Four Hour Workweek." But she didn't want to start a business like Ferriss did. Instead, she kept working as a data analyst, saved intentionally, and hit her financial independence number in ten years. Not because she was aiming for exactly ten years, but because she had a concrete target based on her spending: roughly 200 times her monthly expenses, or 25 times her annual spending. When the 4% rule is working in your favour, that's your ticket out. She didn't quit immediately when she hit her number. She continued working for another 3-4 years while projects started shifting in directions she didn't want to go. Then she left, travelled full-time for three years, settled in Denver for another three, and now she dives on shipwrecks, practises yoga, and teaches meditation. She teaches Instinctive Meditation, a practice rooted in The Radiance Sutras, honouring individual nature rather than forcing rigid techniques. Here's the twist that breaks all the assumptions about early retirement: she spends less now than when she was working. Her childhood in 1990s Russia taught her frugality, her Russian parents prepared her to always be ready, and that foundation made saving as natural as breathing. This is not a story about luck. It's a spreadsheet equation anyone can solve if they treat freedom as a number rather than a fantasy.   Timestamps 00:00-00:37 Introduction 00:37-01:05 Ibi's intro of Yelena, FIRE formula explanation 01:05-01:34 The 4% rule, ten-year journey, diving and meditation 01:34-01:45 Conversation beginning 01:45-02:00 How long nomadic, six years almost 02:00-03:00 Three years full-time nomad, three years half-time 03:00-03:30 Quit job whilst full-time nomading, got tired of travel, moved to Denver 03:30-04:30 Countries visited, Mexico, Colombia, Vietnam, Bali 04:30-05:45 Average 10-12 countries per year, one month each 05:45-06:24 Dive master training, diving on shipwrecks 06:24-07:21 Discovered FIRE at 25, Tim Ferriss "Four Hour Workweek" 07:21-08:00 FIRE wasn't earth-shattering initially, unsure if it was for her 08:00-08:40 Tim Ferriss business path versus saving path 08:40-09:50 Data analysis career, studied economics 09:50-10:15 Data science explosion, right place right time 10:15-11:00 FIRE inspiration, saving mentality, not becoming big spender 11:00-12:00 Russian childhood foundation, frugality mindset 12:00-13:00 Set monetary target based on spending 13:00-14:30 The 4% rule explained, 200 times monthly spending 14:30-15:30 Portfolio growth assumptions, inflation adjustments 15:30-16:30 Real estate versus stock market investments 16:30-17:30 Ten-year saving journey, reaching financial independence goal 17:30-18:30 Continued working 3-4 years after hitting number 18:30-19:30 Projects not going in desired direction, decision to quit 19:30-20:30 Travelling whilst still working, remote work flexibility 20:30-21:30 First month or two identity crisis after retiring 21:30-22:30 "Who am I?" question, fear and confusion alongside excitement 22:30-23:30 Importance of hobbies and interests before retirement 23:30-24:30 Spending less in retirement than when working 24:30-25:30 Slower travel, volunteering, dive master training 25:30-26:30 Under-spending target provides more security 26:30-27:30 Travel still main passion 27:30-28:30 Teaching meditation to digital nomads and nomad community 28:30-29:30 Instinctive Meditation practice, The Radiance Sutras, Dr. Lorin Roche 29:30-30:30 Two passions going forward, yoga and meditation, travel 30:30-31:30 What to do when grown up, following passions unclear but clear 31:30-32:17 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: <a href="https://youtu.be/1RPghL9albQ">https://youtu.be/1RPghL9albQ</a>  Follow for weekly episodes featuring professionals who've successfully built nomadic income streams. --- **Learn More About Yelena's Work**   Yelena teaches **Instinctive Meditation**, a practice that honours your individual nature rather than forcing you into one rigid technique. Rather than fighting your thoughts or restlessness, you learn to work with your body's own meditative instincts, so practice becomes nourishing and sustainable. The work is rooted in **The Radiance Sutras**, Dr. Lorin Roche's version of an ancient tantric text offering 112 doorways into meditation through breath, the senses, and everyday experience. - Instagram: @meditationcompass - Website: www.meditation-compass.com - Learn about Instinctive Meditation: https://www.meditation-compass.com/what-is-instinctive-meditation - Blog: https://www.meditation-compass.com/blog - Newsletter signup available on the main page --- Episode length: ~32 minutes Published: 12th June 2026 Episode #15   <h3>The 10-Year Retiree Who Achieved Financial Freedom Through Patience</h3> Today I had the honour of sitting down with one of the youngest retirees I've ever met. As soon as I heard a glimpse of her story, I knew this was something the listeners needed to hear. Sitting in the usual French chateau, I got ready to take some notes and listen to Yelena's success. Yelena McElwain doesn't have to work anymore. Not because she won the lottery or inherited money or sold a startup. Because she spent ten years saving intentionally and now lives off passive income from investments. She's financially free, spends her time diving, practising yoga, teaching meditation, and travelling without checking her bank account nervously. She's in what most people would call the prime working years of their career. The years when you're supposed to be climbing the ladder, chasing promotions, building your CV. Instead, she's done. She hit her number, quit her job, and stepped off the treadmill entirely. When I ask her how it feels, she says simply, "Good." That's Yelena. Calm. Measured. No dramatic story about burnout or escaping the corporate hellscape. Just a quiet, methodical approach to building freedom, and then actually using it.   <h3>The Book That Started Everything</h3> It began with a book. She was about 25, already working her second job in data analysis, fairly established in her career. Someone recommended Tim Ferriss's "The Four Hour Workweek," and she read it with interest but not earth-shattering revelation. "When I first learned about it, it wasn't like an earth shattering thing, like because I wasn't sure that I could do it. Like I wasn't sure that it was for me." Ferriss focuses on starting your own business to achieve what's now called FIRE: Financial Independence, Retire Early. Build something, automate it, work four hours a week maintaining it, spend the rest on whatever you want. That path didn't appeal to Yelena. She wasn't interested in starting a business or doing what Ferriss did. But as she kept reading, kept discovering blogs and posts about different pathways to the same goal, she realised something crucial. You don't need to be an entrepreneur. You can work a normal job, focus on the saving side rather than the business creation side, and still get there. "I kind of began to realize that maybe this is something that I'm interested in." The acronym FIRE came later, but the concept was already forming. Save aggressively. Invest wisely. Build passive income. Eventually reach a point where you don't need to work anymore. It wasn't a lightning bolt moment. It was a slow realisation that this might actually be possible for her.   <h3>The Russian Foundation</h3> Saving came naturally to Yelena. Not because she was born disciplined, but because of how she grew up. She lived in Russia until she was ten. The 1990s. Economic collapses, political instability, uncertainty everywhere. Her family never had much money, and there was always this underlying idea of being prepared for whatever comes next. "I grew up in Russia until I was ten. And so yeah, we never had a lot of money. I think there was always like this idea of like being ready for whatever comes." Her parents taught her to be frugal. Not miserly, but simply not living paycheque to paycheque. Spending less than you earn. Having that security. When she started working after university, she just continued that pattern. When she discovered FIRE at 25, she didn't need to overhaul her lifestyle. She was already on that path. The book just gave her a framework and a target.   <h3>Right Place, Right Time</h3> The other piece of luck: she studied economics, started working in data analysis right after university, and happened to enter the field just as it exploded. Data science didn't really exist as a formal field when she started. It was just emerging. And then over the next decade, it became one of the most in-demand technical specialities in the world. Shortage of qualified people, companies desperate to hire, salaries climbing. "It was kind of a good time to start in data analysis work. And then it became bigger and bigger and bigger. And so yeah, I was able to have quite a nice career." I asked her if she planned this, if she knew going into it that data science would explode. "No, no, no. I went into it just because I liked it. And that was a job that I found. I liked solving problems. I liked kind of some of the coding. I like to build it into reports and I enjoyed it. So I stuck with it and then it kind of, yeah, exploded. And I was in the right place at the right time." She didn't plan this. She went into data analysis because she enjoyed the work. The fact that it also paid higher than normal was a bonus she didn't anticipate. But her point is clear: "I think anyone can do fire. I think it's more a matter of setting the goal and, you know, creating that kind of saving potential. So spending less than you earn."   <h3>The 10-Year Plan</h3> Once she had the target and the framework, it was straightforward. Not easy, but straightforward. The FIRE target is based on your spending, not your age. It's called the 4% rule. You need roughly 25 times your annual spending saved and invested. Or put another way, 200 times your monthly spending. Because you can withdraw 4% per year whilst the portfolio continues growing at 6-7% (the historical stock market average), leaving 2-3% to cover inflation. Yelena set her target based on her spending, then just started saving as much as she comfortably could. She wasn't trying to hit retirement in exactly ten years. She had a monetary goal and figured she'd get there whenever she got there. She tracked her total net worth using apps like Mint that connect to all your accounts and show you the full picture. "My goal was not ten years. I had a monetary goal and then I was just, you know, going to get there at some point. So I was just, you know, saving as much as I comfortably could." Ten years later, she hit the number.   <h3>Travelling Whilst Working</h3> She didn't retire immediately when she reached her goal. That's an important detail most people miss. She started travelling first. For three years, she was a full-time nomad whilst working a full-time job. By that point, she had the financial cushion to take risks with her career. She could focus on what she actually wanted to do, even if it might compromise her professional trajectory. She travelled to 10-12 countries a year whilst maintaining her job, averaging about a month in each place. Mexico. Colombia. Vietnam. Bali. Nicaragua, where she spent four or five months doing her dive master training on Little Corn Island. The Philippines. Sri Lanka, diving on shipwrecks. Remote work made it possible to have both the income and the lifestyle. "I was able to kind of focus okay. Like I really want to travel, I'm going to do this even if it may be like compromises my career eventually. But I was still able to work remotely, which was helpful." Then she quit her job whilst still travelling full-time. Her projects at work weren't going in the direction she wanted anymore, and she had the security to walk away. After that, she got tired of full-time travel and decided to spend half her time at a home base in Denver, half travelling. The last three years have been that split, giving her both rootedness and adventure.   <h3>The Identity Crisis</h3> You'd think retiring early would be pure relief. Freedom. Excitement. And there is that. But there's also something else that hits about a month or two in. "When I first retired, like maybe a month or two in there is kind of like an identity shift. Like I was like, oh, I'm no longer a data scientist. I'm not even a digital nomad because I'm not, like, digitally making money. More like, who am I? What am I like? What am I going to do with my life?" "I think there was both. Yes, excitement, but also kind of fear and confusion." This is why she emphasises having hobbies and interests already in place before you retire. You need somewhere to channel your energy when work disappears. Otherwise, you're floating, untethered, asking yourself what you're doing with your life even though you've achieved the goal millions dream about.   <h3>The Spending Paradox</h3> Before retiring, Yelena worried her spending would increase. It made logical sense. If you have all this free time and nothing to do, surely you'll spend more to entertain yourself? Fill the hours that used to be occupied by work with activities, hobbies, purchases? The opposite happened. "I actually found the opposite. Like I was able to spend less and I'm able to spend less now that I'm retired." Slower travel. Longer stays. Volunteering. Activities that take time rather than money. The dive master training in Nicaragua, something she never would have had time for whilst working, occupied her for months. She's focusing on things that are meaningful rather than things that are quick. She's currently under-spending her target, which provides more security. The portfolio can grow. If there's a year with unexpected expenses, she's prepared. That childhood lesson from Russia, always being ready for whatever comes, still applies.   <h3>What She Does Now</h3> Travel is still the main thing. Always was a passion. Being able to do it without worrying about deadlines and meetings is exactly what she wanted. But she's also building something else: teaching meditation. She offers a free weekly class, currently for friends but growing to include other travellers and digital nomads. It's not about building a business or monetising a skill. It's about sharing something she believes helps people, especially nomads who are constantly moving, constantly ungrounded. "I think it's important for digital nomads because it just kind of helps ground, helps kind of relieve some of that energy that I feel like is very unbound because we're traveling so much, because we're kind of constantly moving around." Yoga. Meditation. Travel. Those are the two main passions, and that's what she wants to continue doing. Spending time with friends and family, old and new. Building a life around what actually matters instead of what pays. When I frame it in terms of time, the years she has ahead of her now that she's financially free, she acknowledges it's exciting but also unclear. "I think partially I ask myself that as well. What am I going to do when I grow up? And it's not always clear, but I think following these two passions is kind of the path."   <h3>The Path Forward</h3> Ten years. That's what it took. Not a lifetime of grinding. Not waiting until 65. Ten years of intentional saving, living below her means, investing wisely, and then stepping off when she hit her number. Yelena didn't invent this approach. "I feel like I am lucky to have kind of figured out that this is possible, that this is something that people do and kind of read about how people do it. But I didn't invent this. Like I just learned from others." The information is out there. Blogs. Books. Communities of people who've documented the process. The 4% rule. The importance of tracking your spending. How to calculate your target. The framework is available to anyone willing to learn it. She's teaching meditation now, helping nomads feel grounded. She's diving, practising yoga, exploring countries at her own pace, living without the pressure of monetising every moment. She's under-spending her target, building security, preparing for whatever comes. Ten years of patience. A lifetime of freedom. That's the trade she made. Yelena McElwain achieved financial independence through intentional saving over ten years and now teaches meditation whilst travelling the world. You can hear her full story about the 4% rule, the identity shift after retiring, and why she spends less now than when she was working in. 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

May 29, 2026

Andreea Rusu: The Connector

Guest: Andreea Rusu Career: Marketing Manager Based: Nomadic Instagram: andreea.rrusu   Episode Description Andreea Rusu was sad and depressed in her Bucharest flat in June 2021, post-COVID, with no money to travel. So she bought a one-way ticket to Spain, spent half a year researching on YouTube and Google, and discovered the World Packers platform. She applied to 40 volunteer opportunities, got accepted to 12, and ended up in Anceu, Galicia—a 100-person village in rural Spain—to do some Instagram marketing for a co-living space. What was meant to be a one-month stay became five months, then extended to two and a half years of returning repeatedly. Because when she arrived, something shifted. On a date before the trip, someone had asked her, "Who are you?" and she could only answer, "I'm Andreea and I'm a video editor." At Anceu, surrounded by strangers who became family, she finally discovered the answer. She wasn't just a video editor. She was a community builder. A connector. Someone who made strangers feel like they belonged. Now she's building a directory bridging two worlds: community builders looking for places to volunteer, and co-living spaces looking for community builders. She's experienced 15-plus co-livings, understood the power of genuine curiosity, learned that what you feel is valid even when you grew up in a conservative environment that told you to shut up, and realised that being a community builder is actually a full-time job in mental space—even if volunteering looks part-time. If you want to know everything about co-living, about finding yourself by helping others belong, about the personal development bootcamp that is community building, Andreea is your person.   Timestamps 00:00-00:37 Introduction by Ibi 00:37-02:00 Andreea's story intro, depressed in Bucharest, one-way ticket to Spain 02:00-03:00 Discovery of World Packers, applied to 40 opportunities 03:00-03:30 Anceu co-living, Galicia, rural village 03:30-04:20 First month experience 04:20-05:30 Marketing volunteer role discovering co-living concept 05:30-06:50 Applied to 40 opportunities, accepted to 12, found Anceu 06:50-08:15 Stayed one month, emerged as community builder 08:15-09:30 The date question "Who are you?" identity crisis as video editor 09:30-10:30 InsideOut project by J.R., rural revival cause 10:30-12:00 Using InsideOut as excuse to stay longer 12:00-13:00 Two types of communities, online and offline 13:00-14:30 Building community in tiny 100-person village 14:30-15:00 Trust people, don't guide them through everything 15:00-15:45 Conservative upbringing, fear of speaking openly 15:45-16:30 Learning from others' stories, discovering multifaceted self 16:30-17:00 "What you feel is valid"—psychologist moment 17:00-18:30 Control freak lesson at team dinner, learning to trust 18:30-20:00 Lived there on and off, one year nonstop 20:00-21:30 Community expanded from co-living to village to neighbouring villages 21:30-23:00 Personal development bootcamp aspects 23:00-24:30 Permission to fail, observer role, awareness of impact 24:30-25:30 Friends around the world, friendships built through co-living 25:30-26:30 Material benefits, no rent, maintaining freedom 26:30-27:00 Meeting partner at Anceu 27:00-28:00 Been in 15+ co-livings, understanding different spaces 28:00-28:30 Current work in Belgium and building community for builders 28:30-29:55 Creating directory of co-living opportunities 29:55-30:30 Bridging community builders with co-living operators 30:30-31:45 Personal development benefits of volunteering 31:45-32:15 Observer role and impact awareness 32:15-33:00 Making friends worldwide, global network 33:00-33:30 Materialistic benefits, no rent expenses 33:30-34:30 Career development trade-offs, full-time mental space 34:30-35:45 Volunteered for 2.5 years, then stopped to process insights 35:45-36:20 Can you do both, job and volunteering? 36:20-38:30 Advice: doesn't depend on career stage, depends on values 38:30-39:10 Genuine care, nurturing vibe, can switch brain to others 39:10-39:45 Closing, thank you   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: <a href="https://youtu.be/jo-hT8Yy9ZQ">https://youtu.be/jo-hT8Yy9ZQ</a> Follow for weekly episodes featuring professionals who've successfully built nomadic income streams. Episode length: ~40 minutes Published: 29th May 2026 Episode #14   <h3>The Connector Who Found Herself by Helping Others Belong</h3> I'm sitting in a French castle talking to someone who spent a total of two and a half years living in a 100-person village in rural Spain, not visiting or passing through, but actually living there as the person who helped strangers feel like they belonged. Andreea Rusu has this incredible energy about her when she talks about community building, this genuine warmth that makes you understand immediately why she's good at what she does. She didn't plan any of it. June 2021, she was sad and depressed in her Bucharest flat, and one day she just bought a one-way ticket to Spain because staying felt worse than leaving. She couldn't afford traditional travel, so she did what so many of us do when we're desperate to change our lives: she spent half a year Googling and watching YouTube videos until she discovered World Packers and the concept of volunteering in exchange for accommodation. "I applied to 40 opportunities like just, you know, random to see what clicks or not. I was, I had zero expectations. And out of these 40 opportunities, I got accepted to 12 of them. And I was like, really? People can offer you a free stay and pay utilities and other perks if you help them with a little bit of marketing." The one that stood out was in Anceu, Galicia. The description mentioned digital nomads working on their projects during the day, doing dinners and hikes together in the evenings. What was meant to be a one-month stay ended up being five months, and she kept coming back for two and a half years after that. What happened in those first weeks changed the entire trajectory of her life, though she didn't know it yet. <h3>Who Are You?</h3> There's this moment Andreea shares that explains everything about why co-living mattered so much to her. She was on a date once, and the guy asked her, "Who are you?" She answered the way most of us would: "Well, I'm Andreea and I'm a video editor." He stopped her. "I don't care what you do for a job. Who are you as a person?" She didn't know. "That question like struck me. I was like, who am I? Who am I? I don't know, who am I? I was, I knew somehow inside about my desires, my burning curiosities, but I didn't know who I am." That question haunted her. She'd spent her whole life identifying with her profession, never thinking about who she actually was beneath the job title. When she arrived at that first co-living in Anceu, she wasn't just looking for a place to stay. She was looking for herself. "I feel like I found my people, I found my world. I found myself first." She went as a marketing volunteer, meant to help with Instagram promotion and blog posts. Simple stuff. But she found herself naturally gravitating toward something else. Every new person who walked through the door, she wanted to know their story. She'd sit with them for hours, genuinely curious about where they came from and what brought them there. She started engaging people in activities, bringing them together, and the community builder role just emerged from that curiosity. "This is the job or the job, the role that came to me just because I was genuinely curious about people, I was engaging them in activities, I was like bringing them together." One month turned into five through clever negotiation. She pitched an art project called InsideOut by French artist J.R., photographing local villagers to raise awareness about rural revival: the idea that rural areas can thrive when you connect nature, slow-paced living, and remote work infrastructure. The portraits would take a month to ship from France, and she'd paste them on walls around the village. "I use this as an excuse like, hey, I cannot leave now. I have to wait for my project to be finished." It worked. And those projects started connecting the co-living community to the village itself. At first, locals were skeptical about all these strangers coming and going. But through rural revival and opening doors to invite villagers in, the community expanded. First to the village, then to neighbouring villages. Now it's spread across Galicia. The co-living wasn't isolated, it became part of the place. <h3>Permission to Feel</h3> The personal transformation went deeper than discovering a new skill. Andreea grew up in a conservative environment where you didn't talk openly about what you were thinking or feeling. You shut up, didn't complain, toughened up. She spent years building walls, always looking over her shoulder, never knowing if anyone would accept what she had to say. Then one day she was crying, really struggling with something, and a psychologist from the community sat down with her. "She took my hands and looked at me and she said, like, Andreea, what you feel it's valid. It's real. Because I couldn't process what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling because I didn't allow it to to feel it first and to accept it." That sentence broke something open. Nobody had ever told her that before. That her feelings mattered. That she didn't have to process everything alone first, toughen up, present a perfect version of herself. She could feel something, accept it, then process it. The permission to feel changed everything. "I grew up in such an environment where you have to shut up, you have to do not complain, you toughen up. I had like these walls on me, always looking over my shoulder and not telling what I'm truly going through. And I didn't know who I am." Co-living gave her that acceptance. She watched people talk with ease about topics she'd been afraid to touch. Their openness gave her courage. If they could speak freely about what they were thinking and feeling, maybe she could too. She started sharing more. People encouraged her, added to her stories, complimented her perspective. It created this beautiful loop where the more she shared, the deeper she could go, the more she discovered about herself. Another moment: they were preparing a team dinner, five people cooking together. Andreea and another volunteer went to set up activities, leaving a guy to watch the food. She couldn't stop stressing. What if he forgets the potatoes in the oven? What if something burns? She was a control freak, couldn't enjoy the moment at all. The other volunteer said, "Andreea, learn to let go. Trust people that they can handle it. You don't have to be their mother." That lesson stuck. Trust people. They can handle things themselves. You don't have to control everything. Just have faith and relax. "I learned to to to relax, to be more at ease. It's okay with who you are. It's okay to trust people. It's you're safe here." Through these experiences, through watching other people be themselves, she discovered she wasn't just Andreea the video editor. She was Andreea who loves cooking and teaching classes and playing board games and talking openly about things that matter. And if that guy from the date asked her now who she was, she'd have a real answer. She'd been all those things the whole time. She just needed space to let them surface. <h3>The Trade-Off Nobody Warns You About</h3> Here's what the glossy co-living marketing doesn't tell you: being a community builder is a full-time job disguised as part-time volunteering. Not full-time in hours. Full-time in mental space. When you're genuinely present in a community, when you're the person creating connection for others, you're never fully off. Andreea did this for two and a half years, almost three. She lived at Anceu for one year nonstop, then kept coming back. She learned that curiosity is infectious, that when one person shares something with passion, everyone else gets curious too. She learned to perceive emotions, to listen deeply, to notice her impact on others. But then she realised she needed to stop. She'd grown as much as she could in that role, needed time to process everything she'd learned, and needed to focus on her career. "You cannot really have time to develop a career. When I do things, I am very much involved. I cannot, I am with my mind and my soul into something." Some people treat their job as just a job with clear boundaries and easy disconnect. Andreea isn't wired that way. When she's in, she's fully in. Being a community builder and building a serious career simultaneously? Too much. She had to choose. But here's the paradox: those years of volunteering opened doors her CV never could. The job she has now, marketing manager for a Belgian company converting 19th-century townhouses into shared living spaces, came through co-living connections. Her network exploded. Her perspectives expanded. She discovered opportunities she never would have found sitting in Bucharest scrolling LinkedIn. She also met her partner through co-living, and they now travel together instead of separately. "I think this is something I want to let people know: once you go in co-living and you expose yourself, you get to enrich your perspectives and your network so much, your friends." Expose yourself. That's the key. Not just show up, but genuinely put yourself out there. Be curious. Have conversations. Care about people's stories. The returns compound in ways you can't predict. <h3>Building the Bridge</h3> Now Andreea's building a community for community builders, a directory connecting people who want to volunteer with co-livings looking for help. She's bridging the two worlds because she's been in both positions. I ask her: would you recommend this to someone established in their career, someone already making six figures in a traditional job? "I don't think I can say that just a certain type of person can do it, depending on their career stage. Not at all. It more depends on your values. Like what do you want? What do you need? What do you love?" The question isn't where you are professionally. It's whether you have genuine care for helping people have a good time, whether you can focus on others, whether you're willing to be fully present. If yes, the rest doesn't matter. The benefits are personal growth, friends worldwide, and permission to fail in a low-stakes environment. You become more aware of your impact. You learn to listen. You grow in ways books can't teach. <h3>From Not Knowing to Knowing</h3> Four years ago, Andreea couldn't answer who she was beyond her job title. She was depressed in Bucharest, not knowing what she was craving or how to find it. Now she's the person others come to for co-living advice. She's lived in 15-plus spaces, has friends scattered worldwide, works for a company she believes in, travels with a partner she met through this journey, and helps others follow similar paths. The transformation required leaving everything familiar, volunteering for years without serious income, learning to fail publicly, accepting discomfort as growth. Co-living didn't give her answers. It gave her permission to ask the questions, to try things, to fail, to speak openly, to trust that what she feels is valid. To discover she's multifaceted, complex, capable of more than she imagined. And now, if someone asks her who she is, she knows exactly how to answer. Andreea Rusu works as a marketing manager for a Belgian residential space whilst building a community for community builders.  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

May 15, 2026

Ab Khurana: The Experimenter

Guest: Ab Khurana Career: Sales Executive Based: Nomadic Instagram: @ab.photolab LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abkhurana/">linkedin.com/in/abkhurana/</a> Episode Description Ab Khurana treats his entire life as a series of experiments, including the experiment of having a normal life. Two years ago, the timing was right to settle, so he signed a lease in San Diego, built a routine, joined sports leagues, dated normally—all the standard stuff. Then, two years later, the timing was right to leave, so he left. Some people would call that a success. Some would call it a failure. Ab just calls it valuable experience. He doesn't theorise about what he wants. He runs experiments and observes the results. His framework: try ten things, you'll love three, hate three, and feel neutral about four. But only once you've actually tried them, not just imagined them, will you know what to orient your life around. San Diego taught him he's definitely a beach and sun person. That making new friends as an adult matters to him. That two years of routine felt good but not complete. Now he's pursuing the specific things his twelve-year-old self always wanted to do whilst the window is still open. Machu Picchu, check. Erupting volcano in Guatemala, check. Scuba diving certification despite being scared of water, check. Next up: the Galapagos Islands, a safari in Africa, a month on a farm with WWOOF making things with his hands instead of pushing pixels. And eventually, being a tourist in India, the country where he spent his first thirteen years but hasn't visited since. This is a masterclass in building self-knowledge through empirical living. When you stop predicting how you'll feel and start collecting actual evidence, you stop wondering what you've missed and start knowing what matters. The tetherball metaphor applies: you can stray as far as you want, but you're still tethered to something solid—whether that's good parents, close friends, or the three things you've discovered you genuinely love. Trust your inner fire. It's unique to you, and that's the point.   Timestamps 00:00-00:41 Introduction 00:41-02:05 Guest introduction 02:05-03:33 Two and a half years nomadic in two stints 03:33-05:04 San Diego experiment, lease and routine 05:04-06:38 Why he left, timing and freedom before commitments 06:38-07:56 Long-term relationships and family considerations 07:56-09:18 Twelve-year-old dreams and pursuing new experiences 09:18-10:05 Maslow's hierarchy of needs discussion 10:05-12:34 Fulfilling relationship needs through community 12:34-13:29 Nomads more open and untethered from roles 13:29-14:20 Only getting one layer deep, something missing 14:20-15:23 Strengthening existing relationships 15:23-16:57 Electron metaphor, travellers vs settled people 16:57-18:21 Hopping on friends' trips, maintaining connections 18:21-19:42 US vs Europe vacation time, 15 days vs 35 days 19:42-21:48 Tetherball metaphor, being grounded whilst travelling 21:48-23:41 Good parents as foundation, unconditional love 23:41-24:58 Ten experiments framework, love 3, hate 3, neutral 4 24:58-25:54 Self-awareness through experimentation 25:54-28:11 Ibi's grounding, music and fire metaphor 28:11-29:59 Inner fire, comparing to others leads to analysis paralysis 29:59-30:13 Finding people who encourage your unique fire 30:13-32:37 AI discussion, cultural shift and adaptation 32:37-35:21 AI tinkerers, people who played the game before 35:21-38:42 Recent adventures, Machu Picchu, volcano, scuba diving 38:42-40:49 Future plans, Galapagos, safari, WWOOF, India as tourist 40:49-41:28 Closing 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: <a href="https://youtu.be/Tv0I1FYH2sI">https://youtu.be/Tv0I1FYH2sI</a> Follow for weekly episodes featuring professionals who've successfully built nomadic income streams. Episode length: ~41 minutes Published: 15th May 2026 Episode #13   <h3>The Experimenter Who Builds Self-Knowledge Through Experience </h3> We're sitting in a French castle talking about Ab Khurana's two years in San Diego. The lease, the routine, the dating, the sports leagues. Normal life, basically. "And this sounds like an experiment," I say. "What did it yield?" He laughs. "It's funny to call it an experiment because to most people that's life. It's just, hey, get a lease and let's live here." "You've been interviewing too many nomads," he adds. Fair point. But that's exactly how Ab thinks. Not settling versus travelling. Not success versus failure. Just trying different things and seeing what works. The timing was right to get a lease in San Diego, so he did. Two years later, the timing was right to leave, so he left. He lives in the present, responding to what makes sense now. <h3>The Timing Calculation</h3> Two years ago, the timing was right to settle. His friend was moving to San Diego. The city appealed to him. He wanted to explore what stability felt like. So he got a lease, built a routine, made new friends. Then circumstances shifted. His friend moved out of their shared flat. He wasn't in a long term relationship. His job stayed remote. And crucially, he's in his early-to-mid thirties, which means the window for certain experiences hasn't closed yet. The timing was right to leave. It's not about one choice being better than the other. It's about responding to the moment and taking advantage of the situation as it presents itself. "I kind of just take advantage of the situation while I'm still in my early 30s or mid 30s before it gets harder to do. If you are going to potentially have a family, or potentially be in a long term relationship, it makes it a little harder." This isn't about running from commitment. It's about sequencing. Getting certain experiences out of his system now, whilst he has the freedom to do them, so that when commitments do arrive, he won't spend years wondering what he missed. There's something methodical about this. He's pursuing specific things the twelve-year-old version of himself always wanted to do whilst the variables align to make them possible. <h3>The Science of Self-Knowledge</h3> The real insight isn't that Ab experiments. It's how he uses those experiments to build self-knowledge. "Having done a few things or experienced a few things that were a little scary, a little new, or just things that the 12 year old me really wanted to do, I know for a fact that that is worth it and it's worth pursuing that." He's not guessing what brings him contentment. He has empirical evidence. His framework is simple: experiment with ten things. You'll love three of them, hate three of them, and feel neutral about four. Once you've actually tried them, not just imagined them, you know what to orient your life towards. You know what to avoid. And the rest doesn't matter much. This is the opposite of how most people approach life decisions. Most people theorise. They imagine what they'd like, consult friends, read articles, try to predict how they'll feel. Ab just tries things and observes what happens. <h3>The Tetherball Effect</h3> The nomad paradox: you need to feel grounded whilst being completely unmoored. Ab uses a tetherball metaphor. The ball spins wildly, flies in every direction, but it's attached to the pole with a rope. You can stray as far as you want, but you're still connected to something fixed. That connection is what lets you experiment without feeling lost. For Ab, that rope is his parents. He grew up with unconditional love, never doubting whether they loved him, never worrying if their fights meant instability. That foundation, he acknowledges, is luck. Not everyone gets it. But it's what enables him to travel for years, try risky things, live out of a suitcase, because he knows he's tethered to something solid. "That stability was there, that feeling. I think that goes a long way, if you get lucky with that." Even without that specific foundation, the grounding can come through other means. Through discovering those three things you love and knowing, no matter where you are physically, that you're still the person oriented around them. The grounding isn't the place. It's knowing who you are. <h3>The Electron Effect</h3> Here's where the conversation gets interesting. We're talking about maintaining relationships whilst travelling, and I introduce a physics metaphor: electrons versus neutrons. Neutrons sit in the nucleus, stable and stationary. Electrons whiz around. The chance of an electron hitting a neutron is basically zero. But two electrons colliding? Much higher probability. Travellers are electrons. Settled people are neutrons. If you're constantly moving, connecting with people back home who are stable becomes nearly impossible. The collision points don't align. They're on holiday for one week a year, visiting places you've already left. You're living your normal life in places they're treating as special. But other travellers? You bump into them repeatedly. Same cities, same co-livings, same paths. The collision probability is high. So Ab has adapted. He hops on his settled friends' trips when he can, using his flexibility to meet them where they are. He knows how important it is to keep contact with his good friends. And he's learned something crucial about nomad interactions: "Oftentimes when I think travellers meet each other, on average, they tend to be more open and unguarded. Each individual is not in their kind of whatever role they play back home with their friends and families. They're a little untethered." You only get one layer deep with most nomad friendships. You're both leaving soon. But because nomads are more open, that one layer goes deeper than it would back home. Higher frequency of interaction. No roles to play. Less guarded. So even though it's technically shallow, it feels substantial. The American who's always been "the responsible one" back home can be someone else entirely in Mexico. The German who's stuck in family dynamics back in Hamburg can redefine herself in Thailand. Untethered from context, people show different versions of themselves. Often truer versions. <h3>The Inner Fire Problem</h3> Ab learned something about comparison that most people don't figure out until much later. "It's quite a recipe for analysis paralysis and discontent to be comparing your own desires to those of others or your own kind of goals or dreams or intentions with those of others." He did plenty of comparing when he was younger. It's natural. But after enough experiments, he realised something: you can learn from others, be inspired by them, but ultimately you have to trust that your inner fire, your guiding gut feeling, is unique to you. It's okay to trust it rather than seeking validation externally. The trap isn't having goals different from others. The trap is thinking your goals need to match someone else's to be valid. Some people's inner fire is building a company. Others want to master an instrument. Ab wants to see an active volcano and learn to scuba dive and be a tourist in India. None of those are more or less legitimate than the others. Take AI, for instance. Some people wake up excited to experiment with new tools, build workflows, tinker with technology. Ab sees it as a cultural shift, adapts where it makes sense for his work, but doesn't feel compelled to be at the forefront. "The people who are excited about experimenting with technology, it's not just that AI came along and turned someone who is just uninteresting to somebody who's a tinkerer all of a sudden. You're already kind of should be of that mind." They were playing the game before, just a different game. The key is finding people who encourage your specific fire, not people who try to redirect it toward theirs. "Finding people that encourage that, friends or relationships, matter. Rare." Those people are rare. But nomad communities, he's found, tend to contain more of them. Because everyone there has made the unusual choice to live differently, they're less likely to insist you should want what they want. <h3>The Things the Twelve-Year-Old Wanted</h3> There's a certain satisfaction in telling your childhood self that you actually did it. Ab stood at Machu Picchu after hiking the Inca Trail. He watched Volcán de Acatenango erupt from close enough to feel it. He went underwater despite being scared of water his whole life, got certified, and now it's opened an entire world of exploration he never had access to before. And India. Being a tourist in the country where he spent his first thirteen years, seeing the parts he never saw, experiencing it fresh. The Galapagos Islands are next. A safari somewhere in Africa. A month living on a farm through the WWOOF programme, doing physical labour instead of corporate work, practising French or Spanish, making things with his hands instead of pushing pixels on screens. These aren't random bucket list items. They're the specific dreams that survived from childhood into adulthood. The ones that, when tested through experiment, turned out to actually matter to him. Not everyone's twelve-year-old dreams are worth pursuing. Some of them are silly. Some don't survive contact with adult priorities. But the ones that keep coming back, that still feel important decades later? Those are worth taking seriously. Ab's taking them seriously. One experiment at a time. <h3>The Experiment Continues</h3> Eventually, Ab will probably get another lease somewhere. Do another round of the "normal life" experiment. Maybe it'll stick that time. Maybe the circumstances will be different. But right now, there are still experiences worth having, fears worth facing, places worth seeing. The twelve-year-old version of himself had a list. The adult version is methodically working through it, learning what actually brings contentment versus what just sounds good in theory. He's not running from stability. He's just not done experimenting yet. And when you think of life as a series of experiments rather than a series of commitments, everything changes. San Diego wasn't a failure. Leaving wasn't giving up. It was choosing to keep exploring whilst the opportunity exists. Most people spend their lives wondering what would have happened if they'd taken the risk, tried the thing, chased the dream. Ab's collecting actual answers. That's not recklessness. That's rigour. Ab Khurana works remotely in tech whilst nomading across the world, pursuing the specific experiences his twelve-year-old self always wanted. You can hear his full story about treating life as an experiment, finding what grounds you, and trusting your inner fire 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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What is IBIs Digital Nomad Stories?: Real conversations with successful nomads who've cracked the code on location-independent income. Strategic insights on how they transitioned, what income streams they built, and what they wish they'd known earlier.
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