Entrepreneurs and travel bloggers, Karolina and Patryk live a digital nomads’ life working online and spending 365 days a year on traveling. Here’re their thoughts on freedom and building online businesses to make it all happen.
Hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did!
#1: Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started to travel. Do you remember your 1st travel experience? Why are you passionate about traveling?
We are young couple from Poland who decided to live a free life. We were both dreaming about visiting every country on the world. We knew we have to find a way to finance our travels, so we started an online business. It was hard at the beginning but we think it was the best decision in our lives!
The first country we visited together was Denmark. Than we traveled to Venice and Prague. We had a great time there!
#2: Now that we know where you come from, could you tell us where are you heading next? Which are your upcoming plans in terms of traveling?
Right now we are in Thailand but in 2 weeks we are leaving to Beijing. We can’t wait to visit China and see The Great Wall!
We found this cute little doors at the Forbidden City. We really love the Chinese architecture ❤️
A photo posted by KarolinaPatryk Blog (@karolinapatrykcom) on
#3: What do you think of traveling with a purpose or meaning in mind? What do you look for when traveling long term?
Our answer is very simple- we are digital nomads, so we are always looking for fast wifi, haha. And seriously – we like safe countries with low crime rate, beautiful nature and friendly people. Traveling is our lifestyle, so we can’t imagine spending more than a few months in one country.
#4: How do you fund your travels? Have you found a job or income source that allows you to be on the road full time? Could you tell us what exactly you do for a living?
We are travel bloggers and enterpreneurs. We run 3 websites right now – 2 connected with e-commerce business and 1 is our travel blog, which is a separate project.
Our money making websites are quite successful online businesses based on selling products. But of course, there are many other ways of earning online. For us it’s ecommerce, for other it could be affiliates or funded content.
In the beginning we spent more than 70 hours a week to make money from our website. Right now we need less, about 30 hours a week. First, we chose products that we want to sell and found the suppliers. Then we made an offer and started to generate the traffic to our website. It’s the only way to trade online so we wouldn’t do anything differently.
Every business is based on selling, so we focused on improving our selling skills. Of course it was difficult at the beginning and we made many mistakes. But the clue to success is to never give up, so we got up stronger every time we failed.
On the other hand, we didn’t use social media to generate traffic, we focused on Google tools, like Google Adwords, Google search and Google shopping. We also use price compare sites to attract the new customers.
Finally, we delegate many things. Our business is too big for only 2 people. We usually find freelancer on websites like Elance or Freelancer.com
A photo posted by KarolinaPatryk Blog (@karolinapatrykcom) on
#5: Did your job, studies, volunteering experiences or other projects help you to travel the world? Where have you been thanks to those? Tell us a bit about those experiences.
NO. Actually we quit colleges to travel the world. We never had any job, we started our business when we were 22 years old. We learnt everything from the scratch, using the internet.
#6: What would you recommend to someone willing to follow your steps? Which kind of training or studies would be advisable or necessary? Would an investment be needed in the first place?
Please give 3 pieces of advice (you wish to have known before starting) of what to do and what to avoid in order to succeed.
Work hard, don’t give up and follow your heart. That’s all you need to succeed.
Money is something you create, not get. You first need to imagine your success to be able to succeed. Internet is still very new and growing really fast. So right now is a perfect time to start an online business.
A photo posted by KarolinaPatryk Blog (@karolinapatrykcom) on
#7: What does a perfect day in your life looks like? Do you follow any particular routine?
Wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, work a little, do some sports. Than work again and spend a lovely evening together. That’s how our days look like and we can’t imagine anything better :).
#8: Where do you come from originally and where you call home now? Can you give us some insider tips about your hometown?
We were born and raised in Poland but we think about ourselves as citizens of the world. We don’t spend much time in our homeland. But we think Poland is beautiful, especially Kraków where we first met. Tips for visiting? Visit Wieliczka salt mine, it’s an amazing place.
#9: Do you read, write, draw, listen to music, sing, watch movies or do anything else while traveling? How’s your relationship with technology and which gadgets are taken with you everywhere?
Finally, how about your favorite book and movie titles?
Usually we sleep in cars and planes. We are tech freaks who can’t imagine life without gadgets. We use smartphones, tablets, laptops and kindle ebook reader all the time. Our favorite books are Harry Potter series!
And movie- ‘The Intern’ with Robert de Niro.
Snorkeling in the Andaman sea. What an experience! ?
A photo posted by KarolinaPatryk Blog (@karolinapatrykcom) on
#10: Do you keep a bucket list? Which are your craziest travel dreams? Where are your favorite destinations on earth?
Of course we have a bucket list :). New Zealand, Australia and Iceland are on the top of it. We visited more than 30 countries right now and our favorite place on the world is Thailand. We love everything about this country- the food, people and nature. We are very happy and grateful to be here right now.
Thanks so much! I can’t wait to catch up with you somewhere around the world soon!
Follow Karolina and Patryk’s blog
INSPIRED?
Browse more On The Road interviews and learn how to successfully combine travel and work.