hey what's up doc Pennington here from
niche site project in this interview I
talked to McKenzie fly
she's a digital Nomad and she tells us
her story of how she started in a
corporate digital marketing job and
decided it wasn't for her and started
traveling so in the last six months or
so she's been to several different
countries all over the world and yeah
she has an awesome story by the way if
it's your first time on this channel
take a look around I have a few videos
on Amazon affiliate marketing digital
marketing in general and project
management productivity information as
well so if you like it please consider
subscribing let's head over to the
interview now hey what's up Doug
Pennington here from niche site project
I'm with my friend Mackenzie how are you
today I'm good
Doug doing great I'm enjoying the good
weather I could see the mountains it's
clear skies it's not snowing today so
it's pretty nice how is it where you're
at um it's good it's cold but yes no
snow today which was nice so and
are you at right now so I'm in Berlin
Germany right now you know Germany in
the winter months is very cold
especially in Berlin it's very far north
so even if it's not snowing
you know temperatures are probably about
just above freezing most most during the
day and this is again a good segue so
you're obviously not German you don't
have a German accent
you're a digital nomad this is part of
the digital Nomad location-independent
series and most people that are watching
right now probably don't know who you
are so Mackenzie can you give us a
little intro why are you in Berlin and
how'd you get there all that stuff yeah
of course
so I'm also another youtuber I make
videos about being a digital Nomad
travel and also some like inspirational
content as well so basically how I got
um being like living in the u.s. so
living here in Germany now I was working
at a typical nine-to-five job and I just
kind of got fed up with it so I was like
alright well I'm just gonna quit my job
and move to Hawaii so that's kind of
what I did and then I quit with no job
or anything I just decided to just go
take a leave
I had some savings saved up so that was
kind of like my buffer but quit my job
moved to Hawaii and then went back home
for a little bit and then that's when I
kind of found my teaching so I teach
English online and I do other things as
well so then went from home which is
Colorado and then came here to Europe
and I spent just the last month and a
half traveling around and then came to
Berlin and just decided to kind of
settle here for a little bit so that's
my that's my story
Wow so it's it's always a little
shocking when you know you don't have a
job in place you didn't really have a
plan so like I guess how do you deal
with that mentally because that sort of
freaks me out
you know I don't have kids personally I
know a lot of people do you don't have
kids right no okay yeah so it may be
easier for people without kids to do
that but even still I'm like you didn't
have a job you moved you had a little
savings like so tell me like mentally
what was that like yeah it was really
scary I remember telling myself this is
a really stupid idea like I just I told
myself that all the time like McKenzie
you're being so stupid right now you
were being so irresponsible but I think
I just always knew in the back of my
head that it was gonna work out like I
feel like I just kind of trusted that I
was gonna find the things that I needed
to to find in order to support this
lifestyle than I wanted and I was
willing to like work towards that so you
know I kind of put the word out there
that I wanted to find something remote
and then I ended up you know making
friends with people here on YouTube and
that's how I got into like teaching and
stuff so I think I just always knew in
the back of my brain that I was gonna
work out even if maybe you know the
front part of my brain was like this is
so irresponsible like you shouldn't be
doing this right now yeah so and tell me
more about the the teaching gig what's
it like how many hours do you have to
put in and I guess for people that may
be interested in that like line of work
or at least to pick up some freelance
hours what could they expect yeah so
basically so I made friends with
somebody on YouTube who was also an
English teacher online so I work for
this company it's called 5-1 talk and
they teach kids in China so I get to
teach kids who are like as young as
three and then also adults as well but
the great thing about it is it's so
flexible so I can either work 30 hours a
month or I can work like a hundred hours
a month or you know even more than that
like it's it's all completely flexible
and whatever I want my schedule to be
and yeah and it's really fun you get to
teach little kids that's like really fun
and then also to you know it's it's
basically how much money you make is how
much work you want to put in so if I'm
if I'm lazy really lazy a month I I
don't have to work that much but if I
really want to make a lot of money and
I'm like struggling then I can teach as
much as I possibly can and actually make
like not bad money so I really like that
about that as well you know it just it
just really depends how much work you
want to put in what like experience
level would a person need to have to get
started so I know for this company you
need a bachelor's degree and they also
are looking for native speakers as well
or if you have if you go got your
bachelor's degree from like an English
University but I think they're really
looking for native speakers just because
as a native speaker it's very easy for
us to just teach English because we've
been learning English you know since we
were kids and stuff and so for me it's
very it's not very hard for me to to
just teach English so and then also
accent to in slang and things like that
I think that it sounds weird to say but
like the Chinese market like they really
love to have like native speakers teach
their kids so got it very cool and it's
pretty neat because a lot of my audience
they're into like the digital marketing
and niche websites and there's a lot of
like work you have to do before you can
get paid write it you could you could
work for four or six months before you
really see much money but when a service
type you know teaching industry it's
like it's a service right you do the
work you get paid right away so that is
a probably a really nice way to bridge
the gap to you know get into yeah
absolutely I think it's definitely a
means to an end at this point like I
definitely don't want to teach forever
and I think I do want to segue more into
the digital marketing stuff because that
was my background originally I was
working for a tourism company and you
know doing digital marketing for them
for a couple of years so just teaching
right now
something that is like my main income
while I start building up that base but
once that base is there I think I'm
definitely not gonna teach anymore it's
it's a great segue you know and I've
been doing it for I think almost six
months now so maybe like five months so
and then you know this is when I'm
finally starting to see maybe more of
that client face building up so yeah
it's just a means to an end at this
point so cool so you mentioned a couple
times it you met with youtubers who
hooked you up with different ideas and
you made some good friends like how long
have you been on YouTube tell me about
that journey yeah so I've been on
YouTube for about two years now which
sounds really crazy but yeah so I at the
first probably year I didn't feel like I
wasn't very committed to it I think it
was until about mmm the last year I
really started committing a lot more
time and a lot more energy towards it
and that's when I really started to see
kind of the growth it's still growing
right now but I think once I like mate
made that mindset switch to be like you
know what like maybe YouTube can
actually be something that brings a lot
of opportunities for me that's when I
started to put more energy into it and
then it's funny once I did that's when
things started to kind of take off as
far as like finding these other things
as well so making friends and building
up those other sources of income so
that's really really cool about YouTube
there's so many opportunities there even
if it's not just for like tons of
subscribers just meeting people and
collaborating with them is a great
resource in itself so right and do you
have any tips for people like networking
on YouTube or anything like that yeah so
I think the number one thing that I
would say is I think there's like this
thing that's like be a fan to get fans
so what I like to do is if there's
somebody that I really feel like I would
connect with very well I would just
watch their videos all the time
commenting not being like stalkerish but
just be leaving them a nice guy leaving
them a nice comment being like I love
your content you know I love this and
this about it and that's how I've made a
lot of my friends that way just being
really supportive and very nice and
never like trying to promote myself
because I feel like at this point like
YouTube is great but I'm not just about
that like I want to build this community
so yeah just like being supportive
of other people like you you have you
lift each other up and I think that's
the most the best way to become
successful at something so lift other
people so very cool and I think it's
funny you mentioned the the stalkerish
thing like don't be stuck there so just
a tip for everyone don't be stalkerish
like anything you do but yeah it's super
easy you know I'm a fan of youtubers or
podcasters and you spend so much time
watching their content you really
personally like you feel like you know
them but of course they have no idea who
you are
so your tread lightly as you like making
friends with people right yeah yeah well
okay yeah for sure I mean I think
there's like definitely a large gap
between like the stalkers and like
people who are just like cool and they
just like one of your friends well yeah
I think just like being like genuinely
nice and like you know I love when
people are very active on my channel and
I love watching like other people that I
would love to like be friends with and
being active on their channels and I
really think that's like the secret
formula so just don't like send I'm not
sure if I'm like allowed to say this but
don't send like personal Facebook
messages like a ton of them saying like
how much like you like wanna marry me or
something like that that's a little bit
too much but other than that work and
you're fine yeah the Facebook message is
it's just a bit much so yeah all the
social media stuff is a lot so it's
shifting gears a little bit so you
mentioned that you you've travelled a
decent number of places I know that
because we've had a couple of
conversations already but actually will
do a quick call back here we tried to
record this like a couple of times last
week and we had major tech issues today
it seems to be working okay yeah that's
the reason why I know that you have
traveled in a lot of places in a short
amount of time can you tell me the
places that you went to and when did you
start again so for this trip I started
in July so that's when I went to Hawaii
I was in Hawaii for two months and I did
go to the Big Island while I was there
but I was mainly on Oahu and then I was
in a boulder colorado or Longmont
Colorado that's where my family lives
and then I originally when I came to
Europe I was in Sicily so I did like a
whole
road trip around the island of Sicily
and then I went up to Rome and visited
some of my youtuber friends and it was
there for about 10 days and then I went
up to Munich to visit another youtuber
friend and I was there for about a week
and then yeah I'm here and I've been in
Berlin for two weeks now a little bit
over two weeks so I'm kind of settled
now I think there was so much just
traveling before so now it feels nice so
just you know get a lot of work done and
kind of be in one place so right yeah
and a few of the other interviews that
I've done it by the way I could just
throw in and say you visited Zoe in Rome
right yeah yeah I did yeah so I've known
Zoe for quite quite awhile so you know
she was gonna be there and I was gonna
be in Italy so it just kind of made
sense so ya know that was that was
really really nice to be able to spend
some time with her in her favorite
country so don't put so the reason why I
mentioned that is I know Zoe also she
was on the channel I interviewed her so
I'll put a link below so people can get
to it and I guess the other thing to
point out is so you're sort of settled
right now you were moving around a lot
which sounds super fun but also
stressful when you're trying to work so
how do you deal with I guess traveling
so much and then knowing that you do
have to put in some hours to you know
pay the bills and afford to travel as
well yeah so I think with teaching it's
a lot more stressful because I need to
have a really quiet environment I need
to have really good Wi-Fi and I can't
have any like interruptions so cuz it's
really unprofessional when I'm teaching
and my Wi-Fi is really bad and it keeps
dropping the my classroom so it's a
little bit more difficult because I mean
like especially in Italy the Wi-Fi was
not that great it was just kind of a
struggle to always be looking for that
and being like in the right spot and
always having to figure that out but I
think it's just like making it a
priority so I would just have to kind of
understand that I needed to make some
sacrifices if I wanted to work and
that's kind of how yeah I've kind of had
to deal with it but then you know to
having like clients and stuff is really
nice because then I can just go to a
coffee shop and kind of still be out and
be in the city and stuff but I can still
get a few hours and and you know do
stuff after that so yeah that's kind of
always you know you
have to make it a priority even if
you're traveling you can't always go out
everyday like you want to but it's it's
a sacrifice worth that worth doing for
sure intersect so in you know on the
idea of the digital nomad aspect versus
location-independent this is a question
that I've been asking people so there's
some distinction and I guess do you draw
a distinction between a digital nomad
and someone who has a
location-independent job and if so like
you know what are your thoughts about it
yeah I think there definitely is a
distinction I think location
independence when I think of location
independence I don't think necessarily
like traveling all the time maybe you
know you you do have like your
nine-to-five job and you're like living
in a different city that's kind of what
I think of that and then digital nomad
is like traveling it's like you know
backpacking with your laptop and you're
going from place to place and there
there are just like a little bit of
different lifestyles but I think they're
still really nice especially if you can
find like a city that maybe isn't in
your home country but you can still work
and live there that's also really nice
or if you want to travel and be out of
your backpack and just bring your laptop
with you and you know trying to work in
co-working spaces that's also really
nice too so it just kind of you know
depends on your the lifestyle that you
want to live I guess right and I guess I
mean you're almost doing like a blend
where you did a bunch of travel and then
like you got to settle down and like
yeah yeah a minute yeah for sure well I
think for me I I started to notice like
my back start hurting for my backpack
and I was getting like kind of
frustrated with like not having good
Wi-Fi and stuff and then also like not
making as many like friends as maybe I
wanted to so that's kind of why I
decided here in Berlin because Berlin is
such a cool city because there's so many
co-working spaces and entrepreneurs and
digital nomads and stuff and then also
Wi-Fi is excellent here they have three
shops and yeah I've met tons of digital
nomads here location and defended people
so it's nice to be in a city like that
and just kind of relax and let my my
back heel for my backpack so when you
like rewind like six months ago when you
were just about to you know move out to
Hawaii who are you looking up to was
anyone an inspiration specifically where
you thought hey I wouldn't like walk in
their footsteps or anything like that
I think definitely my friend Zoe was a
big inspiration for me she was one to
really push me when I was really unhappy
in my job to kind of take the leap and
just be like you know it's just it's
gonna work out for you like no worries
so definitely for her you know she's
she's been such an inspiration for me
for everything but yeah I mean I was
watching other youtubers like my another
friend that I had Marie her name is um
dreamin autumn on YouTube she's the one
that told me about teaching English she
was also a huge inspiration for me as
well and then also just like kind of
just knowing that that was the path that
I was going to eventually take as well
so yeah so like what was your degree in
I studied international relations okay
so like you got your degree and you're
like hey like I'm not sure what I want
to do and you ended up in like a digital
marketing type position yeah so I ended
up travelling after university so I did
like a six-month backpacking trip I went
to like China and India and then I came
here to Germany actually and that's why
I wanted to move to Germany eventually
because I loved it so much and after
that I really I just kind of knew like I
met a lot of freelancers and people that
were doing digital marketing and I also
have like a little travel blog so I knew
like I wanted to maybe segue into
YouTube videos and stuff like that and
then that's kind of when I was like okay
I need to start making steps to get
involved in this digital marketing area
and then I think also having like that
work experience like even though the
desk like wasn't fun I think it was
really nice working for like a company
or an association to kind of give me
that foundation of experience and then I
think that was when I felt comfortable
to be like okay I know I do have skills
that I can potentially market to get
clients before so so you've been
youtubing for a couple years you said
you haven't taken it seriously until
more recently can you tell me you sort
of like your channels growth and like I
guess when you hit something where you
know hey this is a great topic I'm going
to do more of it I'm interested and the
audience likes it I think digital no
madness right now is a huge trending
topic you know you're doing like an
interview series with it so it's a it's
a huge topic right now and I think once
I started to segue into that and be like
hey like especially when I was in Hawaii
like I started making videos of me being
in Hawaii and vlogs and stuff and then
showing like okay like I'm living in
Hawaii because I'm like an English
teacher and I work online and stuff and
then those started to really kind of
take off that was when I really kind of
saw saw the growth that was a potential
and I think even right now especially me
coming to Europe and like meeting with
all of my youtuber friends that I most
of them I hadn't met in person before
that also really helps with growth
collaborating with them and stuff like
that and so it's just kind of been a
pill from here you know just a huge
spike so it's it's been really awesome
actually like I feel like gonna like a
different a different level being here
thank you well you've been growing a lot
as well it's big yeah well like you said
it's just like it's a lot of work to
make the videos and you know come up
with ideas and then well one thing that
I've noticed and I'm curious to get your
take on it is people want to hear about
a topic and I feel like maybe I've said
everything about that given topic
whatever it may be however there's still
a lot more to be said even if I'm just
repeating myself in a lot of ways just
taking a different perspective on it so
it's not that I'm bored of the topic
it's just I thought we already talked
about that but do you see do you see a
similar thing on your channel topics
instead of it oh yeah definitely I mean
I think everybody kind of takes
something different from it and so maybe
that's why it's like the different
perspectives kind of works because maybe
people resonate with one perspective
more than the other but yeah sometimes
like with teaching like sometimes it's
just like oh my gosh like so many like
questions and so many different things
like but I thought I said that already
but people still don't understand like
how it works so it's it's just it's it's
something that you know I mean it can
always providing a fresh content and
even if you know you've already kind of
repeated yourself you just to be clear
I'm sure you'll agree with me again here
but we love answering the questions and
doing the videos yes of course
yes and then the other part that is you
know it's it's obvious once I step back
it's like any given video could be the
first time
when sees any of your content and even
if you have a hundred and fifty 350
other videos they may have not seen any
of them and it'll be great if they go
through the archive but like any given
video could be the starting point so
yeah absolutely ya know that's that's a
great point yeah you're absolutely right
and yet you never know you never know
who it'll who will see it and who maybe
it'll change their life as well so I
like to think about it like that is - so
how do you come up with like video ideas
and you're just your process do you
outline it you just talk just straight
to the camera and don't worry about it
like just tell me about the process so I
mean I go through my day and I kind of I
like carry like a notebook with me so
like I have like my notebook here that
I'll write down ideas I was doing it
like on my computer on my phone but I've
lost sometimes my ideas heard from
technology so I like to just write them
down and yeah I just whenever I think of
something like oh you know I wonder how
this works or how or maybe Oh what is my
process in this oh it'd be great to make
a video on that I'll just kind of think
about it like that and then yeah usually
I'll write out like a small outline just
my talking points but then other than
that no I just completely wing it yeah I
don't usually do it much research or
anything like that but how about you do
you do a lot of research or do you just
kind of talk so it's a blend right so
some of them like if it's just like on
screen type tutorials then I can I'll
still outline it just to make sure I
don't waste time trying to find stuff it
makes editing easier later and then
there are some videos some of my my best
videos I've scripted it out I actually
have like a teleprompter and I have like
the will it's a it's an app on my iPad
which is not next to me i was about to
hold it up but it has like the glass set
up and it looks awesome it cleans up my
delivery and and for my course that i
have it's all done with the teleprompter
everything's super intentional with the
course for youtube it's a little more
natural if people watch my videos you
realize it's a freaking mess sometimes
and you know there's a lot of poor edit
in there it's gotten better over time
but yeah a lot of times like these days
I'll have like a loose outline I'll just
write like on a legal pad or whatever
and just have like a little outline to
talk from and just make sure I'm not
going on too big of a tangent so yeah
definitely yeah the outline really helps
with the editing because sometimes I I
if I don't have much of an outline then
I'm just rambling on and on and then
when I go back to edit I'm saying like
and um and all these other things way
too much because I'm just trying to sort
through my thoughts but having like an
outline in front of you really really
helps with it I think it cuts down on so
much time so you do your own editing
yeah yeah I do my own editing I just use
yeah I just use iMovie it's free and
really simple I like simple when it's
really complicated sometimes it takes a
long time to learn and I've been using
iMovie for a couple years so I earn I
know it pretty well so it's just faster
yeah I'm definitely a fan of like just
keeping things simple and I used iMovie
for a while until I I moved over to do
some of the ScreenFlow type stuff and I
use an app called ScreenFlow yeah I mean
it's fine again once you get over the
learning curve and it can do what we
need to do most likely so yeah for sure
I've been like looking into doing or
using premier because I love like Adobe
products but I think I'm still a little
bit scared of its it is like kind of a
bigger step I guess in the editing
process I'd skip it right like if I wish
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