Today we’d like to introduce you to Nancy Pham.
Hi Nancy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey as a full-time traveler started when I moved to Austin as a student at UT. There I learned how sheltered I was from staying in the same Dallas suburb my whole life, which prompted me to live all around the world and I haven’t stopped since.
In my hometown, I grew up with racially-diverse people. There was the same percentage of white people as black people, followed by Latinos and a smaller population of Asians. Within the Asian community I grew up with there was ethnical diversity – Vietnamese, Burmese, Indians, Lebanese, Koreans, and many more. However, there were very few people of Chinese and Japanese descent and I remember thinking that there might have been a historical occurrence between America and China, like Pearl Harbor between the U.S. and Japan, that led to me being surrounded by few Chinese people.
Then I moved 3 hours away to Austin, Texas for college, and every Asian I thought was Korean because that’s who I grew up with turned out to be Chinese! I realized how ignorant I was from staying in the same place for most of my life. The sad part was a lot of the Chinese friends I had made at UT were from Plano, a Dallas suburb only 30 minutes away from where I grew up. Looking back, I seem really dumb but if I can’t see how ignorant I was in the past, I didn’t experience enough growth.
After learning so much from moving within the same state, I knew I would really grow from moving outside Texas so I ended up doing a semester abroad which changed the course of my life. I experienced my highest high in life up to that point during a solo trip to Santorini, Greece where I was meeting different people from all over the world and pushing myself in all sorts of ways. This was a sharp contrast from university life doing what was expected of me. I experienced my lowest point in college the following semester teaching me to always strive to live my best life, which for me was traveling and exploring.
I then used any opportunity during college to travel until the global pandemic. This not only canceled a lot of my travel plans but also hurt my post-graduation plans as a 2020 graduate. Instead of taking on a job with an airline or travel company, I started working on a career that would allow me to become a digital nomad, a completely online (location-independent) full-time traveler. The fastest route I found to travel full-time was working for myself offering YouTube SEO and social media services as a freelancer. This business allowed me to move abroad in 2021 to the digital nomad capital of South America and various other countries.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wish it was a smooth ride! Other than trying to travel during different regional and global occurrences, my biggest struggles came from the battle between me and my parents. In a way, it seems like they always wanted something different than what I wanted. My parents thought they were keeping me “safe” while I thought it was keeping me “sheltered.” I wanted to go to college away from home while they wanted to keep me close. They never wanted me to study abroad because of the news. I felt like those events could happen anywhere. After asking permission to go on different trips, they’d say no so I stopped asking permission since they had nothing to do with the trips. It was my time, my money, and my life so I started making decisions myself. Our biggest fights occurred when I was making the most drastic changes in my life. The first was leaving my office job to take on a career they viewed as “unstable,” but was more aligned with the goals I always had for myself. Our next big fight was on my decision to move to Colombia, the South American digital nomad capital. All they knew of Colombia was its drug history. Meanwhile, I learned that the country had so much more to offer and has worked hard to overcome its narrative of being a dangerous place. It was a matter of perspective and all I could do was share mine. I released their expectations from me and didn’t need their permission. By now, both my parents know what I want, how I am, and that I don’t let anything get in my way, including them. They have finally accepted me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Full-time travelers are people constantly traveling or living abroad. I became a full-time traveler quickly after college by offering services online. Working remotely as a nomad has its obstacles and I openly share them. Influencers or bloggers in the digital nomad travel space don’t often share the struggles that come with the lifestyle change, like the impact it has on relationships. This niche travel industry is also rarely representative of what is truly possible for different racial groups. I’m very proud to represent minorities that want the freedom to challenge themselves abroad and reach their full potential even if it’s against other people’s desires for them. Now I help full-time employees become full-time travelers so they can leave unfulfilling jobs, work for themselves, and live the lifestyle that allows them to be anywhere they want. Work Online to Travel Initiative™, my six months 1-on-1 coaching program, helps you become location-independent ASAP even with a 9-5, unsupportive peers, no following, and little experience so you can start seeing the world sooner as a digital nomad.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I’m my parents’ oldest child, yet when I was younger my mom took both my younger siblings on their first trip abroad to the motherland of Vietnam. Meanwhile, I was left with my cousins in Houston and had never left the country. I was very salty about this for most of my life that it motivated me to find my own way through the world. I learned I couldn’t trust anyone else to show me what the world had to offer, so I found my own ways to discover it myself. And it all started with the study abroad programs at UT Austin.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://missworldwidetraveler.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/missworldwidetraveler
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/missworldwidetraveler
