The "Where the Hell Are We Staying???" Edition

The Final Rap Battle: Airbnb or Hotel for Digital Nomads???

You ever book an Airbnb for a month or more like a real creep? 🏡 It's like trying on a whole new life without the commitment. (Which is obviously fantastic.) Who am I in Florence? In Nice? In London? Do I walk the same? Do I swing my hips? Do I wear pointy sunglasses? Am I SENSATIONAL, DARLING??? (Yes, yes you are.)

Turns out we aren't the only ones with bright ideas: according to Airbnb's Q1 financial report, long-term stays of 28 days or more are currently the fastest growing category of stays 😲—more than double what it was in 2019.

This means two things:

• The Generation 2.0 Digital Nomad is HERE. Gone are the backpacks and the hostels: the new digital nomad is a 30+ cosmopolitan traveler who has earning power and affluence, neither of which were typical of Generation 1.0 digital nomads.
• Hotels are gonna have to (seriously) play catch up if they want to stay relevant. Because, here's the kicker: if you're traveling two people or less, hotels are actually less expensive overall. Important fact. But, the savings come at a different kind of cost, including: awkward beds in the back of your Zoom calls, looking like Poltergeist in terrible lighting, Wifi that operates at the speed of a 103-year-old muffin man, doors that slam 5 times in the middle of recording your podcast, and the fact that you'll have to risk diphtheria to go somewhere to do your laundry.

30-Second Skill: How to Properly Tip a Bartender in Britain (It's Not How You Think)

If you're just leaving a dollar on the bar for every drink, like is tradition in America...

You're likely committing a faux pas without even knowing it. According to anthropologist Kate Fox, who studies the English, the proper way to tip in England is by saying these sweet, sweet words to the bartender: "And one for yourself?" Meaning: and buy a drink for yourself (aka take out the equivalent as a tip).

In Kate's book, Watching the English, she goes on to say that "to give bar staff a tip would be an impolite reminder of their 'service role,' whereas to offer a drink is to treat them as equals."

Isn't that fantastically elegant?

Nomad Business Idea to Steal 👀

Communities are trending right now 🔥: everybody and their mother's got one. But...they're not easy to run.

Some creatives & businesses don't even consider it because they're overwhelmed by the idea of everything that goes into a properly produced community:

• Prompting meaningful conversations
• Creating rituals and habits for logging in and participating
• Welcoming new members and making sure they don't feel like outsiders
• Connecting different members to one another who might be good resources for each other
• Creating exciting events for people to attend
• Finding the talent / expert to co-produce the event
• Running the event
• Coming up with new content to share every day
• Making sure no one's questions fall through the cracks
• Keeping the enthusiasm going
• And, of course, moderating—which is actually one of the smallest jobs on the list

That last one—moderating—is what most people think a community manager does. And in a lot of cases, that's what community managers do. But right now, especially if this trend continues? We need so much more than that.

We don't need community managers: we need community experts.

We need a company that specializes in everything listed above to swoop in and say, "Don't worry, we got this. Your people will have the best community experience ever. You just show up when we schedule you, and we'll handle the rest."

In other words, what we need are more people who are willing to step up take ownership. This is the difference between a freelancer and a leader, and furthermore, it's where the money lies: not in taking orders, but in taking leadership and creating something magical. ✨

And lots of people will pay good money for that—especially the many, many businesses that either have a community that's being poorly run, or haven't started one—despite all the upsides—because they're terrified it'll exhaust them.

Bonus? You can do this work from anywhere: Sicily? Sweden? The Serengeti? You pick.

Ask Viv: Should I Pick a Niche???

This is a PERFECT case for why niching down is an excellent business decision: because it lets you become known. It gives you a signature. And just like that, you've got a show on Netflix.

Imagine if she were an everyday interior designer. How would she stand out from all the others? How would anyone know what her expertise was? How would anyone associate her with anything at all?

It is the act of carving out a specialty for yourself...that makes your work special.

But also: when you dedicate yourself to something, we trust you. Because nobody that focused is bad at what they do.

So yes, darling: niche down. You can always offer your client other services, once you've given them a way to find you. 🌟

P.S. Did You Know?

The Wellie. Useful for sloshing around Ireland and looking chic "without even trying." (You're definitely trying. Do you know how hard it is to not look like a windblown sack of potatoes there?)

I always wondered where the term wellie came from: turns out, back in 1790, The Duke of Wellington commissioned these to be modeled after his military Hessian boots, but make it waterproof. Behold: The Wellington boot—AKA "wellies"—named after this dude. (You know which other boot evolved from the Hessian? The cowboy boot. Yeehaw, Beth Dutton!)