Matt Bowles: My guest today is Victoria Zapata. She is a web designer, online marketer and co-founder of All Digital Media, an online marketing agency that she has run remotely for the past 10 years with her business partner and husband Santiago. As a social media marketing expert, she helps her clients identify the most effective ways to reach more on different social media platforms and she also helps e commerce store owners manage and grow their businesses. Originally from Cali, Colombia, Victoria went to college in the United States and she and her husband now travel the world as full time digital nomads with no base and they have been to over 70 countries together.
Victoria, welcome to the show.
Victoria Zapata: Thank you for having me.
Matt Bowles: I am so excited to have you here. We need to start by setting the scene and talking about where we are doing this interview today because we are in a very special place. Your hometown.
Victoria Zapata: Yes, that’s right.
Matt Bowles: We are in Cali, Colombia and we have been hanging out here for the last couple weeks. It is my first time that I have ever been here and it has just been amazing to be in Cali and amazing also to be hanging out here, particularly with you and your husband Santiago. It has been so special and amazing and I’d love to just kind of start with that, you know, just sort of setting the scene. Here we are in your hometown. We have just opened a bottle of Chilean Carmen wine. We’re going to be drinking through that throughout the episode. And maybe let’s just start a little bit with talking about the past couple weeks. Can you share a little bit about what we have done, basically what you have shown me in your hometown and just maybe describe it a little bit for folks that have never been to Cali. Maybe they’re thinking of visiting. What types of stuff did we see and would you recommend to people?
Victoria Zapata: Well, Cali as you mentioned, is my hometown. I used to live here, and then I moved to the States when I was 15. Places to visit in Cali, I totally recommend Granada. It’s an amazing place. That’s where you guys are staying. The other one is San Antonio amazing place to go. The other one is El Peñon. Really nice. Also, like, walk around El Gato and then just walk around the whole river. And then we went to El Lago Calima this past weekend, and it was amazing. You can do a lot of water sports. And if you’re into water sports, I totally recommend just to rent a cabin, have an amazing view of the nature, birds, everything, and then just do the water sport, like kite surfing, paddleboard, everything.
Matt Bowles: Yeah. It’s been so incredible. So, just to give folks a context, the city of Cali is the theme, third largest city in Colombia. So, it’s not quite as big as Bogota or Medellin, if people have spent time in those cities, both of which I really love as well. But Cali is a little bit smaller and we are staying. These three neighborhoods that you mentioned are all walking distance from each other.
Victoria Zapata: Correct.
Matt Bowles: Which is amazing. So, there’s like a little river, like a stream almost, that runs through the middle of town, and you have all of these outdoor cafes and restaurants that are open. You can walk around all these parks with sculptures and art. The street art is amazing, too.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: I mean, just our block where we live has just this incredible street art. So, like, the scene is amazing there. And then the nightlife is incredible. I mean, you took us to some amazing restaurants and bars and live music and all this stuff here. So, it’s just an incredible city.
Victoria Zapata: I’m glad that you like it. The other amazing thing here is if you learning or you want to learn, salsa here is as you saw, is like, completely way different comparing to Medellin, Bogota, any other place, they teach you, like, the basic salsa, but here is Salsa Caleña. It’s like extra steps, extra level of that right there.
Matt Bowles: Let’s talk about that, because that’s entirely correct. I spent the last month.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: Taking salsa classes in Medellin every single day. So, I took salsa class for two hours a day for an entire month every single day.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: And then I came to Cali.
Victoria Zapata: Mind blowing.
Matt Bowles: And you took me to one salsa night here in Cali. And I was like, okay, this is an entirely another level.
Victoria Zapata: Correct.
Matt Bowles: For context for folks and cultural context for Cali. This is regarded by many to be the global Mecca of salsa. They host the World Salsa Dancing Championships every year here in Cali. And this is really considered to be the preeminent place for salsa. Can you share a little bit about that? Just, I guess maybe describe for folks sort of what some of the differences. Maybe if folks have done some salsa dancing and maybe they’ve done it in places like New York, or they’ve done it in different places around the world, they’ve maybe taken some lessons, gotten the basics, or maybe they’re even kind of intermediate, decent salsa dancers. When you come to Cali, what is the Caleña Salsa? What’s sort of different about it? Can you describe that?
Victoria Zapata: It’s just the basic steps that you will learn everywhere but in here, like Salsa Caleña, they just put like on the next level, kind of like twisting it a little bit more. And also, we have the Salsa Caleña. We have salsa choke. That is salsa, but then you just like hitting the other person to the body with body, but you’re dancing. And actually, they do competitions around the whole city of Cali. So that’s like, yeah, it’s quite hard to explain through like not showing you, like doing the whole movements and the steps that you. It’s like completely way different. Like twisting your leg and then just jumping around, going to step one way to step to the other side.
Matt Bowles: Yeah. So, you can Google it, I’m sure, on YouTube, and see a video of Salsa Caleña, how the Cali Colombian style salsa, and see what it looks like. And then you can, if you want to go to an actual salsa night here.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: Oftentimes they’ll start with a class.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: But it’s not going to be a really beginner class.
Victoria Zapata: Oh, no.
Matt Bowles: So, you’re just going to be thrown in to the deep end and be like, here, try to follow along and you’ll be like, whoa. And then you’ll really get a feel for exactly how advanced and difficult it is, but also how just beautiful and amazing it is to watch. I mean, it’s just.
Victoria Zapata: It’s amazing. I don’t know how they do it. They just move like so fast. That’s when every time I go to any of those classes, I’m like, I don’t even know how to dance. Like I am from here, from Cali, and I’ve been learning salsa like my whole life, but that is like the next level. Like, I need to be practicing more. I don’t know.
Matt Bowles: Can you talk about that how it was as a kid growing up here? I mean, maybe starting with sort of the influence of salsa in the culture, right. Like when you’re coming up as a kid born and raised in Cali. How does the salsa culture, how do you sort of learn that, grow into that and all that kind of stuff? What was that like?
Victoria Zapata: Well, you start learning with the family, of course. Got the parties and events that they just do, like the whole family. And then when you start, I don’t know, 13, 14 is like the time you just, okay, I want to go party. But you’re not legalized to, like, go out to, like, a nightclub or something. So, you just go to your friend’s house, birthday party, whatever, and start dancing. And then from there, you just start learning new steps, new moves and everything. So instead of going to classes, you just learn every year.
Matt Bowles: That’s so amazing.
Victoria Zapata: But if you want to be a professional, of course you have to go to, like, classes.
Matt Bowles: Yeah, that’s so amazing. The culture here is just really incredible. And I totally am telling everybody now, like, you have to come to Cali. Don’t just go to Medellin and skip Cali. Like, come out here, spend some time, see what it’s like, because it’s a very, very special place. So, when you were growing up, can you talk a little bit about that? You mentioned that you moved to the States when you were a teenager. Can you talk about prior to that? I mean, had you done much international travel outside of Colombia? You know, what was sort of your experience like, growing up and then what prompted the move to the U.S.?
Victoria Zapata: Well, no living here, going to private school, not comparing to the States. Normally just go to any regular school. I guess you can say here you have the uniform, you wake up really early, and then you just arrive back to the house. Then just go to your friend’s house. Like, basic stuff, living here. So, you have to watch out when you go outside. My mom, she was always freaking out if I was going to go somewhere. She’s like, you have to watch out and stay by yourself. Things like that. And I’m like, okay. So, every time paying attention, who’s next to me, who’s in the back and who’s in front? Colombia, as everybody knows, we used to have a lot of problems here. And when I was around maybe like 12 or 13, in my middle school, they put a bomb and the bomb exploded. Good thing we were not actually inside the classrooms. So, they send us back when we arrived.
Yeah, I guess that was the thing that my mom and my grandparents decided, like, okay, it’s better for her to just go and move abroad, live in the States, finish learning English, and just finish and doing her life over there.
Matt Bowles: And what was your experience like when you arrived in the United States into a completely different culture, completely different language, all of that stuff. You hadn’t traveled much internationally before then all of a sudden, now you’re moving to a completely different culture at that age. How was that experience for you, and how did you navigate it?
Victoria Zapata: Well, it was a little bit different, but I kind of liked it. I was like, okay, I seen it on the movies. It’s actually kind of like the same on the movies. You just go into the locker open, and then start switching your ear books and notebooks and everything. Here in Colombia, we’re not used to that. Normally the teacher is the one who goes into the classroom, and then you already have everything there. But I did like the environment of the States. And of course, learning English, it was a little bit hard at the beginning. Kind of like understanding when they were doing the slangs and then talking too fast, things like that.
But then I started getting used to because I was living with my cousin and my aunt, and then she got remarried with this American guy. He’s from the Navy, and he’s a doctor now, so he’s a really nice guy. And I was living with them. So, every time that I was speaking in Spanish with my cousin, it was so funny because my aunt, she was like, girls, you need to speak English. And I was like, oh, man, why? But of course, it was rude for me if I was not speaking in English in front of him and he was there in the table. So that way I was like, okay, I need to practice my English more. So, I started like, okay, can you pass me the salt, for example? Things like that. So, I started getting used to a little bit more with my ear. And then I started practicing more. And then when you start making jokes, that’s when they say, like, oh, you already know English. You already learned.
Matt Bowles: That’s awesome. And then from there, can you talk a little bit about how was your experience going through college and then kind of choosing a career and take us a little bit on your professional trajectory and what ultimately led you to entrepreneurship?
Victoria Zapata: Okay. Yeah. So, I finished high school in Atlanta, Georgia, and then from there I went to Kansas State University. I did weapon, graphic design. And then from there I started working full time. And then we moved to Miami a year, two years later. And then my husband, he was talking with his brother and everything, and of course, he got the idea of, like, oh, let’s do a road trip, and let’s go from the States all the way to Argentina. And I was like, how are we going to do that? That’s so far away. And I was like, yeah, no, it’s a crazy story. He’s not going to do it, or something like that. So, I kept working full time. He was working at the house at All Digital Media. That’s our company. And then he told me when we got married, he’s like, do you want to have a big wedding? And I’m like, I’m not into that. When my mom told me the sweet 15 and everything, I’m like, no, that’s so embarrassing. I don’t want that. So, I just did like a regular party. That’s it. I invited all my friends.
So, with the wedding, I was the same. I was like, I don’t want to do that. I don’t know, let’s save the money and let’s go somewhere else. So that’s when we started traveling and we went to South America and we went for almost five months. We stayed there. So, we started in Colombia and then we went to Brazil, and then we went to Argentina, Chile, and then finally we came back to the States. And then we got the travel bug, of course, but I was working full time, so I had to quit my job. And then when we were going back, when we were in South America, I was helping Santi, my husband, with the business. So, we had the clients already, but he was in charge of those clients. So, when we came back, I look again for another full-time job. And then I was working, and then my husband, he’s like, I talked to my big brother and then he gave me this idea, let’s go to Southeast Asia. And I’m like, I just got back. I just got a full-time job again. How am I going to do this? My resume is going to look really bad. Like looking for one job and then quitting and then doing it again and things like that.
So of course, I got the travel bag as well. Because I was like, this is so nice. I want to keep traveling. I want to try new places. I want to explore the whole world, let’s say. And then I worked for like few months. I had to quit the job again. And we went to Southeast Asia. And then we stayed there for five months again. And since then, I decided, hey, I don’t want to go back to like the 9 to 5 job. I like controlling my own hours, doing if I want to work in the morning or if I want to work in the afternoon or at night, or if I can divide my time, that’s my option. I don’t have to be asking any of my clients or any of my bosses. So that’s how I ended up quitting the full-time job and then starting focusing more on our business. So, it’s an online marketing business and we help clients as small to medium businesses and we don’t have any specific niche. We kind of like their own marketing department, let’s say. So, we help them with SEO, web design, social media, graphic design, anything that the client needs.
Matt Bowles: Awesome. Well, let me start by asking you some follow up questions about the travel experiences. So, you mentioned that before you moved to the United States, you had not traveled much, even though South America and some of those other Spanish speaking countries, right. So, when you decided to do that, what was that experience like for you? I mean, you obviously spoke the language at least in every country, except for Brazil, which is Portuguese, but all the other ones were Spanish speaking countries. So, you at least had the language, you had the ability to travel there, but all different cultures, right. Different from Colombia in different ways and all this kind of stuff. So. And it was your first major, longer term, multiple months sort of travel experience. So, what was that like for you? What impact did that have on you?
Victoria Zapata: Well, at the beginning, it was quite hard for me to take the push, let’s say quitting the job, leaving everything, the material stuff, and then just like leaving my home, having your comfort zone, let’s say. And of course, we used to have a dog. So that was my lovely dog. And I was like, I was hesitating so much. And then at the end I was like, okay, let’s go. It sounds amazing. I want to travel; I want to experience new things. I want to experience new food, new cultures, everything. So, when we travel, it opened my eyes and from there I’m hooked. I just want to keep doing the same thing all over again.
Matt Bowles: That’s amazing. And then when you decided to go to Southeast Asia for six months soon after that trip, that obviously is a very different cultural experience.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: Than traveling through South America. Can you share a little bit about where you went in Southeast Asia? And as you were on that trip, what were some of the experiences that really stood out to you or impacted you that you can remember?
Victoria Zapata: Well, we started traveling to Southeast Asia. That was our first stop. That was Singapore. Since we arrived to Singapore, I was in love with that place. It’s an amazing place. I know a lot of people, they don’t like it because they say it’s a fake city, but I’m in love with that city. Everything is so organized; everything is perfect for me. So, I got in love with that. And then since then, we went from Singapore to Malaysia. Malaysia, of course, as well. Amazing place. From Malaysia, we went to Thailand. I got in love with Thailand. Bangkok. The first time we talked with a guy, I think he was from Israel. He’s like, why are you guys spending a week in Bangkok? And I was like, why not? He’s like, no, it’s a mess city. It’s a crazy city. You guys just spend two days and that’s it. You guys don’t need more. And we’re like, oh, my God, what we going to do now? We already have for the whole week. And then we’re like, okay, let’s just wait.
So, we ended up arriving to Bangkok, and I was like, oh, my God, this place. Yeah, it’s crazy, but it’s amazing. I love the nightlife that they have and everything. Like the food, the people. Amazing. And then we went to Myanmar, another place that it was just recently open. So, it was amazing to see that it was not any of the American stuff that they’re in any other place. So, they were like the shopping malls, they’re not huge brands like H&M, Forever 21, things like that. It was everything local, everything unique. So that was really nice. And the other thing that it was crazy, in Myanmar, you need to take the dollar bills kind of like getting out of the atm, like brand new, so they don’t accept or they give you less if they’re like a little bit with scratch or wrinkle or anything. You need to have, like the perfect bills. And then from there, we went to the Philippines. And the Philippines, of course, amazing. We went to Boracay. Amazing. Beautiful. Water in the sand is like, white. It was really nice.
Matt Bowles: That’s so awesome. Well, you mentioned when you were telling these stories about your travel experiences, the concept of minimalism.
Victoria Zapata: Oh, yeah.
Matt Bowles: Started to sort of creep in there, and you started to think about and reflect on a lot of the way that we’re socialized in the States. Pretty much everybody is.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: Right. To sort of buy all these material things and then work harder and then use that extra money to buy more expensive things and then just keep going in this circle. And then whoever has the most expensive stuff and impresses their friends with it and this. I mean, that’s kind of the way that the socialization works in the materialist society that we are living in, right? So how did travel and maybe any specific experiences along the way that sort of made you really start to sort of question some of that stuff and then how did that sort of lead you towards a more minimalist lifestyle?
Victoria Zapata: Well, when we started traveling, it was always like a backpack. But of course, we started like packing. And then my first trip to South America, I packed, I believe, like a bunch of stuff. And then of course, when you travel, you like other stuff. And then you see the little store, and then you see a big store, and then you see the boutique place and everything. And then from there I was like, oh, I like this, I like this, I like this. And I was like, but I don’t have space in my bag. I’m like, what am I going to do now? So, I was like, okay, now I have to figure it out every time I pack, what am I going to take? And I know I’m already going to get in love with something in the other place. So, from there I was like, I need to pack light of.
First of all, because we’re doing travel carry on only. So, it’s a lot, I don’t know, like 12 pounds or less than that sometimes. So, we try not to pay. We just like carry on and that’s it. And my recommendation is just like pack really light seven outfits and then you can switch and match all the time. It’s perfect. And if you have like clothing that it can dry fast, it’s comfortable, and you can just mix and match. Because the other thing is that you’re going to be in love with every place. You’re going to start buying different things. So, if you have something that is not like super new, and then you’re like, yeah, I can get rid of that. Okay, you can just move on that not being attached of that clothing or that material thing. And then you can just like get rid of it and buy the other stuff that you need. And then you just switch all the time so you can just stay like that.
Matt Bowles: I love that. I think it is really significant what you’re saying, which is that because you travel with carryon luggage, as do I. We’re talking about traveling the world full time with no base a year plus, and just kind of keep going with carryon luggage only.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: And you and I both do that. And I agree with you that one of the amazing things that you’re doing by making that choice, you’re imposing a constraint on yourself. And you’re saying that my material items that I own have to fit in this carry-on suitcase.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: And if I want to buy something else, it means I have to get rid of something in order to do that. So, you don’t allow yourself to stockpile all this stuff. And sometimes for me, that’s been buying something that I need, let’s say for a particular local event that I’m going to. I once went to the diner on Blanc, white party in Paris, which is like this elegant pop-up dinner party, clandestine dinner party, right.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: And you’re required to wear all white; shirt, pants, socks and shoes. You’re not allowed to have anything that’s not white. And it can’t be off white, it can’t be ivory, it has to be white.
Victoria Zapata: Oh, wow.
Matt Bowles: Now I didn’t own a single white thing, right. So, I’m like, okay, I want to go to this event and this is the dress good for the event. So, what I’m going to do is I’m going to buy the stuff I need to attend the event.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: And then I’m going to donate the stuff.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: That I bought. And I’ve done that with cultural events too. If I’m going to, let’s say a cultural wedding in another country where there’s a particular cultural garb that is appropriate to wear to that wedding or to a religious ceremony or something where you need to buy something.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: That you don’t already own to attend it. You can do that, you can wear it, and all that. And then you can donate.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: At the end. And so, I do that as well.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah. Normally I always live in our Airbnb or the hotel. I just leave everything that I’m not going to use. Maybe the cleaning person is going to use it or they can just give it somewhere else. So, it’s reusing the clothing so they’re not throwing it away. I don’t want to throw this stuff if someone can use it.
Matt Bowles: Right.
Victoria Zapata: And the other thing that I tried to do is like, I don’t know if have you heard this rule is like 333. I don’t know who created that, but it was this girl that I saw on the Internet and I was reading it and is the 333 means is like the first three months you have to use only 33 items. So that way I’ve been trying to like, okay, let me see if in the three months I can only use 33 items and then every time I switch them. So, every three months or less or more, I’ve been switching my clothes. That’s how I’m mix and matching.
Matt Bowles: That’s interesting. I think one perception that some people have when they hear that you’re able to travel the world for a year plus at a time with only carry-on luggage. And is that the tradeoff for that is that you’re not going to be able to dress very well, very stylishly. You bring whatever the stereotype is, like a pair of swim trunks and flip flops and a tank top, and you wear the same thing every day and you’re just walking around on the beach and all that. But in fact, you and I both, I think, have prioritized fashion and style. You dress very well.
Victoria Zapata: Thank you.
Matt Bowles: And you’re able to do it with carry-on luggage.
Victoria Zapata: Yes, correct.
Matt Bowles: Can you give some specific tips for the women listening, in particular, in terms of your techniques that you have developed and refined over the years for how to pack in carry-on luggage only without sacrificing fashion and style and still being able to dress well when you’re in a place that you want to dress up for.
Victoria Zapata: So, my recommendation is just pack seven outfits, let’s say, and from there you can just mix and match. And every time you just want to switch something, if you see a dress or an outfit that you like more, you can just donate that or leave it in the Airbnb or the hotel, things like that. But normally what I do first is I try to pack before, so I know my outfits. And I try to look not for like really simple shirts or simple shorts, things like that. I try to look for a little bit more fashionable clothing pieces and then that way it’s going to be a little bit more easy so it can match into any other outfit or any place that you need to go. And the other recommendation is that just use the accessories. So, the jewelry, the necklaces, the bracelets, if you have space. I love me personally, I love to have all the time, like nice earrings, necklaces. In that way it will show more the fashion, I guess.
Matt Bowles: Yeah, absolutely. I think accessories are an amazing way, particularly for women. They can even use than men usually to make outfits look very different.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: Just based on the accessories that you’re wearing. And it might be the same base, but you’re wearing all these different accessories and it looks like a totally new outfit. And accessories don’t take up much room.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah, no. And they’re not heavy at all.
Matt Bowles: Right. I think that’s a great tip. Let me ask you this now, Vicki. I know that you have a lot of love for animals and I know that you have a lot of love and care for the environment that we live in. And then you’re very passionate about that. Can you talk a little bit about how those passions come into play when you travel?
Victoria Zapata: Well, yeah, when I was growing up, I wanted to be a vet and then I ended up not being a vet. Now I’m a web and graphic designer with a marketing agency. But I keep loving the animals. So, every time I travel, I love to help out animals and the environment the way I can. And let’s say for example, when we were traveling to Southeast Asia, I saw many street dogs and I ended up buying like food for them. So, every time I was walking on the street, going around, visiting new places, I told my husband, we need to buy some food for the dogs. So, we bought like a pack of dog food. And every time I was seeing one eye, I was like getting close to them and just giving food. Some of them they were a little bit shy. Other ones they were scared and other ones they were like really happy just eating the food. And yeah, that’s the experience of helping the animals.
And the other one, it’s really funny is in Sri Lanka I was walking on the beach. Every time we walk on the beach, I tried to take like a plastic bag and start picking trash. And I was walking on the beach in Sri Lanka. I can’t recall the name of the beach at the moment, but I was picking the trash and suddenly I thought it was a plastic bag. And when I pulled it up, it was one of the biggest bills from Sri Lanka. So, I guess it was like, I don’t know, like 10, $20. And so, I believe a lot of in karma and the Dharma. So, I guess the environment and the world pay me for picking the trash.
Matt Bowles: That’s so awesome. I loved Sri Lanka too. I went there for a couple of weeks. What a special place Sri Lanka is. How was your experience there overall?
Victoria Zapata: I love that. I was in love with Sri Lanka. I love the food. I think they need a little bit better Internet. But the rest like the food and the people, I was in love with it. And they have the sanctuary of the elephants. So that was my top highlight from there.
Matt Bowles: Yeah, super special place for sure. Well, let me ask you a little bit about your business now, Vicky. Can you share a little bit about the scope and services offered by All Digital Media? Who are your ideal clients? How do you work with businesses? What do you provide for them?
Victoria Zapata: So, at All Digital Media we offer web design, graphic design, SEO, PPC. So, we just help clients from a small to medium companies and we just become their own line marketing department in every company. We don’t have any specific niche we have from attorneys to interior designers to handmade jewelry stores. So yeah, we help out any type of different businesses and they’re normally small to medium size.
Matt Bowles: Well, I know one of your specialties in the business is helping businesses to optimize their social media marketing. Pick the right platforms, create the right content, engage in the right ways, all of that. What are the some of the biggest mistakes you see businesses making on social media today and what should they be doing instead?
Victoria Zapata: Well, on the social media I’ve been seeing a lot of my clients, they’re not posting constantly, they are creating graphics that they’re not professional graphics. So, they’re like always switching back and forth like they don’t have their color brand. So, I normally recommend all the time like be specific with your color brands, use your logo, use your nap. That will be the nap is like the name, address and phone number, things like that. So, I normally start showing a graphic design. First, they approve and then from there we start working, creating videos, creating graphics and just posting constantly, all the time, using the right hashtags, the location and then just like being on any other social platform. So not only specify, let’s say only on Instagram, but they can also be on Facebook and Pinterest for example if it’s a jewelry store, a clothing store, and if it’s a business to business, I normally do Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. So, I recommend that to the clients. So yeah, I normally try to explain to the clients what is the best options and help them out like with the graphics. So, everything has a nice look and feel with the color brands.
Matt Bowles: Awesome. And as you already mentioned, your background is in website design and I know you do a lot of that as well. And you will take a look at client’s websites, I mean assuming they have one already, if not you’ll create it from scratch. But when you look at people’s websites and then you come in to tweak and modify and optimize.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: What are some of the biggest mistakes you’re seeing businesses making with their website websites that they can and should improve?
Victoria Zapata: Well, the mistakes that I see on the clients is they try to do it themselves and sometimes they do an okay job, sometimes they’re like yeah, it’s an okay website. So, for me, for example, every time I see for services or a website that I’m trying to look, if I see a really bad website, I’m like, oh maybe this is a scam, is not trustworthy. So, I try to go and look for like a really nice professional looking website and then from there I start looking into like the social medias and if they’re into Google, so if they are in Google, maybe they’re in the maps and in the search. So, I start looking on that and I totally recommend my clients having a nice professional website. The other one is having a mobile responsible website that’s really important. And the other one is if you can be on the maps. That’s really good because now it’s like everything is local and everybody’s like looking on their phones on Google Maps, Apple Maps and the Bing and things like that.
Matt Bowles: Awesome. Well, Maverick show listeners know your husband Santiago Sosa, who has also been interviewed on The Maverick Show. If you haven’t heard that episode yet, we’re going to link it up in the show notes. Highly recommend you go back and check that one out. Another amazing episode. But I want to ask from your perspective, Vicki, for your tips on being a business partner with your spouse. Because that is something that does not strike me as something that is just simple and easy to do in a way that is conducive to both the marriage and also conducive to the business. I’m wondering how you navigated that and any tips you have on how both your marriage and your business function so amazingly?
Victoria Zapata: Well, thank you. So, what we do, we try to take space so we work not together, we work separately. So, he works, let’s say now that we’re staying in my grandparents’ house, he works upstairs, I work downstairs. So, we don’t see each other every 24 hours. Because that’s a really crazy thing like being there 24 hours, working together, being partners in being a wife and husband. So, first of all, try to have your own space so you have that. And then second of all, we divide the clients. So, what I mean by divine the clients is like he focuses on working on some clients and then I focus on working on others. So, we don’t have to be being boss to each other. Because that part is not good. That was the beginning when we started working together. I was helping with the clients and then I was like, why you didn’t send this to the client and why you didn’t do this? And well, he’s like, oh, I don’t like the design and things like that. So, it’s better like we collaborate with each other. But he’s kind of like working with his own clients. I’m working with my own clients. Of course, it’s our clients, all of them. But we divide them so we don’t have to be like being bus for one to each other.
Matt Bowles: That’s awesome. Well, you two, it’s been so amazing to spend time with the two of you and your marriage and your relationship is so inspiring to me. And so yeah, it really is. I mean, it’s just amazing. I mean, how obviously happy you two are together and just how well your relationship works. It’s just really awesome. And I want to ask for your tips now on traveling full time with your spouse.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: Because you two have been full time itinerant nomads with no base for many years now. Can you share any tips that you have in terms of reflections on doing that over many years and what you’ve had to navigate to make that work as seamlessly as it appears to now?
Victoria Zapata: Well, yeah. So, we’ve been to working and traveling for the past 10 years and normally what we do is like we try to socialize. So, we’re not together 24, seven all the time, just the two of us. We try to be around other people so we can talk with anybody else and hang out, going to parties, going to cafes or going to restaurants just to have a talk or socialize. But we don’t have to be all the time, just the two of us, because if not, it’s going to be start getting, I don’t know, like really crazy. Working, fighting, I don’t know, it gets bad. So, the good thing is that we like to be around other people. And every time we just go out, I don’t know, out of the blue, we start like talking with someone. I don’t know if you notice in Lago Calima, like the girl next to me. I don’t know, I turned around, we started talking about the dog. And then from there she went downstairs with me taking picture of her friend. I was taking pictures of my husband. And then, I don’t know, that was the first time I met her. And that’s how we start, like socializing with different people, just being open and friendly with everyone.
Matt Bowles: Yeah, you two are both amazingly social people. I think works really well. But let’s talk a little bit about Lago Calima. Because that was such a special trip that we went on last weekend. And it wasn’t just that you were meeting local people there, but you actually invited us to go with you.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: And a group of five of us rolled up there and rented this amazing finca overlooking the lake. And we just did a sort of four or five days of co working, like a workplace sort of retreat. And you guys are just like, hey, let’s go and do this and let’s invite some friends of ours and we’ll go as a group and we’ll bring some wine and some barbecue and some stuff, and we’ll get this amazingly gorgeous place. And then we’ll do water sports in a weekend and we’ll do co working and all this kind of stuff. And I thought that was a really amazing initiative. And the way that you framed it as well is, hey, while we’re all there, since we’re all friends and we’re all digital nomads and we’re all driven remote professionals and all that, why don’t we also do some personal development stuff and we’ll do some investment strategy stuff and we’ll have discussions about all these things and then we’ll go kite surfing and like all this cool, fun stuff as well. And you guys just initiated that and you just invited us and then you just got a crew together and we rolled and we did the same thing in last month when we were all in Medellin and we met you guys in Guatapé. Yeah, we went to Guatemala, like, hey, let’s just get a whole crew of people and just go up there and get this really epic finca for the weekend and just post up and like, do this cool stuff with cool, interesting people. And I feel like your initiative to do that stuff and to surround yourself with people is also really, really, you know, just an amazing facet about how you guys are intentional about those social communities.
Victoria Zapata: Well, I’m glad. I’m glad that you guys like it and you guys enjoy it.
Matt Bowles: Yeah, it was so fun to hang out with you guys in Colombia. Super special. So, you mentioned that you have been doing this lifestyle for close to a decade now.
Victoria Zapata: That sounds fun.
Matt Bowles: Can you talk about what you think are some of the sustainability pillars, some of the key’s things that you’ve paid attention to that have allowed you to do it for this long and still be excited about it and passionate about it and getting joy and inspiration from this lifestyle. Because I feel like a lot of people, they figure out how to kind of get remote and then they nomad around for maybe a year or two. And then they get burned out.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: On some level. And then they end up not nomading anymore. And then it was more like a gap year. It was more like a fun kind of travel year. And it was a break or a sabbatical. It was like something different. And then they weren’t able to sustain it in a meaningful way, right. Something was missing in their life. And so, they went back to sort of a More traditional thing. So, I always love to ask people that have been doing this as long as I have, because I’ve been doing this now since 2013 with no base full time.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: What have you found to be the keys to pay attention to, to sustain this lifestyle in a meaningful and fulfilling way?
Victoria Zapata: Well, any reflections just thinking about it, it will be, first of all, not travel so fast. So that’s the first thing that I will say. Like, I totally agree. Not moving fast. Because for me, I was kind of like getting a little bit, like burned out, like moving like every three days. But if you do, like, I don’t know, two, three weeks or the whole month, it’s perfect because you can have a routine so you can work really good. You can just do the gym, you can cook or hire someone, but you have your own routine. So that’s pretty good. Like, be consistent on maintaining your life the way you used to have it. Let’s say when we used to live in the States, in Miami, we used to have our routine of working. And then from working, just going to the gym and then things like that. And on the weekends, going to visit friends, going to parties, socialize. So that’s what we try to do.
So we try to maintain our life the way we used to have it when we used to wear like on our rad routine, let’s say. And now we just keep traveling in a different place and you just have the same thing. The only difference is you just like experiencing new culture, new food, new people and that thing. That’s what’s, I guess that’s what motivate us. Just it opens your eyes not to be materialist, being more free, doing whatever you want. You have your whole time.
Matt Bowles: Yeah, I think you guys do an amazing job at that. And I’ve been like, observing you because you two are so happy together and you’re so excited about traveling and you’ve been doing this for so many years. I mean, you’ve been together for over a decade. You’ve been traveling for over a decade and you’re still so happy and in love with each other. And you’re so excited about traveling to new places. I mean, it’s just amazing to see. And you’re also, I mean, the other thing that you do is you are very intentional about curating your social community, right. So you will invite particular people and you will create a particular social environment and surround yourself with people that provide a lot of positive energy in your life that you can be having the particular types of discussions with or you Share certain values with all of that. And you’re very intentional, I think about that.
Victoria Zapata: Right.
Matt Bowles: In terms of selecting the people that you want to roll with and surrounding yourself with. And there are people that bring you up and provide value in your life and inspire and all of that. And I think that’s really important.
Victoria Zapata: Correct.
Matt Bowles: And this lifestyle, I think, is very conducive to that because there’s so many really smart, really interesting people that are travelers and that are nomads and that are doing interesting stuff, you know, and that you can learn from and that they, you know, they can learn from you, and you can learn from them, and you can have these really amazing experiences together. And so, I think you guys just do such an amazing job with that. Let me ask you this, though. Building on that, when you travel, how do you balance, on the one hand, wanting to go to a new place and really immerse in that culture and experience that local area the way that locals do and sort of really understand what that culture is about and what that city is about? How do you balance that with wanting to be connected with the nomad community or the expat community? Because I feel like a lot of people can travel to different places in the world, Medellin being one of them.
And you can, if you want, stay entirely in a nomad bubble in Medellin, Colombia, and interact with almost no Colombians that they’re not serving you at a restaurant, and just interact with expats and nomads. And there’s many cities around the world where that’s the case. And on the one hand, nomads are interesting. I interview them on this podcast every week. I find them interesting. I certainly want to meet them and spend time with them.
Victoria Zapata: Of course, yeah.
Matt Bowles: We all do. Right? But on the other hand, if you get too subsumed in that nomad or expat bubble, are you really experiencing that local culture in a meaningful way and immersing in that? So how have you sort of navigated that and how do you balance those two things?
Victoria Zapata: I don’t know. We like to be social. We’re, like, so friendly and families. So, we like to be around a lot of people. But as I mentioned earlier, we like to go to restaurants, but we normally don’t go only to, like, luxury places, as some people, they just, like, focus on, let’s say, go only. I just only go to luxury places. We like to go to everything. So, we go from, like, luxury to normal places, and then we go to the local lady from the street selling pad Thai, fried rice. Anything. And we try to talk to those people. Not only being on the luxury places and focusing on the nomads and just English-speaking people, we try to like always be friendly with everyone.
And I remember like even in Thailand, we were in our hotel and I started talking with the girl that she was serving us and I started asking her like, how can I say hi? Or how can I say can I have this from there? I started talking with that local girl that she didn’t know a lot of English, I didn’t even know anything about Thai. And she started teaching me and she was happy teaching me some words. So, I think we tried to be so friendly and talking to everyone that that’s how we started like emerging, let’s say into every culture, not being like, oh, I’m not going to talk to that person because she doesn’t know English or he doesn’t know English, I don’t care. I want to know about her, what she thinks was the culture, you know, and just being friendly. Everybody’s just like start like reacting and teaching you and you get things back.
Matt Bowles: That’s awesome. That’s such a great tip. Vicki, I want to ask you one more question and then we’ll wrap this up and move into The Lightning Round. When you think of back about all of the travel that you’ve now done, 70 plus countries on all these different continents, all of these different cultures, people you’ve met, experiences that you’ve had, what impact has that had on you as a person? And at this point in your life, why are you choosing to continue to keep traveling? What is travel, all of this travel, what does it mean to you?
Victoria Zapata: Well, travel means to me that it opens my eyes. So, when we come back to the States and then we just visit our friends and then they just in the rat race, that thing for me it just, I don’t want to be doing the same thing from the 9 to 5 and then just being the whole routine on the comfort zone. So, traveling, it just helps me thinking on something else. Not prioritizing material stuff, just being more conscious of myself, conscious of other people and just like helping others, helping the environment, helping the animals. And that’s why I want to continue traveling because it motivates me not being on the same thing and staying on the comfort zone in the same routine. Just when you go outside it just kind of completely change your mind and you just more happy, I guess.
Matt Bowles: That’s amazing. And that is amazing. Note to end the main portion of this interview and at this point, Vicki, are you ready to move in to The Lightning Round?
Victoria Zapata: I am.
Matt Bowles: Let’s do it. All right, I know you’re a podcast listener, and you’re more of a podcast listener than a book reader, so I want to ask you this first question. What is one podcast other than the Maverick show, of course.
Victoria Zapata: Of course.
Matt Bowles: That you listen to, that you would recommend to people.
Victoria Zapata: How I Built This. An amazing podcast.
Matt Bowles: Awesome. We will link all of your answers up in the show notes, by the way, so folks can just go to one place themaverickshow.com and get the links to everything that Vicki is recommending here. Vicki, what is one travel hack that you use that you can recommend to people?
Victoria Zapata: Normally, we travel with carry on and the back of the computer. So, when I’m like a little bit heavier on my carry on, I pass some stuff onto my computer bag and that’s how I balance the weight. And the other one is when you buy something on the airport, you get the bag. So, in there, if you have heavy weight as well, you can just put some extra into that bag. And that’s kind of like my two travel hacks that I use.
Matt Bowles: Okay, so you and I both travel with carry-on luggage, right. And our luggage apparently, absolutely, unequivocally fits into the overhead compartment of a regular airplane. The problem is that once in a great while, an airline will impose a completely bizarre and unreasonable weight correct restriction. But they’re like, even though your bag is a totally sufficient size, it will fit on our plane. We’re just going to impose this weight restriction on you.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: If it weighs more than this, we’re going to either charge you for it or make you check it or something crazy. And so, your technique is for how to reduce the weight of your carry-on bag in a scenario where they’re telling you it has to weigh under a certain amount in addition to being the same size. And so, you just waltz into the Duty Free shop, buy a bottle of something in the duty free shop, and then just stuff a bunch of things from your suitcase into the duty free bag? This is my Duty Free bag over here. Don’t pay no attention to that. Just weigh my suitcase.
Victoria Zapata: That’s. That’s how I do it.
Matt Bowles: Yeah, that’s amazing.
Victoria Zapata: So, I just go and buy anything, a chocolate, perfume, anything. And then I just, when they give me like a small bag, I’m like, ah, do you have a big one? And then they, they ended up like switching it.
Matt Bowles: Like rolling with this giant duty. You’re like, it’s a Duty Free Bag. You can’t put a restriction on the weight.
Victoria Zapata: They’re not going to even check what I have in there.
Matt Bowles: That’s so amazing. I love that. All right, Vicki, if you could have dinner with any one person who’s currently alive today that you’ve never met, just you and that person for an evening of dinner and conversation, who would you pick?
Victoria Zapata: I will pick right now. Gary Vee.
Matt Bowles: Gary Vaynerchuk. I love that pic. That’s really awesome. I have been following Gary since 2009. I was at a conference and he was the keynote speaker. I’d never heard of him. This is when he had only had his first book ever published called Crushing It. He had one book out and I’d never heard of him. And he was the keynote speaker at this conference. And I was like, oh, you know, I guess should we leave before the keynote or should we listen to the keynote? Why don’t we say and we’ll listen to the first five minutes and if it’s not good, we’ll roll out and if it’s good, we’ll stay.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: Comes on the stage and I’m like five minutes into it, I’m like, this might be the best public speaker I’ve ever heard in my life. Just lit the stage up. So of course, I bought his book, said hello to him, and the blurb on the back of that book, he had a blurb on the back of that book by Tim Ferriss. And I, of course I had read the Four-Hour Workweek, which came out two years earlier in 2007. So, I was like, oh, Tim Ferriss is friends with this guy, you know, as well that makes sense. So, then I just started following him and buying every book that he came out with after that and have been following him very closely ever since. And I’m actually going to his upcoming conference this year, VeeCon.
Victoria Zapata: That’s amazing.
Matt Bowles: Which he’s doing for the first time ever for people that own his NFT as well. So that’s going to be pretty, pretty cool stuff. So that’s an awesome pick. I would love to have that dinner as well. All right, Vicky, of all the places that you’ve traveled, 70 plus countries and many different places within those countries, what are your top three favorite travel destinations you would most recommend people should definitely check out?
Victoria Zapata: Well, my top three, I will say Singapore, Barcelona, and the third one, I will say Bangkok. That’s my personal opinion.
Matt Bowles: I love those things. That’s amazing. And those are three very different types of cities.
Victoria Zapata: Yes, completely.
Matt Bowles: I Love that you love all three of those cities. Because it’s not just like, oh, you’re going to pick three of the same type of city. Like, those are really different vibes.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: And I love that you love them all, but that’s. I feel like I’m like that too. Like, I love so many different types of things, which is why I’m a nomad.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: People are like, oh, if you could pick a base, where would you go? I was like, I don’t want a base. I want all of it. That’s why I’m a nomad. I want to spend time in Singapore and Bangkok and Barcelona. And that’s why I nomad, so that I can spend time at all.
Victoria Zapata: That’s true. Yeah.
Matt Bowles: I don’t have to pick this one. Those are awesome picks. Those are three of my favorite cities, too. All right, Vicki, last question. What are your top three bucket list destinations? These are places you have never been highest on your list you would most love to see.
Victoria Zapata: I would like to see Australia. I would like to go to South Africa. And then Islas Galapagos in Ecuador.
Matt Bowles: Yes. The Galapagos Islands. Amazing. I did that in 2017, and I’ve been telling people about it ever since. Absolutely amazing. And in terms of South Africa, I’m going to be there later this year as well, so hopefully we can reconnect.
Victoria Zapata: Reconnect. Yeah, for sure.
Matt Bowles: Continent either there or somewhere else. Because I know you guys want to do more traveling around Sub-Saharan Africa as well. So hopefully we can reconnect there and then we will, because we’ve already hung out this year in North America. We hung out in Mexico.
Victoria Zapata: Yes.
Matt Bowles: And then we’ve hung out now in Colombia and South America.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: And we’re going to hang out this summer in Europe.
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: And then hopefully at the end of the year in Africa. So, our path keeps crossing. Is that nomad life?
Victoria Zapata: Yeah.
Matt Bowles: I love it. That’s amazing.
Victoria Zapata: I’m in love with this life.
Matt Bowles: Absolutely. I love that. That’s so awesome. All right, Vicki, I want you to let folks know how they can find you, follow you on social media, all that good stuff. And if folks are interested in learning more about All Digital Media, we have a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners listen to the podcast. If folks are interested in learning more about your services to see if it might be a good fit for them, where can they learn more about you and your business?
Victoria Zapata: They can find us on our website, so alldigitalmedia.com you can find the link in the description. We are in the social media, Facebook and Instagram. And if you have any question, you can contact me as well on my LinkedIn account, Victoria Zapata and my Instagram Victoria Zapata Marketing as well.
Matt Bowles: Amazing. We are going to link all of that up in the show notes. So, all of Vicki’s personal social media links, all of her business links and her website and everything is going to be there in one place. So just go to themaverickshow.com and go to the show notes for this episode and there you will find it along with everything else we discussed on this episode.
Vicki, this was amazing. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Victoria Zapata: No, thank you for having me. It was really nice.
Matt Bowles: All right, good night, everybody.
