Romano Groenewoud is a Dutch entrepreneur who skipped the whole cubicle/9 to 5 job thing. But then again he is only 24 years old. He studied International Business Administration at a prominent
business school in The Netherlands. He thought he was headed for a professional live with an exciting international lifestyle. After doing some internships, Romano quickly came to discover the truth:
it’s just an expensive degree, leading to a 80 hour work week.
That’s when he discovered two books, The Four Hour Workweek (Ferriss) & The Education of Millionaires (Ellsberg). This marked a turning point in Romano’s life. “I think I listened to The 4-hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss at least six times from start to end. This book taught me concepts like geoarbitrage and delegating menial tasks that are not part of my core competencies. Another book that really helped me was The Education of Millionaires by Michael Ellsberg. I listened to this book at a point in time when I was really doubtful about the digital nomad lifestyle. I was doubting between enrolling in a master’s degree in Rotterdam, The Netherlands or hitting the road for a year while growing my SEO agency at the same time. This book made me opt for the latter. I have always been quite passionate about internet marketing and in particular SEO. Also fond of travel”.
He saw quite a lot of demand for SEO, and accidentally rolled into this industry. Romano received his first client through his university work. He wrote a chapter about SEO for a strategic business plan, presented it to the CEO and CFO of the company and was hired on the spot. After this he had to go to the local chamber of commerce to formally start a business, pay taxes, etc. He was 21 at the time.
Part of his college experience was a semester abroad. “I took my work with me, while studying in Madrid, Spain. There were no issues at all, and this made me think, I can do this type of work from anywhere”.
At the beginning of his career, Romano worked way too many hours, did not sleep enough and alienated some people. “This was not a productive period at all. I just hustled for the sake of hustling, doing work that did not add value to the business, just ‘busy work”.’ Now he regularly take breaks from work. And he finishes working in the evening to hang out with fellow expats or watch a movie to wind down. “Before I just worked till bedtime and felt stressed all the time. This was not helping me in any way”.
Jumping Ahead
Fast forward, the last 2 – 3 years, Romano has lived and worked in 10 different countries and is currently living in The Philippines. “I feel home in Asia. I like the weather, the people and the food. I have no grudge against Europe or The Netherlands, I still think it is a fantastic place, and go back to see parents and friends from time to time, but I really appreciate the freedom to travel around and not be set in one place. I have no intention whatsoever, to return to The Netherlands to live there permanently, but will be living as a digital nomad for the following decades”. Romano plans to expand his travels to South America, especially Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. At the ame time he is expanding his SEO agency, trying to find a way to keep up quality but also grow the company.
Romano lives by the latin phrase “Amor fati” or “love your fate”. “Before I started this journey of entrepreneurship and travel I never expected that I would live a significant part of my life abroad. “Once I tasted the freedom, to wake up when I want, to just dip in the pool in the morning, no more winter clothes, eat out local foods every day, I am past the point of no return”.
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