Kitti Borissza - Digital nomad
- COB: Hungary
- AGE: 33
- FDN EXPERIENCE: 5-Years
FOCUS: Brand Culture Architect & Facilitator
CONNECT: LinkedIn
Kitti Borissza is a Digital Marketer with more than 10-years’
experience. She graduated in 2009 and has since worked with a variety of companies, including recently landing her dream job with Hacker’s Paradise.
TELL US MORE ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW YOU CAME TO BE A DN?
I started my career in digital marketing after I graduated from college in 2009 and has since worked in the field. Back then, I had the vision that if I succeed in this career, I will get to a place where I could work from the top of the Himalayas with a laptop on my lap.
So, then I started working in social media and became successful pretty fast. (I was the first person in Hungary who got the official title of SM Manager).
I didn’t make it to be location independent for a while since running an agency is a handful, and I became a slave of myself to be honest. When I quit, I started to freelance, and I was location independent. But technically it meant that I was sitting in a studio apartment in my pajamas the whole day long. I realized something went really wrong! So, I sold the apartment and freed up some money and started traveling intensively about 1.5 years ago.
WHAT WAS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR BECOMING LOCATION INDEPENDENT?
My thirst to travel and learn more. Hungary was becoming a little too small.
WHAT IS HUNGARY LIKE?
It is an interesting place. And interestingly enough, the more I travel, the more I appreciate my roots as well.
WHAT TYPE OF WORK DO YOU DO?
I still do execution in digital marketing and campaigns, but recently, I’m more focused on strategy. I mainly work with companies on their digital marketing strategy. One of my markets is early stage startups, and another, TEFT and data science companies, but more on a small scale. I’m also into education now and helping others through courses and training sessions.
WHAT IS ONE OF THE MISCONCEPTIONS SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE ABOUT HIRING A DIGITAL MARKETER?
Education is an important issue these days. A small company doesn’t always have the budget to hire an expert to help them with digital marketing. But also, if you are not hiring an expert, then you have to pay a newbie for their learning and mistakes. So, in the end, it might end up being more expensive.
DO YOU ENJOY BEING A DIGITAL NOMAD?
Yes, and as my self-awareness grows, I realize that I’m more of an innovator than a maintainer. So generally, if a project goes on for too long and there are too many fixed routines and stuff, I get bored. So, I try to stay in an innovator role because that is where my strengths are. I’m also experienced as a stabilizer, but I’m not really into maintenance. I’m happy to hand this part over to the digital marketer who enjoys it.
MANY BUSINESS MODELS DON’T PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO THIS. IS IT IMPORTANT FOR FDN’S TO DO SELF-ANALYSIS AND DETERMINE IF THEY ARE INNOVATORS, CREATORS, EXECUTORS OR MAINTAINERS?
Yes, for me it was also an eye-opener and learning stretch. During the life cycle of a project, I learned the art of identifying creatives, innovators, executors and maintainers. And when the cycle goes down, you need to let go of what is not working and improvise to find a solution. So yes, I think it is an essential understanding because you don’t have to be all of these and everything. That is the beauty of outsourcing and asking for help.
“Each time I needed to learn something, I either found an NGO or a company that I could learn from. I would offer my services for free or with a barter.”
WHAT DIGITAL MARKETING ADVISE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE JUST STARTING AN FDN BUSINESS?
1 – Purpose: Determine your purpose. What is the drive that makes you want to wake up in the morning? That is super important to know.
2 – Value Proposition: What are the values that you create?
3 – Target Audience: You need to have a deep understanding of your target audience.
I genuinely believe that if you have a service based business, marketing is a requirement since you need visibility and for that, your values and purpose need to be clearly set out.
A COMMON DIGITAL MARKETING MISTAKE?
Many digital marketers only optimize on sales. It’s okay if you are only interested in the money. But in my experience money won’t make you happy. If you want to keep your fans, keep working in your business, and you have long term plans, it’s crucial that you are happy and you are serving people who share your values.
WHAT SHOULD A BEGINNER DIGITAL MARKETER KEEP IN MIND?
Start executing as soon as possible. Do things, learn from mistakes, and go with the trail and error method. Just keep doing. Generally, it’s easy to find clients to work for-for free. I did a lot of work for free. A lot!
Each time I needed to learn something, I either found an NGO or a company that I could learn from. I would offer my services for free or with a barter. This way you can get the experience, track record, and references. And you also get a network of people that can recommend you.
HOW IMPORTANT IS A NETWORK IN DIGITAL MARKETING?
Extremely important. It might sound strange, but as a DM I have never liked selling myself online. Most of my clients came from references, friends, family, former clients, and through presentations I gave. I really believe the best client relationships are personal and network generated.
MISCONCEPTIONS IN THE DIGITAL NOMAD WORLD?
Oh gosh, there are many! I’m actually thinking of starting an Instagram page titled, ‘Being A Digital Nomad Sucks.’
1 – It looks idyllic to jet off to a foreign country or island, but once you get there none of your plugs are working, and you have a deadline for a client’s projects. So, there you are; stuck and looking for adapters so you can charge all your equipment.
2 – Most people think it’s fun to work on the beach, but it’s not that great with the sun glaring down on your screen. Pretty hard to see what’s going on then.
3 – Simcard incompatibility is another issue. You arrive in a new destination and can’t get any reception on your phone.
4 – Wi-Fi is not available, and you have to drive 1 – 2 hours to get to a place that has wifi so you can send your client their work. So eventually when you do find a café where you can sit down and talk to your client, you are so sweaty and tired, but you have to look professional.
AVERAGE INCOME EXPECTANCY AS AN DN DIGITAL MARKETER
$1,250
WHAT SHOULD A DN NEVER DO WHILE WORKING WITH A CLIENT?
1 – Always Be Professional: You need to ensure you are super professional as a DN because there is already the trust issue on the client side. If you act unprofessional or start making excuses that you don’t have wifi, or that you were traveling for the past two days, you place yourself in a very vulnerable position.
2 – Don’t Make Excuses: Do what you say you will do.
BEST ACCOMMODATION TIP?
Don’t book for the long term – whatever you see on the Internet is most often not what you’ll get. Just book for a few days, go there and check out the place first.
WORK HOURS?
I can do my work in fewer hours because it doesn’t take me long and I know once I’m finished and can go out and explore. When we work in 9-5 jobs, we can go on a coffee break or scroll the net on the boss’s time. But now that I’m doing things on my own time, I use my time wisely and get things done.
SPOTLIGHT >
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