RWL235 Breaking Free from Convention w/ Kara Şahbaz, Founder, Untethered Minimalist

Speaker 1:
0:00

Hey, it's Alex once again from the Remote Work Life podcast. Thank you so much for joining me In this series of episodes or case studies. I'm interviewing CEOs, founders and location-independent entrepreneurs to find out their stories and to find out about their businesses and how they've evolved professionally and personally. And today I'm interviewing the founder of the Untethered Minimalist, cara Shatbaz, and she is an automation strategist. I started out by asking her to describe a personal story or experience that has influenced who she is today.

Speaker 2:
0:37

So there's several stories, I suppose, that come to mind. The one at the top would be when I was already living abroad and I had taken a contract. My background is actually as a holistic coach, a health coach and teacher. I had taken a job in the Middle East, which is really where I wanted to live, and the opportunity that came to me was a teaching role, to be the head of a department, the physical education and health department for middle and high school girls, and the country was Saudi Arabia, and it was during that time that I had such a wonderful experience in the kingdom.

Speaker 2:
1:23

I loved my students, my parents, I loved living there and as I was working and I had this contract which allowed for me to be abroad and had set up everything, from my visa to my work situation, to my housing, to my insurance, to getting a phone, to everything I realized that I wanted to continue staying abroad, but with all the bureaucracy and just the I don't know, I guess the chit-chat kind of cattiness of working in this environment where women were I don't know how to describe it, I just they were so gossipy and so I really avoided that and also the bureaucracy and I didn't really know if it had to do with just this school or just working in a school, because that was my first experience working in an international school. So I just realized that was really profound for me and I said I want to continue living abroad, but I do not want to take a contract and then be bound to working in a company or at a company. I really wanted to go on my own. So that was very pivotal for me.

Speaker 1:
2:33

As you look back on your life and connect the dots that led you where you are now. What are those dots?

Speaker 2:
2:41

So most of the dots, if you will, are definitely, I would say, later as far as the entrepreneurial spirit and the living abroad and working online. But I would say, thinking back to one of my earliest memories that would be a dot, that would definitely be a connector, was I remember being around a family member I think it was my aunt and I remember thinking how unhappy she seemed in her work life and she's also a mother of a wife and full-time mom and worked full-time. But I guess what I saw was someone who was working in a job that she seemed she didn't really like and thinking back, maybe, maybe it was that just that time in my life where I saw other people doing work or they're going to their jobs and they didn't like them. And that was really, I think I was around 14, maybe 13 or 14 years old. So I remember that being a really big thing that maybe consciously or subconsciously, I said to myself I always want to enjoy the work I'm doing and never just go to a job. So that's really made a huge impact in terms of choices that I've made, because money and a big salary is not a motivator for me, especially if I'm not going to enjoy the job or the environment, so that would be a big dot. So that would be a big dot.

Speaker 2:
4:08

I think another big dot was after I had become an entrepreneur as a holistic health coach and nutritionist and started my first company, which was holistic health coaching for six months. I also included teaching people how to cook intuitive cooking and exercise, Pilates and fitness and also personal chefing. So I did everything all inclusive for six months for my clients. I did that for 10 years and during that time I is with all the health knowledge I have and have. I ended up getting anxiety and that anxiety turned into temporary panic attacks, which actually became agoraphobia for about six months. So I was really homebound and trying to still run my business and be present for my clients. So that was really difficult. Luckily, I've totally grown out of that and learned how to manage that with lifestyle, and that, too, has been a huge marker and a dot that has allowed me to continue to be an entrepreneur and just be very mindful of my environment and making sure that I'm surrounded by peace and calm at most times.

Speaker 1:
5:19

Why did you decide to become a leader in your chosen niche?

Speaker 2:
5:23

I chose to go into tech and automation, really from piggybacking off after what I had said. My first company was, which is Harmony Inside Out, which was holistic health coaching for 10 years. Coming from the health coaching world, coming from the nutrition world and being also a bit in the new age world and using a lot of mindfulness practices, I can relate to other health coaches and I was also very, very intimidated by tech, by technology. So if anyone out there is listening to this and you're not a techie person, just know that there's hope Meaning. I never foresaw myself getting into anything technological at all working on the computer.

Speaker 2:
6:11

However, I got to a point where I really I didn't like that.

Speaker 2:
6:14

I needed to ask someone else to help me with everything techie wise, and when I found the work that I'm doing now, I realized that, just like anything else, when you can help someone do something that they need help with and you can find fulfillment in that, you can make a business, be it a product or a service, and business owners get back time, and by that I mean I help them automate their entire business and then that helps them with sales, it helps them streamline.

Speaker 2:
6:53

I do all the backend techie stuff so that they can really be on the front end focusing on their clients. So I always say that I can relate to the health coach, I can relate to the actor, I can relate to the artist, I can relate to the person who's super not techie, because that's me but I found that I had an inner geek, kind of nerdy tech person living inside me and I really enjoy and I'm super, super organized and I think that's part of what helps blend and glue everything together is because I'm super organized, overseeing projects and being a project manager and then being able to delegate tasks and get projects completed and have customers happy with their automation and with their CRM and with their sales funnels and with everything moving in the right direction. I'm able to blend those two worlds and make my particular clients who I call my client family happy with the results.

Speaker 1:
7:52

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you, and did you follow it?

Speaker 2:
7:56

So everyone's probably heard this expression how do you eat an elephant? And the answer is one bite at a time. So my grandfather used to say that and not that was necessarily advice given, but that was definitely an expression that was used a lot and to me it really does make sense at really any juncture in our lives, no matter what kind of part of the story we're in our own lives. How do you do anything? You do it one step at a time, and I think that it reiterates how important it is to stay present. It also helps us not get ahead of ourselves and be thinking or trying to think and live in the future and have the expectation of I want this, I want to do this, I want to go here, I want this to happen, because we can really set ourselves up for a lot of disappointment when we are future living, and I think in our modern world a lot of people have this struggle because they think, oh, I'm going to buy a house at this age, or I'm going to have this kind of job, or I'm going to get married at this age, or I'm going to have kids at this age, or I'm going to do this. We have this, I think modern world, we can really set ourselves up for a lot of disappointment by future living.

Speaker 2:
9:14

So, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Also, be where you are right now, right, go from where you are, not from where you want to be. And then I think this complements also not getting stuck in the past, being able to forgive yourself, being able to forgive others, being able to move forward and not get stuck in something that didn't happen, the minutia of the person who gets stuck in the regret, or something like that. I think that advice has really played well because, for me personally, I have worked through my own challenges of thinking of the past or getting stuck in the future, or getting stuck in the past or thinking about the future, and I really am genuinely, nine times out of 10, able to be really present, stay in the moment and and be grateful and simply, yeah, not just take things one bite at a time and one step at a time, no matter what it is, no matter what the situation is. So, yeah, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Speaker 1:
10:20

And what made you choose remote work and how has it benefited you and what?

Speaker 2:
10:24

made you choose remote work and how has it benefited you, so to speak a little bit further. How did I choose remote work? Two main reasons when I had that experience, when I was working for someone else. So, basically, I'd had my 10 year business, I closed up my shop to go live abroad for one year teaching English, just to support myself and have an adventure, and then I was going to come back to America and start my business again, but that did not happen. So I'd worked for myself. And then I worked in a language school in Shanghai, china, and that was amazing.

Speaker 2:
10:59

And then I took the job in Saudi Arabia and I was working for someone, and it was during that time where I was like no way, no, thank you. I did not enjoy working for someone again and, like I said earlier, I didn't enjoy the bureaucracy. And so I knew I wanted to stay abroad. I knew I wanted to work online. So I knew I needed to gain some skills, gain some valuable skills that I could then market to help people, and I wasn't sure exactly what that was going to be. I knew teaching was a viable option, but scaling it was the challenge. So that's really how I knew when I've been a remote worker since January 2019. And but I've lived abroad since 2015.

Speaker 2:
11:44

So the other thing is, like I said, being able to. I'm one of five kids, so of all my siblings, I'm really the one who's built a life and a lifestyle that I'm able to help my aging parents out at this juncture, and a lot of people wouldn't be able to do. What I'm able to do right now, which is spend, instead of being abroad more. I'm spending more time with them in the United States and being able to help them with day in and day out kinds of things, while I'm still running my business and helping my clients and doing my thing, and so I'm super grateful that I had built this for myself prior to this time. I'd set myself up for success to be in this position.

Speaker 2:
12:28

So if anyone out there thinks you know, remote work or being an entrepreneur or digital nomad is all about like partying in Chiang Mai, that's great, there's nothing wrong with that know that there are actually deeper reasons why building a whole work life with the internet is so viable, because something like what I'm doing right now I can be with my parents, I can help them, and this is something that, when I started out I didn't think about necessarily, but I realized subconsciously I've been building this lifestyle for years. So yeah, those, it's like a hidden bonus.

Speaker 1:
13:07

What are your best tips for organizing your day and staying productive?

Speaker 2:
13:13

So I love this question and, again coming from the health coaching world, so I really use a lot of the tools that I've taught my clients over the years, the first one of what I call my big threes. So the first one is habits, the next one is know your protein and the third one is gratitude attitude. So I'll speak on habits. There's a great I don't know if it's an expression or it's just a meme, or it's just a question or even like a story and the story goes if someone was to deposit like 10, 20, $50 million in your bank account today, what would you do differently tomorrow? Or how would you live your life tomorrow? And I love this question. I used to pose this question to my clients when I was health coaching, which is what would you do different, meaning for a lot of people, they might do a completely different thing tomorrow, like they might like hop on a plane and they might go here, or they might go buy a car, or they might, you know whatever. And I always say you know that you're living your life with depth and meaning and also with healthy habits If you're already doing the thing you do tomorrow. If you had 50 million dollars deposited in your bank, meaning what would I do? I would I always?

Speaker 2:
14:35

I wake up, I make my coffee or some kind of hot beverage, I I read the Bible. That's for me, that is the God that I worship. I read the Bible, I get in the word and I pray and I journal and for whatever you're personal spiritual connection or whatever it is that you do, that works for you. That is what I do and that gives me a lot of peace where I can simply know that's there for me every day, every morning, that is my habit, with my coffee, and I start the day off with my Lord. That's how I start my day. And then from there I take care of myself, my own needs first, before I try to attend to everyone else, meaning family or clients or whatnot, and so I might do a little exercise.

Speaker 2:
15:30

I journal, I will also set the tone for what kind of protein, and I'm a big fan of eating organs and organ meat yes, I said that like heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, you name it, but in usually capsule form. So that's the know, your protein. And the last one have a gratitude attitude with everything in life. It's all about gratitude.

Speaker 1:
15:55

So now I want to find out more about the company that you're part of. So can you please begin by telling me more about the company that you're part of? So can you please begin by telling me more?

Speaker 2:
16:04

about the company that you're part of and its origin story. So the company I'm a part of is my own. I named it the Untethered Minimalist and also Tech VA Services. But there's a meaning behind the Untethered Minimalist. I'm a big fan of Nomad Capitalist Andrew Henderson. I'm a big fan of Nomad Capitalist Andrew Henderson, and I am a minimalist at heart, not just with stuff, but also with life. I will take stock and I did this in the past.

Speaker 2:
16:33

But minimalism isn't just about stuff. It's also about deciding what do we want to consume, whether it's food, whether it's television, whether it's gossip. Whether it's television, whether it's gossip, whether it's positive energy, positive people it's what do we consume as people. And so minimalism to me isn't just about stuff, although I do find benefit with having less things, especially traveling and being a digital nomad and I'm super organized. So for me, minimalism was an important part of adding that into the title.

Speaker 2:
17:07

And untethered means I'm untethered, not meaning I don't care about life and people. I deeply care about life and people but more about being untethered from the expectations of others. I know that I can only control myself, my thoughts, my actions, my reactions, and so I practice staying untethered to the expectation of someone else's action or their reaction or what they say or what they do or what they don't do. So that's where the untethered minimalist comes from. That's the origin of the name of my company and Tech VA Services is I've talked already about this a little bit but being able to help people who come from, like I said, the coaching background, the acting background, the teacher background, the anything non-techie background.

Speaker 2:
18:00

I relate to that person because I am that person and I dovetail that with finding this love of tech, finding this love of automation and being able to build and run CRMs and help people run their business with a CRM, streamlining everything by automating it and then helping them building their sales funnels and their email lists and social media. Helping them building their sales funnels and their email lists and social media and then, if they have dream projects like a blog or a YouTube channel or an ebook or building a digital course or a membership, et cetera, so I'm able to help them make. Each one of my clients is very personalized in their own company and their own dream, and so the origin is blending those two worlds together so that I can help my clients save time and get back time so they can focus on their lives and their clients and themselves to be more happy and positive.

Speaker 2:
18:54

And what's unique about the company my company, the Untethered Minimalist, is that I am not just the founder, I'm not just a techie person, I'm not just someone who wants to make a bunch of money and I'm simply a. I come from the health world. I learned technology enough to then blend those two worlds to help my clients who, specifically, are most likely coming from the health or artistic world or the acting world that just anything non-techie and that person I can really I can relate to and I can really accommodate and work with. I can really accommodate and work with and I think that's what makes my company the most unique is that I have the techie as well background and so I understand how to build things and automate things and make people's lives a bit easier with their own business so that they can have more time back. And I think that is what sets me apart from just someone in general who works in tech or who builds CRMs and or can do all the techie backend stuff to help run and operate like an OBM.

Speaker 2:
20:18

I think you either have more of a techie personality where maybe you're not as much of a people person that's not everyone, obviously, I'm generalizing but that maybe you just want to do backend tasks and you don't want to really chit chat and get to know clients, and that can be. I know that's been some client feedback where my clients have said it's a pleasure getting on a Zoom call with me to talk about backend tests that I'm going to do and how I'm building out something in their CRM for their next launch or something. And they'll say it's a pleasure versus being some awful daunting task where it's just not their forte and they don't really understand certain things and I can make it a pleasurable conversation and working together and building. They say that it's enjoyable versus an awful daunting task. So I would say that's what sets me apart and that's what makes my company unique.

Speaker 1:
21:15

What's your philosophy on building a great team?

Speaker 2:
21:18

So my base philosophy with building a great team is this I believe that, as freelancers and entrepreneurs and digital nomads, when we are working for ourselves, that we need to be paid first and we need to bill up front and be paid for the work up front. And so I set the tone from the very beginning. I bill my clients at the beginning of the month. Most clients I do a build out the first month and then we go into a retainer fee and there's a minimum required hours. But I really don't work by the hour anymore. It's simply I bill them based on certain tasks and it's a retainer every month, but I bill upfront and I get paid upfront, and I believe that the team that I've built I do the same thing. I pay them upfront for so many hours and then, if they are working on a project and they have to add additional hours, they just let me know where I'm still working on this and then they say, hey, I just did these extra hours and then I go ahead and pay them for those as well. So I know that psychologically, this is how I work better when I have money in my account from my client. Money in my bank account is what I'm trying to say I am psychologically and emotionally, I'm much more stable, I feel much more productive, I'm much more motivated and I also want to do a great job. They've already paid me, so that's always been a motivator, from my very first client on, and that's how I've also built my team is that I want them to be super motivated to get the tasks done and I want them to know that they've already been paid and most people you know are going to feel much more calm and relaxed and just simply do a better job and be motivated when they're paid first. And I know it's a completely different story when you work for a company. You do work and then you get paid two weeks later or you get paid a month later and that's fine. That's one philosophy of working.

Speaker 2:
23:27

But as entrepreneurs since we really have to protect ourselves billing upfront and getting paid upfront and then that's how I treat my team members they get paid upfront and it's a win, because I believe it really helps with motivation working every day. Because, let's be honest, when we work online, there's a lot of trust because we're not in the same space, we're not in the same office, and when you're working online, when you're working remotely and you have clients or you're building a team, there is a lot of trust. That has to be the foundation, and so when that's the beginning, the foundation, we do our work. We do it in a timely manner. That's why asynchronous works in so many instances, because it doesn't matter what time zone you live in, what part of the world, as long as you're getting tasks done in a mindful amount of time and getting the work done. That's really what matters, and so I'm just a big believer in when we're paid up front, I'll as well with the world.

Speaker 1:
24:33

Can you talk me through the steps of your hiring process? How would you describe the company's success so far? How?

Speaker 2:
24:41

would you describe the company's success so far? I describe the success of my company by several things by the feedback that I get from our clients. That would be the first thing, and definitely my lifestyle. If I am working and I'm able to handle the flow of clients each week, I'm able to finish working at a certain time in the day or later in the day so that I can go to the gym or go swim or do the things that I need to do. If I'm able to take off which is very important for me to be able to take off my day of rest each week on the weekend, my day of rest each week on the weekend, as long as my lifestyle is balanced and that really falls on my shoulders, and then I feel like that's a sign of success Financially, as long as I am hitting marks each month and each year as I grow, to accommodate this lifestyle and then be able to put some of my extra resources into growing the business, having extra team members and also building some of my other passion projects, which one I mentioned earlier was the tours that we do in Anatolia modern day Turkey and knowing that I can then hire my own virtual assistant to help me with some of the other passion projects that I have.

Speaker 2:
26:09

So those are all signs of success for me. Having simply earning X and buying this size house Like, those are not measures, those are not markers for me that relate to me. For success, everybody's different, but I would say my lifestyle, my client's happiness and knowing that then I can continue to expand my passion projects, or AKA, multiple streams of income, those are all signs of success for me.

Speaker 1:
26:42

And what's next on the horizon?

Speaker 2:
26:45

So what's next for my company, the Untethered Minimalist, what's on the horizon? We have a new client that has quite a few clients under them. They all need help and support getting automated and simply streamlining their business. So that's one thing that's exciting for the foreseeable rest of 2024. We should be staying pretty busy with a nice flow of new clients each week and helping them and these clients all of them help people be healthier, so that's really rewarding.

Speaker 2:
27:20

The other thing for the untethered Minimalist is to I really want to have a book, write my book, get that done which would be titled the Untethered Minimalist and it would be a story about my journey abroad, living abroad, being a digital nomad, my health journey and putting it all together and how I got from A to B and also putting more time into our tour business in Anatolia and doing these biblical walking walk, the Bible tours.

Speaker 2:
27:55

And the other thing on the horizon for the Untethered Mentalist is digital courses. So I have quite a few digital courses in mind some tech and some health related courses and actually some archaeology and anthropology educational courses. So really getting some digital courses out into the world is a huge goal for me and, of course, a huge bonus is to have that, those extra streams of semi passive streams of income with digital courses. It's not a one and done, but simply getting those courses out in the world and sharing that information and education with people is a really exciting endeavor for me to take on. So those are the things that are on the horizon for us here at the Undothered Minimalist.

Speaker 1:
28:46

Is there a particular team or company whose culture you admire?

Speaker 2:
28:51

I would say one of the companies and founders who I admire is I mentioned before is Andrew Henderson. He's the founder and CEO of Nomad Capitalist. I think because there's a blend of his entrepreneurial spirit as an American when he was living in the United States and then his love of travel and meeting people from other cultures and other parts of the world and expanding his horizons just as a human being. Those two points I completely relate to with him. He's gone on to expand the company. I think there's a large base in Armenia and he's gone on to say how wonderful his team members are in Armenia and what a great place to have as a base. I think also Serbia Serbia and Armenia, I believe, are the two places where he's just found really excellent team and remote team workers and in-person team workers Everything that they've done to help people simply open their eyes to being able to live abroad, move abroad, maybe, change their tax jurisdiction, acquire other residences, other citizenships, acquire real estate abroad, move their business completely, move their family world, school their family, their children. So really he's been great at educating people on steps through his book, through his YouTube channel, who may not be able to afford his services, his VIP services, but he's been a great educator for me.

Speaker 2:
30:31

I've been following the Nomad Capitalists since 2016, 2017. And so watching their growth and what they've really I've really admired their work and his philosophy in life and simply seeing the world as different places that you can move and create options. Simply creating options by having another residence or another citizenship, versus a classic thing that we do in North America as Americans, which is we can really get Americans can really get stuck Geographically. We're stuck in North America and there's also a mentality that can go with that, where Americans, maybe partly unknowingly and partly knowingly, stop thinking about the rest of the world. And in Europe, it's really easy to think about the rest of the world because you're interacting with so many other wonderful humans. So that's why I admire Not my Capitalist.

Speaker 1:
31:34

And, as we begin to wrap up, what excites you about what's ahead?

Speaker 2:
31:39

Something that excites me about what's ahead is simply building the untethered minimalist and building our client family in a very methodical, realistic way. I know how many clients, how many new clients, we can take on per month, and then how many then will go into a maintenance, monthly retainer maintenance and doing that in a methodical way where I'm not only motivated by dollars but I'm motivated by the quality that we're turning out and how many people we can help and their success. So that's what excites me about the growth of the rest of this year 2024, and then looking at 2025, and then expanding my team members as needed, and then expanding my team members as needed, and then also continuing to live and travel in some other places when I'm not in the United States, helping my parents and helping my family, spending time where we love, which is in the Middle East, and exploring more places that we love. I have, as I shared, a love of archaeology, anthropology, geography and history, and so, for me, I have a deep interest in getting my hands and feet into the dirt and actually walking and exploring different parts of the Middle East, the Levant and Asia Minor region, and biblical history and archaeology is a deep interest. So those are the things that excite me about our tour business, which I mentioned, which is trips in Asia Minor.

Speaker 2:
33:39

In Asia Minor, and we do small pilgrimage type, boutique tours for those who want to simply read their Bible and walk the Bible with us together. And whether you're a believer or not, if you love history, if you love archaeology and if you do love reading the Bible and walking the Bible, you will love these boutique, small pilgrimage type tours that we have, where we simply we break bread together, we share stories, we pray together and we have a marvelous time simply being human beings together in this ancient part of the world that has so much incredible ancient human history, and so I'm really excited about that. And, yeah, just being a human being in this time and in human history is really fascinating, because there are so many things going on with technology and so many different things going on in different parts of the world, so I think it's an incredible time to be alive as a human being. So bless all of you.

Speaker 1:
34:44

And what do you like to do when you're not working?

Speaker 2:
34:47

So, as I've mentioned, I don't really watch TV. I like to watch and read biographies and anything to do with specifically ancient history, specifically Mesopotamia, the Bronze Age, the Stone Age, asia Minor in general, anatolia, asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey, anything to do with the Levant, the Levantine region, anything to do with the Gulf countries, the Gulf region, which I used to live in, saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and I've spent a lot of time in Bahrain and the UAE. So my interest and passion really lies with, as I mentioned, archaeology, anthropology, geography and history, specifically ancient history, in those parts of the world. I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time in Southeast Asia. I lived in China and I've spent some time in South America as well, so there's lots of different parts of the world I still haven't been but the Middle East and actually also Eastern Europe and the Caucasus area. That's what really is drawing me in now. So studying and going and traveling in those places, trying their food, learning a bit of their language, talking to the locals, learning about their history and their music and their clothing, and anything to do with the people and their clothing and anything to do with the people this is the thing that really I spend the most time doing outside of work.

Speaker 2:
36:18

And lastly, I'll say I love to cook. I cook intuitively. I cook nose to tail. I believe in using the entire part of the animal. I eat, pretty much like people have for the last 5,000 years, which is I eat. I eat and cook a lot of meat and grass, fed, pasture, raised type foods, type animals, and then so I love to cook and make cooking videos. And I also love to do fitness. I love to swim and do Pilates and weight training and I love to be with other believers and I love to read my Bible and, most of all, I love to spend time with my Lord Yeshua. So that's what I do when I'm not working.