Ramón Morcillo – Mapmelon co-founder is popularizing community colivings & nomading the globe

Piotrek 0:00
hello hello it's Piotrek Bodera and today my guest is Ramon Morcillo if i say correctly i hope i learned spanish a little bit but i hope that we can dive into the story of you Ramon of a Mapmelon co-founder is popularizing co-livings and cheerfully nomading the globe hello how are you

Ramón 0:22
Hey, hello Piotrek thank you very much for having me here it's a pleasure let's dive into the convo

Piotrek 0:30
Excellent. excellent let's start from the beginning of who you are and people people who are not yet familiar with your story or where you come from i do want to dive deep a bit more into this culture background because i think it's important it's something that sparked my interest from the very beginning when i was starting traveling and

------ Does Ramón consider himself a Spanish? ------ 0:50

Piotrek 0:51
would you consider yourself as a Spanish spanish person that speaks the castilian spanish language. language

Ramón 0:57
i do consider that i speak castilian language like spanish but i think i'm it's been a long time from i no longer consider like a spanish

Piotrek 1:09
i

Ramón 1:09
like if you put in a box all the things that spanish people normally do like siesta or having late dinners waking up late and

Piotrek 1:19
know

Ramón 1:20
you The typical typical spanish stuff like the food and everything like the food i i love spanish food that's for

Piotrek 1:27
the

Ramón 1:27
sure but regarding the other things i wake up super soon i go to the bed like super soon i also get drinking alcohol

Piotrek 1:37
the

Ramón 1:38
like some years ago i don't take naps so i don't consider myself that much spanish anymore

Piotrek 1:44
So so you were born there but through your travels through your own discovery you are somewhere so So before we dive into the digital digital nomad story of your

------ Different Spanish accents in the Spanish speaking world ------ 1:58

Piotrek 1:57
journey i wanted to ask you about the accent because when we met in tenriffe in canary islands which is part of spain part of europe but the language is a bit different like from what i heard they have a lot of influence from latin america and did you notice the difference or the people you are talking to there

Ramón 2:20
yes definitely it is like as a spanish person i can differentiate the the different accents of the spanish

Piotrek 2:29
Mm

Ramón 2:29
where i am from particularly i'm from alicante and in alicante there is no accent it's like a neutral tone it's similar to madrid So so when people like us go to other regions like for example canary islands you can really tell the difference that they do have an accent which is very similar to latin american people because mainly because i think there's a lot of latin american people living living in in the canary

Piotrek 2:56
And, and Alicante alicante then is the place you still call home and you come there often or it's more like your family extended family is there

Ramón 3:05
So so with time it has become less and less like you know when i started traveling when i went to for the first time to tenerif and met you still alicante was my home although i came from madrid so madrid was something similar to a home but now you know it's like the typical dilemma the what is home and where's my home so yeah definitely alicante is no longer my home it is the place where my family is and i don't even consider that my friends are there anymore like i have very good friends there like for example luna yes I i include them in like in the families when i come back i no longer they connect that much with the friends i had there

Piotrek 3:49
yeah i had the same situation yeah i tried to reconnect with my friends back in in poland in katowice in in krakow where i was living and i considered them my good friends from back the time but because of all the experiences and all the life that i built elsewhere many of them you know went the other direction yeah so i feel that you have a similar experience where it's just life we we all evolve we will change we all make decisions i'm glad that we are now connected that we are friends you know seeing each other meeting each other in many different places around the world And and the last time we saw each other in morocco and right now i am in quail wonpa in malaysia and you are in thailand but where exactly

Ramón 4:36
i mean in samai north of thailand i'm in alcolibin which is altermine yeah we also met in a colibin back in the day in nine colibin in tenerive yeah that's where i am

Piotrek 4:47
yes if anyone is interested in the story of 9coliving where we all met there is an episode with anna who is the founder of 9 and so i do recommend it because it's an amazing story how one of the colivings co-livings has been created getting back to

------ How Ramón started his remote work and what inspired him to start his digital nomad journey? ------ 5:05

Piotrek 5:05
you ramon please tell me how did you start with the initial inspiration like what told you to go to tenerifa to meet those people to be inspired by this digital nomad journey

Ramón 5:17
so well i am from alicante but i went to madrid to do a master's degree and then while i was finishing the master i fell in love with madrid and i didn't wanted to leave madrid i already had a job in alicante which when i went to madrid that i told them like hey guys i'm gonna do the master's and i don't care about uh leaving the job and they were like no ramon we need you you can work remote from madrid so that was my first experience of remote working

Piotrek 5:42
Excellent. excellent

Ramón 5:43
and i was yeah i was coming back to alicante so i was visiting them but i was most of the time working remotely from madrid so i was doing my master's degree and then working remotely which was nice but then i realized that i wanted to stay in madrid so i started looking for a job in madrid and i found this other company that i wasn't looking for a remote job i didn't bother about going to the office in spain it's like when you go to the office like the co-workers are very friends from you So so you also go out with them for drinks after work dinner and so on so it's another kind of culture that i no longer looked that much to be honest depends on the company i guess and the clients but anyway i i looked for another job it was also remote also i wasn't looking for it and then covid came so all of this before covid at the same time i also left my previous relationship. relationship i always loved to travel and to explore so i was in a point that i have nothing in spain anymore in madrid or alicante that so strong to attach me to it so i decided to to spread other places and as i was covid and there were plenty of stupid rules across the everywhere i didn't wanted to leave spain just in case so i went to the general access because it was like new for me and it's like let's try something

------ Ramón's impressions about the Nine Coliving ------ 7:05

Ramón 7:05
new and i honestly don't know how i ended up in nine colivian like because i didn't know about colivians digital i didn't know anything i think i was just looking into a co-working maybe and it popped up at that time they had a good SEO about co-workings i don't know but yeah once i look at about i look at the website i was like wow this place is different definitely like this is something that i haven't seen in my entire life like everything the activity the like it looked like something yeah i wanted to give it a try so i convinced my friend tonight to come with me and that's how i ended up in nine colivian

Piotrek 7:49
wow it's so nice to hear that nine was just the beginning for you for me it was already a second coliving that i was staying long term but yeah like everyone is on their own journey and sometimes you just stumble upon by did you bring unai only to have one friend and to support each other

Ramón 8:11
i didn't mind about going solo i think it was more like at that summer was not that much friend of unai so i met tonight because we have a friend in common that i met in college now it's pablo let's put him a name and i was not that friend of unai but that's a specific summer i became super friend of unai

Piotrek 8:29
Mm.

Ramón 8:30
I i told him like hey i'm thinking of going here do you want to come and he was like yeah sure let's go so it was very spontaneous so we didn't thought it that much actually there was no room for both of us so we had to sleep together like share the same bed for like i think two weeks or uh or three and it's funny because at the beginning we find we found out later that beginning people of the college thought that we were a couple

Piotrek 8:59
yes i was one of those people

Ramón 9:04
I and then we we once we knew it i started making jokes like with tonight like hey honey can you and oh my

Piotrek 9:11
that

Ramón 9:12
That was so much fun yeah yeah oh my gosh

Piotrek 9:16
yeah this is definitely speaking to the vibe yeah that we had at the time i think it was a special moment because nine co-living also had some troubles when the pandemic started and they needed to lockdown lock down or to separate the the people who were staying in they were not accepting any guests from outside for many months and we came at a time when they were opening up you know when the rules were a little bit less restrictive and yeah you me and i many other of our friends derek for example the dutch friend with whom i also just recorded a second episode here on my podcast we all became such good friends because the situation was so weird yeah that the whole world seemed to like falling apart and here we are together being able to go to the forest yeah for a hike or you know sit down in the evening for a dinner together because most of the restaurants were closed down or they also had some limits here like how many people at once can come and sit at one table so it was so nice yeah to be there at nine at that time

------ Did the unique experience at Nine Coliving inspire Ramón to become full-time digital nomad? ------ 10:25

Piotrek 10:25
would you say that those connections the people that you met inspired inspired you go further to explore to know become nomad full-time

Ramón 10:34
definitely i mean it's very hard to not see those people and like maybe meddigital nomads discovered that there's a whole world of people doing this and there are more colleagues and more yeah like everyone tells you about amazing places and the fomo grows so high that it's like unavoidable So. so yeah that's what like i asked you about it the hatchery place so the people tell me about sundes so i was like making my own list i guess deciding where to go next i actually was thinking of staying in nine more but but one part of me wanted explore so i ended up then in sundes was my second one

------ Morocco was Ramón's second digital nomad destination and it came with some challenges ------ 11:15

Ramón 11:15
i remember that when i told my mother that i going to morocco or my friends they were like super against that or worried because in spain most of the people see morocco as a

Piotrek 11:26
like the end of the world basically

Ramón 11:29
Yeah, yeah let's put it that way so yeah that morocco experience like sundes and going to morocco was my first experience like going outside of europe like i had already been outside of europe but feeling in like uh yeah in a not a european or like first world place

Piotrek 11:49
yes

Ramón 11:50
wow and and i loved it i love the the cows and the everything definitely

Piotrek 11:57
Yeah, yeah yeah morocco is a very different vibe and it was so nice then to reunite again in the adventure keys yeah

Ramón 12:08
oh yeah

Piotrek 12:08
other place right next door to sundesk much bigger and like more focused on surfing and kind of general accommodation, accommodation it's one of those places yeah when you start to recognize how much we have in europe and even canary islands yeah like they are really European.european yeah for me it was also a discovery So, so if tenerife was the first destination then you said that the second was morocco did you need to like convince your family that everything will be okay or what was the the first like what was your way to accommodate with such a different place with such a different culture which is african country or muslim country there in in morocco

Ramón 12:49
well first i i booked a sunday's without asking i just i probably told my parents or my friends that i'm thinking of going to morocco or something like that but I i remember i just booked it and then it was just for them to realize that i am going there my mom at the beginning was like what are you doing you shouldn't go but then i arrived right there and we were having calls from now and then i was telling hey mom i'm i'm fine everything is fine it's everything is normal a safe place

Piotrek 13:21
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

Ramón 13:22
maybe it would be a bit different if i was a woman at least when i'm talking with so i i i now realize more about that that there are some countries that more difficult for a woman

Piotrek 13:31
Definitely. definitely it's one of those things yeah that you can only experience on your own skin and then learn through your own experience

------ How Ramón's journey changed once he started traveling with Sole, his partner? ------ 13:38

Piotrek 13:38
so it's now yeah a bit different because your novading journey evolved from being a solo traveler or like a traveler with a friend when you went to the refe then solo and now you're traveling together with sole and and how are you now choosing your destinations what is the journey for you together Do you sit down and know pick a point anywhere anywhere on the map of the world and just go there

Ramón 14:02
so at the beginning i was mostly fomo i want to go here because someone has told me or because i have here good things so i was forcing myself and yeah all environment and my friends or whatever to just go to a new destination that i didn't know what would provide me and at some point i started looking for something else in the destinations and now it has reached to a point where i only go to a place if i really want to go and there's something that like for example the last year it has been mostly going to places where i can surf For example I have been in Sri Lanka and then into Lombok and the main goal was to get better at surf. So I went to places where I could get that. And now we are back in Shanghai mainly because I wanted to see the new co-living that where I am, the new alt, which is called Alvin River because John is an amazing guy guy and he's doing such a great work here. I also wanted to meet again with John, the owner, and founder, because we also love Thailand. We were in Shanghai last November November and I think we are gonna end up here for longer, I guess.

Piotrek 15:13
Nice. Are you already thinking about some long-term visa?

------ Ramón's plans to get digital nomad visa in Thailand ------ 15:16

Ramón 15:16
Actually we went to a talk that they had last week about the new digital nomad visa and this is like the first real digital nomad visa in the world, like really made for digital nomads. something like you pay 100 USD more or less and you can stay in Thailand for five years. You only need to go out, I think, once per year, someth like that. It's crazy.

Piotrek 15:38
Okay.

Ramón 15:39
Not only is it good for digital nomad, it's like for everyone people wanted to retire, people that, it's gonna kill all the other visas. I mean, I'm gonna get it for sure because maybe they will remove it in the future, so at least we will have it, but...

Piotrek 15:55
Hmm.

Ramón 15:55
I mean, I'm 100% sure that I'm gonna stay here.I'm gonna come back at least in the next five years if I can, so

Piotrek 16:03
Yeah Is there any requirement?

Ramón 16:06
yes.

Piotrek 16:06
I mean, like how much you need to earn or some other papers?

Ramón 16:09
You need to show that you have 15,000 USD more or less in your bank account, which is a very low amount, and the thing is that y can show it one time and then it doesn't need to be there all the time. Like, you can make me a transfer, I can show it, and then I

Piotrek 16:25
back.

Ramón 16:25
transfer it

Non-sense. And then there's another thing that you don't need to show like contract. You can also show your portfolio, like I built a website and I'm doing this and this and that works too. so yeah, li, like I think anyone, I mean,everyone that likes to go to Thailand in the next five years, should get it,

Piotrek 16:48
Yeah, as long as they are issuing this kind of visa, yeah.

Ramón 16:54
They They will start issuing it in so yeah, we will see if it is like that or there are some other restrictions,but for now, look too good. Good to be true.

Piotrek 17:03
Yeah. I heard about those nomad visas in so many different places and it's so weird, but I think this is the government, yeah, everywhere and the bureaucracy, they on one side recognize us, yeah, the community of those remote workers, digital nomads, who wants to and not stay like a tourist, yeah, for like two weeks and go back, but actually long term. But then there is this question about taxes, yeah, like at what point do you become tax resident in Thailand, yeah? And then, you know, if they would require you that you have to pay some percentage of your overall income in Thailand, and then how will you prove it, yeah, that you actually earn because most of us run some company already, either in our country or in yet another country and yeah, it's all complicated, but let's not go into those things right now. Now, it's just good to know that they are trying and there is some movement towards this.

------ Why Thailand is Ramón's favorite digital nomad destination? ------ 18:01

Piotrek 18:01
I hear that Thailand became one of your favorite spots. Why is that?

Ramón 18:07
I mean, why not?

Piotrek 18:09
Yeah, but you already visited many other places, yeah, like Morocco

Ramón 18:13
yeah, yeah,

Piotrek 18:14
or Sri Lanka, like Latin America, and you're not going back there as much as this one, yeah

Ramón 18:20
I think the place I love the most is Southeast Asia in general, like, I feel it's the paradise on Earth, like, it warm weather all the year, there is good food, amazing food, actually, a the internet is crazy good compared to Europe, like, it doesn't make sense,

Piotrek 18:37
hahaha. I agree,

Ramón 18:39
and what else like the safety I can leave the keys in my motorbike and all the day and nobody's gonna steal it. I can walk in a coffee shop in the terrace, I can leave the laptop there, go for a walk one hour, come back and my laptop will be there. I don't know, like I lost my phone driving a motorbike and five minutes later a guy honks me, stop me and tell me, hey guys, you dropped your phone five minutes ago, I followed with you all the time and to give it

Piotrek 19:10
really?

Ramón 19:10
back to you like... yeah it's living life on easy mode, let's put it that way,

Piotrek 19:15
yes, Southeast Asia.

Ramón 19:19
and Thailand, I don't know, I think is... I think the food is a very big factor for me and Soled too. Also, I think the... maybe because it was also the first place in Southeast Asia we went to and I don't know, the internet is... I think things are even much easier in Thailand, like it's cheap, like everything I have mentioned sometimes in other countries is not as good of course like there are some some difficulties but in Thailand is like all of that works and yeah maybe also the connections we have here or the cities and like for example here in Chiang Mai everything is close by but it's also not a big... it's a big city but it doesn't feel like a big city because everything is super spread and yeah, I would say all of those things

Piotrek 20:15
Excellent. excellent. what you're really rhymes what I was feeling the first time when I came to Southeast Asia and why I was so drawn to it. For me the first country in Asia was Japan only because you know back when I was a I was super crazy about manga and anime and I know that one piece especially is also very important for you very close to your and for me I just wanted to go to Japan yeah like Asia didn't exist in my mind only after I was comfortable with Japan I visited a couple of times and then I started to expand go to other places and now I would say Malaysia is for me I think what Thailand is for Very affordable, the food is amazing, the weather is amazing the convenience of life is just without any and one that Malaysia has which Thailand doesn't at least in my case is that they give you the three-month visa for travelers

Ramón 21:23
yeah

Piotrek 21:23
without any questions

Ramón 21:24
Yeah.

Piotrek 21:25
and like you don't need to apply you don't need to apply you don't need to prove that you are in the digital no matter what that

Ramón 21:29
yeah yeah

Piotrek 21:30
and then if you combine it with little here and there to other countries in Southeast Asia it's a very nice base

Ramón 21:37
I think actually they are going to increase the nomad because in Thailand now it's one month only

Piotrek 21:42
Yes.

Ramón 21:42
and then you need extend and

Piotrek 21:44
around

Ramón 21:44
now they are going to do it two months also

Piotrek 21:46
Hmm.

Ramón 21:47
Which is not that much but at least in my case I always had to renew the visa but if it was only two months I wouldn't have had to extend my visa anytime I came here so so I think it's a it's a good thing we will see

Piotrek 22:02
yeah yeah I think we have to remember the whole history yeah that the digital nomad as a phenomenon is very very fresh and then the tourism as an industry has been here for about 200 years and the thing that we are seeing like in Thailand or Malaysia is directly connected to the fact that Thailand is basically a tourist country yeah like most of their income is coming from those tourists that are coming from all over the world and it kind of made sense just giving them you know one month tourist visa because most of the tourists don't go for such a long time and only now it's changing because there is this new set of people that are looking for something different and we are definitely interacting with the community with the local culture a bit different which brings me to your

------ How does Ramón connect with locals and their culture? ------ 22:54

Piotrek 22:53
perspective what is the most important part besides food to connect with locals and to understand the locals and just enjoy the local culture?

Ramón 23:05
i think it depends a lot on the definitely I also some countries it's easier to connect with the locals than for example here in thailand i would say it's not easier to connect with the locals because their relationship they normally maybe because they are super into tourism they serve you normally and and there's like a big barrier between both the tourists like us and the locals but for example when we were in philippines in Siargao i remember that was for me the first time in south this is easier like that i felt that the locals were at the same level as me and it was not something i was looking for like i didn't have to put effort extra effort into connect with the locals it was because the same locals were for example digital nomading like i was walking to a coworking and they were going with me like they were next to me in the locals because a lot of people on on philippines are digital nomads like the locals so they work from yeah the more places and they were also working from Siargao also when i surfing for example most of the time when you see locals when you're surfing and see locals the locals are the surfing instructors So so but they in philippines they like i would say like 70% of the people surfing were locals and they were super good like super pros it was crazy to see them Like. Um, so yeah i would say i think it depends on definitely the country the effort you need to put but if you i mean if you want to connect with the locals there i don't know you can finally make it like i don't know you can just ask questions get more interested with the people around you but yeah it's it's not the same when those efforts you don't need to put the effort into connecting with the local.

Piotrek 24:59
and i imagine that in your case having spanish as your native language and english as the language that you learned especially polished while

------ How Ramón polished his English skills and how his native Spanish helps while nomading? ------ 25:10

Piotrek 25:10
and before i ask the question i need to congratulate you because i do remember when we met at nine

Ramón 25:18
Okay

Piotrek 25:18
your english was worse and now it's so much better

Ramón 25:22
thank you

Piotrek 25:23
thanks to all this traveling and just exposing yourself and just constantly talking and i even remember when you and Unai had this rule that you need to speak to each other in english just to train just to be sure that you know you are better and better

Ramón 25:40
i was even asking about how were in english

yeah thank

Piotrek 25:47
you mean james back at

Ramón 25:50
james back at nine the james that opened a coffee shop in Puerto de la Cruz. as far as i remember he was an english teacher and yeah i was from time to time like hey james will i pronounce this this way or yeah like

Piotrek 26:04
Yeah, yeah which is great you know whenever you have some opportunity to learn from other people and in this case he is english native yes so of course he can uh teach and he knows how to explain stuff i also do the same thing i also have a similar journey when me speaking english back at school years it was such a problem i was making so many mistakes i couldn't even create one sentence correctly , and now it's a bit better i wouldn't say I'm native but at least it's at the point that people are enjoying listening to this kind of conversations how it is in your case yeah like whenever you are going to places like in latin america i imagine you're just speaking spanish and then english is everywhere else or maybe in the philippines or did you meet also some spanish-speaking people

Ramón 26:58
so yeah of course in latin america it was mostly spanish like i was mostly in argentina and yeah i only used english when i went back to well with my while remote working like with my clients which are not in spain and also in buenos aires because we made with some digital nomads but apart from that it was full spanish and yeah in spanish as spanish and here in south east Asia of course is is english like it's very nice to be traveling with with sole because she says from spain so if not i wouldn't i think i would forget

Piotrek 27:33
hahaha Spanish

Ramón 27:34
It's funny. It's funny. Yeah. like i only speak spanish because of her like if not i will just speak english the whole day because my clients are i speak english with my clients i write in english and not only coding like everything and also the people i live with i speak english and with the locals i communicate in english so literally if it was not for Sole i i wouldn't speak spanish probably like 80 percent of the time of the year

Piotrek 28:03
Hmm. yeah yeah i do get it i have a similar thing with my polish

Ramón 28:09
oh yeah

Piotrek 28:10
but i only use it with my family like when we speak once a week and luckily or just by my work situation i still write in polish quite a lot

Ramón 28:21
okay

Piotrek 28:21
so i'm not forgetting the structures but i do prefer english it's just much easier to you know think especially with the technical terms and whenever you know want to apply it for some web development so yeah just one thing before we move to the map melon to your project i'm curious about the spanish accent because you mentioned that the castilian spanish yeah the like the neutral form that is used in spain in the region where you are from does it spark an interest whenever you are like going to a place like argentina

Ramón 28:57
what do you mean by is spark an interest

Piotrek 28:59
do people recognize quickly that like oh you are from madrid or like in spain so you're not the local you're not from here

Ramón 29:09
oh yeah definitely like i think even even even inside of spain people can recognize the accents of other regions so if i don't know if i visit galicia or if i visit andalusia they know that i am not from there definitely so yeah that also happens if you go to argentina although there or well i only have been to other argentina as the only it was for me super shocking like to go to the other part of the world and they speak spanish like for me it was the well it was the second time i went to mexico but that time was even i don't know why it was more shocking like how do they can why do they like i normally travel around the world and everyone speaks their own language or and but they would they were speaking spanish it was like shocking to me at the beginning and they definitely knew i was not from there but i think not only for the language but also for the way i act like they for example kiss each other when they meet which is something that in spain is also done but only with girls but in argentina i was with men too with guys too and also like with random guys like i was on the beach one day and there was a guy walking the dog and i just went to pet the dog like it was passing the train so i was petting the dog and then he started talking with me and yeah he had to introduce himself with with a kiss and I was like okay

So. so so yeah it was so yeah definitely that guy noticed that okay this is this guy is not from here

Piotrek 30:38
He he doesn't know how to kiss another man

Ramón 30:42
definetely? and. So so yeah like i would say yeah they recognize when you are not from there

Piotrek 30:50
hmm. I think about it in terms of english the native language for so many places, and we can recognize the accent between like the United Kingdom and America or Australia. this is also how people recognize each other. Or, you know, from somewhere else. So I hope to get better in Spanish to the level that I can actually hear, the difference between, how people in Argentina or Mexico speak. And then what are the little differences with like Canary Islands or the peninsula of Spain. But before that, let's focus on your project of MapMelo.

Ramón 31:29
Wait, wait, wait, I actually, I'm curious. Why are you so interested in the accent?

Piotrek 31:33
I think it's a part of the culture.

Ramón 31:36
Okay.

Piotrek 31:36
for me, culture is the reason why I'm traveling.

Ramón 31:40
Okay.

Piotrek 31:40
There is better way for me to be fulfilled than experiencing a local culture. And most people don't pay attention to the details of like the body language. Yeah, like what are the symbols or things that you should not do or do. I spent quite a lot of time in Italy. That was, l say, the first country where I was traveling and working in. And now I can even explain to my Polish, friends or travelers why do the Italians, do the pyramid with fingers. And then if you do with both of hands, at the same time, it's like something super important. Yeah, and this is also, I would say a lot of little things that all together combined create a culture.

Ramón 32:27
Definitely.

Piotrek 32:28
And if repeat it and you remember it, yeah, it's something that you, especially in this global village, when everyone is speaking English and everyone is using the same brands and the same devices and the same internet platforms. We are very unified, very standardized, but we should not forget our culture.

Ramón 32:49
Okay.

Piotrek 32:49
and our. Background and whatever is important for us. And that's why I also think the accents are important and interesting even, you know, I have a Polish whenever I'm speaking in English, but my accent is a bit different than many other of my Polish friends, yeah, who are not used to this language So all of those little things, I think they are, they are crucial.

Ramón 33:15
Okay. Good. I agree with

Piotrek 33:17
Thank you. So let's move on to Mapmelon to your project. It one of those things happen, I would say, spontaneously. As you said,Nine was your first coliving. You met all of those amazing people, start traveling on your own, met your girlfriend, and now you are traveling together, living the dream, and building a business, building a project that is actually serving a lot of other people is one of those amazing goals, yeah or, things that a lot of digital nomads are aspiring to. So let's start with the basics.

------ What is Mapmelon and how did it start? ------ 33:56

Piotrek 33:56
What is Mapmelon?

Ramón 33:57
Okay, , so Mapmelon is a booking and community platform for co-livings, so mainly there are like two cores, like one is following your friends and where they are, to plan ahead and don't lose the connections, and the other one is to find community co-livings and book them through the platform . And, yeah, yeah. And yeah, let's leave it there.

Piotrek 34:21
Okay. Okay. A brief description is very nice because it's easy to remember. how did it start? Yeah, like we already know your background story. We know that you were interested in all of these things, but then a lot of people would say like, yeah, but we have, you know, Google and we can just Google what is the co-living in Chiang Mai.

Ramón 34:43
I was more or less at aft Nine, Château and so I was at the point that I always have like a personal project on the back, but I was finishing my, my personal program and I wanted to think about, okay, what I'm going to dedicate my time next. I was talking with another friend, with Tobias in Château and it was the second time I met with him so I was like thinking on hey would be nice to have an app a place where we can put our plans and so it's easy for us to meet again in the future and he was like yeah sure I will definitely use and yeah for me that was the only thing I needed like okay let's just do it so I started building this and also to practice my my software development skills and trying new technologies and so on so I started building this up called map connections at the beginning and it was like basically that like to see where your friends are where you are it also had another core what that which was to put spots like shared spots because most of the people like use google maps but it's a bit hard to share those lists in an efficient way like comment them and yeah so like a way to also share your favorite spots around the world and have your own list like if you come to Chiang Mai I share you my list you have my spot there so that was the main and i spent like a year a bit more doing that and i could have spent more time but since that i started dating Sole and Sole started helping me like testing the app she was at the point like hey Ramón you have been doing this like a lot of time let's launch it and get real to try it

Piotrek 36:28
yes

Ramón 36:29
Why

Map a lot of people ask we were trying to look for a name and we didn't wanted to name ourselves nomad something or something related to nomads because there's a lot of them

Piotrek 36:40
Mm hmm.

Ramón 36:40
so we wanted something more unique which we knew it would be harder for seo and all of that but to marketize but when you build the brand if you make the brand unique it's actually better in the end because you can differentiate yourself better also because we were pivoting a lot so it's also good if you are pivoting a lot because you can change features of your app and the name like if my app is nomad... n melon and tomorrow like i don't want to focus on nomads and it's it's

Piotrek 37:10
Yeah.

Ramón 37:10
already

Piotrek 37:11
hahaha

Ramón 37:12
it's already over so so yeah then we went to Nine and actually it was in Nine where we launched the first version i remember i remember that day we were in the co-working i was like it was you and Denisa and i was like hey guys can you come for a moment to see what i have been working on and and yeah from then we started adding more features gathering more feedback from people we were going mostly to colivings and there was this issue of colivings like good colivings were normally sold for two months so we started adding colivings to the platform because we thought it would be interesting and people loved those features so we removed the spots stuff because nobody was using it basically so we started having more more features related to colleagues like okay add your coliving to the locations find your colivings and people were using them more and more so we started focusing

more into colivings which was even better because it was easier to find a business model at the beginning we it was more about pay us a subscription and and you get list into the platform but we figured out that that model was not worth it because there are not that many colivings and we wouldn't make enough money to yeah to run the business i mean if we want to live from that so later we met a guy richard that has helped us a lot and he gave us a lot of advice and we ended up moving it into a booking system like Aribnb, booking. Because that was sustainable in the end and it will allow us to gain enough money to dedicate us to the project which in the end spoilers is not like that like yeah but it's better than the subscription but it's still harder like it's still hard to get people to to book mainly because there are some because well mainly because there are not that many co-livings and because co-livings are something very special it's not like a another hotel so people really they normally find the co-living in Mapmelon but they normally book it through their website because yeah it's more like yes it's you're not booking like a another hotel you're booking like a place to work and to the community and all of that so that's one point i mean we're getting bookings but it's getting better also but still not in a point that is sustainable so yeah that's more or less the how Mapmelon came to what it is right now

Piotrek 39:43
how

Ramón 39:43
yeah

------ How does the booking engine for colivings on Mapmelon differ from standard hotel booking platforms? ------ 39:44

Piotrek 39:45
So so it sounds like at one point of those pivoting You realize that actually creating a booking engine is the right fit yeah is this something that the co-livings actually needed because even i remember nine i don't know if they are still using the Savoy (Sirvoy) or something like this or they switch to your solution

Ramón 40:11
maybe soon

Piotrek 40:12
maybe soon okay but the point is that they are actually using software that is more or less designed for hotels yeah or like it's very generic offering of like any accommodation you are running a guest house or a hotel whatever in between then we have you know like a standardized offering and from what i'm hearing you are actually creating the booking platform specifically designed for co-livings yeah where the needs are a bit different and us being the digital nomads using the co-livings for a long time we also see yeah that the way you book it the way you require from those places is something different yeah from a our place can you tell more about

Ramón 40:58
Definetely co-livings has some requirements like some require a call some require a video some require you to answer a specific question so it's it's done completely different than a hotel or an Airbnb so we wanted to standardize that with Mapmelon but at the same time more or less again talking with Tobias he was telling me that he was having issues they so he's also not the co-founder but he also is

Piotrek 41:25
Investing investing

Ramón 41:26
investing and one of the owners of SunDesk

Piotrek 41:28
yeah yeah

Ramón 41:29
so they were having issues with Sirvoy and they were looking for another booking engine and i told him like hey man i can i love making projects and coding so i was like i can do it for you and we can do it together and so yeah that's how Mangobeds which is the other one i love fruits by the way that's why Mapmelon and Mangobeds

how it started also because the domains are not that are super that are not that a ticket so it's also easy

Anyway so i started building this booking engine this was before having a booking way a way to book in Mapmelon so i started booking making the booking engine and then i actually most of the code from that that's why i was able to implement so fast the booking in man melon because most of the code was already there from mango beds and yeah now we have this server some colleagues are using i actually have tomorrow a call with one of the one of the hosts from Nine to move forward

Piotrek 42:34
to talk about excellent

Ramón 42:36
yes, so yeah like and the people that i've using are super happy so as there are not that many now so i can also build the the features that colivings need for the booking for example this morning like something that happens in co-living is that you are booking for example in nine you want to stay a month but they don't have availability but they do have availability for one room and then you can change to another but you cannot book two rooms like you cannot book the

Piotrek 43:03
the regular software doesn't allow you for that

Ramón 43:06
Exactly, l I think I haven't seen that option in any booking engine because you normally don't care you normally just book for a week some days the same place and that's all but when people are staying longer than a week or two and they are staying like a month or two they don't mind like staying in a room in the middle of that. So actually this morning I have building that is almost over so I'm very excited because a lot of colivings been asking for this so yeah soon it will be in the platform too And and that's an example of one of the features that we covered.

Piotrek 43:42
Yes, I do remember being in this situation myself when I wanted to stay long term at nine and then they needed to do this shuffling yeah of like moving people or those bookings or whatever you know and it required so much manual work

Ramón 43:59
Yep.

Piotrek 44:00
Software software should always be there to help us in this situation Do you also plan include the feature of the co-waiting the idea of like the last minute kind of dropping and getting into the co-living?

Ramón 44:17
And I think there's a there's an issue at us for that but that's down down the road like what we are we are focusing now on that on on the booking multiple rooms and having changes and

then there's a point that I want to have to be like I want the software to be scalable in the future and I'm seeing that every coliving has a specific need but it doesn't make sense to have everything inside the platform, inside the Mangobeds

Piotrek 44:50
inside

Ramón 44:50
of it. So I would like to see Mangobeds at some point as the Shopify for booking engines So in a way that you have the basics cover for a coliving but if you want to stand on top of that you have this apps ecosystem that you can put on it, so

Piotrek 45:09
Extensions.

Ramón 45:09
Yeah,yeah exactly so because for example I also want I want to offer in Mangobeds this market because a lot of colivings as it is so personal they normally send you marketing emails later on like newsletters and so on a lot of those things that normal hotels don't do so we already have emails so and like transactions and emails so I want to have marketing emails maybe as an app on top of that and maybe like a cleaning app because as people are staying longer you need to do some cleaning in between like it's not only like when the people leave and arrive it's also in between so some colivings have to need this software or it will be easier they will save a lot of time if they have some kind of software to automatize and those things so yeah I think that's going to be the next move in forward, road map

Piotrek 46:01
yeah sounds amazing I never would suspect that the niche of digital nomad and the niche within the niche which is the co-living idea of just sharing an accommodation with bunch of nomads do so many new inventions yeah and you are now here the person who is pioneering the and addressing all of those needs and I do wait for the day when you will be expanding and scaling and having the app ecosystem as in Shopify yeah because you actually have like a almost personal experience yeah because Sole was working on Shopify so she she knows how it works with this kind of a marketplace ecosystem

So focusing on those achievements yeah and you said about the pivoting and about finding the product market fit how it is the overall entrepreneurial journey how would you say for you how do you feel about it yeah that you started from scratch from just an idea to the point where actually real businesses around the world are using your software and what was you know in between what were the challenges wow

Ramón 47:26
Well, um I think I needed to be more specific the question because there's a lot of

Piotrek 47:35
Sure let's try to narrow it down to just thinking about the financials yeah as you were saying you quickly discovered what are the things that will not bring you any money or they will be like just you know impossible to sustain it one of the taglines that I saw is that thanks to Mangobeds and the engine that is for the co-living under the map melon platform they are no longer required to pay the 30% cut of all the bookings which is i understand like the standard baseline yeah of how much the the booking.com or like the Sirvoy or some other platforms they want to take from

Ramón 48:19
it's not 30 percent it's 10 percent like 30 is a lot like just to leave it there

Piotrek 48:26
yeah yeah yeah so that's the the thing you know like i am not so much into the business to understand what is actually the percentage that those platforms are taking but then my question is do you want to compete with them only by those margins by like you know i will offer less cut than those other platforms or you rather want to focus on those needs and then offer the same as the other ones are offering but you will be offering a much better product much better service that is designed for co-living

------ Mapmelon business model and why they focus on community colivings, not just a regular colivings? ------ 48:57

Ramón 48:57
okay so regarding that, that would be more related to my melon and the thing that so why Mapmelon work what what is the business model around is of course it's like you can see it as Airbnb or a booking.com but it is only specific to colivings and also there is colliving.com obviously that that's the same but ours is more tied to co-living for digital nomads and inside all of these niche inside the niche of the niche of the we are focusing more on the colivings that have like a proper community so that's the the whole point like digital nomads are looking to Mapmelon for colivings they know that the colleagues that are going to find there are at least we are taking care of they to have a community which is something sad because some other colivings want to appear and they will pay or whatever but we cannot do that because then they will be just another coliving. com and we don't want to do that so that's actually good for the colivings because they know that the people that book through Mapmelon are going to be digital nomads and remote workers that are looking into those aspects and So. so that was hard to reach there it was super like for example if we go to the beginning beginning when we had this spots like where are your friends and then we had to remove the spots that was actually in in Adventure Keys we were there with another friend and he was like a product owner and he told us like hey guys you need you have a lot of stuff you cannot put co-livings also here you need to remove features and have less things so we removed the spots to put the co-livings and then it has been all the time like that me and of course all of this has not been done alone so it has done like a lot of things like all the branding all the contacting with the colivings like everything that is not code she she has been behind and that's a lot a lot

Piotrek 50:48
she's the brain you are the muscles for the code

Ramón 50:53
you can see it that way

Piotrek 50:54
consider

Ramón 50:54
and i will

Piotrek 50:55
i'm kidding

Ramón 50:56
okay yeah but i i the thing is that we were taking all the decisions together we were having like weekly meetings like we were organizing ourselves we improved a lot in the way we organize and do things together we even had other projects in the middle that we were doing together and we were super efficient and it was super fun to build things together it went to a point where so for example now is focusing more on on a yoga studio she's having with her family and she's still doing things in Mapmelon but she needs to put more time there so i am more in charge of more things and but yeah until but this is still doing like a lot of things anyway

I would say that the main difficulties have been maybe changing the business model, removing features that we like it but people don't to contact to colivings, getting colivings to start using the booking for example, that was something as, because why would I use the booking, like why would I appear in Mammelon and lose 10% of my fee, like what do I get and all of this?

Piotrek 52:02
Yes.

Ramón 52:02
and for example getting colivings that are already in the platform to move to the booking like I am already listed in Mapmelon, why do I, would I now pay for, yeah so yeah those things are a bit tricky, now we have like a standard on how to doing things and now we are focusing more in like maybe getting more colivings for the people into the platform and improving the current features of looking for your friends and so As entrepreneur I would say okay if someone needs to,is listening this and wants to start a project and wants to be an entrepreneur and all of these things I will tell you to focus into something that at some point you need to figure the business model before, like before at the beginning because if you can do it before starting even better, because even if it is a passion project, if you are spending a lot of time on it, at some point you are going to figure out a business model to get money through it and some passion projects are harder to monetize for example Mapmelon than others, if I had built I don't know, like a software for, for marketers or SEO or something like that it will, there is a lot but it would have been better to find a business model so my whole point is that I know it's hard, sometimes it's like I want to make a game of whatever but it's like okay if you are spending a lot of time on there at some point you want to get like to make your time valuable and to people to pay you in a way that to support you so if you have the business model it's going to be much easier easier.

Piotrek 53:40
thank you for all of these details yeah because it's so easy for people being outside and only see the success yeah only see the headlines of like yeah Mapmelon was awarded the co-living awards for the last year yeah as the best platform for for digital nomads for like within the co-living industry and this is amazing yeah because you really worked hard to create a community connect with all of those co-living's to create the list that is actually focused on one thing yeah on on really important aspect of being a digital nomad which is a lot of people who are doing that they feel lonely. They they do lack community they do look for friends with whom they want to remain friends for like maybe years and the one way of doing that is by spending time in a quality co-living's where the community is actually working yeah and I kind of feel that there is a difference yeah when you said like the colleagues.com for example for me feels like a Airbnb or like booking.com it's like a very generic platform where you. be a tourist of someone that is only looking for a service of accommodation oh I want a nice place with a balcony and a swimming pool and that's it and you pay whatever five thousand dollars here you are But

------ Ramón's only solo trip and the importance of tight community of friends ------ 55:17

Piotrek 55:17
you cannot buy friends yeah there is like it's impossible to pay for it like oh I want to have extra people that all over coming for parties in my swimming pool no

Ramón 55:32
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah that's a super important like a digital nomad what i have experience is that I want to be surrounded with people like or friends like it doesn't I have only been traveling like I have only traveled solo once in my entire digital nomad experience and it was when I was in Morocco after Sundesk I went to Marrakech because I needed to take a plane from there and I decided to go earlier and and I was only two weeks alone in a Riyadh and I had some friends in Marrakech, but friends of friends that I became more friends, but I was not in a co-living and the experience was shit man, l it was it was I didn't like it at all, lik I was forcing myself to go out and meet with other people, it was like when I was living in Madrid, but from the beginning like again doing making new friends and also like I was alone all the time in the place in the space and maybe it's just me, but I don't think it's just me, I think it's humans and we are like social animals and like we have we are designers, like we have been for 10 000 years living in a tight community, like our ancestors, and now we are like trying to live more and more alone, at least people like single householders and all of that, but we need to be surrounded with people and have a community, so that's why I normally go to colivings when I'm traveling alone, but not anymore, because now I travel with Sole

Piotrek 57:04
And you still go to co-livings

Ramón 57:06
I think co-living for couples is actually a very nice option, I literally have had this talk like three times last week,

Piotrek 57:14
Ha ha, go on!

Ramón 57:15
so it's mainly the main thing aspect about that well yeah the obvious thing is that you're saving money that more than going alone, although it's cheaper too if you go for example to Chiang Mai it's cheaper to stay in a condo, or in an apartment rather than in a co-living. okay, as a couple the main thing I will say is that if you're traveling with your couple all the time alone going to apartments you mainly only talk with her, so being in a co-living gives you the chance to both of you to talk with other people, make different friends, have different conversations with other people, like having some fresh air, so then when you talk event with your partner which you have new topics to go is something different and better, like renewable Also because of yeah like having different connections and the opportunity to do different things if you're traveling with your partner all the time it's like either you do what she wants or or she does what you do or or you do something that you like both, bu in a co-living you can do things with other like if Sole wants to do pottery or wants to paint something and I don't feel in the mood but she can join that activity with other people and she makes new friends and she has a great time and if I want to go surfing with you after work but Sole doesn't want to come because she's not into surfing we just can go after work and get some waves so

Piotrek 58:42
yes

Ramón 58:43
so yeah that's I think it's a very nice aspect for couples

Piotrek 58:49
yeah it works so naturally like the moment you think about this you understand that we as social creatures we require more people in our life and we can love our partners and we want to we we think we want to spend with them all of the time but then in practice it just doesn't work like they need some fresh air we need some fresh air and it's just more healthy when there are other people around and they are like-minded yeah they are also traveling or they also into the the same activities that we are and then we create those spontaneous moments yeah like going for surfing or going to do pottery together so for me what you are doing right now with Mapmelon with popularizing the idea of colivings is is very like what I was doing yeah 10 years ago when the digital nomad as a phenomenon didn't reach this maturity as it is right now so back then the Couchsurfing was this community yeah it was this kind of platform that okay you go to any place in the world and either you spend your night at someone's couch or bed or whatever

Ramón 1:00:04
yeah

Piotrek 1:00:04
yeah within within their house but this is the way to unlock the connection yeah with a local or with a fellow traveler who is now spending some time let's say in kuala lumpur but they have enough space so like okay you want to come and stay with me a few nights come and join and we can cook together we can go out together and it was amazing until the you know the idea of the platform unfortunately no longer works today yeah like the owners changed so many times and the idea is no longer and i was thinking that airbnb wanted to do something similar but from similar basics they quickly turn into the capital seeking typical you know silicon valley startup unicorn whatever and they only look for money right now yeah like as we were talking you cannot buy people yeah you cannot buy community you cannot buy friends on airbnb it just doesn't work so here again we are going back to to the root to the idea of the the co-living as a as a place where you can actually spend quality time with friends or new friends that you haven't yet connected with

------ The future of Mapmelon and coliving scene ------ 1:01:18

Piotrek 1:01:18
how do you feel about the future of MapMelon or like the, in general, the co-livings? Which way do you feel it should go or you would wish it would like evolve and that it would be better for more people and more digital nomads would like enjoy doing that.

Ramón 1:01:36
As co-livings is super wide because there are not only co-livings for digital nomads but also residential co-livings, student co-livings all of that. Let's focus only on the niche, inside the

Piotrek 1:01:47
Yes.

Ramón 1:01:49
what I think is gonna happen definitely is that there's gonna be more because it's something that there's gonna be more digital nomads and there's this requirement like once you go to a coliving for digital nomads, you want to go to another So there's gonna be more demand You can say at Tenerife like when we were there,t was only Nine and yeah I think only Nine and now it's like 8, 9.

Piotrek 1:02:13
Yes.

Ramón 1:02:13
i see it in Mapmelon like more people are applying to be listed and more co-livings and also like more co-livings are being recommended. So yeah it's definitely something that is gonna grow. I think it's also something that it's gonna be harder to find good colivings because a lot of hotels they are already doing it. They are branding themselves as co-livings or hostels to yeah to get more people like if I am competing with five other hostels but I brand myself as a co-living the digital nomads are going to focus only in me. So So that's something that is gonna happen so it's gonna be harder to differentiate them. That's where our job is going to be the key that we are going to be the ones selecting them and making sure the digital nomads go to the right ones and apart from that I think that they are going to be more in the rural areas. I I find that well if the ones in the rural areas are going to become more popular or there's going to be there's going to be appear more co-livings in rural areas because there's a lot of reasons in place like people like to disconnect people also digital nomads they don't care that much I mean you want to go to popular cities but some other times the digital nomads that go to co-living they don't care that much they care about the community and the the purpose behind the co-living so if there's a good purpose and there's a good a good community they don't really care if the co-living is in in the middle of Tenerife or in the middle of Castilla or whatever it is and also because this I think it's gonna also be more incentives to build co-livings in rural areas like governments like there's this thing happening of aging population eh towns getting abandoned so at that same point um I'm going to it's gonna go more into it's just going more incentive so people probably will build more of this and this reminded me I actually last week also recorded a podcast with a guy that one of the guys that invented the world of digital nomadies so he's from australia he's a a professor a researcher and he was telling us something that he sees as the next step is a more related to digital in our world but inside the co-living is the co-villages so something that is already happening in some in some co-livings is that is not only the same house but it's several houses in the north of spain in galicia there are some colivings there that are several houses and they act as a as a village and i really like this idea of in the future having these co-villages with digital nomad but i also would like to have locals integrating with this like

Piotrek 1:04:57
Hmm.

Ramón 1:04:57
because it can as you as you know like some colleagues can become a bubble of

Piotrek 1:05:02
Yes .

Ramón 1:05:02
yes the colivings and the digital like for example in nine colleagues sometimes it's more like it's something that you are in there but nothing else is happening in the rest of of La Orotava or tenerife it's only like the nine bubble other colivings is not that it doesn't happen that much but i am afraid that if if we go in that direction it's gonna be it could be if it is not done properly it can be even worse because instead of having an abandoned town that is now immersing the local culture and so it's like uh it's a town that didn't as i as a local i have now not only a house but a whole town of people activities and things that i don't even comprehend and so it's even worse like so yeah we will we will see i don't i don't i don't know if we will if you and me will actually actually actually see this i i think it's gonna take longer than expected like if something that is moving forward like maybe in 30 years or something like that i don't know what

Piotrek 1:06:06
of course it's hard to predict the future but considering the history yeah we met what was it like four years ago And, look how much things changed yeah you're running your project and building up the new structure for digital nomads around the world that want to have the quality time in co-livings where the community is the the strongest core the most important ingredient and yeah i also don't want to have those bubble villages where only digital nomads are allowed to come in and then the dynamic yeah between the locals and those you know westerners usually or or just people who are like affluent and then coming just to take a picture of the local whatever beach and then they are going further is not healthy yeah it's much better to to find some integration and i don't remember the name of the project but a friend of Anne she's doing the how is it called like a remote villages i think

Ramón 1:07:19
oh yeah Pueblos Remotos yes i know what it is i have been following them and i think we have contacted i i mean i

Piotrek 1:07:26
Mm.

Ramón 1:07:26
we contacted a lot of people so yeah i know what you mean

Piotrek 1:07:31
so yeah yeah yeah yeah but in general yeah like the idea of actually finding the bridge yeah to connect the locals like in this case it's some farm where they need volunteers and instead of like having people from um like random people from around the coming and then you know trying to figure out how to bridge the budget the digital nomads who actually want to spend the quality time there and also like learn a skill yeah of doing the work in the ground and uh just learning about the the herbs or or some veggies they actually pay to come to learn those skills and the locals are happy to share them you know to teach them so there is at least this idea yeah of of bridging of of creating together and so yeah i think we'll find it in the end like are also a people person who is rather looking for those connections instead of creating those bubbles and building walls that the the the digital nomads are protected in their bubble definitely heading close the of our I still ask you about a few things that are important to stay healthy, to stay sustainable in this journey Because one of the important aspects what you're doing, it not just the coding, it's not all the connections and management that you and Sole are doing every day. You are actually physically visiting a lot of those co-livings. So, you do spend a lot of time traveling and then being long-term in different destinations.

------ Ramón's financial sustainability as a digital nomad ------ 1:08:59

Piotrek 1:08:59
Could you tell me a bit more about your financial structure?Because you are having at least two or three contracts with other companies that are actually allowing you to run startup.

Ramón 1:09:10
Yes. at the moment, I only have one main client. It was more about full-time jobs in companies and then, since June last year, I have been transitioning more into the freelance world Mainly because because I was seeing digital nomads living this kind of life,and I try to focus my life into having more freedom. Normally, it's like to having either more time or more money the most simple equation yeah, like being a freelancer, for me it looked at it as a way to have much more time. So, maybe not that much money as a full-time

Piotrek 1:09:42
Hmm. Hmm.

Ramón 1:09:43
job,but yeah, I'm transitioning into that, and I'm very happy with that. So, right now I have this main client, but yeah, I definitely something apart from Mapmelon a least for now, and Mangobeds to keep living this life, which I enjoy very much.

Piotrek 1:09:58
And so, what you said earlier, it seemed that even before you knew that remote work exists, and the digital as a is a thing. Already your employer was like, "Yeah, yeah, just keep working for me,like you can be in Madrid, just don't leave me."

Does it mean that you already have so much experience with working remotely, with like, being able to communicate efficiently with your team That now it's it's very easy for you to find new opportunities?

Ramón 1:10:30
, I think it depends on the moment, if you want to move into a more big company, full-time job, I don't this way of living helps. I think it's more about, well, it depends a lot, like, for me the most important, I think, is the connections you make on the way, like most of the clients I have now that I'm freelancer, it's from, literaly posting in all the, coliving Slack channels and, connections, like, "Hey guys, I'm free, someone needs a software engineer, or web developer, or something like that." And, some people recommend, tell me about, like, this,at least I'm very lucky of what I have be, I have a study and my skills, but, there' always a need for, there's always someone doing some startup that is a web developer, or, or a, a web app, or something like that. So, I am always, it's not that much, th hard for me to clients,luckily .

Piotrek 1:11:25
And considering that you're travelling together with Sole is she, looking for, a new job, o does she have a new remote job? Like, what is your situation together, you know, as a couple?

Ramón 1:11:36
And Eh, that's a good question, it has changed over time, l, as I say, for example, I was first in a full time job in a company, and now I'm more like a freelancer with some clients. in the case of Sole, she also was working in a full time job in Spain, then, she got remote, a they asked her to go back after, they let her, work remote, a after some months they told her, 'hey, you need to go back', and she was

Piotrek 1:12:05
No.

Ramón 1:12:08
and then she got this job at Shopify and it was remote and after that she wanted to focus more on Mapmelon and she had some clients and now it's like moving in between having clients and also the yoga studio in Spain with her family which is

she's running the yoga studio with her mom and her sister and it's doing well actually but it's still the beginning and she's putting a lot of time there which hopefully will pay in the long term

Piotrek 1:12:41
nice and I think it's also a bit connected to the yet another project that is I would say fundamental for the

------ What is the Colivers Club podcast? ------ 1:12:51

Piotrek 1:12:50
Mapmelon I'm talking about the Colivers Club the podcast

Ramón 1:12:54
oh yeah

Piotrek 1:12:55
César is the host yeah of the podcast but I also saw Sole like talking with some guests so is she like a second host?

Ramón 1:13:03
yeah and actually I was like the Daniel the digital nomad researcher I I did the interview so it's more like César is the main host like okay what is Colivers Club? so Colivers Club came from Mapmelon we were in Alpiness Coliving with César and we wanted to I don't know how the idea came but we made the podcast and now we interview people that is either a coliving owner has been to a coliving or is related to the world of coliving we try to focus on that niche but sometimes there's something for some people in the digital normal world that is beneficial to the our listeners so yeah César is the main host definitely sometimes when for example we are here in Chiangmai and we need to interview someone then me and Sole do the interview and

Piotrek 1:13:52
um

Ramón 1:13:53
and the first one we did it together like we interviewed John and we were the three of us and we realized that it's better when there is only one of us So. I it was her

Piotrek 1:14:05
like less amount of hosts than the guests

Ramón 1:14:09
definitely definitely and also to coordinate and yeah she did the next one she was the host and the other day it was me and actually tomorrow we have another podcast recording in the social club another coliving we were in Chiang Mai which is also very nice so we are gonna meet with the one of the owners we met the other owner this is the other one and we will probably right we will record a podcast as far as i know and i also as far as i know it's Sole's time to be the host so

Piotrek 1:14:41
nice

okay so the Colivers Club is the project for the three of you uh you Sole César so it's so nice to hear that this is like yet another channel yeah I by running my own podcast i understand how important it is to create this kind of content that people can share and learn something from it and you can invite the guests so uh yeah it's it's so nice to hear that you invented this idea on the way

Ramón 1:15:10
yeah definitely it was something that came i don't remember why i mean some of the main reasons was also to bring people into into Mapmelon but then it has like i mean it's related to Mapmelon of course but it's it's also like having it its own thing so it's not i don't see it anymore as like a Mapmelon side project it's more like its own thing

Piotrek 1:15:33
yeah yeah and even though that it can be a separate entity it can still attract yeah the the proper audience the digital nomads who are interested in the idea of Mapmelon besides all of those practical things the finances and projects

------ Why Ramón likes surfing? ------ 1:15:52

Piotrek 1:15:51
traveling i always try to understand what the nomads are doing to keep the work-life balance yeah and to stay healthy so i know that in your case you got into surfing would you say that this for you one of the favorite way to chill out and to relax after a tough day of work

Ramón 1:16:14
okay so regarding healthy habits before surfing what i used to do and what i normally do when i cannot surf first i got i used to go to the gym and then i figured out it was taking me too much time to go to the gym and i also didn't want to go alone then i got into crossfit this is what back back into my before my digital normal life my crossfit was like you need to go this time from this time to this time so i ended up trying these home workouts and i have been using an app for like the last four or five years like and i do that and until i i discovered surfing and definitely now surfing when i am able to surf in a place i am i it's my main source of enjoyment of exercise of hobby i i really love like well you have you have surf you surf too so you know what the feeling of catching waves and

Piotrek 1:17:14
yeah

Ramón 1:17:14
oh man

i miss it like that's the only thing that thailand doesn't have surfing like a proper place to surf if he has what if he had that i i will buy a house here like

not no brain

Piotrek 1:17:32
okay i heard that there are some islands that would have some surfing spots

Ramón 1:17:37
i i have heard that too but it's not i mean you can but the conditions are super bad and it's only a very specific time of the year so it's it's not as sri lanka lombok indonesia philippines

Piotrek 1:17:51
yeah it requires the nature to actually give you the waves yeah yeah and then create the whole vibe of a surf people coming there so yeah i i get that can you tell me about the crossfit gym app what is the name of it?

Ramón 1:18:10
Oh sorry it's like a workout i think it's called in spanish it's called ejercicios en casa and in english it's something like workout at home it's like it's free and

Actually, i was using that until some months ago now what i do because okay i actually found a problem there like when i sometimes i go into my life and i see how can i improve some things of it and i was getting a a bit like when i was doing this app i was sometimes getting distracted like you need to do 30 push ups and i was like doing the push ups and then at some point i was thinking do something and i was like interesting and then like instead of doing the the whole yeah of the workout in like 20 minutes i was lasting sometimes even an hour because i was thinking in my things because i i actually do this in the morning every month so sometimes in the morning I feel like a zombie so so yeah and what i do the solution i have found that works for me now is these youtube videos of literally you search 20 minutes workout abs or 20 minutes full body or cardio or whatever and i have i have made a list of videos and i rate them and i give like okay this is in the intensity i also rate them if you need if you jump or not because sometimes you're in a in a place that you cannot jump in a in accommodation because you don't want to bother other people or for whatever reason i also there are some other things that i rate but but yeah i have like a a list and when i want to do something i just get a video

Piotrek 1:19:50
yeah

Ramón 1:19:51
and get to it it works in like in 20 minutes more or less i have done my workout

Piotrek 1:19:56
Is the is the youtube playlist public

Ramón 1:19:59
oh it's not youtube like it's like a Google Sheet with the links but I can send it to you i i don't mind i can make it public like i don't

Piotrek 1:20:07
yeah

Ramón 1:20:07
i don't

Piotrek 1:20:08
i think some people would be interested to check your grading system and

Ramón 1:20:14
It's not it's not that much like i was thinking of doing enough actually of this but no it was too much in the end and it's not that like i don't i actually have discovered a video like normally the videos were easy for me and i thought that all the videos will be easier and in 20 minutes i will never get tired until i have discovered a video that i when i do that i get distroyed like i i cannot breathe so now i'm only doing that bit so i am not adding more video to the list i am trying to get better

Piotrek 1:20:42
nice

it's amazing to know that your rigor of having the physical exercises is something that you got even before traveling before being a digital nomad and you keep doing that regardless of where you are this is just a part of your routine and you get into your zone and you can clear your mind by by just doing

------ What are Ramón's digital nomad healthy habits? ------ 1:21:06

Piotrek 1:21:05
that do you also do some other stuff like meditation journaling breathing

Ramón 1:21:11
yes i do journaling like i for example every week i review and plan for the next one what i want to do on achieve i also do it monthly and yearly and when it is monthly i add some top something on top of it like writing in my diary and regarding meditation i actually last time i was here in thailand in november i went to a meditation silent retreat in a buddhist place i have heard in the past many things about meditation but every time i tried it it was like okay like i don't i'm not getting anything of this so i decided to okay let's do things like

Piotrek 1:21:49
Hardcore.

Ramón 1:21:50
yeah hardcore so i went to one of those for like four days and literally it was only meditation like you didn't do anything else like only eat meditate and sleep you get you have some lessons from the

Piotrek 1:22:04
the like the host

Ramón 1:22:05
yeah not the host it was a monk let's call it monk but they had a hierarchy but yeah from the monk teacher every day he was telling you okay you need to do this better or do you need to focus on this and it was very nice i really enjoyed that experience a lot and also about disconnecting not talking like i i brought my phone but i put it on airplane all the time i airplane mode so i didn't connect with anyone for four days and wow like i really yeah i love it that experience and since then i have tried to meditate like i have been meditating i try to do it like i don't know three times per week more or less not that much time as i should or i was or as i was doing back in the retreat but yeah i i now i understand the benefits of it and i i like it a

Piotrek 1:22:56
Thailand is definitely the place to try this kind of things considering their buddhist tradition and history and especially if you find a proper center yeah that they they accommodate and they organize this kind of is it one of those places that you pay as a retreat or it's more like donation based

Ramón 1:23:20
It was donation based so you can pay whatever you want

Piotrek 1:23:21
Mhm.

Ramón 1:23:22
and they don't even require you to donate like you can go for free and they give you food they give you a place to sleep i mean maybe it's not the best accommodation ever it's just like a very normal bed because it's

Piotrek 1:23:36
very simple

Ramón 1:23:37
Yeah. yea but the food was super nice and everything vegan or vegetarian or i think it's actually vegan

Piotrek 1:23:43
Oh.

Ramón 1:23:43
So.so so yeah can also go there i recommend it i can send you the link later if you want

Piotrek 1:23:50
sure yeah we'll include it in the shownotes if anyone is interested to try these kind of things and where was it in thailand

Ramón 1:23:58
in Chiang Mai of course well it could be in any place in Thailand but in Chiang Mai was the place actually it's next to a very popular tourist destination and it's like a temple in the mountain where you can see the whole Chiang Mai from on top of it so tourists normally go there but the place the meditation center is like behind it like actually when i found out it was there i was like

Piotrek 1:24:19
hahaha

Ramón 1:24:19
it's here like this tourists, it doesn't make sense to me to be there And then I arrived and, it's like a whole small town of monks behind the big tourist attraction.It was very nice. I didn't make that many connections because I couldn't talk, but I was able to connect with myself and to think and to learn to meditate. It was very

Piotrek 1:24:48
Excellent. Exc. I must admit I am a bit envy of you of getting all of those experiences and getting all of this amount Quality changes in your life that allows you to be where you are and go forward and to grow your projects and to self-grow So before we finish Ramón, where are you most active online and where people should follow

Ramón 1:25:15
I do have Twitter and Instagram and so I would say Instagram is the place where I am most active I also have my website and I make some articles In the past, I used to write yeah I also have Twitter so I will I will send to

Piotrek 1:25:29
Yes, we'll include it in the show notes and especially the article that you have on your personal website about how to be productive. I really like it especially the motivational

Ramón 1:25:41
okay.

Piotrek 1:25:41
gifts.

Ramón 1:25:44
Oh

Piotrek 1:25:44
Just do it with the popular actor. Yeah Shia LaBeouf. ,

Ramón 1:25:52
Shia LaBeouf I, think

Piotrek 1:25:53
Yeah. And of course we do recommend anyone listening to check mapmelon.com. This is the most important address. There is also a mobile app iPhones and. for Androids. So do check it out and do book your next co-living using this platform. So thank you very much, Ramon. It was really intriguing to get to know all of those details from you.

Ramón 1:26:15
Thank you, Piotrek. It was a pleasure. I really had a really nice time

Piotrek 1:26:19
Thank you and see you

Ramón 1:26:20
See you soon. Bye!