Meet Brett: the affiliate marketing expert empowering digital nomads

My interview with Brett, a digital nomad who recently took on the plunge

In our Digital Nomads Interviews series we feature interviews with digital nomads and nomads entrepreneurs with interesting profiles, from all over the world. We hope they will inspire you as much as they inspire us! This week, we talked to Brett Gonzenbach, newly digital nomad and founder of Elevated Partners, an affiliate marketing training platform and coaching business.

Hi Brett! Welcome to the nomad adventure. So tell me, who you are and what lead you to take the plunge?

Hello, fellow digital nomads!! I am a person that has been wanting to do this my entire life. I am also a person that has followed society’s customary path my entire life. Up until last week… I quit my job. It was both terrifying… and exciting…

Never did I question the “correct” path to success — go to school, get good grades to get into a good college, get into a good college to get a good job, get a good job and work for the next 40 years of my life… Wait. What?

This is what they were all warning me about when they would describe the “real world”. Truth is, I really liked my job and I loved the people that I worked with. I was on a phenomenal career path with a large Fortune 500. Everything was going well. But something was missing… I was unfulfilled.

Waking up one morning with a particularly long day ahead of me, I realized that the path I was going down wasn’t what would ultimately lead me to my personal definition of success and happiness. So I started to make a change…

Travel, meeting new people, experiencing new things… this is what I wanted. But how?

How could I create a lifestyle around my biggest passions? I started researching and testing out all my options on how to create that digital nomad lifestyle. I was learning so much but I realized that I wasn’t getting the results I wanted.

That’s when one of my good friends introduced me to digital marketing. Building sales funnels, driving leads, and closing sales. I was hooked. I started learning everything I could from him and he eventually agreed to mentor me.

As I am writing this, I am working from my laptop and staring out at a breathtaking palm tree filled beach with water as blue as can be in beautiful Kauai, Hawaii.

Sometimes we need to say enough is enough, and dive head first at what you truly desire. We all have what it takes to succeed, but often times our biggest thing holding us back… is ourselves…

We need to put those limiting beliefs behind us and march straight towards what we believe in.

Thank you to all of the digital nomads before me that have inspired me to get to the point where I am today, and I hope my story can do the same for future digital nomads.

I’m sure it will and I’m very happy to have you featured here. You started Elevated Entrepreneurs, a training platform dedicated to affiliate marketing. Can you tell me more about it and how it all started?

Along with my two mentors, I helped to start Elevated Entrepreneurs. This is an affiliate marketing coaching academy offering one-on-one support to students from industry experts. We are on a mission to help spread the word to others about how they can start their own digital business to start living the lives they’ve always imagined. I left everything behind when I quit my job because I want to help as many people as I can realize the true potential they have within them to succeed.

My start in digital marketing stemmed from my desire to craft the kind of lifestyle that would allow me to travel and work wherever I wanted.

You’re quite young and new to the digital nomad lifestyle. What was the reaction of your family and relatives around you? Were they supportive?

No one understood me at work when I put in my two weeks notice. Many were supportive, but they didn’t truly understand why I wanted to go down this uncertain entrepreneurial path. It was difficult to tell my family as well since they were so proud of me for working a good job, but they eventually understood that this is what I needed to do.

What are your travelling plans, and what’s your favorite place to work from?

I’m currently in Hawaii, but this is just the start of my journey. My partners and I are about to start up on an amazing around the world adventure to inspire others to take action and realize how they, too, can live out whatever dreams they desire.

I’m currently working from a hostel overlooking the beach in Kauai, and it’s definitely the coolest place I’ve worked from so far.

You’re embarking on an exciting journey ahead, how do you plan on meeting people and socializing?

Hostels are a great way to meet people and make new friends. At the end of the day, it all comes down to making yourself open to letting others come into your life. One thing that I’ve learned is that people are generally good and want to help others along the way.

From what you’ve experienced so far, what would you say are the pros and challenges of being a digital nomad?

The pros of my lifestyle:

• Work from anywhere
• Passionate about digital marketing
• I get to help people achieve success
• Seeing amazing places and experiencing new cultures
• Free from the “traditional” path that society creates

The cons of my lifestyle:

• It’s easy to lose my daily routines while traveling like meditation, exercise, and eating healthy
• A consistent challenge is relying on Yelp for the best food recommendations!

You’re quite an inspiration and I’m sure some will want to follow your path. What advice would you give them, in terms of finances or to achieve success?

I saved up some money before quitting my job as a safety net, but now I’m focused on continually growing my business to reach the monthly income goal I have set out for myself. Budget, budget, budget!

My biggest recommendation I give to people is to take a step back to escape your daily routine and THINK. Think about what it is that you truly love to do and that you are 100% passionate about. Once you have that vision firmly in your head, find people that are experts in your industry and start learning from them directly. This is ultimately the fast-track for achieving massive success.

Both are sound advice. What’s next for you Brett?

What’s next? As I mentioned previously, we’re about to set off on a world tour to help inspire others to go for their dreams. We are creating travel videos that focus on how to actually go about achieving the digital nomad lifestyle. Honestly, we want to “Make Business Cool Again”.

And last but not least for the music lover that I am, what’s on your playlist?

On my playlist, you’ll find an awesome mix between Tropical House and Latin artists.

Thanks Brett for sharing your story and best of luck in all your upcoming adventures!

Thanks Brett for sharing your story with the DN:m community! If you like the article, spread it by giving a 💓 and subscribe to the DN:m newsletter

All images: credit of Brett and used with his permission. This article was originally published on digitalnomadsmedia.com on July 14 — Find more about Brett in the full article