Today:

1. How valuable is a sunset alone?

2. Revealed: costs of the retreat and how i plan to sell the first ticket.

3. More in-depth on Lombok Agenda and why it gained in value.

Good day or night fellow reader!

Over 24 people follow this newsletter now.

Imagine 24 people in a room listening to one person.

Grateful.

I appreciate your attention.

If you’re enjoying the newsletter, come for a closer look on Instagram!

!quickly before reading further: new section on Nomad Nexus’ lander regarding the agenda, check it out, would love your feedback!

I woke up here from natural sunlight BEFORE my fallback alarm on the beautiful island of Cyprus today!

I arrived here with my grandma yesterday.

She had no vacation for the past 6 years.

I’m taking her on one now here in Cyprus and will try to work less this week. I’m writing this newsletter the day before it releases in the morning, so I can spend time with her.

And this makes me cry.

Because…

How valuable is a sunset to me?

Or better the question,

how valuable is a sunset to me alone?

Sunsets make me nostalgic, sometimes melancholic.

Song recommendation: Edge of the Ocean - Stick Figure

I’m a romantic.

I think me building this community and the dedication that comes with it is partly my appreciation and the deep believe in romance.

I love life.

But I could not imagine it alone.

After realising how empty I felt under the most beautiful palm tree(read about it here) and exploring my passion for giving, I also realised none of what I experience matters as much if I’m not sharing it with my (not yet existing) significant other and friends.

Since over 2 months im working on Nomad Nexus everyday without a single thought of postponing even an hour of work.

Every massage, every workout, or beach walk I take makes me think about what the next steps shall be.

I cherish sunsets a zillion times more, when sharing silence.

Don’t get me wrong.

I do enjoy them alone with a glass of a dry grape juice, too.

But with a thought of “it would be so much better, If I shared it”.

With her, best friends, grandma.

Me building a community shows me day to day more, how much I value community and want a family.

Wife. Kids. Friends.

A castle - an empire, that strong it will be.

And we all need that.

Eric showed me the band you are hopefully listening to right now (Stick Figure) while driving on a rental through Kavala, Greece.

Old town of Kavala has an amazing viewpoint. And, they had a summer fest!

So we sat there.

He had a stout, I sipped on a red ale.

"It is so beautiful to love, laugh and cry. The deeply human expression of emotions and the true self. So pleasant to observe.” we said, glancing at a couple that enjoyed the sunset next to us.

My grandma said yesterday, It’s about the shared silence.

And I could not agree more.

How I plan to sell the first ticket

I know that’s a contrast of topics here.

But I promised the “behind the scenes” of actually building it, not exclusively my vision and why.

I find the challenges I’m facing interesting, so here is what’s on the table right now:

• I am more afraid to not sell tickets than in the beginning.

And that is because of listening to other peoples approaches.

(which is good, it just made my mind tickle)

There was not a single shred of doubt this retreat will work out, till a friend that organises retreats herself opened up to me her strategy of promoting, which starts half a year before the date.

Made me feel insecure.

And the biggest challenge is honestly what I would have never expected to happen:

The fear of pressing the start button because it might not be quite perfect yet.

It's funny, because the exact opposite is the case in my client work.

I am the one constantly fighting against their fear of imperfection and talk to them about “offers, numbers, valid data sets” bla bla.

It’s also funny, because I truly believe this is a no-brainer offer.

Simplified: “Do you want to make driven, ambitious friends and find belonging within a community of entrepreneurs?”

(lol, writing this newsletter helped me clarify a better messaging for myself, just changed it on the lander)

AND - it’s even more funny because I am not expecting to make money on that!

What you’ve been waiting for: the numbers revealed!

I believe in honesty and transparency in a community and it is part of the behind the scenes, so:

The accommodation for 14 days costs 3217€.

I just bumped the price a 100€ per ticket yesterday (later more about it) because of a 100€ more in expenses for activities that i want to offer inclusive in the ticket price.

In the case of a 10 people full booking (single occupancy), this generates 7570€ of revenue.

If 10 people book:

7570€ - 3217€ accommodation - 1000€ activities - 450€ (expense because of lack of experience, a landing page design that never got online) - approx. 200€ in VA work for some content and research, - countless hours of my work (0€) = 3217€ left.

Rounded up, 3000€ I can spend on advertising.

Or: 300€ CAC to breakeven.

(CAC = customer acquisition cost; breakeven = no profit or loss, enough money to cover expenses)

But: I have never advertised an event before.

So many questions.

• Targeting all nomad hubs? Or only in Asia?

• How does a creative look that speaks to people?

• How to sell, without making it salesy?

• How to sell and filter the people I don’t want on it?

Now, you might throw in:

“Isn’t your day-job exactly that? Advertising?”

yes.

it is.

But it’s so much harder with a personal project.

Because I lack emotional and logical distance from it to have an objective perspective.

I’m too deep and too biased to see more opportunities.

It is constantly happening, that my friends and colleagues say something like: “Danny, why don’t you add 1 + 1 and it gives you 2?” and I go: “WOOOOOOW how have i not thought of that yet, thank you so much!!” when talking about Nomad Nexus.

And an hour later, I’m solving similar issues for a client in the snap of a finger.

Crazy how brains work.

One thing keeps me optimistic:

I have never started it to make money in the first place.

So it doesn’t matter how much I spend to bring people together.

I would accept loosing money, too.

Is it a good business model in the long run? Sure.

But that’s not the focus, and here’s why:

Sometimes I meet people that are in between of two life phases.

Whatever it is that brought them there, this little phase in between is crucial for one of two following paths:

1. Continuing personal growth

2. or Re-Experiencing the previous phase / the lesson in a new domain (that is also often the case in option 1, but what I mean here is basically getting stuck)

and I feel like it's because we often lack the deep connection to ourselves and the understanding of what we really fucking want.

How many times have I heard that somebody wants to do something because of their research on the topic -

“this job market is full”,

“more companies are hiring for x”,

“i don’t know how i will find clients for Z so thats why I chose Y”

instead of reverse-engineering of what we actually LOVE doing and taking steps from there.

I can work 14h a day for a whole week and not burn out.

Because I love what I do.

At least, thats what my young maximalism says.

And that’s okay.

How I plan to make Lombok an even better experience

As mentioned before, the ticket price increased for 100€.

The main goal is to overdeliver and increase the value of the ticket to the retreat.

For only one hundred more, we will:

1. go paragliding so we can see the island from above

2. see authentic indigenous “Sasak” villages

3. learn how to cook Indonesian food together!!

(I’m SO excited about the cooking class!!!!)

Lombok is an absolutely stunning island with not only beautiful scenery, but also different culture and history in comparison to the very popular Bali just a few hours away.

Some activities that I could offer in Lombok require more commitment than others - financially, mentally and time-wise.

The volcano hike is amazing for example, but a higher time, money, sleep schedule and fitness commitment than visiting a beach.

I am still not sure about which activities exactly will be included and am working hard on chatting and scheduling as many activities, transport etc. as possible to experience the real Lombok.

All of that while keeping free-time for work and beautiful sunsets!

I plan to integrate potential attendees into the decision making before-hand and also co-decide on the actual plans while being in Lombok.

I also try to consider unforeseen factors like weather and… humans.

What do you think of that? Answer to this email, I WILL READ IT!

Song recommendation: Way of Life - Stick Figure (this band is on repeat this week, absolute vibe)

Thanks for reading this far, I appreciate every one of you!

Enjoy life.

Cheers!

You can get your ticket to Nomad Nexus happening in Lombok October 16th - 30th HERE.