From Washington DC insider to digital nomad now living & working on her own terms. CEO and journalist that produces branded content for Fortune 500 companies & news organisations. In 2018 she decided to step down from her well paid position as Editor in Chief to become a digital nomad working 15 hr/week. She is working from places she wants to travel to and choose the most effective working hours. We talk about her time in a Stockholm suburb, her love for writing, traveling, her drive to be the best, live in the US as journalist and Editor in Chief and eventually taking the leap to start her own business. She shares her story fear, perfectionism and finding what it means to life an authentic life true to yourself.
3 Words:
Driven: Already at the age of 5 Camille new that she wanted to be a journalist, editor in chief and live in the US.
Passionate:
Creative and curious: She enjoys understanding how people function.
Colour:
Glitter :D
Red, vibrant colour, speaking colour. It is a confident colour. Camille used to wear red in a sea of black dressed peers, not afraid to stick out. It is important that you wear the colour and the colour is not wearing you.
I couldn’t resist to ask what ice cream flavour misses Tuutti is. Tuutti means ice cream cone :-) A salty liquorice it is just delicious.
Her little Secret:
Unhealthy obsession with serial killers and true crime through books and TV shows. True crime is like solving a puzzle feeding her curiosity. And serial killers are so far away from what society accepts that makes it interesting to read about abnormal psychology and memoirs of people that overcome obstacles, learn more about why people act the way they do.
Another obsession are vampires. Growing up she was reading fairytales, mythology, folklore and fell in love with the blood suckers. As with true crimes Camille spends an unhealthy time watching vampire show and movies. Her favourites are “True Blood” and “Vampire Diaries”
Another guilty pleasure “90 days Beyonce“ reality show
Her Story:
Camille grew up in a suburb of Stockholm feeling an outsider. From a young age she knew that she wanted to be a journalist and editor in chief in the US. Her path went over London, NY back to Sweden and then to Washington DC. In a short time she made it from an international certificate program as a reporter being severely underpaid to editor in chief with a nice 6 figure income.
Her secret to that success is. Have Goals, a clear path and hard work.
Always be mindful what steps you need to take and give the best in executing. Plan in how to get there, and take it day by day. When you are at the start of your career you need to put in time, hustle and grind. Put pride in your work and work hard.
Her path as an example:
1. Know what do you want. Journalist => go to school. Get a stamp of approval that I am as good as I think I am.
2. Get internships at Washington Post, Washington Times => Create Network. Having someone in your corner to support you no matter what. Mentor or not
3. Put the work in. Be able to impress people. If you are passionate about you’ll be able to do that. Highlight your uniq skills.
4. Network network network, Give back
Show what you have done => Create a portfolio. Best work. These are my accomplishments. This is how my work helped the organisation, company.
Camille suffered for 30 years from an eating disorders. In June 2018 she decide to seek help and went to a treatment centre in Philadelphia. This was a life altering decision. During the treatment she was not allowed to use computer or cell phones. That gave her a lot of time to think and listen to her own thoughts. She was meditating a lot and was thinking about when she was most happy and how to live an authentic life. It was not while being in DC or going to networking events, having small talks and meaningless exchanges. She felt most happy while Traveling.
So one day she woke up and said to herself. “I will quit work and travel full time”
Her family was traveling a lot. Her mom wanted to give them the experience of learning about new cultures and meeting new people. That is how Camille got to visit almost 20 different countries by the age of 20. Not just the great tourist places but also the exotic locations. She loves the adventure while traveling, the continuous excitement. She needs to see movement, go to have a coffee, visit museum go for a stroll in a park.
After she quit her job Camille needed one year to calm down. So they stayed one year in Cancun at the beach. But after the quietness she missed the tech scene and meet technical people, working in co-working spaces. That’s when they went to Mexico City. It’s a perfect city, big with lots of movement, perfect weather, food and nice parks.
Her 4Hour Week
While working for others she got her work done in 2 hours and pretended to work the rest of the day. On top of that she had a long commute and her workdays were often from 8 to 8. Living such a life doesn’t give you much time to do Yoga, pilates, meet friends or visit a museum. Camille has also seen what work work work has done to her father. In 2008 during the crisis her father lost all, his company his mental health and the financial independence and wealth. All that lost in a matter of months He also confessed that he regretted that he worked that much. She realised that she didn’t want to work for others and do the same mistake her father did. Potential bad bosses, overtime, no time for friends and family or other great activities.
Now she works 3-4 hours a day and about 15 hours a week, and she gets the same amount done as before. She is much more efficient because she doesn’t have to listen to information that is not needed. She is able to sleep when it is most natural for her, and she works when she is most productive and in between she does all the other fun stuff she enjoys. This is creating a great work-life-balance for her. Some days she doesn’t work at all and other days it will be a full day of working.
Working for yourself opens the question on how much should or could I work. Ask yourself: “Do I want to grow business or am I happy here?”
Camille wants to grow her business and she loves being a CEO. When you are your own boss you can start delegating things you are not good enough in or you don’t like to do to someone else.
Camille has build up a good reputation and network during her time in DC which gives her good contacts for her business. That all comes from years of hard work.
Failure:
Failures taught Camille that they are only small bumps and allow her to pivot and do other things.
Camille failures that put her up for success and other possibilities
- Dropped out of Uni in London. 1st semester she left. All opportunities came to her after that.
- Again dropped out at the university in Washington DC. In BSc in journalism during the last semester.
Deciding to do the digital nomad put her almost into an existential crisis. But then she had the sudden thought: “What if I DON’T FAIL!?”
Look at all the accomplishments so far, your track record. What might be on the other side if I fail? This made her much more resilient and always stronger. Fear of failing is an irrational feeling. Some of the thoughts were:
- People say: “You were stupid to give up a good job!”
- What if I don’t work hard => I get fired, no income, no house, homeless ….
Yet nothing of that happened so far.
A reason for fear of failure can be.
- Perfection Paralysis.
Sometimes the moon and the starts need to be aligned before anything is started. For example the first sentence needs to be perfect otherwise the text is not good. Her remedy for that is “Just start writing”, and don’t wait for the creativity to strike. Get the first thoughts out. That opens the flood gate.
- Not being good enough. She always had that belief. Coming from considering herself a perfectionist, which is generally not good. It is though a good trait as an editor, else it can hamper your growth and action. Preventing you from moving forwards.
Creativity Methods, Habits:
Key to productivity, innovation creativity, is that we choose our hours when we work best. The industrial way of thinking when we have to work and create doesn’t work for most of us.
When Camille studied journalism in Sweden she would only be working when she was inspired. Now those times of inspiration are mortgage and other bills to be paid.
To be creative she needs a clear mind. Being at peace and mindfulness helps. Going for a long walk, a walking meditation helps her to free her mind and come up with solutions. It could be a good intro into a piece she writes and then all the rest just comes to her.
It could also be reading of watching something on tv, or talking with other people
Sometimes you just need to work, as you don’t have the luxury for creativity to strike. Usually creativity eps and flows for her during writing process. Doing the work stimulates the mind and eventually the ideas will come to you.
Creativity linked with curiosity. Use your creativity and approach an aspect from different ways and approaches. Try to find the right way or path, experience, get external and internal motivators to approach your problem differently.
Her husband has a different way of problem solving. He is a handy man and helps her to see things from a completely different way, angle. She appreciates that as this helps her to see her blindspots.
Obstacle for creativity
Perfection paralysis. Want to be perfect and fear of not delivering. Hence people won’t even get started. Being afraid and perfectionism is a learned skill. Personally she had to be the best in all as her father had super high expectation for his family. In Childhood an “A” wasn’t good enough. Her strive for perfectionism comes from that and then you start to put too high standards up. You simply can’t be perfect and good in everything you do. This is unfortunately a common theme for high achievers.
Lack of sleep, being unhappy, depressed are other obstacles for creativity.
Habits & Routines:
She loves an active lifestyle. A trained pilate instructor, loves yoga and tries to do at least a few exercises every day.
Before writing she has a cup of coffee. That gets the mind going.
Advice for a digital Nomad:
Best advice she got.
“There is no growth in your comfort zone. And no comfort in your growth zone!”
Don’t be afraid to fail. Reach beyond then what you think possible. We can do much more than what we can do now.
“Learn to be uncomfortable”
Embarking new life. Always say yes to a new opportunity. I don’t know if I am …. Enough, SAY YES to the opportunity and then find out how to handle.
Call for action:
You have that dream. Book, travel. “JUST DO IT”… don’t think about it. “Start thinking what could happen when I succeed.!!!”
What is the alternative. Want to stay where you are and feel you missed out.
Reach out
www.linkedin.com/in/camilletuutti/
www.tuuttifrutti.com
Twitter TuuttiFruttiHQ, CamilleTuutti
Books:
She reads 2-3 Books a week. Memoirs about people that overcome hurdle
Jeannette Walls - “The Glass Castles”
Cupcake Brown - “Piece Of Cake”
Robert Remington - “Runaway devil” (12 year old Canadian girl) 2 journalist
Kommentar schreiben