{"id":411,"date":"2026-01-28T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xn--mnchen-3ya.xyz\/index.php\/2026\/01\/28\/wptavern-202-charly-leetham-on-using-wordpress-to-enable-a-digital-nomad-life\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:00:00","slug":"wptavern-202-charly-leetham-on-using-wordpress-to-enable-a-digital-nomad-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xn--mnchen-3ya.xyz\/index.php\/2026\/01\/28\/wptavern-202-charly-leetham-on-using-wordpress-to-enable-a-digital-nomad-life\/","title":{"rendered":"WPTavern: #202 \u2013 Charly Leetham on Using WordPress to Enable a Digital Nomad Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
Transcript\n
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[00:00:19] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Welcome to the Jukebox Podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley.<\/p>\n

Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, using WordPress to enable a digital nomad life.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice, or by going to wptavern.com\/feed\/podcast, and you can copy that URL into most podcast players.<\/p>\n

If you have a topic that you\u2019d like us to feature on the podcast, I\u2019m keen to hear from you and hopefully get you or your idea featured on the show. Head to wptavern.com\/contact\/jukebox, and use the form there.<\/p>\n

So on the podcast today we have Charly Leetham. Charly\u2019s journey with technology spans over four decades, from tinkering with amateur radio as a teenager in Australia, to working in electronic engineering and eventually building a career in WordPress and small business tech support. With a background in field service, sales, and running retail businesses, Charly pivoted to helping people with their websites and tech needs right around the time WordPress was in its infancy. Today, nearly 20 years later, she\u2019s still involved in the WordPress ecosystem, providing troubleshooting, support, and plain English tech translations for business owners who need their digital lives demystified.<\/p>\n

But in this episode, we are focusing less on her technical skills and more on her unique lifestyle. Charly is a true digital nomad. Someone who\u2019s not bound to a fixed address, but instead lives and works from a camper van fitted with a Starlink system traveling and working all over Australia.<\/p>\n

We talk about what it was like to embrace remote working long before it was commonplace, and how she built a business that supports complete flexibility. We explore both the upsides of the digital nomad life, the freedom to travel, spend quality time with family, and work from beautiful locations, as well as the trade-offs such as limited space, and having to ruthlessly prioritize her longings.<\/p>\n

Charlie discusses the essential tech setup that empowers her nomadism. From laptops and microphones to how Starlink satellite internet lets her work reliably from almost anywhere, even in places with little or no mobile signal.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s practical advice on working with clients, so support can happen on her schedule, and reflections on building a business that matches her values, even if it sometimes means saying goodbye to clients who aren\u2019t the right fit.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever imagined trading your desk for the open road, or wondered what\u2019s technologically, and personally possible, as a remote WordPress worker this episode is for you.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in finding out more, you can find all of the links in the show notes by heading to wptavern.com\/podcast, where you\u2019ll find all the other episodes as well.<\/p>\n

And so without further delay, I bring you Charly Leetham.<\/p>\n

I am joined on the podcast by Charly Leetham. Hello Charly.<\/p>\n

[00:03:29] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Hi Nathan. It\u2019s really good to be here, and we are literally on other side of the world from each other.<\/p>\n

[00:03:35] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> We could probably not be further apart. You are in Australia, and we\u2019ve never met. We spent probably the last 20 minutes or so having a good old natter. It\u2019s been really interesting. And actually, the way that this podcast was going to go, I think has been upended by the conversation that we just had. Because you talked to me about your digital nomadism, I\u2019m going to say, and I want to lean into that.<\/p>\n

But before we get into all of that story about how you\u2019ve ended up working remotely and things, do you just want to give us a little bit of background about how you\u2019ve come to work, be on a WordPress podcast? What\u2019s your background with tech, your life in general? Whatever you wish.<\/p>\n

[00:04:09] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Okay, well, look, I\u2019ll try and keep it short. There is like 40 years to sort of condense into three or four minutes here.<\/p>\n

Look, I have always been interested in tech from a very, very, very young age. My dad kind of encouraged me, if I was showed interest in anything, he\u2019d say, well, go and find out about and let\u2019s do this and let\u2019s do that. The age of 13, I had my amateur radio license. By the time I was 16, I\u2019d just left year 10, grade 10, and I went and did an associate diploma, electronic engineering. I worked full-time as a junior laboratory technician in an electronics lab at the Australian University while I was doing that.<\/p>\n

And from there I went to be a field service tech with a private company. I\u2019ve done field service, I\u2019ve done pre-sales, I\u2019ve done sales, I\u2019ve done contract management. I\u2019ve done customer service management. Done bid management.<\/p>\n

And then I had a need after I decided, I was really, really sick and tired of doing all of this, so I went and bought myself a business with a franchise. We ran retail businesses for four years. They failed spectacularly. And I had a need that I had to actually get some money through the door so that I could feed the kids, pay the bills, eventually feed myself, and the husband is part of it.<\/p>\n

So this was born. And this was, people need help with their technology. People need help with their websites, people need help with their emails, people need help with all of this. And at that point in time, that was 2007 and WordPress was just in its infancy. I think it was, maybe three or four generations in at that point, but it was still in its infancy. And I learned, WordPress from that.<\/p>\n

Someone said, I\u2019ve got a WordPress website, it\u2019s not working. Can you look at it? Sure. I can look at it. I know C++, I know Pascal, I know Basic. Oh, this is PHP. What\u2019s that? I learned PHP, I learned themes, I learned plugins, I learned how to troubleshoot things. And here we are nearly 20 years later, doing the thing that I love the most.<\/p>\n

[00:06:16] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> There\u2019s a lot in there, Charly. Genuinely, there is a lot in there. But what I\u2019ve taken from that is that you have always been a bit of a tinkerer. You\u2019ve always been somebody that\u2019s fascinated by the technology side of things. Not just the software, but also, you know, the engineering side of things. And so, gosh, what a history you\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get onto all the WordPress stuff a little bit later. Obviously that\u2019s a big part of why you\u2019re on this particular podcast because we are a WordPress focussed podcast. But it was the conversation that we had about half an hour ago that captured my attention and is just going to divert us for a little while.<\/p>\n

And that is, you got on the call, we started talking about where we are in the world and the fact that you are over there and I\u2019m over here, and isn\u2019t it amazing that we can talk to each other? And the fact that this technology is here and, you know, when we were both children, this was the realm of science fiction. Being able to speak to somebody on the other side of the planet without prearranging it, and organising it with a telephone network and a great expense and all that.<\/p>\n

And then we started talking about literally where you are. And I was kind of curious about your location. It turns out you are a digital nomad. Now, for those people tuning in who don\u2019t know what this is, a digital nomad, I guess is somebody who is not bound to a specific location. I live in the UK. I have a house and a mortgage and all those kind of things. So I\u2019ve kind of saddled myself to that, and I\u2019ve got this definite spot in the world where I call home. You\u2019ve decided to kind of get rid of all of that. And so just tell us about your life and what it is that you do, and how you move around and how you empower that with technology, and what technology you use to make that even possible.<\/p>\n

[00:07:53] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Okay. Let\u2019s start by telling you a story. When my kids were all, all my kids are now in their early thirties, late twenties, so they\u2019re adults. They\u2019re gone, they\u2019re out doing their own thing. But when my kids were born in the mid nineties, I wanted nothing more than to be able to stay home with them. But because of my experience, because of what I was doing, I was the breadwinner. I was the one that had the money coming in, so I had to go back to work. Went back to it when my kids were really young.<\/p>\n

And as much as I loved my job and I loved what I was doing, I really hated not being able to be with him. And what I wanted to do was what I\u2019m doing now, then. The ability to help people with their tech. The technology didn\u2019t exist. We couldn\u2019t remote into computers, we couldn\u2019t do video conferencing. We couldn\u2019t even do audio calls like phone networks for what we had. So if you just think about, you know, a young 20-year-old woman with two kids, working in IT, wanting to do this.<\/p>\n

Now we come forward nearly 20 years, or nearly 30 years because my kids are 30. I can do exactly what I wanted to do 30 years ago today. I can sit wherever I am, I can run up my computer, I can get an internet connection, I can talk to you. Someone says to me, my computer\u2019s not working, or my email\u2019s not sending, I can\u2019t do this. I can remote into their computer. I can do a face-to-face call with them. I can remote into their computer. I can give them that support. I don\u2019t have to be on site to do that.<\/p>\n

That is what a digital nomad is. That\u2019s what me as a digital nomad does. I provide tech support to people wherever I am, literally in the world. I said to you, I traveled in the US for a couple of years. Well, I got stuck in the US for a couple of years. And I didn\u2019t work over there. I want to be really, really clear because you\u2019re allowed to work in the US when you\u2019re over there on a visitor visa. But I was helping people. People would say to me, my computer\u2019s broken, well, let me remote in. I\u2019ll have a look. Let me go and do this, I\u2019ll help you. My dad would ring me from Australia and say, my email\u2019s broken. What can I do? I\u2019d fix it for him.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s what I do. So how does that work for me today? There is a housing crisis. That\u2019s the first thing that we really need to recognise is there is a housing crisis. Finding a house is really, really difficult. Finding a house that is affordable is even more difficult. Rather than stressing on the fact that I can\u2019t find a house, or I can\u2019t afford the rent for a house, or I don\u2019t want to have that stress of having a rent for a house. I fitted out a vehicle, I got a Starlink system. My brother fitted the vehicle out for me. My son, who is the electrician, put the electrical into it. And I literally live on the road. I go from place to place. I find somewhere I can hook into power for a couple of days. I throw my Starlink out the site, and I work. I support people.<\/p>\n

You could talk to me tomorrow, well, not tomorrow. Talk to me in a month, and I\u2019m going to be in far North Queensland. A month from today, I will be in far North Queensland doing things up in far North Queensland because I\u2019ve got to be up there for something. That\u2019s what my life is like.<\/p>\n

[00:10:55] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> If we rewind the clock, I don\u2019t know, 10 years, did you desire something like that? From what you said, it sounds like you did. You always had some sort of intuition that if the technology allowed, you would wish for something like that. But obviously, kids and bills and all of that kind of got in the way. Has this been something which, if you sort of look back on your life, you think instinctively this was something that you wished to do?<\/p>\n

[00:11:17] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Not on the road. Not mobile like I am. Being able to do it from home, being able to be a work from home mum, absolutely. Being on the road and moving around, no, not even my wildest dreams would I have even imagined it. I didn\u2019t even know that was available to us. I had no idea.<\/p>\n

Look, I\u2019ve met people, just to sort of segue very quickly. I have met people while I\u2019m doing this, and they are young families. They are mum and dad and the kids, and they\u2019re living on the road. They\u2019ve got homeschooling curriculums for the kids. The kids do all their schooling. They get all these extra education of the places they\u2019re in, all the things that they\u2019re doing. Mum and dad will arrange to take the kids out on a bushwalk, and go and see a place that very few people in Australia will ever get to see. And these kids are living this life. I didn\u2019t know that was available. If I had known that was available, I might have done that with my kids.<\/p>\n

[00:12:08] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> I think one of the curious things is that, if you are working in the tech space, and obviously we\u2019ll talk more about WordPress in a moment, there is a significant chance that this is available to you. I mean obviously you may have a job which is office bound. We understand that that means that you\u2019ve got to show up to the office and what have you. But I\u2019m imagining that there\u2019s quite a few people listening to this podcast who, if they were to really examine it, these possibilities are open to them.<\/p>\n

But it may not be something that they, A, wish to do, or B, they\u2019ve not really thought about it too much. You know, they\u2019ve decided that, okay, life is fine, I like my local environment or what have you.<\/p>\n

What are like the key benefits, if you know what I mean? If you were to advertise this lifestyle to our audience, so we\u2019ll do this in two parts. Let\u2019s do the benefits first and then we\u2019ll do the drawbacks later. What are the key things which you look at in your life at the moment and think, I\u2019m so grateful for that? What are they?<\/p>\n

[00:12:57] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Freedom. Absolutely the freedom. I mean, we\u2019re going to talk about drawbacks in a minute, so that\u2019s going to get balanced out. But it is the freedom. It\u2019s the ability to say, it\u2019s getting cold in the south of Australia, remembering we\u2019re in the southern hemisphere. So, I actually have to say that because people like, it\u2019s hot in the south. No, it\u2019s cold in the south. So as the winter months come and it gets colder, we migrate north. So I can literally say, no, it\u2019s too cold here, I\u2019m going to go north. Going to go to Queensland and spend winter in Queensland. It still gets cold, but not as cold as it does in the south. So you\u2019ve got that ability.<\/p>\n

I guess one of the biggest benefits is my dad is, he\u2019s in his late seventies and I get to travel with dad. Dad\u2019s traveled for many, many years and he still is. But I get to travel with dad. I get to spend these years with my dad. There\u2019s not many people that can say they get to spend this sort of time, and this quality time, with their parents at this stage of life, because life gets in our way. But we make it work.<\/p>\n

We will, once a week, arrange to go and do something. He\u2019ll come and knock on the door and say, you are working too hard. I\u2019m like, I\u2019m working, go away, leave me alone. But then it\u2019ll be, okay, yes, you\u2019re right. I\u2019m working too hard, so why don\u2019t I take this morning off and we go and visit this place where we are staying. Go and find a touristy place or a bush walk to do, or go for a swim in the sea, or go and do something together so I can spend time with my dad. If the family needs me to be somewhere, I can be there, generally.<\/p>\n

I also just to sort of pad this out a little, I also house sit while I\u2019m doing it. So sometimes I\u2019ll get to a place, someone will be advertising, we need a house sitter. We need someone to come and live in the house, or live at the house, for a couple of weeks while we\u2019re away. So I\u2019ll go and house sit for them, and I get another experience in all of that. So that\u2019s the benefits. It\u2019s just that flexibility. I would be doing exactly what I\u2019m doing, but I would be stuck in a house. I\u2019d be stuck in a room, in a house, grinding. I can grind and be in some of the most beautiful places in the country.<\/p>\n

[00:15:02] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Do you know, it\u2019s so curious because I\u2019m imagining there\u2019s a proportion of the people listening to this who are just so in awe of that description. You know, oh gosh, you can really spend the time in the locations that you wish. I\u2019m imagining there\u2019ll also be other people who think, no, that\u2019s not what I want at all. But I\u2019ve got to say, I\u2019m really drawn to what you\u2019re saying. The idea of being able to go and, I don\u2019t know, work with a spectacular view. Or work in a particular city for a period of time, and then go somewhere slightly more rural. In other words, it\u2019s not the same view that you get every day when you wake up. There\u2019s that variety in life which, certainly for me, there\u2019s a lot of appeal there. Okay, let\u2019s do the drawbacks. What are the downsides?<\/p>\n

[00:15:44] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> The downsize is I live in a car. Literally, I live in a little camper van. My workspace is probably, because I fitted out a little commercial vehicle, a little commercial van as my van and as, you know, as my income improves, my savings improve, I will probably upgrade it. But my workspace is probably a metre by a metre. It\u2019s not very big. And when I finish up for the day, I\u2019ve got to pack everything up so I\u2019ve got room for relaxation. I can\u2019t sort of just walk out of a room, shut the door and say, well, that\u2019s work done.<\/p>\n

Now, work\u2019s done for me, I\u2019ve got to pack everything up, I\u2019ve got to put everything away. You are living on the road, so you don\u2019t have all of your stuff. And I\u2019m going to put stuff in double quotes, they\u2019re in inverted commas. You learn very quickly what is important to you, and what is necessary, and you have what is necessary. And then you have a few of those things that you go, these are really important to me and I\u2019m not going to give them up.<\/p>\n

So it is not like you can say, oh, I\u2019ve got that plate that is really good for this entertaining thing, and go to a cupboard and pull that plate out that you use maybe once a year. No, you don\u2019t have that. You\u2019ve got the plates that you use every day.<\/p>\n

[00:16:50] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Yeah. The plates.<\/p>\n

[00:16:52] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Yeah, well, I travel on my own. I could literally live with one plate, one cup, one bowl, knife and fork. You are trading off that flexibility of having a house where you can have things stored, and all of storage space. You really have to think about what it is you want. I have a rule. I literally have a rule and I think everyone should live with this rule anyway. I have to have needed it four times before I go and buy it. If I haven\u2019t needed it four times, then I\u2019m not going to buy it. If I look at something, I go, oh, that\u2019d be really cool and it\u2019d be really convenient. Then I go, but would I use it? Have I needed it four times? Have I needed the functionality that gives me four times? No, don\u2019t buy it. Because where the hell am I going to put it?<\/p>\n

[00:17:37] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Yeah, and I guess whatever you\u2019re buying, you have to buy the tiny version of it as well. You can\u2019t get the sort of jumbo version of whatever it is.<\/p>\n

[00:17:44] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> There\u2019s your other trade off is you can\u2019t buy food in bulk. Like, I used to go and buy several cans of food and put them in the cupboard. Whether I used them or not immediately, there would be several cans of the same thing in the cupboard just in case I needed it. And if it was sort of, oh, I\u2019m down to the last can, I\u2019ll go and buy a few more. Well, now I\u2019m down to buying two or three cans at a time. And once I\u2019ve run those out, I\u2019ve got to go and find the nearest shop and go and buy another one just to sort of keep it topped up.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not buying in bulk, you\u2019re not buying your meat, you\u2019re not buying your fruit veg in bulk. Does that matter? No, because when you get to certain places, you normally find the local providers, you normally find the local fruit seller or the local fruit and veg shop, and go and buy there. You go and support the local community, and you pick up a few things there and, yep, that\u2019s what you\u2019re going to use. That\u2019s what we do.<\/p>\n

[00:18:31] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Just to interrupt there, Charly, do you try to spend a significant portion of time in a particular place so that rather than just sort of driving through it, I guess, and spending a couple of days here and a couple of days there, do you spend significant amounts of time there, and therefore begin to have some feeling of what that community is like?<\/p>\n

I guess the underpinnings of that question really is, how do you get that sort of human interaction that so many people think is important? Because clearly you are meeting fresh people every day, and you probably don\u2019t get the chance to form those roots and what have you. So there\u2019s a lot there. But do you know what I mean? Do you try to sort of spend a bit of time so that you gather some of those human connections along the way?<\/p>\n

[00:19:12] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Okay, so there\u2019s a couple of things there that you\u2019ve touched on. On my way to a location, I may only spend a day in a location, as I\u2019m heading to a final destination or the next stop along the way. When I get to that next stop along the way, I do try to spend a bit of time, because I like to put my roots down. I like to be able to just settle on in, be able to work for really long periods and not have to worry about, oh, I\u2019ve got to pack everything up and be on the road again. I\u2019ve worked for three days, now I\u2019ve got to spend the next two or three hours packing everything up so I can get on the road and drive for another couple of hours. Yes, I know English people are going to say, couple of hours driving, you\u2019d be across the country.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d spend a couple of hours driving and then you get to the other end and you\u2019ve got to set it up. So you\u2019re losing a day when you\u2019re doing that. So my preference is when I get to where I want to be, getting my feet down and staying there for a couple of weeks if I can. And then from there, I use that as a base of, okay, what is within a hundred kilometers that I can go and visit, and do the site seeing, and do the local colour, and make that a hub for my activities.<\/p>\n

You then asked about human interaction and honestly, I think I\u2019m a little different to people. I don\u2019t need it as much as others. I am really, really quite happy to just be in my sphere. I\u2019ve got my online connections. If I need to speak to someone, I\u2019ve normally got someone on the other, on Discord, or one of the chat programs that I can chat to. And then if I feel like I\u2019m getting to that stir crazy point, you go to the local pub or you go to the local cafe and you sort of sit around and you have a chat to the locals.<\/p>\n

That fills that need for me. I\u2019m not a person who is, it sounds terrible, I\u2019m actually really good in a public environment, but it drains me. So I really, once that\u2019s done, I\u2019m done for a couple of days and I can just go sit in nature and not worry about it.<\/p>\n

[00:20:58] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Yeah, I think everybody can totally see that. There\u2019s just so many different personality types, isn\u2019t there? I can identify exactly with what you\u2019re saying. I can go for extended periods of time, and not really require that human interaction. And then occasionally I sort of crave it, and so I satisfy it and go and meet people and hang out with all sorts of different people.<\/p>\n

And so I guess really that is the piece that you would need to examine in your own life. Because if you were going to go nomadic, for want of a better word, you\u2019ve got to really understand that bit. What is your need? On what level do you need to be with other people and interact with other people? Because that\u2019s really the fulcrum around what makes this whole thing possible.<\/p>\n

Speaking of what makes the whole thing possible, I\u2019m interested to delve into the tech a little bit. Because you mentioned this sort of one metre square, and the fact that you\u2019ve got to pack things away and what have you. I\u2019m curious as to what technology do you have which enables this? Ignoring the vehicle and all that, I\u2019m just trying to imagine what you might put in your shopping cart. If you were telling somebody this digital nomad life was available, what would be the requirements to make that happen?<\/p>\n

[00:22:01] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> So I\u2019m doing this with my laptop computer. Now, I buy as top of the range as I can when I buy, and it lasts me for years. So I\u2019ve got, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re familiar with them, I have an MSI gaming computer, because it\u2019s got the extra fans in it. So it really, really works well when you\u2019re doing a lot of processor intensive stuff. So it\u2019s not just for gaming, because I do a bit of graphic design and I do a bit of this and I do a bit of that. So the extra fans make the world a difference.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ve got an MSI gaming computer, or an MSI computer. I have an external microphone. I\u2019ve actually just recently bought an external webcam. I was using the webcam on the computer. It was perfectly fine. I\u2019ve changed my setup to where I now have an external monitor mounted on the wall in my van. So when I settle in, I pull my 21 inch monitor out and I plug my computer into it and I\u2019ve got this beautiful big monitor. I\u2019ve got my external keyboard, and I\u2019ve got my mouse.<\/p>\n

[00:22:56] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Okay. I mean it\u2019s the bare essentials, isn\u2019t it? I think we can all understand that. And then I think you mentioned the internet connectivity bit, which I suppose is also a crucial part of the tech. Because where I am, it\u2019s a landline. I obviously have, you know, I\u2019ve got a mobile phone, so there\u2019s the cell signal, which will allow me to roam within Europe and North America and what have you, but there\u2019s all the cost and everything associated with that. Where you go, I think it\u2019s fair to say that you would quickly lose all manner of possibilities because the reception in Australia, you said is not that great in terms of the internet. So how do you overcome that? I think you said Starlink.<\/p>\n

[00:23:30] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Yes, Starlink. I kind of looked into it for a very long time. I was relying on our mobile data and using my phone as a hot link. But in Australia, I was joking with you about it when we started this call, I\u2019m on the NBN here. And if anyone knows anything about the NBN, you\u2019ll know that most Australians hate the NBN. It\u2019s terrible. If it works, you\u2019ve got to consider yourself lucky.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s great if you are in a capital city, but you go a hundred kilometers, and I\u2019m being a little flippant when I say that, but I\u2019m not too far wrong. Go a hundred kilometers away from a regional center and you\u2019ve got nothing. There\u2019s no radio signal. By radio signal, I mean mobile signal. You can\u2019t make phone calls. You\u2019ve got that little, there is no signal icon on your phone. You can\u2019t actually get a connection. I say a hundred kilometers, maybe it\u2019s 200, maybe it\u2019s 250, but that\u2019s not a very long way in Australia. It really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

So I bought Starlink. I spoke to someone who was traveling along the way. And I actually want to come back to just the nomadic lifestyle when we\u2019re done here, Nathan. And I met someone while they were traveling. They said, oh, Starlink, it\u2019s wonderful. And it was still relatively new at the time. I\u2019m like, oh, really? Are you sure? And he explained it to me like, oh. So when I got the car, I went and bought myself the Starlink and it\u2019s fantastic.<\/p>\n

Oh my goodness, it\u2019s so good. You\u2019ve got to have power because the routers take power. You can just get, you know, one of the, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve got them there, the power stations, the USB power station that you charge up and you can run all your devices off it for a couple of hours. You could do that. I\u2019ve seen people run them off of just car batteries with the clamps on the battery terminals. I\u2019m an Australian, this is pretty normal.<\/p>\n

So you\u2019ve got to have the power for the router, to run the router. That then powers the dish and you\u2019ve basically got, in inverted commas, uninterruptable internet for as long as your power lasts. For as long as you\u2019ve got power, you\u2019ve got uninterruptable internet. I have found where I\u2019ve been, I house sat for my sister-in-law during winter, and her internet was terrible. So I went and got my Starlink out and threw it up and connected to it, and I had better internet. The connection speed on the internet on the Starlink versus her landline connection was like 10 times. I had 10 times better internet connection using Starlink than I did on a landline.<\/p>\n

[00:25:50] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> With the Starlink technology, do you have to, so I really am ignorant of this. I mean I know it\u2019s to do with satellites, and I know that you can have it bolted onto the side of your house, I guess if you live in a rural area where there is no regular landline. But yours is this sort of peripatetic, mobile version of that.<\/p>\n

Firstly, do you have to point it at a particular part of the sky? Do you have to spend time lining it up or do you just have to, just plonk it in daylight? So you know, outside basically? And is it bulky, or is it the kind of stuff that you could throw in a backpack if you were nomadic in that sense? You know, you didn\u2019t have wheels, you didn\u2019t have a vehicle, you were just sort of backpacking around. So two things. Where do you have to point it and is it big?<\/p>\n

[00:26:27] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Okay. You asked some really great questions. I\u2019m just going to say they are really, really inspired questions. The first thing I want to say is that the stuff that you see bolted onto the side of a house is typically the stuff that we would use when we\u2019re out mobile. It\u2019s the same hardware. They\u2019ve just got mounting technology, or mounting systems, that will allow you to mount it to the house.<\/p>\n

Quick story before I answer the second question about how big is it and all the rest of it. I had a version 2 Starlink, which, it would now be five or six years old, and it\u2019s got a pole and it\u2019s got the dish on it. And the dish is, I say dish, it\u2019s a rectangular panel and you\u2019ve got put it on a base so that it\u2019s stable. That\u2019s heavier than the version three. I had that last week, the week before I had a problem with it and I was a bit concerned. So I contacted Starlink and I said, listen, it\u2019s doing this, here\u2019s all my, being a tech I had all the diagnostics and stuff I\u2019d done and I laid it all out and I said, and I just really want to say that I\u2019m a little concerned. Because I\u2019m traveling and I\u2019m often outside of mobile range, I don\u2019t want to get outside of mobile range, put my Starlink on and have it fail. I\u2019m concerned that I\u2019ve got an intermittent fault that is going to be a problem.<\/p>\n

And they said, no worries, we\u2019ll send you a version 3, no charge. Because I\u2019ve been with Starlink now, probably two, two and a half, no, two years now. And they just sent me the new hardware. So I\u2019ve just upgraded to the version 3. So I can actually talk about both. So the version two is a little bigger. You\u2019re probably talking, I\u2019m just holding my hands up. It\u2019s probably about 40 centimeters wide and 70 centimeters tall, the panel. It\u2019s only 10 mil, five centimeters deep, I guess.<\/p>\n

[00:28:06] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> It\u2019s like the sort of size of a modestly big laptop screen. Something along those lines.<\/p>\n

[00:28:13] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Actually, it would be about the same size as my, I\u2019m just looking at, it would be a little larger than my computer here. And I\u2019ve got a 21, is this the 15? No, this is a 17 inch. This is a 17 inch monitor. So I\u2019ve got a 17 inch laptop.<\/p>\n

[00:28:24] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Yeah, so we\u2019re in the order of, got my hands out and I\u2019m imagining how big that is. It certainly answers my backpacking question anyway.<\/p>\n

[00:28:32] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Well, let me answer that question for you in a different way. There is now actually what they call a Starlink Mini, which is designed for backpacks. It\u2019s designed to fit inside a backpack. It\u2019s got a portable power supply so that you can go hiking, you can go backpacking and take your Starlink with you. I don\u2019t know a lot about it. I do know that the plan that you put it on is a little different to what you would put our plans on, the plans you would use for ours, because it\u2019s designed for you to be really, really mobile, not just mobile like we are. And it\u2019s really light. It\u2019s designed for a backpack.<\/p>\n

So that answers that question as well as like, you\u2019ve got the technology. The version 3, and I wanted you to say this, the version 3 would probably be half as light as the version 2. So it\u2019s much lighter. And one of the things that I really liked about the way this all works is that they\u2019ve got ground mounts, right? So you just put them down on the ground, which is going to answer your next question. Do you need to position it? No. You just put it out. You\u2019ve got to make sure it\u2019s got a clear view of the sky. You\u2019ve got to make sure that there\u2019s no real obstructions, and that means no trees, no buildings. So nothing that\u2019s going to sort of overshadow it as the satellites go over. And it will find the satellites for you. You don\u2019t have to do anything. You just hit the button and it just works.<\/p>\n

[00:29:45] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Miraculous really when you think about it. I mean, actually think about it. You\u2019ve got this box that you just plonk out under the stars somewhere, and a bunch of, I mean, I\u2019m just actually thinking about what I\u2019m about to say, and it is ridiculous. There\u2019s a bunch of satellites, so they had to go into space, moving around the planet. And they connect to the little box somehow send TCP IP packets all over the place, literally off the planet, which then get bounced down somewhere and, you know, end up in this case talking to me. Insane that any of that works.<\/p>\n

[00:30:19] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> So let me just add to that, at faster speeds than your standard internet will give you in Australia. I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like in the US, I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like in Britain, the UK, but it\u2019s faster and more stable speeds than you get in Australia in general.<\/p>\n

[00:30:36] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Yeah, I actually, so it\u2019s probably about six months ago I looked at Starlink. I\u2019ve never seriously looked at it. I\u2019m always just curious about it so I\u2019ve ended up on the Starlink website. In terms of the speeds that you can get, they\u2019re not comparable to what you can get through a landline. You can get significantly faster. But they are still impressive. And there\u2019s nothing that day-to-day use wouldn\u2019t be afforded by a Starlink package. I mean, maybe if you were sort of streaming 4K video left, right and center, maybe it would struggle in that scenario. But for any normal, and I\u2019m doing air quotes, any normal use of the internet, more than enough. Absolutely incredible.<\/p>\n

Okay, so all of that stuff, absolutely amazing. I\u2019m so impressed with everything that you\u2019ve just said. It really, it speaks to me. I think there\u2019s an awful lot in your life that I think, oh gosh, wish I was Charly. But I\u2019m kind of curious then as to the kind of work that you do actually do, because you painted this picture of all these infinite possibilities and what have you. And now I\u2019m turning the attention really to what is it that you do do? What are the kind of things that you\u2019ve been able to create in your life in this nomadic way? What kind of work are you able to pull off?<\/p>\n

[00:31:43] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> So what I do, what my business is, is I help businesses manage their tech. I like to sit between a business and they\u2019re tech. Some people might call me their CTO, some people might just call me their technical team. I try to translate tech into plain English for business owners so that it takes all of that stress out of it.<\/p>\n

When your business owner says, I need an email address, or I need a new email account, or whatever it is, and they\u2019re talking to a provider, and the provider\u2019s giving them all of the marketing guff, and all of the sales thing, and then it\u2019s not working. So then they\u2019re speaking to the technical people and the technical people are talking their jargon to them. It\u2019s overwhelming for them, and they\u2019re not spending time running their businesses when they\u2019re dealing with that.<\/p>\n

They need someone who can sit between them and that morass, if you like, and then say, okay, what is it you want? Oh, right, cool. Let me go and talk to people. Let me get you some answers and I\u2019ll come back to you. So I often say, I don\u2019t walk into a business and say, the answer is this, now what was the question? Which is what a lot of product salespeople would do. And I don\u2019t want to, I\u2019m not trying to bag salespeople here, because they\u2019re needed. But I don\u2019t go in and say, the answer is this, now what was the question? I go in and I say, okay, what is it you\u2019re trying to do?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to know about the technology you want to use. I want to know about what your business application is. I want to know, what is your input and what is your output? What are you trying to do here? Cool. Now, what systems do you already have? Let me go and investigate those systems. Let me see what they can do for you. Let me see if we can make those systems work to do what you want them to do. They can\u2019t do it, okay, let me go and find some technology that we can plug in and we\u2019ll work with what you\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n

The big thing I find with a lot of small businesses is, two things. They get caught with the bright shiny object syndrome. Oh, this new technology\u2019s coming out. It\u2019s going to make my business run well, it\u2019s going to make me money. Technology never makes you money, by the way. Technology only ever helps you make money if you use it right. So they get caught with the bright shiny object syndrome. Or they get caught with the sales person said it would work. I didn\u2019t understand what it did, and I bought this system and now it doesn\u2019t interact with the rest of my systems and I\u2019ve now got to put all these other processes and all these other things in places to make it work.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s kind of where I sit. But I\u2019m a tech as well, so I can make it work, I can troubleshoot it. I build websites, which is how I got into WordPress. I build websites. I fix websites. Like I actually also troubleshoot plugins. You know when we upgrade something or something\u2019s not working and you\u2019re getting all the error message? I\u2019ll go and actually troubleshoot a plugin and say, oh, that plugin\u2019s doing this. Can I fix it? No. Okay, I\u2019ll send a support response off to the plugin provider and say, here\u2019s all the logs, here\u2019s what I\u2019ve done, here\u2019s what I\u2019ve found. Can you get this fixed up for me? Or can you get it fixed up for us? Or, I\u2019m really stuck because I\u2019m getting to this point and it\u2019s just not working and I don\u2019t know where it\u2019s going wrong, but I\u2019m pretty certain it\u2019s between here and here.<\/p>\n

The other thing I do in all of that is, when you get the two suppliers going, it\u2019s them with the fingers going both ways. I tend to be the one that sits between it and mediates to try and get that sorted out. So that\u2019s what I do, and I do that all remotely.<\/p>\n

[00:34:54] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> I\u2019ve totally understood all of that. You know, you\u2019ve got this, you\u2019re sort of sitting in between, and being that kind of agent that helps people with the tech because they\u2019re busy and they\u2019re doing all the things and they haven\u2019t got the time to gain that expertise in all of that.<\/p>\n

So the follow up question, I guess from that, and it\u2019s kind of leaning into your nomadic thing a little bit as well, is I guess that kind of work, the kind of work that you\u2019ve got for yourself there, you can do it because, and I\u2019m going to say this like it\u2019s true and then you can correct me if I\u2019m false, because you can do that when you have time available.<\/p>\n

And what I mean by that is, it\u2019s not like if you were working in an office and you need to be there from nine o\u2019clock in the morning until five o\u2019clock at night, because the telephone lines open up and you\u2019ve got to field all this support. I\u2019m guessing you\u2019ve built a business where the channels of communication are a little bit more async than that. I don\u2019t know, like an email exchange, or Discord, or Slack or whatever it may be. In other words, you can be in the car driving at 7:30 in the morning or 5:30 in the afternoon, or 3 or whatever it may be, because you are not needed at that exact moment by, I\u2019m going to say your employer, but in this case, your clients. It\u2019s more async than that. So I\u2019ve said that like it\u2019s true. Is that true?<\/p>\n

[00:36:07] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> It is true for me. You are entirely correct. I\u2019m sort of laughing because you\u2019re like, oh, you can be driving in the car. The amount of times where I\u2019ve been traveling with dad and my phone\u2019s buzzed at me and I\u2019ve gone, oh. And he goes, okay, hang on, I\u2019ll pull over. Because we\u2019ve got radio signal, we\u2019ve got mobile signal. And he pulls over and I\u2019ll fix the problem. Like, it might be a five minute fix and I will actually fix the problem then and we\u2019ll keep moving. I\u2019m sitting having a cup of coffee somewhere and one of my clients messages. And they message. I rarely spend time on the phone, or on video conferences with them. They know that the best way to get me is to book a time. I\u2019ve trained my clients.<\/p>\n

[00:36:44] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> That\u2019s fascinating. So to you, that piece of the jigsaw puzzle is entirely obvious. And so it kind of just gets glossed over in your head. But you have created a business where that bit is the kind of foundational piece. If you had clients that wanted you on call 24\/7, that really wouldn\u2019t work because you\u2019ve carved out a life for yourself where you don\u2019t want to be on call 24\/7. You want be able to do what you want to do when you want to do it, with the understanding that the clients are important, but the async nature of it is, they\u2019ll message you. As soon as you can get to it, you\u2019ll get to it.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m guessing that when you onboard these clients, there\u2019s that whole education piece. This is what I do, this is the way we respond to support. You\u2019ll get an answer with, I don\u2019t know, 12 hours, 24 hours, whatever it may be. And it may be that somebody listening to this podcast is firefighting all the time and they kind of haven\u2019t figured that piece out. So I think that\u2019s really interesting that you\u2019ve got that, but yet it\u2019s self-evident to you.<\/p>\n

[00:37:39] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> I think I want to also add to that is that my clients trust me. So there might be point in time where I am always on for that client for a while at least. And when, I\u2019m always on for them. If they message me, I will, and I do this for all of my clients actually. If they message me and say, hey, this is a problem, and I\u2019ve got access, I actually have the ability to respond to them. I will normally respond to them and say, I\u2019m letting you know, I\u2019ve seen this on the road today, or I\u2019ve got meetings all day. I\u2019ve got this, you are in my queue, I\u2019ll get to you as soon as I can. And they know that actually means not tomorrow, not the next day, not, whenever it is. I really do mean as soon as I get a space available, they\u2019re going to get my attention. We\u2019ve built that trust relationship.<\/p>\n

[00:38:26] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> I think probably that is another foundational piece of your business. Without that trust, that\u2019s going to be difficult to onboard clients. Do you tend to gather clients by word of mouth more, or do you have a marketing website where people onboard to you and you have to build that trust up over time? Or is it more a case of your clients recommend your services to other clients who then bring in that trust with them, if you know what I mean?<\/p>\n

[00:38:49] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Mostly column A, little bit of column B and more of column C. So yeah, it\u2019s a bit of everything. I am actually just starting to ramp up my marketing as I start to get more comfortable with what I\u2019m doing. And it sounds strange, right? Because I\u2019ve been doing it for a while, but I\u2019m starting to get more comfortable.<\/p>\n

So now I\u2019m starting to ramp up my marketing, because I can talk to people about how it works and what it does. And I have very frank conversations. It\u2019s one of my things is to be, make sure that I am upfront, I am frank, I am honest about what goes on. I don\u2019t like. I can talk salesy. I prefer not to. I prefer to be plain English and real world with people.<\/p>\n

I think the other thing because, if we are talking to your audience, the other thing that I really wanted to highlight there is that I have had clients sack me because they don\u2019t like the way I work. That\u2019s not a reflection on me. That\u2019s not a reflection on the surface I provide. It was a reflection on the relationship that was developed, and that relationship didn\u2019t work for them. I\u2019m good with that. I hope I found someone that can actually work with them the way they need them to work.<\/p>\n

The other side of that is I have actually suggested to some clients that they would be better off with another provider. And as a service provider, that\u2019s something that we have to be utterly comfortable with. Being able to say this client is not the client that works for us. We are going to spend too much time, too much energy, too much money supporting them, than we are going to get out of that relationship. It is commercial, and it sounds mercantile, and it sounds cutthroat, and it is. But by doing that, what you\u2019re also doing is making space for another client to come in that is actually going to fit your ideals better, it\u2019s going to fit the way you work better. You\u2019re also allowing that client to find a provider that works better for them.<\/p>\n

[00:40:39] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> This has been such an interesting conversation Charly. This is your life, right? So it\u2019s just oh, this is the way I wake up and I do these things and what have you. But it\u2019s in such contrast to my life at the moment, and yet there\u2019s so many bits of the jigsaw puzzle that you\u2019ve just described that are really fascinating to me.<\/p>\n

I would imagine there\u2019s going to be quite a lot of people listening to this who have intuitions that, I got into tech and I got into building WordPress websites so that I too could have a little bit more of that freedom. Maybe even going as far as you\u2019ve done to make it more nomadic. So they own their own vehicle and potter about all over the place. Or they backpack for three months of the year. It\u2019s just fascinating. And because it\u2019s your life, it probably doesn\u2019t seem that extraordinary, but from where I\u2019m sitting, totally remarkable.<\/p>\n

[00:41:24] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> No, it doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s every day to me. I will say that I think I have a concept of how blessed I am being able to do it. I try not to become so blase about, oh, this is just the way my life is. It\u2019s yeah, I worked hard to get it to this point. So I\u2019ve got to accept that I\u2019ve put in a lot of work to get there, but I\u2019ve also got to accept that there is a lot of blessings that have come from it. And I thank the Lord every day for the life that I have.<\/p>\n

[00:41:50] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> Well Charly, we\u2019ve reached the 45 minute mark, and although we had a whole range of different things that we could talk about, I hope that you are happy that\u2019s where we ended up. We talked mostly about digital nomadism. We didn\u2019t really stray into WordPress too much, but what a fascinating conversation.<\/p>\n

Maybe we\u2019ll have a conversation another day, and lean in heavily to the WordPress side of things, but digital nomadism it was.<\/p>\n

Charly, where can people reach you? And I don\u2019t mean that in a physical sense because obviously we have no idea where you\u2019re going to be, but if they were to reach out online, or try and find you on a social network, or a website or whatever it may be, where would be some of the places where we could find you?<\/p>\n

[00:42:27] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> The best place to find me is on my website. If you go to askcharlyleetham.com, and then at the end of it put \/connect-me. So connect to me with the dashes between it, you will get wherever you can find me. All the networks I\u2019m on. You can book a free 30 minute breakthrough session. And guys, if you just want to come and talk to me about how you can set up your business, or the things that you\u2019re doing and the things that you need to consider, I\u2019d happily talk to you for 30 minutes about that. That\u2019s not a problem at all. And just so you know, I\u2019m on Facebook, I\u2019m on X, I\u2019m on LinkedIn. I\u2019ve got a YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

I do a podcast every other day. I do a podcast, Making Tech Easy for Small Business Owners. It\u2019s a 10 to 15, or 15 to 20 minute episode about something tech, and tries to try to simplify it out. I do interviews every now and again, much like this that I put up on there. I\u2019m on Rumble, I\u2019m on Odyssey.<\/p>\n

[00:43:22] Nathan Wrigley:<\/strong> I will link to all of those different bits and pieces. Anything that we\u2019ve mentioned just then I will put into the show notes. So if you head to wptavern.com. Search for the episode with Charly in it. And Charly, I should have said at the beginning is not a typical spelling, it\u2019s c h a r l y. So if you search for that this episode will surface.<\/p>\n

So absolutely fascinating, Charly. Thank you so much for chatting to me today and good luck. I hope that you managed to get wherever it is that you are going in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. Thank you so much.<\/p>\n

[00:43:52] Charly Leetham:<\/strong> Thank you Nathan. I have had an absolute ball. I\u2019ve really enjoyed this conversation, and I love talking about the life I\u2019ve built, so thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n

On the podcast today we have Charly Leetham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Charly\u2019s journey with technology spans over four decades, from tinkering with amateur radio as a teenager in Australia, to working in electronic engineering, and eventually building a career in WordPress and small business tech support. With a background in field service, sales, and running retail businesses, Charly pivoted to helping people with their websites and tech needs right around the time WordPress was in its infancy. Today, nearly 20 years later, she\u2019s still involved in the WordPress ecosystem, providing troubleshooting, support, and plain-English tech translations for business owners who need their digital lives demystified.<\/p>\n

But in this episode, we\u2019re focusing less on her technical skills and more on her unique lifestyle. Charly is a true digital nomad, someone who\u2019s not bound to a fixed address, but instead lives and works from a camper van fitted with a Starlink system, traveling, and working, all over Australia.<\/p>\n

We talk about what it was like to embrace remote working long before it was commonplace, and how she built a business that supports complete flexibility. We explore both the upsides of the digital nomad life, the freedom to travel, spend quality time with family, and work from beautiful locations, as well as the tradeoffs, such as limited space and having to ruthlessly prioritise her belongings.<\/p>\n

Charly discusses the essential tech setup that empowers her nomadism: from laptops and microphones to how Starlink satellite internet lets her work reliably from almost anywhere, even in places with little or no mobile signal. There\u2019s practical advice on working with clients, so support can happen on her schedule, and reflections on building a business that matches her values, even if it sometimes means saying goodbye to clients who aren\u2019t the right fit.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever imagined trading your desk for the open road, or wondered what\u2019s technologically and personally possible as a remote WordPress worker, this episode is for you.<\/p>\n

Useful links<\/h2>\n

Charly\u2019s website<\/a><\/p>\n

Charly can be found on the following platforms:<\/p>\n