It’s that time of year! When we think back on the year that’s passed, and reflect on the accomplishments and “failures”, the highs and lows.
I’ve been doing these roundup posts since 2012…and I’ve been super consistent with them – I’ve only missed 2 years!
We love doing these reflective posts for ourselves to remember what’s actually happened throughout the year, and for you – to give you a behind the scenes into our personal and professional lives.
We hope these posts either inspire you, give you a lightbulb moment, or just give you the opportunity to get to know us a little better!
In my email that I sent out at the end of 2024, our words and feelings heading into 2025 were: recalibration, balance & freedom…I think we did a pretty good job of incorporating those values into this year.
2025 – The Year of The Snake
Based on the Chinese Zodiac, 2025 was the year of the Snake…which was all about awareness, subtle shifts, and shedding old “skin”. It wasn’t about huge, dramatic changes, it was more about quiet recalibration.
Looking back, that theme couldn’t be more accurate for us based on what we experienced this year!
This year wasn’t about pushing harder, or forcing things…it was all about pausing, observing, and getting honest with what’s working (and what’s not) with our health, business, and day-to-day lives. And then slightly recalibrating the direction and adjusting the dial.
As with every year, there was a lot to be grateful for in our personal and professional lives. We had a lot of “ups”…but, there were some lows throughout the year as well.
Let’s get into it. Here’s a look at what 2025 had to offer…
PS, if you’d like to read about our years from the beginning, you can! Have a look at 2023, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.
In January, I decided to hire a Functional Health Coach who deals with thyroid, hormone and gut health. I’d been feeling exhausted, stressed, and “foggy” for quite a while.
It was time to address the root cause, instead of just powering through and overlooking the symptoms.
Time for a Cleanse
My health coach suggested I go on a detox and diet for 6 weeks (I ended up doing it for 55 days), which meant no gluten, dairy, sugar, seed oil, coffee or alcohol. Nick joined me and cut out most of those things as well, including caffeine and alcohol!
It might sound like a challenging diet (and dining out was), but in reality, I found it pretty easy. If you think about it, it’s just eating real food – proteins, vegetables, nuts and fruits.
During this time, I also took lots of supplements and natural pills to help out my gut and liver. After that detox, I was the lowest weight I can remember being in my adult life. More importantly, I felt good as well.
Further Testing
After that initial cleanse, I decided to take it a step further and did a blood test for my thyroid, and a HTMA test (hair tissue mineral analysis) with my health coach.
If you’ve never done one, I highly recommend it. The amount of things she was able to tell me about my body just based on my hair was mind blowing.
I learned which minerals I was seriously lacking, and which toxins were in my body – and how those imbalances were affecting my health, and daily life.
Basically, my coach was like “I don’t know how you’re even functioning right now”… the test showed my adrenals were in a state of extreme burnout, I was incredibly low on vital minerals, and based on my blood test, and other things I’d been experiencing, I have Hashimotos.
The rest of the year was about making health a priority – emotional, mental and physical. I had a bespoke mineral powder created just for me based on what my body was lacking, and I’m happy to say that I’ve been feeling really good since then.
When we thought about “balance and recalibration” as the goal for this year, I didn’t think it would be to do with balancing out my minerals!
We Shook Up Business
You know that feeling when things are good, but something just doesn’t feel right?! Like, something’s off? The first few months of 2025 felt that way. We were both a bit unsure which direction to take our new coaching business.
In 2024, we ran two successful cohorts with 18 amazing people, but to be completely honest, we both felt quite burnt out heading into 2025 … even my hair test confirmed that! 😅
The business was new, so of course there was a lot to do.
We had spent months filming and creating a course, conceptualizing and designing a new program, and then delivering live calls, texting, and website builds.
We felt like we were working really hard on our clients businesses, and didn’t have time for our own. We needed to rebalance and recalibrate!
Not surprisingly, at the start of this year, we both sort of felt reluctant to run another cohort.
We wanted time to work on building up our business, updating our program so it could be as current as possible, and having time to create content for our social media, this website, and email subscribers.
So, we decided to shake things up!
A New Environment
We made the decision to take off to Crete, Greece for a couple of weeks and it was the best decision we made. Sometimes, you just need a change of environment to gain clarity or to get the spark back, and the Greek island provided that.
We did lots of hiking, explored old towns, swam in the sea, ate amazing food…and discussed how to move forward with our business.
We were able to recalibrate slightly (rather than making a massive, dramatic pivot), and find a solution that gave us the balance we wanted/needed…
…we’d run the program “evergreen”, and over a longer period of time. This meant that new clients could join throughout the year, rather than all at once for a cohort which felt overwhelming sometimes.
It also gave them more time to enjoy the course material and go through it at their own pace.
New Course & Events
Since we made that slight change with the way we ran our coaching program, this gave us time to do more and be more creative.
We launched a brand new course to help people find the business idea in their passions, skills, and life experiences…AND, we ran 3 live events for our followers – for free.
People loved the live events and quite a few joined our program after getting on a live call with us and seeing how much passion we have for remote businesses.
All of this felt really good and was much more aligned.
I’m happy to say that we had 27 new members join our Creator Kickstarter coaching program this year, and 61 joined our Niche Clarity Course, and we’re super grateful for that!
We Got ENGAGED!!
If you’ve just recently started following us, you probably assumed that we were already engaged, or married. 😂
On our 18-year anniversary (yes, 18!), Nick popped the question at an estate in the Beaujolais wine region in France, surrounded by vineyards. It was the most romantic, special day you can even imagine.
Being the genius he is, Nick told me he was planning something secret for our 18-year anniversary…
…so I wouldn’t be suspicious or expecting anything but a special anniversary day. I had absolutely no idea what was planned for the day.
It all started with a train ride from Lyon to Annecy – a village in France which is said to be the inspiration for Beauty and The Beast. Just visiting the picturesque village, complete with an old town, crystal-clear lake, and surrounding mountains would’ve been an amazing day!
But, it was the day that kept on giving 🎉
We hopped in an Uber and made our way to a hanger and air strip…where our private helicopter was waiting!
Champagne was popped and we enjoyed the very scenic, 35 minute flight from Annecy to the Beaujolais wine region just north of Lyon. We flew over mountains, villages, farmland, rivers…and vineyards.
Then, we started our descent and the helicopter literally landed in a vineyard. Seriously, you can’t even make this up!
As we walked into the estate, a table for 2 was set underneath a huge tree, and we were surrounded by (you guessed it), vineyards.
Nick popped the question before our gorgeous charcuterie board and wine arrived – I think if he waited any longer, he probably would’ve burst! 😂
Of course, my answer was (and always will be), yes.
It was the most incredible day. Somehow, Nick was able to keep this all a secret for weeks and weeks while he orchestrated the whole thing. The effort, thoughtfulness, and love behind this proposal made it even more unforgettable.
As the cherry on top, we headed to the South of France to share our news and travel around with a group of close friends.
A Friend Was in a Tragic Accident
Life’s a crazy thing. While we were getting engaged in France (experiencing the happiest time together), a close friend of ours was fighting for his life in a hospital in Mexico.
After being hit by a car while crossing the road, our friend Nathan suffered from a traumatic brain injury (among other things). I won’t get into it, but the hospitals in Mexico and his insurance company failed him.
Navigating the emotional duality of our engagement excitement, alongside the overwhelming grief of what he was going through – and the prognosis – was incredibly challenging.
It hasn’t been an easy road for Nathan, but unbelievably… today, just 7 months since the accident, Nathan is walking and talking and living his life…what a miracle!
All the doctors said he shouldn’t have survived.
We spent American Thanksgiving in Mexico with him this year, an event that he arranged for 28 people. There was definitely a lot to be thankful for.
Nathan pretty much summed up both his sense of humour and what we were all thinking at Thanksgiving when he added his note to the gratitude board:
Of course, with it being such a traumatic injury, he still has a ways to go, but Nathan’s progress is incredible and we’re all so proud of him.
This experience really put into perspective just how fragile life is, the importance of being there for friends, and the importance of living life to the fullest.
Quality Time With Family & Friends
We’ve been traveling and living abroad now since 2008, so we don’t see our families as often as we’d like, but when we do, we make it count! Being able to take time off when we want – or bring our work with us – is something we don’t take for granted.
2024 felt busy and rushed, whereas this year, we allowed ourselves to slow down and spend intentional, quality time with loved ones.
Mom Does Europe
This year, my mom came to visit us in Europe – her first time on the continent! We met her in Rome and spent a few days walking and eating our way around the city.
Then, we flew to Bulgaria to show her around our home, before driving across the border to spend a couple of days in Greece together.
We had a memorable visit, and she added three new countries to her list. Seeing her eyes wide and in awe of the incredible ruins and buildings in Rome is something I’ll never forget.
Home to Canada
During the summer, we headed home to Canada to visit with more friends and family. Summer in Canada (when there aren’t any forest fires…) is honestly one of the most stunning places on earth!
We spent 5 weeks at home and enjoyed lots of lake time, boating, fishing, hiking, visiting farmer’s markets, eating amazing food, and of course, visiting with everyone.
We always find it super hard to work while we’re visiting, but we found a balance and still made time to support our clients, and create content for our business.
Connecting with loved ones and making time for people we care about is a top priority for us, and having the freedom to do so at the drop of a hat is what this lifestyle truly means to us.
We Invested a LOT
For the last couple of years, we’ve put an emphasis on investing in coaching and consulting for our health, finances, and our business…and this year was no exception!
We hired coaches for health, investing in the stock market, for sales and mindset, and for short-form video creation… and social media consultants.
We’re firm believers in investing money and time into ourselves, and in those who are going to help us reach our goals faster than we could if we went at it alone.
Health
As I mentioned at the start of this post, I hired a Functional Health Coach who focuses on thyroid & Hashimotos. This ended up being an eye-opening experience for me.
If you’ve been feeling a little “off”, it’s definitely worth consulting with a doctor and discussing a plan for a cleanse, running blood tests and even an HTMA test.
For me, I loved that she was all about finding out “why” the symptoms are there in the first place, and looking at me as a whole person…rather than just treating symptoms.
Finance (Spoiler: We Hired Our Client!)
This was a really cool, full-circle experience. Jimmy joined our Creator Kickstarter program in 2024 where we taught him how to take his knowledge of personal finance and investing, and becoming a self-made millionaire, and turn it into an online business of his own.
He now has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, around 10,000 subscribers to his email list, he’s created an investing course for beginners, and runs a community where he offers monthly calls, and tons of advice inside the community.
Obviously, once he launched his program, we had to join!
Not only have we learned a ton about stock market investing in general, but Jimmy shared his Wealth Ladder system with us, and continues to share his stock picks (and the reasons behind them).
We like Jimmy’s methods because he’s low risk, and he picks foundational stocks with established companies based on his real research and data.
We super proud of how far he’s come with his business, but not only that, since hiring him as our finance coach and joining his community, our investments have done very well.
We may have started investing later in life, but it’s definitely better late than never. 🙌
Social Media
Even though we’ve been sharing on social media since 2012, the landscape is always changing.
In order to stay on top of what’s working and what’s not, how to create the best content possible, and how to continue to grow while being authentic online, Nick joined a high-ticket coaching program with one of the best video creators in the industry.
Within the program, he had course material to go through, and live group calls two times a week.
He’s been working super hard on creating content that is educational, provides value, and brings people into our ecosystem.
Nick’s even grown his own TikTok account from zero to almost 5,000 followers and reels with almost 100,000 views! All in just a few months while still running our other businesses – amazing.
Sales, Strategy & Mindset
Being an entrepreneur requires community – and actually, being in any business does!
But, working for yourself and wearing all the hats (sales, marketing, networking, content creation, client work, coaching calls, and all the tech!), comes with challenges.
Having mentors in various areas has been a massive help for us again this year – we had 3 different coaches throughout 2025.
Whether it’s sales and strategy, mindset and visibility, or just for accountability and having someone to bounce ideas off of, having a community and business coaches is something we’ll always invest in.
Retreats & Events
We had two incredible experiences this year at in-person events and retreats.
A major “high” from 2025 was seeing Tony Robbins live in Germany with 13,000 other people! Tony is the absolute GOAT when it comes to the self-help, mindset, business, and overall life transformation.
It was emotional, intense, and raw. We literally walked across hot coals to prove to ourselves that we can do hard things.
We hugged, high-fived, danced, and gave back massages to complete strangers! We had so many “aha” moments and breakthroughs at the event.
Plus, there were lots of guest speakers, including Dean Graziosi and Trent Shelton (whose book Nick had already read without knowing he’d be there!).
The energy in the arena was unlike anything I’ve experienced.
We also went to a beautiful small mastermind retreat with our mentors in Greece! Being alongside the 10 other entrepreneurs who were growing their businesses, dropping old beliefs and stories, and operating at a high frequency was such a privilege.
Of course, the business and masterminding aspect was great, but so too was the sunset sailing, the hiking, the in-house chef, the DJ party, and the stunning villa we all stayed in.
Joining events virtually is one thing…but being live… that energy is unmatched!
Giving Back
This is something that I don’t feel like we did enough of this year. Volunteering our time and donating money to causes is something we focused heavily on in previous years, and we’ll be doing more of in 2026.
Helping out and having an impact on the world is what it’s really all about. Having said that, we did manage to do a few impactful things this year.
Garbage cleanups were a common task for us – locally in our neighbourhood and surrounding mountains, and we always bring our own bags and pick up trash when Nick goes fly-fishing at the rivers. Unfortunately, garbage is an issue in rural Bulgaria (and many places in the world).
This month, a client of ours went on her annual trip to the Dominican Republic where she brings toys and medical supplies to the children of a village there. We loved this initiative and we were happy to contribute for her to share with the kids.
Finally, after finding out that our friend Nathan’s insurance wouldn’t cover all of his hospital bills, we brainstormed with some friends to see how we could help out.
Of course, there was a GoFundMe planned, but he needed more.
We decided to put together our own fundraiser. Having never ran any sort of fundraiser before, it was a bit challenging logistically, but it came together! Every little bit counts and we’re so grateful to those who donated to the cause. 🙏
Our Travels
Even though we’re now based in Bulgaria, travel and freedom are still our core values!
We always find ourselves getting “itchy” and ready to go on the next trip. We’ve been to over 80 countries together, and these days, Europe has been where we’ve mostly been exploring.
In our younger years, we were really into getting offtrack and having crazy adventures in lesser-visited parts of the world like Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Lately, we’re in our “Europe Era” 😂. Flights from our home are so close and easy, we can hop in the car and drive to nearby countries, and there are so many places on this continent that we still haven’t visited.
This year, we visited 9 countries (Greece, Italy, France, Monaco, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico & Spain), and many new places around Bulgaria.
Monaco and Ireland were new countries for us, as were all the destinations in France, and the cities of Madrid, Milan and Cologne. So, we had a few repeat countries, but lots of new cities!
Our last minute trip to Ireland by campervan was a definite highlight of the year. You can read more about that trip here.
The pub culture with its incredible music and trad sessions, the friendly welcoming people, the stunning landscapes, and the hearty food and perfectly poured Guinness, made for an incredible trip. It was hard to leave!
Goals and Thoughts For 2026
We’re already feeling a very strong urge for more freedom and more movement. I’m interpreting this as physical movement (travels and exercise!)…but also emotional and spiritual. It really feels like something big is going to happen this year!
There are 4 main things that we want to focus on and accomplish in 2026:
Providing Value
This is what our business is all about and what it’s always been about. As I mentioned earlier in this article, for a little while, we felt like we were too overwhelmed, or busy to give anything “extra” to our audience.
Now that we’ve organized our coaching program to be more manageable (and we’ve also hired an assistant and client care manager to help out!), we’re going to focus more heavily on free events, and valuable emails and social media content.
We already have a bonus call on the calendar for our Creator Kickstarter clients and Remote Goats community! We’re super excited about bringing our community even closer. They’re honestly the best group ever.
Focusing on Wellness
By this, I don’t just mean our physical health, but also mental, emotional and spiritual.
Recently, we’ve both gotten into meditation, introspection, and manifestation, and this is something that we’re going to focus on even more in the new year.
We’re firm believers in the fact that what we focus on, happens. How we’re feeling and acting will be mirrored back to us. So, if we’re feeling down, or having self doubt, that’ll be reflected back to us from the outer world.
With meditation, it calms the mind, and allows for reflection and clarity. We’re looking forward to experiencing more of this in 2026.
The Year of YES
When ideas come to us, or someone mentions something that sounds interesting…we’re going to say “yes”. No overthinking, no indecision, no humming and hawing…just going for it!
Every time we’ve done that in the past, things have worked out for us and opportunities we never even considered have come up.
We already said “yes” to a travel partnership for this year, “yes” to travels to countries that are super far from where we are in Bulgaria, “yes” to new growth in business, and “yes” to prioritizing this one life that we have.
2026 is the year of momentum and saying YES!
Our Wedding
Rather than putting it off, or staying engaged for a long time (I mean, we’ve already been together 18 years!), we’ve decided to get married THIS YEAR (2026)!
It’s exciting, and a bit nerve wracking to think of planning it…but I’m sure will be the absolute highlight of not only 2026, but our entire lives.
We’re looking forward to sharing that part of our lives with you as well as we step into this new chapter.
Thank YOU!
We’re so grateful that you’re here and are following our journey. Whether you’ve been here from the start in 2012, or you’ve just joined the “tribe 🐐”, thank you for your support – it means the world to us!
If you’re here for the digital nomad information, to follow our personal journey, or to learn how to turn what you already know into an online business, you’re in the right place.
Our motto has always been: turn travel into a lifestyle … and that mission isn’t changing anytime soon!
If you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to our email list, and follow us on Instagram. And, if you’re interested in joining the Creator Kickstarter to earn an income, have an impact, and find purpose in your work, send us an email and we’ll see if you’re a good fit.
As always, wishing you the absolute best, most adventure-filled, exciting, and fun year ahead full of love, laughter, growth and of course… travel.
Dariece & Nick