Episode notes

Guest: Tracy Bellevue

Based: Worldwide (Travelling through Europe)

Tracy Bellevue quit both jobs, broke her lease, sold her car for cash, and left America with nothing but savings and a book she needed to write. No clients. No remote work experience. Just a determination to escape 75-hour work weeks and an empty nest.

In this conversation, Tracy shares how she transitioned from burnt-out single mum to digital nomad, building multiple income streams from marketing to tutoring to Substack. We explore the raw reality of her first 30 days abroad, the mental health memoir she's writing, the healing that only distance could provide, and why co-living spaces became essential to her journey.

This is a story about radical reinvention, confronting your past, and building a life where you ground yourself in yourself.

Brand: Bellevue Abroad Substack: Co-living reviews and travel insights Services: Marketing consulting for small brands

Timestamps

00:00 Generic podcast introduction

00:29 Guest introduction

01:30 Introduction to Tracy

01:53 Background: working 75 hours/week, two jobs, full-time mum

06:14 The moment: \"I'm going to die if I keep doing it this way\

06:41 Kids moving in with dad, empty house, identity crisis

07:54 Cousin's Europe trip invitation

08:51 Quitting both jobs, breaking lease, selling car

09:33 No plan, no income, just savings

10:15 Immigrant hustle mentality: \"Thousand ways to make money\

11:36 The book she needed to write, leaving August 2024

12:42 How she makes money: marketing as primary income

13:48 Multiple income streams: candle campaigns, tutoring, Substack

16:00 Income fluctuation: hard months vs. abundant months

18:30 First 30 days: crash landing in Switzerland

19:49 Going from constant movement to complete stillness

22:34 The book: memoir about borderline personality disorder

25:48 \"I was just a monster\" - except as a mother

28:12 Owing vindication to people she harmed

30:12 Leaving America with no close friends

31:38 Europe as space to write and heal

33:54 Meeting people as just Tracy, not connected to past

36:20 Why the book must be finished in America

38:40 The bridge between two lives

39:53 Going home: \"Nothing feels like home anymore\

41:31 \"I am my home as a traveller\

41:54 Closing thoughts

Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/tracy-bellevue

Watch: https://youtu.be/52djR3kKEK8