A RemoteYear & User Experience with Zoe Bejörnson

Whats Up Creative Hustlers! Steven & Melissa Here. Today we'll be talking with Zoe Bejörnson, product marketing manager for About.Me -- she's a world traveler, side hustle evangelist, and a badass global networker. -- [00:00] Want the secret to a great brand? Click here! [01:53] Why Zoe is a badass #CreativeHustler! [02:23] Zoe just completed a RemoteYear. [02:50] Zoe wants to introduce you to the world of cheese! [03:23] What About.Me is all about! [04:47] Steven has been an About.Me user since 2012. [05:40] Melissa didn't really use About.Me until recently, but it took her only 2 minutes! [06:45] About.Me is the beginning of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. [07:07] Goldfish's Choose Your Own Adventure [07:54] How RemoteYear works & why Zoe chose it! [10:50] Getting accepted to RemoteYear [11:35] Traveling gives Marketers empathy. [11:55] The locations Zoe went to, and top city she went to. [12:40] Sometimes it's about the month, not the location. [13:55] Croatia was a great month, and a great trip. [14:47] 12 different cities allows you to know what cities you may want to LIVE in. [15:00] Sometimes it is better to immerse yourself in a place, instead of visit many places quickly. [16:00] Teddy Roosevelt believed in slow travel. [17:05] Traveling & RemoteYear helped Zoe develop a stronger sense of self-confidence. [19:00] You can introduce yourself how you WANT during RemoteYear. [19:49] Getting the opportunity to make a new first impression! [20:00] Your 20s is spent figuring out who you are, what you want, and your purpose. Zoe is ahead of the game. [21:00] You don't have to figure out what it is you're gonna do, but that you CAN do it! [21:30] RemoteYear is three pieces: the travel, the relationships and the work. [22:00] The work was the one of the hardest issue for Zoe. [22:50] A challenge to form such close relationships so quickly in a very unpredictable program. [23:55] People leave in life, people come and go and sometimes shit still happens. [24:15] Saying goodbye to people you love is tough. [25:36] Zoe is excited by products that talk to people, and user experience in products. [26:30] Zoe wants to create things that are a joy to use. [27:15] Even pop-ups on websites should tell you, "Hell yeah!" [27:45] The customer wants to know your thought process, and be more personal. [28:15] Brands who look at it from a transactional perspective will not be successful. [29:00] We want to buy from people we trust. [30:10] Seth Godin comes up again - gotta read The Tribes [30:50] You would think at this point in life we'd come up with a better system then putting a sticker on fruit with a number on it. [31:23] Zoe is a generalist - she likes to have all the pieces of the pie. [32:30] Zoe is ready to move into specialized realm, User Experience design! [33:13] UEx design is where Zoe is meant to go next. [33:35] All the levels of UEx design. [35:00] Zoe didn't have an interested in UEx until after her RemoteYear. [35:45] Going from Social Media, to Product Development showed Zoe about the experience. [36:25] Zoe created a "Mad Lib" tool for helping people write their About.Me bio. [37:50] Getting to work with diverse people helps you recognize new interests. [39:12] Mobile is where it is at for user experience. [40:13] For About.Me, they have users, but their users ALSO have users! [40:55] Freelancers today don't need a fancy website anymore. [41:40] People are going to quit you if it's too much [42:05] Zoe would grab a drink with her grandmother. [43:05] Zoe's grandmother made her own "lazy susan" to use her kitchen space. [44:30] Zoe has the unique answer in #CreativeHustler history. [42:34] When you see & use more of services in different places, you can relate to it more. [46:45] Traveling and experiences enrich your social library. [47:24] BBQ are very big is Argentina - how many cultures have a BBQ culture? [48:00] You are able to see so much with travel. You can compare themes in all cultures. [48:45] You are never too young to write your eulogy. [49:05] Enrich your own personal library. So many indexes to pull from in your brain & experiences. [49:44] Having extra resources from travel gives you the stuff to draw from in creating new things. [50:26] Where to find Zoe on the internet. [51:20] Leave us a review! [51:33] Melissa's Moment of Hustle   Contact: About.Me/Kzoeb Twitter Instagram LinkedIn