Crystal Anne Davis is an Australian online global business expert, with a worldwide audience of more than 3.5 million.
Spending a decade creating millions a year in sales for international companies, Crystal started her online business after a diagnosis of Stage IV endometriosis ended her career and showed her what she really wanted out of life.
Starting a company in her mother’s pantry, Crystal now works with online clients from stage absolute zero up to 7 figures – and has been in the sales coaching game for 18 years. She does not believe in starting at the bottom of any arena.
Amazon bestselling author and long term digital nomad, Crystal holds the Guinness World Record for rickshaw cycling, and has been featured on HBO, ABC, SBS, Elephant Journal and Thrive Global. Crystal’s clients create multi-6 figure businesses and flexible, global lifestyles.
Crystal is a happily single mum now residing nearby the Amalfi Coast in Italy, and you’ll find her with espresso in hand and eating Italian pastries for breakfast.
What is High Income Digital Nomad all about?
It’s a coaching and consulting business for online entrepreneurs who adore travel and want to create independent income fast. We support clients in dozens of countries, ranging from millennials starting first businesses to Mums working at home with their little ones. What they have in common is that they absolutely want to avoid wasting their time in creating their entire dream lifestyle, and want to fund it with a successful online business.
Our focus is on creating world class results incredibly quickly.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your business?
In 2012 I had been working 10 years for a telecommunications company, making them many millions in sales and managing big projects. I’d been unwell for a while, and suddenly surgery confirmed I had Stage IV endometriosis (the bad kind).
The doctors said I’d never have a baby, travel would be hard, I’d live with a colostomy bag and hospital would be my regular home. At 28 this was pretty brutal, since I’d sacrificed all of those things for a career I could not even now continue.
I lost my job, my home, and from necessity started my business from my Mum’s pantry.
I used my first client payments to book a one way ticket to Italy, and became a global digital nomad for 6 years – ticking my bucket list and focusing on my physical and emotional health.
After breaking a world record on a rickshaw, making large amounts of money also finally made more sense to me. My business took off, I settled back in Italy and then found out I was pregnant with my miracle son!
Now I teach those faster and more powerful processes for money making and goal achievement through my programs.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
Self Belief, Simplicity and Speed are the only 3 skills you need.
- Self Belief: Mindset work means training yourself to think at the top level, not the bottom. Knowing that you can skip all the steps of “climbing your way up” by simply making the top the first goal you aim for.
- Simplicity: To make it work quickly, it has to be direct. One road, no stops, no side streets. The simpler you make your work, the faster it can pay off. (This includes charging in a way that hits your goals with one client, instead of 100).
- Speed: Money loves speed. Taking action when you are inspired is vital. Speed is an exercise in trust – how quickly can you back yourself? How quickly can you get your product out there? How quickly can you move forward after failing? Aim to make something that is excellent instead of perfect (meaning the content is solid and valuable, instead of just the packaging) then bigger things happen, faster.
These 3 philosophies form the basis of my signature Global CEO Framework that all my programs run on.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
We are growing incredibly fast, and our current goal is to change the financial experience of 500 more global women this year through my core program, High Income Digital Nomad. When one woman makes money, entire communities are positively affected.
Added to that, our values goals of koala adoptions, tree planting, and a diverse workforce are growing exponentially along with our client intakes.
High Income Digital Nomad is aiming to be the world’s leading company for travel lovers running borderless international businesses.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
My brand is centred around becoming world class using exactly what you already have – the very character traits, existing knowledge, and desires you currently possess.
Because of this, my work creates very fast results, getting bigger over time.
A great example is one of my clients, who was the first to join High Income Digital Nomad in its first run. She went from two years in network marketing with no return on investment, to a ten-client overnight sellout.
She sold that same program out several more times, quickly became a global name in her niche, became a three-time Amazon bestseller and was published in Forbes.
Together just finished a launch that created 53k euro in a week.
The reason this happens is that the same principles we take clients through from the beginning, apply to every level of scaling and business.
We are direct, fast and don’t waste time on slow approaches (funnels being the usual culprit).
What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them?
Selling the things I thought I had to.
When I first started I did web design, graphic design and other things I wasn’t good at or qualified for, because I thought that’s what people did online. Understanding that the online space has room for my skills at a high-ticket price was a huge mindset shift I needed to make.
I made it too complicated: The truth is that people pay for simplicity. They want something very simple solved, and it’s usually much more basic than we first believe. One of the best programs I ever bought was another entrepreneur who simply offered to call me every day for 30 days, and tell me how amazing I am. This solved a self-belief issue and I paid a high ticket price happily. Your clients want it simple. It’s going to start out basic. Strip it all back and it moves faster.
I fuddled around with funnels: If you’re not making money, who cares where you host your courses? If you’re not making money, how do you even know what opt in to create? I raised that when I stop the “washing machine” of confusion around all the options, and looked with the eyes of opportunity, it was really obvious what I could do for people. Instead of setting up platforms, I sold a program that didn’t need any of that. That’s when I increased my income tenfold and made a liveable wage from my online business.
Funnels do not make sense until you’re scaling. For your first 100k, all you need is you, a clear head to see the opportunities, and the courage to charge properly.
Tell us a little bit about your marketing process, what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
My marketing approach is incredibly simple.
I have a rule about “not moving the goals posts” – so I start all decisions with the goal I want to achieve. Instead of changing my goals, I am committed to hitting it no matter what, and using my creativity in marketing to achieve it.
I start each day with the question “what’s the smartest and fastest way to get a client today?”.
My marketing decisions stem from that.
This works, because the answer would never be “let’s build a funnel” or “let’s create an opt in” – the answers are always related to how I can build a deeper relationship with a prospect or be brave enough to pitch someone I know is a perfect fit.
Marketing is simply relationships, and relationships don’t come from machines. They come from conversations, vulnerability, and courage.
The ways to do that are infinite – maybe today it’s a post, maybe it’s direct outreach, maybe it’s a video. When I am connected with my goal, I get to be creative in the moment with the marketing.
By treating each incoming client as a real person, marketing becomes obvious and almost instant to convert to sales – as long as I actually ask people to buy every day!
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
My biggest challenges happened when having a baby who didn’t sleep, experiencing a separation, living in a foreign country without a support network and needing to run my business in less than 30 mins a day.
One of the ways I did this was by adjusting my private coaching program – so that instead of live calls (that I couldn’t physically take), I started doing WhatsApp coaching, where I could respond in voice notes. This got my clients bigger results than ever and allowed me to keep making money despite the challenges.
If you started your business again, what things would you do differently?
I’d create a high-ticket group program immediately based on a combo of what people needed (which you can learn to identify super fast when you remove the confusion!), what I was excellent at, and how it was easiest for me to deliver.
I’d sell it for $2k-$5k per client, run it live the first time (so no prep except notes), record it, and scale it.
That would have taken me to my first 6 figures in a fraction of the time.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
FGFunnels: We just made the move to this, after a loooong search for a platform that did what we need and fit our values. Women-owned, BLM supporting and anti-bro marketing with gorgeous templates, this has been a perfect fit for us.
Canva – Woman founded and super functional, this has saved me hours and dollars and is also an inspiring story of a woman’s small company becoming a tech billionaire against the big boys. We still do all our graphics and workbooks here.
Book: Never Lose a Customer Again, Joey Coleman.
This book outlines a timeless and human focused approach to caring about your customers – not just grabbing the sale and running. My company is based on making people feel incredibly valued, and we use the 8 steps in this book to structure and assess our success with valuing our client base. For this reason, we have above an 80% re-sign rate for customers into other products.
Podcast: Hello 7 with Rachel Rodgers
Rachel is a badass and powerhouse, and her podcast gives incredible insights for scaling into the millions (my company’s current goal). With topics on investing, diversity, money mindset and more, I never miss an episode.
Course: Unlimited Abundance with Christie Marie Sheldon
I have been using this as my daily mindset work for literally years. I listened to this even while riding the rickshaw to break the world record, and I make money, without fail, every time I listen! The expansion into new ways of thinking about all the ways money can arrive in our world and the infinite possibilities for creating it ourselves has brought me countless results, both personal and business.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
I’d pay myself my first wage.
I’d use that to book a luxury space, have a massage , enjoy local food and expand myself into the idea that I could truly have this experience as my regular lifestyle. (An important step in breaking poverty mindset so money flows).
Ready with an open mind, I’d sit to down to work and 10x my money.
Assess what people are saying they need right now in my community, write up a Google Doc of a program addressing that need, and sell it for $2k-$5k. I would run it live, and record it.
When that money had multiplied, I’d hire an excellent coach. I’d hire a team to help me make it better, and double down on what was working to scale fast.
As a celebration for this big win, I’d buy a trip to Paris!
What helps you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
I love the thrill of my clients succeeding. When I feel stale, I look to my next client, and I see how far I truly think they could go. Then I step back into my part of the work and see how I need to expand as their coach/consultant to support them getting there.
- What is my next development step?
- What skills am I forgetting I have that will support a bigger result for them?
- Am I trusting myself to go higher with my clients?
This is how I keep moving forward and pushing my own boundaries as a service provider. This motivation creates exponential results, because when my clients succeed more as a result of my own inner work, I receive more clients as a result.
What is your favorite quote?
“Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”
– Madam CJ Walker
What valuable advice would you give new entrepreneurs starting out?
Don’t waste time with funnels. Fill a need and charge properly for it. The rest is a confusing waste of time.
Who should we interview next and why?
- Nikki Taylor – who has built a global business helping people buy property in Italy.
- Blair Hayse – who pivoted during the pandemic to build a multi 6 figure publishing company.
How can readers get in touch with you?
I love to keep in touch! The first place you want to start is on my website highincomedigitalnomad.com, which has various options depending on what you’d like to chat about! You can find that by searching High Income Digital Nomad, or if you prefer socials, come chat through my Facebook page, Crystal Anne Davis.
Success Coach Interview: Vasavi Kumar Life Coach: My Top 3 Business Mistakes
