Life in a Foreign Country and Self-Media: Teacher Li Sixuan’s Experience Sharing Meeting on Traveling in the Netherlands
As a content creator, I attend various online lectures and workshops every week. But this sharing session titled “Life in a Foreign Country Is More Than Digital Nomadism: A Taiwanese Community Guide to Traveling in the Netherlands” hosted by Teacher Li Sixuan particularly interested me. Not only because I am curious about the Netherlands, but also because I want to support my friends.
This sharing session was hosted by Jia Han from the Digital Author Academy, and more than 200 people signed up. It can be seen from the interactive survey before the meeting that about 80% of the participants learned about the event through the lecturer’s posts, 80% were office workers, and 60 to 70% of the participants were eager to try it although they had not yet started writing. This composition makes me even more curious about how Teacher Sixuan will approach the topic and how she will transform her experience from Taiwan to the Netherlands, from magazine reporter to self-media creator, into content that is helpful to this group of potential creators.
I guess the most impressive part for many netizens may be a statistic mentioned by the host at the beginning: Teacher Sixuan grew from 24,000 fans to 40,000 fans in one month, and also received invitations to publish books from three publishing houses. This achievement is definitely outstanding in the self-media circle, but what makes people even more curious is - what did she do right?
But for me, these efforts and accumulation have long been visible. Therefore, I would like to hear her own personal experience.
For the next two hours, she used her usual gentle tone to talk about her career experience, MBA studies, job search process, personal brand management, and writing mentality. She talked about the choice between digital nomadism and down-to-earth life, as well as the true feelings of living in a foreign country. Each topic is not just a brief introduction, but a sharing of real experiences with flesh and blood.
This is a record of my experience in this sharing session. If you are also interested in topics such as foreign life, self-media management, or writing monetization, I believe this experience can bring you some inspiration.
Key One: The “bottom period” of accumulating energy
In 2024, Teacher Sixuan began to operate Facebook writing seriously. She said that that year was a mixed bag. She kept writing and producing, but she had no particularly outstanding results. In my opinion, this state can be called the “bottom stage” - it seems that there is no progress, but in fact it is accumulating energy.
The turning point came in November 2024, when Facebook’s algorithm changed. Suddenly, her articles began to be seen by more people. In addition, she was better able to capture the needs of readers in terms of content and knew how to write to arouse resonance, so she achieved outstanding results at the end of the year.
Key 2: Dialectics between timing and ability
This reminds me of a truth: in the world of content creation, timing is often more important than ability - but the premise is that your ability must be strong enough that you are ready when the opportunity comes. If Teacher Sixuan had not had more than 20 years of writing training and accumulated experience in continuously producing on Facebook, she might not have been able to seize this opportunity even if the algorithm changed.
Teacher Sixuan shared an interesting phenomenon: when she writes an article aimed at a specific readership, relevant media or publishing houses often come to her. For example, she said that when she wrote an article about the random killings on the MRT and discussed the issue of “parental apology,” “Parents and Children” came to invite her to write the article the next day. When she wrote an article about tech people, the founder of City State Group contacted her and invited her to write a book.
“As long as you set yourself up, someone who appreciates you will appear.” This is the conclusion she drew from this experience. This perspective is very different from traditional “active marketing” thinking. Instead of going to the media or publishers, let your works speak for you and let the right people come to you.
Key three: precise positioning and unique niche
Of course, this requires you to have a clear understanding of your positioning. Teacher Sixuan is very clear about her professional background - a master’s degree in psychology, media experience, and observation of European life - these elements constitute her unique writing perspective. When she integrates these specialties into her articles, she can attract readers and partners in the same field.
When Teacher Sixuan was in the magazine, she wrote in-depth articles of about 4,000 words, with a rigorous structure and multiple perspectives. She has also written academic papers, executive reports and other more formal styles. But none of these types are suitable for communicating with readers on Facebook. On the other hand, general public relations releases or newspaper articles are too short and too shallow, and may end before one thing is finished.
So, she chose a type in between - one that was deeper than the average Facebook article and would cite some academic papers or research data, allowing readers to learn something while reading the article; but not as difficult to understand as an academic report.
This style of explaining things in simple terms is her unique competitive advantage. There is no shortage of light-hearted Facebook articles and serious academic papers on the market, but content that can combine the two and be both in-depth and easy-to-read is relatively scarce.
Key 4: Speed is more important than perfection
This is a point that Teacher Sixuan repeatedly emphasized in the sharing session, and it is also what she believes is the most important mentality adjustment in Facebook management.
She admitted that it took her a long time to overcome the anxiety of imperfection - the fear of typos, the fear of wrong sentence segmentation, and the fear of being criticized by netizens. But she finally realized that Facebook is a platform for real-time interaction, and its essence is closer to real-time news than to a carefully crafted magazine article.
She shared a practical case: when a random murder occurred on the MRT, she used the fastest speed to finish an article in four hours. This article has a good title, an attractive beginning, a unique perspective on the structure, data and timeline organization, and then sends it out.
“Between speed and perfection, what do you want?” This is the question she asked herself, and it is also a question that every Facebook creator needs to think about. In the world of social media, timing is often more important than perfection. An “okay” article published at the right time may be far more effective than a “perfect” article published two days late.
Key 5: Write warm content
Teacher Sixuan has a very important principle: she will never post articles that she is not moved by.
She explained that there are so many articles on the Internet now, especially with the emergence of AI-generated content, that it has become very easy to grab an article at random. But most of these contents lack soul, and readers can tell that.
“You can tell whether you have heart and put effort into writing to someone.” This sentence left a deep impression on me. She recommends that when writing, set a clear target—not an abstract reader, but a concrete person. If your article can touch that person, it is worth publishing; if it cannot touch that person, it is not worth publishing.
She cited the article about Jolin Tsai’s concert as an example. Many people in the market are writing about Jolin Tsai from the perspective of the entertainment industry, performance, and props. But she chose to analyze Jolin Tsai’s growth and transformation from a psychological perspective—modernism, family therapy. This unique angle combined with her professional background makes her articles stand out.
Key Six: Daily Practice of Creators
In addition, Teacher Sixuan also shared several habits she uses to develop writing skills in her daily life:
- Read a lot: This is a habit she established when she was working at the magazine, and it is also the most important basic skill she considers. Long-term reading will allow you to automatically have relevant knowledge and opinions emerge in your mind when you encounter an issue, forming an intuition.
- Observation training: During her time at the magazine, she often had to interview people, attend press conferences, and chat with different people. These experiences enabled her to develop the habit of observing and understanding people. For writers, observation is the most important source of material.
- Carry a notebook with you: When inspiration strikes, you may be in the car or in a strange place. If you don’t write it down right away, you will soon forget it. So she suggested that everyone develop the habit of recording at any time.
- Forced output: She described the initial output as being like practicing piano, requiring a little force on oneself. But after a long time, you will find a “smooth” feeling, and then get used to that feeling, and eventually you will become addicted - you will get very high when writing, and you will even be unable to sleep in the middle of the night and get up to write.
- Continuously polish and revise: After free writing, you need to give your brain some time to rest, and then come back to review and revise. Nowadays, AI can help you read it, but the soul of the article still needs to be thought of by yourself.
Key Seven: Energy Management and Life Rhythm
Teacher Sixuan spent a lot of time talking about energy management, which made me feel that she is a creator with long-term business thinking. She pointed out that energy management includes many aspects: diet, exercise, and sleep, which all affect the quality and sustainability of creation.
She also shared some situations where energy is consumed: chatting with friends, handling administrative matters, handling urgent company matters, customer complaints, etc. These things consume a lot of energy, and you need to be very aware of this consumption in order to be able to control it and replenish it.
“I’ve burned out,” she admitted. Being in a state of energy consumption for a long time will eventually lead to burning out. This is a common experience of many creators, and it is what Teacher Sixuan wants to remind everyone. Whether it is for creation or not, energy management is a very important topic in life.
Key 8: Digital Nomad vs. Landed Life
Teacher Sixuan admitted that Digital Nomad is indeed very romantic. She has friends who change their lives in a different city every year—this year they live in Italy, next year they live in Spain, the year after that they live in France, and they live all over Europe. The advantage of this lifestyle is that you can experience many different scenery and cultures, and you will feel fresh every day. But for Teacher Sixuan, this is not what she wants. She chose “down-to-earth living” - living in one place for a long time and truly experiencing the local culture.
Teacher Sixuan particularly emphasized: If you want to choose a down-to-earth life, enduring boredom is a very important lesson. If you choose to live on the ground, it means that you will stay in the same place for a long time. The same streets, the same scenery, the same daily routine, it does get boring sometimes. But she believes that it’s this boredom that gives you the opportunity to see the deeper structure of culture, not just the glossy surface.
Teacher Sixuan used an iceberg as a metaphor for culture. What you see at first is what’s on the surface of the iceberg, such as beautiful scenery, exquisite architecture, or a romantic atmosphere. But beneath the iceberg, there’s more to explore: Why did this group of people think this way? How were their values formed? How has the historical context influenced today’s culture? The answers to these questions cannot be obtained by short-term travel or digital nomadism.
Conclusion: Content creation is a marathon
After listening to this sharing session, my biggest feeling is: Teacher Sixuan’s success is not an accident, but an inevitable result of years of accumulation. As a friend of Teacher Sixuan, I am very happy for her.
Many people see her gaining 16,000 followers in a month and think it’s good luck or a bonus from the algorithm. But if you listen carefully to her sharing, you will find that behind it are the basic skills training during the media period, the cross-cultural experience of an MBA, the professional perspective of a master’s degree in psychology, plus a year of silent hard work on Facebook.
When the opportunity comes, she’s ready. This reminds me of a saying: “Opportunities come to those who are prepared.” The opportunity does not come when you are ready, but when the opportunity comes, your level of preparation determines how much you can seize it?
Further reading
- Growing influence in relationships: Learn the secret of building a loyal fan from “Reader” Zheng Junde
- From book promotion to building an ecosystem of loyal fans: Pat Flynn’s all-round funnel marketing
- Brand story must be resonant
