Day 7 Recap: Why I Started a Newsletter (And You Should Too)

Hello, I am Oliver. Today marks Day 7 of my 30-day content experiment sharing the reality of being a digital nomad, the hospitality tech ecosystem, and the unfiltered truth about working remotely.

To be completely honest, when I hit publish on Day 1, I did not have a perfect master plan. There was no support team, no 10,000 followers waiting in the wings. It was just me, a laptop, and three decades of real-world experience that I decided to document.

So, before we dive into Week 2—which will cover heavier topics like working abroad legally and avoiding labor scams—I want to sit down, look back at the first 7 days, and share the single biggest lesson I have learned so far.

That lesson has absolutely nothing to do with hashtag optimization or the best time to post on social media. It is about who actually owns the house you are building.

Week 1 in Review: What I Actually Shared

If you missed the first few days, here is the unfiltered breakdown of what I covered in Week 1:

• Day 1: My 30-year story — from a telecom workshop to being half-retired.
• Day 2: Tap2Stay and why boutique hotels are losing 15-25% of their revenue to OTAs.
• Day 3: A blunt declaration: I do not do affiliate marketing, I am not a broker, and I do not make commissions from you.
• Day 4: A real day in the life of a digital nomad — it is not just sitting in aesthetic cafes all day.
• Day 5: The 3 completely different digital nomad models, and the trap of confusing a freelancer with a system owner.
• Day 6: An honest review of my $500 mobile content setup — practical, no sponsorships.

The response was surprising. I received many questions about visas, how to start, and even skepticism about how anyone shares valuable information for free without a hidden agenda.

I respect that skepticism. It shows you have critical thinking skills, which are absolutely essential if you plan to work abroad or live a location-independent life.

The Biggest Mistake I Made (And Fixed on Day 7)

During the first 6 days, I posted my content on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. The reach was sometimes good, sometimes completely dead.

And then it hit me with a harsh reality: Social media is rented land.

Today, an algorithm might show my video to 10,000 people. Tomorrow, they change the rules, or worse, my account gets banned for some ridiculous reason, and I lose everything. The entire audience, all the effort I poured into building it—gone overnight.

You are building a house on land owned by someone else. And they have the right to evict you at any moment.

This applies whether you are doing marketing for a boutique hotel, or you are a remote worker trying to build a personal brand in a foreign country. If you rely on a single platform, you are in danger.

Introducing Hung OK Insider

That is exactly why today, on Day 7, I am officially launching my newsletter: Hung OK Insider.

Email newsletters are not a new concept, but in the digital nomad and remote work space, many creators still neglect them in favor of chasing viral short-form videos.

But for me, an email list is the only digital asset I truly own 100%. No algorithm can block my email from landing in your inbox. If you subscribe, you get it. It is that simple.

What to Expect: 1 Tool, 1 Insight, 1 Tip

I am not writing this newsletter to sell you a course, I am not inserting affiliate links, and there will be no get-rich-quick promises.

Every Thursday morning, the Hung OK Insider email will contain just three short sections, taking about 3 minutes to read:

1. 1 Tool: A practical tool I am actually using to manage my work while traveling.
2. 1 Insight: A grounded perspective from my blog posts or my experience in the hospitality tech industry.
3. 1 Tip: An actionable piece of advice for digital nomads or small business owners.

You can subscribe to Hung OK Insider for free at email.o-vn.com/subscribe. If you find it no longer useful, the unsubscribe button is always at the bottom. No hard feelings.

The Strategy: Discovery vs. Retention

To be clear, I am not saying social media is useless. It is incredibly powerful for discovery. TikTok and Instagram are how new people find me. They are the top of the funnel.

But email is where retention happens. It is where trust is built over time, away from the noise and the distractions of a social media feed.

The correct strategy is to use social platforms to bring new people in, and use the newsletter to keep them around. If you do not have an email list, every time you want to launch a product or share a crucial update, you have to fight the algorithm just to be seen. With an email list, you hit send, and they see it. No middleman.

Why This Matters for Digital Nomads and Remote Workers

When you move to a new country, you do not have a local network. You do not have family nearby to help you out of a crisis. The only things that keep you surviving and thriving are your skills and your community.

If you are a freelancer, a hospitality professional, or simply someone looking for opportunities abroad, building your own information channel is your shield.

It proves to employers, partners, and even yourself that you have autonomous capability. You are not dependent on a single boss, or a single social media algorithm.

For example, instead of sending a plain text CV to a resort in Thailand or Canada, I send them the link to my blog and my newsletter archive. They see how I think, how I solve problems, and how I build systems. That is far more convincing than any university degree.

How to Start Without Waiting for Perfection

Many people ask me what software I use or how to design a beautiful template. The truth is, I use a simple self-hosted solution. But the tool is not the most important part.

The most important part is: Start before you are ready.

My first email might only be read by 3 people. That is fine. Those 3 people are real humans who genuinely care. They are not fake bot views thrown at you by an algorithm.

Do not wait until you have 10,000 followers on TikTok to think about starting a newsletter. Start it on Day 1. Collect emails one by one. That patience will build an invaluable asset over the next few years.

What is Coming in Week 2?

Moving into Week 2, I will be shifting to topics that I know many of you are curious about, but very few people are willing to talk about honestly.

We will explore the reality of Traveling the World for Free. I will break down Workaway, Work Exchange, and the actual conditions you must accept to make them work.

More importantly, I will publish a massive WARNING post about fake jobs, fraudulent work permits, and labor scams. I have seen too many people lose thousands of dollars in deposit fees because they trusted random promises on the internet. If you know someone planning to work abroad, please share this upcoming article with them.

I do not promise to change your life in 30 days. I only promise to give you the rawest, most unfiltered information, so you can make your own decisions.

I will see you in the first Hung OK Insider newsletter this Thursday.

Best regards,

Oliver (Hung OK)