Member Monday - Featuring: Scott Sorenson

“I finally got to stay in the NOMAD prototype. I’m sold. In all seriousness—the second these are open to the public—I’m moving in.” - Scott

One of Scott’s favorite hobbies is Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Some of us attended a lesson at our last NOMAD meetup in Buenos Aires.

One of our most active and early members, Scott Sorensen, was born in California and raised near Seattle, Washington. He later attended university in Utah, where he earned a degree in Economics, with a minor in Business. Scott now lives in Raleigh, NC and runs a startup–SodaBox, a “soda bar” startup, full time.

Scott’s first professional role was at a startup called GoalZero, a power solution company which was one of the fastest growing companies in the space at the time. Being one of the first 10 employees at a successful early stage business gave Scott the opportunity to watch a company's growth from the ground up all the way to fruition. This experience of seeing a simple idea turn into a business powerhouse–successfully–is a major part of what led to Scott’s own journey as an entrepreneur. He also credits Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-hour workweek.

Though Scott has had early success thus far in his career, he wants to make sure that aspiring entrepreneurs know that the path isn't always easy nor seamless. Over the span of the last decade, he’s created over 10 companies, yet not all were huge successes. Regardless, he still credits a range of those–with varying levels of success and failure–as his favorites!

Some of these examples include Copper Urban Marketing which he’s owned for 10 years. It primarily focuses on ecommerce, website builds, design, marketing, and branding. (An interesting note Scott shared is that the name was inspired by a visit to Boston, where he took great affection for the green copper color used in the local architecture.)

Another company on that list was Proto Toys, which created various fun orientated products like: Fortsy, Build or Boom, and more. Weasel Wallet, on the other hand, was a high end leather wallet and stand Scott created and eventually sold.

Last but certainly not least is his current project, the up-and-coming startup SodaBox. 

When asked about how the idea came about Scott said that he always loved energy drinks. During the pandemic, Scott became a bartender and began learning a lot about menus and mixed drinks. Though this started as a fun nightly activity to get him out of the apartment, he began studying drink combinations obsessively to better understand bitters/sweets and how different flavors layered. This led to the idea of starting a soda shop, initially out of shipping containers, and incorporating family-friendly fountain sodas mixed by hand.

While Scott’s current company is brick-and-mortar, he loves working from coffee shops to work and tries to keep his role as remote as possible. This helps him ensure that he can be “replaced” within the day-to-day business operations, which is essential for any scalable company. He credits the NOMAD NATION meetups for forcing him to figure this dynamic out.

In fact, Scott credits the Tulum NOMAD meetup and its wild restaurants, cafes and bars for his inspiration to make his SodaBox shops more compelling, instagrammable, and visible to customers. His visual displays are one of the main complements he now gets from visitors!

Scott loves being an entrepreneur combined with having the ability to be a “digital nomad.” In his words, the reason why he loves being a member of the NOMAD NATION is because “a trip is going to happen whether I am going to go or not. People often don’t use their vacation days because they have nobody to travel with. It helps force you out of the regular swing of things, and to visit a new country with an amazing group of like-minded people.”

For example, Scott said that he would have never personally considered going to Buenos Aires, Argentina (our Q1 2023 trip) yet it has now become his favorite place that he’s ever been! “I was so impressed by the city and the people. The most stunning fusion of European class and style and also latin energy. It was so vibrant, fun, romantic, and also felt so safe. My initial thought was that ‘I could live here.’ There were so many incredibly smart, hard working, and successful people.” He said. Scott has also attended our member meetups in Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Cartagena, & Park City.

When asked about his thoughts on the NOMAD NATION concept, he said, “It’s the future. There really is no alternative for someone who wants to live a nomadic lifestyle. Rent alone can price you out of travel, even at a regular apartment, so I’m really looking forward to when I can profit share my vacant space when traveling to others. And most importantly, NOMAD brings the platform for the community aspect.”

Lastly, when asked about Scott’s weekend in the prototype unit, he said “I finally got to stay in the [NODE]. I’m sold. In all seriousness, the second these are open to the public, I’m moving in.”

Scott at our Playa del Carmen NOMAD Meetup

Polymath