🎉 What does it take to turn a space into a thriving community? Meet Johnny Ilca, the dynamic community manager, teacher, salesperson, entepeneur and many more things!

Johnny’s journey is packed with stories, lessons, and a few barking challenges. 🐕 In this episode, we dive into:

– 🌍 Building coliving spaces from scratch in Romania

– 🤝 Why community is the heart of coliving

– 🛠️ Lessons learned from challenges like noisy dog neighbors and high overheads

– 🎮 Balancing work, teaching, and even streaming on Twitch!

What’s your side hustle?

César: Great. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of “Colivers club,” powered by Mapmelon. I’m your host, César Alberca, and I’m here today with Johnny Ilca. Nice. How are you doing?

Johnny: I’m good, man. It’s been quite a hectic few days. Now we’re here in Bansko. Nomad Fest is going on right now, so there’s a lot of events, a lot of nomads.

César: A lot of stuff going on. Yeah, it’s my first time in Bansko and my first time at the Nomad Fest, and it’s just amazing, you know? It’s the first day, the first official day of the event, and I’m just having a blast. Yeah, you’re meeting lots of digital nomads, huh?

Johnny: Yeah.

César: And the activities and everything are so cool. But yeah, going back to you, you are the community manager of Valentina Heights, where we are right now. It’s a very cool coliving. It includes a spa, a jacuzzi, a pool, and there’s a lot of activities, right? The other day, we were even playing board games here in this coworking area.

Johnny: Yeah, can you tell us more about your role as a community manager in Valentina Heights?

Johnny: Yeah, so like a community manager in many other coliving spaces, the main role is to try to build a connection between the residents. What that means is facilitating events, giving them tours when they arrive here, and making them feel comfortable. When you arrive in a new place, maybe you don’t know how things are done, or where you need to find certain amenities. So it’s always good to help them feel welcome, give them a tour, and be a face to which they can look if they need help with anything.

César: That’s a lot!

Johnny: Yeah, we help answer questions if something’s broken, or we direct them to the right person if needed. More specifically, I also help with some of the marketing efforts. So I help make some content for Instagram, social media, YouTube, or whatever.

César: Oh, that’s interesting.

Johnny: I also helped with doing some automation for client acquisition. A lot of their processes were kind of manual. I set up a system where they can automatically see our availability, book a room, and pay. It minimizes the logistical time we spend, which can add up.

César: Yeah, and running a coliving must not be easy. And you also had experience running your own colivings. Can you tell us more about it?

Johnny: Yeah, yeah, so I had two coliving spaces in the past. My first one was in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It was a four-bedroom apartment, about 190 square meters. What made it really a coliving space was that it had a dedicated room for coworking.

César: Oh, nice.

Johnny: For me, that’s super important because then you don’t have to work in your bedroom or do meetings there. It’s crucial to have that separation between work and leisure.

César: Totally agree.

Johnny: We also had office chairs and a coworking vibe. Other people who weren’t staying there worked there too. It was a small setup, but it worked really well for what it was.

César: Wow, that sounds great!

 

Here’s the continuation in the formatted style:

César: It was a small setup, right?

Johnny: Yeah, I mean, I would say it’s maybe about the size of this room here, maybe a little bit bigger actually. And I remember when I first found that space, it was unfurnished and needed a little bit of renovation. Luckily, the owner of the property had the right mindset and was a great person to work with.

Johnny: He offered to furnish it and took my input as well. So we went to this store, Jysk at the time, and he asked me, “Okay, what kind of mattresses do you think I should get? Or what kind of bed frames, what kind of furniture, what kind of closets?” He even asked, “Should we make this into another bedroom, or do you want to use it for something else?”

Johnny: I said, “No, no, no. I’m going to use this as a co-working space. I don’t want to make it a bedroom.” We could have had five bedrooms, but instead, I chose to have four bedrooms and use one of the rooms as a co-working space.

Johnny: One of the other small details was that it was a very open space layout. There was an area we turned into a little living room—a chill-out room. The owner asked, “Do you want me to put a TV here?” And I said, “No, no, no. Let’s put a futon, a coffee table, and another futon.” That way, people face each other and can chit-chat and hang out.

Johnny: I personally really hate it when there are too many TVs around me. Nowadays, a lot of living spaces are way too focused on the TV.

César: Yeah, in my house, I don’t have a TV, and people are like, “Where’s the TV?”

Johnny: Exactly. If you look at other living rooms in typical houses, you’ll see the sofas are all centered around the TV. It doesn’t facilitate communication or connection.

César: That’s a very good point.

Johnny: Yeah, so that was my first coliving space in Cluj. I ran it for about three years. But as you can imagine, a four-bedroom apartment is not necessarily a full-fledged coliving space. I like to call it an MVP—a minimum viable product.

Johnny: I started it because I was inspired by another coliving space I stayed at, which wasn’t officially a coliving space at the time. I thought the concept was amazing, and I wanted to get more involved and gain experience. And I’d say it was pretty successful, actually.

Johnny: Eventually, after running it for three years, I grew out of it and closed it down. Because it was so small, I couldn’t afford to hire a community manager to run it. Without scale, you can’t afford that kind of overhead.

César: Oh, okay.

Johnny: So I moved on and traveled with my wife for a few years. We stayed in various coliving spaces to see how others worked.

Johnny: We visited coliving spaces in Ukraine before the war, one in Lisbon not too long ago, another in Greece, and several here in Bansko. Some were great, some were not so great, and some didn’t even feel like coliving spaces.

César: Yeah, that’s the thing. Nowadays, people just slap the name “coliving” onto whatever, and… no, not really.

César: That’s why MapMelon is such a great platform—to find colivings that are truly community-oriented, which is the main aspect of what a coliving should mean.

Johnny: Totally agree. It’s all about the community and the people. If there’s no sense of connection, it’s not a coliving. Even when I was in college, I stayed in an apartment complex—a serviced apartment with all the amenities of a coliving space, like big common areas. But there wasn’t a dedicated community manager organizing events or helping people connect.

Johnny: They could’ve just called it a coliving, but I’m glad they didn’t.

(Both laugh)

Johnny: After traveling for a while, about a year and a half ago, we found a property in Sibiu, Romania.

César: Oh, where you have roots, right?

Johnny: I have Romanian roots, but not specifically in that city.

César: Oh, okay, but in Romania.

Johnny: Yes. Between my first and second coliving spaces, I spent a lot of time viewing properties. I’d go on real estate websites, call agents, and do two or three viewings a day for a month.

Johnny: We did this in Romania’s major cities—Bucharest, Cluj, Arad, Timișoara. Bucharest, being the capital, had the most potential. But we didn’t find anything ideal. We found one place in Bucharest that was almost there, but it required significant renovations and investment to make it a proper coliving.

Johnny: Eventually, we came across a property in Sibiu—a small hotel. It was very appealing: a 13-bedroom building where each room had its own private bathroom. The ground floor had big common spaces, which we turned into a co-working space. There was also a nice garden in the back and a basement that used to be a wine cellar, which we turned into an event space.

Johnny: We hosted parties, art events, wine-and-paint nights, board game nights, and chess tournaments. It had the perfect vibe for these activities because of its cozy basement atmosphere.

Johnny: Unfortunately, we only kept that coliving open for about nine months.

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Johnny: And there’s a lot of reasons for that, which I can go into.

César: Yeah, for sure.

Johnny: To quickly summarize, I’d say the finances weren’t necessarily good, the people we worked with—the property owners—weren’t the right fit, and then, lastly, we had trouble with the neighbor’s dog.

César: Oh yeah.

Johnny: Financially, the rent was just too high. As for the relationship with the owners, they had the wrong mindset. They were much more traditionally minded and didn’t understand the concept of coliving, sharing spaces, or living with other people. To them, it was very weird and foreign to live with your clients.

César: Oh, I see.

Johnny: Yeah, and that mindset caused a lot of challenges. But what affected me the most was the neighbor’s dog. In Romania, there’s no law that holds dog owners responsible for noise disturbances. There are laws about noise levels during certain times, but nothing about dogs making constant noise.

César: And it wasn’t a Chihuahua, no?

Johnny: No, it wasn’t even a big dog. It was a medium-sized dog. The neighbor’s yard was just concrete, and the poor dog was chained up in a corner. It was never taken for walks, never cleaned—it was so dirty. The neighbor kept it there, claiming it was a guard dog.

César: So a medium-sized dog, chained to a concrete corner, and it’s the “guard dog”?

Johnny: Exactly. But it barked all the time. How does a dog that barks nonstop guard anything?

Johnny: Trust me, we tried everything. We were really nice to the neighbors at first. We gave the dog treats, offered to take it for walks, and tried to talk to them politely. But imagine waking up every morning to that dog barking—it sets the mood for your whole day.

César: Yeah, and the last thing you hear at night is the same dog barking, for nine months.

Johnny: Exactly. It really started affecting me mentally. We tried different strategies to resolve the issue. Eventually, I wrote an official letter, put it in their mailbox, and threatened to sue them. After that, the dog was quiet for a few days.

César: Maybe they read the letter to the dog?

Johnny: (Laughs) Yeah, they might’ve been scared. But what worked was simply taking the dog for a walk twice a day. When they did, it barked less. The poor thing just wanted attention.

César: What a surprise.

Johnny: I know, right? It just needed love and to be taken out for walks. It’s not that complicated.

César: It’s funny, because if I were reincarnated, I’d want to come back as a coliving dog. You’d get so many treats from all the people every day! That dog would’ve been so happy staying with you guys or being part of the coliving.

Johnny: Exactly. Instead, they chose to make the dog suffer and, in turn, make the business suffer.

César: Yeah, it affected your business too, right?

Johnny: Absolutely. It wasn’t just about me—it affected our guests too. Three of the 13 bedrooms could hear the dog barking. Even in the bedroom I was sleeping in, I couldn’t hear the dog from the bed, but I could hear it clearly from the bathroom. The first thing I’d hear when sitting on the toilet in the morning was barking.

César: You couldn’t even use the bathroom in peace!

Johnny: Exactly. Three bedrooms were impacted, and the entire garden was affected too. You couldn’t do yoga or relax because of the constant noise.

Johnny: You couldn’t meditate. And it was a beautiful garden. It had some thought put into it, with landscaping, nice plants, and shaded trees. It was amazing. But if you sat down to do yoga, the dog would start barking, ruining everything.

César: You even measured it, right?

Johnny: Yeah, I used a decibel meter, and it would regularly exceed 90 decibels.

César: You had an Excel sheet for this too?

Johnny: (Laughs) Not quite, but yeah. Ninety decibels is like the sound you hear at a festival, maybe not right in front of the speakers but far off.

César: Still, that’s a lot.

Johnny: And it wasn’t even a constant noise. It was high-pitched barking, starting and stopping, which made it even worse.

Johnny: It also affected the co-working space. People complained that it was hard to focus because of the dog.

César: I can imagine.

Johnny: It started to affect me mentally too. It impacted how I communicated with residents and the property owners. I was waking up in a bad mood every day.

Johnny: When we wrote the letter to the neighbors, and the dog stopped barking for a few days, my wife and the cleaning lady noticed I was whistling. Apparently, I do that when I’m in a good mood. They pointed it out and said, “You know why you’re whistling? Because the dog’s not barking today.”

César: Wow, it really got to you.

Johnny: Yeah, it did. It was mostly those three factors—the finances, the property owners’ mindset, and the dog—that added up. I believe that if we could have resolved those issues and stayed in business longer than a year, it could have been very successful. The first year is always the hardest for any business.

César: Yeah, but how could you foresee something like this?

Johnny: Exactly. We didn’t realize how much a dog could affect us.

Johnny: It wasn’t an issue before because when the place operated as a small hotel, guests stayed for short periods. They could deal with the barking for a few days or a week and then move on. But with longer stays—one month, two months, or nine—it became unbearable.

César: Yeah, I get that.

Johnny: For those reasons, we decided to close it down and move on. It just wasn’t worth it.

Johnny: Fast forward to today, I’ve found new opportunities in the coliving industry as a community manager. That’s where my skills really shine—hosting events, connecting with people, giving tours, and creating that face-to-face interaction.

Johnny: While I’m also good at automating processes, building websites, or creating content, I think community management is where I excel.

Johnny: That’s how I ended up here at coliving Valentina Heights. The property manager already knew about me and my background. This place used to be a hotel, but they transitioned to accommodate digital nomads—people staying for at least a month.

César: I guess there were some changes needed?

Johnny: Yes, absolutely. For example, where we are now used to be a bar and restaurant. They turned it into a co-working space where people can sit down and work…

Johnny: …nice ergonomic seating, like the ones we’re using now.

Speaker 6: Yeah, super nice.

Johnny: Exactly. And you can actually sit down, work, and focus. A lot of people staying in coliving spaces work remotely, so having a good place to work is essential.

César: Ergonomics are so important.

Johnny: Oh my God, it’s one of the biggest issues. I attended a talk earlier today, and someone—can’t remember who—was emphasizing the importance of ergonomics. I completely agree. I’ve had back problems in the past.

César: Yeah, we talked about ergonomics a bit before the show. Can you share more about your backstory?

Johnny: Sure. It all started with back issues. I grew up in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. My situation was a bit unique because I traveled a lot with my family. I have Romanian roots and spoke Romanian at home, so I had exposure to European culture early on.

Johnny: We’d spend summers in Romania and travel across Europe. It gave me a deep connection to the continent, so when I decided to leave the US, I knew where to go next.

César: Why did you want to leave?

Johnny: Mainly because of my back issues. I was sitting too much—working in an office, driving everywhere. In the US, especially in the suburbs, you don’t walk anywhere. You need a car for everything—groceries, parks, anything.

Johnny: My back problems got so bad that I developed a pinched nerve in my lower back. I had this sharp, stinging pain that went down my leg and even affected my hand.

César: That sounds awful.

Johnny: It was. One day, it got so bad I couldn’t use my index finger to drive. I was driving a stick shift at the time, and the pain was like a needle being pushed under my nail.

Johnny: When I got to work, I couldn’t use my index finger for the mouse or typing. I sat there thinking, What am I doing to myself?

Johnny: My manager and coworkers knew about my back issues. I had already requested reduced hours, which helped for a while. But this was during my time at Amazon, around Thanksgiving and Black Friday—Amazon’s busiest season.

Johnny: Mandatory overtime pushed me over the edge. I couldn’t function, and when I couldn’t even type, I realized something had to change.

César: Yeah, you’re making accommodations for work, but at what cost—to your health?

Johnny: Life is too short to suffer like that, you know? For what—money? It’s not worth it. So, I went to my manager, broke down crying, and said, “I can’t deal with this anymore. I’m going home and won’t come back until my pain is resolved.”

Johnny: After that, I focused on recovering. I did physical therapy, exercises, and avoided sitting for long periods.

Speaker 6: Yeah.

Johnny: I eventually went back to work, but things had changed. The way my coworkers and manager looked at me was different. I think they decided they needed to get rid of me, maybe because they saw me as a liability or were worried I might sue for health issues.

Speaker 6: Oh, okay.

Johnny: I actually think I had a case, but when they let me go, they gave me a severance package. That’s not common for my position—I was a data analyst, not an executive or anything. It made me think they were trying to avoid trouble.

César: Did the severance include a condition not to sue?

Johnny: No, it was just a severance—money for being fired.

Johnny: One of the reasons I stayed at that job as long as I did was because I’d signed a contract with a bonus clause. If I quit within a certain timeframe, I’d have to pay back part of the bonus. By being fired, I didn’t have to repay it. With the severance, it actually worked out well for me.

Johnny: After that, I decided I’d never work in a corporate office again.

César: And then?

Johnny: That’s when I started traveling more. I stayed in Phoenix until my rental contract expired, then I traveled to Thailand for a month.

César: Nice!

Johnny: I thought I’d try the digital nomad lifestyle, so I brought my laptop and camera, thinking I could work remotely. But it turned out to be more of an extended vacation—which I needed.

César: Absolutely.

Johnny: Staying in Thailand for a month opened my eyes. I’d done a lot of traveling with my family in the past, but we never stayed in one place long enough to connect with it. This time, I spent weeks in different cities—Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai, and the islands. I even took scuba diving lessons and ended the trip at a full moon party.

César: During the day or night?

Johnny: (Laughs) At night, obviously!

Johnny: When I returned, my biggest regret was not canceling my rental contract and getting rid of my stuff. I had bought a round-trip ticket, but I realized I could have stayed longer if I’d been more flexible.

César: That’s hindsight, though.

Johnny: True. But after returning to Phoenix, I reevaluated my plans. Asia felt too different for me. Since I was familiar with Europe—especially Romania—it made sense to move there. I have dual citizenship, so I didn’t have to worry about visas.

Johnny: I started with a volunteer project in a smaller Romanian city, running self-development workshops for high school students. It was an amazing month. Afterward, I moved to Bucharest.

César: Why Bucharest?

Johnny: I did my research. As a data analyst, research is my thing. Bucharest had half the cost of living compared to Phoenix, so my savings would last longer while I figured out my next steps.

 

Johnny: So, I went to Bucharest and stayed in a hostel that hosted a board game night. It connected me with some locals who were staying in an unofficial coliving space I mentioned earlier.

 

César: Ah, the one that inspired you to open your own coliving space?

 

Johnny: Yeah, exactly.

 

Johnny: Some people from the game night were living there. I was looking for a place to stay for one month, which is tough in Romania because most rental contracts are for a year. I didn’t want to stay in a hostel long-term because it’s not ideal for that duration.

 

Johnny: They told me they had been staying there for months. I checked it out, and they had availability, so I moved in. The building had about 17 bedrooms, but some of them were in a garage-like space with no natural light, so they weren’t used.

 

César: Oh, quite big then.

 

Johnny: Yeah, but the rest of the building had nice bedrooms with natural light. What really stood out to me was the community. It was a mix of interesting people—Romanians and slow travelers staying for a month or so.

 

Johnny: The space originally started as a project from an alternative school in Bucharest. They wanted a better living situation than dorms, and a big house like this was the solution.

 

Johnny: I stayed there for a while until I found out they were planning to close it down.

 

César: Oh, no.

 

Johnny: Yeah, when I learned that, I thought, “What’s my next move?” That’s when I decided, “I’ll create my own coliving space.”

 

Johnny: I had family and friends in other parts of Romania. My cousin offered to let me stay in Cluj-Napoca for a month while I figured out my plan. I went to Cluj, started viewing properties, and aimed to open a small-scale coliving space. The one in Bucharest was too big for me to manage alone.

 

Johnny: Before I left Bucharest, I told the residents there, “This could be a great coliving space, but it’s too much for me to handle on my own.” That’s when two residents, Arthur and Hugo, stepped up. They took over the rental contract and transformed the space into a proper coliving space.

 

Johnny: They renovated the garage area, removed the bedrooms, and turned it into a specialty café.

 

Speaker 6: Oh, wow!

 

Johnny: Yeah, it was fantastic. They also extended the roof and converted the upstairs studio apartment into a co-working space. So, you had a setup where residents could live in the coliving space, grab a coffee downstairs, and work in the co-working area above.

 

César: No dogs barking this time, right?

 

Johnny: (Laughs) Exactly! It was such a great setup. It allowed people to connect with the coliving residents and locals who came for coffee. They even had a terrace area for events.

 

Johnny: That place is now known as Vine 21. It’s still open, and I keep in touch with them regularly.

 

Johnny: I’ve been to Vine 21 many times. I still visit regularly because I spent so much time there—it feels like a second home.

Johnny: But yeah, after that, I ended up in Cluj. I stayed with my cousin for a month and started looking at properties. I remember the last property I viewed; I had no hope for it. I thought, “This needs so much work, it’s probably not going to work out.” But I went to check it out anyway.

Johnny: The owner was super cool. He wasn’t much older than me, maybe 5 to 15 years at most. He had traveled a lot and was very open-minded. He wasn’t emotionally attached to the space, which is key.

Johnny: That was different from the second coliving space I mentioned earlier. Those owners were very sentimentally attached, and that created challenges. But this guy just bought the apartment to invest in real estate.

Johnny: The property itself was fantastic—a big apartment, right in the center of Cluj, which is the most expensive city in Romania. It’s a big deal to have something like that here, especially for Romanians. That’s how I started my own coliving space in Cluj.

César: Wow. And you’ve mentioned you’re involved in so many things—photography, community management, board games, and even English teaching. How do you manage all that and maintain such an entrepreneurial mindset?

Johnny: Great question. I think the way I approach it helps. I call it having several side hustles.

Johnny: When I first arrived in Bucharest, I didn’t have a steady online job. My main skill was data analysis, particularly with Microsoft Excel, so I started tutoring Excel. It paid pretty well per hour because Excel is essential for businesses and can be tricky to learn.

Johnny: The downside was that my clients were in the US and Brazil, so I had to work late at night—sometimes until 3 AM. That was tough, so I decided to transition to something that fit better with my time zone.

Johnny: That’s when I moved into online English teaching, which has since evolved into more of an English coaching role. Back then, teaching English online was uncommon. People thought it was strange and always asked, “How do you teach online?”

César: Turn on the camera, log into a website…

Johnny: (Laughs) Exactly. I started teaching English for a Chinese company, which taught me a lot about what people needed. I realized most students primarily wanted speaking practice. They wanted to improve their accent, pronunciation, and overall conversational skills.

Johnny: So, I tailored my teaching style for intermediate and advanced students who wanted feedback on speaking and expression. I don’t teach beginners or grammar-focused lessons. It’s all about helping people sound natural in conversations.

Johnny: When I moved to Romania, I also wanted to improve my Romanian. My Romanian had a strong American accent, so I watched YouTube vloggers who spoke naturally. I avoided movies, news, and even some podcasts because they didn’t feel conversational enough.

Johnny: Vloggers gave me the most authentic exposure to the language, and that approach really worked for me.

César: Yeah, that’s interesting.

Johnny: When I first arrived in Bucharest, I reached out to one of the vloggers I had been watching. We met for a coffee, had a drink, and connected a bit. That was pretty much it initially.

Johnny: A year later, he started a mentorship program for Romanian programmers. It was focused on helping them increase their income by working with clients in more lucrative markets like the US, Germany, or the UK.

Johnny: Many of these programmers struggled with expressing themselves in English. So, he began sending me clients. They were very qualified, so I developed a sales process and a program to help them achieve better results.

Johnny: It worked well. We had a great collaboration, and I got good results for them. It was a solid side hustle.

César: And this tied into your sales experience, right?

Johnny: Exactly. I had done a sales internship before, and that came in handy. I used those skills in my English coaching business because closing clients is a huge part of the process.

Johnny: At one point, I was earning really well because these clients were increasing their income through the program. They saw it as an investment, so they were willing to pay more for tangible results.

Johnny: Unfortunately, he exited the business, and my pipeline dried up. But over time, I’ve built my own client base through word-of-mouth, referrals, and platforms. While it doesn’t earn as much now, it’s still steady.

Johnny: The English teaching industry also changed a lot. For instance, the Chinese government introduced rules that prohibited students from learning with teachers outside China. That impacted my client base there significantly.

Johnny: Besides teaching, I also created curriculum materials for other English teachers. I got this idea from my experience at the Chinese company. They provided slides for lessons, but they were low-quality.

Johnny: So, I started making my own slides and uploading them to a site where teachers could purchase them. I even branded and marketed these materials, and they became a decent side income.

César: Little things add up, huh?

Johnny: Exactly. I later created an online course on how to teach English online. It did okay—not amazing—but it wasn’t a waste of time.

Johnny: It was part of my sales funnel. People would take the course, get a sample of my curriculum, and many would go on to purchase more materials.

Johnny: Now I’m working on a new course about building and managing communities in coliving spaces. It needs a lot of work, but I’ve been so busy with everything else that I haven’t had time to fully commit.

César: What’s the name of the project?

Johnny: It’s called coliving Education. I need to dedicate more time to it, but between the coliving space, teaching English, and other commitments, it’s challenging.

Johnny: I’m also still doing remote sales. It’s great for filling in gaps in my schedule, and it keeps my sales skills sharp.

César: And on top of all that, you stream on Twitch?

Johnny: (Laughs) Yeah, I do. Growing up in the suburbs, I played a lot of video games and board games. In college, I got into League of Legends, but it started taking over my life, so I had to quit.

Johnny: Recently, I picked up Pokémon Unite, which is in the same genre as League but mobile-friendly. I love the simplicity because I’m a minimalist and don’t want to carry around gaming consoles or high-performance computers.

Johnny: I got hooked and decided to focus only on Pokémon Unite. I even made an online course about how to rank up in the game.

César: I saw that!

Johnny: It didn’t sell much, but it gave me valuable experience in course creation. I used what I learned to improve the quality of my other courses, like the one on teaching English online. The difference in production quality is night and day.

Johnny: But the one on Pokémon Unite is much, much better.

César: So, the next one will be even better?

Johnny: Even better.

Johnny: I decided to stream on Twitch whenever I play this game. It introduced a really interesting dynamic because now you’re making this hobby very public. And you know how society can be—some people think playing video games is wasting time.

Johnny: But honestly, life is short. You’ve got to enjoy it. So, when I have free time and play Pokémon Unite, I stream directly from my phone.

César: Oh, that’s interesting.

Johnny: Yeah, I don’t have any complicated equipment. For the longest time, my streams were just gameplay and background music—no microphone or camera. Streaming from the phone takes up a lot of bandwidth, heats it up, and drains the battery fast.

Johnny: The idea was to get people who took my course to follow me on Twitch, or vice versa, to buy my course. But since sales weren’t great, I ended up putting the course out for free to funnel traffic to my Twitch stream instead.

César: So, what’s your Twitch handle?

Johnny: It’s EliteBro, spelled I-1337bro.

César: Cool! Everyone should follow you.

Johnny: Yeah, come and watch me wreck some noobs.

César: (Laughing) That’s the point of video games, right? Humiliate noobs.

Johnny: (Laughs) It’s not as toxic as League of Legends since you can’t communicate with the enemy team. But some teammates might tilt and trash-talk through voice chat.

César: Classic gamer life.

Johnny: It is. But video games tap into something primal, like teamwork and reaction speed. It’s reminiscent of how humans used to hunt as tribes—everyone had a role, and you had to stay focused.

César: So, it’s about focus, right?

Johnny: Exactly. Of course, there are other activities like martial arts or team sports that can teach these skills, but they’re not as easy or accessible to practice consistently.

César: Yeah, with video games, everything’s just there.

Johnny: Exactly. That’s both the blessing and the curse—it’s easy and convenient, but that convenience can make it too tempting. Balance is key.

César: And you’ve turned it into a ritual, streaming on weekends. You do it for yourself, but if people enjoy watching or following you, that’s a bonus.

Johnny: Totally. Streaming adds a layer of accountability, too. Anyone can see how long I’ve played or how well I’m doing. It’s like an open-door policy.

Johnny: Of course, some people show up in chat just to trash-talk, especially when I don’t play my best. But hey, jokes on them—they’re boosting my engagement and follower count.

César: (Laughs) It’s engagement, even if it’s negative.

Johnny: Exactly.

César: To wrap up, I want to ask—what does coliving mean to you?

Johnny: coliving, to me, is about fostering community and enabling people to pursue what’s meaningful for them. In today’s world, there’s too much focus on a narrow definition of success—like just making money.

Johnny: I had an existential crisis chasing that kind of success. It wasn’t the right definition for me. After health issues made me reassess, I created my own definition of success.

Johnny: A good coliving space brings together people with diverse perspectives and a mindset for sharing and communication. It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay. People need to find the right fit for themselves.

César: That’s a great takeaway. Thank you so much, Johnny. It’s been a pleasure.

César: And that wraps up another episode of Colivers Club. See you next time. Bye!

Johnny: See ya!