Marissa Rodriguez shares how she packed her bags and headed from New York to Athens to pursue her travel dreams and still enjoyed e-commerce success at the same time. Here’s her story.
In 2007, I started working with eCommerce businesses, back when most people barely knew what that meant.
Retail and wholesale dominated the market. eCommerce was an afterthought. An experiment.
But in 2009, I had a moment in my Manhattan office I’ll never forget:
eCommerce wasn’t just part of the future—it was the future.
And I knew I had to do everything in my power to get closer to it.
That instinct changed everything.
Over the next five years, I said yes to every opportunity that aligned with eCommerce. I studied, experimented, and slowly shifted my priorities toward digital-first brands.
By 2015, I went all in.
I focused on direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses—brands that sold exclusively via their own websites. No retailers. No Amazon. Just clean, unfiltered access to their customers and data.
That model electrified me.
With DTC, I could see the full picture:
Real-time data.
Clear customer behavior.
Immediate feedback loops.
As a strategist, this was a dream. As a builder, it was power. And I believed: If I could master this, there would be no limit to what I could create.
For the next seven years, I did just that.
I helped launch and scale multiple DTC brands to 7-, 8-, and even multiple 8-figure annual revenues—from their websites alone.
But even then—despite being self-employed —I still believed I needed to live in New York City to be taken seriously.
Then came 2020.
The world changed.
And so did I.
Zoom became the new office. Video calls became standard. Suddenly, nobody cared where you were—as long as the work got done.
That’s when I started wondering: What if I didn’t have to be in New York?
In June 2021, I bought a one-way ticket to Greece.
I had never traveled solo. Never worked remotely from abroad. I thought I’d stay 10 days.
I stayed 101 days.
Halfway through that trip, I knew: I wasn’t going back.
In December 2021, I packed up 21 years of New York life and moved to Athens.
And you know what? My business didn’t miss a beat.
In fact, it grew.
Over the past four years, my clients have generated more than $75 million in North American revenue—while I’ve been working from Greece.
This isn’t a story about sipping an Aperol spritz on a beach with a laptop.
It’s about building serious business infrastructure—across continents—and watching it scale.
But the biggest shift wasn’t logistical. It was creative.
Living in Athens gave me something I didn’t know I was missing:
Time.
With a full 8-hour head start on North America, my mornings became sacred.
Time to think.
Time to design.
Time to build something new.
In that stillness, a new vision emerged—and in 2024, I launched my next business: Through Experience.
Today, I help eCommerce entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs around the world grow their businesses and careers—intentionally, strategically, and sustainably.
And yes, since moving to Greece, I’ve doubled my income.
Not because the cost of living is lower (though it is).
But because I finally had the space to build a future by design, not default.
What I Learned (So You Don’t Have To):
- Follow the energy. Don’t wait for an industry to trend—build in the quiet.
- Location is leverage. Pick a place that fuels your creativity. It shows up in your results.
- Bet on data. DTC gives you more insight than traditional models ever could.
- Design your day, then build your business around it. Not the other way around.
If you’re building something in eCommerce—or dreaming of a leap like this—know this:
You don’t need permission.
You don’t need perfect timing.
You just need to believe that freedom is a growth strategy.
And then take the first step.
The post From NYC to Greece: My Journey to eCommerce Success and a Life by Design first appeared on Women Love Tech.