Hungarian entrepreneur, digital nomad, and martial arts champion Timea Pintye has one of the more interesting life stories you’ll ever hear, though she’s not yet 35. Her path seems proof that if you follow your dreams and work tirelessly, you just may get where you want to go.
Growing up on the edge of the old Hapsburg capital of Budapest, Timea never stepped foot on an airplane until she was nearly 18, but soon made up for lost time by becoming a world traveler.
Today she runs her own successful marketing firm, is an accomplished fighter who hosts Muay Thai retreats, and remains always on the look-out for her next destination.
David Lepeska: You grew up in Budapest, one of the world’s great capital cities. But since you were young you’ve wanted to get away and see the world.
Timea Pintye: I grew up in the outskirts of Budapest, in a place called Kobanya. Everybody came from the same background, all working-class. But when I turned 13, I was admitted to one of the best schools in the country, an elite secondary academy. That’s when I really experienced the difference of what life is like when your parents are well-off.
It was mostly kids of doctors, lawyers, politicians, famous people. When we had autumn break, my classmates went to Sri Lanka or other faraway places, while I went to visit my grandmother in the country, to feed the chickens and the pigs. I loved it there.
But I was always curious about different cultures. I read a lot about them and I wanted to experience it first-hand. At age 15, I grew obsessed with Australia, especially the wildlife.
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At 17 you flew on a plane for the first time, when you went to Edinburgh for a student exchange program. How did you feel flying?
Words cannot describe what I felt when I boarded that plane, going to Frankfurt first and then Edinburgh. I think I cried a little. My classmates knew this was my first trip on a plane so they let me sit by the window and I spent the entire time just staring out the window. I remember this feeling so well. I couldn’t believe everybody was just sitting there, reading, chatting, not even looking out the window. Isn’t it incredible that we are way above the ground, so high, like flying between the clouds? Just thinking about it makes me emotional again.
During university, and after, you spent time in Spain. Please tell us about those experiences —what you found in Spain and why you returned.
During university I won a scholarship in Spain, where I studied for half a year. Then I went back for an internship for another half a year. Both experiences left a huge mark on me.
Staying in Sitges, Valencia, and Lloret de Mar, I learned that the way I’m thinking and the way I am is not really who I am. It’s just how Hungarian society made me. In Hungary, for example, life is more about work, while in Spain it’s more about relationships. In Hungary people tend to be more closed off and it takes time for them to open up. In Spain people were just warm and kind from the beginning. In Spain I started thinking that what I thought was the wrong way is actually the right way here. After that I wanted to find out, who is Timea really?
When I finished university I decided to go back to Spain because I wanted to learn the language and I just loved the country. The only money I had was some left from my scholarship, so I decided to volunteer. I wanted to live in a city, but I also wanted warm weather in January and to be by the beach. So I looked at the map and that’s how I found Malaga, where I managed to find work at a hostel in 2014.
My job was reception, check-in, check-out. But when I told the owner I was working too much and not getting paid, he said I kept making my mistakes. When I rolled up the window blinds in the morning, I did it too slowly, he said. He also said I didn’t clean well enough, even though we had a cleaner who did that. One day while I was doing the dishes —again, not my job —the owner came up to me. “Timea, you are fired,” he said. “You have to leave tomorrow.”
I learned there are people out there who will help you, even if they don’t know you.
I’m proud to say that I got fired from volunteering—not many people can achieve that. But I didn’t have any money or anywhere to go. This is when I learned there are people out there who will help you, even if they don’t know you. That same day, after I got fired, I went to my Muay Thai class and started crying while we were on the punching bags.
Juan, my trainer, asked what was wrong. I told him what happened and that I didn’t know where I would go or what I would do. Juan called the gym owner, who I had met once. The owner told me I could stay in his spare bedroom. He also gave me a job as a receptionist at his gym. He may have saved my life by giving me accommodation and a job. I started working at the gym. I also started checking in Airbnb guests in the city center. And I started teaching English to locals. So I had three jobs. I wasn’t making a lot, but I was making ends meet and I learned a lot.
You mentioned Muay Thai. This became a key part of your life —and a few years ago you even became a champion. What initially drew you to this form of martial arts?
Juan, the trainer, told me to go to the punching bags and start punching—that’s when I fell in love.
I’m aware of the dangers that are out there for solo women travelers. And even though I can be very spontaneous, I like to prepare for every situation. So, a week after I arrived in Malaga I went to the gym and asked if they had self-defense classes. They didn’t, but they said they had Muay Thai and the first class was free, so I thought why not.
I hated the first few minutes of the first class. I didn’t know what I was doing. I felt embarrassed and awkward. All the other people were big, tanned, tattooed Spanish guys. I felt so uncomfortable I wanted to leave. But then Juan, the trainer, told me to go to the punching bags and start punching—that’s when I fell in love.
I’d never felt so liberated, so free and strong. I became obsessed with this feeling. I went back to train every day, Monday to Friday. And this feeling that I wanted to test myself in the ring kept growing, and at one point I couldn’t ignore it any more.
I booked a one-way ticket to Thailand, and by this time I was freelancing. I declined all new client requests and just kept the clients I had. I trained 5-6 hours every day. On Sunday I would sleep. I did this for six weeks before my first fight, which took place in the biggest arena in Phuket (Patong Stadium).
I heard that it did not go very well. Please tell us about that first fight. And do you still compete, or are those days behind you?
The feeling of fracturing my ribs was… quite interesting.
The feeling of fracturing my ribs was… quite interesting. Throughout a fight you get punched, you get kicked. And you’re not wearing pads so it’s usually really painful. But I didn’t feel any pain because I had so much adrenaline. Honestly, I felt zero pain. But then at one point I felt a sharp pain in my ribs. And it got worse.
I started to worry that if my opponent hits me again in that area, my ribs would go through my lungs and I’d die. That’s why I decided not to lift my hands up again when the referee started counting on me. That was my first fight after five years of training. I never had a club fight or anything lower-level. My first fight was a professional fight, and after this I wanted to prove myself, to prove I could do better.
A year later, in 2020, I won the Hungarian Muay Thai championship in my weight class. That was the last fight I had. But I’m still training and still thinking about fighting again. I love the feeling I have after a fight, even though it’s such a scary experience.
It just gives you so much power, to be scared to death and have the strength to go through with it.
After my fight in Thailand, my first fight, even though I lost, I felt invincible. I felt that nothing can stop me, I can achieve anything I want. It just gives you so much power, to be scared to death and have the strength to go through with it. This gives you so much strength in all areas of life. I still live off the feeling, but sometimes I feel it could use a boost, so maybe I’ll fight again.
After working on marketing for Facebook’s representative agency in Budapest, in 2015 you moved to London. Did you know anybody there when you arrived?
I moved to London to be with my Australian boyfriend, but we soon broke up and my friends were his friends. So everybody I knew in London was cut out of my life. I had £600 and had to find accommodation with this, but it was not even enough for a deposit.
So of course I went to train. I went to a kick-boxing gym and I told the coach what happened. He told me he had been looking for someone who’s good with social media. In Budapest, I had worked for the agency that manages Facebook ads for multinationals like Duracell, Hilton, Mastercard, in six countries in Central Europe. So my first client was the kick-boxing coach.
From there I went on freelancing websites and found more clients. Again I had three jobs—cooking and cleaning, office work, and my freelance marketing. After a year and a half I saved enough to quit my office job and I started focusing on developing my own business.
In 2017 you embarked on a new life, traveling while building your own business. Why did you make this great change? What convinced you that you could build and run a successful company?
Even though I was living many eastern European’s dream of working in an office in London, I didn’t feel happy. I was working in IT for a marketing company and felt I was wasting my life. I knew that doing social media marketing I could have calls with clients and never meet them in person. This meant I could do this job from anywhere in the world.
I never had any mentors or advisors. My philosophy was that I would always go over and beyond expectations. If I got hired for social media, I’d also work on their newsletter. If I agreed to do two calls, I’d do 10. And this has always led to more clients by word-of-mouth.
I never ran a campaign for myself, for my company. I always just accepted incoming job offers and this is how my agency grew. When I couldn’t accept any more projects, I hired my first assistant to help with copywriting. But the number of clients kept growing, so I hired a graphic designer, and so on.
None of these decisions were planned, they just happened organically as the work grew.
It’s been six years now since you launched the company. Has it been more difficult than you expected? What have you found to be the secret to success?
I think the secret to success is sacrifice and dedication. When I was building my agency, I had friends and family, but my main focus and priority was my work. If I wasn’t working I was traveling somewhere or training. I never had a relationship while building this company.
It just seemed like a waste of time, why meet someone if I could answer clients and send out proposals? But I never felt it was difficult—I just had different priorities. I didn’t feel like they were sacrifices at the time because it’s what I wanted to be doing.
But I see some entrepreneurs struggling, and it’s often because they don’t make work their top priority. I was extremely disciplined and focused. I would get up, work, train, have dinner with a friend and then go to sleep. That was my life for a long time, but all while traveling in different countries.
You’ve been a digital nomad for seven years now and have had some amazing experiences. Just last month you taught Muay Thai on a beach in South Korea. What advice do you have for people thinking of moving abroad or traveling full-time but worried it might be too difficult or too expensive?
When I started seven years ago there were so few services and companies that catered to our needs. I didn’t even know that digital nomad was a term. I just knew I didn’t want to work in an office all my life; I wanted to see the world. Today, you have a lot of resources.
If you don’t want to travel alone, I’d say join a co-living space. You’ll meet people who are also starting out and people who have been doing it for a long time, and learn a lot.
You’ll be part of a community, so if you have questions or anything goes wrong, you’ll have a community manager who’ll help. There are many all over the world now —just pick a destination and look for a good co-living place. Once you start to experience the lifestyle, you’ll see it’s not rocket science. And once you gain confidence, you can go off on your own.
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Timea Pintye is the founder and CEO of Digital Marketing Star and a former Hungarian Muay Thai champion. Learn more at her website and follow her travels on Instagram.
