How To Become A Digital Nomad? Would you like to be a digital nomad and work traveling the world? Certainly there are people whose dream is to have jobs to travel, but not all are prepared for it or can afford it.
And what does being a digital nomad require?
If there is something special about working traveling anywhere in the country or the world, it is that your usual tools and routines must change completely.
Working while traveling or traveling Working therefore implies the need to know how to adapt very well to changing environments and situations, which will test you in the face of difficulties.
But, environments and situations that will also give you the opportunity to enjoy opportunities that you would not get from the comfort of your home or office.
Once again I prefer to have someone who has experienced this being a digital nomad in the first person, because we have Fran Murillo who will tell us about his experience in this regard.
If you are considering doing a job traveling the world, this post will help and inspire you. You will get useful tips that you can put into practice yourself.
How To Become A Digital Nomad And Travel The World!
The topic that concerns us today is the not at all simple task of all that we can (and should) do to become a digital nomad and not die trying.
As we all know, internet has changed the way we relate .
I remember for example that not long ago we called the landline to ask “Hello, is David there?”
I also remember that when we wanted to find someone’s phone number we did so in the yellow pages.
Today, in the middle of 2016, almost nobody uses the landline phone. Few are those who keep the phone books and there are even people who live traveling and working online at the same time .
If you consider yourself an adventurer and an entrepreneur in equal parts, pay attention and read this article to the end, because I am sure you will find the idea of being a digital nomad very interesting.
What Does It Mean To Be A Digital Nomad?
If this is the first time you hear the term digital nomad, it most likely sounds a bit strange to you, and may even taste a little smoky to you, doesn’t it?
Let’s see, then, why it’s not so bad.
One of the maximum promoters of this way of life is Tim Ferriss, who has the ability to make both followers (among whom I am) and enemies.
Telecommuting has existed for some years. Unfortunately, in Spain it is not yet highly valued, which seems incredible since, to have it, you only need a computer with an internet connection.
Okay, so far so good, right?
Maybe you already work from home in your pajamas either on your own or for someone else.
So:
Work for the world is not for everyone, of that there is no doubt. But if you are a person who likes to know different countries and make friends all over the world, being a digital nomad (or at least trying it out) is an excellent option.
Think of it this way:
Some reasons to work and travel
It’s been several months since I returned from my trip to Southeast Asia, although I still remember everything as if it were yesterday. What’s more, I am already preparing the next trip there together with the friends I made in Chiang Mai.
There are a thousand reasons to encourage you to take your work around the world , just as there are a thousand other reasons not to. I share mine here in case they serve you.
1. Change lifestyle
Maybe you have a good job and earn enough, or maybe you feel that your job does not fill you.
Perhaps it will not be enough to start enjoying and traveling when you retire because you do not know how you will be in health.
Perhaps perhaps Perhaps…
Living your life to the fullest depends only on you and it is you who knows if what you do each day brings you closer to your goals or not. But there is a time when you need to change something in order not to end up exploding.
The stories of overwhelmed executives who leave for Bali and never return are known to all. Will you be next? I do not know, but I assure you that by trying it you lose nothing.
2. Networking
If you are a regular at the main marketing events, surely you will have done a lot of networking. Or professional talks through which you get a guest post on an important blog, or any other type of collaboration.
That’s great and I always recommend it, but there is a big difference between this and the relationships you make abroad .
You live 24 hours away from your family and in a very different country from yours, so the friends you make are your family.
Relationships flow faster and everything is more intense.
After several months, I know I can count on friends I made on my trips (Lihuel, Sergio, and Alberto, among others) …
And that is not bought with money.
3. Know different sites
Don’t tell me that you don’t like to travel, because you would be the first person I know who tells me that they would not like to visit chiang mai, Bali, Koh Phangan or the Philippines.
I recommend you, for example:
- Eat a scorpion on Bangkok’s main street, Khaosan Rd.
- Fish your own fish in the fish tank of a Shanghai supermarket.
- A motorcycle with 7 people riding in New Delhi ahead of you.
When you live all this you will understand me.
4. Living in Geoarbitration
This term is not very well known and, to be honest, I have to say that it sounds quite strange.
Geo-arbitration is nothing more than the coin dance of someone who works remotely.
Imagine that you live in Thailand as a digital nomad, that you work for your clients in Spain as a web designer and that you subcontract some parts of your work in Argentina. In your day to day you manage Thai baths, you collect in euros and you contract in pesos.
This may seem like a mess, but in the long run it suits you (and a lot) because you will see that “your money is worth more . “
If you travel for periods of more than two months, you will see that between rent, meals away from home, etc. you spend less than in your own country.
At least that’s my experience.
How Can You Get To Work Traveling?
I can’t give you any advice that will help you become a digital nomad overnight because there is no such thing.
The easiest way would be for the EuroMillion to touch you.
What I can offer you are some tips and a little push so that you can get results yourself.
It is important to know that if you already have an online business running or are telecommuting from home it will be much easier. You only need to take the first step: buy the ticket.
The Internet makes it possible!
As I said at the beginning, the internet has changed the way of doing business . It has made it possible for you to pay your bills from home, hold meetings with your suppliers and customers remotely, or even create a sales funnel that works alone.
Today there are plenty of opportunities to make money online. Among those opportunities we find some like having an eCommerce , a blog or being an influencer on YouTube.
There are a thousand and one job options to travel that our parents did not have but that we can exploit with effort and patience .
Here we will see some examples that will help you understand it better.
Examples of digital nomads
Without a doubt, the typical 2.0 services are real jobs for traveling , and perhaps they are the starting point.
Thus, graphic or web designers, experts in SEO positioning and community manager (among others) are some of the professions liable to become digital nomads .
So are digital businesses like José’s own blog, an online store or any website that generates income.
Okay, these examples are paradigmatic. Therefore, and to complete this section, nothing better than to see some clear examples.
For this I have asked some colleagues from Chiang Mai to briefly answer three questions:
- Who you are?
- What is your job?
- Why do you decide to live in a nomadic way?
► Alberto: I am from Jaca and I work as a computer engineer for a UK company. Thanks to the mobility that my job gives me, I decided to change London for Chiang Mai, in order to see the world and live a different life spending less than in Europe.
► Lihuel: I’m from Buenos Aires, although lately I live in Sao Paulo. I work as a Facebook Ads consultant for some Brazilian companies and I live a nomadic life because I like to travel and, of course, I love my job and it allows me to.
I could go on giving examples, as these two cases are not the only ones. I also know bloggers, translators and SEO experts who are also digital nomads.
But let’s move on.
Resources For Digital Entrepreneurs
The Internet is a world of infinite information where it is sometimes difficult to separate the grain from the chaff , although it is great to get valuable clues and new learning.
In the case of digital nomadism, things do not change much, so I have collected some data that I think is relevant for all of you who are interested in working and traveling at the same time .
Discover a city
If you are very curious and you like adventure, you may find your next getaway on Nomadlist .
Here you will find a series of places categorized by their cost of living or, by their entrepreneurial environment, among many other variables.
In addition, you have all the information at the click of a button.
Find a job traveling
Remoteok.io is a kind of job portal for finding nomadic jobs. Some others of great use are Freelancer, We Work Remotely or Coworks.
Obviously, to this you can add any other classic job search engine, some online business forums, or even search on our own.
Find a coworking
Workhard Anywhere is a website where you can find cafes in which to work, something very useful if you want a coworking space.
In Sharedesk.net you can find coworkings from all over the world in an easy way with their search engine.
Copass is also another option. In it you can contract a membership that allows you to go to more than 500 coworkings around the world.
Meet other digital nomads
When looking for events in a city, I recommend Meetup , since it is the reference social network on the matter.
Now, if what you want is to meet nomads, there are several places where you can find them.
They stand out from them:
- Where My Nomads At
- Find a Nomada
- StartupTravels
Search flights, accommodation, etc.
At VisaHQ you have all the information on the type of visa you need for any country, something very useful for your first getaway and on which no acquaintance can guide you.
To buy the flights I use Skyscanner, since it not only offers a lot of information, but also compares the fares of various airlines. It also has another advantage: with it you can schedule price alerts very easily.
Couchsurfing and Airbnb are used to find accommodation for people who live in the destination city of your choice. The first is free and offers events in the main cities. The second is paid, although much more extensive and known.
If your thing is to take care of houses and pets while their owners are in another part of the world, yours is TrustedHouseSitter. Take a look and you will see that it is very interesting.
The Best Places For A Digital Entrepreneur
So that you can verify that it is possible to travel and work anywhere in the world, I have prepared a list of a couple of countries in each area . Surely this gives you some idea to find your first country of getaway.
- Asia
I couldn’t talk about working traveling without talking about Asia.
It is the favorite destination of most digital nomads and, of course, mine too.
The things that attract me the most are, first, the good atmosphere and its landscapes and, second, its low price.
Among all the countries on the continent, I am left with two: Thailand and Cambodia.
They are two very economic countries and with a good number of nomadic workers . They have good internet access and have several coworkings.
I would like to recommend, from time to time, Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand that today is considered the mecca of the digital nomad.
It is an incredible city and full of online entrepreneurs, why? It is very simple: you find the rent of a room for 100 euros per month, meals for 1-2 euros and the motorcycle rental at 50 euros per month. With this I tell you everything.
There are also other destinations that hit hard, such as the Philippines or Vietnam, but it all depends on your tastes.
- Africa
Africa may not seem like an ideal destination for a digital nomad, but I think there are real unknown paradises that deserve a chance.
The only problem is that I don’t know any.
I would like this guide to serve as a reference for someone who wants to step forward and be a digital nomad, but that requires experience.
How about we use the comments to tell us how you do to work traveling in Africa?
There are many of you who read this blog and I am sure that at least one of you has ever traveled to a country on this continent.
So if that is you, I invite you to share your experience with all of us.
How does the internet work? How is the food? And the entrepreneurship environment? And the prices?
- Europe
Like everyone else, I love Europe, although I think that the best-known countries of the European Union are perhaps not the most suitable for a nomadic lifestyle .
There are many countries to discover on the old continent. For example, in 2017 I would personally like to visit Macedonia, Belarus, Romania and some similar countries.
The best thing is that they are relatively “virgin” territories, since (although they have visitors) they are not the most common destinations. In fact, little by little (and thanks to their low cost of living) they become “friendly” cities for digital nomads.
- South America
The truth is that I have not yet passed through South America, although in Thailand I met Argentines and Mexicans (Mexico is not South America, but if it does not seem bad, I will include it here) and with what they told me I wanted to go.
One of the countries that has recommended me most is Mexico (Playa del Carmen in particular) for its good price and because it is a true paradise. In addition, more and more entrepreneurs are encouraged to go there.
Sao Paulo has also been highly recommended to me. I have been told that there is a great entrepreneurial atmosphere in Brazil and, even if we do not share a language, I think that it would not hurt to learn Portuguese, right?
Tools And Tasks Necessary To Live And Work Traveling
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In order to carry out our work while traveling, it is necessary to first have certain tools.
For this I am going to offer you several of those that I have used and have been extremely useful.
In addition to this, I think that to be a digital nomad you have to be quite minimalist and get rid of what is not. If not, remember the Pareto law .
1. Go away without leaving anyone lying
One of the main problems that I had if I went to Thailand was that I was not going to be able to take calls from my ecommerce clients.
Given this problem, I could perfectly hire a call center, but the truth is that I like to attend everyone personally.
Fortunately, I found several services with which to “buy” a new phone number to which I could divert all those calls. So, for very little money, I could have conversations without losing track of my clients.
For that use Premium Numbers , although there are other very good options like Didlogic or Skype to go.
2. Automate your tasks
When you are away from home, it is very important to optimize the time you spend on each task. In this online world it is convenient to automate some things, and for this I use, for example, the IFTTT tool .
It is not only free, but with it you can configure “recipes” that (as its name implies) are of the type: if this happens do the other.
This is just an example, but I recommend you take a look at this tool, you will surely love it.
3. Browse safely
In Asia, for example, there are certain countries where Facebook and various other pages are prohibited.
To skip this, and by the way to navigate more securely, you can use a vpn like TorGuard’s .
I assure you that you will appreciate it.
4. Save it all
Whether you are abroad or at home, it is very important to always keep our documents so that they are safe.
Can you imagine if you lose all the data?
Has it ever happened to me, like everyone else. But to avoid it I use the cloud storage service of Dropbox or Amazon.
With them you can access your files at any time and from anywhere.
Conclusion
The time has come to close the subject. I just hope this post has helped you take one more step on your path to digital nomadism .
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- What Are The Best Work From Home Jobs? 12 Professions Plus The Best Ideas And Tips
Source: josefacchin.com
