At the time of writing this, we’re in the throes of the Coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people have been sent to work from home. Several are asking themselves if they could continue working from home forever. The brave few are wondering if they can take it to the next level: working from anywhere forever. In other words, people are considering becoming a digital nomad more than ever before.
While ‘digital nomad’ might conjure up images of millennials working on beaches, there’s so much more to it than that. The good news is, there’s no one cookie-cutter answer to ‘how to be a digital nomad’. However, I’d argue that there are a few keys to digital nomad success that people should know about before deciding to leave the 9 to 5 life in pursuit of eternal working holidays.
What is a Digital Nomad?
In short, a digital nomad is a remote worker. If you work from home, in theory, you’re a digital nomad already. However, more people would add on that digital nomads also travel while working.
How much do they travel, exactly? As much or as little as they want.
On one end of the spectrum, a digital nomad might be a parent that travels with their family and works as they travel. On the other, it might be someone that sleeps in a different bed every week, traveling to new, exotic places as often as they can.
More often, a digital nomad is someone that works full time and stays in places for a few weeks to a few months at a time.
Point being – anyone can be a digital nomad any way they want. It’s just important to know why you want to be one, and to do it in a way that works for you.
After I became a digital nomad, I spent a ton of time hiking, road tripping, and with my family
Why I became a digital nomad
When I was in college, I was recommended a book called the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. The book changed the way I thought about a lot of things, including how I envisioned my future of work. I had spent the summer after my freshman year living and working abroad, so I knew that was possible. However, the 4-Hour Workweek led me to realize ‘work’ didn’t have to be in a single place.
To be clear, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I did know what lifestyle I wanted to have.
Read that again. I had figured out (a lot earlier than most) that my happiness wasn’t going to be found in a cubicle. My idea of working was not college –> work –> retire. Instead, I wanted to enjoy my entire life, and take short ‘retirements’ at my discretion.
I didn’t want to retire in the sense that I stopped working until I ran out of money. Instead, I decided that I wanted to work to live, and that my lifestyle was going to change and flow with me. My plan was to read often, work as much as I needed to, and chase ideas.
The good news is, that’s exactly what I’m doing now. It took me five years and finally making the jump to becoming a digital nomad, but I got here. At least I didn’t wait until I was 65.
A lot of my fun days are punctuated with work stuff. It’s all about balance.
5 keys to successfully becoming a digital nomad
Okay, so, how does one become a digital nomad? That’s easy. You take your computer and go somewhere. You continue to work and live wherever you want.
Like almost anything, there are good ways, bad ways, and better ways to do things. After meeting thousands of digital nomads in the past several years, here are a few things that I find the successful ones have in common:
1. Know why you’re becoming a digital nomad
The first key to a successful location independent lifestyle is getting your mind right. You should have a keen understanding of why you’re choosing this life. It’s nontraditional, and everyone thinks about going home and doing the easy thing occasionally, so it’s vital that you understand why you’re doing what you’re doing.
If you value freedom, want to travel more, or simply want to live more cheaply than in the U.S., then you might already have reasons to become a digital nomad.
On the flip side, if you enjoy the creature comforts of home and have never traveled to a place and thought, “Man, I wish I could just… live here”, then you might need to dig in to your ‘why’ a little bit more. Same goes for if you simply hate your office.
Your reason doesn’t matter as much as your conviction behind it. If you are truly interested in living a location independent lifestyle while earning enough to sustain it, then give it a shot. The worst thing that happens is you can go home and reset.
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2. Prepare for the emotional roller coaster
Depending on where you go, how long you stay there, the people you surround yourself with, and the work you do, becoming a digital nomad can take a huge emotional toll on you.
One day, you might be in LOVE with Rome. You don’t think you can ever get enough aperitivo and basilicas. Then, one day, you suddenly will realize how loud it is. You’ll get annoyed with people being so touchy with each other, and start looking for a way out.
Sometimes, digital nomads take on a new career when they hit the road. Many people have a sudden, crushing realization that they hate teaching English online or finding their own clients.
What I’m saying is, one bad shower can leave you really missing home. So, prepare for the ups and downs.
Bring a few comforts of home with you. Mine is my memory foam pillow and several bags of microwave popcorn. There’s nothing some snacks and a good night’s sleep can’t fix.
3. Ride the global economy
This is a major key to location independent success.
“Earn dollars. Live on pesos. Compensate in rupees.”
Tim Ferriss
When you take on a digital nomad lifestyle, you put yourself in a unique position to earn as much as you did in the states but experience twice the lifestyle. Hear me out:
Let’s say that I still lived in Dallas. In a shared apartment, I spent $1k a month on rent, $100 on utilities, $70 a week on groceries, $100 a month on car insurance, $40 a month on gas, and $400 a month dining out. Not including other little things, like going to sports games, ubers, and more, I easily spent about $3000 – $3500 a month.
Now, let’s consider another major city that expats love: Kuala Lumpur. I could live alone in a luxurious downtown apartment for $500 a month (comes with utilities and regular cleaning, too!). I’d spend about $30 a week on groceries, and maybe $200 a month dining out. I wouldn’t have a car, so ubers everywhere might cost a little more. Getting a car to the beach for the day costs about $40 per person. My life there would only cost about $2,000 a month if I wasn’t being frugal.
At my place in Morocco, breakfasts were prepared for me each day along with the other people living in my building.
These examples would be similar in other nomad hotspots including Playa del Carmen, Mexico; Tbilisi, Georgia; and in Bali, Indonesia.
Therefore, permitting that I earn the same amount in the U.S. as abroad, not only could I invest my extra money, I could choose to work less, therefore enjoying the places I’m visiting even more.
Riding the global economy means earning money in dollars, while living on cents.
A note on retirement and the global economy:
Being a digital nomad doesn’t mean you can’t afford to live in the U.S. Instead, it means that you’re choosing to live wehrever makes you happy. It’s still smart to invest for retirement.
A lot of people choose to retire outside of the U.S. However, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to retire abroad. It’s worth considering a nomadic lifestyle, even in retirement.
4. Follow technology
Before becoming a digital nomad, I would seek out vacation spots that were off the grid. I’d use my PTO to go off into the mountains of Guatemala and not use my phone for a week. I got away from my work by getting away from technology. However, it’s a little bit different as a digital nomad.
Digital nomads don’t work from anywhere. They work from anywhere that has good WiFi.
Places like Asia and Southeast Asia are known for having some of the most advanced technology in the world. Not only that, but access to 4G internet and data plans are cheap.
If you’re just starting out, be sure to make sure that wherever you decide to go has strong WiFi. You can find this information by searching digital nomad forums on Reddit, looking on nomadlist.com, and searching for digital nomad blogs.
Work from Wi-Fi
5. Know when to stop working
This is a key to success for any remote worker, but especially for digital nomads.
Imagine going to your dream location. For the sake of imagination, let’s say it’s Bali. You arrive, set up shop, and get your backlog of work done from traveling. Then, you spend the next several days getting ahead on work. A new project pops up, and suddenly, you’re spending 10 hours a day in your room on the computer. NOT ideal.
As a remote worker, you have to know when to call it a day. Give yourself time or productivity limits, and stick to them. There’s no point in choosing a lifestyle for yourself and not following through on it.
Read Next:
The keys to success for becoming a digital nomad are simple. Like anything else you do, you should root yourself in a purpose. Then, take practical steps toward finding places that you love to be and things you love to do.
If you’re interested in learning more about the digital nomad lifestyle, check these articles out:
Many of us were recently thrown into the teleworking world, some for the first time. It wasn’t easy for people to figure out how to do it, and how to stay productive while working from home. While everyone’s experience with staying productive while telecommuting is different, there are three things that have been super helpful for me.
Telecommuting was awesome for me… until it wasn’t.
I started teleworking, or working remotely, about two years ago. My former company started a policy that allowed us to work from home one day per week, and I jumped on the opportunity. I used the day to get my work done more efficiently as well as get some things done around the house.
As weeks went on, I started to play with my work from home days a little bit more. I spent mornings getting work done in a local coffee shop and took calls in the afternoons. Some days, I’d go work from a friend’s place.
Then, after I quit my job and went out on my own, I was suddenly working from wherever there was WiFi without ANY sort of accountability. I began sleeping in, working until all hours, and sometimes getting on my computer while still in bed. I lost any sense of structure to my days.
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Top 3 ways to be productive while telecommuting
I realized early on that I needed to give my days some structure. Here are my top tips for people who want to be more productive while telecommuting:
1. Create a morning routine
Yes, I said it. Sticking to a morning routine is KEY to being productive while teleworking.
Whether you adhere to a miracle morning or simply commit to an alarm clock and simple morning routine, find something that works for you. It’s ok to start small.
I started by simply committing to drinking a full glass of water before 8:30 every day, no matter what. Then, I added 5 sun salutations before 8:30. Then, I bumped it up to 8 am. It goes on, but now I have a morning routine that has me in to ‘work mode’ by 9 every day.
2. Prioritize your day
Not only do successful work-from-homers prioritize their days, but they do it the day before. Let me give you an example.
My to-do lists are often scattered and have things added to them throughout the day. It leaves me feeling overwhelmed at the end of the day rather than accomplished. To combat this feeling, I rewrite my to-do list at the end of each day.
Before rewriting my list, I sort out what the most important things are. Then, I rewrite my list for the following day with the most important activities at the top of the list. Then, I make sure I have what I need to get the top 3 done the next day.
When I know the day before that I am set up for success the following day, I can rest easy and walk away from my work.
Working from Vedauvoo National Forest
3. Start the Pomodoro Technique
In short, the Pomodoro Technique is short work sprints followed by even shorter breaks. The work sprints are strict: no distractions, no exceptions. There are plenty of Google Chrome plugins that help with this, or you can simply set a timer.
I’m weak when it comes to my phone, so using a phone as a timer is no bueno for me. I use the Marinara plugin on Chrome and set a timer for 25 & 5 minutes. I work for 25 minutes, then get up and do something else for 5.
When I’ve prioritized my day, I simply start with the most important thing first and set 1-3 sprints aside to finish it. For example, I know that if I need to write an article today, I’ll set aside one sprint to write it and the second to refine it.
I pair the Pomodoro Technique with the Pareto Principle and Parkinson’s Law. They’re better explained here, but they essentially say that if you have a set time to get something done, you’ll get it done.
Further reading on being productive and telecommuting:
When it comes to planning and taking a vacation, the delight is in the details. Want to find the best place to stay tonight? There’s an app for that. Want to do a currency conversion quickly? There’s an app for that, too. There’s even an app that lets you take a photo of a menu, then gives it back to you in English within a few seconds! Keep reading to learn about the apps that EVERY traveler should have in their phone.
A screenshot of the ‘travel’ section on my phone.
But first, need to know how to use your phone in a different country? Click this link to decide if using your current data plan, getting a SIM, or just using WiFi is best for you.
Google Maps
Did you know that Google Maps can tell you the best public transit route to almost anywhere AND give you a link for where to purchase tickets? Google Maps can even tell you the hours of the place that you’re going and if it’ll be busy. In other words, Google Maps is your one-stop-shop for just about everything travel.
Pro Tip:
Did you know that you can use Google Maps to navigate offline (watch how-to here)?
Google Translate
If you’re traveling to a country that speaks a different language, download Google Translate. Google Translate even lets users take a photo of a block of text (super helpful when trying to read a menu!) and will translate it to your native language in a few seconds.
Pro Tip:
Download a language within the app so that you will be able to do basic translations while offline.
XE Currency
There are so many currency exchange apps available, but I’ve used several and find that XE Currency Converter is the easiest to use and most up-to-date. The app allows you to keep track of live rates of every currency and works offline.
Pro Tip:
Remember to download the conversion rate of every country you’ll be visiting before you leave and you’ll be good to go.
WhatsApp
Most of the world does not use text message or calling. They use WhatsApp instead to do their texting, video calls, and voice calls. A lot of the time, business cards will have the WhatsApp number on them so you can make reservations or communicate with your hosts via WhatsApp rather than the lengthy process of emailing back and forth.
VisitACity
This is one of my favorite tourist tricks to keep up my sleeve. This free app has preplanned, interchangeable itineraries in most touristic cities around the world. It’s free, but it only works when you have Wi-Fi or data.
SkyScanner
While I typically use Google Flights or other websites on my desktop, SkyScanner is the best app for searching for cheap flights on a phone. Skyscanner allows users to search for one-way or round-trip flights on specific dates like usual. However, it also has an incredible flight comparison map to use if your vacation is flexible. It also has a ‘month view’ that allows you to be flexible on your travel dates to find the best flight deals.
Booking.com
Booking.com and Airbnb are the ONLY accommodation websites that I use. I love Booking.com because users can search for anything from 5-star hotels to hostels. There is a map feature that allows users to search for places in a neighborhood of their choice, and the filters are abundant and accurate. You can book right on the site and have open communication with the property you book through their chat feature.
Other Apps Every Traveler Should Have
I use WhatsApp and Google Maps so much that they live on my home screen!
Other apps to consider are:
HitList- Find cheap flights but without control over dates
Airbnb – Find houses, apartments, and rooms
Couchsurfing – Meet locals and (possibly) stay with them for free
Hotel Tonight – Last-minute hotels for cheap
TripIt – Organize your travel itinerary
LoungeBuddy – Get paid access to lounges in the airport you’re in
Detour – Free guided audio tours in 17 cities around the world
Comment below: What other apps do you keep for traveling?
A lot of people come to me and ask how I quit my job to travel. Even more come to me asking how they can travel as much as I do. Here’s what I have to say to the ‘quit your job, see the world’ types: Just because I did, doesn’t mean I want you to quit your job to travel. In fact, don’t.
You may daydream about walking out of your office for the last time or spending countless leisurely days on beaches in places you can’t pronounce. We all do, it’s called retirement.
However, retirement on its own is completely unfulfilling, and you don’t have to quit your job to achieve your travel goals.
If I don’t want you to quit your job to travel, what DO I want? I want a world full of inspired, educated people. People like you, who can find a balance between and experiencing the world firsthand.
My first ‘I just quit my job’ beer!
I’m going to cover a few things in this post:
Why I Quit My Job to Travel Full-Time
Why You Shouldn’t Quit Your Job
What You SHOULD Do Instead
Why I Quit My Job to Travel Full-Time
I’ve known since college that I didn’t want to spend time in corporate America. In fact, I even knew that I wanted to visit every country and slow travel long-term. I just didn’t know how to avoid the corporate world while being responsible about my finances.
With that in mind, I finished school and got a job. I put myself on a weird, intense budget so that I could pay off my debt and start saving as quickly as possible. In fact, I paid off $55k+ of debt in 3 years – and visited 20 countries in that time (read about the budget/debt/travel here)!
After some time in the traditional workforce, I began to create my exit strategy. Well, I tried to be strategic. However, quitting came as more of an entrepreneurial seizure than a tactical move, but that’s a different story.
My point is – I always knew I’d be an entrepreneur and long-term traveler. I knew my travel goals and knew that I had to quit working for others to truly be myself. If your travel goals aren’t the same as mine, that’s ok. You may not have to quit your job to travel the way that you want to.
Working from a national park via a 4G Hotspot
Why You Shouldn’t Quit Your Job
Honestly, I can’t think of a single reason.
That’s because YOU have to.
If you want to travel long-term
If you want to take some extended time to travel while keeping your job (or a job), I have a few ideas for you:
Take a sabbatical
Take a leave of absence
Get a new job and push out your start date so you have time to travel in-between (I did this between my first and second job and it was great!)
Take a job in education abroad so you can spend your summers & breaks seeing a new part of the world
See if your current job will let you go remote
If you do feel that you should quit your job to travel, let me be the first to tell you: it isn’t all rainbows and beaches.
Traveling, especially as an entrepreneur, is stressful. Your next paycheck might be iffy. You might learn that you hate working outdoors. Perhaps you learn that moving around is exhausting for you.
The bottom line is, don’t quit your job to travel if you don’t have a fallback. Being broke and stuck halfway around the world isn’t glamorous, it’s gross.
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What You Should Do Instead
Okay, so maybe I haven’t painted a beautiful picture of traveling. But I want you to be serious about WHY you’re traveling. Not only that, but if you want to quit your job, you probably have some stuff to work out. It’s ok, we all do.
I just want to be crystal clear that just because I quit my job to travel, and just because I teach people how to travel well,does not mean that I only want people to travel exactly how I do.
So, consider the following:
Think about what you want to do, not where you want to go. Can you accomplish that in your allotted PTO?
What is your purpose for traveling?
Do you have a purpose in life beyond your job? A surprising amount of people quit and then just start drinking around the world until they run out of money
Consider your values. Do you need to quit your job to live a life better aligned with who you are?
If you simply want to travel more – do it. There’s an avenue for you. If you hate your job – figure out a different place to work. If you want to quit your job and travel the world – figure out a way to do that, too! But don’t do it because everyone else is.
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Don’t Quit Your Job To Travel
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2020, the year of the dad joke. Ah yes, as early as 2017, dads in businesses everywhere started calling their 3-year plans ‘Vision 2020’. Dad jokes aside, January 1st marks the beginning of an entire decade, and it’s a perfect time to start living the vision we have for ourselves.
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While I live in a travel mindset, living your goals could look a lot of different ways. It’s easy to dream about all the places you want to travel, but let’s talk about really planning how 2020 will be the year during which you travel.
Jefferson, TX was a great weekend getaway!
Let’s talk do’s and don’ts when planning travel, especially as a professional:
Do:
Leverage holidays – One of my favorite posts is an argument for traveling during Thanksgiving. What you need to know is that you can use holidays and your floating holidays and combine them with PTO to turn them into week-long vacations. For example, MLK day is on a Monday. You could fly out on a Friday, take 4 days of PTO and return the following Sunday and have taken 9 full days elsewhere.
Say ‘no’ to other people – I’m 28, which means that I’m in 3 weddings next summer and am invited to more. As a nomad, I am choosing to come back to the US for those weddings, but I realize not everyone has that luxury. It is tough, but if you want your time off to be your own, decide early which events you will be saying ‘no’ to in 2020.
Say ‘yes’ to other people – On the flip side of that coin, decide which events you will be saying ‘yes’ to this year. Is there a wedding in Punta Cana that you can go to, and extend for a vacation for a few days? A work conference in Florida could mean you have easy access to cruises.
A long weekend Labor-Day trip to Belize a few years ago. 5 days away with only 1 day of PTO!
Don’t:
Travel during other people’s holidays – What I mean by this is, there are events during which people travel frequently and it causes flight and hotel prices to skyrocket. For example, spring break in Mexico. If you want to visit Mexico, you may want to save money and maximize your time there by going during the other months. Same thing with Central Europe; it can be crowded and pricey during the summer.
Do it for the ‘gram – When was the last time that a photo made you joyful? The answer might be ‘never’. If that is the case, then do not travel to places just because they will be good for one Instagram shot, or because you’ll get lots of likes on Facebook. Additionally, these places are typically over touristed and have little else to offer than the ‘Instagram spot’. Instead, go to places that you love, and take great photos while there.
Be rigid to your dreams – If your dream vacation to Rome isn’t in the cards this year, that’s okay! Keep saving money, and perhaps choose a destination that is more accessible for you. Taking steps toward your travel goals is more important than checking every place off your list!
Have you ever wondered what to wear, drink, or do at a holiday work party? If so, you’re in the right place.
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While you want to make yourself memorable to the higher-ups and colleagues that you meet at social events, you want to be memorable for the right reasons. You don’t want to be the person that is talked about when the ‘remember when…’ stories come up. Here are 4 things to remember when it comes to holiday work parties:
Show up
This might sound like the bare minimum, but the first step to making a good impression is to show up well. I’ve been to holiday work events where one person is in charge of coordinating 10 employees and their guests, and I’ve been to events in which a committee plans an event meant for hundreds of people. Regardless of the size of the event, you want to RSVP in advance to help people plan accordingly, and you’ll want to be respectful by showing up on time. Additionally, be sure to thank the organizers following the event!
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Be careful about alcohol
We’ve been over this before. The bottom line: Just because happy hour is free doesn’t mean it comes without a cost. Don’t be the person that comes up during the ‘remember when…’ conversations years from now.
A few other tips:
Start off with a glass of water when everyone else is having their first alcoholic beverage. The term, “I’ll start with water.” implies that you’ll be drinking with everyone else soon, so if you’re worried about someone calling you out for not drinking, this term should have you covered. Plus, it keeps you one drink behind everyone else, which leads to…
Don’t ever be the drunkest person at the party. If the CEO is sloshed, that’s one thing. If you are, that’s bad news bears.
Take an Uber if you need to. Even if you can handle your booze at the party, a DUI will come back to haunt you.
Dress to impress
Not sure what to wear? The invitation should make some indication of what the attire for the event is. I’ve put together a few Pinterest boards for you if your invitation states Casual Attire, Business Professional Attire, or Black Tie/Cocktail/Formal Attire, so you can look to those for inspiration. If it’s an ugly sweater party then you’re on your own, goofball!
If the invitation doesn’t have information on what to wear, ask someone who has been to the event in the past. If you don’t have anyone that you can ask, reach out to the person organizing the event or the person whose information is listed on the RSVP. A simple note that says, “I am so looking forward to this year’s holiday party! I noticed that the invitation does not have a dress code listed and I’d hate to assume. Can you please let me know what is expected?” should do the trick.
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Eat with etiquette
Nobody expects you to be a debutante, but there are some simple rules to follow:
If the invitation indicates ‘light hors d’oeuvres’, do not expect to be served a full meal. There will likely be canapés passed around by servers or a buffet with small plates available to serve yourself. The rules of thumb here are:
Do not pile up your plate.
Throw your plate away and get a new one if you go back for more.
Pre-plan a little bit here. If it’s going to be hard to bite in half, avoid it.
If it’s going to leave you with dirty fingers, avoid it. NEVER lick your hands.
If you are served a meal:
Put your napkin in your lap before you start eating or drinking.
Start with the outside fork first.
Elbows off the table.
Don’t talk with your mouth full.
Your phone will not make an appearance.
This sounds basic, but let me PROMISE you: if you are stuck standing with half a finger sandwich in one hand and spilling your red wine with your right, there’s a 100% chance that this is when the director that you’ve been trying to network with forever will take notice of you.
BONUS TIP:
Remember, you’re at work. While ‘party’ is in the name, your office holiday party is a work function, and it’s mildly mandatory. Although you may be in a bar or other venue, the same rules apply as if you were in the office.
The holiday party is your employer’s gift to you. Have fun, mingle with colleagues, and dance the night away!
