People crave freedom. No one wants to be tied down to an office their whole life. Even workers that enjoy being around their colleagues need a break every once in a while.
Working from home solves the problem. If you want to stay curled up on the couch with your laptop, you can. If you want to nestle into a crowded coffee shop or rent a shared workspace for a day, you can do that too.
Once you’re no longer tied to a physical location for your job, you’re free to go wherever you want.
Are you ready to start your career as a digital nomad? Here are some tips you can follow.
1. Find Your Career
You can create a freelance or full-time career out of almost anything if you’re willing to put the work in. You can become a remote writer, photographer, web developer, the list goes on. You might be able to run your own e-commerce store entirely from your laptop.
Your life as a digital nomad will only be bearable if you can afford at least basic bills. You don’t need to be living large but you shouldn’t have to beg for food either. That means you need to find a way to pay the bills. You can string together multiple different careers if you need more money.
Don’t start your travels until you have your job and budget figured out.
2. Think About Logistics
If you’re going to throw yourself into the nomad, you need to think about the logistics. Where will your home base be? You might be roaming the world, but people still need to be able to reach you.
You can set up a P.O.box if you’re planning to remain in the states. That option won’t work, however, if you’re going to be abroad for a long time. Then you need to come up with an alternative plan to get your mail. Or what if you want to buy something online? International shipping rates are prohibitively expensive.
There are options. Have you thought about shipping to the Bahamas? You can use a mail forwarding company to shave costs off the shipping.
According to BluePostal: “Consumers and business owners worldwide benefit from establishing a U.S. address with BluePostal for package and mail forwarding services. Our services allow consumers around the globe to buy goods from U.S. retailers and ship to The Bahamas. We then ship the goods to their home or business.”
3. Sell Your Stuff
Hauling a bunch of belongings every time you move locations will be a pain. You can hire a self storage service if you’re certain that you’re going to come back to an area. Otherwise, your best bet is to get rid of most of your things.
Ideally, you’d be able to condense everything you own to a single suitcase or backpack. You can pick a few staple outfits that you love and maybe a few dressier pieces.
Technology makes it easy to trim down. You don’t have to worry about lugging a bunch of books around if you have an e-reader. Games can be played on your phone. Your files are in the cloud.
4. Network
Sorry introverts. Maintaining relationships is important no matter what your industry is. You’ll be able to find fresh freelancing gigs if you have the right connections.
If you’re just getting started, try reaching out to friends and family. You might know someone who can help you out. If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to get creative. In modern times some people have found success reaching out to contacts through social media.
5. Be Open
Your career might take strange twists and turns once you commit to the nomad lifestyle. You could find yourself working in areas that you never dreamed about before. This can be a great advantage if you’re willing to be open.
You also need to be secure with your career path. Promotions, bonuses, etc., look different when you’re a freelancer. Your job perks are the flexibility.
It’s a brave new world for workers. People have the ability to craft their careers in new ways. Traveling is absolutely a possibility now for the average person. In fact, an increasing number of jobs are turning remote. It keeps workers happy and cuts costs.
If traveling is your dream, you can turn it into a lifestyle. Just be prepared that you might need to sacrifice, especially if you choose a freelance career.
