Digital Nomad Imperative by Letícia Rengel

You have the opportunity to create your own future. In fact, you are the only one qualified enough to do the job.

Introduction

A digital nomad is simply someone who uses technology to work remotely. They may be employed by a company, they may do freelance work, or they may operate own their own business.

There is a growing movement in the world. People all over the planet are questioning the conventional wisdom of working for 40 plus years in a job they don’t particularly like to someday have the freedom to travel or follow their passions.

Some people call this location independence, telecommuting, or ultramobility. Whatever you call it, leveraging the right tools allows you to work wherever you want—running a small business from home so you can be closer to your family, freelancing from your favorite coffee shop or coworking office, managing things from a laptop on the beach, or even working with clients on the other side of the world!

What if you could travel now? What if you could turn your passion into a business to give you the freedom to live and work when and where you want? What if you could live the life you want, without asking or waiting for permission?

The fact is it has never been easier to live life on your own terms and go wherever you want!

You can.

This ebook contains the stories of 42 people just like you, who decided to live life on their own terms.

This ebook represents a small sample of the large and growing digital nomad community who have proven that it is indeed possible to create the life of your dreams.

These stories have been curated by Cody Mckibben and John Bardos. The people in this ebook are our friends. We meet regularly in different countries around the work. Maybe will see you somewhere too.

It’s not easy. It’s not riskfree. Having the courage to follow your own path is challenging. It’s very likely that your family and friends will think you’re crazy for even considering such an idea.

Enjoy!

However, what if you did it? What if you took action? What would your life look like?

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Cody & John

The Digital Nomad Imperative

Table of Contents 4—Cody McKibben 6—John Bardos 8—Dave Dean 10—Ian Ord 11—Adam Groffman 13—Lauren Juliff 15—Andre Gussekloo 17—Justin W. Cooke 18—Brandon Pearce 21—Elly Earls 22—Tom Frearson 23—Hannah & Chris Alford 25—Dragos Roua 27—Jon Myers 29—Nora Dunn 32—Jenny Blake 34—Dani and Jess 36—Lieve de Lint 37—Tynan 39—Tal Gur 41—Tommy Schultz

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43—Andy Gray 45—Doug Yuen 46—Stacey Herbert 50—Matt Bailey 52—Michelle Dale 53—Warren & Betsy Talbot 56—Benny Lewis 59—Tom Huges 62—Chris & Cherie 65—Mitch Bowler 66—Jean Galea 68—Shannon O’Donnell 69—Colin Wright 71—Janet Brent 73—Sebastiaan van der Schrier 74—Matt Kepnes 75—Euvie Ivanova 77—Corbett Barr 79—Chris Kirkland 81—Travis Sherry 82—Jenny Leonard

The Digital Nomad Imperative

Cody McKibben ThrillingHeroics.com

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Creating a business that I could run remotely has given me the freedom to choose where I live, when I work, and it has enabled me to travel and free up more time to put into relationships, writing, volunteering, and experimenting with side projects (some for fun and some for profit) but not have to worry so much about my expenses and my bottom line.

Seven years ago, I was a nobody. I was working an office job that I had no passion for, feeling unfulfilled, living for the weekends. Then I started toiling away working from home for a year, trying to earn a living as a web design freelancer, but mostly going broke in an expensive California city. When I decided to expand my web presence, though, things started to change. At Thrilling Heroics, I started sharing my ideas and my experiences with the world, and sooner than I realized, I had forged friendships around the globe. I leveraged the the social power of the web to build authority and develop a business that I can essentially run from anywhere in the world. I left California in November 2008 with a one-way ticket to Asia and no plans to return for at least a year. After reading The 4-Hour Workweek, I just wanted to experiment and see what was possible. And I wanted a serious change. I bootstrapped my web services business, leveraging geoarbitrage (earning in US Dollars and British Pounds while headquartered in Asia with a very low cost-of-living), and helping small business owners, authors, speakers, and non-profits on five continents grow through social media and online marketing.

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Cody McKibben ThrillingHeroics.com One year living abroad quickly turned into two, which turned into three, and now after over 4 years I still have no intentions of going back to “normal life”. For me the biggest benefit of living and traveling abroad while I work with clients back home and across the world is my ability to leverage geo-arbitrage—earning in a strong currency while I live primarily in places with a relatively low cost-of-living. This means extended travel and living abroad can actually cost quite a lot less than you probably think—likely even less than what you spend on rent alone right now. I’ve been all over Southeast Asia, residing mostly in Thailand, dangerously close to white sand beaches and crystal clear azure waters. But last year alone I lived in 6 different cities across 4 countries, and I’ve traveled extensively—making shorter trips at least every few months to over 28 countries so far, including France, the UK, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, and many more.

tionships, writing, volunteering, and experimenting with side projects (some for fun and some for profit) but not have to worry so much about my expenses and my bottom line. I work hard, but set my own schedule; I get to hang out with friends every day, and almost any night could become a party if you let it. I’m no millionaire (yet), but I’m a globetrotting vagabond with an international business, a global web presence, connections with influential colleagues around the world, and an awful lot of fun travel experiences under my belt! Living the digital nomad lifestyle has given me new perspectives, and it has given me a lot of time and mental space to discover who I really am and what I really want, independent of what society tells me how things should be. If you follow a similar path, you’ll learn that traveling is easier than you think. You will face many challenges and obstacles for sure, but you will quickly learn to be more self-reliant and resourceful. You will see and experience incredible things that will change the way you think about the world. And you will probably realize that what you really want in life is different than what they’ve always told you.

Creating a business that I could run remotely has given me the freedom to choose where I live, when I work, and it has enabled me to travel and free up more time to put into rela-

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John Bardos JetSetCitizen.com

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My wife and I can live on a quarter of our old living expenses and we are much happier for it. We’ve traded the shackles of obligations and responsibilities for the freedom to do what we want, anywhere we want.

Every move to a new country provides an opportunity to completely reinvent who I am and what I believe. There is so much cultural baggage that ties us down and limits our own perception of ourselves. Every new country is a chance to start over, make new friends and be someone different and better. The biggest revelation for me has been just how much we are influenced by our own society. We all think we are independent and are making our own choices in life, but our culture, families and peers are really deciding for us. When I first moved abroad, I tended to view cultural differences as a deficiency in the new country. I had this preconceived notion that the west is best and that we have a lot to teach the rest of the world. Living in foreign countries helped me to see for the first time that I was just a product of my own culture, which is largely shaped by corporate interests trying to get me to buy something. I was driven by a desire to consume and impress others with my possessions, experiences and accomplishments. Now those things don’t mean anything to me. I don’t need a big house and an SUV to be happy. I had those things and they just added more headaches, payments and work. My wife and I can live on a quarter of our old living expenses and we are much happier for it. We’ve traded the shackles of obligations and responsibilities for the freedom to do what we want, anywhere we want.

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John Bardos JetSetCitizen.com It’s very difficult to explain how liberating that is. It’s not just the lower costs and opportunities to travel. The real value is the increased mental space that is freed up because we’re no longer pre-occupied with all the chores and hassles of a consumer focused life. We don’t spend our weekends at shopping malls or home centers. We don’t spend our evenings on the couch watching TV. We are not stuck in long commutes everyday to work. It opens up a whole new world of cognitive space. Overall, I’d have to say that the best part of a digital nomad lifestlye is the people you meet. Long-term travelers are the coolest people on the planet. Anyone who has been living this lifestyle for any period of time becomes very down to earth and are able to live in the moment. The conversation stops being about the new things you bought or how many stamps you have in your passport, and people start being themselves. It’s very rare to find this authenticity in consumer focused cultures.

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Dave Dean WhatsDaveDoing.com

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The real problem was that no matter how much money I had, how many pretty things I owned, how expensive my apartment or fancy my job title, there was one vital thing missing that made it all seem meaningless. Freedom. The freedom to fully shape my own direction in life - the kind of freedom that came so easily on the road, and so rarely the rest of the time.

14 years. That’s how long it took me to finally make the break. Ever since I first travelled back in 1998, I had this nagging feeling that something wasn’t right with the life I was living. Even as I rose up the career ladder, somehow landing one good job after another, I knew that there was something wrong. I tried to “settle down” like everybody advised me to. I bought expensive cars, then when that didn’t make me happier, I bought a house and filled it with stuff. None of it made that feeling go away. Every few years I’d become overwhelmed by it all and decide that I’d had enough of whatever I was doing and wherever I was living, throwing everything into a backpack and jumping on a plane once again. For months I’d wander, filling the void in my soul with wonderful new experiences, being truly, unashamedly happy. Then, when the money inevitably ran out, I’d move to a different city, get another job and miserably climb back on the merry-go-round. I thought the problem was my career choice. I thought the problem was the places I was choosing to live. I thought the problem was the people around me. I thought the problem was all sorts of things, in fact, until I finally worked out what the real issue was.

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Dave Dean WhatsDaveDoing.com The real problem was that no matter how much money I had, how many pretty things I owned, how expensive my apartment or fancy my job title, there was one vital thing missing that made it all seem meaningless. Freedom. The freedom to decide what I would do each day, where I would do it and who I would do it with. The freedom to fully shape my own direction in life - the kind of freedom that came so easily on the road, and so rarely the rest of the time.

own. Remarkably I even found love on the road, living a life full of joy and happiness as I follow summer around the world to anywhere with good food and a reliable internet connection. Even though - as with most startups - the money could be better and the hours could be fewer, I love what I do and wouldn’t change it for the world. This is my new life. I’ve found my freedom ... and I’m never giving it back.

Before I could make a lifestyle based on that freedom a reality, I knew I had to find a way to fund it. Taking a long-held love of writing (I had originally trained to be a journalist), I started a travel blog. It took 18 unpaid months of treating it like a fulltime job - largely while still holding down a “real” full-time job before it started to generate a little income. I made the promise to myself that if, by the end of 2011 I was making enough money from my site to cover my living costs in SE Asia, I would sell everything and move to Thailand to follow this crazy dream. Frighteningly, by November, I was. It has now been almost a year and a half since I handed back the keys to my apartment and left. I have started a second site with a partner focused on technology for travellers, combining two of the things I’m most passionate about. I live out of a backpack and somehow don’t miss a single thing that I used to

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Ian Ord WhereSidewalksEnd.com

Becoming location independent was a pretty scary thought at first, but has become one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. After I made my mind and committed myself to the idea, I knew that only I could keep myself going. There would be no more depending on anyone else - be it an employer or a bank. I would now have to truly depend on myself, the way we were all born to do.

Once away from the consumerist driven, debt ridden, linear structure of living and you start trying new things that challenge you, you quickly realize that you are capable of absolutely everything.

I’ve had to dig deep inside myself, and regularly learn new capabilities and skills I didn’t know I had. Becoming location independent, you’re constantly learning new things about the world, and making invaluable connections, which will help you in brining yourself and your business to the next level.

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I think the most valuable lesson I’ve learned has come from removing yourself from the cookie-cutter structure of modern western society. Once away from the consumerist driven, debt ridden, linear structure of living and you start trying new things that challenge you, you quickly realize that you are capable of absolutely everything. If someone has accomplished something, it is within your own human potential to be able to do the same. In the next few years I plan on obtaining my SCUBA dive master accreditation, sail across an ocean and learn 2 new languages, all while further developing my own off the beaten path travel resource website “Where Sidewalks End”, creating WSE guide books, and a tour company. I’m not rich yet, but I’m wealthier than I’ve ever been in my mind and in my heart. The hardest step is always the first step. Once that step is taken, you’ve already got momentum. The only effort needed is to keep yourself focused on moving forward and staying committed to your dreams. If you really want it, not even kryptonite will be able to stop you from becoming your own superman and living your dreams.

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Adam Groffman TravelsofAdam.com

What I love about being a digital nomad…

It’s a buzzword I don’t particularly enjoy…nor do I really care much for the idea of “lifestyle designers”, a “4 hour workweek” or being an “online entrepreneur.” I’m not sure how apt all these words may be to describe me or my recent choices in life, but I guess when it comes down to it, I am essentially a digital When I quit my job in 2010, I never set out to change nomad. I work remotely. Never far from my computer, and am my career or my outlook on life. I was just doing what probably able to do what I do in places around the world.

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I wanted to do (after years of saving) and, with some lucky circumstances and a lot of hard work, I’ve now found a way to keep doing what I want to do.

Of course, though, that doesn’t mean I roam around like a nomad. Instead I’m a bit of a homebody. I’ve traveled plenty in the past, have many more travels in the coming months, and will surely travel more in the future. But I like having a home—a homebase with friends and a bedroom and creature comforts. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like the benefits of being a digital nomad…

1. Flexibility

I’m able to choose my own hours for working. That means when it’s a beautiful, sunny day in Berlin, I can choose to spend it outside and instead opt to spend all evening behind my computer.

2. Freedom

With a flexible work schedule I can pretty much live where I want—dependent upon visas and travel restrictions. I love the freedom of not being tied down to a city because of job, but rather for my own personal connections and friends. When you truly have to decide where you want to live, it suddenly makes everything else that much more meaningful.

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Adam Groffman TravelsofAdam.com 3. Time

As I’m able to decide when and where to work, I’m also frequently finding myself with more time to work on personal projects and on things I’m legitimately interested in. Whether it’s learning German in Berlin, practicing my photography skills, or just having fun with a new video blog. When I quit my job in 2010, I never set out to change my career or my outlook on life. I was just doing what I wanted to do (after years of saving) and, with some lucky circumstances and a lot of hard work, I’ve now found a way to keep doing what I want to do.

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Lauren Juliff NeverEndingFootsteps.com

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In 2011, I decided to sell everything I own and book a one-way ticket out of England. I had never been away for more than two weeks at a time, I had never travelled on my own before. I’d never eaten rice or eggs, never been on a bus. I had no life experience and no self-confidence. I didn’t know how to function on my own, but I decided to start learning.

I started a travel blog before I left, spending every waking For me, the best part of being a digital nomad is the second working on it, building the framework for a career in freedom more than anything else. A location independent lifestyle enables me to essentially do what I travel writing and blogging -- a location independent life. want, when I want, where I want and with who I want.

I’ve now lived, travelled and worked in over 40 countries around the world and, more than anything, I’ve developed a greater understanding of who I am and what makes me happy. Before pursuing this lifestyle, I had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and there wasn’t a day that went by that wasn’t filled with dread, worry and panic attacks. The idea of leaving my comfort zone at home to travel and work my way around the world was incredibly daunting and something that took several years of thinking about before I managed to work up the courage to do so. I thought that by forcing myself into the unknown and attempting to do something that terrified me I’d fail, have a nervous breakdown and end up back home within a few months. To my surprise, the complete opposite happened. I thrived on my new found independence. I now feel confident, comfortable and secure with myself. I know that if something goes wrong, I’ll be able to figure out a solution and that everything will be ok in the end. More importantly, in the two years

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Lauren Juliff NeverEndingFootsteps.com that I’ve been travelling I’ve had just two panic attacks and I can’t remember the last time I felt anxious about something. I’m a completely different person. I’m calm, relaxed and happy, enjoying every aspect of my life. For me, the best part of being a digital nomad is the freedom more than anything else. A location independent lifestyle enables me to essentially do what I want, when I want, where I want and with who I want. My happiness is at its highest and my stress levels at their lowest when I am able to choose to have as fixed a routine as I require. If I’m spending a few months living somewhere whilst working solidly on a project then I prefer to have a routine -- to wake up and go to sleep at the same time, while working for the rest of the day. When I have nothing major on my agenda, I find myself craving spontaneity. I love being able to wake up and decide that I’d quite like to go to Cambodia -- and be on a bus heading there that very same day. To me, being able to choose how stable I want my life to be gives me the best of both worlds.

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Andre Gussekloo AndreGussekloo.com

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It feels like the world is at our feet. I have no idea where we’ll be in six months’ time, let alone in one year, but it doesn’t worry me. More than ever before, I’m living in the moment, open to any opportunities that may come on my path.

I had been a freelance SEO copywriter for many years when it hit me: I can do this work from anywhere. It would be a shame if I didn’t take advantage of the situation. My girlfriend was very enthusiastic about the idea. We had no mortgage, only a car and a cat. I sold the car and kept the cat. After a lot of dreaming and planning the three of us finally stepped on a plane to Thailand in November 2012. We haven’t looked back and love the digital nomad lifestyle. After a few months in the “digital nomad capital of the world”, Chiang Mai, we’re moving to one of the islands. I can already see myself working from a hammock, maybe just four hours a week? One of the things I love about the digital nomad lifestyle is the fact that I’m very mobile. Okay, I have a cat and I don’t want to drag him around too much, but we can move to a new city, island or country at a moment’s notice. It feels like the world is at our feet. I have no idea where we’ll be in six months’ time, let alone in one year, but it doesn’t worry me. More than ever before, I’m living in the moment, open to any opportunities that may come on my path. In order to be so mobile, we needed to throw away, donate and sell a lot of our stuff when we left our place in Spain. This was a good exercise in minimalism that made us realize what’s really important in life: the things that money can’t buy. Now that I’ve been in Thailand for a while I keep discovering things that I brought but don’t use. If you think this lifestyle is for you, be prepared for some resistance. It’s perfectly normal if the majority of your friends and family don’t support you. Many of them will still be stuck in

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Andre Gussekloo AndreGussekloo.com old thought patterns. To them, a location independent lifestyle may seem risky or even irresponsible. If I can give you only one suggestion, then it would be for you to surround yourself with people who share your goal, or even with people who are already on the road. Read all the digital nomad blogs, participate in the comments and discussions and join a membership program like Digital Nomad Academy. Anything you can do to change your mindset into a firm conviction that you will soon be on the road. And once you are, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll meet people like yourself everywhere.

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Justin W. Cooke EmpireFlippers.com

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One of the best things about expat living, traveling, and working online is the interesting people you get to meet and have access to. While we all come from different backgrounds and are following different paths, we all share that very dramatic change in our lives and shift in mindset that binds us together.

The first step towards expat entrepreneurship is the hardest...which is why so many people fail to take it. It seems like an exciting adventure, but those questions in the back of your head can gnaw at you. “What if I fail and am forced to go home, tail between my legs?” “What if my new life instead becomes just an extended vacation?” “Do I REALLY have enough savings to be doing this?” It’s been just over three years and I remember the excitement and worry I felt walking down the airplane ramp into the hot, sweaty Manila heat, telling myself, “This WILL work.” I’d just left my corporate job, setup a company in the Philippines, and I was determined to make shit happen. Over the course of the next few months, I realized the changes happening were less about geography and more about mindset. No longer was I trudging along, marching to the beat of someone else’s drum. This is now my life, my rules, and I am my own drummer! I can’t remember the specific date, but around 18 months after the move I came to the realization that I’ll never work a job again...or at least not one that most of us are familiar with. There’s so much opportunity available that I can hardly believe I was worried whether I would “make it” or not. One of the best things about expat living, traveling, and working online is the interesting people you get to meet and have access to. While we all come from different backgrounds and are following different paths, we all share that very dramatic change in our lives and shift in mindset that binds us together. Being an expat entrepreneur isn’t for everyone...but putting yourself in a situation where you’re free from the life scripts you were raised with and having the option to choose is priceless. I wouldn’t go back... COULDN’T go back...and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Brandon Pearce PearceOnEarth.com

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I’ve allowed myself to question my beliefs and consider the validity of other perspectives. Along the way, I’ve meet some amazing people, learned more about myself and the world, and have experienced places and activities that most only dream about.

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I had no idea what incredible changes would come into my life by moving abroad. I felt like I had been stagnating in my growth, and wanted to give my kids the chance to experience other cultures. But leaving home brought me much more than expected. Over time, it has completely shattered my worldview, again and again, as I’ve allowed myself to question my beliefs and consider the validity of other perspectives. Along the way, I’ve meet some amazing people, learned more about myself and the world, and have experienced places and activities that most only dream about. And I’ve done it with a wife three kids. I’m 33 years old, but I feel like I’ve lived a full life. My business now provides a living for over 15 families, each enabled to work from anywhere they wish, while providing a valuable service to our customers worldwide. I don’t know what the next few years of my life will bring. But if the past three years are any indicator, it will be a roller coaster that just gets better and better.

The Digital Nomad Imperative

Niall Doherty NDoherty.com

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Reinvention That’s it in a word for me. It’s what I love most about location independence, self-employment, et al.

Don’t get me wrong: Reinvention is possible anywhere, anytime. It’s just easier to do it when you’re free from the gravitational pull of your hometown and the expectations of all those Reinvention is possible anywhere, anytime. It’s just easier to do it when you’re free from the grav- people who “know” you.

itational pull of your hometown and the expectations of all those people who “know” you.

I was never very good at flirting. I was extremely shy as a teenager and only lost my virginity at age 22. At 29 I was still struggling, so I moved to Amsterdam for a few weeks and flirted like a madman, until it became my new norm. I reinvented myself as the guy who actually goes and chats up that beautiful woman, instead of the guy who wishes he could. Reinvention. I’ve always been very independent. Too much so. Then I found myself stuck in Iran, short on cash in a cash-only economy. No way around it: I had to leave my ego at the door, put up my hand and ask for help. And then I had to accept that help graciously. I realized that there are two sides to generosity: giving and receiving. You can’t have one without the other. I’m now open to both. Reinvention. I met another Irish guy while waiting for a train at Thivim Station, not far from Goa. He hadn’t been in India long, and I heard my previous self in his tales of woe from Delhi and Agra. I’d already learned that India eats the meek and the reasonable for breakfast, hand mashed with idli and sambar. At first you think the problem is out there, but eventually it clicks that the

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Niall Doherty NDoherty.com battle is all internal. India won’t change. You have to. And you do. Reinvention. I’m writing this from Bangkok, living with three guys I’d never have met if not for taking the location independent leap. They all earn big money online, much more than me. The biggest difference between us? Mindset. That’s really all it is. It’s been three months now, and I can feel my brain rewiring. What once were risks now appear as opportunities. I’m becoming a realdeal entrepreneur. Reinvention. I used to be a lot of things and I will be lots more in the future. Most people live a single lifetime. I live multiple. You can, too. You just have to get out there.

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We quit our jobs (Elly as a magazine editor and Tom as a technical sales engineer) in 2011 to work for ourselves and pursue life on our own terms. And although it’s been the hardest thing either of us has ever done, we’ve never looked back. Not only have we been able to live in Bangkok and Bali, and travel to KL, Tioman Island, Singapore, Phuket, Koh Phangan and Koh Phi Phi, we’ve also learnt more about ourselves in this short It’s an amazing feeling to be able to go anywhere time than we ever had before!

Elly Earls EllyEarls.com

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in the world – as long as I have my laptop and an Internet connection – and be able to set up shop.

I took a lot of convincing to quit my job as a magazine editor to go freelance, but since I’ve taken the plunge, I haven’t regretted it at all. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to go anywhere in the world – as long as I have my laptop and an Internet connection – and be able to set up shop. It hasn’t all been easy though. I’ve learned that I’m not very good at working on my own (particularly for the long hours it takes to get established as a freelancer) and at times have felt really lonely. However, I’ve also learned that there are ways round this and that the best attitude to take is, ‘if something doesn’t exist where you are, start it up yourself.’ So, that’s exactly what I did a few months after arriving in Bangkok. After struggling to meet likeminded people, I started up a community for book-lovers called Runaway Readers, which has really taken off! My next project is to grow RR into a global community to help other expat women network, make new friends and have a lot of fun along the way.

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Tom Frearson TomFrearson.com

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By the time I quit my job in 2011, I basically hated every single day – the corporate mentality, meetings for the sake of meetings, even having to be dressed up in a suit. None of it felt real and I felt like there was no point to anything I was doing. But I also knew, from setting up my own business years before, that I didn’t want to work in isolation for as long as it would take to get another new business off the ground. Becoming a digital nomad seemed like the perfect solution, as I’d be able to work on my own terms and be part of a supportive, global community of likeminded people.

I also love the flexible (albeit long!) working hours that come with this lifestyle, living in a warmer climate and having the chance to visit places I might never have even heard of otherwise. But most importantly, I’ve got a sense of purpose again. I’ve definitely been proven right. Although I’ve made lots of

mistakes with the two businesses I’ve launched since leaving the 9-5 behind (a web development business and a fitness and grooming website for professional men), I’ve been able to connect with some awesome, experienced entrepreneurs who have taught me a huge amount about what I’ve done wrong and how I can improve. This year, I’m going to turn it around! I also love the flexible (albeit long!) working hours that come with this lifestyle, living in a warmer climate and having the chance to visit places I might never have even heard of otherwise. But most importantly, I’ve got a sense of purpose again.

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Hannah & Chris Alford LovePlayWork.com

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When you build a life where you are only really answerable to yourself, you can adapt what you do to earn money to fit around where and how you want to live, not the other way round.

It’s easy to focus on the travel part of the ‘location independent’ lifestyle but for me one of the biggest privileges of creating this sort of life has to be in working for ourselves. When you decide to start offering your ‘expertise’ to a market, you not only have the power to determine exactly what every day looks like (how many people can say that?), you are also allowing yourself the space to be creative, business-savvy, persuasive, artistic, numerical, sales-oriented, organised, strategic... It’s the constant variety and challenge which keeps work feeling like fun and the goals you set yourself intensely motivating. I love that about what we do. Chris and I are lucky to be able to work together- I’m amazed how readily you can adapt your skills to fit the spaces that your partner leaves behind. We always have so many projects to get excited and inspired by, and knowing that the efforts we make directly influences where we travel and how we live makes getting out of bed much easier (especially when we don’t even own an alarm clock!) Before we started to work for ourselves our lives looked a lot like plenty of other people’s- we had jobs (mine stressful, Chris’ repetitive), we came home knackered, we woke up every morning wishing it was Saturday... the usual stuff. But then we decided to cut out the middle man and offer our skills direct to clients ourselves. And that’s when the travel kicked in.

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In the past we were more inclined to simply pass through. Going forward, we will extend our stays to 6 months or even a year at a time, which will be fit better as our circumstances change. That’s the beauty of this lifestyle; you can change the rules as you go, depending on what suits you.

Hannah & Chris Alford LovePlayWork.com When you build a life where you are only really answerable to yourself, you can adapt what you do to earn money to fit around where and how you want to live, not the other way round. Exploring the world makes so much more sense to us than staying in the same place. It doesn’t suit everyone, but does seem to appeal to more and more people these days. Most people don’t seem to get round to actioning it though, despite the fact that it must be so much harder, day to day, to live a life that seems so much smaller than you had expected. We’ve always found that however daunting, it’s always best to take some action, however small, now. Everything is so much easier once you do.

When we started out we didn’t know there was a whole community of interconnected people who live and work like this - we learnt that we were ‘digital nomads’ several years in! No-one we knew thought this sort of travel was a good idea; it seemed impractical and self-indulgent. But I don’t intend to spend my life as a martyr; if you let it, it is really easy to live according to limitations, both yours and others’. If you choose this lifestyle it will present so many new and incredible experiences to you; how many you cram into your life is up to you.

We’ve spent 5 years travelling while we manage our random mix of business ventures. In that time we’ve learnt what works best for us and what compromises we need to make. For the last 3 years we’ve arranged home exchanges so we could be based, cost-free, in one place for at least a month at a time because we found that perpetual motion takes too much energy from our business. We prefer to explore a place really well, finding time to balance work, immerse in a new culture and environment, find hidden, local gems.

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Dragos Roua DragosRoua.com

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The freedom that comes with this lifestyle literally made my personal relationships explode. Once I started to give enough time to them I realized how little I was taking from this area. I mean, the freedom to take a walk whenever you want, the freedom to do things together whenever you want, without the pressure of a fixed routine, man, that’s something really precious.

Four years ago I decided to sell my online publishing company and start a new lifestyle. I didn’t know at that time that this lifestyle was going to be called “being a digital nomad”. At that time, all I wanted was to be free from the horrendous time schedule, stress and routine that came with owning a successful, but very demanding company. Let’s be clear here: I did very well as an entrepreneur, it wasn’t the “what” I was doing, it was more the “how” I was doing it. Let’s talk about 5 things that were completely changed in my life by this:

1 Physical Shape A couple of years ago I started to run. One year ago I started to learn (and dance) argentine tango. Those events alone had a huge impact on my diet, schedule and, eventually, on my physical shape. I lost 12 kilos (and I have a feeling that I will never find them again). I finished two marathons. I go to milongas at least once a week (sometimes more often). Friends that I haven’t seen in more the one year are looking at me mesmerized and somehow worried: are you ill or something? How did you lose all that weight?

2 Income sources When I was an entrepreneur, my income was coming from my own company. Which was good, because I had total control over it. And which was also bad, because, basically, I had all my eggs in one basket. Since I became a digital nomad, things changed dramatically here.

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Dragos Roua DragosRoua.com Now, I make money from a variety of sources. Consulting, blogging, ebooks, workshops, apps, affiliate marketing, there is an entire ecosystem of products surrounding my blog and my social media presence. The big advantage is that now my “eggs” are spread around many baskets.

3 Personal Relationships The freedom that comes with this lifestyle literally made my personal relationships explode. Once I started to give enough time to them I realized how little I was taking from this area. I mean, the freedom to take a walk whenever you want, the freedom to do things together whenever you want, without the pressure of a fixed routine, man, that’s something really precious.

4 Working Hours I work any time I want. Period. I don’t have to sign up anywhere, I don’t have to report to anyone. I don’t get penalties if I get late. In fact, since I don’t have a fixed routine, I can never be late.

5 Authority Figures That may sound surprising, but when you work in a traditional way, in a company with a fixed structure, you are following a few authority figures, the most important being your hierarchical boss. When you work independently, as a digital nomad, you don’t have these anymore. You don’t have a boss anymore, you’re not following an authority figure. But fact is you DO need an authority figure in your life, otherwise you will start to drift away. You need some level of enforcement, otherwise you won’t be able to accomplish much, and, even worse, you’ll start to think that’s the way it should be. You will start to mistake freedom with laziness. You’ll start to think that you can live without providing any kind of value. Which, is of course, wrong.

But. There’s a but, as always. Some of my personal relationships had to end. Guess which ones? Yeap, you’re right, the kind of relationships that involved partners which were still working in a fixed routine. Some of them became friendships, while some of them really vanished away. I gladly paid that price.

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Experiences > Stuff: Mobility, New Wealth & a Way of Living

Jon Myers JonMyers.com

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When Cody first asked me to write an article based on what I liked most about location independent lifestyle my mind gravitated towards the obvious.

For me, the best part of this lifestyle is that you have the opportunity to be a player in helping shift this evolution of how we will live and work. To be responsible for yourself, anywhere on this planet, and be a part of something that is bigger than yourself.

Beautiful beaches, dynamic rising cities, low-cost living, the word “freedom” factors heavily into painting a picture this lifestyle. There’s learning about new cultures, amazing food, language challenges, meeting new people, making new friends, and challenging yourself to always be evolving. These are all attainable things that are now more possible at this moment more than any other point in history. The thing is - these aren’t even the best parts. In the new model of wealth and living, experiences and mobility trump the rabid, blind pursuit of stuff.

What You Are Supposed to be Doing There’s something even bigger going on, which if you don’t pay close attention will fly right under your radar because like I once was, you’re probably invested in the fading idea of “what you are supposed to be doing”. Go to school, get a job, get married, buy a house, fill it with stuff, have kids, retire, and finally enjoy life.

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If you’re reading this on a computer the tools, knowledge and platform to participate are at your fingertips. You can be a Google search away from embarking on a quest to get exactly what you want.

Jon Myers JonMyers.com

We’ve seen this idea of what we’re supposed to be doing go through radical changes. This idea has undergone a transformation, and those that excel in the next wave will have let go of the conventions of what they’re supposed to be doing, and rethinking and acting upon what’s next.

The weight of the world is on your shoulders and that’s a good thing.

Delayed Gratiﬁcation is Dead What’s going on is a shift that is one of the most significant shifts in the history of the planet. It’s a mostly unforeseen shift that strikes at the very core of an inevitable evolution of how we live, work, and play. At the center of this shift are the enabling forces of globalization, technology and human evolution.

Now it’s up to you. Will you put the weight of the world on your shoulders?

The World is in Your Hands “What we are supposed to be doing” has now landed squarely into our own hands and it is now up to us to own just that - what we are supposed to be doing by rewriting the script to suit our own liking. You’re the star of your own show.

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How NOT Going to University or Buying a House Saved my Life

Nora Dunn TheProfessionalHobo.com

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I wasn’t always a Professional Hobo. For over 10 years I ran with the ranks of the working Canadian population’s median, earning a good income and spending it as society dictated was acceptable. However somehow in the mix I managed to escape the holds of both university and home-ownership – by the skin of my teeth.

I believe our societal landscape is changing, and we have the ability to re-write the book of life right now. In the meantime there doesn’t have to be any rules. Just passion, creativity, and commitment.

And honestly, if either the university or the house had transpired, I’m not sure I would be sitting on a Caribbean island today, living a financially sustainable life of full-time travel. And that. That would be a shame.

Escaping University

When I graduated high school, my parents – as any good parents would – encouraged me to go to University. But I simply didn’t know what I wanted to do with the chasm that represented the rest of my life as a “grown up”. At the tender age of 18, does anybody? So I cut a deal with my parents. I gallantly offered to save them the money of supporting me through University getting a general degree in something useless like underwater basket weaving for lack of my having any other solid direction. In University’s stead, I’d responsibly garner life experience, take courses, and when I was ready to commit to a higher education, I’d pay for it myself to squeeze all the value of it that I could. My parents raised me to be strong and independent; they couldn’t exactly object to this decision which I’d already made, so they quietly conceded.

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Depending on your career of choice, a University education may help, but it’s not a necessity.

Nora Dunn TheProfessionalHobo.com

The Necessity of University

Some careers (like medicine, education, and law) of course require a University education. And if you’ve chosen these careers, power to you – you know what you’ve got to do.

Over the years, I acquired skills from a number of careers: administrative services, television production, property management, musical theatre performance, various entrepreneurial ventures, and financial planning. I took courses in each of these fields to further my knowledge, and eventually completed the Certified Financial Planner designation: an internationally recognized designation which takes years to achieve.

Success without a Degree

Meanwhile, a high-school friend of mine with strictly traditional parents went the University route. Her parents thought I had thrown my life away. Every time my name came up in conversation, they’d bow their heads and shake them sorrowfully, since I’d effectively ruined my life by not going to University. Over the years I struggled – and prospered - and made waves through various careers and businesses, being interviewed for newspapers and television shows and doing large public speaking engagements about financial planning; my friend’s parents almost winced with each success. My friend relished sharing my accomplishments with her parents, delighting in reminding them each time that I never went to University.

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But if you – like me, and so many others out there – are still trying to define yourself, a degree isn’t necessarily going to provide that definition. It will help you think in new ways, expand your mind and knowledge, and you’ll learn how to please professors. But University isn’t the only place to acquire these life skills. Traveling the world and exploring entrepreneurship can be equally educational and beneficial.

Escaping Home Ownership

In the last years of my marriage (many years ago), something wasn’t right but we weren’t sure how to fix it. What to do? Follow society’s roadmap to life of course: buy a house! (Because 25 years of debt makes everything better, didn’t you know?) It’s a blessing that house prices in Toronto were outrageous at the time, and the one house we found appealing enough to make an offer on fell through. In fact it was only a short while afterwards that we realized our discontent wasn’t in “throwing our money away on rent” - it was in the life we had built together that no longer served us. The change we needed wasn’t a move of home; it was a much deeper change. One that – for me – involved fulfilling a dream of traveling full-time and keeping it sustainable with a location independent business.

The Digital Nomad Imperative

payments rarely – if ever – equate to the full cost of home ownership (when you account for taxes, repairs, fees, and the myriad of other expenses above and beyond a mortgage). You are not necessarily “throwing your money away” if you rent.

Nora Dunn TheProfessionalHobo.com Simultaneous to my own home ownership tribulations, my friend had just bought a house with her new husband. With rocketing house prices and low interest rates, they bought more house than they could afford (but which the bank seemed to think they could), and they joined the ranks of being house-rich and cash-poor. The years of misery that ensued for her may or may not have had to do with the restrictions and unrealistic expectations of firsttime home ownership, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t help. She was trapped by her own wealth of assets; forced to maintain the status quo just to make mortgage payments.

There are Many Paths

I’ve led a non-conventional life for as long as I can remember. So it was in my nature to challenge conventional norms like going to university and buying a house, and my non-conventional approach has served me exceptionally well. I know I’m a bit of an exception to the norm. But I also know I’m far from being alone.

It was this life-long commitment to debt in the form of bricks and mortar that effectively eliminated my friend’s ability to make new life choices. (And her ensuing divorce was made even uglier by their inability to sell the house when the time came.)

It’s Not All Bad

In fact, although higher education and home ownership can be viable foundations for a conventional lifestyle, they limit your choices in life....such as the choice to travel widely and develop a cutting-edge location independent business.

Don’t drop out of university or cancel that bid on a house because you’re reading this (in fact I flatter myself to think you actually might). They aren’t bad in and of themselves. But don’t accept the template lifestyle if it doesn’t resonate with you.

Far be it for me to suggest that a university education and home ownership are bad things. They won’t ruin your life (at least, not in and of themselves).

What I’m challenging is the popular notion that in order to be successful in life, you must have a degree and own property. A degree does not equate to employability. And monthly rent

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The Freedom to Figure Out What’s Next

Jenny Blake LifeAfterCollege.org

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The beautiful thing about travel and living abroad is that it creates room to figure out what’s next. It allows us to break free from current routines and obligations as we open up to the unknown.

As a solopreneur—I am an author, speaker and micro-business coach—my life and business are often conflated . . . it can be hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. When I feel healthy and happy, I’m motivated and excited to work on my business. When I don’t take care of myself—primarily through eating well, exercising, having ample alone time, and making space for my bigger projects—my business suffers. My most recent big life-business adventure was moving to Bali and Thailand for two and a half months to experiment with running my business abroad, restart my creativity, and figure out what’s next. I had been feeling confused, lethargic and “neither here nor there” in the months leading up to the trip, and I knew that I needed to get away from my normal routines to work my way through the confusion. The trip delivered. All in all, it was a huge success: I had one of my best income months in two years of business, was able to bust-through my writer’s block, and felt completely re-energized by having so much alone time. If it weren’t for a speaking engagement in Canada, I might even still be there! The beautiful thing about travel and living abroad is that it creates room to figure out what’s next. It allows us to break free from current routines and obligations as we open up to the unknown. Travel teaches us to push past our fears, to find the courage to explore our inner and outer world, and forces us to turn-off the autopilot. As a result, we find ourselves naturally living more fully in the present as we navigate unknown roads, meet new people, sample exotic foods, and awkwardly stumble through foreign languages.

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Jenny Blake LifeAfterCollege.org Business-wise, the sense of adventure and spontaneity can foster creativity and a surge of new ideas. The solitude and quiet time provides space for introspection and direction-setting. The (often) lower cost of living can allow for financial room to breathe. Meet-ups with other solopreneurs around the world inject brain fuel, friendship and fun. Finally, travel can bring us back to a sense of gratitude—for how damn good we have it— and open our eyes to the larger global community as we see how differently others live. As I write this, I hear the adage “it’s about the journey not the destination” ringing in my mind, but I can’t help but feel like sometimes it is about the destination; oftentimes a new destination is exactly the catalyst I need to shake-up and re-energize my journey. Of course we can figure out what’s next from wherever we live, but if you can find the courage to create your own opportunities to explore the world, you might just find the freedom totally liberating—and maybe, just maybe, even more profitable in body, mind and business.

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Dani and Jess GlobeTrotterGirls.com

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We have never been happier. Sure, we earn less money, have less stability and security, and are essentially homeless. We are also living the life of our dreams and feel entirely fulfilled by the control of our schedule, our income, our fate and yes, our location.

For Dani and I, location independence has been earth-shattering and life-altering. Dramatic? Sure, but also so true. There is nothing in our lives today that functions the same way it did when we were living and working in London. Dani and I broke free in April 2010 after slogging away in the London cubicle system for three years. The months leading up to that point were very dark, two recent and then not-so-recent graduates clinging to bottom rungs of a corporate ladder, fighting for every inch we could rise, paying half our wages in rent, a good chunk for transport, and saving what we had left for weekend escapes. I can still remember the butterflies in our stomachs on the bus to Heathrow, the kind of butterflies you have only a few days in life - the start of that first summer vacation with a drivers license or the day of your last ever college final exam. But this time, this freedom was at least semi-permanent and notions of what the future held were undoubtedly romantic. Cut to today, three years later, and we have never been happier. Sure, we earn less money, have less stability and security, and are essentially homeless. We are also living the life of our dreams and feel entirely fulfilled by the control of our schedule, our income, our fate and yes, our location. We are writing this today from Argentina, and within the next three months we’ll be working and living on three different continents. At first, the travel was the main attraction. We road-tripped California and the South West, traveled three months through Mexico and spend six months in Central America traveling by local bus only. We never imagined this would last more than a

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We have learned to love life lived outside on the street, not in a resort- we love street food, street art and appreciate the everyday moments of the places we live and work more than the attractions listen in the tourist brochure. Then again, we’re also not on vacation – this is our life now.

Dani and Jess GlobeTrotterGirls.com year, and had no idea that a nomadic lifestyle could be sustainable. As we continued through Europe and South East Asia, we realized that it was the independence and the freedom that created the underlying sense of satisfaction. At that point, our purpose shifted from making enough money to get by to figuring out how to create a stable business to continue this lifestyle into the future. The learning curve on this route is dangerously steep: we’ve had to learn about business, web design, marketing, advertising, improve our writing and photography and still manage our travel schedules, too. But the changes have been so incredibly worth it. I’ve always been a bit of a scrappy traveler mixing in the occasional splurge, but Dani was a package vacation and two-suitcase kind of girl until 2010. She’s now an adventurous, independent budget traveler. Whereas it was easy for her to fall into a trap of ‘poor me’ and ‘the grass is always greener’ now we know that the grass is greener where you water it – where you put the effort in. Seeing so much of the world has given us an entirely new and better-rounded perspective of life, hope, happiness and what really matters.

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The true lesson that has come of this for us has been that full control of our business fate means that the only thing holding us back is entirely in our own minds. There is no boss or ‘the man’ to blame. In other words, location independence forced us to deal with our fears and get our sh*t straight in order to accept full responsibility for everything that happens to us. Not being able to blame anyone else was a huge slap in the face, and then our greatest lesson so far. The biggest gift that location independence has given us both is authentic motivation. No more working for a paycheck and overachieving for a bigger one. No more dreading overtime in the office and sneaking out for half hour Starbucks breaks. Okay, so we still enjoy the coffee breaks. But whereas before we couldn’t wait to get off work, now we are total workaholics, determined and driven not by the fact that we have no safety net (which we don’t) but by the passion that this location independence has let loose inside of us both.

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Living abroad made me realize even more that there are no borders. The Netherlands used to be ‘my country’ and crossing borders for a longer period of time would feel exciting and a little scary as well. The exciting, fun part stayed, but the scary part left. I now know that even though there are cultural differences, we all have our basic human needs, we all love to laugh, love to experience and love to love.

Lieve de Lint LievedeLint.com

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Living abroad made me realize even more that there are no borders... I now know that even though there are cultural differences, we all have our basic human needs, we all love to laugh, love to experience and love to love.

You can make friends everywhere from anywhere, and you can feel at home in many other places other than your home country. The word “digital nomad” is not my favorite word, because I need a home far away from home. I wouldn’t say I have a nomadic life, even when I don’t have my own apartment. I wouldn’t want to hop countries every two weeks, have the same superficial ‘travel’ talks with fellow travelers (the familiar ‘where have you been’, ‘where are you going’) over and over again. What I like is to really live abroad, get to really become familiar with the surroundings, create a home and build a circle of a few good friends. I’ve been blessed with meeting people with whom I just clicked with. People I understood and that understood me, that I felt good around and that I will hope to keep close to me for the rest of my life. They won’t pass by every week, but they can be around any corner in any strange, interesting, and beautiful place in the world. And when you have them, you can feel at home anywhere. So I guess I would say to take the what-at-first can look like a scary leap of faith. Get rid of the walls of your house, your made-up limitations and cross borders. Experience living somewhere else for a while, even if it’s just for a few months. It might give you the tingly sense of freedom some get totally hooked on. Or it might give you at totally new appreciation for your cozy apartment or great job that you already had. Whatever it is, it will bring you something you didn’t have before and it will open up your world. At least, that’s what happened for me :)

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Tynan Tynan.com

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Learning about the world is an important and valuable thing, enough to justify traveling on its own. But maybe even more valuable than what you learn about the world is what you learn about yourself.

Right now I’m in the middle of the biggest project of my life. Two years ago, naive to what it would actually take to do so, I began building a new and better blogging platform called SETT. It started as a side project, but at around a year in, it became all consuming. I decided that I was going to do whatever it took to make SETT a great thing. When you decide to focus on one thing, you must take your focus away from others, and I did. I decided to eat the same exact thing every single day to cut down on meal prep time. I stopped accepting social invitations from all but my best friends. I decided to not date until 2015. I work for around fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. The one thing I didn’t eliminate is traveling. I cut down a bit, but last year I still managed to spend a few weeks exploring China by train, I rode a motorcycle around Alaska, solo hiked the Salcantay Trek in Peru, and went cave diving in Tulum, Mexico. How is it that dating and food get cut, but travel doesn’t? Our activities can be cut up an any number of ways. One such division would be output vs. input. Around the time I shifted my weight behind SETT, I decided that I was going to skew my time towards output. I would use as much of my life as possible creating things of value for other people. So I work all day, progamming and writing. You can’t eliminate input entirely, though. For one, it’s hard to be creative in a vacuum, isolated from the complexity of the real world. Two, it’s hard to maintain a good work ethic with no stimulation whatsoever. Too much stimulation can be a bad thing, but a little bit serves as kindling for the fire.

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ences between your culture and other cultures. You also see the millions of similarities. You don’t catalog these comparisons, but their effect is imprinted on your brain. You understand the world just a tiny bit more every time you step out into it.

Tynan Tynan.com When little of your time is devoted to output, you don’t have to be that discerning with the input. You’ll get enough of everything. But when almost all of your time is spent on output, you have to be very careful what you let in. There’s no time for junk like video games and TV. Traveling, as it turns out, is probably the highest quality input you can get. I first learned this when I came back from my first big trip in 2008. My decision to become a nomad was mostly just the following of a whim to inject some more adventure into my life. A friend and I sold everything we had, and planned an itinerary that would lead us around the world: running with the bulls in Span, illegally exploring the French catacombs, kickboxing in Thailand, riding on the roof of a bombed out train in Cambodia, and getting stranded in the jungles of Panama. It wasn’t exactly a journey of deliberate introspection. When we got back, though, I knew that something had changed. It wasn’t concrete enough for me to say, “Well, I used to X, but now I Y”, but it was as if I saw life through a different set of lenses. Or maybe the same lenses, with some of the cloudiness polished away. Just as a goldfish doesn’t know that the world outside his fishbowl exists, we don’t realize just how small our sphere is until we step out of it. When you travel you see the millions of subtle differ-

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Learning about the world is an important and valuable thing, enough to justify traveling on its own. But maybe even more valuable than what you learn about the world is what you learn about yourself. Even the most timid traveler learns that he can handle more than he thought he could. He’s nudged outside of his comfort zone, and is given the space to create a new larger one. Every nomad is a little bit nervous on their first trip, but never on their second. Where else could that sort of confidence come from? When you travel, you make friends with people you wouldn’t have talked to otherwise. I met a girl at a hostel in Singapore who immediately hated because she didn’t know how to use her international socket adapter and short circuited the electricity for our hostel. She ended up coming with us to Thailand, and years later hosted us in Norway. I’d like to think that that experience, amongst others, taught me to be a bit more forgiving and warm towards people. All of this is why travel is one of the very few inputs I allow myself these days. It’s just too valuable to give up. Where else can I learn about the world, learn about myself, learn about other people, and have a smile on my face while doing it? If you’re on the fence about beginning a nomadic life, my strongest recommendation is not only to do it, but to do it as soon as possible. I’ve heard a lot of nomads say a lot of things, but I’ve never heard anyone say “I wish I had waited a little bit longer before getting out into the world...”

The Digital Nomad Imperative

Tal Gur PassivelyFree.com

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Being a Digital Nomad - Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about Freedom

Imagine waking up every morning knowing that you can work from anywhere, whether it be from the comfort of your own home, a local cafe, while sitting at the beach, or even on a boat drifting down the Amazon river. Imagine being able to spend time with your loved ones, your friends, your family, whenever you need and without asking permission.

Imagine waking up every morning knowing that you can work from anywhere, whether it be from the comfort of your own home, a local cafe, while Imagine being able to live anywhere you want and contribute to sitting at the beach, or even on a boat drifting down the world in whatever way you choose. the Amazon river.

It seems almost unimaginable to have that kind of freedom, but thanks to the internet, it has become a increasingly possible feat. 2009 was the year I finally became a digital nomad; I quit a wellpaying corporate job, sold almost everything I owned, packed a small backpack, left my beloved Australia and went on a four-year nomadic journey around the world. I have created a freedom for myself that was simply not possible with my corporate 9-5 job. Creating an income online allowed me to pretty much live and travel to anywhere I wanted. For four years I set my own schedule and made your own rules. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to spend 2 hours a day driving or dress to impress people at the corporate office. I sometimes worked in my pajamas or without a shirt on in the sun. And, I did all of that while traveling the world to faraway lands, chasing my dreams.

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Tal Gur PassivelyFree.com What about you? Is your heart calling you to a life of freedom? What do you have to leave behind in order to answer that call? The primary message I want to leave you with is this: donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give up on freedom. The internet is a great platform to start a business without high startup capital, overheads and risks. You can begin with a blog, an information product, or by providing services online. Whatever you decide, take some small action today to get going in the direction of your dreams. We are extremely fortunate to live in an era that allows us to literally run a business from the palm of our hand. Are you going to take advantage of it, or live wondering how your life could have turned out if you took the leap? Live Your Dreams!

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The Power of Place: How your surroundings influence your success and what Hemingway can teach you about the benefits of living abroad

Tommy Schultz Tommy Schultz.com

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On a frigid day in December a young American journalist arrived in Paris, determined to make a name for himself.

Living in a new place pushes you in ways you can’t anticipate, everyday things like grocery shopping or going out for dinner can become adventures. Over time, these experiences will help shift your mindset away from seeing your work as just a way to fill your time between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to being the reason you’re psyched to get out of bed every morning.

Although he was just starting his career, he already knew that a future of grinding out newspaper dispatches wasn’t for him. He dreamed of the day he might finally pursue his true passion— fiction writing. Unfortunately, making a living as a writer was just as difficult then as it is now—and he didn’t have any contacts at the big publishing houses and only a few articles from the Toronto Star. Against the odds, he would produce some of the most important works of fiction in the 20th century over the next four years. By the time he chose to move back to America, he had made his ‘impossible’ dream into a spectacularly successful reality—he was a full-time author. Yes, the world has changed a lot in the past 90 years, so what can Ernest Hemingway’s life in Paris teach you about pursuing your own passion in the 21st century? The Benefits of Living Abroad Hemingway was drawn to Paris in 1921 by many of the same factors that are inspiring people from all walks of life to abandon their ‘safe’ careers and move to places like Bangkok, Saigon, and Bali today: The advantages of living in a place with an inexpensive local currency.

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what it is that they can offer to the world and how to turn it into a profitable business.

Tommy Schultz Tommy Schultz.com

So take some inspiration from the Hemingway’s time in 1920’s Paris. It’s not too late to take a page from the ‘Lost Generation’s’ playbook and find your creative muse in the communities creatives and entrepreneurs are building today all over the world from Bangkok to Buenos Aires.

The inspiration of meeting other like-minded creative people. Within months of arriving in Paris, he had met Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Picasso, Joan Miró, and Ezra Pound—famous artists and writers who would help make him the world-famous writer whose works are still read today. We’re not only talking about how to become a writer here. Every entrepreneur needs the same sort of inspiration and zeitgeist that artists depend on to fuel their creative output. And over the past nine years of living abroad myself, I can say that the influence of my surroundings on what I’ve been able to accomplish has been huge. Living in a new place pushes you in ways you can’t anticipate, everyday things like grocery shopping or going out for dinner can become adventures. Over time, these experiences will help shift your mindset away from seeing your work as just a way to fill your time between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to being the reason you’re psyched to get out of bed every morning. And the advantage of living in a relatively less expensive place where your earnings go that much further will give you the freedom to make the inevitable mistakes that every entrepreneur or artist makes as they work through the process of finding exactly

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People have been practicing “lifestyle design” in various forms for decades, but that particular phrase has been a bit more mainstream the last few years, perhaps assisted by the success of Timothy Ferriss’ book The Four-Hour Workweek.

Andy Gray ACongruentLife.net

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I’ve grown to value location independence and time independence far more than the regular paycheck and “security” of a traditional career. I want to be able to live and work wherever I want, without worrying if I can find a local job that matches my skills and provides an adequate salary.

Perhaps predictably, there also seems be something of a backlash about it. Maybe it’s the book title (“no way does he only work four hours a week!”), or the hyperbole of the subtitle (“Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich”). Maybe it’s the litany of excuses that come so readily with fear: I’m not young enough, I’m not skilled enough, I’m not rich enough, I’m a parent… Somehow “lifestyle design” now seems to incorrectly imply that you’re a 20-something lacking drive, shirking responsibility, and living out of a backpack. But wait a minute - really, who wouldn’t want to be deliberate about designing their lifestyle? As it happens, I just turned 42, I have three sons, I’m far from wealthy, and I love where I live (the stunningly-beautiful mountain landscapes of Central Oregon, USA). Making conscious choices about your life is important whether you’re 18 or 80, and location independence might just as easily mean choosing to live in Oregon as it does being nomadic. At its core, the real attraction is that word “independence.” I’ve grown to value location independence and time independence far more than the regular paycheck and “security” of a traditional career. I want to be able to live and work wherever I want, without worrying if I can find a local job that matches my skills and provides an adequate salary. When my boys ask me to backpack into the Grand Canyon with them, I want

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Andy Gray ACongruentLife.net to say yes without hesitation, and not wonder if I have enough vacation days or whether my boss will let me go. I want to be of service, but also be able to put my kayak on the water with my girlfriend on a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon. I want my perspective to be calibrated such that it’s not an unreasonable thing to fly around the world to hang out with some amazing people for an extended time, knowing that I can keep my businesses humming along no matter what time zone I might be in any given day. Oh, and those 20-somethings? I’ve met a bunch of them in these circles, and by and large they’re engaging productively with the world at least as much as those “responsible adults” making excuses. It’s totally inspiring to see people consciously designing their lives, rather than letting someone else design their lives for them. Andy Gray is the host of A Congruent Life (www.acongruentlife. net), an interview project and podcast sharing inspirational stories of authenticity and happiness. He also helps small business and non-profits be more effective with technology at www.blackcrater.com.

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Doug Yuen EfficientWP.com

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You can follow the old way of thinking and work hard all your life, save up a lot of money, and then maybe you can retire to a tropical beach. But why wait? Go to that tropical beach first. Start planning now. It’s easier than you think.

For me, being a digital nomad is all about the community. Before I started traveling, I thought it would be all about seeing famous places and experiencing new cultures. But the shared experiences are far more meaningful and memorable. You’ll meet people with diverse backgrounds and far more interesting experiences than those who have always lived in the same place. You’ll cross paths with your friends over and over again around the globe. It’s far from a lonely lifestyle. Being location independent has been the best thing I could do for building my business. Travel has kept me from getting burned out or bored with work. Living in places like Thailand for months at a time reduced my living expenses while simultaneously increasing my quality of life. This allowed me to invest more time and money into my business. And of course, likeminded traveling entrepreneurs have given me great ideas and advice that I know I never would have received back home. Instant gratification is highly underrated. Does anyone lie on their deathbed and regret not working more? No, we regret not enjoying our lives more. You can follow the old way of thinking and work hard all your life, save up a lot of money, and then maybe you can retire to a tropical beach. But why wait? Go to that tropical beach first. Start planning now. It’s easier than you think.

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Stacey Herbert BrazenCopyWriter.com

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I now offer value to the world in a way that I never would have done if I had swallowed the rule book, sleep-walking through life never challenging the status quo. I wouldn’t go back to the life and style I used to have.

Becoming Brazen

I remember standing in Gatwick airport, London, frantically trying to get my 25kg suitcase down to a more respectable 22kg so I could board the flight without dropping a fortune on excess luggage. Needless to say, my journey into the location independent lifestyle was not the result of a careful culmination of well-planned steps. In fact, primarily, it was a fight-or-flight response to a life-changing personal situation which I decided to use as a launch pad to do something I had long thought about doing – albeit in a disjointed and somewhat delusional way. I had heard the terms - digital nomad, location independent and lifestyle designer -, but they were all very new concepts to me. And, although I’d always had vague musings about living overseas (right next to a beach, to be exact), I had no clear idea of when or how I would do that. Not to mention a noticeable absence of any transportable skills to speak of. There was only one thing I knew how to do, as I had been doing it since I was five years old. It’s important to mention that the stamp I got on that sweaty day in the airport (making painful decisions on what piece of vintage frippery I could stand to lose in the name of getting to my destination) was not the first one; far from it. At 31 years old, I had been to over 20 countries on three continents. I had always been a bit of a nomad. But the thing is, on all those occasions there had always been a plan, an end point and a return flight home. I’d always been a tourist. This time, I had no plan and, at times, I recall feeling positively overwhelmed with the magnitude of my decision. There were even times when I felt a hopeless desire to be younger in years, where making a life change of this type carried less risk. I mean: 31, single, childless, unemployed? There are many who would say I was crazy!

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as I thought, and it was time to get to work.

Stacey Herbert BrazenCopyWriter.com

The type of writing that commands a six or seven figure income a year was not the creative, fluffy, feel-good stuff I could pump out in a heartbeat. And it became pretty apparent that if I wanted a slice of that lucrative pie, I would need to skill up fast!

I had a bag full of clothes, enough money to last for six months or so, and two (very low) paying clients. I figured that would need to be enough, and it was.

You’re not as good as you think you are

The only transferable bankable skill that I had at the time - or at least so I thought – was the ability to write. So with my laptop, an innate sense of hustle and a burning desire to prove myself right - and my doubters jealous -, I set out to start a freelance writing business. I had no clue what I was doing. At times I still don’t, but to be honest, I like it that way.

The most important skill you need.

I wrote for everyone and anyone and for very little money, but I still felt this sense of achievement and awe every time I got that email from PayPal saying “you’ve got funds”. The fact that it was for usually less than $20 didn’t matter to me. All that mattered was I had found a way to do something I enjoyed and there were people out there who would pay me for it. Needless to say, writing SEO stuffed articles at $20 a pop got real old real quick. But thankfully, I learnt very quickly that writing weak articles for content farms, or even worse, excellent content for profitable businesses -for little or no money - was not a business model I could sustain. It also taught me another very valuable lesson, which has been both humbling and humiliating at times: I wasn’t as good a writer

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The following months were spent learning everything I could about sales, marketing, persuasive writing and creating a sales environment in the online world. To this day this education continues. In fact, it’s one of the most rewarding things about being an entrepreneur: having the ability to learn, and then implement with very little restrictions.

The first day I identified myself as “copywriter”, I felt like a liar and a fraud. But with a little bit of reflection, the slow but steady success I was experiencing starting a new business - which for the first year didn’t even have a website - could all be traced to one core skill. Let me explain… There was a time when I used to sell shoes. But not just any shoes, these were high-end designer shoes often running into several hundred pounds a pair. I didn’t only sell shoes; I sold handbags, sundries and store cards, and I remember I used to choose a customer, (mark) and decide how much money (commission) I would get out of them before I let them leave the store. It was a very lucrative game I used to play to pass the time working in a soulless and otherwise reward-less job! Although it wasn’t immediately apparent to me at the time, those days selling shoes (and double glazing door-to-door, and many more) had supplied me with the most important skill needed to

The Digital Nomad Imperative

Stacey Herbert BrazenCopyWriter.com excel as a location independent digital nomad: the ability to sell. Deciding I didn’t want to be a bottom feeder ‘duking it out’ for bad gigs on Odesk or wasting time cruising forums hoping to pick up a client was a pivotal point in my business. But I also realized my positioning in the marketplace would have to change in order to attract the clients and command that rates I wanted. Learning to set and then stick to my rates, whilst systematically assessing how I could add more value and charge even more still, has at times been a harrowing process full of trial and errors. But the day someone deposited more money in my bank account than I had ever earned in any job was the proof that I was on the right track.

During that time, what I’ve learnt is this: The day-to-day reality of the average location independent entrepreneur is far removed from the urban myth that we spend all day chilling in a hammock sipping cool beers. To succeed in this lifestyle and build a business that will be profitable, whilst affording you the level of freedom and mobility most people only dream of, requires, at times, even more hard work than putting in the hours at your job. Personally, I have yet to experience that 4-hour work week - and I’m actually not sure whether I want to -, but I’ve met those who have attained the Holy Grail.

Becoming Brazen

Thinking of baselining in Asia? You’ll be in good company Today I’m mainly based in Asia, the not-so-original landing pad of the lifestyle designer in need of a low-cost of living to baseline and bootstrap a business. Far from moving from one spot to another every few months, I’m more of a stationary digital nomad, choosing to throw down on a yearlong lease, buy a BBQ for the yard; and enjoy the simple things like having friends over for dinner.

One commonality I have found about the type of people bold enough to flip the script and take a non-traditional course in life is that they have a vivacious appetite for knowledge and new experiences. And, these last two years have exposed me to the highest concentration of smart, dedicated and driven people I have ever had the pleasure to spend time with.

This desire to be stable and create routines and processes may have something to do with the fact that I’ve travelled a lot more than your average digital nomad type, or the fact that I’m older and find living out of a backpack not only tiresome, but utterly depressing. The fact of the matter is, choosing to go so completely against the grain in terms of your career and lifestyle choices can at times be quite a lonely and solitary experience. Getting linked-in with a likeminded community of other nomadic business owners is, in my opinion, mission-critical. They not only will stop you doubting your decision, but also make sure you don’t spend 15-hours a day sat in front of a screen.

In February of 2012 Brazen Copywriter was born. Taking a visual concept from my head and translating that into a professionallooking website, from which I could market my services, led to one of the first business lessons I learnt the hard way: always hire the best you can afford. You can’t get, cheap, fast, and good!

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I know there is still room for exponential growth in my skills and my business. But taking a leap of faith and trusting the yearning in my heart to be my own boss and run my own business - occasionally from a hammock on some breathtaking beach somewhere -, was the best decision I ever made.

Stacey Herbert BrazenCopyWriter.com Just jump

If you had told me three years ago that this was what my life will look like, I would have guffawed thinking it was a silly pipe dream - before asking for a LOT more detail.

If you’re sitting on the fence somewhere bogged down with the if’s, what’s, why’s, when’s and how’s…,close your eyes, visualize what you want, believe with every fiber of your being that not only can you have it, but you’re worth it. Then jump. Your courage will catch you.

Learning to run and grow my copywriting business from scratch with no prior experience has been one of the most exhilarating and challenging things I have ever done. I’ve learnt some hard and harsh truths about myself as a person, and had my preconceptions of what is possible challenged on a daily basis. I’ve been confronted with my weakness, my insecurities and my own bullshit on more occasions than I care to mention, and at times it’s been downright uncomfortable. However, there is something intangibly rewarding about being in control of your own experience, and it’s a lot more than just boosting your income. For all the uncertainty and moments when I feel unqualified or where there isn’t a big money project in the pipeline and I become angst ridden - I now offer value to the world in a way that I never would have done if I had swallowed the rule book, sleep-walking through life never challenging the status quo. I wouldn’t go back to the life and style I used to have. Today, right now, I’m in control of my life. And I’m able to make choices and decisions that align with who I am, what I believe and how I want to live. It’s not always pretty, it’s not always perfect and

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Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I didn’t fall in love with travel. What if I didn’t take that first solo trip to Boston or that first long-term trip to Australia? Sometimes I wonder what I would have done if I didn’t spend 2012 in Asia.

Matt Bailey LiveLimitless.net

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The ability to meet such an array of people, travel the world, start businesses, and push my limits have completely changed my life in incredible ways. It’s forced me to think outside the box and create businesses that can be developed online. I’ve been interviewed by major newspapers and have acted in movies. I even met my fiancé who is from Mexico City.

Maybe I would be working a half-decent job in an office. Maybe I’d be driving a beautiful car with a navigation system that helps me find my home. Maybe I’d even own a medium-sized house and a 60-inch TV to watch Netflix on. But I don’t have that stuff because it simply wouldn’t fit into my backpack when I board my next flight to South America, Europe, the Caribbean, or Africa. That’s the best part of being a digital nomad or a location independent human being. It’s the luxury of flexibility and freedom. As long as I can do my work via the Internet, I can choose to go wherever I want for as long as I want. I can visit family in Canada or my “family-in-law” down in Mexico. Not just for a week or two but for a couple of months…or a couple of years if I like. It’s also given me the flexibility to create a life of adventure. I’ve skydived in New Zealand, partied with Tim Ferriss in San Francisco, attended a local wedding on a small island in Indonesia, scuba dived with sharks in the Philippines, got up close and personal with wild pigmy elephants in Borneo, went to university in Malaysia, and partied it up in the biggest city on earth. Since learning about the incredible mindset of geo-arbitrage and location independence, my life has changed dramatically. Suddenly, six-figure location-based jobs are no longer an attraction because they seal me down to one place. I don’t

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Matt Bailey LiveLimitless.net want to ask permission to go on a trip. I want to decide that for myself. But freedom and flexibility aren’t the only thing I love about being a digital nomad. It’s also about the connections and the absolute infinite amount of possibilities it creates. Since starting a blog, I’ve developed relationships with remarkable people all over the world. I have friends in Europe, Asia, Australia, and all over America. Better yet, they are all remarkable in different ways. Some are drummers and some are entrepreneurs. Some are inventors and some are business coaches. Some travel the world and start incredible charities that change the world. Some have become kind of “famous”. The ability to meet such an array of people, travel the world, start businesses, and push my limits have completely changed my life in incredible ways. It’s forced me to think outside the box and create businesses that can be developed online. I’ve been interviewed by major newspapers and have acted in movies. I even met my fiancé who is from Mexico City. Location independence has changed what I classify as my home. It’s no longer a physical structure in a Canadian city. It’s wherever I go. The world has truly become my home.

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Michelle Dale VirtualMissFriday.net

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The world and the people in it have so much to offer each other, and travelling opens the mind and the heart in ways only someone who has done it could ever comprehend or even begin to understand.

Becoming a digital nomad has provided me with a lifestyle beyond measure. The biggest thing I have learnt since I started my journey in 2005 is that life has so much more to offer than what we are brought up to believe - in one culture, in one country. The world and the people in it have so much to offer each other, and travelling opens the mind and the heart in ways only someone who has done it could ever comprehend or even begin to understand. My biggest takeaways from being a digital nomad are gratitude for the latest in modern technology which allows me to run a business online and a sense of acceptance, acceptance of having very few physical possessions in life and being completely okay with this choice. You never know where the journey will take you, but be prepared for every experience to bring a new lesson, and a richer, fuller life!

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I knew it was bad news the minute I heard my dad’s voice on the phone. He never used the phone except to chat after mom made a call, and I wasn’t even sure he knew any phone number except his own. My heart started pounding as soon as he said, “Baby girl, I’ve got bad news.”

Warren & Betsy Talbot MarriedWithLuggage.com

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There is no cookie-cutter approach to living the good life, just like there is no cookie-cutter definition of living the good life. You have to create what works for you because you are the one who will have to sustain it.

My 35-year-old brother was in the hospital after suffering a massive heart attack and the prognosis was grim. I immediately flew to Texas to be with him, and the next week in the critical care unit redefined the “master plan” my husband Warren and I had been planning for our lives. Time is a wildcard, and it doesn’t care what position you have in your company or what your plans for the future might be.

The Definition of Freedom Freedom is something we always said we wanted, but like it is for most people, the routine of life got in the way. As the years went by, our goal of personal freedom became just another far-off ideal, like world peace or daily exercise. Then came the wake-up call with my brother’s heart attack. Soon after a close friend in her 30s suffered a brain aneurysm. These events opened our eyes to the brevity of life, the uncertainty of time, and the precious relationships we enjoyed. This is when we decided to make Freedom a reality. We asked ourselves the question: “What would we change about our lives right now if we knew we wouldn’t make it to our 40th birthdays?” For two 37-year-olds, this put it all into perspective and

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neur. He rightly notes that the low bar to entry means self-publishing is open to almost anyone, but only those willing to treat it professionally will see true, long-term financial and creative success.

Warren & Betsy Talbot MarriedWithLuggage.com we made the decision to travel the world for one year. Over the course of 2 years we saved, downsized, and morphed our lifestyle to live our dream of world travel. In 2010 we left the US with only our backpacks and the website we created to detail our action plan to achieving our dream. Little did we realize at the time this would become our business and our permanent lifestyle.

Every week we get emails from people who have used our advice to make incredible change in their lives, and if you could live off the good karma from that we’d be millionaires. But anyone considering giving up a steady job for a life like this needs to know you can’t live on karma, good intentions, or ‘attaboys’ from anonymous Internet citizens. It takes paying clients to make this lifestyle succeed, and to get those clients you have to build something they want.

Freedom to Create Meaningful Work We began writing about our life change the day after we made the decision, buying the domain name MarriedwithLuggage. com and blogging about the joys, fears, and practical steps to achieving such a big life change. People flocked to the site to learn more about saving money for a big goal, streamlining their lives to have more freedom, and strengthening their core relationships. We realized that our practical example was a motivator for other people with big dreams – travel and otherwise – and we began documenting our methods in books. “Artisanal publishing” is the new term for self-publishing coined by Guy Kawasaki, author of APE: Author Publisher Entrepre-

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We’ve now written three books on creating big life change, two of which are in second edition status. If you have a strong message, an interested market, and a good work ethic, you can make a living writing and publishing books from anywhere in the world.

(You might be working on a beach or a mountaintop cabin, but it’s still work.) There is no cookie-cutter approach to living the good life, just like there is no cookie-cutter definition of living the good life. You have to create what works for you because you are the one who will have to sustain it. While this sounds like a lot of work, it’s actually an incredibly freeing opportunity because there is no feeling of “work” when you’re doing something you love.

The Digital Nomad Imperative

But when we compare our accomplishments to our own life goals, the ones we laid out in 2008, we’re rich beyond measure.

Warren & Betsy Talbot MarriedWithLuggage.com Defining Success What we’ve learned in our transition from corporate workers in our 30s to indie authors in our 40s is that success is an individual thing. Knowing what you want out of your life and work is the first step in getting it, and comparing your results to everyone else’s is a wasted exercise. It is the opposite of freedom to plan your life around someone else’s definition of success. Who do YOU want to be? What do YOU want to create? Where do YOU want to live? How do YOU want to exist? When do YOU want to start?

We are curious people who explore the internal and external world. We make a living teaching people how to create the lives they crave with practical, actionable advice. We are citizens of the world, living in villages and cities in every continent. We exist as strong partners with a mutual goal of leaving the world better than we found it. We started living our dream when we made it a conscious decision in 2008, and we continually revise and add to it every single year. You’ve heard our story, and you can read more about it on our website, books, or podcast. But what’s more important is your story, and how you choose to write it. Will you choose your own definition of success, or will you follow someone else’s? Freedom is yours for the asking.

When you answer these questions, you can set up your own metrics to gauge your success. We currently spend a fraction of what we did to live in Seattle, so we don’t have the same income needs as we did then. Most of our friends living more conventional lives make more money than we do. If we compared ourselves to their standards, we’d feel like failures.

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Benny Lewis Fluentin3Months.com

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Traveling opens our mind to the many things we can experience in this wonderful world, where money is NOT the deciding factor in how rich your experience is.

My entire life had lead up to getting my university degree. I worked my ass off in high school to make sure I passed the university entrance examinations despite the young age of 16, and then for the entire four year degree in electronic engineering, my course was my life. I had no time for parties (about five per entire academic year), or a girlfriend, or expanding my social circles and seeing the many other opportunities university provided. I studied my ass off because once I have that university degree everything will be OK. I’ll earn lots of money, get the supermodel nymphomaniac girl of my dreams, live in a place way better than the 10m2 studio I was confined to, and I could enjoy life. Only that’s not the way it worked out. I got my degree, and felt a huge slap of an anticlimax and realization that I had just wasted what could have been the best years of my life, and everything was far from perfect. The system had let me down, and it was time for a change. I got a flight to Spain, and didn’t look back - I wanted something new, I wanted to enjoy life, to enjoy people, and forget about all this career nonsense I had wasted two decades on. The philosopher Alan Watts has a wonderful discussion on this happiness objective, which was rendered into a cute brief Youtube video. In it he says how this way of living with your happiness always off into the horizon once you get that one thing, is like trying to listen to a piece of music as if hearing the last note was the entire point.

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When I realized this, I dedicated several years of my life to traveling the world. I have combined this with learning languages and experienced things most people never could have dreamed of. Long before I ever had a blog or online presence I was interviewed on the TV and radio, recognized years after I threw a party that had a reputation lasting that long, ate Easter dinner with four generations of Italians, nearly died a couple of times and became even more stronger because of it, and finally learned not to take so many wonderful things we always have for granted.

Benny Lewis Fluentin3Months.com The last note isn’t the point, we have to live life by our own terms, not those set aside by a broken system that has barely been updated since the Industrial Revolution. Rather than wait until the day when we are a CEO of a company we have climbed the corporate ladder over many decades, until we can retire to be happy, we need to take life by the horns right now and live it before our hair turns gray. I realized this in Spain when I had to take my eyes from outside of academic text books and see people festively enjoying one another’s company, exploring the world, dancing, spending all afternoon eating wonderful food very slowly, flirting, and seeing the wonders we are exposed to every day. That is in fact the point, not working so that we may have such things in several decades. They are right under our noses this very instant. Traveling opens our mind to the many things we can experience in this wonderful world, where money is NOT the deciding factor in how rich your experience is. $250k in your bank account isn’t what will get you invited to eat in people’s homes as you meet interesting locals while on the road. It isn’t what will test your wits and stretch your imagination to see how to challenge yourself as unfamiliar situations come your way. Embracing the hear and now is what will, and exploring this huge world with trillions of potential experiences waiting for you, will.

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Travel opens your mind. It gives you access to the unknown and lets you learn about yourself and expand on your capabilities. When we live the same routine day in and day out, as too many people in traditional lifestyles do, we don’t learn, we just become mindless robots, having the same conversations and experiences over and over again. The world can be a scary place, but that’s the point - it’s only scary when lack of familiarity from your routine is scary. You learn to expand your world when you get out there. I did this for many years, but had the catch of having to figure out my working situation along the way each time. I worked as a Youth Hostel receptionist, as an English and Mathematics teacher, as a store manager, as an electronic engineer, as a photographer, and as many office jobs. Whatever I could find. Sometimes I’d earn pennies for an hour’s work, and yet I was living a richer life than many I know with six figure salaries. Then one day, I simplified this unfortunate process of not being able to have at least a little consistency to make earning money

The Digital Nomad Imperative

cultures, and write these stories to share with others. People have told me that they would love to “have” my job, as if it’s something they can apply for. Whenever I hear this, I always have to roll my eyes a little. This lifestyle isn’t a clear, obvious, and safe path where you follow specific steps and get the job you love, or where it falls into your lap.

Benny Lewis Fluentin3Months.com easier and not lose time looking for work as I traveled, and I started working online. How you can do this is so incredibly varied! I’ve met people giving therapy sessions via Skype, Photoshoppers and photographers, computer programmers and website coders, and many other jobs. If you can do it on a computer, then why do you have to do it in one particular office? The job I took on was that of a freelance translator. Combining my recently acquired language skills with the specifics of translating just engineering documents, beautifully going full circle back to actually applying my university degree. It gave me the freedom to travel anywhere and maintain consistent work, in the same strong currency. But it still wasn’t where my heart truly was. On the side, I was writing about language learning on my blog with no intention to monetize on it, because I really enjoyed inspiring people to try something that I also couldn’t do into my adult years. A chance meeting with many skilled bloggers while I was in Thailand inspired me to take it to the next level, and ever since I released my first e-product, I have been living entirely off my blog.

It’s about taking risks, experimenting, failing, being willing to accept financial insecurity, losing your routine and being open to the many changes ahead, and doing it all with a smile. When you do that, you can test out many different styles of living and can eventually find one that works for you. I’ve been on the road for eleven years, and just a few years ago I was earning 10 euro per day in one of my jobs. Now I have a much safer stream of income and I have a wonderful flexible lifestyle. As far as I’m concerned, the only way to get here is by risking and embracing the uncertainty and adventure in this unconventional lifestyle. I hope you’ll give it a try yourself too. Being a digital nomad or a location independent worker isn’t a career path that traditional mindsets can wrap their heads around easily; it’s a lifestyle change and a fearless dive into the unknown and to follow your passion despite challenges that may come up, but most importantly, appreciating the music as it happens.

Now, I travel to learn languages and about wonderful new

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Tom Huges ProjectGetaway.com

“

I consider myself very fortunate to be able to live like I do, which is primarily possible due to the internet. I’m very happy to be able to decide for myself what I do on a day to day basis and not having to answer to anybody.

The desire to live location independently started when stumbling upon Project Getaway, early 2011. Back then I was in law school in Groningen, The Netherlands while in the meantime working on a software startup, pokeredumanager.com. My days basically would be 10-12 hours per day behind a computer screen and while I enjoyed living in the Netherlands, the sky is mostly grey. I used to revisit projectgetaway.com every couple of days and be so envious of all these people working from paradise, while having the times of their lives. When I noticed there was going to be a second Project Getaway in 2011, we (me and Lieve, my girlfriend back then) immediately applied. Fortunately we got accepted and attended Project Getaway 2011, which was the most amazing experience ever. The impact for me was particularly big, since back in the Netherlands I didn’t know any IT/startup oriented people and being around positive people for 30 days that all are extremely driven to make things happen, brought a very special and positive vibe. Other than just having a great time, I learned a lot, got a lot of very valuable input on pokeredumanager.com and formed strong friendships. I found it amazing how easily everybody connected and I think it’s since we’re all working towards the same thing: build businesses that work and create a lifestyle worth living. This was 2011 and since then I’ve lived in Bali in total for about 1 year and 5 months in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I’ve made shorter trips to southern Spain, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. Currently I’m running Project Getaway (together with Lieve), where I consider Bali my home-base travelling between Project

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Also my network has greatly expanded. 3 years ago most of my friends were in the north of The Netherlands and a few scattered around the country. After several Project Getaway events and travelling for a while I know people all over the world.

Tom Huges ProjectGetaway.com Getaway events, The Netherlands and other exciting locations the rest of the year. After 2.5 years without a real home I’ve noticed the following: I’m very happy that I didn’t pursue a career in law. Most probably I would have had a good salary and purchased a nice car (I used to be quite materialistic) and most probably a house I could just (read -barely-) afford. I would have to put in the regular 60-80 hours of work per week, whether I would have wanted to or not and no matter what, pressure would be high, at least for the first 10 years before I would have been able to make partner or start my own firm. Change of scenery broadens your perspective incredibly. For instance, while I’m writing this, Project Getaway Thailand 2013 on Koh Tao is in progress. We have very nice villa’s and it’s extremely tempting to stay in the villa’s, however I have been in the villa’s for 2 days already and figured to take an hour off to explore the island a bit and I ended up in this an amazing place. It’s incredible how much a change of scenery makes me see things from a different perspective. This is actually a trend amongst the Project Getaway participants. Many mention they either deliberately or not reflecting on their lives while at the event and get several new insights, due to being in another environment they’re not used to.

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Also I noticed while changing location and routines often you “perceive time to go slower”. What I mean is when I’m in a routine (even while staying at the exotic Power House in Bali for a couple of months), the weeks fly by and I often have “is it already that long ago that..”. On the other handv, when I travel a lot / have a lot of new inputs, 2 months can feel like half a year. I particularly noticed this after having been in Bali for a while. I went back to Europe for two months and in these 2 months I went to The Netherlands to see friends and family, to Spain to meet with a business partner, I went sailing from the Netherlands to Denmark, where I visited several Danes I got to know at Project Getaway, I went on a holiday to Norway and eventually went back to Bali. When I came back at the Power House, it felt like I’ve been gone for 6-12 months, however when I mentioned this to my friend who stayed in his regular routine during my Europe trip, he said: “It seems like you just left a couple of weeks ago.” It’s not all sunshine though. It’s scary how quickly you get used to a paradise like environment. Although I have to say that the view of the sea from my room at the Gili islands did manage to make me smile every morning, I get used to the rest pretty quickly and have to remind myself how amazing these exotic places actually are. The other day I walked up to a beach I haven’t been before with a friend. Me:”The water is a little murky.” He:”Yes. This one isn’t that good.” At what point we

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Tom Huges ProjectGetaway.com both realised that our friends in the Netherlands and Denmark should have heard us say that. They’d probably kick us. Also I don’t see friends and family as much as I would want to. Friends I don’t mind all that much, as long as they’re ok, I don’t need to be in touch regularly. However I would like to see my parent’s more, since I know they would want to see me more. We do have Skype calls, however it’s not really the same. I didn’t see them all that much while I lived 50km further in the Netherlands, however it’s still different then being on the other side of the world in a completely different environment. Also, working together with your partner, like many people already warned us about before we left, didn’t work out in the end. To conclude, I consider myself very fortunate to be able to live like I do, which is primarily possible due to the internet. I’m very happy to be able to decide for myself what I do on a day to day basis and not having to answer to anybody. Considering you will not be causing pain to the ones that love you by doing so, I would recommend anybody to give a location independent lifestyle a go.

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Chris & Cherie Technomadia.com

“

No matter how many intentions we put forth, our adventures tend to take us in many different unexpected directions - and it all turns out awesome.

Back when I met my partner Chris in 2006, little did I know how deeply my life would be impacted. See, I found this guy online who had just hit the road in a super tiny travel trailer after being laid off from his high tech Silicon Valley career. He had a long term dream of being ‘technomadic’, and the lay off presented the perfect opportunity to pursue that as he no longer had the perfect job too good to let go of. After months of correspondence, we met, fell in love and found how deeply aligned our lives were - in business, romance, wanderlust and goals. I sold my house, and took my existing software development business that I had been running from my home on the road. I had always told my clients I could be working anywhere, and while I occasionally did that by integrating in personal travel into my work day - I was now going to be 100% hyper mobile while writing code, administering databases and supporting clients. We’ve continued to grow that business together, and not only do we work for our clients under contract we also write some useful mobile travel apps that provide some more passive revenue. I thought my life would be full of amazing places - beautiful vistas, amazing hiking, breathtaking stars and enchanting wildlife. We’ve had all that of course. We have gigabytes of awe-inspiring photos of sunsets, mountains, wildflowers, oceans, streams and rock formations. When we were looking back on our first year of photos we realized that the photos we took didn’t even nearly begin to capture what our real journey had been. It’s been so much more than just seeing things.

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And over the course of our adventures, we have connected in with an amazing community of fellow nomadic folks. We now enjoy rendezvouses all over the place, enjoying living in temporary neighborhoods of like minds. The consistency of these connections really adds to our lives, and the friendships we’re making will last a lifetime.

Chris & Cherie Technomadia.com There have been two major discoveries I’ve made in my nomadic journey:

Community & Family Prior to hitting the road, I thought I would be dragged away from community. I would be losing out on building friendships, distancing myself from family and be without community. And in the first years, there certainly were moments where new friendships felt transitory, and it felt like old friendship fell by the wayside. But over the years, I’ve realized how a full time wandering lifestyle has built long lasting friendships, and significantly enhanced connections with those I love. When I lived stationary, if a friend moved away it usually meant those connections would eventually fade away. Sure, there’s always intentions to keep in touch, but the deepness tended to wither. Over the past several years, I’ve been able re-kindle so many friendships with folks in their new towns. And now when a friend announces they are moving, that just means a new city for us to explore!

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And never did I realize how much our quality time with family would actually increase. Instead of a hectic and short holiday weekend to catch up with family, we can now pull in and spend a couple weeks (or more!) being temporary neighbors. This allows us to enjoy casual time just being together, without the stress of living in a guest room or pressure to cram too much social time into too brief of a visit. We absolutely treasure this. And it’s been especially important in the past 3 years as my dad has battled terminal lung cancer. Our life of mobility has allowed us to spend extended periods of time nearby my parents, helping out in the tough times and maximizing the good times. We can do this without having to worry about taking personal time from a job, hiring a house sitter, or returning to mountains of chores to catch up to. We just park our house nearby for as long as needed continuing our daily life as usual, and drive off to other adventures when breaks present themselves. I can not even begin to convey how priceless this aspect of our nomadic lifestyle has been.

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I may have been under the influence of ‘new relationship energy’ when I first embarked on this crazy adventure, but now nearly seven years later, I see no end in site for the adventures ahead of us.

Chris & Cherie Technomadia.com Trusting in Serendipity Before I hit the road, I was fairly schedule oriented and unexpected changes could cause me a great deal of stress. It didn’t take me long to realize that not being adaptable was not compatible with a life on the road. Life really is what happens when you’re busy making plans. No matter how many intentions we put forth, our adventures tend to take us in many different unexpected directions - and it all turns out awesome. But when we make plans, things tend to change which causes frustration for having put effort into making the original plans in the first place, and then having to undo them.

Over the years we’ve continued to adapt our modality of travel, from that super tiny 16’ travel trailer we started out in, to living a winter on a tropical island in a rented cottage, to now exploring the USA in a 1961 vintage highway bus conversion that provides us a comfortable and high tech home on wheels to run our software & technology business with always amazing changing office views. We never have to pack or unpack, we don’t have to go through escrow to change locations, and we always know tonight we’re sleeping in our own bed. RVing is a perfect lifestyle balance for these homebodied natured technomads. At least for now.. who knows where serendipity will take us next!

Now I find making concrete plans too far out causes me stress, it locks us in too much and doesn’t allow for serendipity to be our guide. For our entire life on the road of seven years, we’ve followed the guideposts of serendipity, and we’ve never been led astray. When folks ask us where we’re going next, we can really only tell them - ‘We’ll know when we get there.’ This shift in my own ability to adapt has led to so many amazing experiences - attending events last minute, meeting amazing people, and always being in the right spot at the right time.

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What I love about the Location Independent lifestyle:

Mitch Bowler PencilKings.com

“

The coolest experience is just realizing almost every day how much happier I am now than when I had a ‘regular’ job. I’m able to go where I want, when I want, and feel more in control of my own destiny.

The best part is truly feeling that you are in control of your lifestyle. If you work best at midnight to 3am, that’s completely fine - you’re free to do that. No one is hawking over you watching the clock or making you feel guilty. If you want to take a week or a month off to escape the worst weather of the year, you don’t have to beg anyone for a bit of time. As long as you have your internet connection you’re good to go. The other really big thing that no one talks about in this lifestyle is the loneliness of it all. When you are getting started out, it’s going to take time, effort and some creative thinking to get your cash flow situation sorted out. During this setup phase very few people are going to be able to relate to what you are trying to do. Some may think it’s cool, interesting or unique, but they won’t have the same mindset that you do to make it actually happen and you need to push through it. So that’s the bad part - feeling alone while you are getting ready to leave, but once you’ve actually departed - there’s a whole world of people working and travelling abroad that you can connect with, and suddenly you won’t feel like such an alien anymore.

Some Cool Experiences:

All of the insanely awesome things that can (and will) happen when you are travelling aside, the coolest experience is just realizing almost every day how much happier I am now than when I had a ‘regular’ job. I’m able to go where I want, when I want, and feel more in control of my own destiny, instead of feeling that someone else is holding something over me (paycheck, vacation days, working hours etc). I’m also a firm believer of travelling alone, and that first trip that you take - if you think of life like a video game, the rate that you are accumulating life experience points is going to be about 2-5x the speed of your former life in your hometown. :)

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Jean Galea

WPmayor.com FitForBlogging.com

“

What do I love about this life? The connections I can make with amazing people with big ideas, the freedom to wake up every day and follow my dreams, and of course the cultural enrichment that comes with traveling and interacting with locals.

I hail from Malta, a tiny sunny island with a big heart, situated bang right in the middle of the Mediterranean sea.

What led me to become a digital nomad? My love of travel and exploration, coupled with a strong desire to sustain myself independently of any corporate structure. Being a digital nomad is not an easy life in the traditional ‘work less’ sense. To sustain this lifestyle you need to be independent and highly driven in order to reach your goals and actually create income streams that will enable you to travel and live without being tied down to any particular place.

How do I finance my travels? First of all it must be said that long-term travel enables you to lower costs immensely compared to short holidays. A 3-month stay in Asia can end up costing the same as a 3-week intensive package holiday in the same region if you do your homework well. I’ve created a number of income streams mainly revolving around my popular WordPress blog (WP Mayor), and my personal blog (Fit for Blogging). I also remotely run a web agency although nowadays that is a smaller part of my total income.

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Jean Galea

WPmayor.com FitForBlogging.com Promotion of Malta as a digital nomad destination is also one of my priorities. It’s somewhat overlooked on the digital nomad trail, but I’m trying to change that. I’m currently spending a few months here and I created a Facebook group to foster dialogue and co-operation among the nomads who are here at the moment, as well as help others who are landing here soon. This lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but if you feel that yearning deep in your heart, my advice is to follow your instinct. Do your research by following a few top digital nomads, get a glimpse into their life and soon your own mind will open doors and create opportunities for you to join the digital nomad bandwagon.

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I didn’t set out to blaze an unconventional path when I first left to travel and work from the road back in 2008, instead I simply wasn’t sold on the notion that I should be working a 9-5; that this goal was the apex of my life.

Shannon O’Donnell ALittleAdrift.com

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Living as a part of the global community was a paradigm-shift for me, and if nothing else, I have gained the ability to take the proverbial step into another person’s shoes and imagine their struggles, feel their hopes, and respect their successes and failures.

I knew that if I honored a dream I had long had to travel around the world, somehow I could make it work out. Over the years since that single decision—to take a leap and figure it out as I went along—traveling has changed my life in profound ways. In working from anywhere, I can shift my life to suit my current goals, and I have used that freedom to travel within cultures, stay for months at a time, and learn perspectives on life outside of what I once thought possible. Living as a part of the global community was a paradigm-shift for me, and if nothing else, I have gained the ability to take the proverbial step into another person’s shoes and imagine their struggles, feel their hopes, and respect their successes and failures. That my online work as allowed me to travel is one thing that makes it onto my gratitude list each and every day.

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I’ve been starting and running businesses since I was 19. Once I got the bug, I was hooked. I love building things. Making manifest my thoughts, and creating value by doing so.

Colin Wright

ExileLifestyle.com Asymmetrical.co

“

Being digital nomad allows you to live up to your own high standards, and not just in a single facet of life. You needn’t decide between work and play: work can be play, or it can be porous enough to let play in when you want it.

Entrepreneurship is a challenge worth facing. It’s payoff in itself, but also comes with secondary payoffs (like money and prestige) if you do it well. There’s not much to dislike about it, really. Except perhaps the time it takes away from other activities. Relationships. Your health. Show me ten entrepreneurs, and I’ll show you nine people who are on the fast track to early on-set heart disease, a string of failed relationships, and prematurely greying hair. For some people that’s enough, but it’s not for that tenth person. And not for me. About four years ago I was living in Los Angeles, running a successful branding business and enjoying the perks of the West Coast version of the American Dream. Townhouse by the beach, living with my wonderful girlfriend, quickly becoming wealthy in a way I had hoped to be someday, but didn’t think I was achieve at such a young age. The dice had been rolled, and they were coming up Colin. But there was a balance that was unsettled, and this became quite apparent when my girlfriend and I decided to break up, opting for the mystery of another path rather than continuing down the one we’d been traversing for several years together. It just wasn’t worth it anymore: the 100-hour work weeks, the unhealthy diet and levels of stress, the focus on the possibilities of future over the realities of the present. We both needed a change, and so we changed.

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It was about building a better me. Instead of dressing myself up and calling myself successful, it was about being capable of standing tall and proud even if naked and bedraggled. Investing in the one thing that cannot be stolen, broken, or made obsolete by a newer model: me. My time is mine, and I make good use of it. I’m far prouder to be able to say that than anything else I’ve ever done.

Colin Wright

ExileLifestyle.com Asymmetrical.co For me, change meant getting rid of everything I owned that wouldn’t fit in a carry-on bag. I started a blog and asked my readers where I should go. Four months later I hit the road for Argentina and enjoyed myself so much that I decided to keep following the path I was blazing — a new country every four months, voted upon by strangers, my business small enough to be run from a laptop, but efficient and effective enough that I could continuing producing value while still living life. In the present. Wherever I happened to be. It was the best decision I’ve ever made. Being digital nomad allows you to live up to your own high standards, and not just in a single facet of life. You needn’t decide between work and play: work can be play, or it can be porous enough to let play in when you want it. The whole point is to balance your life, or change your life in a way that balance is no longer necessary. For me, this refocus meant emphasizing new experiences, relationships, and knowledge over accumulating more stuff. More debt. More flimsy prestige.

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Janet Brent ByJanet.net/purple

“

I’m happy that I’ve chosen this unconventional path as the greatest personal development journey of my life. Learning how to network and land clients from around the world completely online has been a huge learning curve for me but a rewarding process.

A digital nomad lifestyle is a state of mind. You don’t have to be a perpetual traveler or live entirely off a suitcase, but you do have to be location independent and love being mobile. For me, I travel internationally about 1-2x a year and domestically, in the Philippines, all year round. I hold a US passport and a Philippine/ US dual-citizenship and I love being a global world citizen. There are a lot of digital entrepreneurs but still a fairly small subniche of those who are digital nomads. Underlying themes of minimalism seem to connect us; preferring experiences over material stuff. I’m happy that I’ve chosen this unconventional path as the greatest personal development journey of my life. Learning how to network and land clients from around the world completely online has been a huge learning curve for me but a rewarding process. I get the luxury of living in a developing country where money goes a longer way. Having a “side job” income that people would normally moonlight in can support me and my boyfriend 100%, without the aide of another office job! As business grows into a full time and thriving design studio (at my home or in cafes), I have nothing but gratitude. And it can only get better from here. There are more opportunities abroad than there may be back home. Your skills and assets in the global playing field suddenly become more appealing to foreign countries. When you live in a saturated market like the US, it makes perfect sense to move abroad and crush the competition elsewhere.

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Janet Brent ByJanet.net/purple If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a humanitarian streak, there are countless organizations, NGOs and social enterprises that need your skills and you can truly feel like youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re changing the world in a positive way than the deadening cattle call of the 9 to 5. Building relations around the world and bridging cultural gaps is exactly what I crave. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the social, cultural, even anthropological aspects that I love about being a digital nomad. I can affect one organization, build rapport and help drive results, and then travel to help another organization. I can network in one city, such as World Domination Summit in Portland, OR (my home town) and then travel to network with other expats and entrepreneurs in another city on the opposite side of the world. I love the freedom, diversity and sense of adventure that the digital nomad lifestyle provides.

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Sebastiaan van der Schrier Social-Anxiety-Solutions.com

“

It has given me a ton of amazing stories to tell, incredible memories to think back to, amazing people to connect with in various countries, and an overall gratitude for life and all it’s magic. It’s the best way to grow and evolve yourself quickly.

Aside from all the amazing people I’ve met, stunning places I’ve visited, and abundance of adventures and experiences I’ve been fortunate enough to have enjoyed, being a “digital nomad” has helped me get a out-of-the-rat-race perspective and has made me become very open-minded. Traveling, living in different countries, and being friends with and meeting a wide variety of people has allowed to see that everyone is unique. I’ve seen the many different lifestyles people choose to have and my eyes have been opened to the patterns and conditioning that is going on in various parts of the world. Thanks to this outside perspective I have been able to compare situations, find the common denominators within them, and decide for myself what it most important to me personally. It has helped me grow my preferences for life -though they’re forever changing and evolving- quickly. I have gotten to know myself very well, I feel solid, and not much is going to shake me. This understanding has also helped me to create the life for myself that I really want, regardless of what others think of it. It has given me a ton of amazing stories to tell, incredible memories to think back to, amazing people to connect with in various countries, and an overall gratitude for life and all it’s magic. It’s the best way to grow and evolve yourself quickly, and I’m very grateful I have been able to create the lifestyle for myself that I want.

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Matt Kepnes NomadicMatt.com

“

I’ve become more confident, passionate, and a lot better at reading maps! I’ve gotten less shy and better at talking to strangers. In short, travel has made me a more well rounded person.

My trip to Costa Rica in 2004 got me hooked on travel and I decided to travel around the world so I could live a freer and a more exciting life. I never imaged my year long trip would lead to six years on the road and the creation of a travel blog that would lead to me being a published author. Travel has made my life a lot better in numerous ways. I’ve become more confident, passionate, and a lot better at reading maps! I’ve gotten less shy and better at talking to strangers. In short, travel has made me a more well rounded person. I think it does that for a lot of people. Generally, those that travel more and develop a deeper connection with the world tend to grow into great people. Now, I hate to be so general or imply that travel has some magical transformative powers but it’s hard to not be changed by traveling long term, meeting people from around the world, and trying to figure out life by yourself. Travel doesn’t make you a super hero but it does help you grow into a better person – whatever that kind of person is for you specifically. For me, travel made this introvert an extrovert and that was an amazing gift. Let travel give you a gift too.

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Euvie Ivanova

TimelapseStrategies.com EmbryonicWings.com

“

When you get immersed in a different culture, especially a non-western culture, you start to see things differently. So many things you never questioned or thought of as “common sense” start to look completely backward and ridiculous.

Why starting a location independent business is the best thing you can do for yourself. The first time I got on a plane and left my home country of Russia was when I was 8 months old. My parents took me to visit my dad’s side of the family in Bulgaria. I don’t remember any of that trip - but it must have had such a large impact on my tiny self, that I not only uttered my first words there, but also took my first unassisted steps. I’ve had the travel bug ever since. Many people visit foreign places, but there is a big difference between tourism and long term travel. Short-term vacations, especially if you’re staying at all-inclusive resorts, rarely provide real insight into other cultures. On the other hand, long-term travel not only allows you to go deeper into experiencing a different culture - it gives you a third-person’s perspective on your own life and the culture that you are used to. Living in one place your whole life tends to cause the effect of a fish being unaware of the water that surrounds it, because it have never known anything different. But when you get immersed in a different culture, especially a non-western culture, you start to see things differently. So many things you never questioned or thought of as “common sense” start to look completely backward and ridiculous. You start to realize what kinds of things have real meaning - like friends who share your goals and values, and what kinds of things are just STUFF and you could easily live without - like fancy cars, trendy clothes,

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Euvie Ivanova

TimelapseStrategies.com EmbryonicWings.com and anything else along the lines of “keeping up with the Joneses”. It’s an amazing eye-opening experience. Not only that - long term travel gives you a clearer perspective on your goals. It makes you realize that you have a lot more options than your parents, or your teachers, or your peers told you about. It makes you see which people in your life have been encouraging you to move forward, be more creative, and be happy - and which people are trying to hold you back, motivated by jealousy and fear. When you travel long-term, you start to meet people who have already succeeded at making their dreams come true, people who have a lot more freedom than your average Joe.

nicer place than you’d have for the same price back home combined with experiencing a new culture, meeting amazing people, and having a lot more freedom than you could ever have when working a job. Becoming a location independent entrepreneur is the best thing you can do for yourself - I’m not exaggerating. It’s the best decision I have ever made, hands down. And I believe anyone can do it. You don’t have to study it in school. In fact, please don’t study it in school - those professors only know things in theory. What you really need to do is be passionate about learning, be driven to succeed, and join an online community of location independent entrepreneurs. They say you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with - so surround yourself with people who are already doing what you want to be doing, and learn from them.

This last part has been the biggest factor in shaping my business and my transition to location independence. I read It is possible to have long periods of travel interrupted by many books about business, listened to many podcasts, and periods of working a job. The disadvantage of that is having to go back to a repetitive job every few months to save up for your followed many blogs for years - but it was that community of like-minded people who made the real difference and enabled next chance to escape. me to actually become a location independent entrepreneur. Fortunately that’s not the only way to do it. In the last 5 years or so, a new breed of traveler has emerged - the location independent entrepreneur. Starting a new business is a lot more doable (and a lot more fun and rewarding) when you are living in a place where your monthly expenses are under $1,000. And that includes you eating out at every meal, having a much

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Corbett Barr ThinkTraffic.net

“

Rediscover Yourself For the first decade years of my adult life, I followed someone else’s script. I went to college, got a good job, climbed the corporate ladder and bought a nice car and a couple of condos. From the outside, everything looked pretty good. I was “successful.”

If you never stop to ask yourself hard questions about who you are and what you want from life, you’ll But in reality, by following a default life plan I gave up somelose your identity and forget who you ever intended thing much more important than money or status or a supposto be. edly stable career. I gave up myself.

Losing myself was the byproduct of playing by other peoples‘ rules and ignoring my own dreams for the sake of safety and fitting in. Luckily this was all completely reversable. I just had to hit the reset button. If you don’t create your own life script, someone else will hand you one. You’ll become part of someone else’s vision instead of your own. And instead of measuring success by what makes you happy, how much impact you’re having, or doing something you’re truly proud of, you’ll end up chasing the default metrics that are supposed to make you happy (money, status, approval), only to realize you can never really find what you’re looking for when you’re on the wrong path.

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and life path as your own. If you never stop to ask yourself hard questions about who you are and what you want from life, you’ll lose your identity and forget who you ever intended to be.

Corbett Barr ThinkTraffic.net In my case, after 10+ years of looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places, I was handed a golden opportunity. The venturecapital-backed business I had been building for three years was crumbling around me in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse. Everything I had worked so hard on turned out to be a dead end. This giant failure proved to be the best thing that has ever happened to me. Finally I was tired enough to take a break. Instead of jumping directly into the next career opportunity, I was forced to take time off. I was mentally and emotionally drained and knew I needed time away to recover. Money was tight, but I needed time. My wife and I decided to do something we had always fantasized about but never had the guts to do. We took a sabbatical. To make our dollars stretch, we headed to Mexico for a 6-month road trip (that turned into 8+ months).

The sabbatical was a new beginning for me. When I finally got away from all the regular influences in my life, I started reconnecting with my inner self. I had revelation after revelation over the course of the following months that led to an entirely new vision for my life. I’ve been pursuing that vision ever since with energy and focus I never knew I had. This is what travel and independence has meant to me. It’s everything. I exchanged my old life for the real me, and I haven’t missed what I used to have for one second. All it took was the fiery collapse of my previous business and a desperately needed long break to give me the space and readiness to rediscover myself. If you’ve been feeling lost or unsure of which path you’re on, it might be time to hit the reset button. You might just rediscover who you really are.

On this trip I finally rediscovered myself. When you’re surrounded by an entire society of people mostly following a similar default path, it’s easy to accept their goals

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The Digital Nomad Imperative

Watch out, It’s a Trap!

Lately I’ve started to feel that my hobo lifestyle has created a bit of a trap.

Chris Kirkland Artweb.com HoboCEO.com

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I cannot imagine going back to my old way of seeing things. And much more than losing freedom, I would fear being cut off from the many open minded and forward people I’ve met along the way.

I was in Tokyo recently with Fellow hobo Tynan recording a podcast when it came up that we both couldn’t “go back” to living a conventional life. Much as people quickly get used to new found riches I guess we have got used to, and now take for granted the freedom and rich lifestyle of being international hobos. I left the UK in 2006 on a one way ticket and since then have lived in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Germany and spent time in a variety of other countries. This whole time I’ve seldom had any time or location constraints, I do most my work from cafes, have meetings on the beach and Tuesday is the same as Sunday as far as I’m concerned. But I’ve realised “going back” is not just about losing freedom or kite surfing on Tuesdays. It’s more in how I understand the world and should exist within it. Whilst I can imagine it’s still possible to enjoy a life with less freedom, I cannot imagine going back to my old way of seeing things. And much more than losing freedom, I would fear being cut off from the many open minded and forward people I’ve met along the way. In my experience, my fellow hobos, nomads and those who have taken a stand against the conventional life are so much richer and developed in how they see the world. Rather than simply swallow the model of reality that has been forced upon them by their peers and society (the blue pill), those who choose the unconventional path (the red pill) must craft their model far more carefully and deliberately. When you stray off the map, you must pay far more attention in order not to get lost.

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The Digital Nomad Imperative

When I first arrived in Japan I was always amazed how often people would ask “when are you going back home?”, it was just assumed that I would go back sometime. Eventually I got used to the same questions, but it’s interesting to see how this happens the world over. When I get questions like this I always get the sense I’m talking with a medieval villager, stood there holding his/ her pitch fork. Generally people have a notion that they must have roots, or belong somewhere. We have genes, cultural conditioning and peers that strongly influence our thinking, but the reality is, with enough money or balls we can just uproot and relocate on a whim. Sure I personally may have genes evolved to better cope with a mediterranean climate, but I’d wager my bet that being sat in an office all day, not exercising and eating shitty McDonald’s burgers is far more harmful to me than living most the year in Thailand.

Chris Kirkland Artweb.com HoboCEO.com The attraction of a “digital nomad” lifestyle may initially be the beaches, coconuts and no more commute but for me the bigger prize has been in how I’ve changed and who I’ve met along the way. My unconventional life has brought with it great challenges and learning experiences. From the leap of faith of being self employed, to incorporating in a foreign country, or just simply existing in a way that is so totally off the map compared to everyone else. But just like Plato’s Allegory of the cave, I can’t go back to the way things were before, nor do I fancy my chances of trying to convince too many people of the new perspectives I’ve learned. And to ride further on Plato’s allegory, I think most people are still very much in the cave. But thankfully I’m finding other people who’ve also escaped the cave.

Now, before you think I’m a pretentious ponce complaining about the “problem” of not being able to go back to an office job or go without my privileged travel buddies, I want to get back to the original title - “it’s a trap”.

Travel and entrepreneurship have got to be two of the most effective ways I know of broadening one’s experience and outlook on the world. Having been immersed in different cultures for a number of years, now when I visit the UK (where I was born) I have the sense it is just another country with it’s own customs and culture - it’s not the “right” culture or particularly where I belong. Travel makes it’s much easier to see beyond one’s own cultural conditioning.

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As I’ve tried to delineate, for me the change in mindset is the real irreversible change, and sometimes this makes me feel trapped. As I’ve overcome numerous challenges and broadened my perspective, I find less and less that I can be blissfully ignorant, be lazy or act without integrity. Rather, I’ve raised the bar and feel compelled to keep above it at all times. But this sounds like complaining, essentially I think we are all trapped in our own mindsets, and I suppose I choose to be “trapped” in the mindset that seeks to escape the trap. See you outside the cave.

The Digital Nomad Imperative

Travis Sherry ExtraPackofPeanuts.com

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Traveling is such an incredible and amazing thing. It impresses itself so much upon your being that there is no way to separate it from who you are. Instead, there is simply the person you were before you went there and the person you are after you’ve been there.

Whenever I start day dreaming, reflecting on my first 30 years of life, I find myself thinking about experiences I’ve had. Getting completely lost within 10 minutes of pulling out of my parents driveway on my first road trip. Achieving a perfect level of solace while biking through the rice paddies of my quiet Japanese village. Riding camels through the desert of India. Having my senses overloaded the moment I touched down in Bangkok. Eating the best food I’ve ever had in Penang, Malaysia and still not knowing what it was. Scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Crashing a motorbike in Chiang Mai. Hearing the church bells ring in Santiago de Compostela, welcoming pilgrims from around the world. Marveling at the jaw-dropping wonder of Angkor Wat. Floating in Lake Geneva, gazing up at the Alps without a care in the world. All of these memories, and many, many more is where my mind heads when it needs a break. My mind does not turn towards possessions that I used to have (minus the Miami Dolphins Starter Jacket I had in 6th grade...that thing was awesome)! I don’t remember or long for the shirt I used to own, the TV I used to watch, or the car I used to drive. Those things are all temporary, but my experiences, those last a lifetime. And that’s why traveling is such an incredible and amazing thing. It impresses itself so much upon your being that there is no way to separate it from who you are. Instead, there is simply the person you were before you went there and the person you are after you’ve been there. And the more you travel, the more those people become further and further apart, and the closer you become to realizing the true you. By being a location independent entrepreneur, the opportunities to continue to add to my list of experiences is endless. If I want to head to Thailand next week, I can. If I’d like to revisit the amazing food stall in Penang, I can. There is no one telling me to clock in and out at the office, because there is no office. Anywhere with an internet connection can function as an office, and it’s that freedom that allows me to experience more things and grow more as a person than almost any of my colleagues who have traditional jobs. Because it’s hard to crash a motorbike while sitting at a desk!

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The Digital Nomad Imperative

My name is Jenny Leonard and I’m an entrepreneur that travels the world full-time working from wherever I can find an internet connection. As of this writing I’ve been to 21 countries and 29 U.S. States. I started freelancing straight out of college despite everyone I knew from family, friends, school counselors, and teachers telling me I was raving mad. They set me up for a bunch of job interviews and I never went to a single one or even turned in a resume. I gave them all the middle finger and have been living a life full of adventures ever since.

Jenny Leonard WhereisJenny.com

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I fully believe that if you follow your passions and have faith in the universe that you will succeed if you just keep trying to figure it out. I like to think of it as a design project, except I’m designing my life to be exactly what I want at any given moment.

It wasn’t like that from the beginning though, a few key things played a role in my decision making. I grew up in a city that was focused on consumption and superficial values and it never really resonated with me. It was about who your parents were, what kind of car you drove, how much money you had, and what brand clothes you were wearing. I was always just... ‘different’ and that stuff never really mattered to me in the first place. Although I had an extremely rough upbringing in a place I never fit into, it gave me a priceless gift… an early insight into what I didn’t want out of life and the kind of people I didn’t want to associate with. Knowing what you don’t want, is just as, if not more important, than knowing what you do want. Sometimes we think we know what we want. I had dreams of working for a big agency in California working on extreme sport brands. I was invited to tour an agency from a mutual friend that worked at one of the biggest agencies in Dallas. What I saw, changed my entire life trajectory, and I realized that it was exactly what I didn’t want out of life. I was told I’d be sleeping under my desk, working insane hours, have the creativity sucked out of me, and to forget about having any sort of life. My life was just starting so I made the bold decision to have a go at it myself so that I could have the freedom to do as I wished with my life. We don’t always have the foresight to know what we want out of life, but we can try things that interest us while doing work we are passionate about that gives us that kind of freedom and choice to figure it out. Being an online entrepreneur does just that. These days, there are a million different ways you can earn money online that give you the freedom to live, travel, and work wherever you want in the world. That’s true freedom.

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The Digital Nomad Imperative

because they don’t want to admit that they could do it also, if they really wanted to. It’s a way to justify why they can’t have it because they obviously just don’t want it bad enough. But once you realize that you truly can live the life of your dreams, you’ll figure it out and find that motivation. Who wants to be miserable? If something isn’t working, be honest with yourself and make some changes.

Jenny Leonard WhereisJenny.com I’ve always been a freelance graphic and web designer, but my interests outside of that have varied from racing competitive motocross, skateboarding, travel, extreme adventures, volunteering, working with kids, and all sorts of things outdoors. I fully believe that if you follow your passions and have faith in the universe that you will succeed if you just keep trying to figure it out. I like to think of it as a design project, except I’m designing my life to be exactly what I want at any given moment. Things change, you have to be open to adapting and being honest with yourself when something isn’t working. My whole life has been full of things I wanted to do, but had NO idea how to do. Google is your best friend, that and people who resonate with the type of work you want to do. The internet has given us the ability to connect with all types of ‘tribes’ all around the world. I found mine combined with google and I can figure out just about anything these days. Nothing is truly impossible. There were things I wanted to accomplish in life and if I gave that up to work for the man, I’d live a long-ass life doing things I didn’t enjoy for people I loathed. Life is about freedom, fulfillment, and happiness. We feel the pressures of our parents, teachers, bosses, and society to go down a path that isn’t necessarily right for us, but we are pushed into it from every angle. It isn’t until you wake up one day and say, fuck that shit and start planning a way out. I was lucky to realize early on what I wanted, but it’s never to late to change and go after what you want out of life. People think my lifestyle is funded by my rich-ass parents (not), a trust fund, winning the lottery, or something equally stupid. It’s almost insulting sometimes because everything I have, I built. I earned. There is a sort of pride and confidence that comes with that. I think people like to say that

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I freelance to make money to afford my lifestyle. Because travel is less expensive than everyone makes it out to be I can choose projects that inspire and motivate me rather than just take on any job to earn money. Sure if you’re staying in 5-star resorts and eating $100 meals everyday like you’re on vacation you’ll go broke fast or be working all the time. However, in many countries around the world you can live on just $50 per day and many much less than that. My apartment, eating out for every meal, random acts of kindness, Muay Thai training, motorbike, fuel, etc in Chiang Mai, Thailand only cost me a whopping $700 per month. That meant I only had to do one project per month to cover my expenses and put a sizable amount into savings. I could either do 1 project every 2-3 months and have a lot of adventure, work my ass off and put a lot into savings, or have a good balance between work/travel/adventure. It all depends on what your goals are in the moment. By living overseas I don’t have to worry about a mortgage payment, insurance, car, and other possessions. I have exactly what I need to be taken care of and nothing more. I get to spend it on experiences and have the perfect work/life balance for whatever life I want to have at the time. Instead of spending money on all that stuff, I get to spend it on experiences and when I get old and wrinkly, I can look back and be proud of all the things I’ve accomplished and all the amazing epic adventures I had. I’ll have a never-ending plethora of stories to tell. I only wish more people would realize just how amazing life can be and get off their asses to make it happen. Humans were born to be free and our only mission here on earth is to follow our heart, whatever that may be. Are you following yours?

The Digital Nomad Imperative

The people profiled in these pages understand exactly what you are going through.

Thank you!

We have all been in your shoes, and we hope to guide the way for anyone who seeks more out of life. Surround yourself with people who understand you and ignore the naysayers.

You Think This Lifestyle is Reserved for Other People?

Are You Ready to Take the First Step?

The Digital Nomad lifestyle is definitely not for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s unobtainable for you. If reading these stories inspires you… if you find yourself fascinated by following lifestyle and travel blogs… if you have some crazy lofty dreams for what you only WISH you could do with your life, but you haven’t taken steps to get closer to those dreams, then there is no better time to start than now. It’s not easy to live life on your own terms. You’ll have to face your fears. It’ll be hard as hell. It always is. But nothing is more rewarding than choosing your own path in life. There are more people than you could ever imagine out there living unique, amazing lifestyles — exactly the kind of lifestyle you probably dream of for yourself. Every single one of them started with the same uncertainties and fears that you are probably having now. Rest assured you are not alone. Your friends, family and co-workers are unlikely to understand your desire to do something more with your life, and that’s okay.

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If you want to learn concrete, actionable steps to take control of your future and live a more remarkable lifestyle from dozens of nomads like these, and become part of a close-knit community of like-minded people, you can join us at Digital Nomad Academy to get a 6-year headstart on your journey to work for yourself, live anywhere, and build the life you want. –Cody & John

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The Digital Nomad Imperative