Trading Freedom For $ By: Ashley Uzer
I Quit Being a Digital Nomad And Went Back to a 9-5, Here’s Why If you are part of the same corners of the internet that I am, having a 9-5 sounds like a death sentence. Working for “the man,” being stuck in the office for eight hours a day, having to request off and ration your vacation days so you can take that trip to Thailand that you’ve been lusting over via friends’ Instagram posts. Of course, a lot of this rhetoric comes from people with motives — motivational speakers wanting you to attend their conference about “being your own boss,” or travel bloggers hoping you’ll purchase their course so that you, too, can be a “digital nomad.” But a lot of it just comes from other self-employed or freelance people—like me, tweeting about how great it is to be able to run my errands during the day when the stores are empty, or posting an Instagram photo from a new location every week. But, just like I quit my staff writer job at a magazine in NYC to become a fulltime freelancer (or digital nomad, if you will)—I eventually quit my job as a digital nomad to go back to a 9-5, and I have no regrets. Here’s how it happened, and why. You know how when you’re at a corporate job and in the same position for a while, you know it’s time for either a promotion or a move-up career wise? After doing the digital nomad thing for about a year and a half, I knew it was time to take the next step—I just didn’t know what that next step was. After lots of discussion and introspection, I narrowed it down to two general options: I could either try to build my freelance business by hiring people to work under me, or I could try going back to a full-time job. After weighing both options, I still didn’t make a decision, but I started applying to jobs in Los Angeles, the only place I really saw myself being happy settling down (side note: I was very burnt out from traveling at this point, all I wanted was a place to call home). When I got a job much more quickly than I thought I would, and with a starting salary higher than I expected, I figured I’d try it out, and worst case scenario I could quit and go back to freelancing if it wasn’t a fit.
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