These 3 Secrets Will Transform You into a Successful Digital Nomad!
By
Theodore Henderson
The Wisdom Man
What would it take for you to become a digital nomad? According to Hubspot.com, Digital nomads are primarily remote workers who usually travel to different locations. We generally see them often working in coffee shops, co-working spaces, or public libraries.
They have laptops and other mobile devices relying on wireless internet capabilities. More and more smartphones and mobile hotspots are an integral part of the mix.
People all around the globe are now just being introduced to working from home. Like me, at times, you might even be one of them. It might be a different experience, but we can assure you that working from home isn’t new. It’s been around for many years.
In fact, some people take working from home to the extreme. Some people work from anywhere in the world! They’re called digital nomads. They’re employees, freelancers, or online entrepreneurs who take their workplaces or online businesses with them while they travel the world. Doesn’t that sound exciting?
You might think that becoming a successful digital nomad is difficult – it’s not! Mainly because we’re going to share three trade secrets to make you a successful digital nomad.
1. Carve Yourself a Niche.
If your job allows you to telecommute (even when not social distancing), fantastic! You can get a taste of the digital nomad life without having to sacrifice your job.
For most people, though, they’ll have to give up their day jobs to pursue this vagabond lifestyle. They do it by becoming entrepreneurs or freelancers.
If you fall under the latter example, the best way to go about it is to identify a niche and become an expert at it. You’ll want to be really good at what you do if you’re going to travel the world and earn enough to support your lifestyle.
Don’t think you’re exceptionally good at anything in particular? Then learn a skill or trade that you’ve been interested in. Have you always wanted to try learning to play the violin? Do you have a passion for makeup that you’d want to turn into a paying job? There are countless online workshops and courses that you can learn from. Most of them offer free trials, as well.
2. Have a Set Plan and a Couple of Backups.
When you’re still starting out as a digital nomad, it’s best if you have a set plan with clear goals, deadlines, and a budget. Yes, it’s nice to be living the dream life of working in different cities and places. Still, if you’re not careful and get carried away, your stint as a digital nomad might be cut short.
And coming to that, you need to think that cutting it short is always a possible scenario. You also need to have a backup plan – several, preferably. You’ll need to set aside even a small portion of your income as insurance money when the grass on the other side becomes less green.
For example, we have an image of a digital nomad wearing just a backpack with a small laptop, or other mobile workstations slipped in. And they will spend their time moving amongst WiFi-providing cafÈ in all kinds of scenic countries.
Their goal is to travel and see the world while being able to easily fund their adventure and not have to worry about creating significant debt. Sounds ideal, doesn’t it?
Well, for the right person, it definitely is. As long as you can comfortably to be away from your creature comforts and you don’t need the social stimulation that accompanies office-bound work. Then you can use this as a way to live the kind of life that most people only daydream of.
But how do you go about making that transition? Going from an office-bound worker to a mobile digital nomad? Here’s the plan in a simple step-by-step form.
Speak to Your Loved Ones, Family and Friends
What stops most people from becoming a digital nomad is not their jobs, really, but rather their relationships. If you’re in a romantic relationship now, then you’ll need to talk seriously with your partner about the prospect of you traveling the world.
Hopefully, they will be supportive and recognize it as something you need to do. If not? Then you’ll have to decide what’s most important to you. But, you never know they may want to come.
Speak to Your Current Employer
Before you give up your current position, you should first ask if there’s a way you can set up a remote-work assignment. Explain your plans (within reason), and your manager may help you to make it a reality with no career-change necessary. If not, you’ll need to try another approach.
Start A Side Hustle
The next thing to do is to start earning some money online. Some ideas are writing articles for webmasters, doing web designs, or possibly by providing proofreading services. You can advertise these skills on a webmaster forum or a site like Fiverr.
The aim is abundantly clear. Start generating just a little work so that you can start to gain confidence and ‘wean’ yourself off of your ‘day job.’ Once you’re earning enough to be confident, you can resign. Remember you don’t need that much money to do this.
Better yet, consider becoming an internet marketer. Sell affiliate products, PLR products, or your own digital products. Possibly you can earn money even while you sleep otherwise know as passive income. Perhaps becoming a travel blogger would be more enjoyable for you. This is a way of turning travel into a financial asset rather than a financial burden?
I follow Vloggers, who compellingly film their adventures and monetize it.
**Click the image below for free information and a training video on digital marketing and digital publishing.
Speak to Your Parents
You will need a lot of money if you want to pay rent and travel the world at the same time. Still, if you are willing to throw out a lot of your things and get your Mum to look after the rest, then you can free yourself of this financial burden. You might have friends who can do this, but Mum is your best bet seeing as it ís a rather big ask. Otherwise, consider storage, but make sure you’ll have somewhere to stay when you get back. In general, you’re probably going to have to cut back a little on your possessions!
3. Choose Your Destinations According to Your Budget.
Yes, it’s great if you’re working while hopping from London to Paris to New York. But let’s put that down to long-term goals for now. When you’re only beginning the journey, choose cities with lower daily living costs. That doesn’t mean you’ll work and live in squalor. Many South, Southeast Asian, and Latin American countries are providing above-average accommodations along with wi-fi services without you having to live paycheck to paycheck.
Conclusion
Let us not forget where we started. A digital nomad is a person who works remotely or works from home but can be something else as well. They may also be an individual who works entirely online to be able to have the freedom to travel wherever or whenever they want. However, to be a highly successful digital nomad, many of the skills you had in the “normal” office or work environment will come into play as a remote worker.
- You need to think outside the box as well as have a digital economy skill set.
- Have, at a minimum, some knowledge of digital marketing unless you will be working for one company.
- Empathy. …
- Collaborative Problem-Solving. You are working remotely, not alone.
- Adaptability. Do I really have to explain this one?
- Time Management. For some a challenge under the best circumstances
- Digital Literacy.
- Oral Communication.
Digital Nomad Must Have Skills
Lastly, Burning-Glass.com has three broad categories that are critical for the ever-evolving digital economy. Which includes the exploding population of Digital Nomads and remote workers who will no doubt require digital marketing to maintain their lifestyle.
Human Skills that apply social, creative, and critical intelligence. These skills are sometimes referred to as soft skills. – critical thinking, creativity, communication, analytical skills, collaboration, and relationship building.
Digital Building Block Skills, such as data analysis and software development, are critical to many careers and increasingly useful outside traditional job categories.
Business Facilitator Skills play an integrative role in the workplace. These skills allow the leveraging of other skills. Enabling them to be put to work in practical business situations. These include, but are not limited to, project management, business process, communicating data, and digital design.
Can you see yourself as a successful digital nomad now? We assure you, it’s absolutely doable.
After all, you are reading an article by one of them! For more insights, strategies, and tips for entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals visit our Wisdom4Business blog.
About The Author
Theodore Henderson works with business owners, entrepreneurs, and corporate professionals on their business skills, marketing, and leadership strategies. He is an Amazon best-selling author, a Certified Career Coach, Business Skills & Leadership Coach, and a Certified Social Media Security Professional Powered by CompTIA.
There are some affiliate links below and I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post, but these are all products I highly recommend. I won’t put anything on this page that I haven’t verified and/or personally used.