Tag: Live Work Anywhere

Are you tired of the 9 to 5 grind? Are you longing for a more fulfilling work life balance? Do you want to leave that draining office job to see the world and experience new cultures? Living as a digital nomad and pursuing remote work can give you the freedom and flexibility to live and work online anywhere in the world and follow your own schedule. With so many benefits, the lifestyle of a digital nomad is definitely worth exploring.

In this blog post, we are going to discuss 10 digital nomad tips for living your best life as an escapee who is now working online without having any fixed location or office space at all times.

Create a daily routine that works for you.

If you want to be productive and organized, it is important that your daily routine works for YOU. Whether you are your own boss in your own business or work remote for a different business or many offices, you still need to a work schedule if you want to sustain your digital nomad life.

An effective way for most digital nomads is to create a daily routine where all tasks are completed in order each day. This is a great productivity tip that could help keep remote workers on track with all projects while also allowing enough time between meetings or deadlines, so you don’t get stressed out!

Make sure you have a good internet connection and strong power wherever you go.

Living a digital nomad lifestyle can be tough without the right tools. While it’s amazing to travel around the world, digital nomadism doesn’t mean stopping working your remote jobs or growing your own company.

That means you need to have reliable wifi and enough power to get stuff done from wherever you’re working! Digital nomads favor coffee shops and co working spaces since these typically offer good wifi and even power sockets.

For a more comprehensive discussion, check out How to Become a Digital Nomad & How to Live/Work Anywhere.

Pack light and invest in a good travel backpack.

We all know the feeling of carrying around heavy bags, especially after a long day. It’s no fun! To avoid this from happening to you on your trip, break up everything into smaller packages and take only what is necessary for each destination. Do NOT overdo it with souvenirs or other goodies that might end up taking up space in an already full backpack/suitcase combo. You’ll thank yourself later when walking through airports, terminals, and arrival halls.

Always keep in mind that the key to a successful trip is packing light. You’ll want your bag as small and portable as possible so you can move quickly and explore on foot instead of riding in cars or buses all day long!

Create a budget and stick to it.

Your budget should serve like a leash – you don’t want to get too far away from it or else your spending could spiral out of control. Mindful spending is one of the keys to financial freedom, especially as a digital nomad.

If you want to stay on top of your finances and save money, create a budget and do your best to only spend on things you planned for in advance. There are plenty of ways for you to get creative when staying within the realms of reality-based spending habits!

Just sit down with pen in hand, or better yet pencil—whatever works for your particular style. Start writing out all the things that are going into each category like groceries, transportation, accommodation, foreign transaction fees, travel insurance, and communication expenses. Accidents happen, so don’t forget about emergencies either.

Once those numbers are set, stick with them like glue because any change will throw off everything else if it isn’t intentional. Make sure that whatever money is going into the bank account has been planned for in advance, so you keep the surprises to a minimum!

Find like-minded people to travel and work with.

Travelling can often be a solo affair, but it can also be an incredible time for making connections, mingling with fellow travelers, and meeting other digital nomads every now and then. You can join online and offline communities of likeminded people to share travel tips and experiences. For example, you can search for Facebook groups that cater to like-minded fellow globe trotters or digital nomads for some company on future adventures or simply share tips about how not to get lost in any foreign country.

Explore, relax, and recharge.

Traveling and leading a digital nomad life don’t need to be an exhausting, whirlwind experience. It can also provide you with some much-needed rest and relaxation time to simply enjoy the traveling process and achieve a better work life balance.

Take this period to discover what makes your heart sing, such as an activity that can teach you new skills or attend local events. Find out what makes those endorphins going. You might even want get off the tourist trail or popular digital nomad destinations and go sightseeing at local hotspots that are visited less by others!

Document your journey.

I know that sometimes, like with memories or experiences (or both!), there is a feeling of fleetingness. As digital nomads, it’s easy to forget all the fantastic things we’ve seen in our lives when it happens so fast. Documenting your journey can help! It’ll ensure that each adventure you get into has its own place and turns into an unforgettable story.

Keep a journal of your adventures. Take pictures of the wonderful places as well. That way, you’ll be able to look back on all the different locations that molded you into the person you are today. These will also help you remember (or even relive!) what it felt like when things first started getting interesting in your journey.

Learn some basic phrases in the local language.

The local language is key to understanding the culture and making new friends in the community. Learn some basic phrases before you go, so that when people are trying their best to speak to you in English (which everyone mostly does), they’ll be pleasantly surprised by your effort and interest in their own language.

Be respectful.

Not everyone has the same experience or culture as you do, so be open-minded when you travel, attend events, and meet locals in a new destination! Remember that people are different. Embrace those differences rather than judge them. You will appreciate and learn more about people and yourself by being receptive to fresh ideas and new things.

Be open to new experiences.

What is the one thing every person should do before they die? It’s not eating chocolate cake, drinking alcohol, or taking drugs. The answer to life’s most important question — what makes you happy – lies within embracing new experiences. As cliché as it sounds: diversity really does = strength!

Learn about other cultures by traveling outside your comfort zone. The world is a fascinating place, and there’s no better time than now to explore it. You will learn about yourself by experiencing something new each day of your journey. Don’t be afraid to become untethered. This is how you grow and learn.

Whether you’re just starting your journey as a digital nomad or looking to change careers, check out our article on How to Become a Digital Nomad to help make your transition into this path easy, efficient, and successful.

Because no two digital nomads are the same, there is no one-size-fits-all solution and the learning curve can be different for everyone. However, a few general tips about the digital nomad lifestyle can make it a little less daunting especially in a new location. What about you? What tips can you share with the digital nomad community?

There’s something about the digital nomad lifestyle that is inherently inspiring. The feeling of being free to explore unfamiliar places and cultures leaves one with an unquenchable sense of curiosity. Quotes by famous and not-so-famous people alike often capture this feeling perfectly.

Whether you’re an aspiring digital nomad, a seasoned backpacker, or just looking for some wise words to inspire and motivate yourself on your journey in life – these will be perfect!

Here are some digital nomad quotes that will make your toes tingle and make you want to be on the road now.  Know of any other quotes?  Please add some in the comments or send us some!

1.  I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way – Carl Sandburg

2. I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list – Susan Sontag

3. I was never going to go if I waited for someone to come with me – Laura

4. To travel is to take a journey into oneself – Danny Kaye

5. I would rather own little and see the world than own the world and see little of it – Alexander Sattler

6. Chris Michel – Everyone Has a Story … It’s your story, you write it.

7. A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving – Lao Tzu

8. Once a year go somewhere you’ve never been before – Dalai Lama

9. The road you travel has twists and turns. The life of an entrepreneur has ups and downs. Hang on and enjoy the ride – Libby Tucker

10. Every few hundred feet the world changes – Roberto Bolano

11. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – Lao Tzu

12. “Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

13. “And then there is the most dangerous risk of all — the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” – Randy Komisar

14. “We wander for distraction but we travel for fulfillment.” – Hilaire Belloc

15. “To travel is to live.” – Hans Christian Andersen

16. “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine

17. “The more I travel, the more I realize that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.” – Shirley MacLaine

18. “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky — all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese

19. “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It is lethal.” – Paulo Coelho

20. “What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do — especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – William Least Heat Moon

21. “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” – Howard Schultz

22. “To travel is worth any cost or sacrifice.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

23. “The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” – Henry David Thoreau

24. “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

25. “A person susceptible to “wanderlust” is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation.” – Pico Iyer

26. “No matter how much experience you have, how many degrees you have, or how well known you have become — there is always something new to learn. Don’t rest on your past experiences. If you do nothing to improve your skills, you won’t stay where you are.” – Laura Spencer

27. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein

28. “Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.” – Jamie Lyn Beatty

29. “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca

30. “Adventure is a path. Real adventure, self-determined, self-motivated, often risky, forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world.” – Mark Jenkins

31. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Andre Gide

32. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

33. “Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” – Dalai Lama

34. “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson

35. “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” Lewis Carroll

36. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark

37. “If you’ve got an idea, start today. There’s no better time than now to get going. That doesn’t mean quit your job and jump into your idea 100 percent from day one, but there’s always small progress that can be made to start the movement.” – Kevin Systrom

38. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

39. “For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. “Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it “eventually,” just do it and correct course along the way.” – Timothy Ferriss

40. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust

41. “If you are lonely when you are alone, you are in bad company.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

42. “If a man would move the world, he must first move himself.“ – Socrates

43. “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley

44. “In 20 years, you will be more disappointed by what you didn’t do than by what you did.“ – Mark Twain

45. “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain

46. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

47. “I travel not to cross countries off a list, but to ignite passionate affairs with destinations.” – Nyssa P. Chopra

48. “Long-term travel is not an act of rebellion against society; it’s an act of common sense within society.” – Rolf Potts

49. “The most beautiful in the world is, of course, the world itself.” – Wallace Stevens

50. “You shouldn’t focus on why you can’t do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why perhaps you can, and be one of the exceptions.” – Steve Case

51. “A year from now you will wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb

52. “I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher

53. “Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret.” – Oscar Wilde

54. “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux

55. “Vocation is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” – Frederick Buechner

56. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

We hope you enjoyed these digital nomad quotes! These words have never failed to inspire us to go on a daring adventure, explore secret destinations and unknown lands, or just wander around this wonderful world, with no fixed plans reveling in the location independent lifestyle we chose to live.

If these quotes about digital nomads motivated you to make some changes in your own life, be sure to check out our blog guide on How to Become a Digital Nomad. It features tips and strategies on flourishing with a digital nomad lifestyle, including a guide on remote jobs, how to travel light, and ways to choose one’s destination for first timers.

What about you? What are your favorite nomadic life quotes, and why? Share them with us in the comments below.

The girl in the airport kiosk just saved my life. As I write, I am writing using wifi. Free, unfiltered and no-strings-attached airport wifi. What a blessing.

The IGNITE talk in Santiago finished last night, and on only 2 hours of sleep I had to go the airport. My plane was delayed 3 hours and I had no wifi. Another 3 hour delay for my next connection. I have a report to turn in today for a client. And now I can hand it in on time! So glad that it’s 2 pm here but only 9 am on the west coast…

I gave 3 examples in my IGNITE talk about running seamless experiments in Costa Rica, Budapest, and Buenos Aires – all which had lessons and failings. Like working in the airport, it was all about learning how to get what you needed, and truly work from anywhere.

Here are some examples in which the goal was continuous (seamless) work without interruption, and organized such that I could essentially remain incognito to my coworkers.

1) In Costa Rica, I was lured by the promise of strong wifi and continuous power. These are the basics of what I list as the Mobility Criteria.

But when I arrived, the wifi was shared between a long list of nearby businesses. I had approximately 1/12th of the bandwidth I was promised! Also, the power would frequently go out, which incured the frustration of… no one. People would shrug their shoulders and head to the beach!

2) In Budapest, I stayed with a friend (versus a crowded, dirt-floor hostel) in an apartment, in an attempt to increase my available Internet bandwidth. I ventured out to a cafe one night after finding out that it had wifi and that it was open until 12 am midnight. Bingo!

At a quarter to 8 pm I asked the waiter if they had wifi and he said yes. Great! So I got the password, ordered some food. I ate my food (a sandwich and some Gulyasleves, a.k.a. goulash). Then, I opened my laptop. It was 8 pm. The password worked, but the Internet did not.

I asked the waiter what happened and he said, “We turn the wifi off at 8 pm so that people will socialize from 8pm-12am.” Bad luck.

3) Learning my lessons, I went to Buenos Aires, Argentina. There, I had my own room, my own wifi and power. This time, I got what I needed

There I was, on a conference call, with Budweiser, mid-day, when suddenly… someone starts jack-hammering through the side of the building. A jackhammer?! Just when I thought I’d seen it all. The noise-canceling headphones I swore by were no match for that jackhammer. The power was cut, and … the call was lost.

The lesson from these three incidence are: You never know what’s going to happen. Really, you don’t. You can be in any country and any city of the world, and following the Mobility Criteria, and still have things happen. The key, as with any entrepreneur, is to be resilient and to be flexible.

Keep running experiments, keep being mobile. Each experience is a learning experience and a step forward for the Anywhere Entrepreneur.

What was your last experience like working remotely?  Have you had similar challenges?  

Today I received a fax with a 12 month lease and deposit for my rental in Seattle. After 2 months of being vacant and going through 30+ inquires and applications, the house is finally rented. All done from New York City.

This is a topic I’ve always wanted to write about. I’ve always wanted to have my own place to call ‘home’, a place to rest my stuff when traveling.

Here, in Seattle, I bought a house and I’ve been renting it out for the past 6 years. I had two houses, but sold one as I downgraded to 4 boxes. But after learning about the housing market, and having refinanced to an interest-only loan that was just at the end of its 3 year pre-payment penalty, I realized that I would have to sell the first house.

The second one, the one in the picture, I remodeled and turned into two full living spaces with separate entrances. I’ve discovered that you need to have coverage of at least 25% in order to break even from maintenance, vacancies, and so on.

Becoming a virtual landlord isn’t easy, but it’s doable—from anywhere in the world.

Before leaving Seattle for NYC, I filmed a video tour of the house and put it on YouTube. When prospective tenants would call, I’d send essentially the same template that would include:

• More information on house, deposit, neighborhood, etc
• Pet deposit (if applicable)
• Asking the prospective tenant’s current living situation, number of total tenants in consideration, when they were looking to move, and what they did for income
• A link to the YouTube video
• Scheduling tools for setting up a time/day for a viewing
• A link to my Google Voice number (if I were posting from Chile, I would still have a US number and able to take/return calls (see previous post))

I purposefully hid a key before I left. After qualifying the tenant and arranging a day/time to meet (and after I’d send the video so they were able to see if they liked it before either of us would waste any more time), I would then send them to the house and tell them I had a friend place the key and that they would be by, but not until after their set time.

Finally, after several potential tenants and one guy falling through (not once but twice), I got the signed lease faxed today to my Ring Central number. Done!

There were a few hurdles along the way, such as a friend going over to open the house and accidentally locking all doors which locked out the potential tenants when they arrived for their scheduled visit. Then there was the time my sister and her new husband crashing at the house and locking the key inside —I had to make key copies made and overnight to Seattle. But other than those snafus, it all worked out. I’m able to enjoy my time in NYC with the peace of mind of my house being rented. Totally worth it.

….  realize that you let your dreams go unfulfilled.  

“Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.”

That’s from Bonnie Ware’s blog Inspiration and Chai. I was very inspired after reading that original article.

My passion is to travel and live in other countries. For me, I can’t work in an office for 30 years and be free only to spend a week or two on vacation.  I prefer to focus on vocation, not my occupation.

Working every day means that you miss seeing your family and friends due to your work schedule. You also can’t see much of the world…until you retire, that is.  But by then, you’ll be wanting to spend all of your hard-earned savings on health care and an RV because that’s a “safer” way to travel.

Retire now!  When you’re in the grave will it matter how much you worked or how much you accumulated?  Stuff is stuff.  We are so lucky to be able to experience life. We are willingly imprisoned by our ‘shoulds’: We “should” have one uniform job forever, we “should” travel only when we’re just out of college, or after we retire.

The phrase I often hear along with the “shoulds” is: “It’s not that easy to just take off.” And to that I say, yes, it is.  It’s scary to take off, but it’s much more rewarding to be laying on your death bed, muttering “I can’t believe I did it” versus, “I wanted to, but…”

We have two choices when it comes to our dreams: Do or Don’t.

The reason there is so much pressure not to follow our wants is because most people aren’t, and we are living in the proverbial crab pot. Slowly letting the stress and unfulfillment build up around us, never resolving.

I heard a great quote once that basically said that people shrink their dreams to match their income, compared to pursuing their dreams and reaching for the income needed to attain them.

Your dreams don’t have to be income-related, but the point is that you shouldn’t shrink your dreams just because you think there are limitations. The only limitations are the ones you put in place.

Sure, there are challenges. You do have to make extreme sacrifices. But are you willing to make those sacrifices so you’re not lying there, on your death bed, tubes up your nose and a pocket full of regrets?

I made a decision  a long time ago to change my life. At that time I was unable to afford constant traveling as a lifestyle, so I decided that I would work as I traveled.  While still in good health and being able to experience things like learning new languages and try new foods, I decided that I would travel and work simultaneously. I would follow my dreams while working toward my dreams of traveling.

Instead of going to dinner in Seattle every night, I could be working from a cafe in Buenos Aires, enjoying a tango show. I would be speaking Spanish, and having steak and wine for dinner—all while getting my work done that day. I could visit my family—not for a weekend but 2 weeks—and not skip a beat.

My goal is to travel the world and learn about other cultures/ places/ foods/ histories/ people/ languages, etc.  I’ve been told by others that that means a lot of vacation time and a lot of money.

But I’m doing it. And I’m blogging about my journey and how it can be done because I want to show how you too can live out your dreams. It’s not always doable in the way you expect. But with enough desire and guts, anything is possible. And your dreams are just too important.

How are you working to follow your dreams? Do you think you’ll have any regrets on your deathbed?