It seems that lately everyone wants to become a digital nomad. These are people who enjoy traveling, students out of college who hate the fact that they have to settle down with a 9 to 5 job, and those who are already fed-up with their office jobs. It’s not hard to imagine why anyone would choose this lifestyle. However, as every major change in life, it requires months of work and planning until you can finally be free, and even the life on the road is not as easy as it sounds.
Connect with other digital nomads
The easiest way of creating a life for yourself anywhere is by having a support network. If you go to a place you’ve never been before, it might take some time before you manage to make real connections and a social network. Thanks to the technology nowadays, you can start working on this from home.
Find online groups for people with same interests and the same type of lifestyle you wish to have. They can help you with many issues, from resolving technical difficulties and sharing experiences to offering a place to stay. Spend months planning and building relationships with people you find suit you the best. Don’t stop the work once you leave home, continue on strengthening existing relationships and forming new ones on the spot.
Have a clean start
If you are reinventing yourself as a digital nomad and choosing a new direction in life, you should give a proper closure to your existing life. Settle all of your affairs at home which keeps you tied to one place, and be free to travel.
Cancel all of the subscriptions you won’t be needing and find someone to housesit for you. If you do not own a home, but renting your place, you can either, again find a friend willing to keep the place for you, move back with your parents (leave your stuff there), or find a friend or a family member willing to keep your belongings safe for you. It is better not to make any extreme moves such as selling your house until you are sure that the nomad life is what you want and what you can succeed at.
When it comes to work, to stay on a safe side, it might be good to speak to your managers and see whether working remotely would be an option.
Make a plan
Your plan should involve your location number one. Have a look at the type of paperwork you will need in order to travel to that destination. A consult with a reliable immigration lawyer could help you choose the best visa type for your journey and apply in the most efficient way. This is important as you have a lot of things to coordinate in order to stick to the plan. Think about the budget and how much you will need to survive the first two months. Consider and even book the accommodation. Be prepared that if you are planning on finding an apartment when you get there, they are very likely to ask for a month’s rent in advance.
Supporting your travels
In one of the previous paragraphs, there is a mention of keeping your job but doing it remotely. If this is not an option, you will have to look elsewhere. You could abandon all of your plans so far and find work with one of the companies which look for people willing to travel a lot for work and do the traveling, but on the company’s schedule. Alternatively, you can stick t your original plan but from the very moment you start planning, try to find freelance opportunities which will help you not use up all of your savings but have an income to travel on.
Finding a passion
As a digital nomad, you are making a use of the fact that you can work from wherever there is the Internet and still travel. If you are passionate about your work, this is a dream come true as you get to have both. However, if traveling is the only factor which excites you here, try figuring out why you enjoy it so much, what you can do to enjoy it more, and which skills are the ones which could help you do that. Find a way of monetizing your passions.
The easiest and the most obvious way would be with a travel blog. There are a lot of travel bloggers nowadays, however, so bear in mind you should keep it exciting or in any other way prominent. Volunteer for various purposes and causes, raise money for those causes, explore the unexplored and document it in your blog. On the other hand, if you are a fan of photography you can take pictures of the incredible things you come across to a) sell and b)start a blog and get followers.
Some of the most important things about creating a life for yourself as a digital nomad is to be well organized, connect with like-minded people, and find a way of having fun and monetizing your passions. Doing things, you truly enjoy and being able to support such life, is a dream you can make into a reality.