If you’re looking for a way to completely change your life and being the traveling lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of, then you’ve come to the right place. Yes, starting a digital nomad business is going to change your life in ways you can’t even imagine. It may be scary to take the jump, changing from your 9-5 job to a life where you’re leading it yourself, but there’s no need to feel that way. Many entrepreneurs who are making it started off just like you. They slowly built up their business, and now they’re successful the way you’ll one day be.
So if you want to start a digital nomad business, and start living the life you want NOW, here’s how.
Plan
Before you take the leap, it’s smart to make a plan. The first thing you need to think about (no surprise) is money. How much can you save up by not eating lunch out the next six months? Do you have a job to fall back on, like teaching English, if your business is slow in the beginning? Calculate how much you need, and then save up extra. Considering that Americans spend an average of $2.70 for every cup of coffee, saving might be easier than you realized just by cutting out some costs.
Once you’ve budgeted, you need to think about where you want to move. Get on Twitter and Facebook, and join groups like Digital Nomads Around the World. If you have a particular city in mind already, you can find an expat group based there, where you can ask practical questions about average rent costs, accessibility to healthcare, and friendliness to new businesses if you’re thinking of expanding your business later on.
Choose Your Business
Maybe you already know what business you want to run. Maybe you want to become a blockchain entrepreneur like Brian Magierski, become a content-writing master, connect entrepreneurs with business resources like lawyer Aaron Kelly, or run an online store. As you can see from just these examples, there are a lot of options for digital nomad businesses. According to Shopify, the best jobs for digital nomads include becoming an ecommerce entrepreneur, writer, editor, or translator because “any job that deals with words can be done remotely.” They also suggest being a developer or designer, a marketer, or doing customer support.
If you already know what business you want to start, then the best idea is to see what your competitors are doing. So many people are working remotely now, and so many businesses are run with completely remote teams that there’s someone out there who can teach you. Check out their rates, about me, and their blog to learn more about how they got where they are. Job site FlexJobs experienced a 17 percent increase in job posts in 2017, which goes to show how many people you can reach out to if you want to learn.
Once you’ve decided what business you want to run, there’s one last planning step you need to take: create a business plan and social media marketing plan. If it’s the first company you’re starting and you don’t have entrepreneurial experience, it’s worth taking a look at this guide from Entrepreneur.
Get Educated
If you feel ready to jump in once you’ve chosen what you want to do and where you want to live, and you’ve saved up the money you need, go for it. But another great idea is to get educated a bit more. When it comes to understanding the digital nomad lifestyle, there’s a lot you can learn. In addition to checking out Facebook groups, consider going to a digital nomad retreat. According to Fast Company, a few of these include the Nomad Summit, DNX Camp, Coworkstation, Nomad Cruise, YonderWork, and The Freedom Summit. In addition to learning more, you’ll also make connections in your field and friends who understand your need to travel.
Another way of getting educated is by getting certified. If you’ve got lots of experience already back home in the industry, then you may not need certification. But if you’ve always written but never blogged, then you should consider taking a free digital marketing course from HubSpot. For almost every remote job, there’s free education out there, from web design to writing tutorials. The majority of digital nomads are freelancers, which means they’re always looking for new ways to learn more about their trade.
And now–you’re ready to take the jump and start working! If you still aren’t sure about this lifestyle and career change, reach out to digital nomads via Facebook or Instagram, and learn more about what doubts they faced before making the choice that would change their lives.
Why are you interested in becoming a digital nomad?