It’s no secret that we love our job. Beginning our weblog and turning into digital nomads was the most effective choice we’ve ever made. We adore it a lot that our aim in life is now to get extra individuals to start out their very own blogs, discover distant work and journey extra usually.
However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. We have now quite a few posts on this web site that present the constructive aspect of on-line work, however there are some cons as effectively. In my view, the upsides far outweigh the downsides!
On this put up, I’m going to share with you the professionals and cons of being a digital nomad. I hope that after you learn this, you’ll have a extra trustworthy, clear image of what distant work could appear like for you.
What’s a Digital Nomad?
Mainly, a digital nomad is somebody who makes use of expertise, particularly the web, to earn cash on-line whereas having the liberty to journey and stay anyplace on the planet. This easy definition is normally sufficient to persuade somebody to get into this life-style.
What could possibly be higher? Working once you need. Selecting your personal hours. Working for your self. Working from anyplace on the planet. Making good cash. Being free.
All of it sounds so nice, and imagine me… it’s.
Our digital nomad life revolves round our weblog. We began this weblog in 2012 and after a couple of yr it began incomes a bit of cash. After lower than 2 years it was incomes sufficient to pay for our travels and at present the weblog is incomes practically quadruple what our well-paying jobs in Canada ever did.
We selected the running a blog route, however there are actually a whole bunch of journey jobs and much more distant jobs that you will discover. When you don’t get pleasure from writing, taking images and sharing issues on-line, there are many different methods to earn a living on the street.
One beneficial distant work job is to develop into a proofreader. Work from anyplace there’s an amazing wifi connection, study fascinating matters, make your personal hours, and earn an excellent revenue.
Taking a proofreading and enhancing course is one of the best ways to bulk up your resume and offers you the most effective probability of securing jobs. Take a look at this highly-rated course, which is at present 15% off and gives assured work.
So long as you’re using the world huge internet to make a dwelling whereas travelling and dwelling around the globe, you’re technically a digital nomad. Learn on for the benefits and drawbacks of being a digital nomad.
SEE ALSO: 10 Steps To Assist You Succeed As a Digital Nomad
Advantages of Being a Digital Nomad
I’ve to let you know, the professionals of digital nomad life are far simpler to jot down than the cons. This text would possibly sound like I’m biased. As if I’m attempting to promote you a timeshare and in doing so, I make the professionals sound so a lot better than the cons, however in my expertise, that is the reality.
Had Dariece and I not pivoted our life and brought this path in direction of location independence and monetary freedom, I don’t assume we’d have ever been so comfortable. In fact, my opinion is biased!
I’m a digital nomad myself and the web principally saved my life. I went from working 12 hours per day, in a darkish manufacturing unit incomes $30 / hour, to working in my pyjamas in a seaside villa for 15 hours per week and feeling financially free.
Sure. It’s simple for me to consider the constructive facets of digital nomad life as a result of, to me, it’s the most effective life-style I can think about.
1. You Can Have The Freedom To Work From Anyplace (with Wi-Fi)
Also referred to as “location independence”, this freedom means every thing to a digital nomad. The web has modified the panorama of the office a lot that your office now not must be a specific place in any respect.
At the moment, your workplace might be from a browsing village in Bali, a mountain city in Nepal or wine nation in Italy. The liberty to work from anyplace is the core of what makes location independence so nice.
Our workplaces have been stunning pool villas in Indonesia, seaside huts in Thailand, volcano craters in Guatemala, a seaside home within the Caribbean, co-working areas in Bali, a metropolis house in Malta and lots of extra. We’ve created our own residence workplaces in additional locations than we will rely and every of them was distinctive.
By working in so many alternative environments, we’re in a position to maintain our time on the pc recent and enjoyable. It by no means appears to get boring.
When your espresso break might be spent kayaking in a volcanic lake sooner or later and browsing the waves of Canggu the following, your job simply by no means appears to get previous.
This sense of freedom is indescribable. It’s nice. The humorous factor is that as I’m typing this now I’m searching over the ocean from my outdoors workplace in Grenada and fascinated about how lucky I really feel.
For a travel-lover like myself, the liberty to work from anyplace on the planet is the final word professional to this digital nomad life-style. See Additionally: 15 Greatest Cities For Digital Nomads
SEE ALSO: 7 Greatest Jobs For Digital Nomads – Get Paid With These Prime Careers
2. You Can Select Your Personal Hours
That is by far one of many largest advantages of being a digital nomad. Once I labored in Canada as a printing press operator, my hours had been determined by the corporate. I needed to work the morning shift one week, afternoons the following, and graveyards every time there was further work to be executed.
Research have proven that nightshifts can actually take years off of your life and each time I modified shifts I felt exhausted and drained.
I bear in mind dreading Sundays as a result of I knew that I used to be going to must get up on Monday at 5:00 am to make it to work on time. Whereas I used to be at work I might watch the clock and tick every minute down, excited to hurry dwelling to see Dariece.
Now we sleep in till we really feel like waking up. We begin the morning sluggish with a espresso and a stroll. After we make it to the pc, that’s when our shift begins. At any time when we would like.
We work aspect by aspect and the minute I discover myself wanting on the clock, I get off the pc. At that time, I’m not being as productive as I could possibly be, so as a substitute of losing time being unfocused, we shut up the laptops and exit to do one thing.
This freedom to decide on my very own work hours has not solely made me really feel much less stressed, however it’s additionally made me more healthy, nearer to Dariece and in the end a lot, a lot happier.
Working once you need doesn’t imply that you just by no means do any work. I’ve discovered that now that I’m working for myself, I truly wish to work. Each minute I put into our weblog and on-line companies is one other step up in our entrepreneurial journey. For each hour I put in, I’m repaid in revenue, progress and achievement.
Not solely will we get to bid farewell to the scheduled 9-5 work hours, however we’re additionally in a position to have as many holidays as we would like. After we labored in Canada we had been restricted to only 2 – 3 weeks of holidays per yr (I had 2 weeks, Dariece had 3).
This meant that we didn’t have sufficient time to actually expertise any nation. We may go on a vacation, however we didn’t have sufficient time to journey and actually get beneath the pores and skin of anyplace we visited.
Having the ability to go on vacation for so long as you need, everytime you need is likely one of the best issues about working for your self, working on-line and having location independence.
3. The Pay is Good!
That is the place so many individuals get confused. For some purpose, when most individuals consider running a blog as an occupation, they image a broke backpacker working from the seaside to earn a number of hundred {dollars} a month — simply sufficient to pay for surfboard wax and a hamburger. However that’s not the case anymore.
Today, bloggers, distant staff, and internet entrepreneurs are among the wealthiest individuals within the workforce. Go to a distant working hub like Bali, Chiang Mai or Lisbon and meet a number of individuals there.
Ten years in the past you’d have met a bunch of destitute travellers scraping by on $5 per day, attempting to save lots of sufficient for a flight dwelling, however at present these locations have boomed as digital nomad sizzling spots and the monetary demographic has shifted.
The age teams are comparatively the identical and the best way they costume hasn’t modified all that a lot, however today there are a whole bunch, if not hundreds of millionaires of their midst.
Some made it large on Bitcoin, others began a profitable dropshipping firm, whereas a lot of them have constructed a weblog empire that now earns them a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} per yr.
Sure, there may be extra competitors to succeed on-line than there was 10 years in the past, however at present there may be way more alternative.
That’s why locations like Canggu, Chiang Mai and Lisbon are thriving with the sort of work. Many governments have seen such an inflow of distant staff that they’ve needed to change their immigration insurance policies to accommodate the variety of people who find themselves coming into their borders with a full-time distant revenue.
Having monetary freedom, paired with the liberty to work from anyplace and select your personal hours is the bedrock of what makes digital nomad life so wonderful. That is the trifecta of distant work and when you will have all three, you’ll possible be singing its praises as I’m on this article.
SEE ALSO: Our Journey To A Six-Determine On-line Enterprise
4. You Can Earn Cash Whereas You Sleep
Whereas monetary freedom is nice, it’s even higher once you unlock your time so you are able to do no matter you need, whereas nonetheless incomes a dwelling.
Passive revenue isn’t potential with all varieties of distant jobs, however among the finest methods to construct up an excellent quantity of passive revenue is thru running a blog.
By merely rising your visitors to a sure stage, you may activate advertisements in your pages (just like the advertisements you see on this web page) they usually can earn passive revenue. When you flick that swap and activate advertisements, you’ll be incomes cash whilst you sleep.
Advertisements are only one method you can herald a passive revenue. Affiliate gross sales, product gross sales and e mail advertising and marketing are only a few methods you can work exhausting every now and then reap the advantages later. This can be a passive (or deferred) revenue technique and it’s among the finest elements about operating your personal on-line enterprise.
The most effective a part of operating your personal enterprise and dealing on-line is you can cease buying and selling {dollars} for hours. If you begin incomes cash via your personal channels, you’ll begin seeing the normal technique of hourly pay and wage to be barely primitive and old school. With the web and most types of distant work, you may make your cash be just right for you.
Now you may set one thing up that may run robotically and generate revenue for you long run.
Take for instance a weblog put up that ranks effectively in Google. After you publish that put up, you may neglect about it, however it could actually repeatedly earn you cash via affiliate gross sales, product gross sales and promoting. This is called passive revenue and it’s one thing that the web has made extra attainable than ever earlier than.
5. You Can Assist Others
Relying on what distant job you go for, you could discover that you just’re in a position to assist individuals. Cash and freedom are nice perks of this job, however there may be nothing extra rewarding than realizing that you just’re having an impression on the world.
When you’re educating English on-line, you could discover that you just’re giving younger individuals in growing nations a brighter future. When you’re working in tourism you would possibly be capable to present individuals take advantage of their vacation, and in case you have a weblog you may assist individuals do no matter they need.
You can provide them extra confidence, present them construct issues, train them about tech, assist them be higher dad and mom, present them earn a living on-line… the checklist goes on and on.
The paycheck that we get from this weblog is nice, however I don’t assume we’d be capable to sustain with it if we had been simply including phrases to an internet site.
The truth that we’re in a position to assist individuals get off the sofa and discover, and the emails that we get from individuals who have stop their jobs and now earn extra working on-line are extra helpful than financial institution deposits.
You may assist individuals in so some ways on-line. The web has given everybody a voice and an viewers. By working in a subject that helps others, you could discover achievement in your work and in your life.
6. Not All {Dollars} Are Created Equal
When you will have the liberty to work from anyplace, you even have the liberty to go the place your greenback is price much more. Working in Canada, it’s nearly not possible to get by on $1,500 / month. However in locations like Thailand, Indonesia and elements of Japanese Europe, you may stay fairly effectively on this quantity.
In our case, most of our revenue comes within the type of US {dollars}, so after we convert that to Thai Baht, Mexican Pesos or Indonesian Rupiah, we’re doing fairly effectively for ourselves.
There are a whole bunch of cities around the globe the place the price of dwelling is actually half of what it’s in locations like Vancouver, London and New York, so by dwelling in these locations whereas incomes overseas foreign money, you may actually stay twice the life at half the worth.
7. No Extra Getting Caught in Site visitors
When Dariece and I labored in Canada, we had about an hour of commute to get to and from our jobs each day. That signifies that once I labored 12-hour shifts, I used to be truly away from dwelling for 13 hours.
Dariece selected to commute by foot for one hour every method, so despite the fact that she solely labored 8-hour shifts, they had been truly 10 hours by the point she returned dwelling.
Today the one commute is from our comfortable beds to our computer systems. Generally we don’t even arrange our workplace, we simply drag our laptops from the nightstand to our laps and lie in mattress whereas starting the workday. Superb.
SEE ALSO: Distant Work – The Final Information To Working Remotely
8. No Make-up, No Getting Dressed, No Prep
I’ve to be trustworthy right here. Once I labored within the manufacturing unit in Calgary, I rolled away from bed, brushed my tooth, threw on some garments (usually soiled garments) and went to work. My job was soiled and sweaty anyway, and there was no costume code, so I actually didn’t must prepare for it.
However in Dariece’s case, working for a regulation agency, she needed to spend an hour preparing and time getting unready each day. By the point she completed work, she had spent about 11 hours out of her day preparing (bathe, make-up, hair, garments), commuting to and from the workplace, after which eradicating the make-up, altering garments and stress-free on the sofa at dwelling.
Not anymore! At the moment we each work from our pyjamas and, until we have now a video skype name, we don’t have to decorate up for anybody… ever.
For girls, that is usually a serious professional of being a digital nomad. So many ladies discover freedom in not having to decorate to impress anybody anymore and in Dariece’s case, it’s considered one of her favorite elements of the job.
9. No Annoying Co-Employees
In case you are working in a co-working area as a digital nomad and somebody annoys you, you may merely sit some other place, go to a distinct co-working area or simply keep at dwelling and work as a substitute. However in a traditional job, it’s a must to put up with these individuals day in, day trip.
By working remotely, not solely do you will have the liberty to work from anyplace on the planet, however you even have the liberty to work with whomever you need.
When you merely wish to work by your self, you are able to do that. When you solely wish to work together with your accomplice, you are able to do that too. When you run your personal on-line enterprise, you’ll by no means be pressured to work with somebody who you don’t agree with ever once more!
10. You Can Journey Non-Cease
For a lot of hardcore travellers, that is the final word aim. To journey endlessly. Distant work and digital nomadism can give you this freedom, however you could discover that after getting it, you crave a little bit of normality.
I do know a whole bunch of bloggers, dozens of them whom I’ve met in individual, and never considered one of them has been in a position to journey continuous in perpetuity.
A few of them greater than others, however all appear to inevitably seek for a house base. However, if travelling continuous is your factor, then there’s no higher method to do this than by working on-line.
SEE ALSO: How To Work and Journey in 2019
11. The Stress of a Dangerous Day At Work is a Factor of The Previous
I’m not saying there’s no stress in working for your self on-line. There’s and we’ll speak about these stresses a bit within the cons part of this put up, however the stress is totally different.
Each Dariece and I had comparatively tense jobs. She was coping with multi-million greenback mortgages on the regulation agency, and I used to be creating a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} price of product every day.
Easy errors from both of us may price the corporate tens of hundreds of {dollars} (I as soon as printed $200,000 price of unusable product at work).
This accounted for lots of stress. I bear in mind sitting within the parking zone at work earlier than a giant, costly job and stressing that I’d mess it up. Dariece could be stressed earlier than any day that she needed to do closings on mortgages and each of us could be extra on edge with one another throughout these occasions.
Though I attempted to not enable my job to have an effect on my dwelling life, I usually got here dwelling annoyed and irritated after a protracted exhausting day. Now, if a day isn’t going my method, I’ll merely stroll away and do one thing else.
If you end up stressed out of your job regularly, it’s time to make a change. Working for your self and dealing on-line can provide a lot stress reduction you can usually really feel more healthy, extra alive and extra fulfilled.
Cons of Being a Digital Nomad
Okay right here is the half that a lot of you most likely clicked on this text to examine.
The professionals of digital nomad life are fairly clear. There could not have been many surprises there, however there are a number of cons, and a few of them you would possibly discover substantial sufficient to contemplate a distinct line of labor.
1. Unsteady Paycheck
This is probably not true for you for those who’re merely doing distant work with set hours like educating English on-line, or for those who’re working for another person who pays you a gradual wage, however for bloggers, web site homeowners, drop shippers and another kind of freelance on-line entrepreneur, the unsteady paycheck might be exhausting to take care of.
That is significantly true once you first begin out, however each entrepreneur on the planet, whether or not they work in brick and mortar or on-line could have a fluctuation of funds month on month.
This was positively true of us after we had been first beginning to earn a full-time revenue on-line. We’d have one month the place we earned $5,000 and the following, we’d earn $1,500. It was a bit tense and made it exhausting to actually settle into one explicit life-style.
Your month-to-month revenue dictates what sort of life-style you may comfortably stay, so if it’s at all times fluctuating, you’ll possible must stay on the decrease finish of your month-to-month revenue one month, simply in case you hardly make any cash the following.
At the moment we’ve constructed a extra regular revenue and whereas it nonetheless modifications every month, we have now a dependable base that we all know will are available in. The secret’s to diversify your revenue streams in an effort to make sure of a sure amount of cash every month.
2. Everlasting Battle of the Work-Life Steadiness
Earlier than you began working remotely, you most likely simply saved a bunch of cash every year in order that you can afford to journey for some time. However once you begin incomes cash on-line, you’ll discover you can journey whilst you’re working. That is nice proper? Effectively, not at all times.
The flexibility to work whilst you’re travelling is a blessing for positive, however it can be a curse as a result of many people are unable to “swap off”.
What was a vacation journey to Spain is now tainted by the nagging urge to “get caught up”. As an alternative of having fun with your breakfast and low on the cafe, you could end up frantically answering emails or replying to social media feedback which were increase whilst you had been on a airplane or driving a bus.
The important thing to unlocking a wholesome digital work-life stability is to plan definitive holidays. Certain it’s nice that you just get to journey the world whereas incomes a dwelling, however that doesn’t imply that you just don’t want a trip each infrequently. Dariece and I not too long ago “switched off” on a journey to Ecuador and Peru and it felt nice.
We had been in a position to put our laptops away and except for a number of social shares, we had been utterly within the second. Earlier than our departure, we scheduled months of content material to go stay whereas we had been on the street and we employed some assist to permit us to be away from the enterprise for an prolonged time period.
To our shock, our revenue and visitors truly grew after we had been away and we returned from the journey feeling refreshed and recharged.
3. Lack of Neighborhood & Native Help
One of many nice issues about working on-line is that it doesn’t matter what job you’re in, there’s possible a Fb group or a discussion board someplace that permits you to really feel linked to your fellow colleagues within the space.
However how linked are you actually once you’re travelling from place to position each few days, weeks or months.
It’s exhausting to type a strong group of pals when you understand you’ll be leaving in a short while. This lack of friendship and neighborhood led Dariece and me to type a base in Grenada.
Many bloggers, internet entrepreneurs and digital nomads are doing this today. As an alternative of being absolutely nomadic, they arrange a base in a rustic they love and journey from there.
If you first begin out on this digital journey, you would possibly love not having to make plans with your whole pals, however after a number of years or a long time, you’ll most likely miss having your personal assist group to fall again on. I do know that we did. Fortunately there’s a remedy for this ailment. All it’s a must to do is ready up store someplace that you just love.
It doesn’t imply that it’s a must to cease travelling, in actual fact, many individuals journey much more once they have a house base as a result of they get extra work executed in once they’re dwelling of their acquainted setting.
A house base can mean you can arrange a greater, extra ergonomic workplace, it could actually mean you can make an enduring group of pals and can provide you time to recharge your batteries each infrequently.
It’s additionally good, after years of transferring from resort to resort, to truly unpack, purchase a number of requirements and really feel like you will have a little bit of a dwelling.
4. Lacking Buddies and Household
As we grow old, we discover that we miss our family and friends increasingly more being on the street. We at all times attempt to meet up annually both again in Canada, or some other place overseas, however it’s not at all times simple.
Seeing images on Fb of our nieces rising up, my mother having enjoyable with aunts and uncles and my pals going out for the evening typically makes me miss dwelling. For some individuals, this pullback to dwelling life proves an excessive amount of they usually find yourself abandoning the digital nomad life for a extra regular job again of their dwelling nation.
We’re lucky sufficient to have a household that may afford to return and go to us, and some pals that we will see after 5 years and really feel like we haven’t missed a beat, however for some, this isn’t the case.
Homesickness is an actual factor. For me, I don’t miss Canada, my job, our dwelling or the issues we did. I simply miss the individuals.
5. Poor Wi-Fi
I don’t usually curse in my weblog posts, however wi-fi warrants it. There’s nothing extra irritating than attempting to work on-line with shitty wi-fi. It’s terrible.
There are occasions once you simply must add a photograph, be part of a category/tutorial, or put up an article and the wi-fi merely received’t enable it. Fortunately wi-fi is bettering all around the globe, however once you get to these locations with a nasty connection, you could be tempted to hurl your laptop computer via a window.
6. Having To Plan For Your Personal Retirement
That is one other factor that we’ve began to consider extra as we grow old. For the primary three or 4 years of our travelling life, I didn’t take into consideration retirement in any respect. I used to be younger, having enjoyable and 65 appeared like two lifetimes away.
However now that we’ve settled down a bit and have grown this enterprise, we’ve had to consider retirement. In Canada and in most developed nations, there are a number of computerized security nets in place like pensions and previous age safety, however the longer we stay away from Canada as non-residents, the extra these funds depreciate.
In actuality, by the point we retire, we received’t be capable to reap the benefits of any government-subsidized techniques and we received’t have paid in sufficient money to a Canadian pension to get any actual return after we retire. So what will we do?
Having executed the mathematics many many occasions, we’re assured that we’ll have extra money in retirement doing what we’re doing now than we’d have if we stayed working on the similar jobs in Canada.
It has taken some time to construct up up to now, however we’re assured that if all goes effectively for the following 5 years, we’ll be capable to retire comfortably.
So, is Changing into a Digital Nomad Value It?
Completely.
In my view, the professionals of working on-line far outweigh the cons. I measure success by the extent of happiness that it brings. In our case, this digital nomad life has introduced us extra happiness and achievement than our jobs, and lives in Canada ever may have.
We journey the world, which is our best ardour. We’re free to do what we would like after we need. We get to expertise new issues each day and we get to share this all with one another.
We’re now not aside for 12 hours a day. We now not come dwelling pressured from work. We now not fear about cash, payments, dangerous co-workers or bosses respiration down our necks.
Changing into a digital nomad was the most effective factor we ever did.
Do you wish to develop into a digital nomad? Try our checklist of 101 Journey Jobs that may provide help to get into this life. We’ve tried many distant jobs, however the most effective by far is running a blog. If you wish to begin your personal weblog about something (it doesn’t must be about journey), Click on Right here and I’ll present you begin one on 10 minutes. You’ll additionally get my free Newbie Blogger Course to stroll you thru the preliminary steps of establishing, designing and constructing a profitable weblog.
*Lead picture courtesy of The Dharma Trails.