Wondering how to become a digital nomad? If you’re planning on starting your digital nomad journey for the very first time, you’re at the right place.
In this post, you’ll get a great overview of what it’s like to be a digital nomad, how to get started, and more importantly, you’ll learn your options to become a digital nomad.
What Is A Digital Nomad?
A digital nomad would be someone who works remotely or from his laptop while being abroad and moving around. The term “digital nomad” is actually quite controversial.
Many people seem to prefer “location independent”. Although, it doesn’t really matter – making a living out of your laptop (and WiFi) is pretty amazing, isn’t it?
How To Become A Digital Nomad | Overview
You might not become a digital nomad overnight. You might not become rich overnight, either. Of course, that’d be nice, but it’s far from reality.
You have to put a lot of effort to make something happen.
Being your own boss can also be quite challenging.
At Nomad Life 101, we believe in sharing real stories because people seem to forget how much work goes behind this lifestyle.
To get started as a digital nomad, you will need an idea/skills, and you will have to learn how to market them.
To give you a rough idea, there are so many options to earn a living online, and it always blows my mind! Whether you’d like to make money from drop shipping, affiliate marketing, blogging, or software development, the sky’s the limit.
Once you understand the power of the Internet, you’ll realize how easy it is to make money online. You might not become rich overnight, as many would suggest, but it doesn’t mean it won’t happen either!
To get started as a digital nomad, ask yourself these questions:
- What kind of skills do you already have?
- Can you use these skills to start an online business?
- What are your main interests?
- How much time/money are you ready to invest?
If you need inspiration, you should check out these real stories featuring several jobs for digital nomads!
Sometimes, it can be hard to come up with ideas. You can use these self-discovery journal prompts to generate more ideas.
Things To Keep In Mind To Become A Digital Nomad With No Experience
Learning a new skill takes time. If you already have skills, of course, you might be saving time. If you have to learn a new skill, you might want to check out Udemy and make the most of their regular sales.
Although nowadays, there are also a lot of FREE resources online, including tutorials, step-by-step guides, and helpful Facebook communities. By the way, did you join our Facebook group for digital nomads?
If you hope to make money overnight, you might want to target passive income, which means once it’s there, you can monetize something without too much effort. In this case, affiliate marketing or advertising are pretty good ways to make passive income.
Although, it can take time before you actually make sales or reach a turning point in your traffic. This being said, you might have to work several months to reach that point. Until then, you will focus on building your brand.
Working remotely / starting your own business are two different things. If your job position allows you to work remotely, you will likely work a lot, but you might enjoy it from a sunnier place.
You’re going to have to keep in mind the time difference for work calls or meetings. On the other hand, starting your own business does allow you to have more freedom as you would become your own boss.
This also means you won’t necessarily have a steady income at first which could be riskier if you don’t have a lot of savings.
STORYTIME: Once upon a time, I wasn’t a geek. I had no idea how to make a website, what the hell SEO was, and how Twitter worked. I taught myself all the skills I needed to start my own blog. I only spent money on my domain and my hosting. I also worked on my project full-time. Three years later, I made a decent amount of money from the blog, but I had to do a lot of freelancing gigs on the side to be able to survive at first.
Starting Your Own Brand
Here are the steps if you decide you want to start your own brand.
Analyze The Competition
Having an idea is great, but could you monetize it? Do you have a chance against your potential competitors?
You have to keep these two critical points in mind. Otherwise, you might waste your time working on a project that won’t work or won’t pay the bills.
If there’s a way to monetize and there’s a chance you can compete, you should then think about what could make you different/better than what’s already out there.
That’s also what we could call branding. To build your brand, you should ask yourself these questions.
- What do you want to be known for?
- What makes you different?
- What is your business about?
- Are you solving a problem?
- What do you stand for?
- Can you provide value?
Once your branding is set, you should be able to explain it in roughly 5 seconds.
This means you really know what you stand for, and that’s what your potential customers will understand as soon as they land on your website.
If you want to be successful, you have to find ways to be creative, find the gaps in the market, and also make yourself different and better from the competition.
Brainstorming Ideas
- Will you be starting a niche site? A blog?
- Will you start as a freelancer?
- Will you start an online shop?
- Will you start a personal brand?
- Will you work remotely?
Depending on the plan, you will have to find ways to get started. It will take time and a lot more time because there’s always something else you could do.
The to-do list will become a never-ending list. You might have to seek help or learn how to do stuff yourself if you don’t have too much money to invest.
Most people will start freelancing until they can properly launch their own businesses or make a decent income. During that period, it’s a great way to improve your network and spread the word.
Freelancing or finding a remote position is perfect initially, as you first need money to survive daily… especially if you’re already abroad. If you’re still at home, then you might have more resources to get started on your own projects.
It’s simple, to get started, you have to start somewhere and invest a lot of time in this. In the beginning, most of us will accept any gigs just to make a bit of money, but the more you get experience, the more you’ll be able to ask for more.
A great way to land your first client is to network in Facebook groups, co-working spaces, or networking events.
You want to be known for your skills, so the more you’re active, the more people will reach out to you once they actually need someone because you’ll be a reference in that realm.
Another great way to land clients is by sending cold pitch emails, but this can take longer if you don’t have a lot of experience or if you don’t know how to pitch correctly.
Picking A Destination As A Digital Nomad
You could be already out there, or maybe you’re planning to go abroad once your business is launched, it doesn’t really matter!
Picking the right destination could be the next headache, but at least it’s a fun one, isn’t it?
If you don’t know how long it will take to earn a living, you might want to seek somewhere cheap such as Bali, Chiang Mai, or Eastern Europe.
There are three things to keep in mind when deciding where to live as a nomad:
- Low cost of living
- Great Wi-Fi
- Working environment/networking opportunities
If you aren’t sure about your potential projects and all, seeking a destination where you can meet a lot of entrepreneurs or digital nomads would be an excellent way to brainstorm.
I had some of my best ideas sharing a meal in a co-living situation in Portugal, or during meetings in co-working spaces in Bali.
Being surrounded by link-minded people was an excellent way to get more confidence and ideas.
Making A Living As A Digital Nomad
Being a nomad sounds like a dream for many people. Guilty here – I love being a nomad!
When you’re starting your digital nomad career, it’s essential to have enough funds to support yourself or seek an affordable place to live until you can earn a living from your business.
In the beginning, there might be a lot of time trading income which means you’ll have to work a lot more to get decent money. In the end, targeting passive income is the way to go from a long-term perspective.
Ideally, you want to work less and make more money, don’t you?
I asked a few friends how long it took them to be able to earn a living from their online businesses. Most people said between 3 and 6 months, but of course, it depends on how much time you will put into your projects.
Realistically, it can take up to a year, if not more. Obviously, the more you work, the more you will likely earn money quickly.
Interesting Reads About Digital Nomads
Below, you’ll find interesting books about digital nomads in case you need more inspiration before switching to a nomadic lifestyle.
Final Thoughts On Becoming A Digital Nomad With No Experience
As you can see, becoming a digital nomad will be a long journey.
In fact, if you don’t have online skills or experience, the journey may even be longer – but NOT impossible.
Searching for something that doesn’t require any online skills?! Read one of the following blog posts:
