Digital Nomad 101: Beginner Tips & Tricks
How to become a digital nomad, that’s the big question these days. The digital nomad lifestyle is all over the internet: people work from dreamy locations that seem to come straight from paradise itself. The digital nomad lifestyle is more obtainable than you might think. In this article, we are going to give you some basic tips to help kickstart your digital nomad journey.
What’s holding you back to start your digital nomad lifestyle right now?
There are probably several answers on the tip of your tongue right now. Several reasons your brain is telling you it is impossible to do this yourself. But it’s not as impossible as it may seem. Adopting the digital nomad lifestyle is far from impossible and it may give you the freedom you want as well. We’ve got some basic tips here that we learned from trial and error ourselves, and we would like to share them with you. That way, you won’t have to go through all the trouble yourself.
You don’t have to quit your job
Becoming a digital nomad does not mean you need to quit your job and pack your bags overnight. You can adopt the digital nomad lifestyle by getting your toes wet first and converting your regular job into a remote job and using that as the first step to nomad remote work. This allows you to travel while working remotely from anywhere in the world.
Some jobs will require you to be available within the time zone where the company is located. This means you might have to pull all-nighters while you are adventuring halfway across the world. Be mindful of this and make sure your physical and mental health does not suffer from it, as it can put a strain on both. Plan your trips accordingly, and see if you can eliminate work meetings when you’re traveling in other time zones. The most ideal situation would be remote jobs where you decide your hours, allowing you to adapt to the time zone you are in. Are you looking for remote jobs? Our article on How to Find Remote Jobs might come in useful.
Stay connected
The digital nomad lifestyle does require you to stay connected to be able to work remotely. Having internet wherever you are is key for this. We’ll dive deeper into that in another post, for each major country.
There are several free tools available for this that make working remotely for digital nomads so much easier. We’re going to highlight our three free favorites here.
- Trello is a free project management tool that allows you to easily streamline your work processes by setting up individual cards for them that can be moved between different sets of lists. Especially if you have different assignments going on, this can help you organize the chaos and work more effectively.
- Loom is a free chrome extension that you can use to take unlimited videos straight from your screen to share online in tutorials and webinars. Allowing you to create some passive side income for yourself while you travel.
- Zoom is another great piece of free software that you can use instead of Teams to be on video calls with clients or colleagues when working remotely. A bonus feature is that you can also use it to connect with friends and family while you are on the road.
Mail & Paperwork
You might not expect it but the world is still far from done with the paperwork. And we understand that not everyone has their parents or friends available for them to receive and forward all your mail. Thankfully, there are virtual mailbox companies that provide these services for you. Virtual mailboxes will simply receive your mail for you and digitalize it. That way you can simply log in and open your mail, no matter where you are in the world. This will save your butt on many, many occasions. One of these companies is iPostal1, which operates worldwide.
Digital Nomad Visa
As a digital nomad, you travel while working remotely. As this is becoming increasingly popular, more and more countries offer Digital Nomad Visas, specifically for remote workers. Where regular tourist visas usually expire after anywhere from 30 to 90 days several countries have adapted already and that gives you the option to apply for a digital nomad visa that lets you stay for an extended period. In Antigua that can be up to 2 years. And the beautiful island of Bali is looking to implement a digital nomad visa that will let you stay up to 5 years on the island as a nomad remote worker. The average length of a digital nomad visa is around 2 years though.
We’ll dive into detail for all specific countries in other posts, so make sure to signup for our newsletter if you want to be updated on these!
A digital nomad book
These tips obviously don’t cover everything. There are so many people out there willing to share their knowledge from the mistakes they have already made, so you don’t have to make them. This allows for smoother travel and less stress along the way. All of this knowledge is often bundled in a Digital Nomad Book. One of the books we recommend is the Budget Travellers’ Digital Nomads & Ex-pats Ultimate Guide by Levi Borbra. This book is full of tips that will be useful to anyone starting their digital nomad journey. Good luck and don’t forget to enjoy the journey!
