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Good morning, lovely dreamers and welcome to another life-changing article here on the Dreaming of Butterflies blog! Today we’re talking about a subject that is very dear to our hearts, as we LOVE working from home and moving around the world, aka being digital nomads.
But what exactly is a Digital Nomad?
A digital nomad is a person that lives a nomadic lifestyle (aka travels a lot, has no “roots”), but works remotely “using digital communications technology”, says Wikipedia.
In short, it’s someone that makes a living using, most likely, a laptop and an internet connection.
Are you someone that wants to live like this?
As two young people that were born on the wrong side of the planet, Andy and I, being Maya, always dreamed the American dream: freedom. Plus money, time and travelling. But achieving it wasn’t always easy.
To be honest, now that we’re back home in Transylvania (Romania), working from home still isn’t as easy as we wanted it to be. And that is mainly because people here and local businesses still don’t know, or understand the real power of the internet.
So when we started our other business, as a web creator + 3D designer dynamic duo (working for local businesses), we knew we were in for a challenge.
You see, the majority of remote workers and companies (that are in design or web development) here want to work exclusively with clients from the USA, or the UK, or any other country, because that’s where they think the need and the big money is located.
But the companies here that hire people in our fields still refuse to go remote, even though the job can easily be done from anywhere, as long as you can connect to the internet, which is so dumb, don’t you think?
That’s why we are different.
What Andy and I are trying to do here, is to educate and help local businesses from Transylvania, artists, coaches, shops, aspiring freelancers and whoever else needs us, and bring them to 2022. And we do it all through designs, creating beautiful web spaces for them, and more.
Is it hard? Yes. But is it worth it? YES! It’s more complicated in this region, but that just makes us fight harder.
This also means that I am spending about 80% of my day in front of my laptop working right now, but that’s okay! I made it my happy place. I got my cup of hot tea, my beautiful cat Einie high on catnip and valerian, and my loved one cuddled under a blanket by my side. What more could I ask for?
And the best part? Once the roads are clear from all this snow, I know we’ll be going on some adventure, and we can still work on the go if we need to.
That’s the beauty of working remotely. And that’s why we’re so excited to talk about it with everyone, especially you. Because we’re sure that you have at least 1 skill that can be used to get you started in working from home.
And because you are most definitely on the right side of the planet to be able to start this beautiful lifestyle easier (and faster than us), it would be such a shame if you didn’t at least try. Don’t you think?
Related:
10 EXCELLENT reasons why you should start a side hustle in 2022
How to Set Achievable Goals not New Year’s Resolutions
5+ Secrets of Making your Vision Board Actually Work
As total transparency to you, the following list is, of course, a simplification of the steps and changes that you will have to make in order to achieve this wonderful lifestyle.
Other essentials for these steps to actually work include: a great internet connection no matter where in the world you are or want to travel, a healthy working schedule, and of course, respecting safety measures while travelling. Let’s not forget that Covid is still a thing, and we should be careful.
But enough with the chit-chatting! Let’s get to it!
3 MAJOR steps to becoming a digital nomad
1. Find that one thing you can do/start from home… and DO it!
What can you do, or like to do, that can be done from home, or just using a laptop and an internet connection?
This can be anything you are schooled in, even have a degree in, and actually like doing (for example marketing, design, development, writing) or something you are skilled at and super passionate about (like creating beautiful illustrations, funny T-shirt designs, crafting something, music, videos and video editing, transcribing, reviewing books).
The sky is the limit when it comes to remote work, and there are a few ways you can earn money doing the thing that you love.
From getting a job (full time, part-time, project-based), to freelancing, to actually starting your own business, the important thing to know is that you can do it!
You just have to take a minute and list all the things you are good at and can do without being overwhelmed, learn where to look (for the jobs and clients) and what to improve about yourself and the way you work now.
For remote work, here’s a list of websites that can help you find your dream job:
Keep in mind that since the Covid-19 madness started, there is a much bigger competition on the job you may be qualified for, but the good news is the demand skyrocketed as well, so you have to keep a positive attitude and keep fighting for what you want.
If you want to start your own thing, here’s what you could do (we do some of them):
- Be a Virtual Assistant
- Become a web creator (design/dev),
- Be a designer (game, 3D, graphics),
- Be a product photographer,
- Try video editing, photo editing,
- Start a podcast, a YouTube channel,
- Become a digital creator, influencer,
- Sell stuff through Amazon, like FBA, print on demand, dropshipping, or affiliate,
- Become a writer, copywriter, proofreader,
- Share your marketing expertise as a freelancer or start a creative agency with other creative friends and offer your services as packets,
- Sell your music, your photography, your videos,
- Teach a skill,
- Start a blog!
Again, the sky is the limit. Just pick one and start from there.
2. Create multiple (passive) income streams
The secret to always having time to travel and money to spend so that you actually enjoy your adventures around the world is having multiple income streams that work for you, not you for them 24/7.
Yes, having multiple active income streams is great, in the beginning, but that is not a good idea in the long run IF your goal is financial freedom.
Making money while you sleep is not a myth, a joke, or something that is “just what the rich people do”. It’s real. We’ve seen it. Hell, we live it. Not to the level we want, just yet, but we’re getting there, one day at a time.
Yes, in the beginning, you will have to actually put in the work for each of the income streams you want to create, but after they pick up and start producing money, you just have to help them keep up the momentum, and give them a push from time to time.
Some cool and popular passive income streams include:
- Dropshipping
- Print on demand
- Amazon FBA
- Selling eBooks
- Creating and selling online courses
- Becoming an influencer or a digital creator (yes, they are 2 slightly different things)
- Starting a money-making blog
- Starting a YouTube channel
- Affiliate Marketing
- Investing in stocks, crypto and proprieties (these are long term investments)
The funny thing is you can learn how to do all of these and can do them all actually… BUT in order to ensure success, you have to start with one, focus on that, and when that one starts giving back and goes well, then you can shift your focus towards the next one, and the next… and so on.
It’s all about the long run here. So have patience.
3. Learn how to work smart, not (too) hard
The first and most important lesson on working smarter is learning everything about time. Yes, you read that right, TIME.
How to use it well, what to do to save more, what is worth your time, and what is not (this includes projects, jobs, people, business and personal altogether).
To do that, you’ll need to take some crucial steps:
- Teach yourself all about how to stop procrastinating (don’t lie, we all do it),
- Make yourself focus on your job by working in 2-4 hour batches without a break,
- Make yourself take breaks, relax, unwind,
- Create a clear list of tasks for yourself, daily and weekly
The second lesson, equally as important, is to learn how to use existing tools and other people to help you and your working process go smoothly, and FASTER.
The tools we love to use in our businesses are:
- Bluehost Maestro - helps with easy and fast accessing and managing clients’ Bluehost and WordPress accounts, without access to their sensitive information,
- Webflow - if you want to create stunning websites easy and super fast, without involving WordPress, this is the way to go,
- Canva - for easy and fast designs: logos, graphics, brand books, social media posts, Pinterest Pins, presentations, eBooks, printables and so much more,
- Grammarly - to help you spellcheck and make sure everything you write is correct (anyone can make silly mistakes),
- Tailwind - helps with Pinterest by posting hundreds of pins per month, expanding your reach, and managing other social media as well. You can save around 30 hours of work per week, or even more!
- MailChimp - helps you build a mailing list, get to know, communicate with your audience better, and sell more, as the people that trust you enough with their email, actually want more goodies from you (remember that),
- Daily Planner - this is our own planner that we designed specifically to help beat procrastination and create a healthy work-life balance,
- SendOwl - this helps with selling all your digital products, especially if you want to create an affiliate program for your business and reward people if they share your products.
These are just some of the tools we use, we also have a Resource Library that is open to you if you need more, so give that a look.
Aaaaaand that's all for today, lovely dreamers! If you liked today's advice on how you can become a digital nomad, please make sure to share it, pin it, tweet it! We will appreciate it!
QOTD: What other advice would you give to someone who wants to become a digital nomad?
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