[Edmaster]

Seems that many people on the forum are able to make living while traveling in many different country in the world and staying at least for weeks, even mouths there.

What are the steps you took as the beginner to start on this path ?
How long did it take you to become fully independent ?

I am really eager to learn but have not idea where to start my journey.

Thank you very much

[CleanSlate]

Check my sig below.

Word of advice... next time do a search before starting a thread and asking questions like these. We have plenty of threads about this topic and they can be found using the search function.

[Irish]

This is my take on the whole location independence shebang

Rather than targeting total freedom/location independence I rather am working towards a hybrid or 'semi'-location independence.

There's plenty of chat on the whole digital nomad working-out-of-a-laptop-in-a-hammock gig, but I had a real think about what it is that makes me tick and realised that although I don't want to be tied to a desk, the travelling nomad rucksack life isn't quite for me neither. I feel I personally fall somewhere in between.

Everyone is different and it's easy to get carried away reading other blogs and experts saying and deciding you want to be 100% location independent as that is what you think you should be doing.

My advice is to have a real long hard, and most importantly, honest think about what it is that makes you truly happy. What's your strengths and weaknesses. Location independence isn't an all or nothing thing, and can take many forms. So gather all the information you can and work out what is the best model that works for YOU personally.

I also strongly advise you to first (if possible) take a sabbatical and travel to Asia, EE, LatAm or wherever. For however long as you can afford. Try meet up with as many location independent (or quasi-location independent) dudes as possible. From this forum and beyond and bounce ideas off eachother. The reason I advise this is that by travelling, experiencing different cultures etc and meeting other guys who are at various points on their own location independent journey, your mindset will shift significantly. In which case your values, priorities and whatever you think it is that makes you happy will also change. From there you will have a clearer picture of what it is you want out of life and how to put the framework in place to make it happen.

[Edmaster]

(10-06-2016 08:22 AM)Irish Wrote:  

This is my take on the whole location independence shebang

Rather than targeting total freedom/location independence I rather am working towards a hybrid or 'semi'-location independence.

There's plenty of chat on the whole digital nomad working-out-of-a-laptop-in-a-hammock gig, but I had a real think about what it is that makes me tick and realised that although I don't want to be tied to a desk, the travelling nomad rucksack life isn't quite for me neither. I feel I personally fall somewhere in between.

Everyone is different and it's easy to get carried away reading other blogs and experts saying and deciding you want to be 100% location independent as that is what you think you should be doing.

My advice is to have a real long hard, and most importantly, honest think about what it is that makes you truly happy. What's your strengths and weaknesses. Location independence isn't an all or nothing thing, and can take many forms. So gather all the information you can and work out what is the best model that works for YOU personally.

I also strongly advise you to first (if possible) take a sabbatical and travel to Asia, EE, LatAm or wherever. For however long as you can afford. Try meet up with as many location independent (or quasi-location independent) dudes as possible. From this forum and beyond and bounce ideas off eachother. The reason I advise this is that by travelling, experiencing different cultures etc and meeting other guys who are at various points on their own location independent journey, your mindset will shift significantly. In which case your values, priorities and whatever you think it is that makes you happy will also change. From there you will have a clearer picture of what it is you want out of life and how to put the framework in place to make it happen.

Thank you very much man for your response which helps me to have a better picture of what's the "digital nomad" and it's cons also that no one ever talk about.
I've actually taken a trip in EE for 3 weeks but didn't get to meet DN dude.
I've also realize that you need a "fix" place at some point and just being from a place to another is not a way to live permanently.
The semi-nomad seems in fact to be a great option (I thought about 6 mouths working, and 6 mouths traveling around).

What are your favorite community regarding digital nomad ?

[John_Galt]

There is literally a book about it.

Google "The 4 Hour Workweek" Author: Tim Ferris.

If you read his book and follow his instructions, you'll be location independent within 2 years easily, IF YOU PUT IN THE WORK!

Note that this requires HARD WORK and CONSISTENCY. No book or piece of advice will magically make you able to make an "easy income".

[Shimmy]

Irish has a spot on response. If you have the freedom to travel I would make a prioritized list of countries/cities that interest you and do some traveling to find the place that's perfect for you before making any type of decisions. You can get general ideas about places reading a forum but everyone is different and nothing beats first hand experience.

[Edmaster]

Yes thank you very much guys !

Do you have an ideas of a pratical business which are not too complicated to set up (unlike things like forex or so) ?

I am talking about getting rich or anything but just earn enough money to make living in the average cost country.

[Brodiaga]

(10-08-2016 07:46 AM)Edmaster Wrote:  

Yes thank you very much guys !

Do you have an ideas of a pratical business which are not too complicated to set up (unlike things like forex or so) ?

I am talking about getting rich or anything but just earn enough money to make living in the average cost country.

This is, like they say, the 64 thousand dollar question.

[RexImperator]

Can't go wrong starting with spelling.

[the-dream]

The easiest way and the way I have experience with is working online, running websites etc.

(10-06-2016 04:33 AM)Edmaster Wrote:  

How long did it take you to become fully independent ?

It took me about five years of doing it in my spare time after school and work to quit my job and do it full time. However, when I did finally take the plunge to do it full time (about 7 months ago), I wasn't making anywhere near enough to live on. But it all worked out and I'm now earning much more money than I could doing any job that I'm qualified for. And even if I was making slightly less money than I would working a job at home, I'd still pick this lifestyle in a heartbeat.

What I'm trying to say is that I probably could have done it much sooner than 5 years but it took me that long to have the confidence to dedicate myself to it. If I'd have waited until I was making a full time income online but putting in part time hours, that day may never have come.

My advice to anyone has has some experience making money online but doesn't feel like they're successful enough yet to take it seriously is to consider this - "If you're making $500/month online from working 2 hours each evening, do you think you could make $2000/month if you were to work 8 hours a day?". If the answer is yes, go for it!

(10-06-2016 04:33 AM)Edmaster Wrote:  

What are the steps you took as the beginner to start on this path ?

If you're looking for a blueprint on what to do, here's what I did with a few tips gained from hindsight added in.

1. Pick a topic to make a website about.

This should be the topic that you are most knowledgeable and have the most interest in.

Ideally it should be something that you read about every day. Working online is quite tedious and can be frustrating, especially when you're not making any money yet. Unless you pick a topic that you're genuinely interested in, you probably will not have the patience and motivation to see it through to the point where you know how to make money.

If you're thinking "that's all well and good but I'm not passionate about anything, all I do is go home and play video games all day" then that's perfect! People spend a huge amount of money, almost exclusively online, for things for video games every day and if you can tap into even a tiny percentage of that, you'll be rich!

If you're thinking "that's all well and good but I'm not knowledgeable about anything, all I do is go home watch YouTube videos" then that's great! Companies will pay you so much money if you can get YouTubers to place their products in their videos and that is the easiest work ever!

The topic should be broad enough that there are millions of people who would be interested in reading about it but narrow enough that your readers will be interested in everything that you write about.

If that doesn't make any sense, I will try and explain with an example if you are thinking of making a movie website...

"World war 2 zombie movies" is a bad topic to choose. Not enough people are interested in world war 2 zombie movies for you to make much money. "Movies" is a better, but still bad, topic for you to choose. Although billions of people are interested in movies, you might capture somebody's attention by writing about an action movie but then when you write about a romance movie, you'll lose their trust and attention already. "Romance movies" is a good topic to choose. It is broad enough that millions of people are interested and if somebody likes one romance movie and is interested enough to find something on your website about that, they are likely to be interested in many other romance movies.

To be continued after I'm back from lunch...

[Australia Sucks]

The dream, that was a really long lunch ;-)

[jamaicabound]

To be location independent for most people you need to work for yourself. Some people are lucky to have a job where they work remotely but even then most people are at the very least if not tied down by location tied down by traditional work hours if they need to interact with customers or coworkers.

For becomming location independent you probably don't need as much money as you think, assuming you pick a location with a lower cost of living. I have a lot of friends who maybe only make $1500 per month but live in Nicaragua or Thailand or the Phillinpines where they live pretty comfortably on that salary.

For making your money you either need to learn a skill you can freelance with be it graphic design, web design, some type of consulting, etc or you can do various online hustles such as affiliate marketing, ecommerce, dropshipping, fiverr gigs, etc. I'd suggest having multiple streams of income so if Amazon cuts affiliate payouts or something its only a small part of your income and not a significant chunk of it.

I think many times being location independent opens you up to many more business opportunities. Could be something like exporting popular items from the location your living in that are hard to get in other places, could be starting a blog or Youtube channel documenting your situation, lots of opportunities.

I think if your starting from scratch I would recommend starting with affiliate marketing. Not only is it a business you can do completely independent timewise and locationwise but it's something that will help you develope many skill-sets you need for future endeavors, everything from minor web design, graphic design, how to drive web traffic, marketing and sales, a bit of videography, polish up your writing skills, and hopefully you make some money while doing it as well.

Start building a bank roll so you have some savings, start crafting multiple income streams, doesn't matter if it's $100 from Amazon associates program, $200 from Amazon merch, $300 from eBay dropshipping. Assuming you have a bankroll and some savings to fall back on and have multiple income streams and choose a cheaper destination I feel you could live pretty decent on $1200 to $1500 per month. Obviously strive to make more but I think it's doable on that salary.

[slowpoke]

Cut your expenses to the bone then switch to part time work.

It's a hell of a lot easier to build an online business when you're not working 40+ hours and commuting every week

Once the business makes enough for you to live off, proceed to give your boss the middle finger and book a flight to Thailand

[crdr]

You need skills. Rather than dreams.
You need to learn Copywriting, Product Management, Accounting and Marketing.
Personally I know how to do all of this and write open source code.

I do this all around the world.

It's very hard work. Because you have a lot of 'unwoke' people to deal with. It has taken me about 10 years of making progress through other people's mistakes to get on track and focused.

There are tons of people who run sites out of Puerto Rico and shit. That's scam work. They don't have any margins. You have to watch your margins very carefully in an online business. The $10 e-book is flooded. Roosh got his name in the game early. It's not so easy anymore.

As for lifestyle: Don't buy a new car. Buy a beater for your domestic life. If you can do it, when you're real successful you can rent a low cost apartment in your home town and then do the airbnb/couchsurfing thing abroad.

Your costs can be low. But it's more important to keep your revenue high aswell. Because one bad month and you're screwed.

You need a solid base of subscribers before you try anything fancy. I would suggest travelling for light fun to get your feet wet. Then hitting the pavement hard for long term subscribers at margin to provide them with value abroad.

Good Luck.

[jspill]

As soon as I had enough money to live in places like Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines ($1k - $3k a month depending on partying), that was it, just one step really. Started with freelance writing paid per word, asked one company for a fixed salary, got it, got a raise every year or two.

[Edmaster]

(06-01-2017 06:50 PM)jspill Wrote:  

As soon as I had enough money to live in places like Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines ($1k - $3k a month depending on partying), that was it, just one step really. Started with freelance writing paid per word, asked one company for a fixed salary, got it, got a raise every year or two.

Great man ! which websites do you use to find remote jobs ?

I have this one : https://remoteok.io

[SnowHugger]

If there are any web developers on, I have a question that's been bugging me. There's plenty of businesses around me with shitty websites. Though my graphic design skills are below average. Is using WordPress or SquareSpace fine when I approach them to "redesign" their site?

Currently learning HTML and CSS, but I'm at the point where I can copy a website's look without any of the functionality.

[Corollary]

(06-01-2017 07:45 PM)SnowHugger Wrote:  

If there are any web developers on, I have a question that's been bugging me. There's plenty of businesses around me with shitty websites. Though my graphic design skills are below average. Is using WordPress or SquareSpace fine when I approach them to "redesign" their site?

Currently learning HTML and CSS, but I'm at the point where I can copy a website's look without any of the functionality.

The average business owner won't know anything about Wordpress or Squarespace, so yes they are both fine.

But convincing them to pay you to redo their site will be more about your sales skills and less about the technology involved. Ugly sites can get the job done, so you need to convince them that a better design can make them more money.

I know a guy making over a million dollars a year on a site that looks like it was created in 1996. Good design isn't always important.

[qwertyuiop]

I've been working on it by learning a skill.

Rather than thinking about it like "living the dream" I've just treated it as a business and trying to learn the skill.

[worldtraveler3]

YouTube.

E book is not really the way right now.

Check out guys like lost Le blanc.
With hundreds of susbscribers you can make thousands of dollars a month, while also traveling.
You need to learn some editing skills but start it small first and then try build the brand, once u hit 10k subscribers you should make some money.

[worldwidetraveler]

(06-05-2017 07:15 PM)worldtraveler3 Wrote:  

YouTube.

E book is not really the way right now.

Check out guys like lost Le blanc.
With hundreds of susbscribers you can make thousands of dollars a month, while also traveling.
You need to learn some editing skills but start it small first and then try build the brand, once u hit 10k subscribers you should make some money.

I bet I could make more money selling an ebook than you doing youtube videos.

Ebooks still sell and depending on the topic and the way they are marketed will sell really well. Once I get my conversions up, it would be easier to get affiliates pushing traffic to my offer. That is leverage.

[Suits]

Simply put, if you want to make money, you have to either provide value or at least the perception of value.

There are no shortcuts to this.

If you want to make money in anyway, you're going to have to work at it.

The more appealing the method of earning money (location independency, for example is very appealing), the more competition you will face in your quest.

How little most people have to offer is obvious based on how rare there are discussion about building a business based on actual product.

All anyone wants to do is resell someone else's product on the Internet, which is so easily replicated that it is a non-starter.

The only real shot at doing this is to build a brand (a perception of value) or draw people to your point of sale with real value.

Major players spend millions of dollars building brands and often fail even after spending the cash, so good luck with that.

Providing real value is the real deal. The obvious example would be to write a blog that people actually want to read. In this case, you're creating an actual product (albeit given away for free), which is only possible if you have actual value to offer, which I think is just about as rare as having the skills and determination to create an actual product.

The advantage of writing a blog is that you don't have to spend thousands creating and testing prototypes and then thousands more manufacturing stock.

On the other hand, since it is the more accessible route, you'll have more competition as well.

The best advice would be to become very knowledgeable about a very specific niche that a lot of people are into and have trouble finding info on.

Easier said than done.

[lavidaloca]

3 ways:

1) Have a lot of passive income. I.e. Investment portfolio, real estate etc. Usually youll probably need atleast $200,000 to do this. Likely more if you want to live a western like lifestyle. My guess is most on here could make it work in poorer countries with about $500,000 and have a good life style. A global traveller who lives a bit more on the high end side would probably need closer to 1 million.

Reality: Unless you are in one of a few professions all which will cost substantial amounts for the schooling this will take a while. Likely timespan 5-40 years. Keep in mind the average age of millionaires in the US is 62 years. With 38% being 65 plus and only 1% being a millionaire before 35. A pretty significant portion of the before 35 millionaires are likely going to be people who have a) rich family b) inheritances. Compound interest is incredible but it also won't wow you till you have a substantial portfolio or your investments have a big year.

This is a good way if you want to live in the west for a more significant period of time or you want some base level of income to support you.

2) Get a job in the country where you are working / or online: The tricky part of working in countries where roosh members would like to go is the incomes in those countries are typically lower. You've gotta find a way to get past the hurdle of why they should pay you a western income when theres a line of locals willing to work for pennies on the dollar. Online there are a few niches people seem to make money at be it coding, writing, online marketing etc. All relatively ways to make a living and see the world. If your going to be a teacher probably better off getting a degree in teaching so you can land an international school job.

3) Seasonal workers - When your reading the posts by members on seemingly long trips most of these guys will fall under this category. Think oil industry, roofing, construction etc. Probably the best way to travel high end for longer periods of time.

If I was 18 again I'd beeline it to be a seasonal worker in oil. I really don't think theres a better / safer option in the world. That or some of the maritime fishing work.

Having gone to law school I can tell you the financial status of many friends of mine who are now late 20s early 30s is almost universally shitty despite six figure incomes. Many of them are mid 5 figures to low 6 figures in debt. Those that aren't in debt have very modest net assets. Education will pay in their 40s but it's not a practical solution for someone who wishes to live abroad in their 20s.

[Suits]

^Don't be silly. There are far more than 3 ways to obtain a location independent lifestyle.

(1) Win the lottery
(2) Rob several banks
(3) Save up $5K, travel to Thailand, and then beg on the streets of Bangkok.
(4) Kill yourself and then have a location independent friend travel the world with the urn containing your ashes.
(5) Be a really good looking girl. Exchange sex for accommodation with men who travel.
(6) Be a decent looking, conniving bitch. Have men pay for your travel and life expenses and then don't have sex with them.
(7) Learn to sell art on the street and find delicious local food in trash-bins.
(8) Run a company that deals in digital products or physical products that can be manufactured, packaged, shipped and sold without you needing to be physically present more than once in a blue moon.
(9) Marry a rich older woman and then divorce her and collect alimony for the rest of your life.
(10) Marry a really old rich woman and wait for her to die.

You guys are thinking too small. There are tons of possibilities.

[LouEvilSlugger]

(06-05-2017 07:15 PM)worldtraveler3 Wrote:  

YouTube.

E book is not really the way right now.

Check out guys like lost Le blanc.
With hundreds of susbscribers you can make thousands of dollars a month, while also traveling.
You need to learn some editing skills but start it small first and then try build the brand, once u hit 10k subscribers you should make some money.

YouTubers with 250,000 subscribers are barely getting by: pulling about $600/month from ads. They have to supplement their income with Patreon donations.