Since committing to becoming a DIGITAL NOMAD my life has changed and the adventure hasn’t even started yet.
2 Months ago hubby and I committed to becoming Digital Nomads. We didn’t have everything planned out yet. My husband is a Web Developer and was keeping his job(he and his boss has a great relationship). He is lessening his working hours systematically till he reaches 4 hours per day giving him more time to live life.
I am currently a Retail Systems Admin Manager. I have never done any online work before. I wasn’t nearly as prepared as my dear husband. I was going to try my hand at Upwork. I created an account not soon after deciding to become a Digital Nomad and made my profile. I even applied for a couple of jobs. To be honest I was freaking out about what I will do to make money. Will I find some Upwork contracts? Will it be enough to survive? These are some of the questions that were going through my head. The day I realised we are going to okay was when an American company sent me a request to apply for an HR admin position. Some might think that this is silly, but it’s what I needed at the time. I didn’t apply, but I needed that. I needed to know that I will be able to find contracts.
For those that don’t know what Upwork is:
It’s a platform where contractors/employers can recruit freelancer on projects and tasks. The freelancers can send proposals to the contractor to get contracts.
Soon after my husband broke the news to his boss she offered me a remote job. The timing was perfect. I do not want to jinx my job before I start so I will write about that some other time.
I have gotten mixed reactions to the news that we are becoming digital nomads. Some people feel we should build our careers, get a degree, settle down and buy a house. Some people feel that we must get done with the traveling and get it out of our systems. My gran is completely scared for our lives. Bless her heart. There are the few that are happy for us and wished us well. Most don’t understand why and how we will be able to travel for a long period of time and who is paying for it. Ignorance is bliss I guess.
I know a lot of people are worried that we are making a mistake and we should focus on a family. What they don’t realise is that some people are content and happy with their current lives and that’s okay. We want more out of life and we don’t see that happening staying here. Settling down as they would put it.
Just a bit of background on both of us. I have a Diploma in Business Management and my husband has various certificates relating to Web Development. We have both worked for 5 years in our respective fields. We started at the very bottom and worked our way up the corporate ladder. He started as a Data Capturer and I started as Casual Sales Assistant.
So I have been mentioning Digital Nomads. Let me break it down for you!
Wiki definition:
Digital nomads are people who are location independent and use technology to perform their job. Digital nomads work remotely (telecommute), which is now economically possible due to cheap internet access, smartphones and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to keep in contact with clients and employers.
In a nutshell, you can work from ANYWHERE!
What Wiki doesn’t say is that being a Digital Nomad is a lifestyle choice and not just working from anywhere. If you ask anyone that is Banting they will tell you it’s not a diet, but a lifestyle choice. Now that’s the same for digital nomads. That doesn’t mean you have to work from overseas, but why wouldn’t you if you could work from anywhere. Being a Digital Nomad doesn’t mean you stop/pause your career to travel. It means you are working on your career on your own terms and doing what you love.
Now it’s more than a month later since I put in my resignation letter and my last day as a location-based employee is next week Friday (today is Monday). This journey has been stressful, scary, exciting and eye-opening. Eye opening to the fact that we limit ourselves to how we are capable of living our lives. We waste time and money on things we don’t need to make us feel like we have achieved something. That we put a high value on possessions. We can do and achieve so much more if we open ourselves to the possibilities and face our fears. That I want to travel, but was waiting for the right time or use the excuse I haven’t saved enough.
My husband and I came to the conclusion that when we were younger we had no money, but we had a lot of time. Now we have money, but no time. We desperately needed to bridge that gap.
We were left with the question on how do we bridge the gap? How do we get money and have time to do the things we love.
DIGITAL NOMAD was the answer for us. It might not be your answer, but find what you want and need from your own life and make it happen. You can’t lose if you are not playing, but you can’t win either. Don’t hide behind, “but we have kids” or “We have a house to pay”. What’s the worst that can happen? You travel for a year and your kids will be a year behind with the experience of a lifetime? The list can go on about why you shouldn’t do it. You only need 1 reason why you should. For me, it was WHY THE HELL NOT!
