The top 3 reasons why people don’t work as a Digital Nomad yet!

Starting your own business can be scary because even though we don’t like our boring office job, it still gives us safety and pays for the bills. Not everyone is a millionaire and can just jet set around the world right?

So when you scroll through Instagram and see others living this fantastic life, without ever going to an office and you wish you could too, but you can’t just leave because you have responsibilities.

Listen, I get it! I’ve been coming up with excuses for 28 years and worked in offices for over 12 years without liking it. I felt miserable but most of all I was having one pity party after another for myself because I wasn’t able to live the life I wanted – or at least that’s what I was telling myself.

Now that I work online and travel the world I see how wrong I was, but back then I had no one who shared their experience with me.

Here are the top 3 excuses I used to make for why I couldn’t have the life I wanted:

Excuse / Fear 1: I don’t have enough money

Answer: You make money while you travel!

When you have your own online business, you make money while you see this beautiful world.

Whether you want to sit at a pool, at the beach or in a cafe you just bring your laptop and do your work from there, aka make money while you travel!

While growing up in the western world, our brains have been trained that money making activities need to be done in an office from 9to5 only after your work is done you can go outside and sit by the pool. I am telling you that’s not true or at least not anymore.

Thanks to technology you can now live a different life than your parents could.

You can take your iPhone and work at an airport and do your client work – your clients don’t care where your work is done, as long as you do it.

If your business is online, all you need is wifi, a computer, and a smartphone. Most likely you already have all these things.

Maybe you are thinking, “But, I don’t have money to create a website and all those fancy automating tools to run an online business.”

Truth is…once people see that you can run a business while traveling, they think they need to invest a massive amount of money, but this is not true. I started with my first three clients before I even had a website. I was managing their Instagram and Facebook and didn’t have any fancy tools or a website. If you want to become a social media freelancer, you don’t need to invest any money. You actually save money!

If you choose to travel wisely, you can actually save money, because you have fewer expenses.

You can either start your travels in Asia where you can live very cheap or if you want to travel to more “expensive” countries why not try housesitting? You look after someone else’s house while they are away and get to stay there for free. Check it out here.

I’ve been living in four different countries this year (and I never stay in hostels), and it was cheaper than paying rent in Switzerland.

So even with zero money, you can start your own freelance business! I decided to start my own online business when I was broke (after traveling for five months) and didn’t want to go back to Switzerland. I chose a cheap yet beautiful room in Bali to live in and started to look for clients because I wanted to work as a freelance social media manager.

Excuse / Fear 2: What if I miss my friends and family?

Answer: Just book a flight and visit them!

Once you chose to travel the world and run your own freelance business, you don’t have to stay abroad for a whole year or forever. The reason why having your own online business is so amazing is because you have freedom.

If you want to fly home for Christmas or because you miss your family, you just book a ticket. If you get sick of the cold winter again, book another ticket to a tropical destination whenever you want! No one is stopping you! No boss is holding you back – you can do your client work from home or abroad. I’ve spent the summer this year in Switzerland because I missed my friends and after a while, I chose to travel again. That’s what real freedom allows you to do.

Excuse / Fear 3: What if I don’t meet anyone?

Answer: Meet new people in co-working spaces!

A few years ago the term digital nomad wasn’t even a thing. Nowadays it’s all over social media, which is a good thing because it means you are not the only one. Wherever I go, I meet hundreds of other people doing the same thing I do, and I’ve created so many beautiful new friendships. We work and meet in cafes or go to co-working spaces!

There are now even co-living spaces. Which means you get to meet people even faster and those places usually have amazing wifi and cozy workspaces set-up.

Check out outside for worldwide places and Dojo for Bali.

If you are just starting out as a digital nomad, just choose a destination with a co-working space or even a co-living house. A popular destination for this is Bali (Canggu and Ubud).

You meet new people every single day, and you can increase your circle of friends and potential clients as much as you want to. Don’t worry if you are a bit shy in the beginning there are also meet-ups and events organized by most co-working spaces.

I also host regular free virtual co-working session. Make sure you follow me on Instagram where I announce how you can be a part of it.