Working from anywhere and living the digital nomad lifestyle can be amazing but it can also come with it’s fair share of struggles.
Digital nomad lifestyle struggles can oftentimes be overlooked in the excitement of planning how to become a digital nomad. However, these struggles are so important when it comes to staying grounded as a digital nomad. As a business success coach and digital nomad who helps aspiring nomads to create their digital nomad lifestyle, I am familiar with pretty much all of the struggles and have narrowed it down here to the 5 if the most difficult digital nomad lifestyle struggles and how to overcome them.
Minimizing Things
If you’re like most of my clients, you have been living a pretty good life and you have plenty of creature comforts. You have a closet full of clothes, cars, homes, etc. and don’t get me wrong, in your “regular” life this has always made sense but as a nomad, it definitely doesn’t jive with the lifestyle.
When you realize that you want to travel, see the world, live in new places, meet new people, etc.you start to realize that those experiences mean more to you than that new Jeep ever could.
So as you start your journey into the digital nomad lifestyle, you struggle with the desire for this new life vs this new simpler life.
So, how do you deal with it? I hate to break it to you but if you want to live the digital nomad lifestyle, you need to minimize THINGS.
I found the easiest way to do this was to do some massive purging. When I quit my job to travel and move to the Caribbean, we held 5 yard sales, posted countless times on Craigslist,Facebook Marketplace and donated tons. We still had more left than I care to admit. Some came with us, some stayed in storage.
But now, 5 years later, we can pack most everything we own in a hatchback and be on the move within a couple hours.
So, as you begin the process of purging, here are some tips to remember:
- If you haven’t used it in the last year and don’t have a plan to use it in the next year, it needs to go.
- Do you really need to keep those childhood “memories?”. It is really hard to get rid of sentimental things but when you think about it, we carry this stuff, mostly useless, with us from place to place for years so what….our families can deal with sorting through it and get a few laughs when we die? Truly consider, is it really worth hauling with you in your suitcase, or worse, paying to keep in a storage unit? Take a picture, it will forever live in the cloud and it will always be with you.
- The digital nomad lifestyle is one of freedom and minimalism, what are the things you really WANT to keep with you now and forever?
Finding the Best Places to Live as a Digital Nomad
This goes hand in hand with the next couple of struggles. Living the digital nomad lifestyle is incredibly rewarding but finding the best places to live can be overwhelming.
This includes finding the best destination as well as the best physical house/flat/apartment etc.
The “best place” is a relative term because what may be best for you may not be best for someone else. I encourage you to try something out before you get too invested in it and make too many plans. For instance, don’t book an apartment for 6 months in a country you’ve never been to.
What if you hate it? Then you are out of money or stuck somewhere you don’t want to be. Second, don’t book your airfare for your next stop until you are ready to go. Now, this isn’t always possible because some places do require you to have a return ticket in order to enter. However, in that case try to book flexible fares that allow you to easily reschedule or at least book cheap fares so you won’t be too upset to lose out on money if you decide to stay somewhere longer than originally planned.
When trying to figure out where you should live as a digital nomad, here are some key things to consider:
- The weather
This seems like a no brainer but this is a legit concern. For instance, if you hate the cold, you probably want to avoid northern Europe in the winter. Also consider things such as the average number of days with sunshine, humidity levels, etc. If you aren’t going to enjoy the weather, you won’t want to get outside to enjoy all that there is to offer.
- Internet Access
This one is HUGE and probably at the top of the list of typical digital nomad lifestyle struggles. As digital nomads we depend on reliable internet, ideally high speed so when looking for a destination and when booking your hotel/AirBnB. This is a must have!
Also keep in mind that in certain countries, good internet may not be available. In fact, there are places in the US that still have this struggle. Spending a year in Arizona during the pandemic proved challenging for me in this regard. In 4 months, I paid close to $200 per month for my WiFi hot spot since it was the only internet I could find with speeds of more than 3mb per second.
- The language barrier
This is a bigger deal in some places more than others. For instance, on the island of Puerto Rico the primary language spoken is Spanish but many people speak English or at least “Spanglish” so if you don’t speak Spanish, not a big deal. But if you want to move to Colombia and live outside of the main cities, you will probably need and want to know some Spanish. Staying in touristy areas tends to make the language barriers easier in most places but if you want to explore the real side of these destinations, knowing at least some of the local language is going to be desirable.
How to Make Money and Live Digital Nomad Lifestyle
I hate to be the one to lay down the hammer here, but if you don’t have money, you shouldn’t be a digital nomad. When I say that I don’t mean you need to be a millionaire, but you should have some savings and a consistent, dependable source of income. Whether you have a remote job working for someone else, or whether you are an entrepreneur, having regular funds coming in is going to be key to being a successful digital nomad. Money is one of, if not the top digital nomad lifestyle struggles and probably the most common reason for people to fail at the digital nomad lifestyle.
The amount of money that you will need is unique to you, it isn’t just about the monthly cost of living in a place, but also things like paying your student loans and credit cards, having money to travel back to your home country if needed, and the money to travel to your next destination. So, when people ask me “Lori, how much money do I need to be a digital nomad,” I tell them that you should have at least enough to cover 3 months of your living expenses but the ideal scenario is 6-12 months saved. This way, if a pandemic hits and you lose your job or your client load gets a little light, you will be able to survive.
Some of the ways you can make money as a digital nomad?
- Starting your own business in digital marketing
- Become a consultant or coach in an area where you have expertise
- Get a job working for a company
- Become a freelancer
- Build passive income sources (a favorite of most digital nomads!)
If you have not read the 4 Hour Workweek, this is a great source of ideas when it comes to starting and streamlining your online business from one of the original digital nomads, Timothy Ferriss.
When navigating your new lifestyle and starting a remote based business, it can become overwhelming. If you are new to entrepreneurship, or even if you are a pro but aren’t sure how to scale your business to give you the freedom you truly desire, get some help.
Enrolling the help of others such as a paid mentor to help you navigate the process of building and scaling your own remote based business is something I cannot stress enough. It will save you heaps of time and many headaches. This is something that I wish I would have learned earlier on in my digital nomad journey.
Life on the Road Gets Lonely
One of the biggest digital nomad lifestyle struggles is loneliness. This can become even more of any issue if you are new to working remotely. Something a lot of people don’t consider when entering into this new phase of their life is that their workplace is one of the core places for social interaction. When you start your own business and work remotely, you eliminate that source of social connection and for many it can cause a sense of isolation.
Something else you may not think about, especially in the beginning is how much you will miss your family and friends. I have found that video calling helps this immensely that physical distance is still a big deal breaker for some people.
Missing my family was one of the hardest things for me the first year of moving away to live this lifestyle. With time it has gotten easier and I have found ways to combat this loneliness.
Ideas to overcome your loneliness struggle as a digital nomad?
Facebook groups for digital nomads and expats – both location specific and just general digital nomad groups.
Local meetup groups. This is tougher since the pandemic but some of these groups have now also gone digital and slowly will start to emerge again for live and in person meetings.
The local watering hole. Even if you aren’t a drinker, hanging out at the local bars, especially in popular expat and digital nomad areas will be a sure fire way to quickly connect with others.
Using services like Couchsurfing.com or booking shared Airbnbs and staying in hostels are also quick ways to meet new people. Personally, I like my privacy however, sometimes a shared living situation can be fun, especially for short stays and you never know who you may meet!
Find your tribe. While as a nomad you will move around frequently, getting in touch with others living the lifestyle is a way not only to connect with people live and in person now but to set yourself up for lifelong friendships and future travel partners. Wherever you meet them, having a network of friends throughout the world is never something you will regret.
Some of the people I have met since living this lifestyle have become my second family and are people I will forever be connected with, no matter where we are in the world.
Need some next steps for overcoming your digital nomad lifestyle struggles?
For those who need a little hand holding navigating these struggles and next steps, make sure to follow the Xennial Traveler on Instagram or go ahead and book a quick call to discuss how we can help you to take that next step in starting your remote life.
