BreakingOut.NET

Since getting into online business and web marketing I’m becoming more interested in location independence and life as a digital nomad.

Ten years ago it wasn’t so easy to work in this way via the Web.  It’s now much more do-able, especially if you are running an online business.

There are a lot of people working via the Web who are living a location independent life to a greater or lesser extent. Such as Dan Andrews of the Lifestyle Business Podcast, Sean Ogle of Location 180, Cody McKibbon of Thrilling Heroics, Benny Lewis over at Fluent in 3 Months… and a whole heap of others.

Too many to mention in fact, unless this post is to turn into a Who’s Who of the Location Independent World (that could make a good idea for a niche site).

Now I wouldn’t call myself exactly a digital nomad. I’m more an expat who left his native country the UK some two decades ago to live on the European continent. I’ve done a fair bit of travelling in the vacation sense, but I’ve never attempted anything like what the people mentioned above have done; 2 months here, 3 months there and so on.

Ownership can be a ball and chain

In an extent I feel the need to have a base and a home. But I also ask myself if this is really just more an illusion we have in our heads.

In a recent post I talked about how we don’t really “own” anything – even when we do. Because nothing is really ever permanent or completely controlled by us.

So given this fact, is “ownership” really all that important?

Also I think it’s easy for us to just end up bogging ourselves down with ownership and possessions. Owning real estate is a classic example of this.

If you have a mortgage for a house or apartment that you’ve bought then you tend to become more connected and involved with that piece of property than you would be if you rented it.

Ownership of stuff can be a ball and chain if you’re not careful. I found this out when I quit my last salaried job and my apartment in Germany. People asked “But what will you do with all your stuff?” as if it was some insurmountable problem that prevented you from doing anything other than continuing to tread the nine to five.

Sell it, give it away or dump it, was my answer.   But the idea that you can actually dispose of many or most of your possessions when you move to another country, this was something that they found hard to square.

It wasn’t so easy for me to square either. In the event I didn’t sell, gift or dump nearly as much stuff as I should have. I did get rid of a lot, but I ended up putting the rest into storage whilst I went travelling.

When I had the stuff transported out of storage to my new apartment.  It was then that it hit me. I was shocked at just how much stuff – no, let’s correct that, because it was basically junk – that I had kept.

How much stuff do we need?

I find it fascinating reading about other people who have sold up, quit their jobs and who move around the world from country to country, working on the net as they go. Some even survive with just carry on luggage. I have to admit this is something I don’t think I could bring myself to do – but they’ve proved at least that it’s possible.

It makes me wonder just how much “stuff” we really need in our daily lives. I think one of the worst things in life is to be too attached to your stuff.  Right now I’m in the process of doing my annual “chuck out” of stuff from my apartment, to keep things under control in this area and try and minimize things. I’ve been on a bit of a simplify-your-life trip this last year or two.

It’s going to be interesting to see just how far I take it in the end.

I kind of like the idea of not owning furniture, just living in a furnished apartment, not having a kitchen, not having to buy food and cook it. Always eating out like people do in Asia, not having to go to the supermarket and waste time on all that. Reducing life to the essentials so that I can get on 100 percent with the real business of my business.

During my summer spent in Taiwan, I was eating out all the time. The food in Taiwan is amongst the best in the world. It’s said to be comparable to Thailand in terms of it’s quality and variety. I love Far East Asian food.

By the way, I actually lost weight whilst I was there. My diet was much healthier than I had back in Europe. The biggest difference for my diet between Taiwan and Europe was eating much less dairy products (in fact hardly any). Plus eating much more fish.

I’ve lived in apartment hotels and the like in the past. When I moved to Belgium I lived in an apartment hotel for 4 months. It was a good little apartment with en suite bathroom, kitchenette, tv, wifi etc, and right in the centre of town.  It made life very easy – though it didn’t feel to me completely like home.

It’s cheaper though renting unfurnished, like I am now and just buying furniture from IKEA or wherever – or second hand if you want. At least it is if you’re staying anywhere for longer than a year or so. But it’s still a chore having to go and buy stuff, assemble it, and then later disassemble and arrange to sell or dispose of it at the end.

Switching into Digital Nomad mode

My job before starting in online business was in the IT field.  Apart from a few stretches where I worked as an employee on a salary, I mostly worked freelance, which is sort of location independent. Actually it isn’t fully location independent, because to get the best choice of contracts you need to be in one of a small number of urban centres or at least willing to move there as required.

But what interests me more is the “digital nomad” aspect of location independence. Simplifying your life and possessions right down to the essentials and running an online business at the same time.

It can be expensive being a digital nomad doing this in the developed western countries. But if you stick to Asia then it’s much cheaper. You can have a much better quality of life, eating out all the time, rent a studio apartment of the standard that you might not be able to afford back home.

Travelling can mean distraction

But travelling around in a new exotic location also means plenty of scope for distraction.  It’s easy to switch off and develop an “out of sight = out of mind” attitude. And when you’re setting up an online business it’s vital to focus.

I don’t think you can do this by staying a few days or even just a week here and a week there.

I think there are basically two things here: travel and launching a start-up.

Either you are travelling – which means you are focused on experiencing and getting to know a destination and your surroundings. Or else you are focused on getting your business started. In which case you need to concentrate on that.

The latter is what I’ve been doing this last year. It also enables me to concentrate and focus completely on my business without complicating it with travel plans.

Once you get your business fully up and running you can then go into the digital nomad mode if you want to and go travelling.

I guess you don’t have to take it to the extreme of living out of a single carry-on bag and living in apartment hotels and hostels the whole time. You can have a home base and just move every couple of years or so.

Maybe even become a full digital nomad. We’ll see.

What about you – would you describe yourself as a location independent digital nomad?

If so, how do you find it?  What about the downsides to being a “digital nomad” in your experience?

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