8 ms·

How I work as a digital nomad

87 points by gregjor 12y ago

jawngee 12y ago
I kind of do this, though I hate the digital nomad moniker. I used to split time between NYC and Vietnam. NYC for client work, Vietnam for bootstrapping my publishing platform (shameless plug our eat your own dog food first magazine is coming out soon: http://vimeo.com/100580125 http://vimeo.com/100580125). However, for the last year, I've been in Vietnam full time, giving up my apartment in NYC and "relocating" to Nevada for tax purposes. I did this partly because I was getting closer to finishing up the first phase of the publishing project, but also because I found out I was going to be a father ;) The hardest part is keeping work coming in at a constant enough rate. In NYC I was always booked solid, 24/7, but in Vietnam it comes and goes in spurts. Partly because some of the work I did in NYC has hardware requirements that can't be met here in Vietnam (large retail experiential installs) and partly because business is slow for my main client. Finding new clients to fill the gaps has required some serious email/linkedin networking hustle, but it can be done. I've had people interested in hiring me for local projects, but I've had a hard time lowering my rates to a level acceptable for both parties. Even though they are regaled by the amount of experience, developing countries might not be so focused on quality over quantity. Which is OK. If you take the time to get TEFL certification, that's a possible fall back. I'm a college drop out, so that's no bueno. Anyways, wouldn't trade the experience for anything. YMMV.
- intellegacy 12y ago
  thinking of going to vietnam for boostrapping burposes, just wondering how you chose it and what city? what kind of rent are u paying per month?
  - jawngee 12y ago
    I came here about 3 years ago to train some iPhone devs for a friend's company. Ended up making a lot of friends out here in the process. Even though it's mostly an illusion, there is a certain sense of freedom here. It's also the safest of the SE Asian countries, imho. I live in a more upscale part of Saigon, so my rent isn't typical. But compared to what I was paying in NYC, it's not a lot. I pay $700 for a 2 bedroom in a high rise, about $100 for electricity. I have fiber internet, 40mbps, which is about $75 a month. 3G on my phone is about $5-10 a month. The sum of all of that is almost a quarter of what I was paying in NYC every month.
    - ndomin 12y ago
      how is the language barrier? do you speak decent vietnamese or can you get by with mostly english?
      - AYBABTME 12y ago
        In Saigon you can get around with only english. In other cities, it varies and I'd recommend learning some vietnamese or having local friends.
  - santoriv 12y ago
    I'm living in Vietnam as well. Dalat is up in the mountains, has cool weather all year round, and is much cheaper than Saigon. A room for rent is about $100 per month, a Banh Mi roll is about 10 cents. The main disadvantage of living up there is that there is no programmer community. But, if you just need to sit in a room and code and save money, it's perfect! Also, the people are super friendly. :-) Best experience of my life.
    - jawngee 12y ago
      My wife is from Dalat. Tied with Da Nang for my favorite city in Vietnam. If you ever come down to Saigon or I head up to Dalat, let's grab a beer!
      - santoriv 12y ago
        Sent an email to your interfacelab email address. :-)
      - homakov 12y ago
        I spent a while in Mui Ne near Phantiet. And a little bit in Dalat. From my experience Dalat is incredibly nice place
- graeme 12y ago
  >The hardest part is keeping work coming in at a constant enough rate. In NYC I was always booked solid, 24/7, but in Vietnam it comes and goes in spurts. Partly because some of the work I did in NYC has hardware requirements that can't be met here in Vietnam (large retail experiential installs) and partly because business is slow for my main client. The only way I got around this was by building my own platform that brought in clients. I teach the LSAT, and chose to live in Montreal. It's French, not a major city for English speaking law school admissions. NYC is the major market. I would have been booked solid if I lived there. But I likely also would have hit a local maximum, doing lots of $200 an hour tutoring and teaching $1200 classroom courses. Instead, I had to develop products to reach students in the USA. Eventually ended up taking a page from Michael Hartl's business model and released a version of my books here: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/ http://lsathacks.com/explanations/ Now a lot of people find my site and I get tutoring requests organically. I'm about to do nine hours today (I just consult Saturdays). Not everyone should do this of course – it's a lot of work to create your own product or marketing platform. Local work of mouth and advertising is SO much easier. But for anyone considering a transition abroad, think about reaching prospects who google solutions.
  - intellegacy 12y ago
    Hey, just wondernig how your model works. I'm an SAT tutor and want to implement something similar. So you give away the explanations for free online, and charge for PDF? And get tutoring opportunities from the free book marketing. Do you teach online?
    - graeme 12y ago
      Eventually I'm going to make a course. Right now adding free explanations boosts the number of people who like and trust my material. I do sell the PDFs and get tutoring inquires from the site though. This site does something simliar for the SAT, he has two well selling books as well: http://pwnthesat.com/wp/ http://pwnthesat.com/wp/
AlexNeoNomad 12y ago
it's a given, if you read a post like this, it'll be about Thailand in some way.
- stephenr 12y ago
  also a pretty good chance the words “work permit” won’t appear in the article anywhere. just because you don’t agree with certain laws, doesnt mean you can just ignore them.
  - jpatokal 12y ago
    Yup. As it happens, Thailand's currently doing one of its periodic crackdown on tourist visa abuse: http://www.smh.com.au/world/australians-in-thailand-face-visa-crackdown-junta-warns-20140801-zzdvp.html http://www.smh.com.au/world/australians-in-thailand-face-vis... And it's actually quite difficult to do remote work or establish permanent residence legally in Thailand: http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanWeeklyColumn2013/Thailand-visa-run-crackdown.htm http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanWeeklyColumn2013/Thai...
    - gregjor 12y ago
      Stickman's audience is not really digital nomads. Just look at the ads and the bar (and bar girl) reviews. Anyone who wants to legitimately live in Thailand or work here can jump through the hoops, it's easier than most places. The crackdown is mostly aimed at migrant laborers from Cambodia and Myanmar, and at backpackers who spend their time in Thailand drinking and smoking pot.
      - stephenr 12y ago
        > Stickman's audience is not really digital nomads That's an understatement if I've ever heard one. I skimmed the linked page and this little gem jumped out: "Some support a Thai partner and kids, perhaps their own kids, perhaps their partner's from a previous relationship. Throughout Pattaya, Isaan and the north thousands, maybe tens of thousands, fit this profile - and they could be shut out." I dont profess to be an expert on all things Thai, but after 2 years here, that sentence tells me plenty. You could equally describe exactly the same group of foreigners with much fewer words: "retiree sexpat". > Anyone who wants to legitimately live in Thailand or work here can jump through the hoops This is absolutely true. I went through the process while the protests + failed election were going on, and the biggest hassle was departments being closed/relocated, and road closures while heading to meetings with our lawyer in BKK.
bshimmin 12y ago
This is a wonderful case of "one man's meat is another man's poison" - he mentions in the closing paragraph how being a "digital nomad" has "improv[ed his] quality of life", and yet throughout his extremely pragmatic and practical guide to that lifestyle, all I can really see are all sorts of compromises. The thought of sitting in a beach hut somewhere warm and sunny, typing away on a MacBook, does certainly sound very appealing. The rest of it - washing your bland travel clothes in a hotel shower with "hotel shampoo" - would surely grow pretty tiresome after a month or two, if you're in any way used to and appreciative of a comfortable lifestyle. I write this from my "three monitors and a special chair" (quite literally) and I will, in fact, be writing some "brand-new Python code" later... (I'm also fascinated by this guy's predilection for doing maintenance work and fixing broken projects - I can hardly imagine anything worse!)
- coldtea 12y ago
  >all I can really see are all sorts of compromises. Well, staying in the same house/appartment, seeing the same people over and over, commuting in traffic, going to the same office to have meetings the the same PHB, etc etc also involves "all sorts of compromises". Even if you freelance and you don't have the office thing, there's still the rot in your everyday life. >* The rest of it - washing your bland travel clothes in a hotel shower with "hotel shampoo" - would surely grow pretty tiresome after a month or two, if you're in any way used to and appreciative of a comfortable lifestyle.* You'd be surprised. I've lived in both kinds of situations (and on/off) and some people just feel great with that too. After all it's just a "first world problem" of the bigger calibre ("oh, I miss my big fridge and and my huge monitor"). But even those "incoveniences" can be overcome if you don't like it. With something like $800/month you can have a huge house in some parts of SE Asia, with a pool, and with your personal assistant to cook, clean the house, wash clothes etc. Better than what most of us have "back at home" actually.
  - graeme 12y ago
    >With something like $800/month you can have a huge house in some parts of SE Asia, with a pool, and with your personal assistant to cook, clean the house, wash clothes etc. Better than what most of us have "back at home" actually. Which parts are that? I'm planning to travel this winter and looking for places to settle for a month or two.
shubhamjain 12y ago
One thing successful freelancers often suggest about starting out is emailing people, selling them solutions on how their site could be fixed / made better. So far, it hasn't worked for me at all. I contacted various real estate people, from their websites and mailed them why having a sleek and responsive look matters and how I can deliver it but didn't got response from any of them. May be it stems from the fact that I don't live in the same country as theirs or their skepticism about my claims but I am interested in knowing how exactly this thing works and where I am wrong?
- datasmash 12y ago
  It's hard to convince someone to buy something when they're not looking for a solution. Try looking at job postings and filtering down by jobs that have been open for an extended period of time (while means they might be hard to fill). Figure out who the hiring manger is for the position and reach out to them (you won't have much luck if you go through HR).
- coldtea 12y ago
  >So far, it hasn't worked for me at all. I contacted various real estate people, from their websites and mailed them why having a sleek and responsive look matters and how I can deliver it but didn't got response from any of them. Could be the pitch. Reak estate agents don't care for buzzwords like "responsive" (like they didn't care for "HTML5" or "semantic"), and they might think they are already sleek enough (especially if they get the number of customers they want through those sites). As a (infrequent) user of real estate sites I also could not care less for responsive (I won't search for a house from my phone, and most any site designed for the desktop looks good as is in my iPad too) or sleek (just show me the facts I need and some good pictures of the real estate). They could be persuaded if they have business benefits from the change. And perhaps real estate guys already do well. Perhaps check some business with a bad website that doesn't do as well -- where a better site could make a different.
  - MadMoogle 12y ago
    I have no idea why this comment was downvoted. This is solid advice.
qwerta 12y ago
Nice list. I would only add three advices to stay productive: - stay at each place for minimum of three weeks. It takes some time to find stores, internet connectivity, meet people etc... - make list of stuff you are not going to do, it simplifies your choices. - consider to travel with luggage. I carry old 22" display in my :-)
jwblackwell 12y ago
The point about the type of work you're willing to accept is critical. In my experience freelancing, the clients that pay the best and offer the best projects will want to meet you occasionally at least. They'll also want commitment of a number of regular hours. So seeing as that's out the window you'll probably end up having to fill the in between good project time with jobs from Elance etc . Be prepared to deal with some horrible code :)
- gk1 12y ago
  As a counter-example, I've only ever met half of my clients in person. The work is definitely interesting and rewarding, leagues beyond anything I would ever find on Elance. I think the important thing is to make a human connection... So that you and the client both feel like you're working with another human, and not just some online persona. Meeting in person certainly helps, but so do Skype calls and some personal banter (but keep it professional). Although I work state-side and only went overseas once while "on the clock," I could grab my 25L backpack, leave tomorrow, and spend the week working from Colombia without any problems.
- gregjor 12y ago
  My main clients all pay a monthly retainer for a block of my time. I don't do piecework through eLance or oDesk. My hourly rate puts my annual gross in the same range as my friends in Silicon Valley. If you want to do projects from scratch or work for startups that's a different situation, and you probably would need to participate with a team. For the kind of work I do it's not important where I am or what I'm wearing.
song 12y ago
I'm not a digital nomad per se but I think I found a good compromise. Instead of traveling often like he does and dealing with having to travel light and not having all of the conforts, I move to a different country every year or so while still keeping all my customers in the US. I find that it's the best of both world, I have time to discover any country I move to and really get to know the culture. It's also much easier on my clients because it's easy for them to know how to reach me and I'm sure I always have a good internet connection. One thing I do recommend though is getting an expat health insurance like GMC, BUPA, A+, AETNA, ... It's a bit of an expense (I'm in my 30s and pay $220/month with a deductible of $1200/year for coverage anywhere in the world except Canada and US) but I think it's important for the peace of mind that it procures.
- vecinu 12y ago
  I think you deserve your own blog post as well. I'm currently working remotely through some extremely lucky means (Company I worked with full-time let me work remotely for a year) and I would love to continue doing this full-time. My biggest hurdle is finding a company that is interested in hiring a junior-intermediate remote worker. I just recently officially graduated and only have 2 years of 'real' experience and it seems most companies that offer remote work are looking for workers with 5+ years of experience. When did you start this lifestyle? Do you find the benefits outweigh the positives? How do you balance having a family/wife/children?
  - song 12y ago
    I had 4 years of experience when I started freelancing. I quit my job with enough reserve to last one year and an half and moved to Southeast Asia. I still continued to do a bit of work for my previous company but it was actually very difficult finding new clients and if I were to do it again I'd recommend not doing what I did. It took me about a year before I found new clients with enough work to support me. Part of the reason for that is that it took me a while before I could actually force myself to work productively at home without anyone breathing down my neck. I found my clients with a combination of blog post and contributions to open source projects. I don't have a family and children, I have a girlfriend who does remote work as a graphic designer so it works out well for us. I really like the life I have now but it's true that it's not for everyone, working at home is not easy for a lot of people (I do recommend checking out local co-working spaces for this). You also have to enjoy spending time learning new languages and trying to adapt to a culture that's different from your own. Moving to a new place and getting everything ready can be stressful (I tend to be easy going by nature so that doesn't bother me) If I had children, I'm not sure what I would do.
homakov 12y ago
FYI if you are perpetual traveler and stay less than 3/6 months in every country, you won't be tax resident anywhere which means no taxes at all. Doesn't work for US citizens. (I'm Russian who travels for last 3 years and I don't owe taxes to any country)
- zodiac 12y ago
  But if you work for a US company, won't you have to pay taxes on the income earned from the US company?
  - homakov 12y ago
    The US company may be required to pay extra tax, but i just add it on top of my consulting rate coz i don't care about other people's taxes. On my side i don't owe the US anything
- vecinu 12y ago
  This probably doesn't work in most countries...Canada also requires you to be a resident of SOME country.
  - homakov 12y ago
    It works in all countries afaik. "you stay in Canada for less than 183 days in the tax year." makes you non-resident.
    - vecinu 12y ago
      Interesting. I can't find the exact literature since the wording is not clear to me but I think you may be correct. Being less than 183 days in Canada and NOT receiving any income in Canada, makes you a non-resident that doesn't have to pay Canadian taxes. [1] - http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/cmmn/rsdncy-eng.html http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/cmmn/rsdncy-eng.html [2] - http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/nnrs-eng.html#txblgtns http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/nnrs-eng.html#tx...
FLUX-YOU 12y ago
>There are agencies and recruiters who specialize in matching freelancers with projects, seek them out and establish a relationship. Can anyone here make some recommendations from experience? I feel like I'd need to be a 'rockstarninjahacker' before taking remote jobs and being able to complete them (and demand enough to pay for this lifestyle)
- ohashi 12y ago
  Can't help you with the first one. But feeling like you need to be a rockstarninjahacker is garbage. Many of my clients have no idea how to evaluate my code. The question is - can you get it done? On time? At price? to get to that point - it's do we trust you? Working on your communication skills will probably get you much further than improving your technical skills for finding/keeping freelance work.
- umami 12y ago
  I run one of such agencies. We are 100% remote. If you are interested contact me at hello@umamicollective.com.
nchuhoai 12y ago
i graduated in May and made becoming a digital nomad a goal of mine. I'm surprised by the number of people that try to get clients, as far as reaching out to "random" real estate agencies for work. Out of curiosity, what makes that the preferred way over trying to get a single employer that allows you to work remotely part-time? I agree that it might be slightly more difficult initially, but IMO it's worth it as you don't have to deal with having to get new clients, manage with your current ones. I actually got really lucky that I find my company as it put enough faith in me as a recent college grad. IMO, the only reason for me to take on new clients is for a significantly higher rate?
- enjo 12y ago
  High there! I'm a CTO at ever-growing fully remote company (every single employee is remote). While I have no doubt you can find a company willing to hire you as a digital nomad, I definitely have a bunch of reservations about it. We've had folks on the move quite a bit in the past (including traveling around in an RV). The biggest issue is that they tend not to be quite as plugged in as everyone else. Internet connections always seem to be spotty and there always seems to be other issues tugging at their attention (finding places to work, exploring, etc..). That doesn't mean they produced bad work (often it was very good), but it came at the expense of the rest of the team. When we needed them to answer a question or hop into a quick discussion they often weren't around. It's just a bad dynamic as far as the rest of the team goes. We do hire contractors for very specific and targeted projects. In that mode nomads are just fine! They don't need to fit into the broader team in a meaningful way and there is no expectation that they will. They come in for a few weeks or months and then move on. It works well and both sides are really happy with the arrangement. Point being, you might have better luck both finding a job and being successful at it if you're looking less for full-time roles and more for contract positions that complement the type of lifestyle you want to pursue.
padobson 12y ago
I took a contract with a company that had a profitable and almost-working web-based business. They had fired their original developers over a contract dispute. He's right about the high demand for maintenance contracts. The majority of my client base comes from this exact story. In fact, you can make a lot of money just finding a bad or prima-dona developer that specializes in the same technologies as you, and cleaning up the wake of destruction they create.
- gregjor 12y ago
  Exactly. The startup tech bros are just a job creation scheme for me.

87 points by gregjor 12y ago

I kind of do this, though I hate the digital nomad moniker. I used to split time between NYC and Vietnam. NYC for client work, Vietnam for bootstrapping my publishing platform (shameless plug our eat your own dog food first magazine is coming out soon: http://vimeo.com/100580125 http://vimeo.com/100580125). However, for the last year, I've been in Vietnam full time, giving up my apartment in NYC and "relocating" to Nevada for tax purposes. I did this partly because I was getting closer to finishing up the first phase of the publishing project, but also because I found out I was going to be a father ;) The hardest part is keeping work coming in at a constant enough rate. In NYC I was always booked solid, 24/7, but in Vietnam it comes and goes in spurts. Partly because some of the work I did in NYC has hardware requirements that can't be met here in Vietnam (large retail experiential installs) and partly because business is slow for my main client. Finding new clients to fill the gaps has required some serious email/linkedin networking hustle, but it can be done. I've had people interested in hiring me for local projects, but I've had a hard time lowering my rates to a level acceptable for both parties. Even though they are regaled by the amount of experience, developing countries might not be so focused on quality over quantity. Which is OK. If you take the time to get TEFL certification, that's a possible fall back. I'm a college drop out, so that's no bueno. Anyways, wouldn't trade the experience for anything. YMMV.

intellegacy 12y ago
thinking of going to vietnam for boostrapping burposes, just wondering how you chose it and what city? what kind of rent are u paying per month?
- jawngee 12y ago
  I came here about 3 years ago to train some iPhone devs for a friend's company. Ended up making a lot of friends out here in the process. Even though it's mostly an illusion, there is a certain sense of freedom here. It's also the safest of the SE Asian countries, imho. I live in a more upscale part of Saigon, so my rent isn't typical. But compared to what I was paying in NYC, it's not a lot. I pay $700 for a 2 bedroom in a high rise, about $100 for electricity. I have fiber internet, 40mbps, which is about $75 a month. 3G on my phone is about $5-10 a month. The sum of all of that is almost a quarter of what I was paying in NYC every month.
  - ndomin 12y ago
    how is the language barrier? do you speak decent vietnamese or can you get by with mostly english?
    - AYBABTME 12y ago
      In Saigon you can get around with only english. In other cities, it varies and I'd recommend learning some vietnamese or having local friends.
- santoriv 12y ago
  I'm living in Vietnam as well. Dalat is up in the mountains, has cool weather all year round, and is much cheaper than Saigon. A room for rent is about $100 per month, a Banh Mi roll is about 10 cents. The main disadvantage of living up there is that there is no programmer community. But, if you just need to sit in a room and code and save money, it's perfect! Also, the people are super friendly. :-) Best experience of my life.
  - jawngee 12y ago
    My wife is from Dalat. Tied with Da Nang for my favorite city in Vietnam. If you ever come down to Saigon or I head up to Dalat, let's grab a beer!
    - santoriv 12y ago
      Sent an email to your interfacelab email address. :-)
    - homakov 12y ago
      I spent a while in Mui Ne near Phantiet. And a little bit in Dalat. From my experience Dalat is incredibly nice place
graeme 12y ago
>The hardest part is keeping work coming in at a constant enough rate. In NYC I was always booked solid, 24/7, but in Vietnam it comes and goes in spurts. Partly because some of the work I did in NYC has hardware requirements that can't be met here in Vietnam (large retail experiential installs) and partly because business is slow for my main client. The only way I got around this was by building my own platform that brought in clients. I teach the LSAT, and chose to live in Montreal. It's French, not a major city for English speaking law school admissions. NYC is the major market. I would have been booked solid if I lived there. But I likely also would have hit a local maximum, doing lots of $200 an hour tutoring and teaching $1200 classroom courses. Instead, I had to develop products to reach students in the USA. Eventually ended up taking a page from Michael Hartl's business model and released a version of my books here: http://lsathacks.com/explanations/ http://lsathacks.com/explanations/ Now a lot of people find my site and I get tutoring requests organically. I'm about to do nine hours today (I just consult Saturdays). Not everyone should do this of course – it's a lot of work to create your own product or marketing platform. Local work of mouth and advertising is SO much easier. But for anyone considering a transition abroad, think about reaching prospects who google solutions.
- intellegacy 12y ago
  Hey, just wondernig how your model works. I'm an SAT tutor and want to implement something similar. So you give away the explanations for free online, and charge for PDF? And get tutoring opportunities from the free book marketing. Do you teach online?
  - graeme 12y ago
    Eventually I'm going to make a course. Right now adding free explanations boosts the number of people who like and trust my material. I do sell the PDFs and get tutoring inquires from the site though. This site does something simliar for the SAT, he has two well selling books as well: http://pwnthesat.com/wp/ http://pwnthesat.com/wp/

AlexNeoNomad 12y ago

it's a given, if you read a post like this, it'll be about Thailand in some way.

stephenr 12y ago
also a pretty good chance the words “work permit” won’t appear in the article anywhere. just because you don’t agree with certain laws, doesnt mean you can just ignore them.
- jpatokal 12y ago
  Yup. As it happens, Thailand's currently doing one of its periodic crackdown on tourist visa abuse: http://www.smh.com.au/world/australians-in-thailand-face-visa-crackdown-junta-warns-20140801-zzdvp.html http://www.smh.com.au/world/australians-in-thailand-face-vis... And it's actually quite difficult to do remote work or establish permanent residence legally in Thailand: http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanWeeklyColumn2013/Thailand-visa-run-crackdown.htm http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanWeeklyColumn2013/Thai...
  - gregjor 12y ago
    Stickman's audience is not really digital nomads. Just look at the ads and the bar (and bar girl) reviews. Anyone who wants to legitimately live in Thailand or work here can jump through the hoops, it's easier than most places. The crackdown is mostly aimed at migrant laborers from Cambodia and Myanmar, and at backpackers who spend their time in Thailand drinking and smoking pot.
    - stephenr 12y ago
      > Stickman's audience is not really digital nomads That's an understatement if I've ever heard one. I skimmed the linked page and this little gem jumped out: "Some support a Thai partner and kids, perhaps their own kids, perhaps their partner's from a previous relationship. Throughout Pattaya, Isaan and the north thousands, maybe tens of thousands, fit this profile - and they could be shut out." I dont profess to be an expert on all things Thai, but after 2 years here, that sentence tells me plenty. You could equally describe exactly the same group of foreigners with much fewer words: "retiree sexpat". > Anyone who wants to legitimately live in Thailand or work here can jump through the hoops This is absolutely true. I went through the process while the protests + failed election were going on, and the biggest hassle was departments being closed/relocated, and road closures while heading to meetings with our lawyer in BKK.

bshimmin 12y ago

This is a wonderful case of "one man's meat is another man's poison" - he mentions in the closing paragraph how being a "digital nomad" has "improv[ed his] quality of life", and yet throughout his extremely pragmatic and practical guide to that lifestyle, all I can really see are all sorts of compromises. The thought of sitting in a beach hut somewhere warm and sunny, typing away on a MacBook, does certainly sound very appealing. The rest of it - washing your bland travel clothes in a hotel shower with "hotel shampoo" - would surely grow pretty tiresome after a month or two, if you're in any way used to and appreciative of a comfortable lifestyle. I write this from my "three monitors and a special chair" (quite literally) and I will, in fact, be writing some "brand-new Python code" later... (I'm also fascinated by this guy's predilection for doing maintenance work and fixing broken projects - I can hardly imagine anything worse!)

coldtea 12y ago
>all I can really see are all sorts of compromises. Well, staying in the same house/appartment, seeing the same people over and over, commuting in traffic, going to the same office to have meetings the the same PHB, etc etc also involves "all sorts of compromises". Even if you freelance and you don't have the office thing, there's still the rot in your everyday life. >* The rest of it - washing your bland travel clothes in a hotel shower with "hotel shampoo" - would surely grow pretty tiresome after a month or two, if you're in any way used to and appreciative of a comfortable lifestyle.* You'd be surprised. I've lived in both kinds of situations (and on/off) and some people just feel great with that too. After all it's just a "first world problem" of the bigger calibre ("oh, I miss my big fridge and and my huge monitor"). But even those "incoveniences" can be overcome if you don't like it. With something like $800/month you can have a huge house in some parts of SE Asia, with a pool, and with your personal assistant to cook, clean the house, wash clothes etc. Better than what most of us have "back at home" actually.
- graeme 12y ago
  >With something like $800/month you can have a huge house in some parts of SE Asia, with a pool, and with your personal assistant to cook, clean the house, wash clothes etc. Better than what most of us have "back at home" actually. Which parts are that? I'm planning to travel this winter and looking for places to settle for a month or two.

shubhamjain 12y ago

One thing successful freelancers often suggest about starting out is emailing people, selling them solutions on how their site could be fixed / made better. So far, it hasn't worked for me at all. I contacted various real estate people, from their websites and mailed them why having a sleek and responsive look matters and how I can deliver it but didn't got response from any of them. May be it stems from the fact that I don't live in the same country as theirs or their skepticism about my claims but I am interested in knowing how exactly this thing works and where I am wrong?

datasmash 12y ago
It's hard to convince someone to buy something when they're not looking for a solution. Try looking at job postings and filtering down by jobs that have been open for an extended period of time (while means they might be hard to fill). Figure out who the hiring manger is for the position and reach out to them (you won't have much luck if you go through HR).
coldtea 12y ago
>So far, it hasn't worked for me at all. I contacted various real estate people, from their websites and mailed them why having a sleek and responsive look matters and how I can deliver it but didn't got response from any of them. Could be the pitch. Reak estate agents don't care for buzzwords like "responsive" (like they didn't care for "HTML5" or "semantic"), and they might think they are already sleek enough (especially if they get the number of customers they want through those sites). As a (infrequent) user of real estate sites I also could not care less for responsive (I won't search for a house from my phone, and most any site designed for the desktop looks good as is in my iPad too) or sleek (just show me the facts I need and some good pictures of the real estate). They could be persuaded if they have business benefits from the change. And perhaps real estate guys already do well. Perhaps check some business with a bad website that doesn't do as well -- where a better site could make a different.
- MadMoogle 12y ago
  I have no idea why this comment was downvoted. This is solid advice.

qwerta 12y ago

Nice list. I would only add three advices to stay productive: - stay at each place for minimum of three weeks. It takes some time to find stores, internet connectivity, meet people etc... - make list of stuff you are not going to do, it simplifies your choices. - consider to travel with luggage. I carry old 22" display in my :-)

jwblackwell 12y ago

The point about the type of work you're willing to accept is critical. In my experience freelancing, the clients that pay the best and offer the best projects will want to meet you occasionally at least. They'll also want commitment of a number of regular hours. So seeing as that's out the window you'll probably end up having to fill the in between good project time with jobs from Elance etc . Be prepared to deal with some horrible code :)

gk1 12y ago
As a counter-example, I've only ever met half of my clients in person. The work is definitely interesting and rewarding, leagues beyond anything I would ever find on Elance. I think the important thing is to make a human connection... So that you and the client both feel like you're working with another human, and not just some online persona. Meeting in person certainly helps, but so do Skype calls and some personal banter (but keep it professional). Although I work state-side and only went overseas once while "on the clock," I could grab my 25L backpack, leave tomorrow, and spend the week working from Colombia without any problems.
gregjor 12y ago
My main clients all pay a monthly retainer for a block of my time. I don't do piecework through eLance or oDesk. My hourly rate puts my annual gross in the same range as my friends in Silicon Valley. If you want to do projects from scratch or work for startups that's a different situation, and you probably would need to participate with a team. For the kind of work I do it's not important where I am or what I'm wearing.

song 12y ago

I'm not a digital nomad per se but I think I found a good compromise. Instead of traveling often like he does and dealing with having to travel light and not having all of the conforts, I move to a different country every year or so while still keeping all my customers in the US. I find that it's the best of both world, I have time to discover any country I move to and really get to know the culture. It's also much easier on my clients because it's easy for them to know how to reach me and I'm sure I always have a good internet connection. One thing I do recommend though is getting an expat health insurance like GMC, BUPA, A+, AETNA, ... It's a bit of an expense (I'm in my 30s and pay $220/month with a deductible of $1200/year for coverage anywhere in the world except Canada and US) but I think it's important for the peace of mind that it procures.

vecinu 12y ago
I think you deserve your own blog post as well. I'm currently working remotely through some extremely lucky means (Company I worked with full-time let me work remotely for a year) and I would love to continue doing this full-time. My biggest hurdle is finding a company that is interested in hiring a junior-intermediate remote worker. I just recently officially graduated and only have 2 years of 'real' experience and it seems most companies that offer remote work are looking for workers with 5+ years of experience. When did you start this lifestyle? Do you find the benefits outweigh the positives? How do you balance having a family/wife/children?
- song 12y ago
  I had 4 years of experience when I started freelancing. I quit my job with enough reserve to last one year and an half and moved to Southeast Asia. I still continued to do a bit of work for my previous company but it was actually very difficult finding new clients and if I were to do it again I'd recommend not doing what I did. It took me about a year before I found new clients with enough work to support me. Part of the reason for that is that it took me a while before I could actually force myself to work productively at home without anyone breathing down my neck. I found my clients with a combination of blog post and contributions to open source projects. I don't have a family and children, I have a girlfriend who does remote work as a graphic designer so it works out well for us. I really like the life I have now but it's true that it's not for everyone, working at home is not easy for a lot of people (I do recommend checking out local co-working spaces for this). You also have to enjoy spending time learning new languages and trying to adapt to a culture that's different from your own. Moving to a new place and getting everything ready can be stressful (I tend to be easy going by nature so that doesn't bother me) If I had children, I'm not sure what I would do.

homakov 12y ago

FYI if you are perpetual traveler and stay less than 3/6 months in every country, you won't be tax resident anywhere which means no taxes at all. Doesn't work for US citizens. (I'm Russian who travels for last 3 years and I don't owe taxes to any country)

zodiac 12y ago
But if you work for a US company, won't you have to pay taxes on the income earned from the US company?
- homakov 12y ago
  The US company may be required to pay extra tax, but i just add it on top of my consulting rate coz i don't care about other people's taxes. On my side i don't owe the US anything
vecinu 12y ago
This probably doesn't work in most countries...Canada also requires you to be a resident of SOME country.
- homakov 12y ago
  It works in all countries afaik. "you stay in Canada for less than 183 days in the tax year." makes you non-resident.
  - vecinu 12y ago
    Interesting. I can't find the exact literature since the wording is not clear to me but I think you may be correct. Being less than 183 days in Canada and NOT receiving any income in Canada, makes you a non-resident that doesn't have to pay Canadian taxes. [1] - http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/cmmn/rsdncy-eng.html http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/cmmn/rsdncy-eng.html [2] - http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/nnrs-eng.html#txblgtns http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/ndvdls/nnrs-eng.html#tx...

FLUX-YOU 12y ago

>There are agencies and recruiters who specialize in matching freelancers with projects, seek them out and establish a relationship. Can anyone here make some recommendations from experience? I feel like I'd need to be a 'rockstarninjahacker' before taking remote jobs and being able to complete them (and demand enough to pay for this lifestyle)

ohashi 12y ago
Can't help you with the first one. But feeling like you need to be a rockstarninjahacker is garbage. Many of my clients have no idea how to evaluate my code. The question is - can you get it done? On time? At price? to get to that point - it's do we trust you? Working on your communication skills will probably get you much further than improving your technical skills for finding/keeping freelance work.
umami 12y ago
I run one of such agencies. We are 100% remote. If you are interested contact me at hello@umamicollective.com.

nchuhoai 12y ago

i graduated in May and made becoming a digital nomad a goal of mine. I'm surprised by the number of people that try to get clients, as far as reaching out to "random" real estate agencies for work. Out of curiosity, what makes that the preferred way over trying to get a single employer that allows you to work remotely part-time? I agree that it might be slightly more difficult initially, but IMO it's worth it as you don't have to deal with having to get new clients, manage with your current ones. I actually got really lucky that I find my company as it put enough faith in me as a recent college grad. IMO, the only reason for me to take on new clients is for a significantly higher rate?

enjo 12y ago
High there! I'm a CTO at ever-growing fully remote company (every single employee is remote). While I have no doubt you can find a company willing to hire you as a digital nomad, I definitely have a bunch of reservations about it. We've had folks on the move quite a bit in the past (including traveling around in an RV). The biggest issue is that they tend not to be quite as plugged in as everyone else. Internet connections always seem to be spotty and there always seems to be other issues tugging at their attention (finding places to work, exploring, etc..). That doesn't mean they produced bad work (often it was very good), but it came at the expense of the rest of the team. When we needed them to answer a question or hop into a quick discussion they often weren't around. It's just a bad dynamic as far as the rest of the team goes. We do hire contractors for very specific and targeted projects. In that mode nomads are just fine! They don't need to fit into the broader team in a meaningful way and there is no expectation that they will. They come in for a few weeks or months and then move on. It works well and both sides are really happy with the arrangement. Point being, you might have better luck both finding a job and being successful at it if you're looking less for full-time roles and more for contract positions that complement the type of lifestyle you want to pursue.

padobson 12y ago

I took a contract with a company that had a profitable and almost-working web-based business. They had fired their original developers over a contract dispute. He's right about the high demand for maintenance contracts. The majority of my client base comes from this exact story. In fact, you can make a lot of money just finding a bad or prima-dona developer that specializes in the same technologies as you, and cleaning up the wake of destruction they create.

gregjor 12y ago
Exactly. The startup tech bros are just a job creation scheme for me.