On Becoming a Digital Nomad | How To Start And Make Money

I am a group member of several digital nomad community groups on the Facebook. Some of these groups are for nomads to seek out for jobs or opportunities, while others are for networking.

Before Steemit was an option as a potential remote job, I must say that getting a remote job is relatively difficult. Don't get me wrong. It still is 'cause the competition is fierce.

Unlike competing for a job, Steemit provides you with the opportunity to build your portfolio, a following and help each other in the process of learning and giving. That's the beauty of Steemit.

However, as many options and possibilities out there for you, not everyone can just do it. Not because they didn't want to, but from what I gather, it's rather tough for them due to commitments, family and most of the times, bad decisions which lead to debts.

Well, you don't have to travel around the world as a digital nomad, you can always choose to settle in a place (or home country) if your family is stationed here.

The purpose of adopting the nomadic lifestyle is for the flexibility and control over your micro-business.

Bear in mind though, working at home requires discipline too. It doesn't mean that you get to spend the whole day with your kids, it just means that you have better control over how you'd spend your time in work or play, as long as you have come to a consensus with your employer or client.

A lot of people had the misconception that working at home or being on the go means not working as and when you want, a conception commonly misunderstood, in turn tarnishing whole freelance market's reputation.

So, in lieu of firing your boss within 24 hours, you can either go full throttle on your freelance business and/or work your a$$ off on Steemit.

Set a time frame (3-6 months depending on how much time you invests, and how fast you grow on the platform)

OR

If you're interested to dive into microentrepreneurship, my next post should do you some justice before you decide your next course of action.

I will not advise you to 'just take a leap.' In fact, I think that advice is a bad one. Taking a leap with just faith to support you, will drive you faster into despair and desperation, which will eventually lead you to make bad decisions. And the cycle repeats.

So here are some not-so-easy (nothing's easy isn't it?) but practical and doable, strategic approach that you can easily adopt, and adapt to fit your current situation:

 

1) Assuming you're holding down a day job and really want to break free from it

 

 
How: Take on a weeknight or weekend hustle. Learn a new trade or skill set. Use that skill to offer new projects to clients.

Caveat: Time is not an excuse. If you think you have no time, stop reading already. Just like you can't grow more money without investing, you will risk going broke if you just take the leap without proper exit planning.

 

2) Find a niche

 

 
How: Few questions to ask—

What's your interest?

What do you do best out of work?

Where do you see yourself in a couple of years time?
 

Work towards it and document your journey. It's better to be damn good at just one thing than a mediocre in many.

Even in writing, you can write about everything but if everyone starts writing about their day in and day out (lifestyle), they are all the same. You are all the same.

So pick a topic you're damn good in, and start building on that.
[Chris Guillebeau made a really comprehensive post on finding your niche here]

For example, you're great at making Western food but sucks at Chinese, fine. Just make a damn good series of Western food of various cultures. Martha Stewart is not a sous chef, but she's so famous because she's makes cooking easy and practical for stay-at-home parents.

Caveat: It takes time to find your niche. So start opening your eyes and exploring opportunities while you're still working. When money is not an issue, you can make wiser decisions based on conscious choice, not desperation.

 

3) Spread the word about your new 'venture'

 

 
How: At this moment, you don't have to worry if you're building a business yet. So don't bother about creating business accounts etc. Just focus on getting the clients.

Caveat: It's not begging if you don't shove it down their throats. It takes guts to be a business person. Not because you risk failing, but because you got to hustle smart, not really hard. Better to get 2-3 big paying clients than 10s of low paying ones.

 

4) Build your portfolio

 

 
How: To start, you can help family and friends to build your portfolio.
Notice that this isn't in step 3 but 4? It's like a catch 22. If you don't have a portfolio, how can you get business and if there are no contracts, how the heck can you build a portfolio right?

That's why I believe in helping others first. When you provide value first, the rest will follow. Do it for free or at a meager fee. It's fine when you're starting out but as your portfolio grows, start charging more. You don't want to spoil the market with cheap fees.

Caveat: Starting on marketplace platforms (i.e. Upwork and Freelancer) is okay, but only to get enough of portfolio there before venturing on your own. You don't want to hang around long in marketplaces, because they will suck you dry with 20% transaction fees, and low paying clients.

Soon enough, you'll get many clients but not enough of money. Why? Because you spent so much of time producing the work for them, but getting paid so much lower than your worth.

✩

I never started on marketplaces. I just followed the methods above and it works like a gem. I'm not saying this because it's easy or I'm better at this game, I'm proposing it because it's zero cost and the most sensible thing to do.

For now, here are some links you can check out until I expand this list later after curation:

❶ RemoteOK

❷ AngelList

❸ Workew

❹ Working nomads

 

As for me, I personally use LinkedIn to generate leads but it's via organic SEO (Search engine optimization), and it's another topic to be discussed.

Meantime, check out the opportunities within these links, start connecting with people and start offering your services to others.

Good luck 💪🏼

Image credit: All public domain images are taken from Pexels, unless stated otherwise.
 
 

These days I mostly write on Steemit.
I still have my portfolio and personal sites— virtuallydebbie.com and debbieang.com.
But these sites will eventually redirect you to my Steemit blog.
Well, what can I say. If it’s good stuff, you can’t get enough of it :)
Follow me and I'll take you through my unpredictable journey— filled with wilderness, curiosity, and randomness.
PS: Join #steemitbloggers to unite with other bloggers, and #sfg #steemgigs to partake in the freelancers' clan. Also, check out @kristyglas 's amazing divider below.

Support her work by sharing as she puts in tremendous effort into creating pretty dividers for Steemians.