Being on the road is appealing to most people. For them, there is nothing more enjoyable than traveling and having new experiences in life. But if you’re one of them, you will find that it will be limited to the number of days off you can enjoy at work. Most people feel satisfied with traveling at least twice a year because they have to return home and go back to the office the next day.
However, some people want to turn travel into their lifestyle. So much so that they are willing to let go of a stable life in exchange for an adventurous one on the road. Fortunately, the digital age provides people with an opportunity to pursue it. Becoming a digital nomad allows you to make travel a part of your life. It might be exciting to transition into an adventurous lifestyle, but you will have to make many sacrifices for it.
Here are some steps you have to take to become a committed digital nomad:
Utilize Your Property
Digital nomads will find themselves enjoying a lifestyle that will put them in many places for traveling and experience. It will be the stability that they will surround themselves with for their lives. Most people use things like their careers or family as the foundation, which encourages them to buy a property. However, digital nomads will always be on the move, making the property purchase an unnecessary expense.
Fortunately, you can use your home to help fund your dreams of a life on the road. You can rent it out to long-term tenants, allowing you to pay off your mortgage and even increase your budget for traveling. Utilizing your property will enable you to create a bank for your digital nomad lifestyle while having a backup plan should you find that it is not suitable for you.
It depends on what stage you are in your life before you decide to change, but it will feel good knowing that you have it as part of your assets. Hire a reliable real estate agent to help you with the process.
Build an Emergency Fund
Becoming a digital nomad means that you will be on the road a lot of times. However, shelter remains a necessity. You will have to settle in a place every night, even if it is only temporary. Unfortunately, securing it means spending money on lodging, which could put a dent in your budget. It will be necessary for digital nomads to learn how to manage their money and use it as the basis for their plans. It might be challenging to figure out what you will do with a limit, especially when your income will also be part of the monthly equation.
Fortunately, you can create an emergency fund to provide you with room to breathe. It is possible to encounter unexpected expenses like hospital fees, medications, and overpriced lodging. Your income might also experience unforeseen issues because of technical problems. The emergency fund must ensure that you are safe for at least the next six months of your life should you lose a job, giving you enough time to gather new clients or find a gig.
Identify Your Bases
Living a digital nomad lifestyle can be exciting because you have the opportunity to visit a lot of places without feeling the constraints of a fixed location for work and home. However, it does not mean that you can plan a trip all around the world within a year. Becoming a digital nomad allows you to take your time when traveling, even spending up to months in a time in a foreign city or country.
However, you will find that the tactic can eat through your budget in no time, forcing you to stop pursuing the lifestyle. Digital nomads have to set up bases, which are places that have a low cost of living to enable saving up enough funds for the next trips. Your base can save your lifestyle, but you will have to work on your budgeting skills to ensure that you are not struggling.
Remove the Vacation Mindset
There is a stigma around the digital nomad lifestyle that it can feel like a vacation most of the time. However, it will be far from the case. Despite being in different locations most of the time, you will still have to work for a living. A digital nomad lifestyle allows you to enjoy traveling, but you still have to be responsible for yourself. You are there to experience many things, making it critical to remove the mindset that you are on vacation. The mentality could prevent you from being effective and efficient at work, putting you in a difficult situation.
Committing to a digital nomad lifestyle can be exciting, but there is a possibility that it might not be the way of life for you. If you manage to pass these tests, you can enjoy an exciting lifestyle that only a few others dared to live.
