Have you ever thought about living life as a digital nomad? To some, it seemed impossible! But I’m here today to tell you: from scaling your online business and spreading your impact around the world, it is ALL possible. Here are my practical insider tips on growing your business as a digital nomad, and overcoming the roadblocks we might encounter along the way! By Danielle Hu
I love life as a digital nomad, and I have been traveling full-time with my online coaching business for almost 5 years, living in and traveling through places like Hawai’i, Costa Rica, Brazil, Portugal, Indonesia! The style of traveling is different to when I worked in a corporate environment. I had limited vacation days and my experience and my perception of travel were that you had to be on the move constantly. You had to experience everything in a short amount of time and it’s not conducive to routine.
But as a digital nomad, you have all the time in the world, so you can design not only your days but your weeks, months, and years! You might find that you really like a place and you get to extend for three months or six months. You might also arrive somewhere not knowing what to expect, but then discover you love it and end up staying there for months.
Life as a digital nomad gives you incredible flexibility; you learn not to become overwhelmed with the how or the why, and you just go with the flow. You embrace the opportunities and as a result, you move from one level to the next much quicker than if you were in one place with the same trains of thought. You’re able to take your business with you wherever you go, you embrace change, and you learn to work outside of the box.
What businesses are suitable for nomadic life?
From my Amazon FBA and e-commerce days, I learned that not all businesses were created equal in terms of freedom! Any business that requires you to hold inventory, or any business that requires you to be in one location, isn’t going to be the perfect fit for nomadic life. If you have a physical product, it means you have to be there or outsource fulfillment, which adds overhead costs and shipping headaches.
The truth is that every business idea will have its own set of pros and cons. But there are always ways you can adapt, learn and overcome to any of them. For example, I co-founded ANDA, an ocean-inspired jewelry brand with my best friend from childhood Annie, who is based in Miami.
I set clear boundaries in the beginning so we agreed that Annie undertakes the production and order fulfillment and I manage everything else digitally: social media, marketing, emails and website. We complement each other well and I’m able to scale a successful product-based business without being confined to one single location.
What works beautifully with ANDA is that Annie and I have our defined roles within the business. As I was clear right from the start, it has formed expectations and we are both able to utilize our strengths to make the business work. Set those boundaries from the get-go. Whether they are boundaries with a business partner or your own expectations.
That is why online businesses such as coaching or content creation are the perfect models for nomadic life. So, If you have a skillset that you’re able to build a brand around and monetize, that is where we can start expanding into digital products and services.
Find your passion
Whichever the case, if it is a product-base or a totally digital product you want to sell, it will come in handy to start using vision boards and a Passion Planner to envision where the core services and products are. After this stage, it’ll become clearer what you feel passionate about.
It’s really important to establish first your goals and priorities and what really gets you excited, and then what you can capitalize around it. Once you’ve set up your systems, you can step away and embrace them.
For example, I’m an avid surfer and surf every day, so to me, it’s important to be able to live next to the beach and have time for myself. So, I knew I didn’t want to be at my computer screen 24/7.
I also don’t want to only be getting paid when I’m working with a client, so you start to think about your passive income streams too. You can find out ways to outsource and delegate when you can, and find where you need to prioritize your time and how you can structure your online business. Ultimately, you need to assess your current business and whether it's something you can take “on the road” to really make life as a digital nomad work.
How to outsource and build reliable systems
The key when you’re running a freedom-based business is that you work with people who also embrace that mindset. I looked at which tasks I found kept me restricted and tied to the laptop or the jobs you might not enjoy doing —you can outsource those. So, in my case, I hired a Virtual Assistant to do those tasks for me. To manage this as you travel, you build a remote-first team. You can communicate, work on your systems, your onboarding, your off-boarding —get all of that in place. You’ll see how you can expand while investing less time at work. And, as time goes on, you can expand that team further.
Personally, I have a Pinterest manager, a Graphic Designer, a Facebook Ads manager, PR Manager, and a Web Designer. These are all jobs you can outsource to your remote team. Of course, you could learn to do yourself, but why commit to undertaking those jobs and all the time and trial and errors that it entitles, when you can hire someone whose expertise is in these areas and can help the business drive further and faster? The biggest learning curve is working with people you haven’t met before. Learning to trust someone you’ve only met or talked with online, giving away your passwords to your website, or learn to ask for something presented in the exact way in which you’d want it to be presented. At first, it can be difficult to relinquish control, but by doing so, that’s where the magic happens.
You’re putting your business in the hand of experts in these areas, people who are going to make the most of your business on your behalf. And at the end of the day, you can guide them on how you want things done. You are employing them, after all!
What are the key challenges?
With any job, it’s not all fun and games. A nomadic life will also give you some difficulties and obstacles to learn from. One of the biggest challenges I face whilst traveling and running my online businesses is Wi-Fi.
It is incredibly stressful when you know you have appointments online and your Wi-Fi doesn’t work. You will find yourself going out of your way to make it work, though! The process of finding consistent Wi-Fi in many destinations is not always the easiest, but you do manage to work around it. And that’s adaptability. You can seek out co-working spaces, have a SIM card or search out places that have Wi-Fi like either a cafe or a hotel. Research ahead and be prepared. Some hotels will accommodate you and provide you with your own Wi-Fi router, if needed. Another challenge can be building a routine. It can be as simple as making sure you get that morning cup of coffee, sometimes, but at times you’ll need an extra push to get your mindset in work mode or balance your out of work life.
But if you stay somewhere longer, it is easier to build a routine. Set a certain day for working from a co-working space or schedule dinner with friends. It helps create your life wherever you are based, as it builds in routines you might have had
at home.
The final and perhaps the biggest challenge, and one I hear from clients who are just starting out their digital nomad lifestyle, is community. It’s so much harder to meet people when you are constantly on the move.
If you’re an introvert, it can be incredibly daunting to travel to a new place and try to meet new people. But It’s important to remember that the more you live in alignment with your interests and passions, the more people you’re going to find who support you on that journey. You’ll meet other entrepreneurs in co-working spaces or around where you live.
One of the best things I did was create an online community through Facebook that I can take with me wherever I travel. If you are looking for a collective of like-minded people who are also embarking on their own journeys to becoming digital nomads, come join us!
About Danielle
Danielle is a Forbes-featured business coach, full-time traveler, and host of The Wanderlover Podcast. She specializes in helping clients grow their online presence and make money online doing what they love. She’s a corporate escapee turned avid surfer and entrepreneur, and spends all her free time in the water and under the sun.
Check out her free class where she teaches you how to build a successful online business that allows you to travel the world!
