How to Become Location-Independent and Travel the World
Location-independent work is the key to living a fulfilled, excited, and motivated life without compromise. Being able to choose where you work, change where you’re based, and travel the world without giving up a career isn’t just a dream, it’s a reality for millions of people every single year.
According to Upwork, in fact, 22% of Americans will be location-independent by 2025. This comes down to two factors: more people want to work remotely and there are more remote opportunities than ever before.
Today, a location-independent lifestyle is not only possible but easily achievable. In this post, we will share with you the best ways to become location-independent, so that you can join the remote work movement and start earning money while traveling the world.
What Does It Mean to Be Location-Independent?
A location-independent worker is someone who is not tied down to a physical place to work and earn money. They might be freelancers offering online services to clients, or fully remote workers collaborating with their distributed team through online tools instead of in-person at the office.
At its core, becoming location-independent means gaining the ability to work from anywhere. That might be from hotel rooms, planes, a coworking space, a coliving or even the beach. What matters is that the workplace is on your terms.
In the past, location-independent workers were faced with the myth that to be productive, you have to be in an office. That's not the case anymore. Many remote workers are now established professionals in their field and work hard to excel in their careers even while traveling the world.
In many cases, the freedom and flexibility of location independence allows nomad workers to thrive, becoming more motivated and productive than they would ever be in a physical office.
Location Independent vs Digital Nomad: What’s the Difference?
Shifting to location independence or becoming a digital nomad are two paths to living and working without geographical limitations.
Both give you the chance to make money online and further your career without ever stepping foot in an actual office. This means that you’re not fixed to any particular place as a means to work.
However, although all digital nomads are location-independent, not all location-independent workers are digital nomads.
The key difference is in the word nomad, meaning someone who never stays too long in just one place. A digital nomad is someone who prioritizes travel as part of their day-to-day life. And working remotely is crucial to the digital nomad lifestyle as they tend to move around often, therefore needing income streams that suit and supprt their 'wandering' lifestyle.
A digital nomad can (and will) work from anywhere, creating their own portable office setup wherever they go: we’re talking tiny hostel dorms, overnight buses, and bougie airport lounges adding a whole new layer to the concept of location independence.
On the other side of things, location-independent workers might not necessarily be interested in the travel element of remote work. They might be work-from-home workers or have a monthly subscription to a nearby co-working office in their neighborhood instead.
What Are the Advantages of Being Location-Independent?
Some people think that going location-independent reduces your job options and could lead to a significant pay cut. In reality, making the shift to fully remote work opens so many more doors than it closes.
- More job options: Without remote work, you’re limited to the companies and positions that you can physically get to from your home. If your dream position isn’t available locally then you’d either have to give up or move. Unless you find the role remotely.
- More freedom: The beauty of being location-independent is that you have the freedom to work from anywhere without sacrificing your income or career. You can literally do both at once.
- No geographical limitations: You can apply for jobs from any city or country in the world regardless of where the company is based, and with digital nomad visas, you’re not fixed to one place either. Life as a digital nomad means traveling the world, going on adventures, and making every day truly count.
- More happiness: Shifting to remote work is almost guaranteed to increase your happiness levels, according to a FlexJobs study. And, take it from us, a happier worker is a more productive one. If you’re unmotivated at work, your job might not be the problem, it could just be the workplace.
- No more commuting: Location-independent work also makes life that little bit easier for those who struggle with commutes and being out of the house for 8+ hours a day.
- More inclusivity: It finally makes full-time work-from-home possible, majorly improving the ability to work for people with disabilities or parents of young children.
Are There Any Downsides to Location Independence?
Like any career path, there are challenges that come with location independence.
- Difficulty in reestablishing a positive work-life balance: It’s no surprise that when you first go location-independent, your routine is completely thrown off. Figuring out a new way to work and find work-life balance, particularly if you’re doing it from the road, can be tough.
- You are on your own: Not only are you now in charge of your schedule, but you’ll also have to quickly hone your productivity and self-motivation skills. Losing certain external work catalysts (like your manager breathing down your back) will probably feel like a relief at first, but if you’re not willing to put in the self-discipline to effectively work remotely then the quality of your work may temporarily dip.
- You might experience loneliness: Workplace socializing is pre-built into the office so that interacting with coworkers happens without a second thought. For location-independent work, however, connecting with others takes a lot more intention. Luckily, there are countless digital nomad communities for you to join, just like ours! There are more than 40 million digital nomads worldwide meaning you are anything but alone in your location-independent journey.
Want tips on how to improve your location-independent journey? Read our dedicated guide:
Irene Lidia Wang
What are the Ways to Earn Location-Independent Income?
There’s never been a better time to pursue location-independent work. There are so many options when it comes to career paths and industries that make a fully remote lifestyle possible for almost everyone. Here’s how to make it happen for you:
Find a fully remote job
Before anything else, the first thing you can do to find a fully remote job is to speak to your current boss about what a shift to location independence would look like.
If you’re a stand-out employee, you might be surprised at how open employers can be to a remote shift if it means not losing you from the team.
There’s also a wealth of digital nomad jobs being posted every single day – and no, not just in tech. Marketing, project management, and design are industries that have a long-standing relationship with location-independent work and new fields like healthcare and HR are being added all the time.
You can use remote work-specific job boards like Remote Nomad Jobs to filter by location-independent roles only or explore opportunities at one of the many amazing 100% fully remote companies.
Launch an online business
Want a profession that isn’t just location-independent but completely independent of the projects and schedules of other people? Then launching an online business might be for you. As an online business owner, you get to be your own boss and call all of the shots.
You also have the chance to pour your heart into something that you really believe in, building your new location-independent life from the ground up.
There are a bunch of different business ideas to consider like podcasts, social media agencies, or virtual assisting. What’s important is choosing something that you can pour hundreds of hours of work into without getting bored.
Become a freelancer
Freelancing is the ideal solution for someone with a specialized set of skills who wants to get paid for their work and have control over their schedule without being tied to a desk. Freelancers work directly with individuals and businesses to complete various projects depending on the client’s needs.
Companies of all sizes and in all industries use freelancers to get things done so the pool of potential clients can be pretty huge.
Some of the more well-known pathways to freelancing are SEO, online writing, UX design, and online teaching, but there are no rules when it comes to who can and cannot freelance.
If you have an in-demand skill, the likelihood is that you can go freelance.
Volunteer while traveling
If you have the time and resources, there are few things more rewarding than volunteering during a trip abroad. Giving your time to a local cause also gives you the chance to connect deeper with their culture and form genuine relationships with the local people.
TrustedHousesitters, Worldpackers, and Workaway are popular options for finding volunteering opportunities petsitting, on farms and local homestays that often also provide accommodation for your trip.
Alternatively, you can always reach out directly to causes or organizations in other parts of the world that you’d love to be a part of to see what opportunities are available.
Ready to Make the Shift to a Location-Independent Lifestyle?
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