In this series of interviews with digital nomads I ask fellow digital nomads about their lifestyle, their sources of income and the tips they have to share about working from anywhere.
Niko is originally from Quebec in Canada.
Although he’s been traveling around the world for 13 years, he’s only been a digital nomad for the last 4 years.
Before that he used to do all kinds of odd jobs he found in the different countries he visited.
Before becoming a digital nomad, he worked as a landscaper, restaurant manager, high-school teacher and street performer.
what made you decide to become a digital nomad?
Before starting the whole digital nomad lifestyle, I had already been traveling around the world for nine years.
Instead of relying on an online income, I was stopping in different countries to find jobs on the spot.
A few of these jobs include managing an orphanage in Guatemala and a French restaurant in Morocco.
Although working this way was a great way to finance my travels, it was a bit inconvenient. I couldn’t really make my own schedule and choose where I would work from.
While I was traveling in Turkey and working on my travel blog, I became quite low on funds.
Since my blog wasn’t generating a passive income at that point, I started teaching English online.
Teaching English Online was a fantastic way to earn a good side income from anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat.
My students were mainly from China and it was such a pleasure to see them progress and become better day by day!
how do you make a living as a digital nomad?
I no longer teach English online, but still recommend it as an easy way to start making a reliable income online and break into the digital nomad lifestyle.
Now I mainly make a passive income through my travel blog Journal of Nomads and organize group tours in various countries around the world.
A goal of mine this year is also to start freelance copywriting for different companies.
share one resource that every digital nomad should be aware of
One resource that every digital nomad should know about is Asana.
It’s a phone app/online platform that helps schedule and manage your time. It’s also useful for remote teams that want to coordinate their different tasks and communicate together effortlessly.
what’s your favourite thing about this lifestyle?
I love the freedom this lifestyle gives you.
You can technically work from wherever you want in the world providing you have a good internet connection.
It becomes easy to discover new horizons while making an income.
You’re not dependent on an office job anymore and you can create your own schedule.
what has been your biggest challenge as a nomad?
I believe the biggest challenge for me as a digital nomad has been to find a community of like minded individuals, remote workers who also manage their own work time from different locations around the world. Find my tribe so to speak.
I love the freedom that comes with this lifestyle, but I somehow miss having colleagues.
what’s the most useful travel gadget you have?
I just love my e-reader. Whenever I find interesting articles online (SEO stuff and tech hacks mainly), I’ll copy the entire articles, transform them into PDFs and put them on my e-reader so I can read them whenever I want.
what are the best destinations for digital nomads that you’ve been to?
I think that Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia, is a fantastic destination for digital nomads!
Rent is super affordable, there are tons of fun little cafes and the old part of the city has a beautiful architecture.
There is also a super fun crowd of young people and making friends there was really easy.
Kyrgyzstan is another awesome country for digital nomads.
Flights to and from this country are super cheap. You also have beautiful mountains and hiking trails just waiting to be explored right next to Bishkek, the country’s capital.
have you learnt any important lessons from living the digital nomad lifestyle?
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from the digital nomad lifestyle is the importance of learning and sharpening my skills.
Whether you’re a coder, blogger, software developer or SEO expert, it’s important to take formations, online-courses and classes to stay ahead of the game.
We live in a world that is constantly changing.
what are your plans for the future?
I would like to continue focusing on different sources of passive income online.
Maybe start a second blog eventually that is not focused on travelling. I also want to continue running tours in different locations around the world and expand my business.
More about niko
Follow Niko and his girlfriend Cynthia on their blog Journal of Nomads and on Facebook.
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