How to become a digital nomad: A step-by-step guide

Being a digital nomad, living and working from anywhere, is many people’s dream. This is a full guide on how to become a digital nomad, work remotely and design a location independent lifestyle for yourself.

How I became a digital nomad

I started my digital nomad life in 2009.

I worked as a freelance translator and was working from home for a while, when I realised that if I could work from home, I could work from anywhere.

So I took my laptop with me to Berlin, rented an apartment from a local, got online and did translation jobs for my clients, who didn’t even know where I was at the time 😉

When I saw my little test in Berlin was working well, I moved on to other destinations.

In later years I combined more freelance jobs and a solopreneur business, while travelling to nearly 40 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia.

If you find stories like this inspiring, check out my series of interviews with digital nomads.

What is the digital nomad lifestyle?

Living the digital nomad lifestyle means you can work from anywhere. Using the internet, you can be location independent and still make a living by working remotely.

For many jobs it simply doesn’t matter where you are and as long as you have a reliable Internet connection.

This lifestyle is immensely liberating, though it does have its challenges.

I think the biggest challenge is of course starting out! I know that as I often get messages from people who want to pick my brain on how to become a digital nomad.

As this lifestyle is becoming more popular, I sense that there are many people who would love to go location independent but are confused as to how exactly to achieve that.

My aim in this guide is to explain the process of how to become a digital nomad and make it as simple as possible.

Follow these steps to become a digital nomad

Can you work online from anywhere?

Is your current job the type of job you can do remotely? or do you have a freelance job or a business that you can run from anywhere?

If you’re an employee, start by thinking about what you currently do for a living and ask yourself if it’s the kind of work you can do from home or from a coffee shop?

If your job can be done from anywhere with an Internet connection, you’re in luck (if not, then read on, I’ll address all the options below).

What’s left for you to do is convince your boss that you no longer have to show up at the office every day. That’s a bit much, so first  you want to ask for a test period, meaning you will work remotely from home for about three days.

This should show your boss that you’re available online when needed and that you are productive, able to meet deadlines and achieve goals even if you’re not physically at the office.

Now you have some proven results and that’s a good basis for negotiations. You can negotiate a longer period of remote work and see what you can get. If your employer says no, perhaps you’ll have to try another test period.

There are several books about remote work that give valuable advice to both employees and employers. All the common challenges associated with remote work can be addressed, based on years of experience documented in those books.

Use the books and the experience of others to convince your workplace to allow longer periods of remote work.

If despite all that your current employer refuses to let you work remotely, you can look for work with a different employer who is more open to the idea.

This way you won’t have to change your position or learn entirely new skills, just find similar work elsewhere. Alternatively, you may have to find a new job.

Where to find remote work

If you need a new employer, you should know that employers who support remote work are becoming more and more common.

You can find full-time and part-time remote jobs online.

Here are some leading sites to search for remote work:

• Remotive
• Remote OK
• We Work Remotely

There are many more job boards for remote workers – have a look at this list.

If you are a freelancer or business owner and you can work from anywhere, then you have to take two more steps on your way to a digital nomad lifestyle:

(1) Make sure you have enough clients who pay on time.

It’s sometimes tough when you’re freelancing or running a business, as your income may not be regular. It also helps if you have more than one income stream.

(2) Pick your destination according to your budget and prospective income.

You can move to a place where the cost of living is low enough to let you travel and enjoy yourself without worrying too much about work.

What if you can’t work online from anywhere right now?

In case your current job is not the type of job that you can do remotely, and you still want to be a digital nomad, then pick a new job as a remote employee, a freelancer or an entrepreneur.

If you are currently required to be present at a certain time and place in order to do you work, then a career change is needed.

This means you will need to pick a new job, learn and develop the skills and start your new digital nomad lifestyle.

This can be either as a remote employee with a company that will allow you to work remotely, or as a freelancer or an entrepreneur running your own business. Let’s break all of this down.

Examples of digital nomad jobs

The basis for your digital nomad lifestyle are jobs you can do from anywhere.

There’s a lot you can do with an Internet connection!

These jobs can be done by email, over the phone, on Skype or Zoom, by sharing files on cloud services and so on.

• Graphic designer
• Web developer
• Web designer
• Copywriter
• Digital marketing expert
• Photographer
• Video editor
• Instagrammer
• Software developer
• Online language teacher
• Remote customer service
• Podcast editor
• Bookkeeper
• Recruiter / Hiring consultant
• Product Manager
• Vlogger
• Community manager
• Social media expert
• Career coach
• Life coach
• eCourse creator
• Online music teacher
• Proofreader
• Illustrator
• Animator
• Blogger

This is by no means a comprehensive list, of course, but it gives you a general idea.

Select some jobs that appeal to you from the list.

If you can’t find any, Google more examples of digital nomad jobs, you’ll find plenty.

Now it’s time to learn from other people’s mistakes.

Google the name of the job that appeals to you + digital nomad and find people who are already doing what you want to do.

Since you’re going to make a big lifestyle change, it’s best to prepare now than have regrets later.

There are many interviews with digital nomads that will give you a glimpse into the reality of both the lifestyle and the profession.

You can also send some of them a message, introduce yourself and say you’re considering a lifestyle shift.

Ask about recommended courses, job boards, earning potential and anything else you have doubts about.

You can ask people you know, friends of friends, people on digital nomad groups on Facebook or anyone else you might think of who is already working at the job you picked.

It’s a good idea to get a realistic picture of what the job is really like, so you can decide if it’s really for you.

How to acquire the skills for your new digital nomad lifestyle

Take a few minutes to list your current skills.

These may include skills you acquired in previous jobs. There may also be hobbies or activities you’ve been involved in, that you can develop into a new job.

Any past experience can be valuable.

If your level is good enough, that’s great, and if not, you can take some courses that will bring you to a professional level.

There are also professions you can learn from scratch, based on your interests. It’s easy to learn online these days.

You don’t have to spend too much time and money on getting a degree in order to do most of these jobs. Online courses can teach you the skills you need.

Where to find online courses to train for digital nomad jobs

Investing in a course is a good idea when you want to see results. Things are changing fast in just about any area of life these days, so learning from experts who are up to date on all the latest developments is your best course of action.

I consider myself an autodidact and have taught myself a lot of things over the years. However, in the past couple of years I have come to realise that the time and effort I waste on searching for info online that is up-to-date and relevant isn’t really worth it anymore…

That’s why I now prefer to consume the info packaged in a course made by someone who’s already done the research for me.

• Fiverr Learn offers courses that are highly focused on professional skills, especially for freelancers.
• is probably the most popular platform for online courses and it has a huge range of subjects and teachers.
• is a subscription style platform for online courses.

Setting up your own business as a digital nomad

If you don’t like the idea of being an employee and you don’t like the idea of freelancing for different clients either, this may be a sign that you should start your own business.

The above list of examples of jobs that you can do from anywhere can also give you some ideas for small businesses you can start and perhaps later grow into something bigger.

Why e-commerce is great for digital nomads

A very common business for digital nomads is running an online shop (or several online shops).

It’s the kind of business you can run from anywhere and it puts you in complete control of your income and time commitments.

There are different ways to run an online shop and plenty of info online on how to do that, but it can be overwhelming at first.

It will introduce you to the potions and possibilities and let you learn from other people’s experience.

Starting a side hustle based on your skills

I’ve met many digital nomads over the years who started out with a small side hustle that later developed into their main business.

A side hustle is something you can start even while you’re working at your job as an employee or while you’re freelancing for clients.

Then when it’s profitable enough to sustain you, you can turn the side hustle into your main hustle.

Typically, in a side hustle you take any skills you have or skills you can learn easily and find ways to make an online income out of them.

There are proven methods to building successful side hustles. There’s no need to be overwhelmed by the idea, just use other people’s experiences and learn from their mistakes.

Basic advice on how to start a business

Use these basic tips to start.

Validate you business ideas

Before you start a business, you want to test and validate your idea to see if there’s any real demand for it.

You will need to find a specific audience, understand their pain points and how you can help them.

Find a business mentor

To avoid making mistakes at this stage, it’s a good idea to consult someone with more experience in entrepreneurship.

Ideally, you want to look for someone to mentor you.

Outsource what you can to save time and effort

Another tip that any experienced business owner would give you is this: don’t try to do everything yourself – outsource!

Learn what you can, but don’t try to perform each and every task related to the business by yourself. It might fail you or just wear you out.

Instead, hire freelancers to do some of the business related tasks for you, from design to marketing to customer service.

One of the best marketplaces to use when you need to outsource certain tasks is Fiverr, where you can hire extremely affordable freelance services, and give yourself the time and space to focus on your strengths.

Remember, your role is to run the business, not deal with each and every aspect of it personally.

Another way to build a business and go nomad is to sell a new, innovative product, and then outsource and automate its production, so you can travel while it’s making money for you. You will need a popular product to do that.

Crowd funding is a great tool you can use to test the potential popularity of your idea.

With crowd funding, you don’t have to start manufacturing until you have enough people showing interest in buying your product and supporting it with their investment.

Find clients who pay on time

If you chose the freelance path or the entrepreneur path, before you book a flight, make sure you can pay for your new digital nomad lifestyle.

For freelancers or entrepreneurs, getting paid on time by clients or customers might prove tricky at times.

I recommend you start your digital nomad journey once you have enough paying clients that you can rely on.

That will take a lot of the stress off and let you enjoy your nomadic life.

Do what you need to do to find some reliable clients or customers who pay on time, ideally clients who give you work on a regular basis.

Unless you have a nice amount of money available in your savings account, I suggest you don’t ignore this advice.

This stage may take some time and effort, but it’s the key to your success and will save you tons of frustration later on.

It took me a long while to find reliable clients before I started my digital nomad life as a freelance translator, but it was worth the effort.

I could travel, see places and meet people without being constantly worried about whether or not I was going to get paid on time.

As I was preparing for my digital nomad lifestyle, I came across quite a few clients who didn’t pay me on time and I simply decided not to work with them again. The clients I kept were the ones I could actually rely on.

Where to find clients as a digital nomad freelancer

You can start finding clients simply by asking your friends and family, posting on Facebook or other social media that you use regularly that you are looking for clients, and finally, by searching these job boards that offer work for freelancers:

Fiverr

UpWork

Toptal

Find more freelance marketplaces here.

Choose your digital nomad destination wisely

Ideally, as a clever digital nomad, you want to travel to a place where the cost of living is cheaper than where you currently live.

You can check the cost of living in different places around the world using sites like numbeo.com.

I use it before every trip to get an idea of how much things cost, from a bus ticket to a restaurant meal.

But the cost of living isn’t the only factor to consider. Many aspiring digital nomads I’ve talked to are worried about meeting people and making friends at their new destination.

If you already have friends, family or contacts somewhere, that would of course make the move much easier.

Otherwise, don’t worry. There are many ways to meet people when you travel. The easiest one I know is by attending local events.

These can be digital nomad meetups, language exchange meetings, city tours and many other types of social gatherings.

Work at your destination

Way before the term “digital nomad” became so commonly used, people would travel without their laptops (!) and find work at their destinations.

Working at hostels in exchange for room and board is probably the most popular example, but there are many more…

This route can either be planned or spontaneous. These jobs don’t necessarily require an Internet connection, so it’s a good option if you want to disconnect for a while.

So what can you do other than working at hostels? Here are some examples of jobs you can work at while you travel:

• Language teacher
• Yoga teacher
• Chef
• Working on a cruise ship
• Au per
• Scuba diving instructor
• Agricultural worker
• Summer camp staff
• Tour guide
• Ski instructor

Pay attention to the work visa situation at the places you travel to.

In some places even unpaid work is considered work that requires a visa.

Other countries may be more lenient or you can get a working holiday visa if you’re eligible. Find out before you go.

Here are some websites you want to check out if you choose to travel and work at your destination:

• CoolWorks
• Workaway
• Au Pair
• Wwoof
• HelpX
• All Cruise Jobs
• Go Abroad

Travel Medical Insurance for Digital Nomads

Before you embark on your new digital nomad lifestyle, you should buy travel medical insurance.

Your needs as a digital nomad are a bit different to those of ordinary travellers. 

Some digital nomads travel continuously for several years without going back home; others may travel for several months at a time, then go home for a while and then go abroad again. There can be endless variations. 

This lifestyle of working from anywhere gives you a tremendous amount of freedom and flexibility in planning your trips.

For me, this is one of the best advantages of being a digital nomad. 

It can be a major disadvantage though, when you contact traditional insurance companies that are normally strict about the dates of your travel and renewal options.

As a digital nomad, you won’t always be able to give them the fixed dates they require. 

You want to be able to pursue opportunities that pop up along the way and enjoy the freedom of working from wherever you feel like. That’s why you need to be able to start and cancel your travel medical insurance at any time, even if you don’t know exactly how long you’ll be travelling for.

How do you make sure you’ll always be covered, without being limited to specific dates?

SafetyWingoffers travel medical insurance intentionally designed for digital nomads. 

It’s flexible, so you can start and cancel at any time. You can also buy it while you’re already travelling.

It’s available in 180 countries at a competitive price with 24/7 support. It even offers limited home country coverage, so you’ll be covered if you visit home occasionally. For the full details visit SafetyWing’s website. 

The four routes to a digital nomad lifestyle

To recap, these are the four routes you can take, depending on where you are right now, to create a digital nomad lifestyle for yourself:

(1) Work in a remote position for your current employer or for a new employer

(2) Become a freelancer, working for various clients

(3) Set up your own business

(4) Work at a local job at your destination

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