This post will go through how to become a digital nomad step by step. There are many advantages of being a digital nomad such as being your own boss, experiencing the world travelling full-time, as well as having a better work-life-balance. Depending on where you’re from and where you travel to, you might also have a lower cost of living compared to your home country which will make your income last longer.
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Becoming a digital nomad Is possible for anyone who is willing to change their lifestyle to working remotely. Even if you don’t already have transferable skills that allow you to work online. It’s possible to learn many skills through online classes, or maybe you just need to be creative with the skills you already have.
And remember, you’ve already taken the first important step by doing the research. Yay!
How to become a digital nomad
I started working and travelling as a digital nomad in 2022. And here are the 8 essential steps to becoming a digital nomad. And remember, you might start further down on the list, or skip steps, depending on how far you’ve already come with planning your new dream lifestyle.
- Identify your skills
- Gain the “right” skills (if you don’t have them already)
- Reduce expenses
- Reduce possessions
- Make sure you have the remote work essentials
- Find a remote job
- Start a business or consider freelancing
- Choose where you want to travel first
Now you know the key steps to take towards becoming a digital nomad. So let’s take a deeper look at each step. By the end of this article you should feel like you know exactly how to become a digital nomad, and what to do next. I’m very excited for you!
Identify your skills
The first thing you need to do is identify your skills. Are you educated within a field that allows you to work online? That could be a job in copywriting, journalism, marketing, graphic design, teaching, or coding…
Even if you don’t have a degree in journalism, communication or marketing, you might be a great writer or have a natural interest in a field that not many people know much about. Maybe you have an interest in fashion and/or worked in a retail store and can write copy for an online retailer. Or maybe you are an amazing photographer and can start selling your images to media outlets or as prints.
And if you’re a teacher, you might start teaching English to children over zoom or create educating content for use in classrooms.
I have a BA in Journalism, so I moved effortlessly to a job as a copywriting editor, while I frequently write freelance articles for news outlets in my home country.
Gain the “right” skills (if you don’t have them already)
If your skills aren’t applicable to a remote lifestyle, don’t be too frustrated. You can still become a digital nomad – it might just take a bit more time.
You can start doing online classes to learn how to write or code. Or you can learn another skill that you find interesting. Just keep in mind, that you skill should be something people are willing to pay for, and you need to be able to work from anywhere!
Harvard Business School has a large selection of online courses, and if you’re interested in journalism, you can check out The London School of Journalism’s Distance Learning Courses.
Here are some useful skills for a digital nomad:
- Programming skills
- Digital marketing skills
- Organisation skills to work as an online personal assistant
- Writing/proofreading/editing skills
- Photography skills
- Graphic design skills
- Communication skills for webinars, online courses, and teaching
- Teaching skills
- Research skills
- Translation skills
But be creative and go for what you enjoy and feel passionate about. It makes work so much more enjoyable. And who knows… Maybe you enjoy gardening and go on to write a popular gardening blog or inspire a bunch of followers on Instagram or TikTok. But if you start with a skill that’s easy to sell, you can embark on your digital nomad life quicker and enjoy your interests in your free time. And maybe you’ll make a profit off your interest in the future.
Reduce expenses
For most digital nomads a healthy work-life-balance is key. And for many that means working less – and definitely no more than necessary. Therefore, it’s a good idea to trim your expenses to the absolute necessities. You don’t need your gym membership when you’re constantly on the go. And maybe you can give up your apartment, so you don’t have to pay rent. Or if you own, you can rent it out to reduce expenses and possibly earn some passive income.
Practical things like cancelling your wifi, subscriptions, and so on wil also add up in the end. So make sure you don’t leave any loose ends.
Reduce possessions
It’s good to keep this mentality of reducing expenses while you’re travelling as well. Because you won’t be able to fit a lot of things in your luggage, especially if you travel with a backpack like me. Most flights only allow 20 kg of luggage, so if you carry more you’ll end up spending a lot of money on extra baggage allowance.
You also need to consider whether a new dress or a new pair of shoes are more important to you than going scuba diving or taking a cool trip. It’s all about prioritizing, and I’ve found out that material things don’t make me as happy as cool experiences. And I don’t enjoy carrying a bunch of unnecessary stuff around for months.
While travelling full time and working remotely might add to the list of things you need, there are also things you don’t need. This is especially true if you’re only travelling in warm climates where you’ll need less clothes in general.
Make a list of things you need for your new lifestyle as a digital nomad (I’ll share my remote work essentials and more below). And try to get rid of, sell, or store all things you don’t need.
If you’re planning on becoming a part-time digital nomad, you shouldn’t get rid of all your possessions, of course. So do what works with your plans!
Make sure you have the remote work essentials
When I was starting out as a digital nomad, I knew I wanted to be able to work comfortable from hotels, cafés, and campervans. And to do that I needed some essentials.
I use my Macbook Air, a laptop stand, my keyboard and mouse, and my noise cancelling headphones on a daily basis.
Find my complete list of essentials on my Amazon Storefront or read more about my digital nomad essentials here.
If you don’t feel like investing in too many things and gadgets to begin with, you can start with just a laptop and add things as you need them. With that being said, I was happy that I had everything from the beginning.
If you have interests like trekking, hiking, snorkeling, or scuba diving, you may want to bring some of your own gear. I travel with some essentials for scuba diving and snorkeling as well as a pair of hiking shoes that I also use for trail running.
You can find everything I pack as a backpacking digital nomad here.
Find a remote job
Good. So now you have the skills, and you have all the things you need to start working from anywhere.
LinkedIn is a good place to start. LinkedIn’s job search bar allows you to filter for remote work, or hybrid work. This way you don’t have to waste your time looking through numerous job ads that aren’t relevant to you. Keep in mind, that remote work is still a new concept, and some companies may be open to hiring a remote worker even though that’s not what they’re looking for. You can also use LinkedIn to update your network on your whereabouts, and let them know when you’re open for more work.
I found my editor job by simply contacting a company I was interested in working for (they were looking for an editor to work in house) and asking to work for them remotely. I was the perfect match for the position, so they were willing to hire me to work fully remote.
If you start in a remote position, consider the time differences. This is important whether your position is full-time or part-time because you’ll most likely have to work within the company’s normal working hours unless you’ve negotiated flexible hours.
This doesn’t have to determine where you can travel to, but it does impact how comfortable your working hours will be. So, consider travelling to countries that work with the time zone in the country where your work is based. For me, coming from Denmark, South East Asia works very well.
If you want to visit a dream destination that doesn’t match your time zone, you just might have to “pay” for it by working early mornings or late nights.
Start a business or consider freelancing
If part of the attraction of a life is a digital nomad is freedom, you should consider taking it further by freelancing or starting your own company. Being your own employer lets you set your own hours, and that can be a great advantage as a digital nomad. When you’re your own boss, you can decide to increase your workload in one period to be able to take time off for trips and activities later.
You also have the option of working more when you feel motivated and scaling down when you’re feeling less so.
I have my own business as a freelance journalist, where I have a few clients that I write for often. Starting a small business as a journalist is pretty straightforward, and even though it can seem scary, it really doesn’t have to be. Many countries have helpful guides of how to start your own business, how to do taxes, and other important topics.
Choose your first dream destination
This is the easy and very fun part. And you probably already have a long list of places you want to visit. When choosing where to travel as a digital nomad, you need to make sure that you’ll have a stable internet connection, either by wifi or a local SIM card. Some of my favorite destinations as a digital nomad are Australia, Thailand, Indonesia (especially Bali), Singapore, and Malaysia.
If you want some inspiration, you can take a look at some of my travel guides – I have many more to come. You can also follow me on TikTok for guides, digital nomad tips and travel tips, or on Instagram and Pinterest.
Read more:
The best place to see kangaroos in Australia
Complete guide: how to plan the best East Coast Australia road trip
