Blog | 20 September 2024 | 5 MIN READ
5 Proven Steps I Took to Become a High-Income Remote Digital Nomad in 2024 (+ Bonus Strategy)
108 days ago
By Homson — Get exclusive travel tips and updates for free here.
There are 5 things to become a remote traveler (2024)
This is a no-gimmick post. Here are the five essentials steps that I believe you need in order to become a remote traveler. This doesn’t guarantee job longevity or job success—just what you need to get started.
1. Find a Remote Job
Finding a remote job is easier than you think. But it’s also difficult when you don’t know what to look for.
You want to make sure you’re leveraging the right resources and websites when searching for a job. While many websites, social media gurus, and other people have suggestions, I prefer one source—LinkedIn.
LinkedIn still remains the best source for finding the jobs you want to enable your remote travel, especially when paired with LinkedIn Premium.
When you fully build out your resume on LinkedIn, add your education, and connect with your friends and former co-workers, you can really start to see the power of LinkedIn materialize.
From there, you can analyze the companies on LinkedIn and pair them with a quick search on Crunchbase to see if they are Series A, B, C, etc. Then you can estimate their volatility or projection.
Gear Used
2. Determine If You’re Qualified for That Job
The next part is determining if you’re qualified for the job. If you look at the job description and see that it says 4 years of experience—well, guess what? If you have a 4-year undergraduate program under your belt or other experience, then you can count that toward it.
So let’s just skip over that part.
What you want to pay attention to are the job description details. Can you accurately answer, to a certain degree (being a little lenient here), what the job is asking of you?
- If the answer is yes—then skip #3.
- If the answer is no—then move to the next step.
3. How Can You Qualify for That Job or Fill Missing Gaps?
Let’s say you look at a job and figure out that you’re lacking in a certain area. What would you do? Do you need to go to school to get an MBA? No. Perhaps you can acquire that knowledge through YouTube or online courses (Udemy or Coursera). Who can you ask for guidance on this question? If you don’t have that answer, then go back to Step #2.
4. Apply to the Job
The hardest part in this whole process is actually clicking “Submit.” There are a lot of people (myself included) who stall on finishing their application, their cover letter, and even tidying up their resume.
The more you stall, the more chances you’re giving the next person to get the role. You don’t know if this role is the one for you. I have a habit of applying to at minimum 30 jobs.
My back-of-the-napkin calculation works out to be: 30 job applications = 2 interviews = 1 job offer.
This has worked for me across industries, from healthcare to medical school.
Sometimes it’s a numbers game, and other times it might just be luck. However, you’re bound to strike out at least once.
Throughout this process, I highly recommend keeping a tracker (if not provided by your coach, then have a personal Excel sheet) so that you can document your progress.
5. Buy Your First Plane Ticket as a Remote Digital Nomad
Once you’ve received your laptop and login credentials, now it’s time to book that ticket to Paris!
Just kidding—more like Paris, Texas.
When you’re starting your new remote job, the hardest part is just moving around and seeing if you can (are you comfortable?) and also what’s out there (do you like what you’re seeing and how you’re feeling?). The best way to do this is by traveling domestically in short stints. I started mine with short and then longer stays in Hawaii. However, I also mixed this up with minor stints in San Antonio, Texas.
Domestic travel really allows you to get your feet wet and see how you work on the go. Were you as productive as you thought you were? Did some stuff fall to the wayside? How can you be more efficient not just as a worker, but as a traveler?
Tips, Tricks, and Logistics
6. BONUS: Productivize Your Life & Share It
Now, learn how to love your new life and share with others how you did it. No gatekeeping.
In a rush? Download your FREE ultimate packing guide as a PDF and get ready for your next remote-work adventure. Click here to grab the PDF now.
The key to maintaining this lifestyle is dealing with the suck—the dread. (Almost sounds like The Red). There are times you won’t want to wake up because you’re so tired. Or maybe the time zone got to you. Maybe you met that one special person or hung out with a group of friends where the energy kept going, and you want to go to sleep, but then you realize you’re in Taipei and it’s still 9:00 AM back in the States.
Once you realize that, you want to build systems in your life to know what to expect and when, and to ultimately maintain your lifestyle. That means finding more ways to be productive.
Here are six ways you can think about this:
- Can you automate tasks?
- Can you say no more often?
- Can you delegate tasks?
- Can you leverage AI more than you already are doing?
- Can you delay some tasks?
This will always be an ongoing battle, depending on the ebb and flow of work, layoffs and acquisitions, trade shows, or even the destinations you select. However, it’s on you to keep pace with life, work, and your own well-being.
And as you’re figuring it out—make sure to share your journey. Tell others how you are able to both earn a living and travel the world, both near and far. But most of all, don’t be a gatekeeper. We don’t like them.
I’m not a coach or a job expert. However, I do know how to get out of the mud, and I’ve done it more times than I can count—whether for survival, necessity, or desire. That experience is something I can share with you. If you’re interested or feeling stuck, simply shoot me a line. I’ll respond.
And if you think this topic deserves a more detailed guide on how I used these steps to secure remote roles, then send an email with the subject “Guide Plz.”
Thanks for reading!
And happy nomading!