I can still remember when my old college buddy Jared Seyl told us all that he was going to be a digital nomad, something that none of us had ever heard of before. When he elaborated and told us that it meant wandering around the world, working and making money from his laptop, we all thought that he had completely lost it. Back in 2012 it wasn’t so easy to make money online, but Jared had a dream and a plan, and as it turns out, he was the smartest guy in the room. Two years ago I jumped on the bandwagon and decided to take inspiration from the genius of Jared, and I too became a digital nomad. This is a wonderful lifestyle and whilst it does have its drawbacks from time to time, the benefits absolutely blow those disadvantages out of the water, and here is why I love it. 

The Trappings

The first thing to mention here is that when you lead the lifestyle that we do, it means that you are completely free from all of the trappings of having a normal job. That means that you don’t have boss telling you when to arrive and what to do, you don’t have to ask for vacation days or some time off to go and see the doctor, and you don’t have to waste your life commuting to and from work. The day I left my old job I vowed that never again would I have a boss, and I plan on sticking to that. 

Meeting People

In the beginning I became something of a recluse because it was is much easier to work from home rather than go out to a cafe or a co-working space. Over time however you realize that you just can’t do this and so I began to go out more and more, and that meant meeting a huge range of super cool people. I meet different people almost every day and that is because of the freedom and flexibility that I have. 

No Ceiling 

There is absolutely no ceiling on the amount of money that you can make when working online and that is something which provides real inspiration and motivation to everyone who lives this lifestyle. 

Travel 

The biggest benefit of this lifestyle is the location independence that you can get, over the last couple of years I have worked on beaches in Asia, in hotels in South America, I even once got some work done in a French castle! The point is that as long as you have your laptop and an internet connection, you can be anywhere in the world and still get your work done. If you love to travel and you don’t want to restrict it to vacations, this is the lifestyle which you should be aiming for. 

Could you become a digital nomad? What would you enjoy most about it?