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In 2015, I joined the ranks of the biggest shot of my generation: I left my job to travel the world, I built an online career and I never went back to work. House. Yes, I am a "digital nomad".
I'm not here to peddle vague platitudes about how "everyone can do it" or to show you photos of my lavish lifestyle without mentioning that I'm mainly seeing savings from six-figure work that I stopped. I am definitely not here to sell you my last online course.
I want to talk about the financial reality of self-employment and location. Contrary to what you might badume, it is actually more stable than traditional full-time jobs.
When I say that, I mean that it's more stable once you're established. The first months – or sometimes the years, depending on your relationship and level of experience – are, at best, rocky. I had the privilege of being able to return to live with my parents during my first year of self-employment to save money.
Now that I have been doing this for a few years, I feel better about my finances and my career than in my previous job. Here's why.
I control my income
Most people prefer to receive a salary because their salary is the same every month, even if you take sick leave or go on vacation. However, the opposite is also true: in my old job, I was constantly late and working weekends without additional pay.
Now, I rarely work more than 40 hours a week. But if something comes up and I need more money, I can increase my income by 50% almost immediately by just working 20 hours more that week.
When you work for yourself, the money you make is directly related to the work you do. Some people hate it, but I find it stimulating and motivating. My paychecks seem to me all the more gratifying when I know that they are 100% the result of my own work.
The best part of all this is that I can choose my own hourly rate. Imagine that you get an offer of employment and that you are asked what you are charging, that is what self-employment looks like. Granted, if my price is too high, it becomes harder to find work, but I have increased my rates beyond what I thought I could repeatedly get and the demand for my work did not increase. did that increase.
I have multiple streams of income
If your boss fired you in a traditional job, you lose 100% of your income. If one of my clients drops me off, I lose at most 5 to 10% of my income. Having money from many sources is the key to financial stability, and I'm sure I do not keep all my eggs in one basket, never letting a single client make up the majority of my income. .
I also "diversify" in the same way as you would with your investment portfolio. I work in multiple niches so never to depend on one area, and I use my flexible schedule to arm with a wide range of sought after skills. In addition to working in various fields, I also do consulting, I sell a range of products and I am creating my own company.
I live in low cost areas without sacrificing my income level
All that I have mentioned so far can be done without the "location-independent" look of the digital nomad. It comes into play when I consider my expenses.
I work with clients who have their headquarters in major cities around the world and they pay me the same rates as those paid to someone who works from their headquarters in New York or San Francisco. But since I work virtually, I can live in very low-cost areas without lowering my income standards.
I also have the immense privilege of being able to earn US dollars, one of the most valuable currencies in the world, while living in countries where the cost of living is relatively lower (almost all over). This means that I save up to 70% of my income each month.
This way of life is not for everyone. A trust fund helps, but it's certainly not necessary – I did not have one. What you need is a lot of perseverance, patience for failure, the ability to sell you, and maybe a couch on which you can settle for the first few months. But once you have succeeded, know that you will probably be more financially stable than ever before.
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