 Have you ever considered becoming a digital nomad? Well, we're gonna talk about that today on The Journey. Hey, Dreaming, about what it would be like to, I don't know, travel and explore the world, while also getting work done, being a digital nomad. I saw actually 89%, so that's almost everyone that's a digital nomad for six months or more, have zero plans of going back to office life. And I will say, did you know that I'm a digital nomad? Well, I don't think so. Yeah, I don't work in an office. I actually been doing it since 2015, so for a while. And yeah, no plans are going back. Like this is my vibe, digital nomad for life. Working from home, however you want, maybe in your pajamas until four in the afternoon. You got that video call, just dress up. So a digital nomad, take Emma for instance. Someone that doesn't have an actual physical location that they have to report in every day. Location independent. Exactly, you can work where you want and it's so freeing and you're not tied down to an office. Yeah, or office clothes. Woo, business wardrobe, I have zero. Yeah, so definitely digital nomad, new term, and a lot of the reason why that is is because of technology. I mean, with technology today and so many careers and jobs rely on it heavily, like mine, you're able to travel the world. Globe hop, because of that. And if I didn't do so much on my laptop, I wouldn't be able to do that. So I'm very fortunate, a lot of my day in and day out, it's all computer, which you get a little restless. But imagine if I was actually globetrotting with this, then I wouldn't get so restless. But I'm gonna go into some best practices and a little bit about remote working. All right, Emma, so you know, I'm considering going into the digital nomad lifestyle, van life, it's a little scary. Going from nine to five to now, having that structure, but now having all that freedom. So any tips, where do I start? Yeah, so to say, buy to the desk, my tip is find remote work that really highlights a skill set of yours. So like, what's something that you would consider is a good skill set I could take on the road? I know one, budgeting. I take care of the budget for my household, so I keep Excel spreadsheets with everything, all the bills, what's coming in, what's going out. I can even project two, three months into advance. Ooh, I could use your health. But yeah, so that's great. That's great, you could do that, charge people, Excel, laptop, take it on the road. Yeah, so with that skill set that you're gonna take on the road, really key component is like getting the word out that you do this, like marketing yourself. So I definitely recommend having like a personal website that outlines maybe your experience or share some examples of what you've done. But yeah, you definitely wanna make sure you get that word of mouth out there online. And is it good also to maybe think about social media? Oh, absolutely, get that Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, go and you can do that on the road as well. All right, so that leads me to tip number two, find a suitable working space and get to work. So you've mentioned the van. Yes. I gotta ask, you're gonna be in a van, you're gonna be traveling, sound super rad, but like, don't you need internet? True, we did do some research and you do have some options, you can get something from say, your wireless carrier where you have a hotspot that allows you to have the internet. So we did do a little bit of research. But definitely there's a lot of options out there. This digital nomad, like I said, recent term, but there's a lot of them already out there. So what's become pretty popular are coworking spaces. And I get asked all the time like, Emma, you've been working remote for years. You're a digital nomad. Why don't you go to like a WeWork? So finally, I was visiting my friend Emily in New York, this was last October, and she was like, yeah, my company I work for works out of a WeWork. So I finally had to go check it out. You guys, it is awesome. They had like free coffee, they had trivia certain days of the week, karaoke, and then you're in this environment of all these other people like focused, just like you need to be while you're there. Because sometimes when you're at home, maybe it's hard to stay focused, right? But think about the space, get to work. And for home, it might work really well for you. If you have a separate room, like I have an office in my home. So that's where I've conditioned that space that when I'm in there, it's work time. Ah, so what you're saying, you have it separated like the work-life balance type thing? Yeah, definitely. But at the same time, I heard a saying a little different. It's work-life focus. When you're at work, it's work. But when it's playtime, you don't do any work. You stay focused on which one at the specific schedule time. Yeah, and that's really important because always you get burnt out, right? So like for me, when I'm done for the day, I'm done for the day. I'm not checking my email. I'm not on the instant messaging with my team. I just close it out. But yeah, it's a good thing. I like that focus, work-focused. Now, it's always good, like in most scenarios, have a plan B. Like if you don't have a coffee shop to hop into or a coworking space, just think about what else can you do? Where can you go where there's internet? One of my favorites, just a few blocks down the road from where I live is a library. Yeah, and Austin, where I'm from, I know that they allow you at the downtown library to rent out a room and you can have that room. You have Wi-Fi. However, one of the issues there is maybe that room's not gonna be available when you need it. Or where you are, maybe your library doesn't even have a room. So that's something to keep in mind as well. That's true. But plan ahead, have a plan B, maybe even a plan C and when in doubt, I tell you what, I rely so much on my hotspot. You take it on the road, you do work from a boat. So it's really important though, that when you are committing to this remote work as a digital nomad, that you stay focused. And one of my favorite ways to do that is a Pomodoro technique. Short breaks, it's key. I know one way I do it at home is I'll be, just reaching a point in my work or I'm like shifting gears, it's the perfect time for a break. So I'll do something like just go outside for a minute, like go walk, go to the grocery and get that one thing I forgot on my grocery list. You know, it's just like 20 minutes outside in the air. Sometimes even plan like my workout schedule where I'll do my yoga right at one PM that day just to give me that little break so that I'm rejuvenated and therefore can stay focused. She's really making this digital nomad thing sound so enticing. It's very appealing. But if you do want more information about that Pomodoro technique, check out the video we did one before. Step three, super important. Consider your requirements and your safety. So wherever you're going, think about the internet you're using. Is there internet? Also, I like to have a good jam bag. It's my go to, has everything I need, like my chargers. That is the worst. I was on a plane recently and I had so much work to do and my computer is at like 22% plus the battery's old. So that was about 10 minutes of juice. So have that jam bag, be organized, know what requirements you need. So you don't hit a bump in the road when it comes to getting your work done. You know, interesting. Last night when we were doing karaoke, we saw they had like a power bank distributor. Like you could swipe your car and you can get one of those power banks that you can charge devices. That was pretty cool. That is cool. That's something that you may want to take with you and you may not always find one of those depositories, so to speak, that takes out those power banks. Yeah, I think actually I do that a lot with my phone. Well, I got a new phone, thankfully. But my old phone, it would die on me. Literally, just randomly. And that really hurt my requirements because I use my phone for work. So I started to carry the portable chargers. Whoo, highly recommend it. And when considering your digital security, you want to make sure that when you're online and using some privacy or inputting some private information, use a VPN. Ooh, virtual private network. Yes, so going back to, you know, me thinking about maybe doing budgets for people, that's a lot of sensitive information. Oh, you need to keep that private. So that VPN is going to come in handy. So with modern technology today and the changes of the work environment, you're no longer stuck in a cubicle. So you can actually head to the beach as a digital nomad and still get your work done. Actually come to think about it. I have a meeting coming up. All right, that's our app. You just learned how to become a digital nomad. So be sure to like this video, subscribe, and comment below. And ring the bell so that you're notified when we have fresh new content. Thanks for watching. This is The Journey. See you next time.