San Francisco I’m leaving you and become a digital nomad. The Checklist.
I was ready to take on a digital nomad path. Meanwhile I’ve been aware that being ready isn’t just enough because living nomadically is apparently not a vacation. I still have to work. Therefore, I made this checklist before I started anything. I’d say it’s more like an approval checklist. Everything in this list needs to be initiated and completed. I had completed all of the items from the list.
Here is my checklist:
- Try working remotely from home if you haven’t done it before.
- Approval from your manager.
- Ensure your job doesn’t require your physical presence.
- Sufficient initial fund and plan out your budget.
All of these need to be completed. Otherwise, it is going to be very challenging.
Try working remotely from home if you haven’t done it before.
If you’ve never actually done it, I’d suggest try it out one to two weeks. Working remotely requires a lot of self-discipline, time management, and communication since there will be a lot of distractions and unexpected events you will have to overcome. Be able to communicate clearly about what you will do and your whereabout becomes very important. Some can manage this and some can’t.
Before this nomadic trip, I had worked remotely occasionally from time to time. The longest length I had worked remotely was one and a half week and that was about three years ago. It was occurring while I was out of country. That trip became half work and half vacation. While the length of working remotely isn’t an issue, a timezone difference becomes challenging to manage, especially if there are more than two hours difference. For instance, for twelve hours time difference, if there was a video conference meeting at 1pm at my office time, I’d need to get up and attend that meeting at 1am in the morning at my local time. It was doable but I wouldn’t prefer. Therefore, I always have to keep that in mind when picking any destination.
Approval from your manager
I’ve been talking to my manager back and forth prior my nomadic trip and keep him in the loop about my plan and when my departure would take place. Every week prior my nomadic trip I sent out a reminder email to minimize any surprise. Clear communication is a key. It should be no different than working remotely from home. I always made it clear that my manager and colleagues will receive update of my whereabout and my daily responsibility. I’d suggest you do the same.
Ensure your job doesn’t require your physical presence
This is important. If your job couldn’t be location independent and constantly require your physical presence (i.e. executive assistant, trainer, hand-on supervising people) then it is not possible to become a digital nomad.
Sufficient initial fund and plan out your budget
Money can’t buy happiness. However, not having enough money certainly will put you in misery. The initial fund should cover airline tickets to your first and possibly second destinations, all travel related expenses and lodging for at least three weeks. This should be in addition to your regular monthly budget.
Next, plan out your monthly budget in details: how much you are willing to spend for each category (i.e. food, lodging, internet, travel, etc) and how flexible you can spend (i.e. max of X and min of Y). I’ve always been tracking my expenses in details each month. Therefore, I could get an estimate how much I’d be spending for each category. I’d highly recommend start doing this at least two months prior if you’ve never done it. Although living nomadically will certainly cut down expenses in many categories, other expenses might be going up and at least double. For instance, I am no longer getting free lunch or dinner from work while I’m living nomadically. Most likely I’d have to eat out or have to buy (fast) food every meal. Therefore, my food budget while living nomadically will need to be increased at least double and possibly a maximum of four to five times of my normal food budget.
Last and not least, always set aside for saving each month and accumulate sufficient emergency fund. My rule of thumb is having at least 6 months of emergency fund as if I were still living in San Francisco. Being a digital nomad is a risky business, perhaps considering having more than that. If you’d never done this, I’d suggest reading this article http://www.suzeorman.com/blog/emergency-fund-101/ and accumulate enough fund before even start living nomadically.
Importantly, never ever take out or stop contributing to your retirement fund (401k, pension) just to fund your digital nomad trips. There is a reason why it is called a “retirement fund” because it’s never meant for spending before you retire.
Again, self-discipline is very important especially when it comes to money. Once you have the estimate monthly budget, sufficient emergency and initial funds, it is time to compare the monthly income with the estimate monthly expense. Be realistic and brutally honest about these. If you didn’t have enough then you have to realize and admit it — postpone, really cut down expenses, and accumulate funds until you have enough. Accumulate more debt, even worst while living nomadically, is sure way to commit a financial suicide no matter how you look at it.
If you have all of these things completely in-check, it’s time to go the next step. My next article will talk about the actual planning.
My previous article discusses why I am leaving San Francisco and become a digital nomad: https://medium.com/@introspecter.nate/san-francisco-i-love-you-but-im-leaving-you-the-preface-814ab55243bc#.lfudzm8be
