This is a real story
I decided to become a digital nomad
This is a story written step by step documenting my journey to become a digital nomad.
During many years I’ve been learning, I’ve worked in corporates in Egypt and one day I just woke up and quite.
That’s when I switched to Freelancing. I had a good reputation and solid connections in my country and I lived as a freelancer for a year.
Then I moved to work and live in other cities, but all of this was not planned.
2 years ago I returned back to Egypt and started my own startups (HLPR a Commercial cleaning business in Egypt). It is not an easy ride and the idea of going back to the routine of everyday work and living in one place for that long of a time is not my dream.
Maybe I’ll not be rich one day to be able to travel as much as I want so I decided to start traveling now and earn my living along the way.
To become a nomade what do I need:
1- Savings
Some saving is required to support the initial launch of this experience. Budgeting for the start of my nomadic life is a scary task. You never know what will happen, but my travel experience and minimalistic lifestyle are going to pay now.
After searching online for some time I found out that I can live for a month with a budget of $1500 in South East Asia so lets put this as a primary target.
2- Experience
Lucky me I’ve cumulated experience as a Marketing and developer and some video creating skills (Doing my How to Work in Dubai blog) because I was always working on side jobs. now is the time to test those experiences in the online world.
3- Income
Income is the hardest part of it (I made only $70 in the second week). I need to earn at least $600 per month to breakeven through this trip. There are 3 ways of doing this
a- Work remotely: Which means that you work for someone online without the need to be in a specific physical location, to land such a job I have to look online for such work and what is required, this will have some specific working hours per week and is somehow a steady source
b- Freelance: Again you are going to offer your services online but this time the pay is more than the remote steady work but the workflow is not guaranteed. Check my other post How to get a freelance visa in Dubai 2020?
c- Online business: I can start some online business and gain money from it, higher returns but the risk is much higher as you will invest time and money building this business not knowing if it’s going to excel. Funny three months ago I already partnered with an animation studio in Egypt to sell their services in the UAE as I’m registered in there (Check Motion Graphics Dubai)
For now, I don’t know which of the three choices I’m going to choose and maybe I’ll have a mix of them.
The next step for me is to start saving the first $1500 and experiment landing some online work from my home to know which of the three options will I follow for that life.
