3 Business Skills I Learned As a Digital Nomad

Being a digital nomad taught me a lot.

It taught me how to travel and work at the same time—something anybody who hasn’t been a digital nomad yet will struggle to understand the complexity of.

It taught me how to talk to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. I walked into hostel after hostel during the year and a half that I backpacked, making friends with 18-year old Australians, 30-year old Brazilians, and 35-year old hostel owners.

It taught me how to be happy, with just me. I didn’t need my friends and family near me and I didn’t need a lot of money to get by. I just needed a sense of purpose and I could be happy, even though I was alone and broke.

My year and a half as a digital nomad changed me, as it does everyone. It’s hard, if not impossible, to come back as the same person you were when you left.

I became more resilient, I learned how to have a conversation with anybody in the world, and I found out what true happiness was.

And it all led me to one conclusion.

I had to stop traveling.

While being a digital nomad was great for my Instagram account, it was terrible for my business. I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to figure out transporation and accomadation on top of my taxes and health insurance. I couldn’t get my business off of the ground and the entire reason stemmed from the one-way plane ticket that seemed to always end up back in my hand.

So, I quit.

I told myself that I was going to move to California, and hope that I liked it enough to stay. I started in San Francisco, then decided to give Los Angeles and San Diego a 30-day trial period before choosing a city to live in.

I flew into LAX and never left.

That was one year ago from the day I’m publishing this article. Since that day, I’ve created more traction in my business than ever before.

I have grown my relationship with my largest client, making sure that I am there go to girl whenever they need extra help. I believe in them and their product, and I’m here for them however they need me.

I attended my first digital marketing conference, which happens to be one of the largest in the entire world (!).

I made about 5x more this year than I did last year.

And that’s just the cherry on top. When I look at my business as the start of the year and I look at it now, I couldn’t be more proud of the growth I’ve made. I’m working with high-tier clients and even in contact with some people who I’ve looked up to as mentors.

It’s made me realize that those three lessons that I learned on the road have been the foundation of my current success. I needed to spend that time with a never-ending to do list, foreign strangers, and nothing to my name.

After a year and a half on the road, I’m reaping the benefits of life as a digital nomad while living a much more normal lifestyle.

Here’s where I notice a difference between myself and people who haven’t experienced the nomad lifestyle:

1. I can handle way more as a freelancer. I’m so used to figuring out contracts, accounting, writing, communications, AND where I’m going to sleep tonight, what I’m going to eat, and how I’m going to get around a city, that to totally take out the travel aspect of my day means that I have double the bandwidth of a normal freelancer.
2. I am comfortable sitting and having a conversation with anybody. This means that when I land an epic interview, I know that I can make the interview enjoyable for both of us. I’ve talked to an Indonesian hostel owner worried about his marriage and I’ve talked to heart-broken twenty-something year old travelers. Skillset aside, I can do better in that interview than most.
3. I know what it’s like to be in a foreign country where you don’t know anyone, matched with a dwindling bank account. I’ve truly learned what it means to find happiness within yourself. At the end of the day, I am my own best friend and it is the most liberating and motivational realization I’ve ever made. If I don’t land the job, it’s okay. If I get fired tomorrow, it’s okay. Because I have myself and I know that I’ll do everything possible to figure out another game plan.

My year and a half as a digital nomad changed my life, by changing me. I’m not the same person that I was when I took my first solo one-way flight to Costa Rica in 2017. That backpack and the open road taught me so much about business, life, and what it meant to find and hold true happiness.

I’m so happy to have spent that time learning and growing.

But, I am so happy to be on the other side—implementing on all of the lessons I’ve learned.

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