When you’re procrastinating on a deadline or trying to keep yourself from nodding off in yet another meeting you weren’t needed at, thumbing your way through Instagram is a solid distraction. But when you land on a photo of your long-lost pal from college who is–somehow!–filing her work from Bali on a Monday and Chiang Mai on a Friday, your jealousy might overtake your boredom.
Considering more than 35% of the U.S. workforce is freelance, working for yourself while traveling the world might not be as farfetched of a dream as it once seemed. For many digital nomads, seeing the world has become less of a pipe dream and more of the means for their lifestyle. In fact, many bring home an income, teetering above–and even doubling or tripling–six figures.
Here, traveling professionals who have figured out how to be successful on the road (or the plane or the train) share their impressive stories and best advice.
“TRAVEL MAKES YOU PRODUCTIVE”
Nicole Faith was happily working at Squarespace helping small business owners ideate and build their websites. The company allowed her to work from home, and that flexibility spurred her to take on freelance clients, realizing her skill set translated easily to solo-preneurism.
But mastering the pull and tug of a full-time role with a side gig proved to be mentally taxing, so Faith took a two-week trip to destress. It ended up changing everything: She discovered an appetite for solo travel and made it her mission to never work set hours again. After quitting her full-time gig, she took to the road and now runs her own website design and branding company–10-Carat Creations–with an annual income of between $150,000 and $200,000.
To make this shift possible, Faith says you have to be self-motivated. It helps that her view is no longer an office cubicle or her living room, but some of the most beautiful sights in the world. “I’m much more efficient as a digital nomad because there’s no time to waste when you’re somewhere spectacular for a short period of time. I want to get my work done in the most productive way possible, which has led me to systemizing and automating,” she says. “Success can happen in weeks or months. You have to be willing to put in the unpaid hours to reap the rewards later on. Your attitude toward making a lot of money online should be, ‘Why not me?'”