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How did you get the business idea that helped you become a digital nomad?

by @emileetran 10yr 10yr | 7 comments

Hello fellow DNs,

I never thought that one day I would ponder on the idea of being an entrepreneur/ digital nomad. But here I am and I would really appreciate it if you guys can give me some advice/tips on how to start your own business (especially idea searching phase) while being on the road. My background is in Marketing and recently I’ve been into coding, so I’m looking for business idea that can combine both areas. But I’ve been struggling with the idea phase - either running out of ideas or can’t seem to pick one idea that I am confident to go forward with. It’s such a steep learning curve for me.

What’s the story/inspiration behind your business idea? For example, how do you find that “this is it. I’m gonna give it a go” moment? Any advice on how to go through the business idea phase?

Thank you!

Emilee

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@taj 9yr 9yr

Dear Emilee

Believe you are fine and in good health. I am Taj from Bangladesh, currently living in Malaysia

I want to ask you … Have you get your idea ?

can you share with me 3 idea that I can execute to start my location independent journey

I am looking forward hearing from you

Regards

Taj

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@emileetran 10yr 10yr

Thanks everyone for the input!

@Jay - yes I’ve tried some of the steps before and you need the patience to stick with it long enough to see the result, which I also find quite difficult to maintain if you are constantly changing locations. But I guess whatever you do in life, patience is needed for success.

@yivva - I’m doing the same thing you did a few years ago! Very confusing but exciting at the same time.

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@yivva 10yr 10yr

I came into it backwards. The idea came last.

I quit my job, packed up, moved to the cheapest country I could find and gave myself (and my gf) six months to come up with ideas for simple websites that would replace the income we had just given up. Once we replaced our income (from blogs and any kind of passive way we could find) then we felt free to concentrate on bigger projects without worrying so much about the finance side of it.

I found that it was the full time job and day to day mundane stuff that stopped me thinking clearly originally. I had absolutely no idea of how I would create a business. But as soon I put myself in the sink or swim situation, I soon worked my ass off trying things out.

(But this is coming from somebody not really into the startup scene like lots of the people on here, so it depends on what you’re goals are) We just didn’t want to work for somebody else anymore.

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@don_lee 10yr 10yr

It was a normal day, boring day, working in a boring office, someone sent me an email offering me a remote job, I grabbed it, quit the office job, packed my stuff, got on the roads, it’s how it started. I had that job for 1 year, gained a lot of more experiences. And the business ideas only popped out when I was already a digital nomad. The lifestyle teaches me how to work better, how to live better, how to have better ideas, how to make the ideas become something that will actually sell. So business ideas don’t help me become a digital nomad, becoming a digital nomad helps me get the business ideas.

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@nikipaniki 10yr 10yr

Sweet! Thanks for the tips. I’ll give these a shot.

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@dhamm 10yr 10yr

Like Eddie said, try to brainstorm some ideas that you think would benefit a business or professional group. Throw up a temporary landing page and some Facebook ads to see if there is any interest. If so, find out how much they’re willing to pay and go from there.

Of course, if you’re learning to code you can start bidding on projects and when you have completed a few and have enough clients to feel comfortable, you can work from the road.

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@eddie 10yr 10yr

You have to examine an industry and find a problem that those businesses are having ( note: a single industry or niche). What huge problem do they have that they would be willing to spend money on to fix TODAY?

If you have a product/service that solves that particular problem, many businesses would be willing to pay whatever it takes to solve it. Something that you truly believe will help them grow and run their business more effectively. Something that they will pay huge gobs of money for.

Offer something unique and powerful, that they can’t get anywhere else. Differentiate or die!

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Read and participate in 14,117 discussions on Nomads.com

Are there any digital nomads in the Islands e.g Bermuda, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis?

in Antigua , Guatemala by @momo11 4yr 4 years ago | 3 comments

Does anyone ever travel to any Islands like Bermuda, Barbados, Barbuda and St. Kitts & Nevis?

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How to get into the digital nomad lifestyle?

in Switzerland by @filiptk 4yr 4 years ago | 1 comment

Hi, I've got a question to anyone who had experience with the digital nomad lifestyle. I'm 24, I'm in my last year of university doing computer science, got 3 years of experience mostly doing web development.

I never liked the idea of staying in one place, getting a job and growing roots - hence the will to take the opportunity and travel the world. My main question is – how do I go about it? Are there any useful resources I could look into?

How do I go about insurance and such once I decide to move. I currently live in Switzerland and do freelance work for one company. It's not a lot, since my studies don't allow me to pick up a full time job, but it allows me to cover simple expenses.

I'd be happy to get some insight into how things work and also happy to network with anyone interested.

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What is the best online insurance for digital nomads ?

by @berberos 4yr 4 years ago | 4 comments

Hi guys ! hope you are doing well.

I would love to get your feedback regarding the best insurance for digital nomads. i'm traveling around Asia since 1 year and for next 4 or 5 years. Would love to buy an insurance to cover especially :

- health

- laptop, phone ...

- Flights

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What are the best blogs by individuals who have started businesses in Southeast Asia?

in Thailand by @haiducii 5yr 5 years ago | 0 comments

Hey everyone,

Looking for blogs by individuals who document their progress/business in South East Asia - ideally Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos - but also Thailand/Myanmar too.

Thank you,

Haiducci

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Any Ph.D students dissertating while a digital nomad?

by @larsheather 5yr 5 years ago | 5 comments

Anyone know of any groups or resources for Ph.D. students working on dissertation while living as a digital nomad? I know there are several virtual writing groups around, but wondered if there were any specifically for digital nomads, particularly those who are dissertating.

Thanks!

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Does international health insurance for digital nomads exist?

by @al_steffen 5yr 5 years ago | 59 comments

Hey Nomads!

I’m looking for an international health insurance (no travel insurance) for my nomadic life. It should cover the basic services and at least be accepted in the EU (it’s ok if it’s not accepted in the US as I’m aware they rarely are). Nice to have: enter into a contract online. Anyone got a good experience or a recommendation?

Thanks in advance!

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How do you invest internationally as a nomad?

by @mateuszwieloch 5yr 5 years ago | 17 comments

I have finally saved enough money to start investing. What company gives good, diversified access to stock, ETFs and mutual funds? Does it make sense to use company like Vanguard or Fidelity for that? I’m a EU/Poland citizen, how would I transfer my money back and forth without incurring significant fees?

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I dream of being a digital nomad? How do I do it?

by @programmingmark 5yr 5 years ago | 2 comments

Hello digital nomad!

I dream of being an independent digital nomad. But it feels very elusive & unattainable with my success rate. In full disclosure, whilst I have dreamed about making money online since high school; I have not earned a single cent making money online. $0, nada, zilch!! On the contrary, I have spent a lot of time & money on books, podcasts. Even though I have spent a lot of time reading/listening to others, I do not have anything to show for it!

I have made attempts in the past to start an online business, but these fizzle out quite quickly when I do not see traction especially when the goal I have set myself is too high.

Instead of reaching for the ultimate nomadic lifestyle goal, I want to start much smaller. Really small! I am simply looking to make $50 profit per month from a new online business. That’s it.

I need some advice from you please!

Is $50 profit too low? How long did it take you to earn $50 profit per month?
What is a good way of achieving this goal?

Thanks
Mark
aka the $0 online business entrepreneur

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How do digital nomads pay tax?

by @rodriigovieira 5yr 5 years ago | 19 comments

Hello everyone! I’m new here and probably this is a very newbie question, but it doesn’t leave my head.

How do you, nomads, pay your taxes? I mean, if you’re constantly traveling, how are you going to pay taxes for a certain country if you are going to stay there a short period of time?
Or do you return to your “original country” and then pay them?

By the way, this forum has very nice cool formatting features!

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Best place for Digital Nomad in Latin America?

by @rose_davis 5yr 5 years ago | 7 comments

Hi!

I am planning to move to Latin America for 3-4 months (Oct-January). I’ve narrowed down 6 different places that I want to visit before committing to settling down, but I’d love to get some community input.

Here are the cities I’m considering:

Quito, Ecuador
Cuenca, Ecuador
Medellin, Columbia
Cartagena, Columbia
Antigua, Guatemala
San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala

The most important things I’m looking for:

Fast/easily accessible internet
Easy to meet other nomads/make friends in general
Safe for women
Some sort of spiritual community (I’m also a yoga teacher)
Easily walkable city

Anyone have any experience with these places and can give some insight? I’m also completely open to other recommendations.

Thanks!
Rose

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How do we solve housing for digital nomads?

by @levelsio 5yr 5 years ago | 61 comments

There’s been a lot of discussion on this recently.

Nomads usually stay in hostels, hotels and short-term apartments. But it’s all not very optimal.

I’ve heard people suggest getting funding and building a network of houses you can stay at for a subscription price (e.g. Bruno Haid is working on that).

I don’t want do physical stuff, so I’m thinking of building a platform around making housing better for nomads.

What are the housing problems nomads face? And how can we solve them with products/services?

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How is Sicily for digital nomads?

by @gaelm 5yr 5 years ago | 15 comments

Hi all, I was looking for a cool spot in Southern Europe for winter and I’m considering Sicily… Have you ever been there? If yes, how was your experience? If not, why?
thanks!

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How is Bari, Italy for digital nomads?

in Bari , Italy by @mitch_dina 5yr 5 years ago | 7 comments

Greetings!
Does anyone have experience in Bari, Italy please? We are thinking of going from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Bari by boat in mid-March. Has anyone taken a boat across? Is it nice or can it be choppy? (We are trying to avoid planes, to reduce our carbon footprint, so adding more surface travel.) Also, any info you might be able to offer about Bari and the surrounds? Next step will likely be trains up Italy as the Spring progresses.

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How is Mauritius for digital nomads?

in Mauritius by @wakkos 5yr 5 years ago | 14 comments

Hello all,

I’m planning on spending a couple of month in Mauritius Island and even when I’ve been there for a week, never rented or worked there.

Does anyone here has tips or experience to share about Mauritius?

Cheers!

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Are there any digital nomad fitness retreats?

by @ryanjames 5yr 5 years ago | 1 comment

Hey all:

Does anyone here have any experience attending a full time fitness bootcamp or a fitness resort while working? I know there is one in Cambodia for digital nomads (Fitness Retreat Resort Kep Gym), unfortunately the time difference vs my work schedule would make my life suck if I tried to go there. I’m looking for a place between US and Europe timezones that lets you live with them, kicks your butt with fitness, but would also have good WiFi/accommodate working eight hours a day. I’m also open to other tangential ideas for something close-ish to get that same experience.

Thanks for any help!

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Best place to set up a company selling digital services?

by @pras_k 5yr 5 years ago | 10 comments

What’s the best place?
For residency I’m looking at Portugal and they have the NHR (non habitual resident) program which would exempt dividends from foreign income.
So all I’m really looking for is the best place to actually start the company.
Biggest factors are of course low taxes and ease of setting up the company plus a business bank account that enables me to receive payments through Stripe.

What I found so far:
Hong Kong
Corporate tax rate of 16.5% (8.25% for the first HK$2 million)
⊕/⊖ offshore income from outside HK is exempt from taxation but it’s not clear whether this can be done in the first year and prorated or if it’s only through filing the offshore exemption claim. This might take two years and requires not income from HK at all. More info on that would be great
⊖ seems very difficult to get a business bank account
⊖ necessary services and fees are roughly around €2000 / year
⊖ accounting requirements seem to be very strict
⊕ Doesn’t require local partner
⊕ Agencies available that seem to handle most of the work

Singapore
Corporate tax rate of 17% (0% on the first S$100k, 8.5% up to S$300k)
⊖ requires a local director. What are the implications of this?

Malta
Corporate tax rate of 35%
There is the “full imputation system” but I don’t really understand it.
"In most cases, the tax refund to the shareholder is 6/7 of the tax paid by the company on profits distributed as dividends. The tax refund rate may be different in the following cases: " This would result in an effective corporate tax of around 5%.
⊖ European customers would have to pay VAT and I’d have to deal with that

Cyprus
Corporate tax rate of 12.5% and there seem to be ways to lower this
⊖ European customers would have to pay VAT and I’d have to deal with that
⊖ requires staying in Cyprus for 2 months / year

I find it surprising how much research this requires and how much “it depends” information is out there when I’d assume that there are probably thousands of digital nomads who probably have very similar requirements.

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Do you "out" yourself as a digital nomad?

by @larsheather 5yr 5 years ago | 2 comments

When you meet new people or reconnect with old friends, do you “out” yourself as a digital nomad? The simple question “where do you live?” makes us uncertain now. We wonder if some places may be less welcoming to digital nomads, or if “digital nomad” has a negative connotation in some places. If you are forthcoming from the start, does your status as a digital nomad make it hard to form friendships?

We would love to hear how other people navigate this… how to balance being authentic in relationships vs. withholding the context (and allowing people to assume you’re on vacation, for example).

Thanks!

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Property Ownership - should digital nomads buy properties?

by @sparrow_23 5yr 5 years ago | 16 comments

I have been a digital nomad for the last couple of years. I have always worked in tech and now run a couple of profitable online businesses that give me a reliable income and allow me to fund a nomadic lifestyle.

I recently exited one of my businesses and I am considering to invest the income from the sale in properties, mainly for 2 reasons:

a) I don’t want to keep wasting my money in renting apartments across the cities I stay

b) I believe in properties as investment and I want to diversify my investment portfolio (mainly stocks)

After years of constant wander from one place to another, now I am the type of digital nomad who sticks to few locations: I mainly rotate across 4 places each year (San Francisco, Medellin, Berlin, Bali). Buying a house in each of those location would be difficult and too expensive. Therefore, I was wondering if there was any sort of service that combines an investment opportunity with the ability to access different properties around the world (even if just for a limited time per year) ?

Imagine living in 4 cities per year and having a house in each place that you can exclusively use for 3 months and at the same time having your investment growing (this depending on the market, of course). Wouldn’t that be great? I believe it could be done via a property fund selling you a share and giving you access to some of their properties for a limited timeframe each year.

Has anyone heard of anything like that?

Thanks!

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What's the best bank account for a global nomad?

by @barrybjjoubert 6yr 6 years ago | 25 comments

Dear all
As a wanna be nomad figuring out a way to get free of the rat race, I was wondering what is the best bank account to have while travelling the globe? I need an account where is easy for me to receive payments from all over the world and it also need to be a bank that I can find almost anywhere in the world. I want to avoid carry cash on me if it’s possible.

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