How do you manage your time while freelancing and travelling?

Hey, hope everyone is well!

We're leaving in a month to go travelling. Our first destination is still to be confirmed, but will likely be Poland or Slovakia. We will be moving around every month or two to different destinations.

The question we have is: what do people do with phones/ phone numbers when hopping from country to country? Ideally we'd just like one number for the whole trip (even better, the number we already have) wherever we go, rather than getting new SIMs with different numbers.

This is just so it's easier to keep in contact with family/ clients/ etc.

We are going travelling but we won't know anyone out there, what's your best advice for meeting people and socialising abroad? We've thought about the obvious things like Meetup etc, is there anything else you can suggest from your experience?

Hey Community, Did you ever come across any YouTube videos that sold the freelancing gig to you? That taught you how to freelance? Where to start? The good and bad points of freelancing? or just follow any YouTubers that specialise in freelancing (for inspiration)?

I'd be interested in learning more...

Thanks in advance.

I’ve got myself a DDJ 400 DJ controller, and the compact size makes it ideal to throw into my suitcase while I go travelling next year.

It made me wonder if there was a decent portable speaker system that’s loud (and clear) enough for light bedroom DJing I could pack alongside the 400 to practice new tracks and record mixes.

I currently have a Bose Soundlink Mini II which was surprisingly good for the job. Although I feel it’ll probably damage if I keep pumping at full pelt, and it’s not quite loud enough for what I wanted but not far off at all.

I ordered a pair of iLoud Micro Monitors, and although seriously impressed with the sound quality, I ended up returning them for KRK Rokit 5 G3’s as they were too heavy for permanent (Digital Nomad) travelling so thought I’d get some solid DJ speakers in the meantime.

For those constrained by their business’ time zone, how do you manage this?

My home office is in Los Angeles – though I could swing anything in Central/South America, I’m looking at going to Lisbon or Chiang Mai for a bit. Both of them are >=8hrs difference potentially wreaking havoc on the work + social life + sleep split. This is a common question for nomads but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of posting on the site about it.

What do you guys think? Any Americans working in Asia or Europe that does it well? I could likely negotiate with my supervisor to work in Eastern standard if I was in Lisbon/Europe, which wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Noon 'til 8pm. A bit more manageable than Chiang Mai or Bali.

I’d like to invite nomad entrepreneurs in this topic to discuss what are the challenges you face in filing taxes, insurance and banking complications, while travelling and running your business remotely.

Please share your thoughts! I would be happy to help!

I recently started running a software consultancy in the UK that specialises in MVP development and onboarding/marketing strategies. I found it relatively easy to get leads by attending networking events (quite a lot here in Edinburgh).

I plan to start travelling soon, though. Has anybody tried to travel while running a software consultancy? I’m really curious to find out how you handled finding new clients while doing that. Let’s say that if I go networking somewhere in Asia I won’t find clients willing to spend much on a project (and can’t just pay my employees less because I can’t find good paying projects).

Hi, let me start by saying i’m an idiot when it comes to these things. I know all the infos are out there and I’ve been reading posts here as well as googling lots of blogs to find answers but there are just so many details and personal aspects that it leaves me dizzy! I’m hoping for a kind soul to share his/her wisdom with me in simple words. Bear with me while I try to wrap my head around this:

I NEED: 1. to be able to get payed by international customers in Dollars and Euros mostly 2. A way to get to that money with a debit/credit card for online payments and ATM’s in whatever local currency needed (thinking of heading to Bali next)

I AM: newly nomadic designer working with platforms like 99designs and upwork as well as some direct clients. I have swiss citizenship, but am no longer resident there, or anywhere else.

I HAVE: 1. A swiss bank account (UBS) with CHF and no credit card (for savings not to be touched). 2. A spanish bank account (Deutsche Bank) with EUR with a debit and credit card for backup money. 3. A Paypal Account.

The plan is to earn the money I need to live monthly and put it into a spending account and only touch the others (CHF/EUR) if I didn’t make enough money.

So far I’ve come across these options:

1. Paypal
   I already have a paypal account and It does some of what I want. Except I’d have to transfer my online money to my Euro Account to spend it with my spanish credit card. Which sounds like a lot of fees. Blog posts about nomad finances all seem to say paypal is an expensive option.

2. Open Local Bank Accounts / Use Butcoins
   I would like the simplest solution possible. Opening new accounts for every country sounds like too much paperwork (which I hate with the intensity of 100 hell fires). Bitcoins? I’m already confused with all the real currency’s involved please don’t bring in digital ones…

3. Payoneer
   Biggest plus: It is integrated in the platforms I work with (99d & Upwork) so I can pay out my earnings really simple and supposedly cheap. They also give me a Mastercard to spend that money and multi-currency “bank accounts”. But I’ve read really mixed reviews about it so I don’t know what to think of it in the end.

4. Revolut:
   Seems to be just what I need. You get a Mastercard and . It seems like they have really low fees, good exchange rates and no ATM extra-charges? I read some good reviews (except customer service which seems to be terrible with both Payoneer and Revolut). Customers can pay me directly with the multi-currency bank accounts but I would have to find the best way to bring my earnings from 99d and Upwork into here (I read about a guy that uses payoneer to send money to his Revolut? Is anyone using a similar setup?)

5. Travel Credit Cards
   I’ve read about those who are suposed to have low fees and no ATM-charges, have not done any research yet.

So this is what my research brought up. Is there something I missed? Seems like getting to your money is harder than actually making it xD
Does anybody with a similar situation have personal experiences and clear suggestions on this topic?
I can’t seem to make up my mind between payoneer and revolut. I also read about Transferwise bringing in their own credit card but could not find any infos from them? I would really appreciate your inputs because as mentioned I find this all quite overwhelming and would love an easy solution that involves the least amount of paperwork/effort (even is I loose a few cents here and there if not possible otherwise)

Thank you all!!

Hello all,

I have a mail management service in the UK which all my mail gets sent to. This works fine 90% of the time and most can be dealt with digitally.

The other 10%, I need the mail sent on to me, which they do offer as a service. However, where I struggle is giving them an address to send it to in the Philippines, namely Manila.

I’ve used DHL for really important stuff, like bank cards, but it would be nice to have an address where I can forward certain mail. Anyone been able to set something up like this in the Philippines? Would a virtual office allow me to receive mail?

Thanks in advance

Hi,
I wondered how everybody deals with getting data on their phone in each country they travel. Is there a way around it? It is always such a pain having to buy and activate sim cards everywhere. I have tried the company “worldsim” and had an international sim for a while, but they where terrible and ended up to be super expensive.

I’m an introvert: people distract and exhaust me, and my ideal working environment would be an empty room and silence. Next best is what I have whenever I’m in my own environment: the space is never empty, but it’s usually silent save for ambient noise. Working from public space involves dealing with noise levels that are, for me, entirely counterproductive. Right now I’m in a hotel lounge and was settling in to focus on a magazine layout job when all of a sudden they switched the music to something loud, upbeat and with lyrics. I put my earplugs in immediately, but I can still hear that crap, and my concentration’s shot. What do you all do to manage noise when working from public space, or what are your workarounds?

In my case right now, I’m here because I need several hours of electricity, not just the two hours max I could get at my off-grid location. My noise workaround is to come to town and recharge my laptop, then go back to the country to work, but for long amounts of time, that’s not an option for me (yet — but I’m working on it).

I’d love to hear some advice on how to get customers and making everything work smoothly and remotely.

//Chris

Hello !

I am wondering how do you manage your laundry work flow.

I ask this question because since I investigate the minimalist way of life I only have 4 teeshirts.
So I changed my habits and I wash my teeshirt, my boxer and my socks while taking a shower (takes me 6 more minutes).

How about you ?
Are you reducing your laundry flow, like by wearing merinos wool clothes ?
Are you going to lavomatic one time a week because you have enough clothes for all the week ?
Are you going to lavomatic more often that once a week because you have only few clothes ?
Are you handwashing your clothers ? how and how often ?

I know its pretty easy for top quality developers to find a remote job and go nomad. I have did development and support kind of stuff for nearly 5 years and it seems this is not something I want to do for long term. So, looking for opportunities mostly into Product Management/ Project Management roles. I have some experience in this sector and I think I will be able to do good in this arena.

But I tried to search every remote job board, couldn’t find any such. So, my question where is the recruiters hiring Remote Product Managers/ Project Managers or they are not up to in remote work for this kind of role.

Hi guys,
I’ve decided I want to take a break from my way of living and go nomad for a few months (at least). I do music so WiFi is not my main concern, all I need is good inspiration and nice people around me.

I am looking for a mid-cheap / safe place, preferably having a nice beach around. I’d also like to socialize with people from different cultures. Meet and make new friends.
I got sick from living in Europe/US, so I’d rather be far away from these continents.

My choices have come down do Costa Rica, but I’m reading some good stuff about Medellin, Mexico, Panama. I’ve spend quite some time in Asia traveling as well (I love Bali and Koh Lanta), but I’ve never been to South America, so I’d rather go in that direction.

What would you suggest?

I’m a scrum master/project manager for a 6 man dev team in the UK. We already work remotely (from our homes mainly) and my wife and I are now ready to take the next step by going nomad.

Most stories and feedback I’ve read on here are from devs and designers. Has anyone got any examples of successfully working as a project manager while working in different timezones etc? I can foresee a few challenges but it would be great to hear from anyone with experience of this?

Thanks you lovely people.

Paul Tunnicliffe

Hi guys,
I am Sneha from India and wish to begin a nomadic lifestyle soon. Want to know if there are any Product / Project Manager nomads here and your experiences working remote. I generally understand that most digital nomads are writers / coders / designers etc. I would love to know how you began freelancing / remote working as a project manager, good avenues to get work and any advice you would like to share with the newbies.

Cheers!

I’ve always thought that is important to balance a very digital lifestyle with some analogic source of informations, like magazines, books, newspapers, but in a nomadic lifestyle it could be difficult to find same media in every country. How do you feel about that? Do you read something specific and cross-crountry?

Anyone doing the nomad thing as a true consultant in the sense of the word? as in you are billing based on the value of your advice/solution but not responsible for the actual implementation and day-to-day.

I’ve always silently snickered at those who think they’re IT consultants but are actually IT contractors on some 6 year govt boondoggle etc.

I’d argue that management consultants may have been the first actual digital nomads. Maybe? lol