Comments on: Misconceptions of the Work-from-Anywhere Lifestyle

By: Karla

Karla — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 06:53:22 +0000

Thanks for sharing informative blog like this! I find it very interesting to read and I also love the points that you expressed! Anyway, thanks for sharing and keep posting!!!

By: Ana

Ana — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:51:06 +0000

It’s refreshing to get a different point of view. I admit to getting swept up in the “fantasy of the hammock”, and I appreciate the reminder that passive income…isn’t.

Thanks for a great post.

By: Bill in Detroit

Bill in Detroit — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:28:04 +0000

I like the idea of being able to slip away from home for a week or two at a time to research material for a writing project. Too, I have family spread out over 3 distant states and it would be good to be able to see them each year instead of having to choose between seeing one of them or traveling somewhere intriguing.

But my writing skills are not sufficient for that (yet).

By: Cath Lawson

Cath Lawson — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:10:36 +0000

Hi Chris – Who would have thought you’d have connection problems in Tokyo,

I’ve been thinking about this for a little while now and I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe it’s not that I want to travel to a new place every couple of months while I’m working.

It’s more the feeling of knowing I have the freedom to work where I want, when I feel like it, as you described.

Good luck with the book sales. I’m looking forward to reading it.

By: Juliet Austin

Juliet Austin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:30:21 +0000

Thanks for this, Chris. It’s good to hear something other than how wonderful it is to be location independent. I recently returned from a six month stint of working while in Australia and can say while I loved it, it had it’s drawbacks including being incredibly expensive. Having said that, I am looking forward to my next trip.

By: LynnH

LynnH — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:18:41 +0000

Thanks for the thoughtful post. I’m thinking a lot about the intersection between what I love to do, what I’m excellent at doing, what I can do (must sleep sometime, for example) and making enough income to make it a reasonable situation.

I live in a low-housing-cost city, and stay home most of the time. In one way, I’m location independent because I do not have a storefront, it’s all internet or I go on site. When I’m lucky, on site is far from home, but I’m happy to work in this field.

It’s sort of funny, though. This old house has a great porch and there are a few tasks for my business that I do in fact accomplish on a hammock out there. I’m not snoozing, but the decor is about perfect when my task schedule and hammock weather coincide properly.

By: Amy Putkonen

Amy Putkonen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 03:06:09 +0000

Great post, Chris. Funny to see you out here because I just shared a link to your site the other day as I was talking to a friend about how you are doing the same thing she is. Her goal is to travel to 30 countries before she’s 30. Ah, to be so young again! (I’m only 42…giggle)

Anyways, a great post. I am sure that doing all that traveling gets old after a bit. Still, a little freedom goes a long ways too and at least you guys have some of us working slumps dreaming a bit and chasing after something. Keep up the great work!

Amy

By: Christine Livingston

Christine Livingston — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:16:13 +0000

Never mind finding it difficult to get online in Tokyo, I’ve found it difficult to get online in some parts of the UK and we’re supposed to be more advanced!

Also, my experience is that there’s a whole lot of graft needed to get your online business and community to a point where you can make decent money. Separately, that you could spend your entire time online if you wanted to. This, for me, goes against all of the reasons I started out on my location independent journey in the first place. Why travel when all you’re doing is the same old stuff in different wifi hotspots?

By: Mark McGuinness

Mark McGuinness — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:05:30 +0000

“Viral marketing means “spend a lot of time talking to everyone you know and hope they’ll do the same.”

I can see myself using that – with attribution of course.

By: Cynthia Morris

Cynthia Morris — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:32:33 +0000

Thanks for sharing these misconceptions about the location independent lifestyle. I particularly love the point you made about ‘why are you doing this?’. It’s got to be a really compelling reason to add the extra stress.

I found it fairly challenging to work while traveling as a nomad, and I have only done it in Europe and Panama.

I found it hard to balance work time and ‘tourist’ time. When in London, Paris, or Bali, one must be out there exploring all the time, right? No, when you’re working, you have to find a rhythm that works.

I recently spent three weeks in Paris doing research for my novel. For jaunts like that I put my workload on simmer, doing only the basics required to work with my clients and run basic ops. I gathered a lot of inspiration, and found it a perfect balance to return to Denver to develop more content for future episodes of my web TV show and dig into my novel revision.

My rhythm in Paris was working in my ‘office’ in the morning with coffee and a croissant, then going out to explore or meet with friends. Later at night I’d edit videos and respond to emails. On the weekends I had full permission to unplug and enjoy Paris.

On the business side, it’s definitely part-time work, and it definitely only works for awhile, if you’re intent on developing content. It was a lot easier on this trip, because I’d gotten some footing on it during my year traveling, but it definitely can take time to adjust.

The stress of ensuring a good internet is no joke. It’s not fun and you really have to weigh the benefits of being abroad versus reliability in your delivery.

Thanks for sharing these challenges. It’s not that it’s impossible, you just need a really good reason to try to work that way.