Tag Archives: Digital Nomad Tips

by | April 13, 2026 · 5:13 am

How Digital Nomads Are Turning Costa Rica Vacation Homes into Passive Income Without Being There

Photo: Ballena Tales

There’s a particular kind of freedom that location-independent workers spend years chasing: income that doesn’t require you to be anywhere specific. For a growing number of digital nomads and expat investors, Costa Rica’s Southern Zone is quietly becoming one of the most compelling places on earth to build exactly that.

Not through dropshipping. Not through crypto. Through something far more tangible: a jungle villa or oceanview home that earns while you work from Lisbon, Medellín, or a café in Chiang Mai.

Here’s why it’s working, and what the smartest remote investors are doing to make it truly hands-off.

Why the Southern Zone, Not the Usual Suspects

Most people’s mental map of Costa Rica real estate stops at Tamarindo, Manuel Antonio, and Jacó. Those markets are established, which also means saturated, expensive to buy into, and harder to stand out on Airbnb.

The Southern Zone tells a different story. The triangle of Uvita, Bahía Ballena, and Ojochal sits along the South Pacific coast, adjacent to Marino Ballena National Park and its famous whale tail sandbar that emerges at low tide. The region draws a wealthier, nature-focused traveler: whale watchers, wildlife photographers, families escaping the overcrowded tourist corridors, and increasingly, remote workers looking for longer stays.

Costa Rica welcomed over 2.5 million tourists in 2024, a 13% increase from 2022. A significant portion of that growth is flowing into the Southern Zone, which has benefited from improved road infrastructure and word-of-mouth among the eco-luxury travel community. Bahía Ballena has been specifically identified as a market that commands higher nightly rates while maintaining strong occupancy levels, a combination that matters enormously to investors.

Vacation rentals on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast are producing gross annual returns in the range of 8 to 12 percent, according to data from the Costa Rica Global Association of Realtors. Some homeowners in the region have done well enough that they’ve expanded to multiple properties.

The Digital Nomad Angle No One Talks About

Here’s where it gets interesting for the remote work crowd specifically.

Costa Rica introduced a Digital Nomad Visa in 2021, allowing foreign nationals who earn at least $3,000 per month from sources outside the country to live and work there for up to two years, tax-free on foreign income. If you’re bringing dependents, the threshold moves to $4,000. It’s one of the cleaner visa structures in the region.

What this creates is a layered opportunity. Some nomads arrive in the Southern Zone as guests, fall in love with it, and start asking questions about buying. Others are already property owners who use the nomad visa as a framework to spend a few months per year in their home while renting it out the rest of the time. The flexibility of short-term rental platforms is uniquely suited to this lifestyle: block the calendar when you want to use the property, and it earns the rest of the year.

It’s not a passive income hack. It’s a lifestyle architecture decision that happens to generate real returns.

The Problem: You Can’t Manage a Property From a Different Continent

This is where most vacation rental dreams in Costa Rica quietly fall apart.

Owning a home in the Southern Zone is not like owning a condo in Miami. Properties here require genuine, attentive management. Roads flood in rainy season. Wildlife interacts with infrastructure in ways that demand an immediate response. Guests arriving from North America or Europe have high expectations, and they’re paying premium nightly rates for premium communication, spotless preparation, and local knowledge on demand.

Without someone on the ground, you’re either flying back every few months to check on things, hiring ad hoc help through informal networks, or watching your Airbnb rating slowly erode because response times are lagging and issues aren’t getting resolved.

This is why serious investors in the region don’t try to self-manage remotely. They hand it off entirely to a local team that knows the properties, the guests, and the land.

What Full-Service Property Management Actually Covers

For example, Redefine CR is a Southern Zone property management company built specifically around this use case: expat and remote owners who want their home generating income without requiring their constant attention.

Their service stack covers everything that makes hands-off ownership actually work:

  • Home maintenance and regular inspections, catching issues before they become emergencies or guest complaints
  • Full guest management, including communication before, during, and after every stay
  • Online platform management: Airbnb listings, pricing strategy, calendar management, and reviews
  • Sanitation services, with professional preparation between guests
  • Concierge services, the kind of local knowledge and responsiveness that drives five-star reviews
  • Payment processing and bookkeeping liaison, so the financial side stays clean and transparent
  • Inventory and supply management, so you’re not fielding texts about missing kitchen essentials from across the world

The team is a mix of local Costa Ricans and expats with backgrounds spanning hotel management, finance, retreat consulting, culinary services, and marketing. That combination matters because it means they understand both the property owner’s financial expectations and the guest’s experience expectations, which aren’t always the same thing.

Reviews from property owners tell the real story. One owner described being able to sit back and trust that payments were made on time and the home was well cared for. Another said communication has been excellent and that things are “growing and flowing.” That’s what hands-off ownership actually looks like when it’s working.

Is the Math Real?

A well-positioned 3-bedroom home in Uvita with a pool can command nightly rates in the $250 to $500 range depending on season and amenities. The Southern Zone has two high seasons: December through April (dry season, peak tourism) and a secondary bump in July and August. Annual occupancy rates for well-managed properties in desirable locations routinely land in the 60 to 75 percent range.

Running conservative numbers: 65% occupancy at $300 per night average across 365 days comes to roughly $71,000 in gross annual revenue. After platform fees, property management, maintenance, and supplies, a net return in the 50 to 60 percent range is realistic for a well-run operation. That’s not a guarantee, and your property’s specifics matter enormously, but for a remote worker with the capital to buy in and the discipline to pick the right market and the right management partner, the math holds up better than most passive income plays people chase online.

How to Think About This as a Nomad Investor

If you’re seriously considering this path, a few questions are worth sitting with.

Buy now or wait? The Southern Zone is still in its growth phase. Properties that are accessibly priced today are unlikely to stay that way as infrastructure continues to improve and the region’s reputation spreads further.

Can you use it yourself? This is where the nomad visa becomes a genuine lifestyle tool. Spend a few months per year in your property, block it on the rental calendar, and spend the rest of the year working remotely from wherever you want.

Who manages it when you’re gone? This is the only question that actually determines whether the passive income part is real or theoretical. The management team you choose is as important as the property itself.

For anyone looking seriously at the Uvita, Bahía Ballena, or Ojochal areas, Redefine CR is the clearest starting point for understanding what professional, full-service management looks like on the ground. There are, of course, other companies and agencies offering property management services in the Uvita area, but Redefine’s good reviews stuck out to us as a great start.

Bonus Strategy: Turn Your Vacation Home into a Travel Passport

Beyond Airbnb income, there’s another way your Southern Zone property can work for you while you’re living and working elsewhere: home exchange. Platforms like HomeExchange.com are the world’s largest home swapping community, with over 400,000 homes across 187 countries, and the concept is refreshingly simple. For a flat annual membership fee of around $220, you list your home and earn GuestPoints whenever someone stays. Those points can then be redeemed for stays in other members’ homes anywhere in the network, with no nightly fees on top. A well-photographed, well-reviewed jungle home or oceanview property in Uvita is genuinely desirable to the kind of traveler who uses these platforms, which means your Costa Rica home has real trading power for weeks in Paris, a beach house in Portugal, or a mountain cabin in Colorado.

One thing worth factoring in honestly: Even when guests arrive through a home exchange rather than a paid Airbnb booking, you will still want your property management team involved. The property management company still needs to handle booking, preparation, cleaning, guest orientation, and on-the-ground support, so those operational costs apply just as they would for any stay. But here is the reframe worth sitting with: that investment isn’t dead money. Every well-prepared, well-maintained guest stay generates a review on the exchange platform, and a stronger review profile directly raises your home’s desirability score, which in turn earns you more points and access to better properties during your own travels.

Think of the management cost during exchange weeks as an investment in your home’s reputation rather than a pure expense. For nomads who own or are considering buying in the Southern Zone, this layered approach, Airbnb income during peak seasons and home exchange during weeks you would otherwise leave the property sitting empty, is one of the more elegant uses of a second home in today’s travel economy.

The Southern Zone isn’t a secret anymore, but it’s not yet overrun. The window to buy into an emerging market with strong fundamentals, growing tourism, and a management infrastructure capable of making it truly passive is open right now. For digital nomads already living location-independently, it’s one of the more logical extensions of the lifestyle.

The jungle doesn’t care where you’re working from. But it will pay you to let the right people take care of it while you’re away.

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by | June 2, 2025 · 4:49 am

What Every Digital Nomad Should Know First About RV Life

The open road has always promised freedom, but in today’s digitized world, that freedom comes with a hotspot. More professionals are embracing the nomadic RV lifestyle, lured by the ability to work from anywhere and trade cramped city apartments for ever-changing views. But swapping a desk chair for a captain’s seat isn’t as breezy as it sounds. From connectivity surprises to campground politics, there’s more to this mobile life than Instagram suggests.

Always Map Around Your Wi-Fi, Not Just Your Views

Chasing sunsets is poetic, but chasing bars of signal is practical. Remote work means deadlines don’t pause for nature, and not every picturesque overlook comes with stable internet. Reliable service providers often vary dramatically by region, so flexibility and research are non-negotiable. Smart nomads use coverage maps, booster gear, and know that sometimes a lesser view wins because it keeps the Zoom calls from freezing.

Plan Less Like a Vacationer, More Like a Local

Too many treat full-time RVing like a never-ending road trip—and quickly burn out. The secret isn’t in nonstop sightseeing, but in finding rhythms. Spend longer stints in fewer places, dig into small town routines, and leave space for slow mornings and midweek errands. Those who find a local coffee shop, a grocery loop, and a walking path tend to feel more grounded and less like drifters.

Build Skills Without Hitting Pause on Life

Earning a degree online opens doors without requiring you to walk away from your current life. With a flexible online IT degree program, it’s easier than ever to hold down a full-time job while staying on track with your studies. These programs are designed for working professionals, offering both structure and freedom in equal measure. Whether you’re diving into information technology, cybersecurity, or systems analysis, the right IT degree builds practical, career-aligned skills that employers are actively seeking.

Rethink Productivity Without a Door to Close

No one warns about the toll shared square footage takes on focus. A rolling home-office hybrid means reimagining boundaries, especially when living with a partner or pet. Noise-canceling headphones help, but so does crafting zones—a fold-out desk here, a mobile stand there. Even the front seat, swiveled around and reclaimed, becomes an unlikely haven for concentration.

Campground Culture Is Its Own Learning Curve

Digital nomads often stumble when romantic ideas clash with campground realities. Reservations vanish during peak season, neighbors get chatty fast, and generator etiquette is surprisingly complex. Tensions over noise, space, or dogs arise quickly if expectations aren’t clear. Those who observe first, ask questions, and learn the unspoken codes of campground living save themselves plenty of awkward encounters.

Maintenance Will Become Your Side Hustle

Life on the move means things break, rattle loose, or stop working at the worst possible moment. YouTube tutorials can only go so far when the water pump fails or solar wiring shorts out. Regular maintenance becomes a near-daily ritual—tightening, taping, checking levels, and learning what that new hum might mean. Accepting this early helps frame maintenance not as a burden, but as the admission price for freedom.

You’ll Have to Protect Your Routine Like It’s Sacred

Routines can disappear quickly when the world outside changes every few days. That’s why the digital nomads who thrive tend to stick to core rituals—morning stretches beside the RV, timed breaks, structured work blocks, and regular meals. Without these, days blur and motivation dips. But routines aren’t about rigidity; they’re scaffolding for flexibility.

Choose Your Travel Companions Like You’d Choose Business Partners

The wrong co-pilot can turn the dream into a pressure cooker. Living in close quarters demands emotional intelligence, communication, and shared expectations. Splitting tasks, creating alone time, and syncing work hours become essential to harmony. Whether it’s a partner, friend, or even a dog, compatibility isn’t just nice—it’s survival.

Hitting the road in an RV to live and work isn’t the same as vanishing into a vacation postcard. It’s a life of trade-offs, adaptation, and occasional dust in your laptop’s keyboard. But with the right mindset and some trial-by-fire wisdom, the journey opens up a lifestyle that defies the nine-to-five mold. When the office view is a mountain range and the commute is a walk around a lake, most nomads agree: the extra planning is a small price to pay.

Image via Pexels

Unlock the potential of remote work and digital nomadism with expert insights and resources from Remote Control — your gateway to thriving beyond traditional office walls!

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by | September 23, 2022 · 6:54 am

How to Create a Home Office Space for Remote Work

With the increasing capabilities of internet connectivity, more and more people are embracing remote work and the digital nomad lifestyle. To optimize productivity, you can set up an office space in your home, even with limited living space. Start by considering these easy tips.

Visit Remote Control for tips and resources on how you can work or run your business remotely. 

Designate a Well-Lit Area

Your priority choice for an office should be the area of your living space with the best natural lighting. Research shows that access to natural light while working improves mood, mental health, and overall well-being. This can be a corner in the living room with windows or a space in the kitchen. Choose the area that gets the most light for the longest part of the day. For example, if you prefer to work in the early morning, choose an area facing the sunrise.

Use Functional Furniture and Fixtures

Ergonomic furniture is a major trend in office decor, and using functional furniture doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your aesthetic. People who work in an office setting, even at home, sometimes deal with repetitive stress injuries. Ergonomic furniture, such as a desk, chair, or table, allows you to work without developing any injuries over time. You can typically find pieces to match the look and feel of your home as well.

Prioritize Climate Control and a Functional HVAC System

Ensuring your workspace is comfortable is an important element of optimizing productivity, and climate control is an easy way to alter how an area affects you. Have the HVAC system in your home checked for any noise issues or heating and cooling defects to ensure it is working properly. A loud unit can be a distraction, and this issue is typically a problem with the motor that you can easily fix. Find local HVAC contractors to come troubleshoot problems and get your comfort back on track.

Start Organized

Being disorganized is a common time waster when you work from home. It’s easy for things to get cluttered when you live in a small space. That is why the minimalist approach to storage and decor is the best way to optimize the space and get rid of unnecessary distractions. Start by organizing your work desk and removing anything that takes the focus from your job. Place all your stationery tools in desk drawers so they are out of view but within reach. Keeping sentimental items, such as photos, is a great way to decorate, but avoid putting them directly in front of you on the desk. Instead, designate a shelf elsewhere for such items.

Rethink Your Entire Living Space

When you simply cannot find the perfect spot, it may be time for a small home makeover. Move the couch to the darker area of the living room so you can take advantage of the light coming through the windows. Move your bedroom to the spare room closer to the street so you can turn the quieter room into your workspace. When all else fails, you can start thinking about getting rid of items to make space for your office.

Creating a definitive work space with a functioning HVAC system is the best way to keep yourself on track. If you lose motivation when things become too familiar, don’t be afraid to apply these tips to a new space in your home. Sometimes changing things up slightly can help you work more efficiently.

About the Author (Sarah Noel)
Sarah Noel and her boyfriend, both left corporate jobs to work as freelancers, chasing balance between the work they loved and the life they wanted. They’ve taught themselves how to work smarter, not harder. They’ve committed to separating work and home so that they can enjoy both. Now, with TaylorandNoel.com, they’re sharing their best practices with other freelancers, in hopes they can do the same.

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by | January 2, 2014 · 6:12 pm

The top 8 resources to make remote working a success

Productivity by Alien Frank

Productivity by Alien Frank

As you settle into the life of an remote worker, you will find that you experience many up’s and downs as you settle into your new lifestyle. The freedom is empowering, but the lack of co-workers can be a drain on your personal happiness (or you may even be secretly relieved). I’m going to cover the top methods and resources I use to make your life abroad a breeze, whether you are just starting out or a seasoned professional.

  1. Rework: Office Not Required

Get your hands on a copy of this book. Written by the founders of 37signals, they delve into the challenges and unexpected benefits for working remotely. If you need help convincing your employer to let you break free from the 9-5, this book will give you the ideas to set it in motion, outlining precisely the steps you take in building a remote work setup.

  1. The right hardware

You need a laptop, a decent internet connection and a mobile phone that you always have on. Even though you are working “remote,” you need to be accessible at all times – especially when your boss needs to get hold of you. A separate workstation from the rest of your house will also help to keep you on task while you are working, and a great headset will make it easy to answer every Skype call that comes int.

  1. The right software

There are endless programs to assist during your telecommute. File sharing systems like Google Drive or Dropbox are great ways to share and simultaneously work on large files with your colleagues. Of course you need to regularly check your email, sign up for a free Skype account and ensure you are always online. If your clients are international, tools like The World Clock will let you schedule effective meetings in any time zone.

  1. A strategy to be productive

Decide what it takes to keep you on track. The biggest danger in working remotely comes from distractions. You are going to need to be even more productive than your “traditional” colleagues to maintain your remote lifestyle and grow your career. Find what works for you, it can be a post-it system plastered over your monitor, or more complex tools like Evernote or Wunderlist. Personally I write down everything I hope to achieve in a day in a notebook. I prioritize the list to determine my top four goals, and split these into two each morning and two each evening. I reward myself with a break in between tasks, or ensure I get 5-10 minutes away from my computer every hour if its a longer project. Simple and easy.

  1. Stay social

It may sound trivial, but you don’t want to find yourself distanced from the office “clique.” The people you interact with everyday at the water cooler form the foundation of your professional network. If you’re not in the office, don’t miss out on everything that goes on while you’re not there. Tools like Campfire, or WhatsApp and Line groups allow colleagues to stay connected (informally). You don’t want to fade into obscurity simply because your office is in your home.

  1. A regular way to “Get out of the house”

The lack of face-to-face social interaction when working remotely has a remarkable ability to turn a professional employee into an unshaven, unbathed neanderthal whose sole human interaction involves having the right change for the pizza delivery guy. Dont be this telecommuter. Get active in your community through Chambers of Commerce, MeetUp.com, or local sports groups and give yourself a reason to shower each day! Join a gym and ensure you get exercise three times a week. It will also help to balance your sanity and adds a nice change of scenery to your home office.

  1. Clear guidelines and milestones

Be open with your boss and colleagues on what it is you are working on. Keep them updated with regular progress reports, and ensure they know the timelines to expect tasks to be completed. Yammer is a great way for teams to keep up to date. It’s a common misconception that working from home involves tapping away at emails while your focus is on the daily TV soap opera’s. Don’t ever give your colleagues this impression. It only takes a quick morning call or message to outline your major tasks for the day alongside the progress you made yesterday. Bring your boss and your team up to speed every morning, and they will never doubt your diligence.

  1. A good work life balance

My final resource is more of a guideline. Remember the office should stay the office. This key fact is often forgotten by remote workers who put in a crazy amount of weekly hours because it’s so easy to log on and “just check my email”. Having your office in your home offers a huge risk for burnout, so set yourself a schedule and stick to it.

Make use of these resources and you will find that remote working is easier than ever. It’s not scary or impossible. All it takes is for you to take charge, and grab this fantastic opportunity for yourself.  

Author: Travis Bennett

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by | December 14, 2013 · 11:22 pm

[VIDEO] Finding Your Tempo: Ensuring High Work Output While Traveling | Tips for Location Independence

Quite a few people seem to feel like getting to the point of being remote is the most difficult part. If you’re not yet there, that makes perfect sense. The trick afterwards is maintaining high work output while being location independent, whether that is working from a home office, on the road or literally on the move during travel days.

Traveling can be stressful, as can work days. In this video I share a few tips I’ve learned to ensure I have high output during my travel days and am able to do so with minimal stress on me and my family.

Practice makes perfect and I used to be pretty worthless, work-wise, on travel days. Then I got to a point where I was able to get a lot done, but was pretty stressed out and in some cases miserable in the process. I’m far from an expert at it, there’s always room for improvement, but these tips have helped me along the way and I’ve gotten a lot better at playing the game. I hope you like the video and if you do, please subscribe to the Remote Control youtube channel!

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by | December 9, 2013 · 11:48 am

Budgeting for Your Breakaway: How to Determine the Costs of Moving Abroad

The big cull: if it didn't fit into the back of the bike...it was sold!

The big cull: if it didn’t fit into the back of the bike…it was sold!

Budgeting for a big move is a prospect often fraught with angst. Whilst I agree it may well be the hardest thing you’ve ever done up until now…it need not be all that difficult. I’ll start by admitting that helping digital nomads determine the actual cost of their move is a futile exercise, considering the endless contributing factors: where do you live now? Where do you want to move to? Are you single or with kids in tow? Are you planning to ship your car and a container full of belongings? Etc etc. You get the gist.

Instead, I think the best option is to share some tried-and-tested tips on the best way you can determine the cost for yourself and (perhaps more importantly) include some insider tips on how to reduce these costs.

After all…I’m going to go out on a limb and assume this may be everyone’s priority 😉

Separate the must-costs from the maybe-costs

Your first priority should be to make a list of all the costs you envisage for your move. Things like flights, above-mentioned container shipping; apartment and/or car rental and so on. Then, think long and hard about which costs are avoidable and which are not. Yes you will have to get yourself there somehow, so flights are (for the majority) unavoidable. Tick.

Apartment rental? Nope, don’t need that yet (more on this later.) Car? Definitely not at first. Double tick.

Now your turn.

Get at least three quotes on all the must-costs

Once you have determined what you must absolutely pay for (if you’re still undecided keep on reading) then best to get quotes as soon as possible. Making the move during low-tourist season in your target country can keep flight, shipping and accommodation costs down for example, so always keep this in mind when doing your research and you could save a small bundle right off the bat.

Sell more…take less

You know how I mentioned getting a quote for shipping all of your personal belongings? Yeah…not. Stop right there.

I know how enticing it is to want to duplicate your life at home once abroad but this does contrast with most of the reasons you decided to make the BIG move in the first place. This isn’t about duplicating, this is about reshaping. If you do want to take ALL of your material possessions and envisage placing them in your new home overseas, you may want to rethink your reasons for moving. It’s a hell of a lot of hassle just to get away from the mother-in-law! Just kidding…

Placing everything in storage and leaving with the bare necessities is a great option, although if you can stomach the idea, I suggest you actually sell off as much as possible before you leave. Not only will this generate more cash (there’s your flights!) but the psychological impact it will have on you may allow you for greater flexibility in your new home-country.

I did in fact leave all my belongings in storage before going travelling. The next time I saw them was three years later when I dashed home to sell it all off: I had spent $2000 a year on storing things I never thought about, nor needed, ever again.

Food for thought? Goodie.

The dreaded housekeeping

One of the hardest decisions you’ll make will be whether or not to keep your house, if you happen not to be renting at home. This is definitely a tough choice to make. Due to my fatalist philosophies I will come right out and advice you to get rid of it; the only thing it will gift you is hours and hours of worry and work; both things you can do without. However, I also understand and accept that this may be easier said than done. Well, I did do it and it was rather easy, but you get my point.

Factoring in the costs of keeping your home at home can be hard-going. Will you rent it out? What about unexpected repairs? Will you leave someone else in charge of managing it? What about the extra expenses: can you factor them into your digital nomad income?

It will soon will become painfully obvious that keeping your home is a huge commitment, one which is hard to maintain if you happen to be on the other side of the planet; and this is just taking practical matters into consideration. I can only imagine how many digital nomads have lost countless nights’ sleep over a major issue with their homes. I don’t envy them one bit.

You’ll need less than you think

This particular credo works for just about everything you can think of. Please excuse the hanging preposition.

First of all, let’s talk high tech gizmos. By and large, I would suggest that whatever you need for one full day of working remotely from Starbucks is all you’ll ever need. I’ve seen digital nomads look like walking computer stores, whilst all I own is a small netbook, an external hard-drive and a couple of memory sticks. All three, by the way, can be purchased in almost every corner of the globe. I keep things stored on Dropbox and continually email my work to myself. Should the inevitable happen (things also go walkabouts in every corner of the globe) I won’t be jumping out of a 4-story window in despair.

Here’s something else to think about. Just because you can’t go down the road to buy milk without hopping in your car, it does not mean you ought to export this habit to your new home-country. Living without a car is not only possible and incredibly refreshing; it is also much easier to do it from the moment you arrive, when you have not yet become accustomed to the luxury of depending on one. Shipping your car overseas can be an awful waste of your heard-earned cash so I suggest you don;t even contemplate it. Likewise, leave the car rental/purchase expense in your new home country for a few months down the track. Unsurprisingly, most digital nomads who live abroad never even make this step, even after many years.

Homes are highly overrated and I do mean this in the nicest possible way. Yes it would be nice to land in Calcutta and head straight for your rental apartment, but the problem with this is that you’ll never really know how good a choice you’ve made until  you’ve seen it, smelt it and lived in it. Food and accommodation are life’s basics costs, yet holding off just a wee while on the latter can see your initial costs reduced drastically. First of all, you may want to spend a few weeks scouring suburbs of your intended abode and decide which one suits you best. Secondly, I don’t care what expat blogs/guide-books say, you are the only one who can determine what is good/bad for YOU so you do need to see it all for yourself.

Spending a few weeks in a cheap hostel will not only reduce your initial moving costs but it can prove to be highly beneficial in lots of other ways. I love hostels because they give me the convenience to stay in the heart of a city or town whilst giving me the freedom to suss it all out. You can get a private dorm to yourself/ves and enjoy the convenience of cooking your own meals, thus saving you money on food consumption as well. Most hostels will discount for long-term stays so consider it a bona fide genial option. The great thing about doing this is that you don’t need to yet budget for a rental-apartment deposit within the first few weeks. Give yourself some time to recover financially from the move before forking out even more cash and you’ll be a much happier digital nomad.

Budgeting for your move abroad is a task best tackled with nerves of steel and a sunny disposition; although most seasoned digital nomads will tell you to just chill right out. The whole point of this life-changing decision is to simplify your life and get back to the basics.

May as well start your spring-clean today.

Written by Laura Pattara

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by | December 1, 2013 · 11:23 pm

How to get more out of your travel plans by Trip Stacking

After you’ve achieved location freedom, every trip is an opportunity to see more and do more while you are traveling. My wife and I recently turned a 3 day wedding weekend into a 2 week trip to Northern California.

In this video I share some pointers I learned the hard way in trying to stack another set of trips in an attempt to turn 8 days into 3.5 weeks. We still got 18 days out of it, so no complaints, but I spent a lot of work researching the wrong things only to find out all of our trip scenarios weren’t doable for all of the people we wanted to see. If sharing these videos helps others learn from my mistakes, I’ll keep making them. 🙂


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by | November 27, 2013 · 5:31 pm

The Do’s and Don’ts of Working Remotely

Cars stuck in a traffic jam

Avoiding the morning commute is a great part of my day

In the beginning, working from home is bliss. You set your own schedule, have a fantastic commute and the daytime soaps take the place of even the most chatty co-workers.

Richard Branson is a big supporter of telecommuting, working from his island in the Caribbean he believes “remote working is easier and more effective than ever.” Faced with endless perks, there are a couple of hazards you must learn to navigate. Follow our advice and you will be more productive than ever in your home office. Even if you only work remotely once a week, our tips will help you accomplish more and make sure you stay productive – even when no one is watching.

The ability to work from home has many advantages, but requires more self-discipline and motivation than a traditional office environment. To set yourself up for success this is what you need to do:

  • Have a workspace separate from your home, with minimal distractions. The TV isn’t turned on as background noise in a normal office, it shouldn’t be on in your home office either.

  • Create boundaries. Despite being at home, you have work to do. Your friends and family need to respect that, and they should limit any distractions while you are working.

  • Get ready for each day. Shower and change out of your pajamas. You never know when the boss will call on Skype, or your friends drop by unannounced.

  • Stay organised. Use to-do lists, calendars, apps on your phone. Whatever it takes for you to stay on top of your tasks and never miss a deadline.

  • Form a schedule, a semblance of routine office hours so that your colleagues, boss and your clients know when it is OK to contact you. Try to match this as close to normal business hours as possible, it makes it easier for everyone involved.

  • Having a schedule also stops you working too much, It’s important to take breaks throughout the day. Take time for a relaxing lunch break and get outside, if only for a short period of time. It will leave you refreshed once you begin work again.

  • Have a back-up plan. There will be days where the internet goes down, or for whatever reason you can’t work from your home office. Scope out a library of coffee shop you can work from as your plan B, or you could always just pop into your normal office.

  • Make the extra effort to stay in touch with your colleagues. Pick up the phone to speak to people, even if it’s not 100% work related. Use technology to help you here, Skype and instant messaging are great way to stay abreast of the latest office news without leaving your remote office. If there is a birthday or special event, make it a point to attend in person.

There are many hazards a telecommuter needs to learn to manage. More so than in a normal office, a remote worker has to look out for the following:

  • Don’t become a recluse. Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to leave the house. The same goes for showering. Stay clean people!

  • Don’t ever lose touch with the people in your company. It’s easy to do, when you are not forced to interact in a lunch room or cafeteria. You need to work extra hard to maintain your relationships with colleagues while you work remotely.

  • Don’t take personal calls during work hours. Often family and friends think that since you are home you can catch up on your work later. Unfortunately this is not the case. You need to manage your close acquaintances expectations, and only return calls once your work is done.

  • Don’t do personal chores or errands while you are meant to be working. It will take twice as long to get your work done. Don’t tweet about it either, your boss is going to see you’re not working.

  • Don’t procrastinate and let the hours slip away. Create a routine you can stick to with a schedule that allows you be productive throughout the day.

  • Don’t work too much. Typically remote workers put in a lot extra time, its easy to fire up the laptop and spend another few hours working late into the night. You have a huge risk of burning out. Make sure your schedule makes sense.

These tips are a great start in being effective while working remotely. Follow them to the letter and you will be a very successful telecommuter. But if you’re anything like me, every now and then you need to throw caution to the wind. Go see a movie, take the afternoon off to enjoy the sun in the park, or dive into a book only to emerge hours later. The real joy in a flexible schedule is that you dictate when you need to work, and when you can afford to indulge in some spontaneous fun. Just don’t forget that an afternoon off might equate to staying up till 4am to meet that deadline.

But hey, that’s your call. The biggest perk of working remotely is being your own boss.

Author: Travis Bennett

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Filed under Motivation, Work and Business, Working Remotely

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