Is Remote Work Facing its Most Fruitful or Scariest Year With Liam

“I believe that we will talk more about async work than remote work because almost all async work can be remote whereas sync work cannot be remote work.”

Meet successful entrepreneur and digital nomad Liam

He started his remote lifestyle way before digital nomadding was sexy and had been a nomad for 15 years. For Liam, it was a way of escaping winter and living a more fruitful life for a few months in the year elsewhere. Today he runs multiple software companies, including Time Docter, he is the co-author of the book Running Remote and the organizer of the largest remote work conference, Running Remote. Liam is an entrepreneur and remote work pioneer by heart and loves the slow-paced, aka slowmad, lifestyle.

Like many digital nomads who joined the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast, he built multiple income streams over the years. Aside from his software companies, the book, and the conference, Liam also consults and invests. Back in 2019, Nienke Nina joined Running Remote and met some digital nomads who shared their stories on the podcast like Kenny, who joined episode 14, and Jordan, who shared tips for remote job seekers in episode 12.

Running Remote: Master the Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Remote-Work Pioneers Hardcover – by Liam Martin and Rob Rawson. Get your copy here.

The big shift to remote work isn’t that fruitful

Liam is an expert in making remote work and aside from building and leading remote teams, he also collects and shares insights about adopting remote work. We asked Liam the biggest trends to look out for in 2023 and he shared that 2023 is probably the most fearful year for remote work and digital nomadism. But why is one of the biggest remote work advocates addressing this?

While remote worker advocates and remote-first companies focus on the benefits, many companies aren’t quite ready for this innovative way of working. The pandemic was an unexpected push towards enabling remote work, but since it wasn’t by choice, many companies focus on returning to the original way of work, which means going back to the office.

The impact of leaders non-remote first leaders like Elon Musk

The pre-pandemic mindset of where and how we get work done is a major pushback, but it intensified even more when Elon Musk bought Twitter. He basically called bullshit on remote work and was not the only one. So if large companies, especially tech companies, are not a fan of remote work but rather against it, how will this industry move towards normalizing remote work? To move the ‘remote first needle’, leading companies, influential leaders, and other stakeholders need to become the adopters of remote work.

The future of remote work is less about getting managed and more of self-management

Workers want to work primarily from home for many reasons, but not everyone wants to travel the world. Managers do not want their employees to work from home because they fear people are not working. These types of thoughts are fed by the idea that people can only be efficient in an office, but many studies have shown that this isn’t the reality. Again, if large companies aren’t adopting remote work, this mindset will remain and Liam shares,

‘‘They haven’t really understood that working remotely isn’t just recreating the office at home. It actually requires a completely different methodology with a different management philosophy in order to execute that’’

The future of work is asynchronous management

We have talked about asynchronous communication with remote work experts like Jurgen, Chase, and Iwo on the podcast. As a digital nomad, and you may not realize this, you often do your work in an asynchronous environment and use async communication styles to get your work done. For example, instead of sending a lengthy email, you would send a screen recording and probably manage your task in a project management tool like ClickUp, Trello, or Asana.

So digital nomads, freelancers, and remote workers are already masters of collaborating and communicating without doing it live and this is at the essence of asynchronous management. Liam shares that the vast majority of the workforce hasn’t been exposed to it, so this new way of work is underexposed and not part of the new reality. So going back to Liam’s point, working remotely isn’t just about recreating the office vibes virtually, it’s about adopting an async-focused management philosophy.

A great book about self-management is Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen and Liam recommends adding this to your read list.

How does the work force look like beyond 2023

While self-management is a must-skill for digital nomad and remote workers, Liam shares that it won’t move the needle when it comes to normalizing remote work or async work. In fact, according to him, the outlook is relatively grim and the focus should be more on understanding upper management. So the conversations should both address the benefits and challenges of remote work to make a strong case and win the war on remote work.

How to make your remote work environment more fruitful for your business and employees

A great recommendation by Liam is to test the waters before going all in. Many digital nomads these day also apply this when they transition into the digital nomad lifestyle and the same goes for companies experimentring with async or remote work.

The first step is recognizing that it’s not recreating the office but building towards a different methodology of how work gets done – which is asynchronous management. Companies can organize an async week where they prepare for this week of collaborating and communicating in an async work environment. Companies new to this working style take around 3 weeks to prepare where they will answer the question “What do we need to put together so that we do not need to communicate for an entire week efficiently?”

This process covers in a nutshell:
➡️ Where do we document important company knowledge

➡️ Where do we organize our tasks and projects?

➡️ Where do we communicate?

The answers to these questions are focused on what tools your employees will use and here are some examples:

➡️ Company and process documentation: Notion or triannual

➡️ Project management tool: Asana, Click up, Trello, Monday.com

➡️ Instant messaging tools: Slack, Twist or Microsoft teams

➡️ Asynchronous tools for video communication: Loom or Vimeo Record

➡️ Synchronous tools for video communication: Google Meets, Zoom or Skype

These are just a few tools. Before diving into the async week, you also want to survey your employees and ask how happy they are right now. After the experiment, you will run the exact survey to see how happy they are now and capture important learnings.

Running Remote – the largest conference to learn about remote work success strategies

We mentioned in the introduction that Liam is one of the organizers of Running Remote, which is the conference where remote-first companies, remote leaders and experts come together. Back in 2019, when Nienke Nina joined the conference was already powerful, but this year the conference and its mission are bigger. This year’s conference is about inspiring and selling the new way of work and Liam shares that if even one company is going to flip over and say, ‘‘yes, we are committing to remote work,’’ he achieved his mission.

At Running Remote, you will learn through keynote talks, panel discussions, workshops, and digital learning content in the community hub. Liam shares that the real magic of the event is in networking and making meaningful connections and encourages everyone to come a few days earlier to Lisbon.

Nienke Nina will be there with Digital Nomads Daily and we highly recommend you to consider getting a ticket! It’s also a great opportunity to meet 50+ experts such as David Allen, creator of the GTD framework, Sunaina Lobo, Chief HR & People Officer at Marqeta, Brian Elliott, Head of Future Forum & SVP at Slack, Annie Dean, Global Head of Team Anywhere at Atlassian, and Q Hamirani, Global Head of Work Anywhere at Airbnb.

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Meet digital nomad Liam

Find him on LinkedIn Liam Mclvor

Find him on Instagram @Liamremote

Find him on Twitter @liamremote

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #54: What Makes a Remote-First Company Culture with Chase

🎧 Episode #69: Making Remote Work Actually Work With Iwo

🎧 Episode #71: Digital Nomads Aka The Early Adopters Of Remote Work With Mitko

5 Key Questions Before Starting A Side Hustle with Nienke Nina

“There are so many reasons why time is challenging… I want to challenge you to think about time as a bigger concept and not just the hours itself.”

Do you really want to start a podcast?

That’s the first question digital nomad entrepreneur Nienke Nina asked herself when she started the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast. The answer was yes for her, but it was a conscious decision focused on a long-term vision and an impulse because podcasting sounds cool.

So this is focused on how your new project or side hustle would actually feel and come to life and if this is something you can do in the long term. Nienke Nina did many side hustles next to her full-time remote job, but they didn’t always make her tick overtime. So before hitting record and diving in, she took a moment to sit and understand the bigger picture of starting a podcast.

You can use this question for any project.
So again, do you want to start _______

The bigger picture

The next question is about visualizing the bigger picture. Many digital nomads and freedompreneurs focus on designing their own life. So they consciously think about where they want to live, with whom they want to spend their time, and how they want to make money. The digital nomad community attracts remote workers, freelancers, solopreneurs, and people who do a bit of both — so remote employees who have a side hustle, like Nienke Nina.

See the bigger picture as a gigantic pie where your new project or channel is just one piece. Your end game is not about becoming the biggest podcaster or YouTuber. Instead, go deeper and understand how it can help you thrive. A podcast can promote your business, attract new clients and grow your network.

So ask yourself how this project nurtures your business and how it fits your current lifestyle.

Everything in business takes time

Everyone, yes everyone, has only 24 hours in the day. Running a business, any size company, takes time and time management is even more challenging for busy entrepreneurs. Nienke Nina suggests thinking about time as a bigger concept and looking at how much time you spend on things in the week, your energy levels, and how much time you have for your project. This helps you better understand how your new project can fit your life.

🔎 Analyze your current calendar
🧩 Mark all your regular activities, including me-time, social time, and work time.
📌 Find moments of free-time in your calendar
🤑 Allocate time to work on your side-hustle
🔎 If you can’t find any gaps, reevaluate your activities and create time.

You are not alone and do it all on your own.

You might not see this on someone’s social media, but many entrepreneurs don’t do it all alone. Successful entrepreneurs like Marie Forleo, Jenna Kutcher, and Gary Vee, just to name a few, all have a team.

You don’t need a large team when you start, but you can think about what tasks you can outsource. This is especially handy if you don’t have a particular skill or simply can’t find the time. Your side hustle can be a team effort. It’s not only practical thinking, but you also have an accountability partner and probably more fun working on your side hustle.

When you think about your project, think about the production process. Here are a few things you can think about outsourcing for your podcast.

👉 Finding and selecting podcast guests

👉 Podcast episode preparation

👉 Editing the podcast

👉 Publishing podcast

👉 Podcast collaborations

👉 Guest communication

👉 Researching brand partnerships

Finding your unique voice

This is the strategy and creative part of building your podcast. You want to consider what your podcast is about, who your audience is and what are the common themes of your podcast. You also want to consider the look and feel of your content, your posting schedule and where you’re going to promote it.

Over time, this can shift a little bit, which is entirely normal. What is important is that you have a clear vision of your content and stay open-minded for tweaks and new ideas.

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #75: The Life Changing Benefit Of Living Abroad With Nienke Nina

🎧 Episode #73: Why Choosing To Become A Digital Nomad Freelancer with Dianni

🎧 Episode #49: 8 Freelancer Mindset Challenges to Overcome For Success With Steve

Grow Rich By Embracing Cultural Diversity With Nadia Harris

“We will get these authentic experiences if we step back, listen and observe and look at how this can make us richer from the inside.”

Meet the remote work advocate Nadia Harris

Nomadding Nadia grew up moving around a lot and loves traveling. Since 2018 she has been more or less constantly on the go and that’s when her digital nomad journey took off. She calls herself a part-time digital nomad because she has a place Nadia calls home in Poland.
Nadia is a multi-passionate entrepreneur and does various things to make a living. She is mostly known for her work as a remote work consultant, where she works with companies and implements remote work, policies, legal operations and all things you need to scale the company. She also has a side hustle which she has been doing for nine years already! Many people don’t know about her, but Nadia speaks five languages (German, English, Polish, French and Russian) and is a legal and medical live interpreter. We love that Nadia shares this with us because it shows that you can monetize the skills you got and not all side hustles are creative side hustles.

When you don’t feel like you belong anywhere

The digital nomad lifestyle comes with many perks and challenges at the same time. Some of these challenges are small and others are big like Wi-Fi connections. What is interesting about cultural challenges is that they are unique to everyone, but all digital nomads and international teams face them, each human in a unique way.

Nadia knows this all too well because she grew up as a 3rd culture child. She was raised in a Polish/American family in Germany. One of the most challenging things for her was a feeling of belonging as each unique situation, from playing with friends to singing songs with her grandma, has its own language and culture triads. This created a strong urge to explore the world and seek a feeling of belonging, but it wasn’t easy.

Nadia moved to the states and during the first 2-3 months, she loved it, but then she started to neglect things. Her joy transformed into a strong feeling of missing everything she had left behind. Then, she went back to Europe, but the feeling of not belonging creeped back up again. She realized that it’s not just one place, which is why the digital nomad lifestyle is a great fit for her life needs.

Typical cultural challenges digital nomads experience

Many digital nomads are curious and this is a characteristic we often discuss on the podcast. Nadia is also curious-minded and she loves getting out of her comfort zone, although this doesn’t mean it’s flawless. She shares that while she loves it and needs it to feel connected with herself, she also gets scared.

‘‘There is always a moment where I’m like, what the hell am I doing? How is it going to be? Of course, I have this each and every single time, but I still manage to overcome it.’’

The grass is always greener on the other side

One of the biggest challenges Nadia faces as a digital nomad is that the grass is always greener on the other side. Typically, digital nomads always need to adapt to their new surroundings, which taps into the simplest things like how much something costs or the vibes in general.

Don’t be an intruder but an observer.

Another thing Nadia learned is never to be an intruder but an observer instead. By observing people, you can learn about the local habits and treat them respectfully. So digital nomads have the opportunity to understand better that every culture is unique and so are all the people around you. In other words, the place you visit is not your territory and you are the one that’s invited.

‘‘I think that the whole concept of digital nomadding is not about me “look, this is me, I have the money to travel, I have the visa to travel, and I don’t care about you. I’m just going to have tons of fun. But the concept is to broaden your horizons and to get all these experiences.’’

 Nadia shares that you experience this only by simply just to sit back, observing and acknowledging that all this will make us richer from the inside.

Why companies should hire digital nomads

The digital nomad lifestyle isn’t just for solopreneurs and freelancers, many digital nomads have remote jobs. It’s exciting to see that more companies are hiring remotely, but what we love to see is that hiring digital nomads is the new normal. Nadia is a remote work expert and consults with companies and we ask her to take on why companies should hire digital nomads.

It’s not a shocker that Nadia 100% agrees that digital nomads are great assets for an international and/or remote company. Since digital nomads are espoused to many cultures and constantly need to adapt, these skills are great to have in an international team. While companies tend to impose their culture and working systems on others, digital nomads are more experienced with cultural clashes and people from other cultures. They can help increase awareness and create a place where people feel like they belong.

🌟 Set mutual rules and boundaries and encourage people to speak out loud
🌟 Acknowledge that each culture has its habits and embrace the fact that we are different
🌟 Understand and define the communication style and make sure people act on it
🌟 Focus on what people can teach you instead of you imposing your habits on your people

Lastly, numbers are just numbers and companies can only adopt a better inclusion mindset if they think beyond numbers and focus on people feeling they belong.

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Meet digital nomad Nadia

Find her on Instagram @remoteworkadvocate

Find her on LinkedIn Nadia Harris 

Check out her website www.remoteworkadvocate.com

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #67: 7 Digital Nomad Tips For Facing Cultural Challenges with Mirjam

🎧 Episode #69: Making Remote Work Actually Work With Iwo

🎧  Episode #71: Digital Nomads Aka The Early Adopters Of Remote Work With Mitko

The Life Changing Benefits Of Living Abroad With Nienke Nina

“It’s been a wild ride! Like really real wild. There have been moments that I ran out of money, moments that I had too many projects going on and I couldn’t figure out my schedule and here have been moments I felt so sad… This relates a lot to why I started Digital Nomads Daily.”

Living abroad was the best thing that ever happened

The digital nomad journey of Nienke Nina didn’t precisely start the same as how people decide to become digital nomads these days. Her first experience abroad as a student in Denmark was a stepping stone to this new and adventurous lifestyle. Back then, she didn’t speak English and one of her goals was to learn the language.

In Denmark, people from different countries joined the program and it was her first time living in an international environment. After six months, it was time to go home, but that was not what Nienke Nina wanted. So she applied for internships abroad and her next stop was Milan, Italy. Working and studying abroad are very different experiences and Nienke Nina missed a sense of community during the internship. Luckily she made a friend who ended up a housemate. She extended her stay and decided to write her research thesis also in Milan and going back to the Netherlands was not an option.

Meeting the first digital nomad

After living abroad in Europe, Nienke Nina decided to move to the Philippines. You might wonder, why the Philippines? During one of the trips with her friends, they invited her and from that moment on, she set eyes on moving to Asia. After a couple of months of preparing, she found a job, bought a one-way ticket, and moved to the Philippines.

She took the role of community manager in a startup focused on education. While she lived it, the startup life wasn’t always as sexy as it sounds. Working many hours eventually created signs of burnout, but this wasn’t a discussed topic back then. A friend of Nienke Nina suggested coming to Bali for two weeks to work remotely and get some air from the big city of Manila. He was a business owner working remotely and the first digital nomad she met.

Bali is a digital nomad magnet and a great place to start

The Indonesian island is a digital nomad magnet and people who joined the podcast started their digital nomad journey in Bali too.
For example, our guest Tiffany went for a holiday and ended up staying too. Digital nomad Kenny went to the island during his sabbatical and redesigned his life.

After living the lifestyle for two weeks, Nienke Nina also got hooked. But why do people love Bali so much? It’s a great destination and especially for newbie nomads. Here is why:

❤️ Attracts many digital nomads and entrepreneurs
❤️ Affordable cost of living for a high quality of living
❤️ Many conscious living activities and healthy food options
❤️ Beautiful scenery like rice fields and stunning sunsets
❤️ Lots of co-working spaces with good internet speeds

This is why Bali is one of the best places to start your digital nomad lifestyle.

How to really become a digital nomad

So after Bali, Nienke Nina returned to Manila to plan her new lifestyle. You see, it sounds easy just to pack your bags and leave, but the transformation was rather large Nienke Nina realized this. She quit her job, returned to Bali, and found a remote job. Like many newbie digital nomads, she was curious about how others do it and started interviewing other digital nomads. She recorded this and this is how Digital Nomads Daily came to life. Back then, it was a blog and since 2022, it’s a community platform and podcast for digital nomads.

Living this lifestyle is a lot of fun, but Nienke Nina shares that it can be challenging. Even now, after so many years of nomadding, she still faces many challenges and this is part of the lifestyle. This podcast is one way to find comfort, inspiration and motivation. She also shares that tuning in with yourself and learning how to listen to yourself is very important. So keep asking yourself reflective questions about your personal, social, work, and goals.

Final takeaways

🌱 Nothing happens overnight, so take your time and allow yourself to experiment.
🌱 Try living abroad for at least a couple of months once in your life, whether it’s as a digital nomad, volunteering, or learning a new language.
🌱 Tune in with yourself and ask reflective questions to help design your life.
🌱 Be open-minded to new things and learn because only then you can grow

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Other episodes you might like:

🎧  Episode #39: The 5 misconceptions of the digital nomad lifestyle with Charlie

🎧  Episode #50: Creating Your Career Around The Lifestyle You Want To Live With Natasha

🎧 Episode #51: How To Live A Balanced And Joyful Remote Life With Ali

Building The Ultimate Freedom Lifestyle With Jon

“The learning has been that I’m much bigger than my business is at the moment, I have so much more potential. So, how I’m doing at the moment doesn’t show anything about my value or my happiness.”

Meet freedom seeker Jon

Can you imagine living in a self-made house in the middle of the Estonian woods? Jon is a freedom seeker living an extraordinary life and is somewhat of a digital nomad. While other digital nomads love to travel or live abroad, Jon’s ultimate freedom lifestyle is being surrounded by nature, consuming little and working whenever he wants. He used to live in the Philippines and used to have a corporate life as an analyst. He discovered his passion for entrepreneurship and focused on building something for himself.

Like many other guests on the podcast, he has multiple income streams. He has an online business, a tea company and receives grants from the European European Innovation Technology Institute EIT.

Designing his own life

The ultimate dream was to build his own house and be free from others and typical society things. He saw a documentary about the island and found a beautiful land in the forest in Estonia on an island called Saaremaa, situated on the west coast.

He lives a conscious lifestyle and learned how to build his own house from scratch using sustainable and green materials. He is also testing sustainable building materials, and the project is currently growing. Since his business is climate-friendly, he receives grants from the EIT because they fund European green companies. It is a very unusual way of making a living but aligns very well with the essence of the digital nomad lifestyle – designing your own life.

What is crucial for building healthy habits?

Building habits is vital for everyone but even more so for freedom seekers. When you live a lifestyle where you decide what time to wake up, when to work, and how much you want to work, you need to make some decisions and set boundaries. This isn’t how many people are raised and it comes with some challenges.

Digital nomads who travel experience similar challenges. In fact, everyone who takes ownership of their life will face this. Healthy habits are the key to success and we asked Jon what habits are crucial for him to live a healthy and happy life.

🌱 Starting a new habit means repeating it before it becomes a habit.

🌱 Reward yourself after you complete the action

🌱 Let the habit sink in and give yourself time, say 40 consistent moments.

🌱Make the environment comfortable for you to stick to that habit.

🌱 Do it together with a friend or other commitment partner.

🌱 Share your new habit on social media and activity report about it.

🌱 Financially commit to your habit so you won’t lose the investment and get results.

Mindset tips for digital nomad entrepreneurs and solopreneurs

Jon is an entrepreneur in many ways and he shared some of the biggest lessons of his entrepreneurship journey in this episode. We love talking about this on the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast because it’s inspiring and motivating to learn from other digital nomads.

Digital nomad entrepreneur lesson 1

Take care of your foundation, meaning your mental and physical health. This is the foundation of your business because it impacts your work and environment if you are not feeling OK. So it’s effortless to get lost in the doing and forget your own mental and physical health and you have to be mindful of this.

Digital nomad entrepreneur lesson 2

Health goes further than your body; another focus should be developing your mental fitness. You do this by reading, being surrounded by people who positively impact your life, and by setting boundaries.

Digital nomad entrepreneur lesson 3

Your business is not a reflection of you and Jon shares that he realized that he is much bigger than his business is at any moment. He knows he has so much more potential and how he is doing now doesn’t show anything about his value or happiness.

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Meet freedom seeker Jon 

Find him on LinkedIn @jonender

Other episodes you might like:

🎧  Episode #25: How To Optimize Your Brain To Increase Performance With Angela

🎧  Episode #51: How To Live A Balanced And Joyful Remote Life With Ali

🎧 Episode #57: 5 Tips To Live A More Intentional And Balanced Life with Kasia

Why Choosing To Become A Digital Nomad Freelancer with Dianni

“It took a bit of trial and error to figure out what I actually want this to look like and how I am going to make it work.”

Meet digital nomad freelancer Dianni

She started her nomadic lifestyle backpacking and has been enjoying a travel lifestyle for four years also. At the beginning of her journey, she wasn’t a digital nomad though because she would save up, travel and go home when she was running low on cash. Then, she would return to the United States to work and save up enough to head out and explore the world. The longest she would stay abroad was around six months but Dianni desired more.

How Dianni started her freelance career

Before freelancing, Dianni taught English in Spain. It’s common for Americans to start their abroad journey teaching English and digital nomad Natasha also did this in Spain. Dianni had one of these pivotal moments because it was time to pack her bags again, but she decided to find a way to stay abroad and became an au pair. The downside of this was that as an au pair, she wouldn’t earn enough to live her dream life so in another pivotal moment, she decided to figure out how to enjoy her travel life while working online.

Her answer was starting her freelance career. Dianni is a creative digital nomad and has one thing in common with Nienke Nina, podcasting. She has her own podcast, While She Is Away, which brings in some income combined with affiliate marketing, but her main income stream is her freelance work. She offers podcasting-related services like editing, management, and setting up podcasts for others. She also does some community management User Generated Content.

Becoming a digital nomad

Starting a new career can feel overwhelming and sometimes very unpredictable because you are unsure when you will get the job or your first clients. Combining this with the digital nomad lifestyle adds even more stuff to think about. Dianni decided to ease the process and work with a coach. Her strong passion for podcasting helped her define her freelance services and the process of transforming into a new lifestyle took around six months. So while it looks online that people pack their bags and leave, many digital nomads take time to think it through, create a plan and build a solid foundation before nomadding. It doesn’t sound sexy, but the overall experience will be less stressful, so you can enjoy your new lifestyle even more.

The perks of the freelance lifestyle

Some people might argue that freelancers aren’t real business owners, but if you are a solopreneur and have your own thing, at Digital Nomads Daily, we see freelancers also as business owners. We ask Dianni the biggest perks of the freelance lifestyle and she shares:

1️⃣ Less responsibility because she receives the task, does the work, and then gives it back to her client.

2️⃣ More flexibility to work on long or short-term projects. She prefers long-term projects and podcasting services work great as it involves a series of episodes compared to a blog post or website where you might only do a one-time project.

Figuring out your freelance style comes with experience, so if you are thinking about freelancing but aren’t sure about your offerings yet, go experiment and find out what sparks joy and take note of this.

If you want to ask more questions about this or learn from others, join our Digital Nomad Freedompreneur Group. We will share life lessons and stories from other digital nomad entrepreneurs and freelancers.

Life lessons with digital nomad Dianni

On the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast, we love to ask about BIG learnings and support other nomads. This lifestyle had many fun elements and we all love it, but let’s face it – it’s not picture perfect!

It’s not easy to work online from anywhere.

The lifestyle is very romanticized, so we are interviewing digital nomads. Dianna shares that she would just go to Europe to work from her computer, and everything would fall into place. She was wrong about that and learned that you need a ton of discipline to contour distractions and focus on work.

Fast pace travel doesn’t work

During her backpacking years, she would hop from one spot to another spot quickly. As a digital nomad, she has to prioritize different aspects, like a Wi-Fi connection, a proper workspace, etc. So logistically, it was also figuring out how to work and travel simultaneously. On top of that, travel takes time, so spending a lot of your time unpacking, packing, working, socializing and traveling gets tough.

Digital nomads needs also need sense of home

Feeling grounded is a common theme in this lifestyle and we talked about it with digital nomad Kasia on the podcast. Staying in the same place for at least a month allows you to do all the sexy and fun things, work online and take care of your well-being. Knowing how you are REALLY doing helps you learn more about yourself and grow on multiple levels.

All struggle digital nomads struggle

Anxiety, impostor syndrome and uncertainty about your next steps are entirely normal in the digital nomad lifestyle, especially for freelancers and business owners. Everyone has experienced this, no matter if you are in your first week, haven’t even started yet, or are in your 3rd year.

All of this above is part of this journey and our advice from talking with hundreds of nomads about this is to take it easy and find a community to support you. Our group is one of these places where we openly do this, so make sure to join us!

Connect with our Nienke Nina and our guests

Your host Nienke Nina

More digital nomad tips and life advice via instagram @digitalnomadsdaily

Connect with Nienke Nina on LinkedIn @Nienke Nina Keizer

Find Nienke Nina on Instagram @nienkeninatravels

Meet digital nomad Dianni 

Find her on Instagram @whilesheisaway

Check out her TikTok account @whilesheisaway

Other episodes you might like:

🎧 Episode #39: The 5 misconceptions of the digital nomad lifestyle with Charlie

🎧 Episode #49: 8 Freelancer Mindset Challenges to Overcome For Success With Steve

🎧 Episode #64: Tips For Organizing Your Daily Digital Nomad Life with Eddie