The journey of Dean Kuchel and how he became location independant 

The second episode of DND Goes Behind The Scenes is up! We interviewed a true globetrotter and digital nomad Dean to talk about the location’s independent lifestyle. Unlike many other nomads, Dean never planned to become a digital nomad. However, once he experienced the location independent lifestyle, there was no turning back. He convinced his boss to keep on working remotely and has been on the road since 2013. Dean is working remotely as a consultant for tech companies. His job is to help businesses with their customer success management and how to build relationships with clients. He shared his experiences on his website www.whereisdean.com and through his community Digital Nomads Israel. He traveled to over 90 countries and his goal is to travel to all the 196 countries in the world..

”Dont fake kindness but don’t be an asshole”

What person changes your life and led you to the location independent lifestyle?

His curiosity to travel the world and meet people from other countries was triggered by his mom who is a travel agent. The work and travel lifestyle though was something that just came on his path. While he was working in the USA and waiting for his visa, he started to work remote. Once he got the taste of it he didn’t want to come back to the office. And his is how his working remote lifestyle continues until today.

Dean spends the week in Bali and was mostly in digital nomad capital Canggu working from Dojo Coworking Space. First of all, it was a great week because he met a lot of new digital nomads. On top of that, he also hung out with people from his own community Digital Nomads Isreal. So it was a great mix of old friends and new friends. This is really one of the coolest things about the location independent lifestyle, there are so many people to meet!

What is challenging about living the location independent lifestyle?

‘‘My day to day job is not a challenge.” Dean is busy as a beaver. He is working on a lot of different things at once and meets a lot of people. However, his day job is not challenging. He shared four challenges:

Community – His community has 6000 members and his main challenge is to assist everyone. That takes a lot of time and energy while he is building his community and networking.

Family 
Another day-to-day challenge is being away from his family. Especially not seeing his nephews growing up is really hard.

Relationships – A common topic in the digital nomad community is the hurdles when talking about dating. We spoke about this with Digital Nomad Wade in the second episode of Digital Nomads Daily Goes Behind The Scenes. Dean is traveling a lot and moves fast so it’s challenging to find a partner.

Friendships – The location independent lifestyle allows you to meet a lot of people from all walks of life. It’s the ‘hi’s’ that make him excited about traveling so much. While the ‘goodbyes’ are is the hardest part. His only advice to himself and others is: ‘enjoy the moment, accept it and do quick goodbyes.’

What is your greatest failure in your location independent lifestyle so far?

The first thing Dean shares is that he doesn’t believe in something such as failure. Also, by just trying you are already succeeding he explains. A good lesson from the road is though to be nice and kind to all the people you meet. In his view, friends come and go, enemies accumulated over time. In other words, you might not be friends with everyone but you don’t want to have enemies either.

The second piece of advice from Dean is to say yes to everything and go explore. This mindset makes him happy and feel successful in his own way. Furthermore, he would prefer meeting people rather than staying at home by himself. Saying ”yes” is what brought me to a lot of experiences on this planet. Hence, nothing bad ever happened to me from saying yes. And nothing good happened to me from saying no, he adds.

What advice do you give yourself and others about how to live the digital nomad lifestyle?

As a professional globetrotter and digital nomad, Dean has 2 bits of advice for you in store:

Digital Nomad Tip #01 – Pack less

The concept is pretty simple – The less you own the more freedom you have. As a minimal and true digital nomad, Dean travels with a single carry-on and a backpack for his laptop only. This allows him to move around fast and easily and live the location independent lifestyle successfully.

Digital Nomad Tip # 02 – Say yes and go explore 

The second piece of advice from Dean is to say yes to everything and go explore. This mindset makes him happy and feel successful in his own way. Furthermore, he would prefer meeting people rather than staying at home by himself. Saying ”yes” is what brought me to a lot of experiences on this planet. Hence, nothing bad ever happened to me from saying yes. And nothing good happened to me from saying no, he adds.

”Free is the idea to go wherever you want and whenever you want. Object and things just keep you on the ground.”

What book or podcast do you recommend?

Many who live the location independent lifestyle have read the 4-hour workweek by Tim Ferris. However, Dean recommends reading ”The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson” The reason why he recommends this book is because it’s a great concept for people to push their dreams and ideas. On top of that, this book is a good read for people who are living or aspiring to the location Independent lifestyle. One of his favorite podcasts to disconnect is 99percentinvisible. These are random stories from all around the world hosted by Roman Mars.

Key Take Aways For Nomads

✅ Be realistic about your expectations of this lifestyle

✅ Always say yes to challenges and go explore

✅ The less you own the more freedom you have