The Beginning

Thanks to the remote work opportunities offered by Yumasoft, I decided to give this lifestyle a try. In May 2022, I purchased a van, an Opel Vivaro. Over the next 8 months, in my spare time, I transformed it into a campervan. The conversion itself was an adventure, requiring a significant amount of work, the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, and patience. The end result brought me great satisfaction and faith in my own abilities. In early January 2023, I set off on my journey.

The Route

I began my journey in Wrocław (Poland) and headed straight for Spain. I wanted to escape the cold and rainy weather as quickly as possible. In less than 4 days, I reached the French-Spanish border, and since then, the sun accompanied me for (almost) the entire six-month journey.

The plan was to travel around the Iberian Peninsula along the coast. And this plan almost succeeded. Almost, because to my surprise, in May, northern Spain was still chilly and rainy. I avoided the interior simply because it was much colder there than on the coast. You can see the route of my journey on the map.

The return journey, from the Spanish-French border to Wrocław, was also without many stops, except for a few days visiting friends in Brussels.

At the beginning of June, after traveling 10,000 kilometers on wheels and (luckily the last) 500 kilometers on a tow truck, I reached Wrocław.

Life in the Campervan

I equipped the campervan to be self-sufficient. That means I have a toilet on board, water tanks, and a solar panel providing electrical power. This allows me to avoid using campgrounds. Out of approximately 150 nights, I spent maybe 15 in campgrounds. This not only saved me a lot of money but, more importantly, allowed me to “live” in beautiful places: on beaches, cliffs, in pine forests, by lakes, rivers, and in the mountains. Although there were times when I slept in a supermarket parking lot or in the city center. I mainly found “wild” spots using the Park4Night app, which is popular among vanlifers, enabling me to meet like-minded people and chat with them around a campfire.

Life in the campervan is simple but not easy. It’s simple in a way, similar to life in the countryside: without haste, distractions, in peace, in contact with nature and its rhythm. It’s not easy because it lacks the conveniences we’re accustomed to: the amount of water in the tank is limited, as is the gas in the bottle, space is limited, and you have to search for a new place to stay almost every day, as well as places to refill clean water, empty dirty water, and the toilet every few days.

The combination of advantages, apparent disadvantages, and remote work provides flexibility and freedom, which is the essence of this lifestyle. You can plan your trips as you see fit, at your own pace, adapting to your work schedule and personal preferences.

Working in the Campervan

Working in the campervan is not simple and not easy! The limited space rules out having a comfortable chair, a large desk, or two additional monitors. It’s definitely less comfortable than at home or in an office. 

Just like working from home, working from a campervan requires self-discipline and good organization. Additionally, the beautiful changing view outside the window doesn’t help. You have to cultivate the mindset that it’s not a vacation; it’s a privilege to be able to work in such places. Despite these challenges, work provides additional satisfaction because it enables us to lead this kind of lifestyle.

Regarding the internet, in each country I purchased a local SIM card with mobile data. Usually, the coverage was good. When it was poor or nonexistent, I had to move a few kilometers or change plans altogether. Fortunately, this happened rarely. An alternative solution would be Starlink, but it’s very expensive.

Reflections

Living on the road allows you to feel the call of adventure, a thrill of excitement, step out of your comfort zone, and get to know yourself better. However, long-term travel like this isn’t for everyone. Therefore, it’s best to rent a campervan for a week first and see if it suits you. I sincerely recommend giving it a try.

Life in a campervan as a digital nomad has far more advantages than disadvantages. Besides work, traveling allows you to discover new cultures, flavors, and traditions. Meeting local residents and fellow travelers from all over Europe becomes a way to broaden your horizons and understand the diversity of the world. It’s a lifestyle that promotes a minimalist approach to material possessions and paying attention to what truly matters.

The post Half a year in a campervan in Spain and Portugal appeared first on Yumasoft.

The development of remote work has increased significantly in the recent months. How is that affecting the world and politics? Have governments already defined who a digital nomad is? How do countries see remote workers – are they welcome or not? What about visa problems for digital nomads – is it being solved, or is still kept in the gray area? ?

In today’s essay, I’m trying to answer these questions and make some predictions on how the future of remote work will look like.

Remote work in 2021

First, let’s see a few statistics. We’ve already taken a brief look at them, but it was more related to digital nomads. Let’s see, what can we say about the current state of telework.

This is quite interesting. As we all know, COVID increased the number of remote workers significantly in 2020. Now we can see the employees in the United States are slowly, but steadily, going back to offices. Even though, in June 2021, when the economy has already been going back on track for quite some time, 35% of employees are remote workers. Before the pandemic, this was only 7%.

In addition to that, 30% of people work in hybrid mode (few days in the office and few days working from home). That all means that 65% of the US workforce is capable of doing their work remotely.

These people will still want to leverage workations and living in different places than their employers or clients are based. This is especially true for those employed in big cities, where costs of living are relatively high. Often, by moving to a lower-cost area, these people can save a lot of money.

We know the scale, but what about quality?

As you can see, with time passing, more employees and employers think remote work increases productivity.

This makes sense, because with time, companies are refining their telework policies, getting used to using proper communication tools and techniques etc.

Fine. Now it’s clear that the working out-of-office has got really popular in the last 2 years. Employers and employees were forced to switch to this working mode, which was far from ideal at the beginning. However, in the end, they made it better. Tools improved and work’s quality followed ?

Sovereign Individuals – the new social class of the digital age

It might be surprising to most of you, but this scenario (common telework, physical borders losing their meaning etc.) was predicted in a 1999-book The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age. The authors provide a wide context on how societies change when a new era is coming. The modern era – information age – has been predicted to be the fastest-coming revolution in history. That’s exactly what we can see today, and this phenomenon is often called the digital era ?

One of the most significant predictions made by Sovereign Individual authors is that the nation states and governments, as we used to know them, will become obsolete and less significant in XXI century. As people can now easily vote with their feet, countries should start competing for digital workers, referred to as sovereign individuals.

I don’t want to go into too many details here. If you want to know more, I strongly recommend reading the book.

However, let’s try to see whether the governments really care about remote workers.

How are governments attracting remote workers?

Currently, in my view, governments can divided into 2 types from remote work point of view:

• completely ignoring the fact of digital workers’ existence and their troubles, keeping telework in the gray area
• seeing huge potential in remote workers and going ahead of their needs, welcoming and encouraging them to move into their countries and work remotely from there.

Still, most governments prefer the first, gray area option ?‍ Fortunately, there are more and more countries attracting digital nomads, offering tax incentives and easy visa processes. Let’s see a few of the most interesting examples in the next sections.

Georgia

Georgia (the country) has launched heir Remotely from Georgia program in the middle-2020 to attract digital workers from around the world. Citizens of 95 countries were allowed to enter the country and legally work remotely while in Georgia. All this happened during the global pandemic, when most countries in the world were closed to foreigners.

Would you ever think, that such a small country like Georgia proposes such a solution? It’s not common, even within the most popular digital nomad destinations, to give legal work permit in such an easy way. The only requirement was $2000 earnings per month for covering expenses while in the country.

What’s even more interesting, Georgia is offering very attractive tax rates for freelancers – you can pay as little as 1% tax on your income.

Portugal

Portugal has become a digital nomads’ hub in Europe in the last few months. It seems that the mild climate, quite affordable living costs and nomads-friendly attitude of government officials attracted a lot of digital nomads into the country.

In the recent interview, Portugal’s Minister of Labor and Social Security said:

Telework can be a ‘game changer’ if we profit from the advantages and reduce the disadvantages (…)

We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in, we want to attract them to Portugal.

Ana Mendes Godinho, Portugal’s Minister of Labor and Social Security, source

It is very nice to hear that some countries are welcoming digital nomads, a phrase that can’t often be heard in South-East Asia, for instance ?

EU citizens can easily travel to and work remotely from Portugal based on EU laws. However, what’s interesting is that Portugal is offering the D7 visa also to non-EU citizens. The requirement is to have a passive income equivalent to €7,620 per year. This allows anyone to live and work legally in Portugal, opening a business there or qualify for Portuguese citizenship after 5 years in the country.

Malta

Malta is another country which is very open to remote workers. They have launched an official program called Nomad Residence Permit. As long as you are employed by a foreign company, are a freelancer or owner of an offshore company and can work remotely, you qualify for the nomad permit. You must also have a gross monthly income of 2,700 EUR.

An interesting point here is that the digital nomads earning money remotely while in Malta are not subjected to personal income tax. You only need to pay the tax in the country where your income is generated (or where your tax residency is, but not in Malta).

Costa Rica

In August 2021, Costa Rica approved a law to introduce digital nomads visas. You need to earn at least $3000 per month (or $5000 per family). If your application is successful, you can stay in Costa Rica for up to a year, with a possibility to extend it for another year. Previously, a tourist visa allowed people from most countries to stay only for 90 days.

Similarly to Malta, digital nomad visa holders are exempt from paying local income tax in Costa Rica. Teleworkers can also easily open a bank account in the country.

Taiwan

Coming back to South-East Asia… As I already mentioned, countries in this region of the world still keep digital nomads mostly in gray area. However, there’s a tiny island which seems to have noticed the potential ?

This island country is Taiwan. Within their Gold Card program, foreigners can obtain resident visa and work permit in the country. The card allows you to work legally in Taiwan, but also work remotely for offshore clients or companies.

To be eligible for the Taiwanese Gold Card, your professional skills must be related to one of the following areas: Science and Technology, Economics, Education, Culture and Art, Sport, Finance, Law, or Architecture. As long as you can prove your skills in one of them (e.g. by presenting an academic thesis or work experience proof), the card should be given to you without bigger issues. As programmers, we are a perfect fit ?

Gold Card valid for 1 year costs around $160, while the one valid for 2 years costs around $200. You can also bring your spouse, who can also apply for residence and work permit in Taiwan. You will also be eligible for public healthcare after 6 months waiting period.

In addition to all that, for the first 3 years of living in Taiwan with Gold Card, half of your income up to around $110,000 will not be taxable. Sounds good, doesn’t it? ?

What about the most popular digital nomad destinations?

What’s surprising for me, most of the most popular digital nomads destinations and not doing their homework here. It seems they don’t see (or don’t want to see?) the potential in remote work and the changes that happened very quickly in the last few months.

A great example is Indonesia, the country which normally attracts a lot of teleworkers into its island Bali. They have recently announced to launch a digital nomad visa in the near future. However, the planned requirements are insane. You will have to deposit around $143,000 (or around $179,000 for family) in an Indonesian bank account in order to be eligible for the visa… ?‍

In my opinion, such countries will lose a lot in the years to come. Remote workers have a huge potential for bringing a lot of money into the country. The countries that realize that soon enough will be the winners.

The future of remote work

I think that more and more countries will realize the potential of telework. They will start defining who digital nomads are and how their income should be taxed. Easy-to-obtain work visas for remote workers will be more popular. As national borders are beginning to have much less meaning, countries will need to start competing for location-independent professionals. Digital workers will seek for a state in which the taxes they pay are proportional to the value they get.

Will the residency and associated benefits become a free market good? Will the governments be competing with each other, offering “a better residency package”? I guess we will see that in the years to come. For sure, COVID accelerated these movements a lot. Now the question is, which countries will realize that and enter the new “market” the fastest.

The post How Remote Work Is Changing The World appeared first on Yumasoft.

However, as with everything, being a digital nomad has its dark sides. In today’s article, I’m exploring the most annoying digital nomads problems. Read on to be well-prepared for this lifestyle before you decide to take it on! ?

Visas

When traveling full-time, visas can be a real pain. When living in your home country, you don’t think about that aspect of life at all. However, digital nomads who want to stay longer in a foreign country must apply for an appropriate visa first. What’s problematic is the permitted length of stay. In most Southeast Asian countries, which are very popular among remote workers, foreigners can stay in the country for up to one month. After that time passes, you need to either exit the country or apply for another, often expensive visa extension.

Because of that, there’s a common practice within digital nomads called a visa run. It basically means to leave a particular country by bus or plane for a day or two (sometimes even for just several hours!), only to go back and get another visa stamp in your passport ? Some countries are even trying to introduce mechanisms preventing visa runs. All this makes digital nomads life complicated, stressful and costly.

Taxes

One of the most frustrating digital nomads problems is taxation. In most countries in the world, if you stay for longer than 6 months, you should be paying taxes in the country you’re staying in. However, because remote work is still a gray area in most of the world, the taxes often cannot be technically paid by a foreigner.

The issue is that most of the world’s countries still have not defined what a remote work really is and how the taxation and visa rules relate to it. In effect, often you are not able to legally obtain a visa that gives you a tax ID, which is needed for paying taxes ?

Even if you finally get a tax ID in the country you live in, there are issues with double taxation. Assuming you have your company registered in your home country and are still paying taxes there, you might be taxed twice – both by your home country and your new residence country. In such case, digital nomads must analyze the double taxation agreements between the two countries, which are often hard to understand. Establishing your double taxation rules sometimes requires consulting a local tax advisor, which adds up to the cost of your trip.

Apartments not suitable for remote work

For me, this is a very annoying point! If I were to choose one of the digital nomads problems I could magically solve, I would vote for apartments not adjusted for working. Sometimes even such a would-seem-irrelevant thing like a bad table or chair not suitable for working with a laptop can be a disaster for your stay. Especially if you book a flat for a longer period.

What I hate the most are these IKEA chairs, popular in the whole world ?:

I can’t even express how much I do hate this chair ? Maybe they look fancy, but try sitting on it and working with laptop for 8 hours… The back of this chair is very flexible/elastic, so it is impossible to sit straight on it. So I am publicly asking all apartments owners – please stop buying IKEA FANBYN (and similar) chairs! ?

Adding to that too low/too high tables, poor WiFi quality and not enough light, the apartment you book for a few months can become your remote work prison!

Internet

Digital nomads need constant Internet access. While in most cities it is not a problem, when you want to travel to a bit more remote areas it becomes painful. WiFi is often unreliable, and mobile networks also often can’t be counted on.

I remember joining our daily meeting with Yumasoft team in late 2019, when I was living in a remote part of Bali, Indonesia. Amed is a beautiful place, with rice fields and volcano views, but the Internet really sucks there ? On a video call, I couldn’t use my camera of course. Even with only voice, I remember me saying something and the guys in Poland hearing it after 20-30 seconds. It was fun, but also a bit of stress.

Time zones

Another challenge digital nomads face on a daily basis are time zones. Working from different continents than your colleagues requires you to adjust to the majority of the team’s timezone. Having my team based in Europe while living in Asia, I had to start working around noon and finish work around 8PM.

This becomes even more problematic if most of your team is based in the same place all the time. This has been my case for almost 3 years at Yumasoft. Fortunately, we are quite flexible with working hours, and we try to use asynchronous communication as much as we can. Nevertheless, if you want to become a digital nomad, be prepared that time zones will most probably not be your best friends ? Of course, remember to always check the timezone in the country you are going to travel to!

Making friends/socializing

Many digital nomads problems are related to social aspects of life. Working remotely, it might be hard to make new friends. If you are not an outgoing person or maybe an introvert (as many programmers are), you will not have the safe physical office space to expose you to some social interactions.

Getting trapped at your apartment may make you more isolated than you have ever been before. The solution is to sometimes go out to a café or a coworking space. You can always meet like-minded people there. However, for introverts, it may come at a price.

The same applies to the team you work at. If some of your teammates work at the office, you may feel “out of sync”. Some jokes and stories are always only told in the office, and you will not hear them. It might make you feel “out of the team” at some point.

That is why, at Yumasoft we try to organize remote work properly. It is very important that everyone feels part of the team. However, be prepared that it may not work ideally in every company you may work for.

Work-traveling balance

This point is similar to work-life balance, but what work takes from us in case of digital nomads is not life, but traveling ?

Imagine you are living on an exotic island in Thailand. The weather is great, there are some stunning beaches around you have not visited yet – you arrived just 3 days ago. However, you must finish this important task… Maybe you can go on Saturday? Not this time – you must visit the local immigration office for your visa extension.

That is what I mean by work-traveling balance. Being in exotic and interesting places makes you wanting to explore them, not work ? Going further – sometimes you cannot go to some place, because it is not suitable for remote work (poor Internet etc.). It makes you resign from visiting some cool places around, because you need to work. Even if they are at your fingertips. Unfortunately, being a digital nomad is not a constant holiday ?

Not being understood by others

After you start a digital nomad lifestyle, you will notice that no one really understands what you do. Your friends and family members will soon be introducing you as “the guy who travels”. Most of your family will have no idea what you actually do at work. They will say: “she does something on her laptop”.

Unfortunately, most people will also not understand your decision to leave home and constantly travel. This is not the lifestyle most people can and choose to have. Be prepared for not being understood by people who surrounded you until this moment. On the positive side, when leading a digital nomad lifestyle, you will quickly meet fellow nomads who will understand you very well ?

Medical insurance

Last but not least – medical insurance. When traveling the world, it can be one of the most costs-generating digital nomads problems. You may still be covered by a public healthcare in your home country, but in most of the countries in the world you are not covered for health problems at local hospitals. If something happens, you have to pay even for using local public healthcare.

That is why digital nomads must but a worldwide medical insurance. Most of the typical travel insurances will not work, because they are usually time-limited. It means that you cannot travel for few years on a travel insurance. You should buy a nomad medical insurance.

Prices for good medical insurance for digital nomads start from 500 USD per year. If you suffer from chronic diseases, it will be even more expensive. You should also read the insurance policy very carefully to be sure it will cover your medical expenses in every case. Especially now, during COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital nomads problems – summary

As you can see, nomadic lifestyle is not perfect – it has its drawbacks as any other lifestyle ? For me, after almost 3 years of working remotely and traveling, I can surely say that the benefits of being a digital nomad outweigh all of these problems. But it is important that you are prepared for them, so they do not surprise you when you get on the road.

Of course, it is always best to check it yourself! There are now many more companies like Yumasoft that allow their employees to work remotely. Just give it a try and see for yourself! ?

The post Most Annoying Digital Nomads Problems appeared first on Yumasoft.

At Yumasoft, we leverage remote work. It allows people who cooperate with us to freely travel if they’d like to. Everyone can choose to live in a place they feel comfortable. Especially in current times, when pandemic has changed a lot in terms of remote work. Let’s make a good use of it ?

Bali, Indonesia

This is my top of the places for digital nomads in Southeast Asia. Bali was one of the first remote workers spots in the world. It combines Western amenities with magical Balinese culture.

In Bali, you can easily find nice cafés suitable for working with laptop. The Internet on the island is not the fastest in the world, but usually stable and good enough for video calls. There are also plenty of coworking spaces. One of them is Hubud, probably the most popular cowork and digital nomads community in the world.

Bali offers a great value for money ? For similar amount of money you’d spend in Europe, you can live here on a much higher lever than back home. In the same time, you can find most of the European products in local supermarkets. The same applies for cafés and restaurants – if you are fed up with local food (which is great, by the way!), you can easily find Western dishes.

Another great thing about living in Bali is that you basically live in nature. Independently of a place in Bali you choose to stay in, you will be surrounded with palms, rice fields and waterfalls. From almost every corner in Bali, you can see one of its volcanoes. In an hour drive you can reach seaside or mountains. Bali also has really nice beaches in its south part of Uluwatu.

Last but not least, Bali has a relatively mild tropical climate, as for this part of Asia. While there are crazily hot summers in Thailand or north of Indonesia with 40+ Celsius degrees, you can still find nice, chilly places in Bali. For me, this is very important, as I can’t stand scorching weather for longer periods ?

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai is another sentimental place for me. I visited this city in the north of Thailand twice, and I always felt great there.

Similarly to Bali, you can easily find many fancy cafés and coworking spaces in Chiang Mai. Going out to work with laptop is never a problem ?

There’s a quite big digital nomads community in Chiang Mai with many events happening. The Internet is fast (around 30MB/s should be a minimum) and stable.

Modern, condo-style, swimming-pool-equipped apartments are easy to find and affordable.

In terms of location, Chiang Mai is close to mountains. In 1-1.5 hours scooter drive north of CM, you can reach the mountainous parts with chilly weather and nice waterfalls. From Chiang May you can also find cheap flights to Bangkok or the southern part of the country with beautiful islands – more on that below ?

Da Nang, Vietnam

From all places for digital nomads in Southeast Asia, Da Nang was one of the most surprising for me. It’s not as “european” and fancy as Bali or Chiang Mai, but is has something to it.

What distinguished Da Nang from other cities I visited in SE Asia is coffee ? There are plenty of cafés where you can have a really cheap and delicious Vietnamese coffee. I will never forget the taste of coconut coffee ? I would visit Da Nang again just for it! Of course, while drinking it you can comfortably work with your laptop at nice cafés.

Apart from coffee, Da Nang also unites quite a lot of nomads (not like Bali or CM, but still). What’s nice about the city is one of the best city beaches I’ve ever seen and sea access. There’s also a nice promenade along the sea for running, if you’re into sports ?

Islands in the South of Thailand

Thailand somehow always comes back to me ? It must have been mentioned twice in this article!

While I love Chiang Mai and the northern, chilly climate of Thailand, islands in the south are hard to beat. Crystal clear water, awesome beaches, tasty food and nice local people are one of the things I will always appreciate south of Thailand for.

The most popular Thai islands for expatriates and digital nomads are Phuket, Ko Samui, Ko Lanta and Ko Chang. There are a looot more, but just check them out in Google and tell me you are still not sure these islands are good places to live?! ?

What’s important is that on the islands I listed, you have easy access to Western products and food. This is important if you don’t want to completely switch to Thai food, which is not the healthiest on the planet in the long run ?

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

If you prefer more of a big city life, Kuala Lumpur should be on your list. The city is an international hub in SE Asia. It really has this international vibe.

There are also many digital nomads living in the capital of Malaysia. You can easily tell that based on the number of coworking spaces available there. What’s interesting, few of them offer a free 1-day trial, so you can check them out before deciding to buy a monthly pass.

Kuala Lumpur is also famous for its food ? You can find restaurants and dishes from all over the world in Malaysian capital. It’s a heaven if you like Indian food – I especially recommend to check Pelita food chain. Oh, I need to get back there one day!

Another nice thing about Kuala Lumpur is that you can find reasonably-priced condo-style apartments, similar to the ones in Thailand.

The location of the Malaysian capital is also great. It allows you to fly cheaply to Malaysian islands or Penang with its great capital of Georgetown. From Kuala Lumpur, you can also easily visit Singapore, which is connected to the south of Malaysia with a bridge. It’s even reachable by bus from Kuala Lumpur.

Summary

That’s it for my top 5 places for digital nomads in Southeast Asia. Would you add something to this list? If you’ve never been to SE Asia, which of those places would you choose? ?

The post Top 5 Places for Digital Nomads in Southeast Asia appeared first on Yumasoft.

Is that all true or just a set of stereotypes? In today’s article I’m debunking the 5 biggest myths about remote workers who decided to travel the world.

Digital nomad always works on the beach

Even though it might sound tempting to take your laptop to the beach ?, I must take you out of that illusion straight away ? I’ve been there and tried that. You really don’t want to have all these grains of sand all over your laptop’s keyboard. I bet that you won’t last more than 10 minutes sitting on the beach and typing – your back would die. Also – what do you think about the sun shining directly at your screen? Last, but not least – believe me that it’s very hard to find an electricity socket on the beach ?

Joking aside, I’ve never seen anyone working with a laptop on the beach. Except for taking pictures, which are then published on the Internet and make people believe this illusion. The most digital nomad can afford is sitting in a nice bar close to the beach. Assuming it has comfortable seats, good Wi-Fi and access to electricity. The truth is that remote workers spend most of their working time at the rented apartment or co-working space.

Remote workers work for 1-2 hours a day

That’s totally opposite to what I experienced being a member of the digital nomads community. Digital nomads who work for a single client or employer spend 8-9 hours a day working, like every other “normal” employee. Those of them who are solopreneurs or “solopreneurs-wannabes” work even longer. In the end, they’re working to boost their own business, which – in most cases – requires much more than 8 hours a day.

The same goes for influencers. Many people think that conducting a blog or Instagram profile is very easy and doesn’t consume a lot of time. In reality, it’s the other way around. Working on a single social media profile with an engaged community can take even 10-12 hours a day.

On the positive side, there is a group of digital nomads who can afford working for 1-2 hours a day. These are mostly people having their own business for years, which is now well-automated so it can mostly work on its own only being supervised. This is however a rather small group and definitely not a majority of remote workers.

Digital nomads are mostly programmers

This is another common belief within people who never actually joined the remote workers community. That’s true that programmers can easily switch to remote work. Probably it’s still the most obvious profession for working remotely. However, that’s totally false that most digital nomads are software developers. While traveling South-East Asia I met dozens of digital nomads who are not programmers. Many of them worked as copywriters, interpreters, graphic designers, English teachers or accountants. All of this can easily be done online.

Many digital nomads are also solopreneurs. Having their own business (selling digital products or online courses) makes their life more flexible. Being able to define your own working hours and schedule can be very helpful when traveling.

Another group of people who travel the world and work are influencers. They are people who communicate with their community via social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and/or a blog. Influencers earn money by entering cooperation with brands or becoming solopreneurs with time.

All digital nomads are freelancers

Many people think that to be able to travel the world and work, one needs to become a freelancer. Well, it sounds good – you can be “freely” defining how much and when you want to work. On the other hand you not only can do that, but you have to do that. No one will find a new project for you and ensure you are paid on time. As a freelancer, all of that is your responsibility.

However, being a freelancer is not the only way of becoming a digital nomad. Thanks to companies like Yumasoft, you can work full-time remotely and still be able to travel. In practice, you simply change the physical office for your laptop and can work from almost any place in the world.

So if you ever wondered about working and traveling, consider companies like Yumasoft. Being a freelancer is also an option, but working full-time you don’t have to worry about looking for another client or getting paid on time.

Digital nomads are lonely nerds

I heard many times that remote work is perfect for nerds. People asked me if I was not afraid about becoming lonely and “out of society” after deciding to work from all over the world. The answer is simple – it depends on a person, exactly the same as working in the office. If a person is nerdy and prefers to work on her/his own, avoiding social contacts – it will be the same in the office and when traveling.

I would even say that living in digital nomads hotspots, like Bali or Thailand, there are many more opportunities for meeting people than when living a “casual” life. There are dozens of co-working spaces, bars and meetups created especially for digital nomads. Remote workers often intentionally travel to places like Ubud just to feel this digital nomads vibe. It’s actually hard to avoid meeting another remote workers in such places ?

In South-East Asia, digital nomads communities are actively encouraging their members to meet. Remote workers can meet other remote workers at various meetups. Such meetings often lead to starting a new business together. It means that starting as a lonely and nerdy digital nomad, you can even become an entrepreneur working with your clients and co-workers or co-founders ?

Myths about digital nomads – summary

Being a digital nomad is a great way of living, but it also has its downsides. It’s very important to know how it looks in reality, so your expectations are not too high. Don’t always believe in what you read on the Internet or the pictures you see. I still encourage everyone to at least try working remotely from another country. Trying is the best way to see whether this lifestyle is good for you or not ?

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