Is Starting a Business While Traveling a Good Idea?

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This is a guest post by Rebecca Tracey of The Uncaged Life.

Coaching calls from a hammock? Sure, why not!

Coaching calls from a hammock?
Sure, why not!

I’d always had dreams of traveling and being able to work at the same time. I envisioned myself lying on a beach with my laptop, money rolling in, laughing at all the chumps sitting in cubicles.

After years of trying to find the perfect career that would let me do this, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create one myself. I started my coaching business and decided to finally make my dream life happen.

After just four months of being in business, I bought a van and took off on a seven-month rock-climbing road trip (I figured it was better to live the dream sooner rather than later).

I learned a lot on the road about what it’s like to start a new business while traveling full-time. It is extremely rewarding, but it doesn’t come without its challenges.

Here are the biggest things to keep in mind if you’re planning on growing a new business while you travel. Continue reading

Inside Nomadtopia: Making Plans out of Thin Air

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Ko Chang, Thailand

Ko Chang, Thailand
Photo by Amy Scott, all rights reserved

One of the most challenging parts of Nomadtopia (but also a wonderful problem to have, I know!) is deciding where to go, when, and why, when you can essentially go anywhere, anytime. I’ve written before about how to decide where to go, but now I want to share what this looks like in real time, in my own Nomadtopia.

For the last several months, Roberto and I have been struggling with figuring out where we want to spend the rest of the year (and beyond). We’ve been looking at maps, climate charts, airfares, and calendars, trying to create some sort of logic, some sort of plan, out of virtually nothing.

Well, it feels like nothing, but we do have some ideas to guide us. Continue reading

Inside Nomadtopia: Unplugging and Reconnecting in Peru

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Lima, Peru

Lima, Peru

Last year, not long after I first started thinking I’d like to lead retreats in different locations around the world, my friend and colleague Heather Thorkelson invited me to be guest faculty for her Adventure Reboot in Peru.

I didn’t hesitate for a second. “Hell YES,” I told her. “I’m in.”

Not only was this a chance to get some retreat experience under my belt, I knew it’d be lots of fun to work with Heather (and her other amazing guest, Leela Codron from South Africa), and to support a group of women entrepreneurs during a unique and powerful experience.

Plus, I’d finally get back to Peru, where I kicked off my round-the-world trip, and my own Nomadtopia, in 2004.

I just got back from a two-week trip to Peru for the Adventure Reboot, and it was all that I expected it to be—and more. Continue reading

Inside Nomadtopia: Peru Video

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Now that I’m back from my amazing trip to Peru, I’m down with a cold! (I blame the crazy Brazilian I sat next to on the plane, who sniffled the whole flight and drank three glasses of red wine before noon.)

To tide you over until I have the energy and wherewithal to write a proper post about my trip, here’s a little video of Cusco and the Sacred Valley.

Enjoy!

 

Inside Nomadtopia: Trip Planning

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Cusco view Photo by Amy Scott, all rights reserved

Cusco view
Photo by Amy Scott, all rights reserved

Hello from Peru!

(Actually, in the Inside Nomadtopia spirit of full disclosure: I’m writing this in Buenos Aires, before I leave for Peru! I wanted to spread out my posts and give you something to read while I’m on the road. So when you read this, imagine me adventuring in Peru, OK?)

This is the first time in quite a while that I’ve taken a pretty “normal” trip: round-trip from one country (Argentina) to another (Peru), for two weeks.

It’s interesting to see how my perspective has changed and how much less planning I do than I used to.

This time, I waited until pretty much the last minute to pack, although I’d been gradually creating a mental packing list and pulling random things into piles for days.

A few days before I left, I decided to take my small carry-on suitcase instead of my backpack, which my aching neck and shoulders can’t really handle right now. Less than 15 hours before I left for the airport, I decided what bag/purse-type item to take. Continue reading

Inside Nomadtopia: Full Circle

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with some of my home-stay family in Cusco, 2004

with some of my home-stay family in Cusco, 2004

In September 2004, I boarded a plane to Peru.

I had just quit my job, and had enough money in the bank to not have to worry about finding another one for a while.

My relationship situation was a confusing mess.

I had absolutely no plan beyond “travel for the next eight or nine months.”

 

 

I certainly couldn’t have predicted all the adventures I’d have before I’d next visit this magical and beautiful country.

And now?

Continue reading

Location Independence, No Sugar Daddy Required

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paragliding

Córdoba, Argentina
Photo by Amy Scott, all rights reserved

There’s a message I’ve heard bandied about by a lot of women in online business, freelance, and entrepreneurial circles:

It’s harder for me, because I’m on my own
(aka I don’t have a man to support me while this business takes off).

I’ve heard from friends that they never would have made it as a freelancer if their husband hadn’t been paying the bills. I know women who have plenty of time to grow their business because someone else is supporting them.

That’s great, and lucky them.

But it’s not the only way. You don’t need a man (or a woman) to survive in business. Continue reading

Inside Nomadtopia: taxes, ATMs, and more

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Nomadtopia is not black-and-white.

It’s not like one day you’re not living it and the next day you are.

There will be times when big shifts are made, like when you quit your job or change locations.

But as long as you focus on what makes your nomadic soul happy, and take some consistent action to make it so, you’re already living your Nomadtopia, each and every day.

(Thanks to my Create Your Nomadtopia program participants for the fabulous conversation we had about this recently!)

Money

Today I wanted to write a bit about money and what’s going on Inside Nomadtopia in terms of taxes and such, since it’s that time of year for Americans!

Taxes

I’m waiting to hear back from my tax preparer about my final numbers. It sounds like she’s found a way to keep my taxes way lower than she had originally estimated, so that’s fabulous news!

She’s also helped me navigate all the tricky rules about foreign income, as well as the added confusion that comes from being newly married to a “non-resident alien.”

I did my taxes myself for many years, but then started to get inklings of how much I was overpaying by not learning more about all the foreign stuff. Continue reading

Get a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Life of a Nomad

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Have you ever looked at someone’s life and thought, Yeah, but how do they DO it?

What do their days look like? How’d they get from here to there?

In particular, if your nomadic soul is crying out for something different (and I bet it is, if you’re reading this post), then you probably also wonder, How do they decide where to go? How do they book tickets and rent apartments and plan road trips and research visas and run their businesses and have lots of adventures?

Yep, me too.

Lots of people write lots of inspirational stuff about how to create your ideal life, but they don’t really show you how to do it.

In my own Nomadtopia, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes as my husband and I hit the road, stay put for a while, or explore a new destination.

And while I certainly talk about it on this blog, cover it thoroughly in my group program, and allude to it on Facebook and Twitter, it just hit me last night how much I’m not showing you.

I’ve decided it’s time to get real.

Introducing…  Continue reading