Become A Digital Nomad

money goals? To get into all of this, I'm chatting to Claire Rhodes, a freelance writer whose job meant that in 2021 she was able to make the decision to work from abroad. If the way this episode sounds is a little different to usual, it's because you might have guessed, Claire isn't with me today. She's currently on her

travels. Not that I'm jealous at all. Claire, thank you for coming on and taking the time out to speak to us. I want to ask you to kick things off. Tell me a little bit more about your story. How did you become and decide to become a digital nomad?

a lot of people, we were stuck inside. We were obviously doing a lot of remote working from there anyway, and I think it just encouraged me and a lot of other people to sort of look at our work- life balance. I hadn't done a lot of traveling before, so that was something that I really wanted to go out and just do a bit more of do it whilst I

was sort of young. Find the money side of it does come after a little bit, but yeah, not sort of saving up and doing it for retirement and that sort of stuff. So I decided to go freelance in summer 2021, which is when I decided to give up my house that I was renting in Buckinghamshire, sell all my stuff, my car, everything and me and my partner just upped sticks and started traveling basically.

people think. Obviously there's time differences, there's things to work out but it's relatively easy to work abroad and I thought it was going to be harder than that.

not. Like you said, it is not as hard as I think people make it out to be. It's just a very different way of life that you just have to adapt to I think.

lot of flexible clients. The time difference for Bali and UK is seven hours, sometimes eight hours when we have daylight savings, so it's a little bit brutal. But everyone has been fantastic about having early morning calls in the UK and stuff so that I'm not joining calls at 1:00 AM and that kind of thing. But obviously when it

needs to happen, that's absolutely fine. In terms of a typical week, it depends on if I'm actively traveling or I'm back in my place in Bali, but I try to only work three days worth of hours a week if you like. I'm really trying to be kind of strict on that because one of the reasons I wanted to do obviously the whole digital nomad and remote working thing

is to go out and see more of things. So it is very easy once you start getting your clients in and getting your money in and stuff to end up being stuck working Monday to Friday. And I think I've just tried to be really, really strict with myself about not going back into that. Needless to say, sometimes you do

have to do that. Sometimes where you are living or traveling to is more expensive and flights and accommodation and things add up and then you need to get more money in and that's fine. But one of the really nice things is if you need to have a month or two where you are living a bit cheaper, you need to sort of not have so many expenses and stuff. You can fly somewhere that's going to lend that

to you, so Bali's a great example of that. Flights yes, can be expensive depending on where you are, but the actual cost of living and the quality of living is a lot higher than in other places in the world.

traveled if you like. And it was amazing. But also the fact that on either side of that trip I was just able to kind of just lock in and get my work done. And then I could take that month off and it was fine and I knew everything was going to be fine. And all my clients knew I was going to be off for a bit and I could just come back and get straight back into

it. But yeah, I think that's something that I would perhaps elaborate on, find your nice easy clients and make sure that you build a connection with them. I think a lot of people are worried with remote work that it's all kind of email based and you don't really get to know anybody, especially as a freelancer I find that people are sometimes a little bit standoffish about that.

And it's very different meeting someone in the office and doing that kind of thing, but just make sure you have kind of regular phone calls with people. And just have that personal element as well so that you are both seen as human, you're not just business entities doing

a business transaction. I think that's really, really important. In terms of things that surprised me, I would say from a, it's kind of a digital nomad point of view but also a self- employed point of view, taxes to be honest. When I first went freelance I didn't earn as much in my first year. I didn't work for

kind of six months. I saved up a lot and just wanted to solely travel so I only worked for the latter six months of it, whereas my second year was very much traveling and working continuously. I did my tax bill a couple of months ago and was a little bit surprised by that. So I'm having the fun thing of making sure I've got enough money to pay

for that in January. So I think that's something to bear in mind whether you are digital nomading or kind of doing self- employed, that kind of thing, just do your homework on where you're working and your tax situation and who you need to pay for what would be I think a solid piece of advice that I wish I'd taken

a little bit more notice of. But I've done that now, so hopefully the hard work's done for anyone else thinking about it and listening,

now you've got a bit more understanding. But I think a lot of self- employed people, myself included, have had a similar journey where you go into it, everything's great and then the tax bill comes and then you're having to

kind of work that one out. And just a reminder for our listeners, make sure that you're checking the tax and employment regulations in the countries that you're planning to travel to, because each country has their own rules and restrictions on this and it's always good to double check

and see what's going on with those countries. It's also worth noting that with national insurance, you may have to pay this if you think that there's any chance you may be returning back to the UK in the future. When it comes to your financial goals, Claire, how does working abroad actually fit into those goals that you have?

would like to have a house in a few years. And I think sort of working abroad like I mentioned earlier, if you have a kind of financial goal like that for a house deposit for example in your mind and you want to do that, it's very easy to live where it's a lot cheaper and you can save a lot more money.

to cost so much. I think there is that perception, that idea that it will cost an arm and a leg when in reality you've shared of your journey that you're earning more, working less and paying less so you can reach some of your financial goals. And Claire, you might've had me sold. I know that wasn't your aim, but

you might've had me sold. Don't be surprised if the next episode I'm going to be on a sunny beach somewhere. Everyone, don't be surprised. What do you wish you'd known before you made this change?

you're working. And look at things like visas as well. Obviously if you're going somewhere where you're going to work online and you need a business visa for example, just make sure you've done the right sort of research to make sure that you are ticking all the boxes. The second thing I would say would be to have a safety net. Traveling is great but unexpected things do happen, so

expect them to happen and just be prepared. So if you need to have a last minute flight home or you need to change your travel plans and that kind of thing, just make sure you've got a bit of money set aside to do that. If you don't, it's going to get very overwhelming very quickly. You don't want to be putting things on your credit card and it's

going to be a lot. So just make sure you've got that sort of capital set aside for that I think is really important. And thirdly, I would say choose a place where you're going to have a bit of a community. There's some really, really great cities that I've been to that have got really, really, really good digital nomad communities in there and that's obviously why people go.

Off the top of my head, Canggu in Bali which is where I live is a great example of that. Other places as well, Lisbon, and there was also Tulum in Mexico is another place that I've been to that's got really good digital nomad communities. And I think it's really important to surround yourself with like- minded people, especially if you

want to go down the digital nomad route. So a really, really good example of that, there's a pub where I live in Bali and on a Friday night everyone goes down there. But it's always really interesting because it's always people who are kind of starting their own businesses, looking for inspiration, where they want to travel to next.

You'll probably find someone who is in the same field as you or someone who you would see yourself as having a client in that space and you can end up working together. Everyone's really willing to help each other out and sort of provide that inspiration that you may

need at that certain point. And if you are lucky enough that you are in the right place at the right time, you can give inspiration to other people who may need it at the time as well.

got so much space in a backpack. So picking something that is laptop based is great. Obviously I'm a content writer, I need a laptop. I don't need to have cameras and all that kind of stuff that might make it a bit harder perhaps to travel around for some people. And thirdly, I would say save up a bit

first. When I left to go traveling a few years ago, I sold everything in my house and downsized everything to a couple of boxes that are at my mom's garage now. So that money really helped me. It made me feel a lot more secure. Moving to another country and traveling around is quite a scary thing to do. So having that money set aside was really nice for me to know that I have it and if I

need to dip into it, I can. And if I don't, great, I can just continue saving.