What you need to know to become a successful nomad entrepreneur

We all follow that one person from college or high school who constantly posts themselves working from the beach in Bali. This person used to leave me wondering, how the hell does she do that? I’d always associated the idea of travel and work as two separate things. You work so you can take your 3 weeks off a year and travel. Travel was the reward for working hard. I always thought the two things were mutually exclusive.

Oh, how wrong I was. I decided to reach out to this person who I barely knew on Instagram and ask how she makes her lifestyle work. I hadn’t spoken to this person in years so I was pleasantly surprised when she responded. She told me that she is a nomad entrepreneur, meaning she can run her company from anywhere in the world. She chose Bali because you can obtain a visa upon arrival, it’s relatively inexpensive, and the digital nomad community is expansive. Not to mention the gorgeous scenery and beaches. I immediately needed to know more about this lifestyle to see if I was cut out. Turns out, anyone is with a bit of preparation.

Before we dive into the steps to becoming a nomad entrepreneur, let’s first define these two things. A nomad is someone who usually doesn’t have a home or roots in one specific place, granting them the freedom to travel whenever and wherever they please. An entrepreneur is someone who creates and runs their own business. Meaning a nomad entrepreneur is someone who both travels regularly and runs their business on the road.

Building a business can be risky and scary, but can provide some serious benefits like financial and creative freedom. We believe that if you’re drawn to the nomadic lifestyle, entrepreneurship could be an excellent way to sustain your travels and grow your wealth.

Figure out your business

The obvious first step to becoming a successful nomad entrepreneur is to figure out your business idea. Many people already have a business idea they’ve been mulling over for a while. Now could be the time to dive headfirst into it! But first, you must make sure that the business can operate successfully when you’re on the move. We highly recommend starting an online business so you can operate from anywhere.

Try the nomadic lifestyle first

Before you transition to the nomadic life AND start working on your business, we recommend testing out the lifestyle first. There is a lot to learn when you start traveling full-time and it could get stressful quickly overcoming these obstacles while trying to get your business off the ground. We suggest getting comfortable with the lifestyle first, taking inventory of the equipment you might need, and understanding how you travel best (i.e. do you like to move around once a week or once a month).

Find an alternative income stream

Starting a business is not cheap. It takes a lot of resources to get a company off the ground and even if it becomes successful, you might not be able to pay yourself for a while. We recommend generating an alternative income stream while you’re building up the business. Do you own your home? Instead of selling before you start traveling, consider renting it out. Even if you don’t own a home, you could also consider purchasing one and renting it out. There are plenty of other passive income ideas such as affiliate marketing, dropship stores, selling photo templates, etc. Producing passive income takes work on the frontend, but can set you up for success in the long run.