So the countdown begins…
I’ve decided to write a bit about my process towards becoming a digital nomad. In June this year (2015), I bought a one way ticket to Stockholm, Sweden to force myself to get off my ass and take action. I’ve been dreaming of a life in which I can live remotely and build passive income channels. Ever since my trip to Europe in 2014, I realized the amount of possibilities in front of me that I haven’t tried. It hit that I’m young and I have a whole life ahead of me.
I think I’m going through a quarter life crisis as I’m nearing 25. To some people, I’m young. But in my opinion, I know that if I keep going down this path of working a 9-5 job, I’m just going to watch my life fly by.
It is now September 2015. My flight to Stockholm leaves on May 30, and I figure I would put in my 2-week notice in late April or early May. That means I have 8 more months to solidify my passive income channels. And guess what? I have ZERO passive income channels going for me right now (aside from my rental property) so I really need to act fast.
My current side hustles include:
1. Freelancing. I have 3 gigs going on:
- I currently have a freelancing position as a consultant to do some one-off graphic design work, Facebook ad management, and strategic recommendations. I am earning around $600/month managing Facebook ads (which I’ve learned over time that I could have charged more for). Interestingly enough, my manager and founder of this marketing agency wants to hire me fulltime. He even sent me an offer letter last week. I’m in the midst of negotiating to see if he would be willing to hire me as a remote worker. Even if he rejects, things will go as planned and I will keep working under him as a contract consultant.
- I’ve also got myself another freelancing gig of writing social media posts for $1/post, but I rarely do it. I’ve only kept the gig so I can make sure I’m not completely screwed when I quit my job.
- I’m currently creating ads for my friend, who’s doing freelancing work for a startup as well. I started about a month ago so we’ll see how it goes. All I know is – I want to diversify my side hustle efforts so I know I’ll be good for next year.
2. Blogging. Currently I write for and manage 3 blogs. It’s been really hard for me to maintain these blogs while doing a billion other side hustles.
3. Music. I used to create covers every week; however, I honestly did not like the routine and stress of it. I’d rather spend the crapload of hours on my own original songs. But now that I’ve been working on so many other things, it’s hard for me to keep up with even my original songs. I’m worried that I will stop creating music if I become a digital nomad since it might be hard to carry my gear.. I’ve been trying to continue songwriting cause music is something I love, but I’ve started to feel like freedom from a day job is my first priority – so I can spend time on things I love.
That’s what I find problematic. What if I never reach that point, and I could have used all the time to create covers and originals to hopefully get noticed? It’s a question that keeps popping up in the back of my mind.
4. Kindle Books – This is another source of passive income that I really want to dive into. It seems to be one of the most doable hustles besides niche sites (which I have yet to crack). Basically this involves writing kindle books and putting them on the Amazon store, which would hopefully sell and make a few bucks a day.
5. AirBnB – I haven’t even started on this, but I figure it is something I could do after some research. This would involve renting properties and AirBnBing them out.
6. Fiverr – I haven’t accomplished this area yet, but I can imagine this could be a good income source for myself if I create gigs that are very automated.
7. Create a Marketing Agency – This is something I’m working with another friend on. It is possible but will take a lot of effort. I feel like I need to establish this before I leave for travel.
I know. I’m handling way too much.
How Do I Reduce My Workload?
I’ve been speaking to people on the Smart Passive Income Facebook community and the members of the group are telling me that I need to focus on one project rather than all 7 that I’m interested in. They also gave me some books to read including Gary Vaynerchuk – Crush It, and they said I should take an entrepreneur test at Wealth Dynamics by Roger Hamilton.
I’m going to start studying those resources that they recommended, but I’m going to need to prioritize or remove some of my efforts.
I feel a bit lost and overwhelmed thinking about my plan of action, but I’ve decided to do the following:
1. Work now on passive income (blogging, creating products)
2. Work later on active income (freelancing – marketing, graphic design)
My reasoning behind this is that when I leave for Europe, I know I will emphasize active income – how I’m going to be able to support myself at the moment. I don’t want to starve while I’m out there. On the other hand, if I tried to build active income NOW, it won’t give myself time to work on passive income – the long term goal. Passive income requires a lot of time and effort to build as I have to constantly put out content. By the time Europe comes up, it would be great to have fleshed out these channels so that the income will keep coming. It seems like the better way to divide up my time.
Faith…
Right now, I get waves of confidence and waves of fear/insecurity/anxiety. What if I’m doing this all for nothing? I guess my mind is telling me that even if I fail, I can bounce back if I come home. But what if I really do fail and it becomes hard for me to find a job? What if I have to come back to everyone and find myself sulking in an air of “I told you so” judgment?
8 months away and I’m already having qualms. Sometimes I feel so ready that I wish I were leaving now. And other times when I’m over-analyzing, I worry about when the time actually comes. The only thing I know is I have to hustle no matter what.
