digital nomad

Productivity challenges that you need to be aware of as a digital nomad.

May 7, 2018 by David

I do love the freedom of being location independent. However, there are positives and negatives to everything. There are certain things with the digital nomad lifestyle that affects the productivity with the work that you are doing. It’s good to be aware of this and to work out a work-life balance that will allow you to achieve what you want as an income, as well as with the travelling lifestyle.

From my personal experience, here are a few things that you need to keep in mind.

You need to be in a productive working environment.

There are several digital nomads who post Instagram pictures of themselves working on their laptop at a beach or in front of rice fields. As good as it sounds, it often isn’t practical. I’ve tried working at the beach and it is difficult to be productive when the sand is blowing on you or you try to look at your computer screen and the glare from the sunshine affects what you can actually read on the screen.

As for the rice fields, many of these nomads work in a cafe that overlooks the open field. They fail to tell you about the mosquitos and sometimes the patch internet or discomfort of the chairs.

Even if you decide to work in a cafe, you may experience something similar. And if you are on a public Internet network, there can be security risks or even a lag time with the internet connection.

If you really want to be productive, you will need the following type of environment.

Access to good lighting.

Natural light is best. But if you have access to LED artificial lighting that is well designed, it will also help you improve your alertness, which will directly impact your productivity level.

Access to quick internet.

Not all internet providers are created equal. I personally go for the quickest internet provider available (currently 5G), as it allows me to complete my tasks without delays. When travelling, there are places that advertise an internet connection, however it is so slow that you cannot be productive. Check the Mbps to see when you can.

Avoid working in areas with alot of distractions.

When you want to be productive, you need to minimise the distractions around you. Many digital nomads recommend working in coworking spaces. I personally find these environments very distracting. It is better to get a private room or to work in the room of your accommodation. That way, you can completely focus on the task at hand.

Minimise frequent travel.

It’s a bit of a juxtaposition. You can travel and explore, but aim to base yourself in a location for at least 5 days. This will give you time to balance your travels with your working schedule. It will also minimise the amount of time that you will lose when in transit.

Work in a clean area.

We take this for granted, but many working spaces are cluttered and are full of distractions, which will affect your productivity. This includes messy spaces, unclean areas such as tables, and non-minimalistic designs.

Take the time to find a clean and minimalistic space to boost your productivity.

Before starting your digital nomad lifestyle, make a note of the things that allow you to be productive and see how you can successfully incorporate it during your digital nomad journey.

Other useful resources

How to perform better at work.

Become a digital nomad in Australia – yes it is possible.

May 17, 2017 by David James

I’m originally from the land down under. Back in the early 2000s, I remember loads of people from Europe flocking over to Australia to enjoy their holidays and to even settle over here due to the abundant sunshine and the lower cost of living when compared to Europe. The sunshine is still here, but the cost of living has risen significantly.

Nonetheless, I have chosen to return home to the land of oz. And I still continue to work in a remote working lifestyle, which I would consider myself to still be a digital nomad.

In this post, I want to let you know that it is possible to be a digital nomad in this country. Although you shouldn’t expect to find the ridiculously cheap standard of living when you compare it to places like Thailand or Indonesia. But I can definitely say that the quality of life that you can get over here is almost second to none.

I will talk through some of my observations and you can decide for yourself whether or not you would like to consider being a digital nomad in Australia.

The cost of living.

Australia isn’t a cheap country, but you can live modestly if you look in the right areas. Some of the things that surprised me were the cost of accommodation if you look outside of major cities like Sydney.

Restaurants.

Going out to restaurants costs a lot more due to higher staff wages and regulations that restaurants have to abide by. For me personally, opting to give a teenager $15 an hour compared to paying for a cheap meal in Burma where kids as young as 6 years old are being exploited as staff sits well with me. That being said, there are places where you can find inexpensive meals. And if you aren’t a health nut, you can even pickup pizza’s from Dominoes for as little as $5.

Gym membership.

They have 24h gyms like Anytime fitness, whose memberships can be as little as $50 a month. When I was in Indonesia or Malaysia, I did pay almost twice as much; even though the gym there was classed as a “luxury gym”.

Accommodation.

Right now, I am based in Queensland, Australia and I can say that the rental market isn’t that much different when compared to other places in the world. It does cost more, but then we get much more space and the accommodation is quite modern. For example, it is possible to get a studio apartment for under $300 a week. But it is also possible to get a decent 1 or 2 bedroom place for $300-400 a week, depending on the location and the rental demand. You will also need to factor in another $100 a month in costs.

Groceries.

You need to keep an eye out for where to shop. The two big supermarkets are Woolworths and Coles. There is also Aldi and Spar. You will need to shop around to find the best deals. More often than not, you will be better off buying fruits and vegetables from the farmers or markets, as you will be able to purchase them in bulk.

It is possible to spend about $50 a week on groceries for one person, although for us as a couple, we tend to spend anything from $70-140 a week. You can buy bread for $0.85 and there are always food items on special. You just need to shop savvy.

Domestic travel.

If you want to stay in hotels or paid accommodation, it will cost you a fair bit in Australia. Weekend getaways can be quite pricey and it is often cheaper to fly abroad and have a luxury trip than to travel within the country.

That being said, you can opt to go camping or caravanning and save a bundle. Many travellers purchase or rent a campervan or motorhome and travel up and down the Australian coast. You could easily travel around Australia for approximately $50 a day. You can park your vehicle at public caravan parks or even nest close to the beach and gaze upon the stars.

Australia is a place that you will enjoy if you like the outdoors.

As I mentioned before, it is a place that is abundant in sunshine and people love doing outdoor activities. You can easily keep yourself entertained with free or almost free activities such as:

trekking
sports
beach activities
cycling
parks

The cost of living really depends on the lifestyle that you want to have in Australia. You might not get the $500 a month villa that you would in Chiang Mai or Bali, but if you want to be immersed in the Australian lifestyle, it is possible on a $2000 per person per month budget. Sydney and Melbourne will be the most expensive cities to be based in, but it is possible to live in those places while paying around $2000-3000 a month.

Work from Regus’ virtual office for free.

There are several co-working spaces and coffee shops that you can work from. But I found that it is just as convenient to work from your local library or even the Regus office. They offer a blue membership which provides you with access to their lounge. This membership is free and allows you to work in a corporate setting.

I personally prefer to work in my own home office. So having a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment suits my needs much more.

Finding work and earning an income in Australia.

You can find online work on sites like Upwork or by researching some of the local job boards like Seek.com.au or Gumtree.com.au. Although, I’d recommend referring to my digital nomads job board list as your first port of call. You really need to generate an income of $2000 a month or more to live comfortably in Australia. Otherwise you will find the country too expensive to live and work in.

That being said, Australia is a fairly easy country to earn an income in. Worst case scenario, you can work part time at another company or business and then work 4-5 days a week on your own project.

Do you have any thoughts about being a digital nomad in Australia? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

How to live a luxury beach lifestyle as a digital nomad in Koh Samui!

January 30, 2017 by David James

The sand is between my toes and the warmth of the sun is on my back. I’m relaxed looking at ocean views surrounded by joyous locals who are eager for me to try some of their local foods. I smell the aromas of the different Thai curries and it makes me fall in love with this place. The land of smiles and I’m enjoying the fact that I am in a destination where things seem to be a bit more carefree.

This is the life that I have always wanted. And now that I’m able to experience this, I get many more people ask me the same thing as well. I’m not rich and I didn’t win the lotto. I am an ordinary guy from an ordinary background that just wanted to achieve his dream of living a resort lifestyle while I still have my youth. The great thing is that if you want this kind of lifestyle as well, you can get it if you have the willpower, determination and if you are prepared to make the necessary changes to allow you to live, work and travel in the same way that I have.

Society tells us to retire before we can enjoy our life.

Work until you are in your sixties or seventies and you will have the chance to retire and live out your life doing whatever it is you want to do. It sounds good in theory until you account for things such as how much of a pension you will receive in your later years, will you have the health to travel or will you even be alive. I’m the kind of person that believes you should live your life in the present doing whatever it is you feel that you should be doing in your life. For me, one of my dreams was to live in Koh Samui, which I was able to achieve in May 2016. I wish I had stayed longer, but the initial month was fantastic.

Financing the stay.

The way I approach things is that there is always a financial cost threshold for your lifestyle costs. Even if you had all of the money in the world, you would still find it difficult to spend all of that money in a given time. You need to identify your ideal lifestyle cost threshold and create an income stream that will allow you to finance the cost.

Some things to keep in mind.

Purchasing things for the long-term is always much cheaper.

This is the key to hacking the lifestyle that you want. The longer you can stay in one place, the cheaper it will be in the long-term.

Travelling to Koh Samui.

Travel one-way.

Once you are in Asia, travelling around is fairly inexpensive as long as you purchase your tickets in advance. Depending on the country that you are travelling from, you can get to another country from as little as $40 Australian dollars. I’ve signed up to sites like Air Asia, Jetstar, Vietjet and SkyScanner to get alerts so I can take advantage of any good travel deals if I want to travel by air. Although, if you want to travel by sea, bus or train, then you can also find the best places to buy the tickets.

Getting to Koh Samui is pretty easy. It’s more about the budget and comfort that you want to have while travelling there.

Air

The quickest way and most comfortable way to get to Koh Samui is by plane, athough, it is the most expensive. If you are entering Asia for the first time, it’d be wise to get a ticket directly to Koh Samui. The flight time from Bangkok is just over 1h.

Train

If you want a much cheaper option, you can opt for the bus and ferry option. The train will go to Surath Thani station and from there you will need to catch a bus to take you to the port.

Once you are at the port, you can catch the ferry to the Port at Koh Samui and you will need to either get the local taxi or Tuk Tuk to your accommodation. Taxis on the island are very expensive. A trip can easily cost you 400 Baht. Instead, try to flag down a Tuk Tuk which should cost 20 Baht.

The train journey will be at least 11h and then the commute to Koh Samui’s main centre will be at least another 3h.

Bus

Similar deal to trains, although they have the longest journey, they are also the cheapest. But expect to have the least amount of comfort as you are squeezed onto a bus with several other travellers.

For a more extensive guide on travelling around Thailand and South East Asia, read the guides on Seat 61.

Get long-stay visas.

There are several countries that provide long-stay visas that you can have for free or for a cost. When my wife and I decided to enter the Kingdom of Thailand, we applied for a visa that would allow us to stay for 60 days. We stayed 30 days in Koh Samui. The cost of the visa was $45 Australian Dollars per person. Thailand also provides a tourist free visa for people that want to stay in the country for up to 30 days. (Check the visa information for your country).

There is also a 6 month visa that they have made available and cost over $200.

There are many digital nomads that like to do visa runs and re-enter Thailand on a 30 day holiday visa. However, it is advised that you obtain the proper visa for entering the Kingdom.

Getting around in Koh Samui.

Using taxis in Koh Samui is very expensive. So the best value for money is hiring a vehicle such as a scooter or a car to get around. Alternatively, you could even buy a vehicle and then sell it upon leaving the country to further minimise your costs.

Hiring a scooter cost me 5000 Baht for one month and I had to provide a 5000 Baht deposit which I received after returning the vehicle. The other thing to consider is your insurance cover. Check with your travel insurance provider to make sure that you are fully covered.

Where to stay.

There are resort strips and then there’s accommodation in more suburban areas and then you have accommodation in more rural areas. The type of place where you will stay really depends on your lifestyle preferences. I opted for a new condominium that had a pool, gym, lounge area, basketball court and tennis court. The place was a nice studio apartment with fast internet and the hosts cleaned the flat twice per week. It cost about $1,000 a month inclusive of electricity and water bills.

The great thing about staying in a condominium was the all-inclusive factor, so we never really had to leave the flat and there were a few small beaches within a couple minute’s drive of the complex.

If you are a backpacker, it will cost a lot less to rent a bed in a shared room. And obviously, the more you want to spend, the better quality place you should get.

Another thing was we had our own kitchen, so we cooked most of the time, which allowed us to cut back on the cost of eating out. We could easily spend $60 a week to get all of the food that we needed for the week. We opted to shop for fruits and vegetables at the local market and we went to shopping centres like Big C.

Exploring the island.

Exploring the island is much cheaper if you do it yourself. There are several things to see and do on the island, however the most enjoyable experience is going to the beach. If you use your own transportation, you can go to travel around only for the cost of petrol, parking and entry fees.

Rave at the full-moon party.

Koh Phangan is just around the corner and is the host to the full-moon party. You can easily stay on the island or you can commute from Koh Samui on their ferry service. For 1000 Baht ($40 Australian Dollars) per person, you will get entry to the Full moon party and ferried to and from Koh Phangan. Once inside, you can purchase mixer buckets from 250 Baht and enjoy parties on the beach or in the clubs.

Click here to find out more information.

How to finance your travel in Koh Samui.

You can earn an income legally by applying for the right working visa to gain employment in the country. From there, you could apply to work in the hospitality sector as hotel or restaurant staff.

If you are a retiree that receives an income from a pension then it will be able to get by as long as your costs are lower than your living expenses.

For others that need another source of income, you can earn an income online. By making around 3000 Australian Dollars each month, you will be able to live and work comfortably in Koh Samui.

To get an idea of what you can do, check out this travel income report and also a list of job boards for digital nomads.

Work in your home country and then travel until the money runs out.

This is a viable plan, however your time travelling will be limited to the savings that you have. Once it has run out, you will have to go back to the lifestyle that you wanted to get away from.

What are some jobs that can be done online?

There are several jobs that you can do as a virtual assistant. There’s data entry jobs, design, marketing, writing, video editing, podcasting and more. The thing is you need to develop your approach to earning an income as a business. If you want to earn a passive income, you can develop products that can be sold, such as information products or books. Alternatively, you could develop sites that sell advertising space or affiliate products.

Want to know more?

Quitting your job to travel the world. (By someone who actually did!)

January 25, 2017 by David James

All of my life I have known that I wanted to travel. When I was younger, I thought that it was because I wanted to do frequent trips to a new country and to learn a new experience before returning home to my native Australia. What I’ve discovered over the years is it wasn’t just about doing the short holiday and then coming home. It was about the lifestyle.

The first sign was when I was 23 and went to South Korea for one year working and travelling in the country. I’d return to Australia only to leave 3 months later to achieve a similar lifestyle in the United Kingdom. After 7 years in Europe working up the corporate ladder and doing trips around Europe, I decided to leave the corporate world behind and build my own empire and fulfil my dream of building my own entrepreneurial business and travelling the world.

I’m sure many other people want to fulfil a similar lifestyle. I’d been working with bloggers for years and seen how they were fulfilling their travel lifestyles while building their own empire. In my case, I’d come from a business background and many of the business dealings that they used to fund their travels was similar to what we were selling and executing daily.

As a single person, I can see how someone can fulfil this dream fairly quickly. As a married couple, it has been a bit more challenging and required a bit more risk management to make it more viable with our long-term goals. I’m going to share my story with you and perhaps you will relate or feel inspired to take the plunge yourself.

We both knew our passion.

This made it easier for both of us. My wife has had a strong desire to travel and for me, I’ve felt like I was born to do it. Going to new places and taking amazing photos, videos and experiences that allows you to share your own story and develop more as a person. We both dream of going to a place that is completely foreign, but amazing for the both of us when it comes to travel.

Secondly, we both have an entrepreneurial desire. My corporate background in digital marketing consultancy has helped us to start building our web based business that will alow us to travel and fulfil our entrepreneurial ambitions.

We selected our destinations based on cashflow and the cultural experience on offer.

We treat our approach to travel as a business. Everything must be cashfow positive. This means that the income that is coming in must be greater than the income that is going out. As a couple, we manage our finances together. I’ve found that setting annual revenue targets as well as quarterly and monthly targets helps when building your business and managing your travel lifestyle. My business earns income in Australian and US dollars, as well as the British Pound. My business is based in Australia and is subject to the Australian tax laws and everything is declared through there.

For my wife and I, I’d set a monthly budget of $2000-3000AUD per month to fund our travels. This budget accommodates our desired lifestyle which includes:

Living in nice, private accommodation in a country.
Transportation expenses.
Food consumption
Miscellaneous activities.

$2000 per month is a push, but at this stage in our lives, we want to enjoy good quality of life. The best options we found was to travel and base ourselves around South-East Asia. The countries include:

Indonesia
Thailand
Vietnam
Malaysia
Philippines

Other countries that you can also consider include:

Laos
Cambodia

As I said before, it is the quality of life that drives our passion to travel the world. Being able to venture to exotic street markets in Chiang Mai or partying in the most trendy bar overseeing the city skyline in Bangkok. Or perhaps jamming and partying on Khao San Road or just enjoying authentic food that is so delicious, it blows our minds. These are the experiences that we live for and for anyone else that wants to try it, we recommend that they do!

Things have become easier to afford due to the rise of services like Airbnb and low-fare airline carriers. If you want a private place that is quite nice, you should be able to pick up places from around $1000 a month. (Inclusive of bills). The thing is, the more you can make while you are travelling, the more lavish you can be with your lifestyle. In South East Asia, accommodation from $2000 per month will get you a place that is amazing!

We are choosing to cook most of our food at home, but we will venture out to restaurants when we want to go on dates. Also, the thought of learning a new language and participating in local activities are very appealing to us.

The main ways we finance our travels are through my media business where I conduct:

Freelance digital marketing consultancy
Freelance writing
Earn income through Youtube advertising
Earn income through websites

All of these are still in development and I chose to spend one year developing the business to maintain a steady cashflow before making the final jump abroad to travel. My wife is developing her income stream as well, although it is in its infancy.

We are at an age where everyone is moving onto parenthood and they are settling down. We want to go down that path as well, but we want to ensure that our lives remain fulfilled prior to and when our children come along. We also want to develop an income stream that is independent from employment. There has been alot of learning along the way, but it has proved to be a valuable and fulfilling experience. If you’ve considered becoming a travelling entrepreneur, or you are one, it would be great to hear your thoughts or for you to share your story.

Thanks for reading!

Should you start a YouTube channel to earn an income while you are travelling?

December 9, 2016 by David James

You have probably heard about some of the success stories of people earning an income from YouTube while travelling. If you are into video recording or vlogging, this might be your calling. Building a successful YouTube channel is a bit like building a successful business. You need to have the right audience and monetization strategy that will allow you to earn an income for every video that you upload. The perk is that the video will continue to earn you an income in the future.

How can you make money publishing videos on YouTube, while you are travelling?

There are a few different ways you can earn an income. These include the following.

Getting paid from an advertising network, such as Adsense.

The quickest way to earn an income from YouTube is by partnering with an advertising network. Google Adsense is the most credible network (since they also own YouTube) and can share up to 30% of the advertising revenue with the content creators. You can apply for Google Adsense, however it is best that you also have a website setup and a complete profile uploaded on your YouTube channel. If you need a simple website, you can quickly set one up in a day by using the WordPress 1-click function. You can register a domain and webhosting here, which should cost you around $50 or less a year.

Selling a product or a service on the back of the videos on your channel.

This is something that alot of successful YouTubers do well. They build an engaged audience that is happy to purchase products or services from the brand that they have created. You could sell merchandise such as shirts, or hats. Alternatively, you could sell products such as books.

Affiliate income

This is a good way to start getting paid from your efforts on YouTube, but it is a bit more challenging. Affiliate income refers to getting paid a referral fee every time a person clicks a link from your platform. Referral fees can range from 1-70%.

In order to use this successfully, you will need to get exposure to a large buying audience.

Sponsorships or direct advertisements.

These can be lucrative and if you can secure these types of partnerships over the long-tern, you could earn more than enough to sustain your travels over the long-term. The incentives don’t even have to be cash related. They could involve receiving discounts or even free travel, adventures or accommodation.

Donations

There are some cases where people will donate funds towards your cause. This could be directly via Paypal or Crowdfunding.

You’ve probably heard about some of the YouTube success stories like Pewdiepie, KSI and Zoella who have all become YouTube millionaires with legions of followers on their platform. The heart of their success comes from their audience and the content that they deliver to their audience.

A great example to follow is Fun For Louis. His YouTube model upload works well for him and he receives sponsorship for his travel adventures, as well as income from YouTube that helps him pay for his travels. You can see his channel video below.

Who should be your target audience?

This is really a question that you need to answer. There are so many variables, such as your personality, your interests and passion. But one thing that is for sure is you know that you are a traveller. So to start with, you can start doing a travel channel and then tailor it to a micro-niche. For example, travelling as a married digital nomad in Bali? The more specific you can be, the better. Perhaps you will focus on street food or landmarks. Or perhaps you will make it a travel surfing channel.

What should you record?

This depends on how your audience responds to the content that you produce. But what you should do is listen to their feedback and adjust your content so that you will continue to give them exactly what it is they want. For example, they might want to watch you react to certain street food during your travels. Or they might want to see you talk while visiting a new beach during your travels.

How often should you upload?

Your audience will want to consume content regularly. There’s been a growing trend with the most successful YouTubers uploading content everyday. If you plan to upload your content once a week, it is unlikely that you will be competitive enough to carve out your market on YouTube.

How can I get my YouTube videos seen by more people?

You will need to have a promotional strategy to maximise the amount of video views on your channel. This might involve promoting your videos on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as getting the video featured on blogs and web forums. Getting your video discovered on YouTube is incredibly important if you want to build an audience quickly. You can also follow this step-by-step guide that details exactly how to rank your video on YouTube and on Google.

Rule of 10,000.

There is a theory that suggests that you can be successful if you have a loyal audience of 10,000 people. For example, if you sell merchandise such as t-shirts on your channel for a price of $10 each, and you have 10,000 sales, you will earn $100,000. This is more than enough to support your solo travels for the year. The larger your engaged audience, the more success you will have with your efforts on YouTube.

Even if you plan to make an income from the advertising income alone, you need to have a large audience that advertisers can display their ads to and then you will get a percentage of that income.

What equipment do you need to get started?

I honestly wish that someone would have just told me exactly what I needed to do to get started a few years ago. But hey, you live and you learn right?

It isn’t worth jumping into this half-heartedly. If you want to succeed, you need to go all in. If you aren’t prepared to do it, then it is best that you just consider taking a holiday. Being a successful digital nomad means that you need to build a lifestyle. And just like building anything in life, you will need to build it from its foundation into something that you will be proud of.

There are a few successful travel bloggers on YouTube, who have learned how to earn an income while travelling.

Cameras

iPhone 6, 6s or 7 cameras.

If you want to travel light, then you can use the cameras on these phones which record in 720p on the iPhone 6 and in 1080p and 4K on the iPhone 7. You want to capture the perfect image quality and dream about the experience that they are sharing with you.
Apple iPhone 6 Factory Unlocked Cellphone, 128GB, Space Gray

Apple iPhone 6S 128 GB Unlocked + GSM 4G LTE Smartphone w/12 MP Camera – Gold (Certified Refurbished)

Apple iPhone 7 Unlocked Phone 128 GB – US Version (Black)

Something to bear in mind is that the videos consume a lot of storage, so you will need to invest in a storage solution. Here are a couple of solutions that I’d recommend.

Purchasing an iPhone with the highest storage capability (256GB).
If you end up taking alot of videos, you will go through the storage quickly and you will need to download the videos onto external storage.

If you need more storage in the future, you can invest in a cloud storage solution with Apple.

Alternatively, I use a 1TB Seagate drive that I carry around with me as well for extra backup.
Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Portable External Hard Drive with 200GB of Cloud Storage USB 3.0 Black (STDR4000100)

Please remember!

NEVER, EVER RECORD VERTICALLY. It’s like an unspoken rule, but it really does impact the user experience. Don’t allow your audience to disengage due to this bad filming error.

Sony G7x

If you want a superior camera that has an excellent image quality, then you need to get the Sony G7x. I like it because it is small, portable, has a decent battery life and captures the professional image quality that I want. I personally think it has a slight edge over the iPhone, but it depends how many cameras you want to take. The autofocus and auto light adjustment is great on this camera. The only thing is if you plan to do alot of recording with this camera, you will need to purchase a second battery. The battery life goes for approximately 2h. Try to have 2 or 3 with you while you are travelling. If you end up going somewhere quite remote, it will be challenging to capture alot of amazing footage and have enough battery life left over.

Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II (Black)
The other thing is you need to have a few memory cards to capture all of the footage. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing the cheapest memory card, but at the same time I wouldn’t say that you need to invest in the most expensive. You want an option that will capture the footage without delays or any glitches.

GoPro

I wouldn’t call it an essential, but it is definitely a nice to have. It depends what kind of videos you want to produce. If you are a person that likes doing activities, then a GoPro will probably be the right filming gadget for you. If you like surfing, riding a motorbike, skydiving or even cycling. You can get alot of footage, but the camera angles and lens might not give you the exact shots that you want it to.
GoPro HERO5 Black

This probably isn’t the best camera to get started with if you are tight on funds, but it should be something that becomes a part of your toolkit in the future.

Having a good stand is also important. But you don’t want to carry one that will add too much weight to your luggage or backpack. There are small tripods that you can invest in which should allow you to record vlogs and various types of footage.

Drone

Drones can get you some amazing camera shots that you can use in your footage. It’s something that will allow you to capture amazing footage. But the drawback has been the size of these drones while travelling.

Some of the main ones to consider include the following.

DJi Mavic Pro

I first saw the DJi Mavic Pro being reviewed by Casey Neistat. The thing that sold me on this drone was the video quality, control and it’s portability. It films up to 4K and can go up to a high altitude. Even though the Phantom drone is superior, its size makes it very inconvenient to carry.

DJI Mavic PRO Portable Collapsible Mini Racing Drone with 32GB Sandisk Extreme SD Card + 3.0 Card Reader, Koozam Cleaning Cloth

Phantom 4

Probably the leading drone on the market. The Phantom 4 is the drone for the filming professional. Capture aerial views of the city you are in or 360 degree views of landmarks and its surrounding areas.

The setback with this technology is the size. It will take up at least half of your luggage. It depends what filming shots you want to have.

DJI Phantom 4 Quadcopter Kit Bundle with 4K Camera Gimbal, 3 DJI Batteries and Accessories (11 Items)

Invest in a MacBook.

I was a PC loyal Microsoft Windows guy before. But it’s no lie that once you go Mac, you’ll never go back (for now anyway).

As a digital nomad, your two most important pieces of equipment will be your smartphone and your computer. Your computer will be your remote office and will allow you to thrive as a digital nomad.

MacBooks aren’t cheap. But buying a cheaper alternative will cost you more in the long-term. I will tell you why it is worth investing in a MacBook.

Apple MMGF2LL/A MacBook Air 13.3-Inch Laptop (8GB RAM 128 GB SSD) MMGF2
If you can, invest in a Macbook Pro for video content.
Apple MacBook Pro MLH42LL/A 15.4-inch Laptop with Touch Bar (2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, 512GB Retina Display), Space Gray

It is lightweight.

This is important as a traveller. Additional weight is a burden when travelling.The lighter, the better.

The battery life is long.

Depending on the model that you have, the battery life can last for over 9h.This allows you to be productive for longer no matter where you are. You can literally work on the beach for hours without worrying about going back for a recharge in the nearest cafe or hotel room.

The computer charges quickly.

I can definitely say this about my Macbook Air. Within an hour, my laptop can be fully charged and then I can be on the go again.

It’s syncing ability with other Apple and bluetooth devices is convenient.

This is one of my favourite things about the MacBook. You can connect it to your phone with the firewire and USB cable, but you can also use Airdrop to transfer files via Bluetooth. You can also connect it to Apple TV, if you want to see things on the bigger screen.

The programs that you can use to produce your work are amazing.

Whether you want to publish videos, create images or develop websites, there are several software options that are ‘cutting edge’, allowing you to produce high-quality work.

Editing software.

iMovie.

This comes with the MacBook and allows you to edit videos that have a pretty good quality. You won’t publish studio level short films, but it does the job and it is simple enough to use. It is a great entry-level option considering that it comes with the Macbook.

Final Cut Pro X.

This is the bad boy that you want as a part of your video editing arsenal. Majority of the pros on YouTube and in the film industry use the software to create compelling stories, editorial cuts, transitions and effects that will wow the audience.

Final Cut Pro X

You must build an engaged audience!

Whether you want to build a website, a YouTube channel, a huge Instagram account or whatever it might be, you must remember that your core objective will centre around the growth of your audience.

The income that you will get from your lifestyle will come from business projects or opportunities that you can create. To create them, you must have an audience that is prepared to engage with you and your content in some way.

After you’ve embarked on your travels with your YouTube videos, I want you to share your story in the comments section below. Share your YouTube channel, your story and any income success that you have had. I want you to be a part of the winner’s circle.

Thanks for reading. I’m looking forward to hearing about your success soon.

*Disclaimer – This post contains affiliate links. The recommendations are my own.