The digital nomad lifestyle appears to have a lot of mystery and not a lot of details for someone to know how to embrace the lifestyle. I have done my own research and realize it is just a lot of flaky content and information that appears very basic. In this article, I want to share actual details on how to consider a digital nomad lifestyle with real usable information. 

The definition of a digital nomad is someone who can do all their work from their laptop. Do not stray from this definition of a digital nomad. With a laptop, a person can basically go anywhere in the world where there is an Internet connection from coffee shops to co-working spaces to living units with fast Internet.

With the definition of a digital nomad established, the next step is to discuss how to move around the world. The most obvious is you are still a citizen of your home country such as the United States but you obtain a 45-day to 90-day visa as a tourist or you apply for a more extended visa for 6 months or more. The United States passport is powerful and you can get a 90-day visa upon arrival without any other prerequisites.  

The next step is where? This article is for brothas and sistas so I’m not going to be talking up the nation of Georgia or Albania. The top areas in the discussion are Mexico, UAE, and Thailand. Many of these nations have requirements such as proof of medical insurance and a minimum income/salary with proof of income to be in their country as they want you rich enough to support the local economy and local merchants – bring your work and your money to spend. 

There are some things that people are hiding that you may not realize when they talk about digital nomads. The first and biggest thing is that person may be a trust-fund brat or have rich parents or have come into a lot of money from a life insurance policy payout. You got to have a nice savings buildup or come into cash or come from wealth so you can secure your situation when you make a move overseas. 

Another thing people are not discussing is the actual “digital nomad” work that you will be doing. From what I see, especially among African-Americans are they doing commission-based work or they are doing a salary-based job from their laptop that pays under $100,000 USD/year. Trust me, our people be lying on their pockets, they not making money or they taking serious chances. It is important to understand the facts and look exactly at the work or the job to be a digital nomad. 

Now we are going to talk about the real approach. 

It is not desirable to be a digital nomad working a 9-5, which defeats the purpose of being overseas. Because now you are working and have to attend meetings at a certain time in a different time zone. But most importantly, you are at the mercy of an employer who can fire you and let you go on a whim and leave you out there stranded and now have to deplete your savings and you have to figure out a way home if you got one because you had to terminate your apartment lease before you left. 

Let’s touch on the apartment or mortgage lease – there is a UK show called “Can’t Pay We Take It Away” where homeowners leased their home to a stranger so they can go work/live in the United States like Miami. Then they find out the tenant is not paying the rent and the person is stuck all the way in the USA and have to come back to the UK to do an eviction. Or there is one episode where a tenant actually AirBnB the apartment and makes 4x more than the rent as a lucrative profit model. So let’s not even think of considering subleasing apartments because if the tenant knows you are out of the country, they going to get over on you knowing they got time to run before you can get back. 

The ideal setup of a digital nomad lifestyle is to have a digital operation you run and an automatic workflow process. 

One setup is you are a content writer and you create articles for publications or create graphic artwork. You sell the artwork on Adobe Stock or Shutterstock and get a payout. Or you offer services for Fiverr such as voice-overs for podcast intros or you use Adobe Creative Cloud to create video intros for YouTubers using After Effects of Premier. Or you write code or design websites for clients. You are offering a creative service in a relaxing environment with a nice ocean view. 

Do you want to know my favorite that you didn’t think of, lol? Digital nomads be swagger-jacking HTML template websites from existing online stores, redoing the CSS and some scripts, and repackaging it with a new name to sell back on the online marketplace, lol. That’s what folks used to do back in the day, running to Thailand and having a small ex-pat team, and making money to support their Pattaya lifestyle. A lot of font-jackers be doing this as well, jacking other fonts and combining styles to create a new font set to sell online. 

The best digital nomad model is – you know I’m going to show my behind on this – taking advantage of The Manufactured Solution platform. Our platform is designed for digital nomads because we are a distributed cloud-based service you can access all tasks from your laptop or computer. This blog you reading from is done via our View the Vista website. I have a picture in the Dream and Hustle Facebook group where I was writing an actual Dream and Hustle article from the McDonalds in Roppongi – which is my favorite spot to have breakfast before heading out into Tokyo rush hour. 

Your ideal setup is creating workflow digital automation and providing digital services using our Toshikiso platform with low-code, event-driven workflow. This allows you to create content using our View the Vista platform that allows you to create newsletters, social media posts, and content posts such as Dream and Hustle which is using our View the Vista platform for yourself or your clients. Our platform also allows you to create other types of low-code platform services such as scheduling services, ledger and booking for both physical and digital assets, and event-driven subscriptions to run processes. 

Keep in mind that you can use Microsoft Azure instead of our platform which has a lot of free cloud services you can use right now to run processes and have low-cost cloud services that will scale with your growth and stay profitable. You can create Azure functions, and run Azure queue service that can process data as a middleman data broker where you can translate currency exchange rates on Azure nodes around the world. Microsoft Azure if I’m correct has a billing service but you can use Stripe or other invoicing services to receive your payments to transfer to your Novo virtual bank account – that is how our company is set up. 

So here is what you should be doing right now if you want to be a digital nomad and go around the world and work from your laptop. Realize the best solution is offering a digital platform as a service to a global client base or creating content like writing an e-book and selling it – this is called “information selling” in Japan and I don’t think we have a term in the Western world for this kind of selling e-books for a quick buck. Also consider swagger-jacking HTML templates, lol. 

You should start this business right now while you are at home and working that job. Get your business up and running and serving global customers while you are at your home and when the money is there where you can submit proof of your income, then that is when you are ready for that digital nomad visa and then you can make your move and get an apartment or open a local bank account or mobile or Internet service. 

The good thing is most Dream and Hustle Early Adopters have indefinite access to our platform and they will be able to start low-coding solutions, build up digital platforms here and then they can move overseas as a digital nomad with automated processes to create coupon programs, manage club memberships, run newsletters and scheduling software that is self-serviced through the web and they just see money coming into their bank account from the automated billing and payment collection process and kick back and enjoy sunsets anywhere in the world they want. That’s how you're supposed to be a digital nomad in 2023.