Webby
Thu 22 Nov 2007
Being a working nomad gives you freedom in two flavours; time and location. For me I am now experiencing more of the benefits of freedom of time after two years of going where I want.
In the early days back in 2004 when I first starting imagining working on a tropical beach somewhere with a laptop I only really considered the advantage of being able to work anywhere. That seemed to be the most attractive thing about this lifestyle.
Now that I am stationary and happily living in Auckland, NZ I am now really appreciating being able to work when I want. I think the reason for this sudden appreciation is living with 14 other folk who all have regular jobs with regular hours.
I think they believe I am very lucky to be able to choose my hours and take an afternoon off to go surfing if the waves are good, but am I lucky?
Perhaps it is hard for other people to appreciate the year or so I spent building things up, spending a lot of precious free time learning about the web and sacrificing my social life for very little money (the days of earning $5 a day).
Would I do it again? Well of course I would. It is still as hard to break into this business and make good money but the opportunities for those willing to crack on with things are not going to go away soon. More and more money is being spent online and more and more advertising revenue is available.
If you want a career where you are totally in control of your destiny then this takes some beating!
So I look back at those times when my weekend involved trawling forums for information and not having much social life with very little regret.
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:07 am
Controlling my location and time were two of the three main reasons I started doing this a few months ago.
Thursday was a holiday here in the US but I am still up at 3 AM working on my sites. This post makes me feel better though
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November 23rd, 2007 at 11:17 am
you only have to look at the folk on here who have taken inspiration from you and gone for it themselves to see there’s still plenty of opportunity.
I personally find the times i work the hardest are when i’ve run out of cash to do what i want, so doing some research and work online is a free way to spend the evening, and isn’t particularly a burden, as it’s extremely satisfying when you complete a new site, write a new article etc.
saying that, when the next big paycheque comes in, i’ll undoubtedly put work on the back burner and have a big weekend away!
November 25th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Once you are over that initial “spending hours & hours & hours working for a lot less than $5 a day in the begining”
It all starts to make sense the life style you are afforded in this buisiness is one that most people can ony dream of.
November 26th, 2007 at 7:08 am
There are also other positives building websites over working a regular job. You are building something that has tangible value. Any website with traffic is worth money. This is not something that is possible in a regular 9-5 job. So added to the ability to work anywhere and anytime is the knowledge that you are creating something that can be potentially worth a lot of money.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:33 am
That’s a good point Mike, one that I’d never really given much thought to. It’s a nice feeling knowing that all of the time put into this keeps adding value and can eventually be sold.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Also I posted about something similar before…
http://www.workingnomad.com/145/one-day-working-for-yourself/
That site has now paid me much more than the same time spent working for someone else.
December 4th, 2007 at 6:05 am
Your story is a real inspiration. And a real frustration for someone like me who’s had the ideas for a while but not enough commitment to put in those tough hours.
Two years of hard work for this kind of career is a much better proposition than three years of university with a semi guaranteed job afterwards, that is almost certainly very time and location dependant. An online career pay’s more in the long run besides from affording a feeling of having actually acomplished something. And that’s not frequently on offer at most work places.