That chat with my friend at 3am in a Chiang Mai hostel got me thinking hard

I was up late last week in Chiang Mai just venting about how my freelance writing gigs were drying up, and my buddy Dave who's been nomading for 6 years just looked at me and said 'you're not building anything, you're just trading hours for dollars.' He pointed out that I've been doing the same type of content writing for 18 months now with zero passive income or a real business structure. It really hit different because he's not wrong, I've been jumping from client to client like a hamster on a wheel. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I should pivot to something more sustainable like creating my own course or affiliate site. Has anyone else had a conversation that made you totally rethink your whole digital nomad hustle?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_harris782mo ago

Honestly, Dave's not totally wrong but he's not totally right either because trading hours for dollars is how most people start out. The thing is you can build systems while still doing client work, you just gotta save some time each week for your own projects. Plenty of nomads run successful blogs and courses but they usually keep some client income coming in while they get that off the ground.

nancy_ross2mo ago

So you're really gonna take advice from a guy who's been "nomading" 6 years and probably still can't afford his own health insurance? @kevin_harris78 said it best - most people start out trading time for money, and that's fine. Dave's just bitter because his "digital nomad lifestyle" is probably just him couch surfing and eating instant noodles.

the_adam2mo ago

The "couch surfing and eating instant noodles" part is funny but kinda misses the point. What nobody's talking about is that Dave's been doing this for 6 years. That's longer than most corporate jobs last these days. I know a guy who's been nomading for 4 years and he's put together a real estate portfolio back home while working 25 hours a week. The real question should be about how you build equity in yourself versus trading time for money forever. Most people end up stuck trading hours until they retire, if they even can retire.