Bear Grylls is truly location independent - Kinda makes all of your planning seem pretty dumb, huh?
(Note: I am not referring to any one blog or blogger anywhere in this post. This refers to an entire community of bloggers – location independent just happens to be the most commonly used term.)
This is a long post – but a very important one. Take the time necessary to read it!
In the last four months, I have established my “location independence.” Like many of you reading this, I learned of location independence, modern nomading, or whatever you’d like to call it (I’ll call it location independence in this post, but I am referring to ALL terms for it), via blogs. It sounded like an amazing way to live and I started pursuing this lifestyle.
Many have emailed me over the last couple of months asking questions about how to achieve location independence. Every single person was using bloggers’ experiences to model their ideal lifestyle. There’s a major problem with this, and at the risk of being excommunicated from the online community of location independents, I’m going to tell you about it.
Let me preempt the rest of my statements with this: I have not met most of the bloggers to whom I am referring, but I have read their writings – which is really all that matters, because that is the level of access most people have to these bloggers. I’ve also had somewhat extensive online interactions with others.
Many of the bloggers you read are literally the antithesis of location independence.
Many bloggers are simply transferring their “home” to a new location, not creating a lifestyle that is independent from a “home” location (yes, I am guilty of this – but I don’t scream about location independence from the rooftops either). Doesn’t it sound pretty ludicrous to be “location independent” but need to plan a relocation months in advance? If you are truly location independent, wouldn’t you be able to pick up everything and go to a new location today?
Relocations are simply a cop-out. Planning out a relocation to an exotic destination is not exhibiting location independence – it is exhibiting EXTREME LOCATION DEPENDENCE!!! These people are so attached to and dependent upon their home location that they cannot commit to moving to a new location. Rather than move, they do a temporary relocation.
I really don’t give a crap about these bloggers. But there are some great people out there (some of whom are close friends) who are trying to become location independent and are being lead down the wrong path by these bloggers.
Here’s a great example of how crazy this sounds: My girlfriend works for a large company that required her to relocate from Denver to Tucson with two weeks notice. In that amount of time, she completely moved her life to Tucson. On the other hand, there’s bloggers who are writing about their plans to become “location independent” for months. They are carefully planning everything, ensuring that they can replicate every aspect of “home” that they depend upon – while not actually letting go of their home, via renting it out or making arrangements to ensure that they can retain ownership when they leave.
Who is more location independent??? My girlfriend is. She was able to transport her life to a new location in a matter of two weeks, not leaving apartments, homes, or storage units full of crap behind.
Maybe she should start a blog.
But these bloggers give me good advice!?!
Do they really? The majority of people I have spoken with who follow these bloggers are actually hurting their chances at location independence. Most of theses bloggers are giving you advice in order to get you to read their blog, buy their products, and click on their ads (you may notice that at this time, there’s no ads or items for sale on this blog). These bloggers are teaching readers to reinforce their location dependence by overloading you with information, leading you to over plan, and replicate their location dependence in the name of location independence.
Is reading another blog post going to improve your chances of becoming location independent? No – you’re going to spend valuable time reading someone else’s experience rather than creating your own.
Is buying another ebook going to give you the tools you need to become location independent? Absolutely not! You’re spending money on someone else’s opinions. Use that money to start up a new business or add it to your savings.
Recognize the bloggers for who they are
There’s a lot of travel junkies out there blogging under the guise of location independence. Many of these people have constructed their hobbies or, in some cases, their livelihoods from planning and blogging about their trips and relocations. If you plan on making trips & relocations a part of your lifestyle – and not your life – these people are likely leading you down the wrong path. You may wish to relocate to Melbourne, but maintain your training for triathlons, or keep knitting, or writing your novel.
Some people consider relocating or planning a trip stressful – others consider it a hobby. Which category do you fall into? Do the bloggers you read fall into the same category?
What location independent (and similar labels) are good for
Location independent labels become rallying cries. They allow people to form a community or tribe around an idea. This serves as a great way to create charity an camaraderie amongst people who identify with the idea (LIP Talent Exchange is a great example of this, as are certain free forums). However, people who wish to join this community can (and are) often become distracted by the leadership of community leaders (bloggers) and focus their efforts on activities that do not lead to achieving their dreams. Instead, they become lost in the community and the achievements of other community members. Remember that everything you read on the blogs is packaged to sell a product and to get you to keep visiting the blog – the story may not have happened exactly how they’re retelling it!
These labels have created a marketplace (much like supposed “minimalism” has) – but it’s mostly an artificial market. I have yet to read an ebook from a blogger in this space that teaches me how to travel and run my business, not to mention it seems every ebook repeats the same, useless information. Remember that these labels are created in order to sell you something.
Be honest with yourself – even if bloggers aren’t
Spend some time and think about this: the location independent person can go anywhere in the world and find a way to procure food, shelter, and clothing. The location dependent person needs to plan out where to store their crap, how to rent their home, find a location that has internet access, find accommodations in the new location that provide the comforts of home that they are used to, plan out cell phones, contingency plans, etc.
If you are taking your business with you, chances are you aren’t going to be location independent: you’ve got to replicate too much of your current location to make it work. If you’re willing to wash dishes in exchange for a humble meal & scrub floors and toilets in exchange for a roof over your head, you’re going to have a good shot of being location independent.
Remember that simply relocating isn’t location independence. If you need to keep your current home to be happy with temporarily moving somewhere else or travelling, recognize that as location dependence rather than deny it.
Get in the correct mindset
If you need to replicate your home, or even keep the one you have while you travel, don’t kid yourself and try to achieve location independence. You’re going to end up pursuing “location independent” activities that are expensive and unneccessary. Relocating to Buenos Aires for six months is a drastically different concept than becoming location independent and travelling the globe for six months. Know what you are comfortable with and focus on that outcome – you don’t need to be location independent to relocate.
Be your own leader
Lifestyle design isn’t something that someone else can do for you. Your lifestyle is based upon your personal needs, desires, and values (with the greatest emphasis on values). Figure out what it is that you want to achieve and focus on that goal. Everyone leads a different life and different values when planning their life. This is why bloggers choose generic terms like “location independence” rather than “relocating to Buenos Aires for 6 and 1/2 months with my girlfriend while keeping my home in Des Moines.”
If you’re plan is to relocate to Buenos Aires, focus on that plan and don’t get side tracked with location independence. Create your own path – following some bloggers’ lead is going to end up in your own failure.
Who should you listen to?
For the most part, avoid “lifestyle design” bloggers who are hocking their own brand of location independence or other highly specific lifestyle brand. If you want to be able to relocate or even become location independent, chances are that you haven’t achieved this goal because you don’t have the money to do so. What’s the solution to this? Making more money! There are some fantastic resources out there for starting a business, automating a business, or expanding your existing business’s web presence. These resources do this without tempting you with delusions of location independence or traveling around the world.
Focus on specialists. There are travel blogs that can provide great travel information, as well as business blogs & ebooks that provide a wealth of information about how to get a business running. Put the two together in a way that works for your ideal lifestyle – rather than using a predefined formula from someone else.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
hahaha, “relocating to Buenos Aires for 6 and 1/2 months with my girlfriend while keeping my home in Des Moines”, or abbreviated – “Location Independent”
I hope this post sparks plenty of debate, love it!
Have to add a little quip, as your post has made me question what I’m striving for!
I’m taking the definition of ‘location independent’ as being ‘a location independent income stream/income source’, not necessarily a lifestyle, your girlfriend did quite well to shift in two weeks, but majority of people will have commitments/future plans that will effect making a move tomorrow.
So for me, LI = Location Independent Income Stream.
@ Andrew C – While there’s many points in here, there’s no such thing as a truly location independent business – unless you’re just selling your physical labor. If you understand what aspects of a location you are DEPENDENT upon, you’ll be more successful with your business. A relocatable business is constructed in an entirely different way than a location independent business. Location independents aren’t going to be the ideal resource for building a business – they often only have a very limited experience. Shoot for business experts.
I think the main reason people never achieve location independence, or relocation, is that they don’t recognize that it’s emotional – not financial – reasons that hold them back. Emotional attachments to a lifestyle, location, people in a location are often not addressed in their planning.
While your cynicism might be laid on a bit thick, I’m with you on the gist of what you’re saying. At times, “location independence” and “relocation dependence” are a little too close to synonymous.
If you haven’t seen it already, David Walsh’s Lifestyle Design Needs an Intervention post a while back touches on some similar ideas. Part of the comment I left over there is, “Being from Anytown, Anycountry and working 40 hours a week in a beach town in Thailand is not location independence. It’s called moving.” Living in another country isn’t exactly new. The English language was doing quite well with the term “expatriation” for quite some time. I picked Thailand based on comparisons I’d done for myself before opting instead for Panama. I’ve since discovered that quite a few LI, LD, et cetera bloggers are over there, but… total coincidence.
My thinking at this point is that location independence should be merely a side-effect of an ultra-efficient and profitable business. Putting it out front as the ultimate goal is short-sighted for my taste. This tends to result in people building bare minimum businesses to allow them to be location independent, but they’re stuck working all the time anyway.
If we don’t completely eschew the labels, lifestyle design is more along the lines of what you’re saying and Andrew said above.
@Andrew MacPherson – I hadn’t read David Walsh’s post, but it is fantastic. I wish I had read it before writing my post! I agree my cynicism is quite thick, but my frustration at seeing my friends spend hundreds of dollars on educational materials created by location independent “experts” just got to be too much.
You are 100% correct that the location independent focus of most people leads to creating a business that merely scrapes by. There is no abundance of wealth created with the approach to location independence that is currently being pushed. There are ways to achieve abundant wealth online, but the people who are, and are living what we would call “location independent lives” are more concerned with business itself than the lifestyle design of location independence.
As you said, location independence should be the side effect of an ultra-efficient business. You don’t need to look far to find great examples of this. I don’t think that graphic designers who choose to move to the Seychelles for 4 months are really “living the dream.”
Lifestyle design and location independence aren’t really the same thing in my mind. You can design a kickass lifestyle and still live at “home.” To me, the location independent idea comes into play when you want to add the aspect of travel to your lifestyle design plans.
@Nate – I agree 100%. My point is that if your end game is to travel or relocate, the best advice you can get is not going to come from people who had the same end game, because everything that goes into constructing that life will be drastically different from person to person.
You can have a fantastic life and live in one place. If a person’s guidance is coming from location independents, they may overlook this fact.
… and here I was thinking I was the only lunatic talking about this.
Elephants in the room are dying to be acknowledged, so cheers for having the balls to do just that. I’ll be following your blog closely, thanks for the comment on Muselife.. feels like we’re on the same page. ShortcutToChina looks pretty robust, checking that out as well.
I don’t read a lot of LIP folks, but I do consider myself one. I’m not sure if I’d fall under your criteria for LIP, but I have both backpacked around and stopped places for a few months at a time. I consider myself to be location independent, because truly I can live wherever, whenever I want. We did a 2 month road trip across the US this summer, up through Canada and the Yukon and into Alaska. We were going to stay in Anchorage for a bit, but changed our minds, three days later we were in Bend, OR.
That being said, I do sometimes give advice on how to do it. I wrote a 30 days series about how to “redesign your life and travel the world” recently. I guess unlike some of these other folks, I don’t ever try to give people a road map that mimics my experience, but rather the tools to figure it out themselves.
As to your advice, if you want to do LIP, make more money, that’s actually contrary to what I’ve found. It takes me a lot less money to live this lifestyle because I’m not paying for all the comforts of home. I work on about 25% of my previous expenses.
I’m not really disagreeing with you, I mean if there are blogs out there calling themselves LIP when really they are just expats, that’s a little weird. Maybe that’s why I don’t read many of them? But on the other hand, I think there are ways to talk about it and give advice to people just getting started that has some value. But then again, I might be biased.
@ Christine – it sounds like you are/were location independent. I agree that you can live on less money when traveling, but my point is that you need to focus on creating wealth. If someone already has all the money they need to live wherever they want, wouldn’t they have already moved or begun travelling rather than reading a blog or ebook about how to achieve their dream?
Ultimately, the only motivation that will get anyone to achieve their goals comes from within. The only way to create a business that allows you to travel or relocate is to actually build it (or buy it – but you need money…). My point is that if people would just focus on that, they would be able to get where they want to go much quicker.
I’m passing absolutely no judgement on the series you wrote, but my point is that there are some great business minds out there that are recognized for being great in business and these are the people that aspiring LIP’s should be looking to. (You may have fantastic information in your series – I just don’t know at this point… you could share a link?)
Some very valid points here that I often see folk struggling with who want to achieve location independence.
My partner Chris and I have been traveling full time for over 2.5 years now. While we both have a lot of international travel experience – and likely will in the future – our current mode of exploration is traveling IN our little solar powered home on wheels. And we do so domestically across the US (and will venture across driveable borders soon as well.) We don’t have a true home base anywhere.. although we do keep a storage unit in a location we tend to frequent with seasonal clothing, media and Burning Man gear.
We don’t often see full time RVing brought up into LIP discussions – folks seem to be focused on relocating to condos/hostels/backpacking,etc. in exotic locations – but we do view it as a sustainable option of being location independent and being at home. And it costs so much significantly less than our prior stationary lives that we have the luxury to pick and choose work opportunities for the experience of it, not necessarily the financial outcome. We’ve taken on extensive volunteer projects, helped start-ups launch products, done remote end user support, copy editing, deep research, traveled to conduct training classes, been project managers, video travel blogging, coached people through purging their possessions, worked on launching our own products and taken physical labor jobs as seasonal temps. For us, being open to and willing to explore a variety of work projects and not focusing on a single business idea has been both an outcome and fuel for our location roaming.
Sometimes that work has us parked in one location for a month or so and working ‘onsite’, and sometimes it has us working remotely and needing to be within cell phone range occasionally. Sometimes we go months with not actually ‘working’ more than a couple hours a week.. and sometimes we take a gig that has us working insane crazy intense hours.
Sometimes when we’re at a location, we’re focused on exploring the geography, history and culture. Sometimes we’re focused on visiting with family/friends and making new ones. Sometimes we’re attending amazing events. Sometimes we’re delved deep in a personal or professional project. Sometimes we find a balance between it all.
And the best part? Rarely do we ever lack the ability to pick up and move our entire life and household to a different location at any moment. It’s sustainable for us because it merges our desires for extended community, quality time with loved ones, exploring passions, fulfilling our wanderlust without having to over focus on logistics like visas/huge time zone differences/vaccinations, etc.
Maybe some won’t describe us as truly location independent because we’re dependent on places we can take our little home on wheels. Doesn’t matter to us what labels folks use to describe us.. we’re happy and living the life WE want and that we designed for ourselves.
– Cherie
@ Cherie – You bring up a great point with your story. You’ve created the lifestyle that you want to live, rather than hammering your lifestyle into the “location independent” mold. By knowing what you want and doing it on your own terms, you’re truly exhibiting lifestyle design. That’s what I think should be focused on by those people who want to change their life – not following in the footsteps of someone who is trying to sell a specific brand of lifestyle design. Lifestyle design is about self empowerment and making choices for yourself. There are those who are selling brands of lifestyle design which employs imitation & emulation. These are the approaches which hurt, rather than help people.
I think you’ve taken the right approach to lifestyle design. But you probably don’t give a crap what I think, and that’s the point!
I’m glad that both you and David Walsh have the courage to speak up about some of “the elephants in the room” of the lifestyle design/ location independent community!
Still, I don’t totally agree with all your points either. We have been traveling the world as a family since 2006 (& blogging/youtubing about our experiences) before the 4 Hour Work Week was written or “location independent” or “lifestyle design” was even coined!
Yet, we do fit into that category and we can and do follow our whims and work as little or as much as we want as we go. We never intended to be trendsetters, but through our vast experience at this lifestyle we have been able to help many. We are even featured in the 4HWW because we have more experience doing this as a family than anyone else blogging about it.
We KNOW what it is like to work and school while traveling through 4 continents, 32 countries. We KNOW what it is like to do it in hostels, hotels, rental apartments in several countries, small motor home, internet cafes in many countries, to go for months with just a small day pack each etc. We KNOW what it is like to do it on trains, cargo ships, buses, over night ferries between countries, sail boats,planes, rental cars, mass transit etc. Slow world travel and deep immersion & freedom were the experiences we wanted, got & continue to get.
“Is reading another blog post going to improve your chances of becoming location independent?”
Actually, I think the answer to this is YES! I think by reading a LOT of different smart people, one can learn things & help one to formulate a plan that works for a unique, individual plan.
I was certainly inspired and informed by others before we left & I know MANY others that have been inspired and informed by our website. In fact, Andrew Warner of Mixergy..com, just wrote about that on my Thanksgiving Day post. After interviewing us, he was inspired to do his current move from LA to BA. We have lots of stories like that.
Do you need to pay for an e-book or anything else?…probably not as most of the information is out there for free… but some will do that any way.
I think the important thing is to read those people who have lots of concrete experiences. At least, that is what I did and then made it my own …always ever adaptable to what works best for us, what works best for the economic conditions.
We have spent more time in Europe than we thought we would ( yet, easily living large on our total family budget of 25K a year) & thought we’d ship the RV to Africa next. But on a recent road trip we reworked that idea and thought Malaysia will be better next winter so our child can immerse in Mandarin while she is young enough to have that be easy. That may change again.
We usually can move at a moments notice, but unlike your girlfriend’s move, we do it totally at our own whims.
THAT is the true beauty of true LI or digital nomad living….doing everything on your OWN timing.
@soultravelers3 – Clearly, you’ve blazed a path in lifestyle design, no matter what name you give it. I will disagree with you in one area – it matters not what information is in a blog, it is the action that people take that will make change. Blogs, books, etc. push people into information paralysis and they focus on the process of educating themselves rather than the process of actually achieving their goals.
PS – I agree that you’re more mobile than my girlfriend, as you’re probably more mobile than most professional people in the world. Your case is one that this post doesn’t necessarily apply to
I think the distinction that both you and David are trying to make can be made pretty clearly or at least to me it can. Here’s how it lands in my head….
Several people mistakingly or without thinking about it call themselves location independents when really they’ve just moved somewhere cheaper to continue working on the computer and get paid in dollars. These would be the people identified in this blog post…the people posing as location independents when they’ve simply moved somewhere cheaper, take in the sights from time to time but now can save $500 more a month because there rent is in yen. They are not location independents.
Then there are the people like the poster above me who actually is location independent, lives cheaply moves rapidly, staying no where more than 3-8 months, or is always planning the next place to be. They probably still work digitally but have put down no roots, nor will they because they continue to move. They are location independent
I see both of those as a possible add-on for lifestyle design, they are like a sweatshirt to the ensemble of lifestyle design, you can where them or not…but don’t say you’re a life design master because you’ve moved somewhere outside the US on the cheap, or can move anywhere at the drop of a hat. I don’t think those crystalize lifestyle design in anyway. The trick is “lifestyle design” isn’t a real word…it hasn’t been “officially defined” …. but I stand and would like to make a case for the definition requiring the set up of easily managed income, escaping the grind of work that requires you to do something you don’t want to do on a constant basis. You most of the time need to become a business owner of some sort in order to do this. The core tenents of lifestyle design thus focus around breaking free from that grind in some shape, which THEN enables you to move wherever you’d like and explore what I believe is called geoarbitrage…I’m breaking this apart in my project right now…at least the breaking free part. Good post, thanks for making me think!
@ Robert – I wholeheartedly agree with you. I used the term “location optimization” in a previous post. I think that describes most people who move somewhere temporarily to take advantage of geoarbitrage & any other benefits of the new location. Location optimization, however, doesn’t require an easily manageable income which, as you’ve pointed out, should be a prerequisite of location independence.
Well, you’ve certainly started quite a conversation! As a blogger who’s been writing about being nomadic for several years now, I’ve found myself using the terms, location independence and lifestyle design a lot lately. Frankly, I use the terms because they are widely recognized now in the community and are an easy way for people to know what we’re talking about.
I disagree with a lot of the comments here stating that a person is or isn’t location independent because of where their money comes from or due to how many months you might stay in a certain place. I also disagree with the statement that any person who makes enough money would already be location independent. I have several friends who are worth millions and are envious of my lifestyle because they are so tied into their brick and mortar businesses they can’t see a way to leave for more than a week at a time. Money does not equal the ability to be location independent. So what if a person takes a liking to Thailand or Spain and decides to stay there for more than a few months? The fact that they could leave and continue to generate their income without interruption is something that many people would love to have. If a blogger makes money by helping others find their own freedom – so what? A lot of people make money in this world while creating negative effects. If someone makes money and helps another person in the process more power to them.
Great discussion!
It has made me wonder if location independence could be better defined as being independent of the source of income that determines your location? So really, where you live and how long you live there is kind of irrelevant providing you’re making money to sustain yourself.
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