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 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!

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!

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.

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

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?)