- Passionate Income
- Posts
- The Downsides of Digital Nomad Life
1,160 Words | 4 Min 50 Sec Read
Welcome to another issue of Passionate Income.
Today we’ll be discussing the pitfalls of running a business from overseas.
While it's easy to look at Instagram and think the WiFi money lifestyle looks like a dream come true, in reality you'll have just as many problems as you did back home. They'll just be different types of problems.
Let’s dive in.
Spam starts with your personal data being sold. Data brokers are profiting from your home address, SSN, phone number, and other personal information that doesn’t belong to them.
Incogni scrubs your personal info from the web. Simple as. It takes 3 minutes to set up, tackles 180+ data brokers and people-search sites, and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee. Protect your data, your time, and your sanity. Get Incogni today and never look back.Use code GET55 today for a 55% annual plan discount →
If you follow influencers or digital nomad types on Instagram, it’s easy to think life overseas is an endless stream of jet skiing on tropical beaches.
In reality, however, the novelty of anything—from shopping to traveling—eventually wears off.
And when it does, what you’re left with are everyday problems.
While some of those problems will be identical to the ones your friends at home deal with, living overseas involves its own set of unique ones.
So, while we’re huge proponents of chasing your dreams, I thought we could discuss the not-so-perfect reality of working from a foreign country.
*This is Part One a Two-Part series.
1 - Time Zones
While this might not sound like a big deal if you’ve never left the country, dealing with time zones is a huge problem for service providers.
First, unless you do B2C coaching and have to do calls when people are off work, you will most likely have to schedule your calls during the business hours of the country or countries your customers/clients are located in.
If you’re going from the U.S. to somewhere like Latin America, this isn’t a big deal (as you will most likely never be more than one hour ahead of Eastern Time).
However, as many Americans have learned the hard way, moving somewhere like Thailand or Bali can be highly problematic. Mainly because the only time slots that overlap with U.S. business hours are early in the morning or late at night.
Another thing people don’t think about is having to adjust to different time zones when you fly back to your home country.
If you’re one of those people who never goes home, this won’t be a big deal. If you do, however, this can be a nightmare.
As you can imagine, the main problem here is how dramatic time zone changes can affect your sleep routine. And more important, how your sleep routine affects your mental health, well-being and productivity.
Imagine flying somewhere that’s a 4, 8, or 12-hour difference from where you’ve been staying. Now imagine it taking a week or two to finally adjust to the new time zone, only for you to fly back and have to adjust once again.
This might not sound like a big deal if you haven’t had to deal with it before.
But if you’re close to your family - or plan on attending a bunch of conferences in your home country - having to adjust more than a two-hour difference multiple times per year becomes tiring.
And the bigger the difference, the longer it takes you to adjust (on both sides).
2 - Flying
When I was doing the Wi-Fi money thing in my 20s, flying didn’t bother me that much. I saw it as the price we pay to live the international lifestyle.
As I’ve gotten older, however, I've come to despise it.
See, in the U.S., it’s rare for people to fly for more than 2 to 3 hours (with the maximum being 5.5-hour cross-country flights, which almost nobody does on a frequent basis).
Even better, it’s virtually unheard of to take an overnight flight inside the U.S.
When you live the digital nomad life, however, 5, 10, and even 20-hour flights are the norm.
Even worse, there are some places (like Asia and the southern cone of Latin America) where overnight flights are the only option for getting back to your home country.
Once again, enduring this stuff is easy when you're young.
But as you get older, crankier, and your knees and back start to act up, having to endure long distance flights is a nightmare.
3 - Double Taxation
Ok, let's be real here:
For better or worse, between 80% and 90% of digital nomads do not pay taxes outside of their home country.
On the one hand, evading taxes in a foreign country is definitely illegal. On the other, the odds of getting caught are tiny.
But here’s the problem: If you decide you want to stay somewhere long-term, not paying taxes becomes incredibly risky.
Because the more deeply you get involved with a country (e.g. opening up bank accounts and credit cards there), the more likely it is you end up on their tax board's radar.
And if you get caught, and they dig into your for years and years worth of back taxes, you can very easily find yourself owing 5-6 figures.
Further, if you get caught and can't pay, you could be deported and banned, have your assets seized, or potentially end up in jail.
Last, while a lot of people talk about going overseas to reduce their taxes, it’s possible you end up in a situation where you owe even more tax than you would’ve owed if you'd just stayed in your home country.
Sadly, we don’t have the time or space to get into every country's unique tax obligations as it relates to your home country.
But if you’re planning on going overseas - and could potentially see yourself staying somewhere long-term - make sure you talk to a tax professional there who understands how foreigners from your country are taxed.
###
Between rising living costs and the desire to travel, more and more people are choosing to become digital nomads (and full blown expats).
With that said, don’t make the mistake of thinking life overseas is a utopia.
Because once the novelty of traveling wears off, you will very quickly realize you that all you’ve done is swap one set of problems for another.
💡 Takeaway: Making decisions as an adult boils down to weighing Pros and Cons. And while the international lifestyle can be incredibly fun, understand its' not all sunshine and rainbows. Instead, committing to this path means choosing a new and unique set of problems you may have never considered.
🎁 Resources:
FREE COURSE: Build a Faceless IG Page (from a guy with 10M+ followers)
