Do you daydream about quitting your job and traveling around the world? What about taking it a step further and building a location independent career, so you can live and work wherever you want to?

I can remember the first time someone labelled me a “digital nomad” on a major blog… Two-and-a-half years ago these were the words of Corbett Barr—back when his site was still called Free Pursuits. Corbett listed me among the top 10 Digital Nomads to Learn From, alongside Tim Ferriss and Rolf Potts—two truly incredible writers who inspired me to follow my own path in life—as well as huge A-list bloggers Chris Brogan and Mike Elgan, and big names in the travel blogosphere including Christine Gilbert from Almost Fearless and Chris Guillebeau of Art of Nonconformity fame.

I wasn’t quite sure what I thought of the label at first, although I was immensely honored to be among such incredible company. I was excited! Reading Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek and Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding had been a turning point in my life—those two books opened my eyes to whole new possibilities and put a fire under my ass to create a life of my own design, and try my hardest to enjoy every moment of it.

Not long after in late 2009, Jonathan Mead used me as a case study in his manifesto The Zero Hour Workweek, which played off of the ideas in Tim’s book, but took them even further to encourage people to build businesses that basically allow them to get paid to be themselves. Soon I was being interviewed about my live-and-work-anywhere lifestyle, and people started calling my story inspiring, and asking me about my travel experiences and advice for overcoming travel obstacles.

Sometimes I’m a bit embarrassed by the buzzwords (digital nomad, location independent… and lifestyle design… there’s another one!) but eventually I embraced the title Corbett had bestowed upon me. Who’d have known that just two years later I’d be running a business course called Digital Nomad Academy with the help of Corbett himself and several other hugely successful remote-control entrepreneurs I look up to!

Like many people, sometimes I feel like the small (but growing) online niche we’re in is a bit too cliquey, too markety, and sometimes people get big egos, or they feel under pressure to maintain the appearance like they’ve got everything figured out and their lives are just so cool.

I know, because I’ve been there… but I’ll be the first to tell you, nobody has it all figured out. I’ve been broke as a joke many times along my journey, I’ve been stuck up a creek with no paddle many times on my travels, I’ve experienced immense business failures, I’ve been stabbed in the back, I’ve been discouraged. But, this is an incredible life we’ve all been given, and I’m grateful for the amazing adventures and obstacles I’ve experienced. I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything.

I’m even more thankful for the people around me who have helped fuel this adventure. It has its ups and downs for sure—I was defrauded and went through several down months. I wasn’t confident everything might not collapse at times. I took a break from blogging and let some of my friends use this platform to share their writing and their projects with you (I see no point writing unless I actually have something to say, but once I conquer the challenges laid out in front of me, maybe then I’ll have something of real value to share about them).

But despite the challenges of living an unconventional life, I have no plans to quit traveling, meeting new people, and having new experiences anytime soon, to stop experimenting with my own businesses, to ever go back to a 9-to-5 if I can avoid it, to move back home, or to stop blogging about this weird journey. Living life your own way, you will definitely be confronted with setbacks, and the journey will be more challenging than living according to someone else’s prescribed path. But it is absolutely, 100% worthwhile. 

My girlfriend and I are fortunate to live for now in one of the most beautiful regions in the world, in a three-story townhouse surrounded by forests and beautiful limestone mountains, all for a fraction of what it would cost back in California.

Emily and I recently spent a week in Singapore, and it was the most fun I’ve had in months! We were trying to decide what country to visit for a renewed visa and I decided I really wanted to visit old friends there. She teases me that I can’t travel anywhere unless I know someone there, and when I thought about it, I realized it’s not far from the truth.

Undoubtedly when most people think about travel, they tend to think of places, monuments and landmarks like the Acropolis of Athens, the Roman Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, London’s Big Ben, Bangkok’s reclining Buddha, Krabi’s mountaintop Buddhist temple, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Each of these are fantastic places I’ve been able to see on my travels. But what really has made my travels remarkable are the people I have met and the experiences I’ve shared with them.

I became very close with my French professor in high school, who was also a huge influence on me (as far as my interest in travel, culture, art, music and languages). The very first time I traveled outside the U.S. was a trip with some classmates to France, and what made it special was the wonderful family I lived with for a week on the Mediterranean coast in Cannes, as well as the time I spent with Mssr. Hodgins and my classmates wandering around Paris.

London is probably one of my top three favorite cities in the world to visit. Although I really enjoy wandering around on foot through London and sightseeing, it wasn’t the London Eye or the Houses of Parliament that kept me coming back… it was because I first traveled there on my own to visit my cousin Ian, who spent a year as an exchange student there, and it was the fun crowd of college students I got to know—James, the Toms, Sarah, Dav, Elaine, and many more—when I visited him for two weeks that made my experience so special.

I traveled to Spain for a three-week Christmas and New Year holiday with my friends Paul, Tim, and Ryan. Barcelona was a stunning city with great food, equaled by the gorgeous views and historical Old Town on Ibiza (and it’s nightlife), but what really made the trip special were the incredible friends we made—Meye and Barbara, two amazing women who took it upon themselves to show us all the best restaurants and pubs in town, introduced us to friends, showed us the parades and the local Catalans celebrations, and invited us into their homes for Christmas dinner!

Greece, Turkey, and Italy are infused with history, vibrant culture, and amazing sights (especially for someone who studied history at university) but what made my travels there special were the memories and time I spent bonding with family.

When I first arrived in Thailand, it was two Thai friends I met—Poon and Om—who spent three days driving me all around Phuket on their motorbike showing me the sights.

Bangkok is a huge metropolis with great nightlife, great food, a big flag on the backpacker trail. But what made it so much fun for me was the people. I got caught up there for a year and a half eating cheap street food all the time with Migration Mark, Joel, Ryan, May, Nalin, Bank, and Aum, going out partying, and running fun monthly mixer events and volunteering with Dwight Turner, Christina, Craig Gonzales, and others. I remember the first day Sean Ogle landed in Asia, and we went with my sister and my friends Chris, Ryan, and Nick to explore the ancient ruins and Buddhas at Ayutthaya, coworking with David Walsh and Derek Johanson, planning a TEDx conference with Rob, Greg, Andrew, Chris, Karla, Fluke, and more.

Travel puts me face-to-face with friends—many friends I’ve known for many years from school or work, but also many who I’ve met and become friends with through running my business online.

In Bangkok, mostly through Twitter and the Bangkok Tweetups that Dwight and I would put on, I also was able to meet in person with awesome bloggers Dan Andrews, Adam Baker, Benny “the Irish Polyglot” Lewis, Gary Arndt, Matt Goult, Jodi Ettenberg, Jonny Gibaud, Marc Gold, Ross Hill, Kevin Revolinski, Wes Nations, Ryan Martin, Mark Powers, and many more.

Warning: I’ve linked to a lot of people in this post! But I want to share each and every one of them with you (I’m definitely missing more than a few, too) not to gloat… not because I’m some celebrity, but because I’ve been blessed to meet so many truly cool people from around the world—each of them working on their own unique, interesting things—and each of them has at some point or another in my travels made a profound impact on my journey in their own small way. Because of that, I do encourage you to check out each and every one of these folks and discover how they’re making the world a more interesting place. I owe it to them to share what they’re doing.

In Bali I met Kyle and Bessie Crum doing yoga in the rice paddies, Stuart McDonald eating ribs at Naughty Nuri’s, Jez Tryner for a drink, and spent time with my friends Jerm and Vie at their lovely condo.

In Kuala Lumpur I met Nomadic Matt Kepnes while wandering around hostels, Dwight and Mark and I met our travel buddy Agnes (who drove us at lightning speed at 11pm one night to see the cozy little town of Melaka, on a whim!) through Couchsurfing, and I met Hani Khaursar, Vishen Lakhiani, Brian Wong and others on a subsequent trip when I spoke at a conference.

Phnom Penh has been home to my two friends Brittany Sims and Caron Margarete who, along with some of Cambodia’s footballers showed me the town and made me feel right at home.

Here in Krabi, I spent considerable time climbing and beach partying with my friends Alicia, James, Vanessa, Peter, Jane & Toto, and I finally met in person with my blogger buddies Carlos Miceli, Colin Wright, Adventurous Kate McCulley, Backpacking Matt Kyhnn, and Shannon O’Donnell, who’ve all stopped by on their travels.

When I traveled back to the States this year, in Austin, I met up with Markus & Ashley, Nick Reese, Jenny Blake, Ridiculously Extraordinary Karol Gadja, Where is Jenny Leonard, Andy Drish, Andrew Norcross, Thursday Bram, Technomads Chris & Cherie, and many other good folks for a week of awesomeness while South by Southwest was on.

The San Francisco Bay Area is home to a host of inspiring folks like Ramit Sethi, Corbett Barr, Amber Zuckswert, Charlie Hoehn, Lorna Li, and serial entrepreneur Rajesh Setty (and I also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Chris Ducker there, who usually plays an Englishman in the Philippines).

Los Angeles is or has been the stomping grounds of my very good friend Ryan, entrepreneur Jun Loayza, blogger Jonathan Mead, dating coach Jordan Harbinger, my friends Dariane Nabor, Laurenne Sala, and many other cool peoples.

In past trips to Singapore, I’ve met other cool nerds (like myself) Adrianna Tan, Ziqi Koey (who also just visited us here in Krabi!), Guyi Shen, and many more.

This trip, Emily and I had an incredibly fun time together…  we did all the touristy stuff: we walked all around the city on foot, stayed on the beautiful riverfront in Boat Quay, gorged ourselves on amazing delicious food from all around Southeast Asia and beyond, we hung out at the marina by night and took in all the city lights, wandered all around the big fancy new Marina Bay Sands resort and casino, went to a Salvador Dalí exhibit, to the cinema, briefly to a concert hall, and much more. But our time together there also reminded me that one of my biggest motivators is the people I get to share it with.

It was seeing my friend and singer Shimona Kee for her birthday and enjoying the hip young local music scene, having a lovely homemade dinner with Michelle at her impressive 16th-floor apartment, having a drink, a shisha and a catchup with my old friends John Berns and Martin, and getting to meet Derek Sivers in person (the very down-to-earth, engaging, but brilliant and wildly successful gentleman who founded CDBaby) to chat about travels, businesses, failures, and planting multiple flags (BTW you absolutely must watch this fascinating, short 8-part video series by Sivers). Getting to interact with, have fun with, learn from, and learn about all these fascinating people that are all doing their own interesting things—that’s what makes travel so much fun for me.

Running my business online has meant I’ve built friendships with people all around the world. Interacting with people through Twitter alone has connected me to dozens and dozens of new people that I’ve actually become real friends and done business with.

The point is, I’m just an average dude—but because of the way I choose to live my life, the way I run my business, and the way I reach out to connect with other people out there, I’ve had an extraordinary experience making new friends all around the world. The tools I’ve used to build an international network of friends and colleagues are also available to you.

Being location-independent, running a business online, and being on the move—living my life this way has opened many doors to people and experiences I wouldn’t have back in my “normal” life, that I would have never dreamed I’d have. My passion and what drives my journey is the interesting people I meet… making new friends and having fun new experiences with them, learning from them, and growing with them. Your interests, what drives you, and the life you want to have may look entirely different to mine, but whatever they are, there are millions of people you can connect with out there in this small little world of ours. The amazing journey I have had, like many others, is only an example of what anyone could do. You only need to start opening doors.

What journey are you on? What are the people, places, and experiences that have meant the most to you along your path?

If you found this interesting, and if you’re anything like me, click here to get some incredibly awesome (and completely free) stuff to add to your toolbox and learn more about my philosophy. You won’t regret it→

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Setbacks, and What Motivates Me to Keep Exploring & Experimenting

I’ve been running a location-independent online business for nearly 4 years now, and I’ve been asked time and time again why I don’t have a product or a coaching program of my own yet about the digital nomad lifestyle I live.

For ages, I thought I didn’t have time, or that I was too busy with my own client projects.

But a few friends and I got together and finally started to bring things together, and they kicked my ass into motivation mode. One day I asked you if you’d be interested in learning how to become a digital nomad. And lo and behold, between email messages, blog comments, survey responses, and more, I’ve received hundreds and hundreds of enthusiastic responses from around the world!

I just didn’t anticipate a response like this. This is the biggest idea I’ve ever put out there, and it’s had the biggest reception! Your surge of support was encouraging and exciting and unreal and inspiring and overwhelming and humbling and scary.

And for the first time in a very long time, I got really excited about something new.

Readers sent in 220+ detailed, lengthy, thoughtful, amazing responses. In your survey responses, you told me what you wanted in a Digital Nomad training program.

You said you want one-on-one coaching. You want an incredibly selective application process. You want case studies of those who’ve been successful. You want direct access to them. You said you want supervision, and marketing advice, and troubleshooting guides, a yearly conference, and so many more great and helpful things.

In addition to the exclusive business course we’re building, we also promised to share a bunch of cool free resources, and dozens and dozens of people wanted Digital Nomad Case Studies. So today, if you are on our DNA list, you can get a free report with profiles of several top digital nomads:

Cody McKibben from Thrilling Heroics

I’ve traveled to 25 countries, including all of North America, France, the UK, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, and more. I’ve been running my web development and online marketing company remotely from Southeast Asia for over two years now. You know me. Let’s move on…

Dan Andrews from Lifestyle Business Podcast

Dan and his partners have a series of niche manufacturing businesses with offices in San Diego and the Philippines, and has become a leading authority on outsourcing. He is based in Manila, and has spent significant time in Boracay, Dumaguete, Manila, Cebu, and Puerto Galera, Philippines, as well as Thailand and Bali. Meanwhile he co-hosts the #1 podcast for lifestyle designers and lifestyle entrepreneurs, The Lifestyle Business Podcast, and sponsors the Tropical MBA internship program.

Corbett Barr from CorbettBarr.com

Corbett started a major Silicon Valley tech company, raised $3 million in venture capital, had employees and the whole bit, when he and his wife decided to take a six-month sabbatical to Mexico. Now he has built his own small business around ThinkTraffic.net and his personal site, earning over six figures a year and spending half the year at home in San Francisco and half the year either in Mexico or elsewhere. This summer they’re headed to Croatia.

Adam Baker from Man Vs. Debt

Adam, his wife Courtney, and their two-and-a-half year old daughter Milligan spent over a year living and traveling abroad, in Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand. They spent a year preparing for their trip, selling all of their possessions, and paying down $18,000 in consumer debt, so Adam brings a lot of insight into personal finance and minimalism. Now they’re voyaging out from home state of Indiana to wander around the United States in their newly-purchased RV.

Nora Dunn from The Professional Hobo

Nora had a successful financial planning practice in Canada when she realized her life’s dream to travel extensively around the world was passing her by. In 2006, she sold everything she owned to travel the world full-time and has already set foot in 15 countries while she works as a freelance travel writer. Her travels have taken her to Hawaii, across Asia, Australia, throughout Europe, and now she is starting the new year in New Zealand.

Jeanne Dee from Soultravelers3

The “Soultravelers3″ are a digital nomadic family into their fifth year of an open-ended world tour. They were living the American dream, with a large, ocean-view California country home, but when they had a child in 2000 they decided that a permanent travel lifestyle would give them more time for bonding and freedom. They’ve raised their daughter to be tri-ligual in Chinese, Spanish and English, and they’ve now seen 38 countries on 5 continents, usually spending their winters in Asia (they are currently in Penang, Malaysia), and summers in Europe.

Andrew Hayes from Sharing Travel Experiences

Andy launched two online ventures at once. Sharing Travel Experiences is an online travel lifestyle magazine where he puts to use many of the skills he developed when he used to do a lot of writing for clients, and Travel Online Partners is a tourism marketing company that he has spent time working on while he’s been in Spain, Canada, and California in the last year. He is also an iPhone app developer and a published travel author.

Brooke Ferguson from Business Backpacker

Brooke was running her own business consulting company in Northern California when she decided to move her clients online and work remotely. She continues to coach clients one-on-one to turn their businesses into something that support their ideal lifestyle. All while blogging, rock climbing on the weekends, and earning her Divemaster certification. Brooke will serve as DNA’s curriculum director, and brings to it her comprehensive, all-inclusive self-mastery and business building system which she developed over the course of four years working with clients one-on-one.

Michelle Dale from Virtual Miss Friday

Michelle is a mobile entrepreneur, mother of two, and the virtual assistant behind VirtualMissFriday.com and VirtualAssistant-Live.com. She left a high-paying job in the banking industry and left the UK to move to Egypt for two years. Since then, she took her VA business from a one-person operation to a 6 figure offshore company while living in Luxor and in a few different parts of France. Michelle currently lives in Spain, and will be making her way to Italy later this year.

Drop Your Email in the Signup Form Below to Receive Your Free Digital Nomad Case Studies Report

(Note: If you’re already on the DNA email list, you don’t have to sign up again, you’ll be getting this in your email inbox very soon.)

Get on the DNA waiting list! Plus get our Digital Nomad Resources Guide and Case Studies Report absolutely FREE:

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But people didn’t just want case studies of successful nomadic entrepreneurs. You asked for direct access to them. You said you want supervision, and marketing advice, and troubleshooting guides, a yearly conference, and so much more.

Looking at all the feedback to what we’ve been bringing together at DNA made me realize the immensity of what we’re about to do. Nothing like what we’re about to at Digital Nomad Academy exists. There is no rulebook for what we’re going to put together for our students there. And we’re going to blow every other product or community in this niche out of this universe! (Sorry guys)

This is going to be so much bigger than I had originally imagined. I’m going to need to cancel some plans this year, stop doing my normal client work for a few months, and pour my time and energy into DNA. This will be an undertaking for all of us because we’re not just talking about a 6 session class, followed by some Q & A sessions. We’re talking about a comprehensive all-inclusive training program.

All of the individuals profiled above will be Digital Nomad Academy Faculty Members.

That means they will each participate on weekly coaching and mentoring calls, and you’ll get the chance to ask them your questions directly.

Not only that, but this is just the first round of faculty announcements. We’ll have many more successful online entrepreneurs, nomads, and niche experts involved to contribute to the vast amount of knowledge and training we’re putting together for you at DNA over the course of 2011!

Do You Want to Learn Directly from These (and Many More!) Successful Digital Nomads?

If you do, then here’s what I want you to do next: drop your email in the sign-up form up above on this page and we’ll send you the free report “10 Real-World Digital Nomad Case Studies” (as well as my last freebie, the Digital Nomad 101 Resources Guide), and you’ll get a chance to learn more about how you can be mentored directly by myself and all of these experienced nomadic entrepreneurs and many MORE!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: 10 Digital Nomad Success Stories, and How You Can Learn From Them…

Karol is one of my favorite bloggers out there, and I haven’t shared his stuff enough. Karol lives life on his own terms. He travels where he wants to, lives where he wants to. He’s not afraid to be himself, to curse once in a while, he gets philosophical and vulnerable about the challenges of living a life of extraordinary freedom, and he digs into some really, truly valuable strategies and tactics for improving your life.

What’s in store for you in this excellent interview:

• 2:00 – What is ridiculously extraordinary freedom?
• 2:45 – Karol’s trip to Goa, India, to build a handmade guitar
• 3:18 – All about his guide How to Live Anywhere
• 6:36 – About Karol’s long career in affiliate marketing and info product strategies
• 8:26 – Specific tactics for earning money with your blog
• 10:55 – All about hustle
• 12:32 – Secrets to exploding your blog & Karol’s secret for guest blogging on huge sites
• 17:02 – Karol’s travels to India, Thailand, and Poland this year (see Karol’s guest post The Beginner’s Guide to Minimalist Travel on Zen Habits)
• 19:20 – What it’s like traveling and living in Wroclaw, Poland (Karol’s birthplace)
• 23:35 – Networking and using Couchsurfing when you travel
• 24:30 – What’s up next in Karol’s travels, BlogWorld conference
• 25:25 – How a Gameboy at age 8 helped Karol realize an extraordinary method for achieving goals

Download the MP3 here to listen on your own computer (right click and “Save As”)

How to Live Anywhere: The guide I wish I’d written

The last thing I want to mention is that I read Karol’s truly incredible guide How to Live Anywhere: The Official Guide to Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom while I was in Bali with my girlfriend a couple months ago now. Even as someone who’s already living the location independent lifestyle, I found several valuable strategies for making more money online and insights into improving my mindset, for example.

Update August, 2011: Unfortunately Karol has made his excellent guidebook unavailable, so if you want great lessons, interviews, case studies, and tools for how to live anywhere, make sure you become a part of the Thrilling Heroics Inner Circle (it’s free)!

Make sure you follow Karol Gajda on Twitter and check out these awesome articles on Ridiculously Extraordinary:

• 21 Reasons You Should Quit Your Day Job
• 17 Miniscule Actions that Produce Massive Results
• How to Pack Ultra Light

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: How to Live Anywhere: A Ridiculously Extraordinary Discussion with Karol Gajda

To get you guys thinking like proper renegades, today I share some of the absolute best manifestos I’ve come across. This is my guide to 14 of the best-available ebooks out there—some free and some not—that will help guide you through the long process of branding yourself, creating your own successful freelance business, outsourcing, automating, systematizing, and turning your business into a vast empire with the power of the web, easing into an unconventional nomadic or otherwise remarkable lifestyle and getting the best travel deals while you’re vagabonding around the globe.

Add these to your Christmas gift wish list or use them as stocking stuffers for that special nomad in your life, and check out my page of lifestyle design and digital nomad resources for more tools to help you on your journey.

A Brief Guide to World Domination by Chris Guillebeau

One of the world’s most traveled dudes—Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Nonconformity—offers you a clear alternative to being unremarkably average, giving lessons on how to identify the work you’re most passionate about and how to go about changing the world. Awesome!

Probably the first ebook you should download and consume, right this instant! Download it from The Art of Nonconformity.

New Economy Superstar by Corbett Barr

This isn’t a book about fame or celebrity or making millions. It’s about a new type of success that isn’t reserved for the lucky and well-connected few. This opportunity wasn’t available until just a few years ago, and you’re just in time to take advantage of it. Learn how the biggest opportunity of this generation will make you happy, wealthy and independent!

A great primer for making a successful living outside the corporate career, including interviews with many remarkable people. Download here and visit Corbett at FreePursuits.

Rockstar Personal Branding by Skellie

Personal branding isn’t very different than product branding, except that the entity being branded is you. Just like Nike uses its brand to attach a certain personality and uniqueness to the shoes it sells, your personal brand is made up of the qualities and unique traits you relay about yourself. Your personal brand represents the way you want other people to think about you.

Download for free when you sign up for Rockable Press’ free newsletter here. Also visit Skellie’s great blog Anywired.

The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself by Chris Guillebeau

The greatest benefit of self-employment, or even a side project that produces additional income, is personal freedom. When you can take more control of your choices, you’ll experience an independence that money can’t buy. No one will do this for you. If you want freedom, you’ll have to make it happen for yourself. This guide can help.

Let Chris teach you how to create personal freedom through your own very small business. Get the book here.

How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer from FreelanceSwitch

Covering everything from getting started to expanding your business, if you want to start your freelance career the right way, then How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer will give you everything you need to become the best freelancer in town!

Get 212 pages of expert freelancing advice from Collis & Cyan Ta’eed—the founders of FreelanceSwitch. Grab your copy here.

SourceControl by David Walsh

David is an entrepreneur who’s been pushing the limits of outsourcing for years to build projects and create companies—and he’s blown an absurd amount of time and money along the way. Anyone who tells you outsourcing is simple & cheap is lying to you. After all the chaos, the mistakes, the blown budgets and the wasted hours—yes, it’s simple and a massively profitable. Everything leading up to that point is anything but. He’s taken every lesson he learned over the last 3 years and put it into a 160 page, fully annotated, resource-packed book that is everything you need to start outsourcing successfully. No other resource available gives you this level of detail toward leveraging your time and money.

Get this incredible outsourcing framework for the dangerously ambitious from MuseLife genius David Walsh now!

Not By The Hour: A Guide to Making Passive Income from FreelanceSwitch

Streams of passive income can take a bit of work to get started, some even take a little work to maintain, however they are well worth it. Having a steady source of income is particularly useful for a freelancer as it helps mitigate risk and balance out some of the ups and downs of freelancing. Besides who doesn’t want a source of income that keeps generating with or without your input!

Another useful guide from Collis Ta’eed, founder of FreelanceSwitch. Grab this one for free here!

The Zero Hour Workweek by Jonathan Mead

Learn Jonathan’s story of liberation and his journey to getting paid to be himself (by doing what he loves). Discover why the world needs you to do what you love and how to find the intersection between what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about, and what people will pay you to do.

I was honored to be featured as a Zero Hour Case Study for Jonathan’s 0HWW book. Check out some of my thoughts on how to get paid to be you.

How to Be Remarkable by Colin Wright

Colin wrote this book to share some valuable tidbits of knowledge with everyone because he firmly believes that if the world has more inspiring, ambitious and remarkable people we’ll all be a lot better off. John Bardos, Diggy, Kristin Norris, Carol Segrave, Carlos Miceli, Anoush Rima Tatevossian, Amber Rae Lambke, Paul Smith, Christophe Galland, Jenda Michl, Alan Perlman, Sean Ogle, Robert Granholm and JD Bentley all contribute useful lessons to this great compilation.

Download this free ebook from Colin Wright at Exile Lifestyle.

Overcoming the 7 Major Obstacles to Traveling the World by Anil Polat

Anil’s blog series on overcoming obstacles to traveling the world turned out to span 2 months, generated over 100 comments, and had his inbox filled with messages from people who wanted to, had, or were currently overcoming the 7 obstacles themselves. Hear personal stories and advice from other world travelers … and build your knowledge of how to prepare for and sustain long-term travel.

Anil interviewed me to get my personal experience and advice for other long-term travelers too!  Download the book here and visit Anil at foXnoMad.

Life Nomadic: The Life Changing Guide to Travel by Tynan

Life Nomadic is a book that will change the way you think about travel. Rather than think of it as an expensive luxury, you will understand it for what it is: a surprisingly affordable necessity for fully experiencing life. In 2007, Tynan sold everything he owned and began traveling the world. He became a nomad. This book is a collection of the travel strategies, tips, and philosophies that he’s accumulated since then.

Download Tynan’s helpful and revealing guide to the nomadic lifestyle at Tynan.net.

007 Lifestyle: Living Like James Bond by Derek Johanson

This is a definitive guide to living a kick-ass, real lifestyle just like James Bond’s. Derek will share with you the essential ingredients of how he lives the ultimate 007 lifestyle. Follow this guide and you will feel like 007. Your friends will be jealous as they watch you travel the world with ease and take control of women’s hearts effortlessly. You will be able to design a lifestyle that rocks your boat. You will have more options and freedom to pursue your goals and ambitions. You will become a positive influence on others to live happy and fulfilling lives.

You can read more about the ebook and see Derek’s recent MI6 Report where he interviewed me for the 007 Lifestyle series here. Also find Derek at Live Uncomfortably.

How to Make Money with Your Travel Blog by Nomadic Matt

Matt makes over $3,000 dollars a month from his travel websites and has been for many months. That is enough to keep anybody traveling and being a digital nomad for a long time. Even if you don’t want to be a digital nomad, it’s still a nice side income. This ebook has all of his tips, tricks and advice on how to build a successful blog, rank high in Google search results, and how to make money through advertising.

Check out my recent interview with Matt Kepnes and see Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site for more info.

Frequent Flyer Master: Free Travel Anywhere by Chris Guillebeau

Chris has traveled to about 120 countries so far and has roughly 80 more to visit every country in the world. He has a war chest of Frequent Flyer Miles on eight different airlines and all three airline alliances. Between earning and redeeming, over the past year I’ve been through well over half a million miles. My current balance is 676,583 miles in eight accounts. Learn how to go anywhere in the world for nearly free using Frequent Flyer Miles, even if you don’t travel very often.

Chris even guarantees that his book will earn you at least one free plane ticket! Check it out here.

What are your favorite guides for creating a remarkable life? Be sure to check my resources page for more useful lifestyle design and digital nomad resources.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: 14 Must-Have Ebooks for Lifestyle Designers

This guest post is from Corbett Barr, an entrepreneur and blogger who lives in San Francisco and Mexico. He writes about lifestyle design at Free Pursuits and started a new Q&A community about online business called Gatejumper.

Taking a sabbatical was easily one of the most life-changing experiences I’ve ever had. My wife and I spent the first half of this year on a road trip through Mexico with our dog (an 11 year-old Vizsla named Kinsey).

We both returned with fresh outlooks and a deeper understanding of what’s really important to us in life. I have since adjusted my priorities and am now finding it easier to be successful in the things that matter to me.

If you’ve ever considered taking a sabbatical, now might be the right time for a lot of reasons. Personally, I was between gigs anyways (I’m an entrepreneur and independent consultant), so the choice was easy. Whatever your situation might be, here are 10 reasons to consider taking a sabbatical now.

1. It’s not as expensive as you think

Cost is one of the biggest reasons people think they can’t take a sabbatical. The truth is, it really depends on where you will live and what you’ll be doing. For example, in Mexico, my wife and I lived on one-third of what it normally costs us to live in the U.S. We sublet our apartment in San Francisco while we were gone.

By living abroad, we were able to take six months off at the cost of just two months’ worth of expenses. We met people living comfortably in Mexico and Latin America for less than $1000 per month.

2. The economy probably isn’t getting better any time soon

If you’re already between jobs, you might be having a difficult time finding your next gig. Times are tough right now economically. It’s hard to say when things will improve, but it probably won’t be until next year. Why not use the downtime to do something you’ll really remember?

Would you rather look back on this time and remember how you spent months looking for a job that didn’t really exist, or how you used the downtime to reevaluate your life, experience a new culture, learn a new hobby or even start a new business?

3. It’s a great way to change careers and hit life’s “reset button”

Have you wondered once in a while if you’re on the right career path? Do you feel like you need to hit the “reset” button?

Getting away from it all might be the only way you can really reset or change course. If you continue around the day-to-day, making significant changes is tough. Taking a few months off will give you the space you need to figure things out.

4. People in other countries have it already figured out

Speaking of figuring things out, did you know that sabbaticals and gap years (time between college and your first job or time between jobs) is much more common is some countries than others?

In the United States especially, the work culture is so strong that friends and colleagues might think you’re crazy for taking some extended time off. Realize that not everyone in the world is so productivity-focused and that taking time off can actually be a good thing.

5. You’ll reconnect with who you really are

After years or decades of spending 8+ hours a day working for someone else, it’s easy to lose track a little of what we really want as individuals and of who we really are underneath our “work selves.” Disconnect with your work self on a sabbatical, and you’ll reconnect with who you really are.

6. You could have a major breakthrough about what you want from life

When did you ever really “decide” to pursue the path you’re on now anyways? Are you doing what you really want to be doing, or are you following more of the default or acceptable path?

A sabbatical might open your eyes to what you really want from life. You might even decide that you’d rather space a portion of your retirement out over your working life.

7. Those things you stress over now aren’t that important.

Once you’re away from your old job for a while, you’ll start to see clearly again. Eventually you’ll barely remember details of things that once seemed life-or-death important. You will start to understand that the truly important things in life exist outside of work – and you might begin to wonder how you ignored them for so long.

8. You might meet some special friends

We’ve never made so many great new friends as we did during our sabbatical. I attribute that to the fact that we were happy and free, with time for new interactions and interesting things to talk about. The best part is that making new friends just leads to a cycle of being even happier and meeting even more new people.

9. Aha! moments require a wandering mind

If your current life is like most working adults’, you probably don’t have much free time to really let your mind wander. Schedules, meetings, email and other responsibilities keep our minds in the analytical mode most of the day.

Some studies show that breakthrough “aha!” moments are made by your insightful mind, not your analytical mind. A sabbatical is a great way to break the routine of daily life and let your mind wander where it will.

10. “Normal life” will still be there waiting when you return

We came back to the U.S. and it seemed as though nothing had changed. We could jump back into our old life exactly as we left it, if we wanted to. Instead, we intend to keep the parts we really love and replace the rest. We’re already looking forward to our next extended time off.

What do you think? Can you think of other reasons to take a sabbatical? What about reasons not to take one? Please share in the comments!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: 10 Reasons to Take a Sabbatical Now

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