So you want to be a digital nomad? Pay me and I will tell you how!
It is big business and it is a scam. This new “travel the world” “digital nomad” MLM industry is outright treachery. These people travel the world by making money in a pyramid scheme. A scheme selling information to others about how they can travel the world without “working”.
Essentially a pyramid scheme that will likely not help very many to ever see the Pyramids. Although the shithead to whom they have just paid their hard earned money might.
Become a digital nomad they promise. All by selling the same story of how to become a digital nomad to equally unwitting but hopeful souls. In the end they make money on the concept of an idea, by getting others to sell the concept of the idea, to others who dream of that concept of an idea coming true.
But being a digital nomad by squeezing dollars from the backs of others with similar dreams, by promising them independence is… well not independence at all. It is being a money grubbing shill by making others beholden to you with something not likely to ever actually give them what they believe they are getting.
Sure you may actually pull it off. Make enough money to travel and live the life of a digital nomad. Then sell similar ideas to others that in turn might sell these ideas to others.You may even make a fortune from it.
But most will never find a way to put in the time needed, and in the end it is not a sustainable career, nor is it conceptually or otherwise actually what it claims to be. It is a scam and even if you are successful at it, YOU are a scammer.
Deep down, I know you fucking know it. Maybe you don’t care. Good for you. You’re living your dream. Isn’t that what America is all about? Living your dream off of the backs of others? Fuck yeah!
A True Digital Nomad
Ok, so maybe some of those working hard to sell this idea, do not see the harm in it. Afterall, it only claims to be what it is. Yet, hot blonde, bikini clad beauties, standing ankle deep in azure seas, on a desolate beach, drink in hand, buff boyfriend at side is not realistic. It happens, but it is NOT for sale.
Life on the road is neither that pretty, that easy, nor is it anywhere near that romantic. Half the time it sucks!
The sun is shining, the waterfalls are calling, the birds are singing and I’m sitting in my shitty hotel room trying to get a half decent post written with dodgy wifi and a churning stomach from the shit I should not have eaten the night before, but there was nothing else available when I arrived at 3am.
I haven’t had a decent nights sleep in days, my Mom is upset she hasn’t heard from me and AT&T means nothing over here. My credit card is expired, there is a hurricane heading my way and the ferry I already booked and paid for may not run to bring me to the AirBnB I also already paid for and booked. YAY!
Being a true “digital nomad” is finding a way to make things work for yourself.
Living free of the constraints of the day to day rigors of a typical life. But it also means, lost luggage, missed planes, stolen passports and wandering the streets for hours in search of a decent wifi signal. Horrifyingly discovering the best wifi is in McDonalds.
So there you are, in this beautiful fucking exotic place, sitting in McDonalds a place you would never go to at home, picking at french fries that disgust you, and you would never eat at home, while snotty faced American kids run around with coke products erupting from every orifice, screaming like banshees.
You never see pictures of an exhausted, pale faced, chubby brunette, sitting in McDonalds. Their broken laptop taped together with duct tape, hair knotted, dark circles under their eyes, in stained and dirty clothes now do ya?
A life full of travel is full of wonder. Amazing people, glorious food, beautiful landscapes and awe inspiring experiences. It is also, flat tires, false promises. Being sick in a country where no one speaks your language, money lost, money stolen, broken cameras and no cellphone signal.
Sure the digital nomad life is a form of being a free spirit. Seeing the world, meeting amazing people and it certainly has its moments of toes in white sand watching a sunset.
But it is hard work before, during, after and everywhere in between of your travels. It just IS.
Bikini Clad Instagram Babe
It is an enticing concept. This pretty, young girl hits you up on Instagram asking you if you would like to join her Facebook group of fellow travelers. The group explodes with people seemingly just like you. Traveling or dreaming of travel, trying to find a way to make their dream come alive or working their way through a similar dream and finding it hard as Hell.
There are the pictures of her firm, thin, young body, next to her buff boyfriend on some veranda. The sun setting. Wind blowing her long blonde hair. Maybe she is yoga posing on a rock. Or shot from behind, her straw hatted head looking into the horizon of the setting sun. Behind her some exotic landscape looms.
Yeah right. It took 50 shots and an awful lot of outtakes to get there. Most beaches like that are crowded as Hell. Where the fuck is she anyway? And is her boyfriend a professional photographer? (likely YES!)
It seems so easy. For only $150 or $350… Hell one was $1500. You too can learn how to convince others to hand over their money to learn what you will soon pay to learn.The money will roll in and you will set out on your nomadic life.
Your waist will thin, your hair will grow. Sand will never find its way between the creases of your tight ass.You will skip through the jungle with ease. Your groovy, bearded boytoy at your side. Some… a very few some I might add. Will make a veritable fortune and maybe even travel the world. Albeit on the backs of the suckers they drew in.
Rationalizing their bullshit con job, by convincing themselves that they are truly selling an idea that will help others. Or just not giving a shit how they make their money so that they may travel.
Well FUCK YOU!
Many just won’t be heartless enough assholes to pull it off. Only to be left feeling like hopeless losers instead of the likely better people that they are. Certainly better than the shit heads that lured them into their web of deceit in the first place.
The AMWAY of Digital Nomad ing
Selling promises via MLM marketing is the same or even worse than some of the shittiest products sold via MLM out there.
In the end, at least with AMWAY or Cutco Knives, you end up with an overabundance of unwanted and unneeded product. As well as does half your family. But with “how to be a digital nomad” concept, all you end up with, is advice and the dashing of a dream.
Maybe a shitty book or better yet, an ebook. Advice on how to bilk others out of their money by promising them a streamlined path to their dream, so that they too can become a piece of shit like you and bilk others out of their savings and their dreams.
Yes you can travel the world and be a digital nomad.
Being a “Digital Nomad” is not NOT working. How do I know this? Well because I am one. Not working while traveling is really fucking hard unless you have money already in the bank! And… that shit goes fast so you better have a fucking LOT of it!
It is working your ass off doing things you LOVE in order to help support your dream of travel. Or creatively finding ways to cover you as you work your way across the world.
Selling your half assed self help books or pyramid schemes while living off of the dreams of others may be fine for you. It certainly is not illegal. It is in and of itself pretty hard work. But what do you gain? A beautiful instagram, a chance to travel, money and an empty black heart!
Don’t get me wrong, there are good books and advisors out there. Nomadic Matt or Trey Ratcliff and quite a few of the early innovators in this space are fantastic sources for ways to make things work.
There are new and innovative digital nomads discovering new ideas and sharing their ideas every day. Some at a small fee. But it is practical and helpful advice and it never suggests anything like what these pyramid scheme hucksters promise. But for every one of these truly valuable resources there are thousands upon thousands of absolute crap.
If it seems to easy to be true. In fact if it seems easy at ALL then it is bullshit.
If there was some secret way of making such a life work, it would not be a secret for long. Trust me!
The Successful Digital Nomad
Some people get the formula right. Others just get fucking lucky. They ALL work hard enough to get their blog to a point, where they experience money coming in.
This often entails at the very least 4 to 8 hours of work 7 days a week, working on something that may never bring in a dime while traveling and will likely take at least a year or two to hit if at all. Which is really fucking hard.
You have to understand the semantics of social media, write well, understand SEO, take good pictures, be consistent, be tireless in hitting up people to help sponsor, connect, link or 5 million other things you must do to succeed.
Other people have careers that allow them to work remotely. Some are writers, photographers (real photographers not just good picture takers). Programmers, nurses.There are a lot of great careers and or skills that will make such a life easier to obtain. But, the life itself… it just is not easy. Freedom is hard, fucking hard.
Living outside the realm of what is considered “usual” is even harder. Many of the alternately successful people. Those who more quickly than is common built up a way to survive on the road, often have a background in SEO, writing, advertising, journalism or communications.
A knack for storytelling, writing and are skilled at web building. They are organized, committed, focused and realistic. Many saved money for years before hand.
There are world travelers living life on the road who do not go digital but find odd jobs and work here and there. Some dabble in buying and selling or trading their way across continents. There are so many legitimate ways to get by on the road. Hard work, creativity, passion and dedication are the keys to all of it.
But selling an idea to the hopeful to pave the way to your dreams. Knowing full well that most of them have no chance of ever making any of what you suggest could happen is just the opposite of being a free spirit. It is being a money grubbing, scammer.
Of course you may travel the world. You may even get rich doing it.
But no matter how far you travel, how much you see. You will never really see the absolute beauty in world like those more true to heart.
I know how hard it is and I’m ok with that. You will never see the glory of the world I get to see! There is no glory in living your dream off the backs of others.