Of course, wanting to do something and actually doing it are two very different things. A nomadic life still requires an income stream, and sadly, neither of us are independently wealthy. š If we wanted to make this work, we needed to find a way to make money from wherever we are.
Pre-pandemic, I worked in a law office and Gene brewed beer for a living. Like everyone else, in March 2020 my office sent us all home to work for what ended up being over a year. I had never worked a remote job in my life and I wasnāt quite sure what I would think about it. I knew that people did this, but the people I knew who didnāt have a dedicated office were people who traveled for work a large portion of the year (salespeople). I hadnāt really given much thought to what it would actually look like for me.
I could (and did) get used to this!
The first few weeks were probably like they were for pretty much the entire uprooted workforce. I set up shop on the kitchen table and sat in a very uncomfortable chair. But the work part of my day was oddly the same as it had been in the office. I communicated primarily via email pre-pandemic and continued to do so during lockdown. Once I solved the ergonomics issues (I moved into a spare bedroom with a real desk and a dedicated office chair), I realized that the ability to wear sweats and slippers, eat from my own kitchen at lunch and drink my own (hazelnut) coffee whenever I wanted was absolutely amazing. Not only did I not go stir crazy spending so much time at home, the introvert in me was happier than she had ever been.
Not so fast…
So when the office sent the inevitable āreturn to officeā memo, every cell in my body recoiled. By this point we had been to Belize a few times and the seed of traveling and working had grown and taken root in our brains. I knew that the only way this was going to work was if I got a fully remote job that would allow me to work from anywhere.
But the law firm world is a lot like teenage high school girls. Once firms got wind of their peer firms requiring in-office days, they all decided that hybrid work was going to be their modus operandi. Finding a fully remote job in a law firm library could happen, but it would take a lot of patience to get the right job at the right salary that allowed us to be fully remote.
Challenge accepted…
Then I saw a LinkedIn post from a relatively distant connection of mine talking about his move to South America. He worked for a legal research-adjacent company that I was aware of but had never given a ton of thought about as a work option. I looked at their job openings and found a job opening I was qualified for. From there it was on. I applied for the job, reached out to my contacts at the company (I had a few) and realized that the hiring manager lived in my city! I was (respectfully) relentless and three months later I was hired!
*Caveat – please don’t read this as “find any remote job and pursue it.” This job happened to align really well with both my skills and my interests and has been the best fit for me in a variety of ways. It was definitely a win-win!
One down, one to go…
With my remote work situation handled, we needed to get Gene into a remote work situation. Gene has a habit of taking his hobbies and making them into jobs. After spending 16 years as a stay-at-home dad, he leveraged his early years as a Boy Scout into a job leading groups through a ropes obstacle course. After that, he took his years as a hobby homebrewer and started a brewery with a neighbor. After the brewery met the demise that awaits most small businesses, he hopped around to different breweries around town. But his passion for the brewing had waned over the years, and, of course, there is no such thing as remote beer brewing!
Without a current passion to drive his remote career plans, we determined that freelance consulting was his best bet. He can consult from anywhere and have the flexibility to work as much or as little as he wants. That flexibility allows him to work on the multiple home renovation projects we have in the works right now. He also can take a guitar/bass on our travels and pick up gigs here with Cherry Bomb and abroad.
So, as of today, 3 years after we took our first trip to Belize, we both have secured fully remote work situations and are turning our attention to the next phase of our plan, the logistics of living full time on the road.
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