3 TIPS for How TO BECOME A DIGITAL NOMAD
So you want to be a digital nomad, but you’re not sure where to get started in this video. I’m sharing three tips for how to become a digital nomad that I’ve learned after living, working, and traveling on the road in my RV for the past six years, I’m going to be giving you some huge takeaways that I’ve learned for how you can take action today to start pursuing your nomadic journey. Now, this has taken me adding and subtracting some things for my life, but I’m excited to share these with you and can’t wait to dive in. So let’s get started!
TIP #1 – SET A GOAL
Where do you want to be? Or where do you see yourself in the next 5-10 years? Personally, I don’t really plan out 5-10 years, but if you ask me that question back when I was getting started on my nomadic journey, what was my plan or what were my desires?
I cared about things like making my own schedule, being my own boss, and becoming an entrepreneur. I really wanted to start my own business, and be able to work from home or work (or from anywhere) — This all ended up turning into what is now my RV Life! BUT it was not the plan I had when I started! I didn’t quit my job and then buy an RV. I actually quit my job, started a business and then ended up in an RV. I wanted to be able to travel with my dogs or make a life around my dogs, my family, my boyfriend, my relationship at the time. So the fact I wanted to have my dogs with me when I traveled is how I ended up in an RV Full Time and not living out of hotels or anything else.
When it comes to setting a goal, how do you actually stick to your goals? How do you set these goals and how do you focus on where you’re headed? The first thing that I would tell you to create is a dream or vision board. So if you’re not sure what that is really, you’re just cutting out pictures, quotes… aka creating a vision into the future. You can create a vision board with magazines, paper boards, push pins, cork boards, magnets, maybe even use the fridge. — I get all my supplies at the dollar store! You can even do a digital vision board on Pinterest!
All you’re doing is cutting out things that you see in your future.I cut out Lakeside living, a ring, camping and put them on my vision board, and it just keeps growing. Your vision board will have tons of stuff on it. and there is no right or wrong way to do it.
Another thing that I like to do is create mind maps which is really just drawing and creating bubbles like a bubble chart. I’ll just brainstorm and write down my goals…. where I want to go, things I need to do to get there, etc….
Also make sure you goal is measurable! Whenever I wanted to quitting my job I put the date on my calendar (i.e. February 15th, 2018). This was my “resignation letter” that I sent to my employer ….
“To whom it may concern. Please accept this letter as notification that I’m resigning from my position with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. I apologize for not being able to provide two weeks notice. However, I regret that due to circumstances beyond my control. I need to resign immediately. Please forward my last paycheck to my home address. Thank you for the support you have provided me during my tenure with the company, sincerely Brandi.”
That’s what I sent them. BUT, that all came from me marking a date on my calendar! Although I did spend 6 months prior to prepare for my departure making sure all of the things were in order that I needed to have an order before I left. So I set a goal and a date.
So when you’re creating a vision or a goal, you need to have something that you’re looking forward to! Look at this daily! Keep it somewhere you’ll see it all the time: in your bedroom, bathroom, office. You want to have this in front of you so that you can always be looking at it and say “THIS is where I’m headed!”
TIP #2 – ReBoot Your Mindset
Tip number two for becoming a digital nomad is to have a mindset reboot or reboot your mindset. I wanted to share a win from one of my clients over at RVersity Alphonzo. He said, “my win today is a mind reset or reboot. Thanks to Brandi for opening my eyes and tough love. I see that there is still more I can do to acquire that RV that I want. Sometimes it takes someone looking from the outside to show me what I’m not seeing.”
How do you actually Reboot your mindset or re-evaluate your thinking, restructure your thinking. I’ve never shared this stuff with people before. I don’t really talk about this on my channel. And I almost feel a little bit vulnerable telling you this, what it comes to a mindset reboot and reevaluating your thinking. I had a huge reality check when I became not only a digital nomad, but an entrepreneur and an army or so when I left what we like to call the system. So I left that comfortable job safety and normal life is what you would call it. So that’s retirement, vacations benefits, health insurance childcare, paid vacation, that guaranteed paycheck, that thing coming in all the time that, you know, your bills are paid. It’s a safety blanket, a safety net that you have granted that job could be gone tomorrow. Um, but a lot of people think that having that job and having that safety net is the norm, the safe way of living.
And I guess once I left the system, I had a different mindset. So I didn’t think the same as other people. And we kind of have a term for the people that are in the system. We call them the checklist people, or at least like, that’s the term that I use for them, because I feel like they’re the kind of people that you can honestly just give a checklist to. They’re there from nine to five and they’re there to do their job for me, that wasn’t my calling. I didn’t have that same pool. I was excited to do the work, but I never felt like I was getting fulfilled by the work that I was doing. So I wanted to do something different. I knew that something was pulling me that it Wasn’t my story. I call it my Sara Blakely moment. If you don’t know who Sara Blakely is, she’s the creator of Spanx.
Um, and she has an amazing story, but she had this moment where she was selling door to door, these fax machines. And she finally said like, this is not my story. And that’s how I felt when I worked for bank of America, Merrill Lynch in my finance job, I was doing financials and planning for other people’s retirements way into the future. And the crazy part is these people could actually have this life now, but they were planning for 20 or 30 years away. So I had to have a mindset reboot. And, um, there’s some things that led me to that. But the one thing that I remember my boss saying to me was if you’re going to work this job, then you’re not going to work from home. And I had figured out how to take my job to my house. So we were actually trading on the stock market and we had what’s called a Bloomberg machine or a Bloomberg terminal.
I’m not sure if we know what that is, but it was where we could actually talk to the traders and make trades on the Bloomberg machine. And I knew how to access it from home. I could do all of the work from home and it just became so easy for me that I could just check emails and, and I would take off work or leave for the day. And I’d be like, oh, I’ll be back tomorrow. And I would get my work done from home while everybody else was sitting in the office and they couldn’t leave her. They chose not to leave. I don’t know. There was a little bit of a target on my back. Um, and that was when I knew that this is not going to be for me because I was tired of being trapped. And it wasn’t just nine to five.
For me, it was seven to five. There was two things that kind of got me thinking. The first was a webinar that I watched online and it taught me the art of importing and exporting items from overseas and how to actually get products made how to order samples, which then led me into what I’ve talked about. Retail arbitrage, where I was selling items, flipping them on Amazon and eBay, which actually allowed me to quit my job. And I started pursuing that until I figured out that that wasn’t going to be what I really wanted to do that wasn’t going to allow me to have the travel life and the digital nomad life that I wanted. So the freedom that I wanted, I wasn’t going to be able to have by this business that I was creating or this life that I was creating. The second thing that changed my mindset was actually a book called the four hour workweek by Tim Ferriss.
I remember propping up the book and reading it, and I used to have like four screens of computers at my desk cause I worked on a trading desk. And so I remember propping up my book like underneath my boss sat right beside me with his four screens. So at any point in time, he got back up and be over there looking at me. And then I worked across from two other people. So we were like in this, I don’t know it was an office space open, very open, so everybody could see what everybody was doing if you walked around. So I had this book up and I just remember reading it the four hour work week. And I was so into this book that I didn’t really care what was going on. The webinar actually led me to do some things that got caught at work.
I remember my boss calling me in and saying, um, the security team found some stuff on your computer. So I had been working from home and he was saying the security teams found some stuff on my computer. And he was like, do you think maybe that happened when you were working from home? And it honestly, what it was was just this tracking system. I think it was called Terapeak that I used for eBay. It just did automatic bidding or something for you. And I remember getting called in and that was the security breach. That was kind of my signal to be like, okay, I don’t think that this job is going to work for me anymore. I had this strong pull that every time I had a lunch break, Took a day off, I was literally going and finding items that I could sell.
I was working on my business. I remember spending Christmases, working on my business, building websites and developing social media content. All of the things that come along with starting a business and being an entrepreneur and being a digital nomad. So, you know, I did try to work for other people and get freelance jobs and things like that. But I really have always had this pull to do my own thing. I started out selling other people’s products and services until I landed on my own, the webinar, the four hour work week, those things both put me in a new direction, gave me a new mindset reboot and started me on my digital nomadic journey. One of the things that I learned from the four hour work week, which had taught me was something called dreamlining. And essentially you do, you put a goal out there and you might do like three or four, but I would just start with one goal and you do one thing every day to accomplish that goal.
For instance, I might say, Hey, if you want to learn how to RV and get started and be a digital nomad and start your own business, or do your own thing, make your own schedule. 🤳 BOOK A CALL TO CHAT WITH ME down below this video, I’m going to share my link and we can chat about planning your RV life. That would be you taking a step like day one calling me today that would be taking a step or putting a date on the calendar. That’s another step. So that’s two different days. So one is the date on the calendar that you’re going to quit your job or start RV life. Another one might be 🤳 BOOK A CALL TO CHAT WITH ME. Another one might be to start your vision board, but either way, the, the goal is to set a goal and then do one thing a day to accomplish that goal.
So if you looked over 30 days and you looked back, you could see one thing that you’ve done and you would have accomplished a lot more. So a lot of small steps to get to one big decision or outcome. So let’s say that this is by drawing, okay. Let’s say that this is going to be your goal or your outcome, and this is you. Okay. So if you want to move towards the goal, these are your decisions. Okay? So here’s you, here’s your goal, here’s your decisions? So the question is every time that you make a decision, you need to ask yourself, is this decision moving me towards my goal? Or is it detouring, delaying, deferring, causing a problem? It’s not heading me towards my goal. So every decision you make, is it heading you towards your goal? That was just a really big eye opener for me.
When someone shared that diagram with me and kind of explained that. So your goal or your outcome that you could be headed towards might be something like marriage or a relationship. It could be a healthier lifestyle. It could be starting a business or getting new budgeting, finances, maybe buying an RV or land or car starting a job, having no job, your credit score. There could be a lot of things that you’re using as your goal or your outcome. When I’m saying pick one goal that you’re going to dream for. So if it’s RV life or being a digital nomad, then this is going to be your goal. That’s going to be the outcome. And you need to make sure that all of the decisions that you’re making on a daily basis in the things that you’re buying and the things that you’re watching and the things that you are consuming are getting you towards this goal.
So for instance, if you wanted a happy marriage and you were making decisions to text other women, or look at fowl images, or go out to the bars, then you might not be having a healthy relationship. It might had you down the wrong direction. So are all the decisions that you’re making, leading you to the place that you’re wanting to go?
TIP #3 – REMOVE ROADBLOCKS
Tip number three for becoming a digital nomad is to remove roadblocks or what I like to call removing barriers to your freedom or eliminating barriers to your freedom. My goal when I started out, our being was to heal. And when I became a digital nomad, it was really just to start a business, but I ended up trying to heal from, I started my business and then trying to heal from my personal tragedy. And like I said, you can watch my story about how I got started RVing, but I wanted to heal.
I wanted an RV. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. And I really just wanted to sell this lifestyle that I had created. This thing that I didn’t really care about anymore. I just want to get rid of it and start my own business. Do my own thing, have my own life, have no ties or schedule or forced type of lifestyle. So I didn’t want to be in the system. I wanted to be out of the system. So how did I do that? What are the things that I removed and started taking out of my life or being more conscious of what was in my life? What was that consuming versus not consuming? The first thing that you want to do is ignore or move things such as distractions. Is there something that’s distracting? You, someone that’s just distracting you, things that are distracting you, an activity, an action.
What is distracting you from actually accomplishing that goal? Distractions can be toxic people. So you want to remove toxic people from your life. If people are not onboard with your idea, that’s perfectly fine, but it’s your idea to be a digital nomad, to do this RV thing or entrepreneur get into this new lifestyle. It’s not the norm. And I wouldn’t expect everyone to be okay with it. So you gotta be okay with toxic people who may not support your dream. And a lot of times this comes from either jealousy or protection. People are either jealous of what you’re doing, or they want to protect you because they care about you. So they like to add in their 2 cents about maybe like what you should do with your business or where you should travel or what kind of RV you should buy or how to actually quit your job.
Or maybe you should quit your job in five years from now or whatever, but people will tell you all kinds of stuff or remove distractions. I remove toxic people, people that drink and party and act wild are probably not in my realm. My circle, my circle of peeps, I’m really, I like quiet. I’m an introvert. I like no noise. Um, just, I like nature and peace and just serenity to be able to work in. Now that might be different from you. But one thing you might want to consider removing is either music or the type of music that you’re listening to. So I remember way back when I was at church and I was in this youth group and I was having a really hard time struggling with my Christian side and my godly side versus my worldly side and my worldly desires. But I just remember this older gentleman or pastor that came over to me really out of nowhere.
And he just said to me, if you really want to make a change, you should really consider changing the music that you listened to. And this person really didn’t know that much about me. So I always call that like a divine thing is that this person didn’t know me. It didn’t really know the music that I listened to. So I don’t know where that came from, but that was just like a prophecy. It was like a prophecy of like something I needed to do, or like an angel warning me. I don’t know the music that was listened to if you’re listening to. I don’t even want to say it? You know, [bleep] that girl drink that drink, smoke that thing. Don’t give a care, flip that person off, [bleep] the police. If you’re listening to stuff like that, cheat on my wife. Cheat on my girl do whatever then that’s what you’re taking in.
Okay. It can be TV, music, television, whatever. I actually don’t listen to any music in the car. And if I do, it’s usually country, but the minute that I started hearing like cussing, when I, when I would download songs, I actually went from listening to like bad music to downloading the clean and unedited version. It’s kind of funny. Like when you listen to it, when people listen to my music that I really don’t listen to anymore. But if I were to ever pull up one of those songs, I used to get made fun of, because they’d be like, oh, Brandi has the edited version, but it just made me feel better to have the edited version until I started listening to, and I don’t even have to hear the unedited version or the edited version. I just knew that what they were talking about was not the kind of stuff that I wanted in my life.
It wasn’t the kind of people that I wanted in my life. And also what I noticed is the people that are around me when they listened to that, they kind of like projected those things onto me. You got to think that subconsciously the things that you do and take in do affect the way that you operate. So what you’re putting into your body actually affects what’s going out of your body. And that is not just music that comes from food. If you’re eating really bad, unhealthy things, then that might be leading you to a life of not being excited or happy or having the energy that you need to either run your business or just get up and go. And when you’re a digital nomad, you’re kind of on the go all the time, you’re doing fun things. You’re on your computer. You have to talk to people.
So you really want to have your energy. So I ignore, um, or remove or change the types of food that I was eating. So I eat a lot healthier now than I probably used to. I don’t eat a ton of fried food, or if I have something fried for lunch, then I try to have maybe like a salad for dinner. Or if I have a salad, I might have fried chicken on it, but I still have a salad, Stuff and things. So eliminating barriers to your freedom has to do with stuff. So a lot of times, one of the biggest things that people say when they’re starting RV life or being a digital nomad is downsizing. And they’re like, oh my gosh, I don’t know how I’m going to sell my things or get rid of my things. Or I’m attached to my things. Having this connection to stuff is what’s going to make it a lot harder for you to actually achieve your freedom.
For me, I lived in the same house for like 20 something years. I collected all these things and I said, oh, when I move into my new house, I’m gonna take all these things with me. And then I ended up moving from like apartment to apartment from new jobs to new job. And it was chaos. But what I learned was that over time, these things and stuff didn’t mean so much. So if you’ve ever followed my story, you know that when I got my travel trailer, I wrecked it like within four months, six months max, after I got it, it was flipped on the side of the road. I was in a horrible RV accident and I literally lost like everything I had the barriers to injury for me was these objects and things. So when I was in my house and attached to all these things, I started kind of learning to detach from them.
And the way that I learned to detach was honestly, when I lost my child, when I went through this time, I really just wanted to sell everything. I didn’t want these things in my life anymore. They were just things I just wanted to heal and get rid of all this other stuff that was holding me back. And even in my RV now I still go through clean-out phases. And what can I take out? Because over time, things do add up again. So I have like a spring cleaning or a fall cleaning. It’s not on a schedule, but it is something that I keep in mind is what can I donate or get rid of and remove from my life. Other things might include your actions, such as purchases. You know, if you’re headed for being an RVer, or a digital nomad, then you might want to consider things that you don’t need.
I didn’t have a car for the longest time. And when I did, it was the car that would tow my RV. If I wanted to RV, I wouldn’t go out and buy another car right now, or a motorcycle or the newest iPhone or whatnot. I would be focused on my RV and all of my financials and everything would head me in that direction. And being an entrepreneur, myself, everything that I do really does revolve my business. So all the money that any profit that I do bring in, I really try to reinvest back into my business or, you know, my RV life or something like that. So I don’t really have that problem. We kind of call that shiny object syndrome. I don’t have that problem of things. Another action that you might think about is like watching Netflix and chilling or watching a lot of TV.
I don’t watch a lot of TV. I do not have cable. The only thing I care about is having internet, which I do have RV life and entrepreneurship got me away from all of that. When you’re headed for your goal, you to your goal, you want to make sure that you do not get distracted, do not get FOMO, fear of missing out what your friends are doing or what everyone else is doing. You might need to remove those people from your life. So you can focus on what you’re doing. If they’re saying, Hey, we’re going out for a motorcycle ride. Maybe you can’t go on every motorcycle ride. You know, maybe you have to think about like, what can I do and what can I not do if I want to have this RV life, eventually I’m gonna have to give these things up anyway.
So it’s better to start removing those things like one by one and learning how to live without things. Now, before you just dive in and have to give it all up. And then, like I said, I don’t have noise. I don’t like noise. I like peace and quiet. So tune out the noise, turn off the TV, turn off the music, tune out. People learn how to get rid of those things and not have these distractions. Like I literally would say, I have tunnel vision of where you’re going and don’t look at anything else. Like you’re literally just blocking off everything else when you’re going. If anything else has come in, you’re just kind of like blocking off anything that’s getting in your way. One thing I thought about this and how it kind of relates is one time I went to go look at a time share.
If you don’t know what time’s yours. You’re kind of like buying into a rental vacation for a week or two for a year. FYI, never do these, do not do these. The only reason I went, one, I was offered like free camping to bring the RV for one. And I’ve been offered free hotel stays and, um, rooms and entertainment and food and whatnot. Sometimes I’ll go to these timeshares. So you’re offered you go to these timeshares, you look at some kind of seminar that they do and they try to sell you on this timeshare. I just remember just sitting down with this guy and he said, why are you here? You’re not my ideal ICA or ideal client avatar. You’re not the type of person that I would normally sell to. Why are you here? And the reason it led up to us, cause we’re sitting there eating breakfast that they had given and started talking.
And he was like, you know, what do you do? And I was like, oh, I’m an entrepreneur and I have my own business, blah blah. And I’m going to tell you, normally people that buy into timeshares are either people that don’t understand them, or they usually aim for people when they’re trying to sell. They’re looking for a certain person. So he knew like this girl is not going to buy anything. I don’t even know why she’s here. And, you know, I told him, I was like, well, I’m pretty much here for the free food and everything else. And so he knew he wasn’t going to make a sale with me. So I know he wasn’t excited. And what’s funny is usually at that point, they’re trying to learn from me about how to get out of that lifestyle. The reason I tell you that is because I had to stay focused on what my mission was.
My mission was to get free rooms, entertainment, um, parking, food, travel, not getting God not buying the timeshare. So that’s why I say don’t get shiny object syndrome. Don’t buy things. Don’t sign up for subscriptions. Really know where your money’s going, where you’re headed, where everything is headed. You need to have a plan and have this planned out.
What’s Next?
So now, you know, three tips, action steps you can take to become a digital nomad, but do you know all of the other parts of becoming a digital nomad, mobilizing downsizing, choosing the right RV or living situation for your nomadic journey? Don’t worry. I had all the same thoughts and questions whenever I got started, which is why I created our RVersity. So if you’re ready to get started becoming a digital nomad, make sure to 🤳 BOOK A CALL TO CHAT WITH ME and let’s schedule a time to chat so I can help you plan and prepare for your new nomad life.
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Hey, I’m Blogging Brandi! Over 5 years ago, I traded my sticks & bricks lifestyle for a life on wheels. Quit my job, sold my house, and everything else, then bought an RV! First, was a Travel Trailer, then Van Life then Motorhome Living. Now, I help people go from feeling overworked, underpaid, and undervalued to living a life of freedom & financial security they love from the comfort of their home on wheels aka Full Time RV Living!
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