3 Tips For How To Become A Digital Nomad (from an RV Living Entrepreneur)
Want to live in your RV traveling and be a digital nomad, but you’re not sure where to get started on your nomadic journey? In this post, 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. 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.
PS I also made a video if you prefer to watch vs read 😉
How to Be A Digital Nomad (3 steps you can take TODAY!)
- TIP #1 – SET A GOAL
- TIP #2 – ReBoot Your Mindset
- TIP #3 – REMOVE ROADBLOCKS
TIP #1 – SET A GOAL
Where do you want to be? Or where do you see yourself in the future (i.e. over the next year or 5-10 years? – SET A GOAL
My Goals:
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.
- making money from anywhere while hanging out with my dogs
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, family, boyfriend, and my relationship at the time. So the fact that I wanted to have my dogs with me when I traveled is how I ended up living in an RV Full Time and not living out of hotels, hostels, AirBnbs, or anywhere else.
How To Set & Stick To Your Goals
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?
Vision Board
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 for 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.
Create Mind Maps
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….
Measurable Goals
Also make sure your 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.
TIP: 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, or 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 reboot your mindset…
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, when 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 RVer.
When I left what we like to call “the system.” — when I left that comfortable job, safety net, and “normal life.” — 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 (FYI, that could be gone tomorrow, but a lot of people think that having that job and having that safety net is the norm, the safe way of living.)
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 pull. 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 — she’s the creator of Spanx & Sneex!
She has an amazing story, but she had this moment where she was selling door to door, these fax machines. And she finally said, 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. The crazy part is these people could actually have this life now, but they were planning for 20 or 30 years away.
I had to have a mindset reboot — a few things led me to that….
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. I was actually trading on the stock market, and we had what’s called a Bloomberg machine or a Bloomberg terminal — it was where we could talk to the traders and make trades on the Bloomberg machine. 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 I would take off work or leave for the day. And say, oh, I’ll be back tomorrow. I would get my work done from home while everybody else was sitting in the office, and they couldn’t leave. Or let’s say they chose not to leave.
There was a little bit of a target on my back. That was when I knew that this was 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 were two things that kind of got me thinking.
Webinar I Watched
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 called “Retail arbitrage” — where I was selling items, flipping them on Amazon and eBay, which allowed me to quit my job.
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.
A Book A Started to Read…
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 four computer monitors at my desk cause I worked on a trading desk. And so I remember propping up my book, underneath my screens. And my boss sat right beside me with his four screens. So at any point in time, he could back up and be over there looking at me.
And I worked across from two other people. So we were in this, very open office space, so everybody could see what everybody was doing if you walked around.
So I had this book hidden, popped up, and I just remember reading it — the Four-Hour Workweek. I was so into this book that I didn’t care what was going on around me!
I Got Caught At Work!
The webinar led me to do some things that I got caught doing at work.
I remember my boss calling me in and saying, The security team found some things on my computer! — He was saying the security teams found some stuff on my computer. And do you think maybe that happened when you were working from home?
What it was, was just this tracking system. I think it was called Terapeak that I used for tracking prices on eBay. It just did automatic bidding for you.
But I remember getting called in, and that was the security breach.
BUT 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 was EAT, SLEEP, & BREATHING my new Lifestyle Dream
I had this strong pull that every time I had a lunch break, or a day off, I was going and finding items that I could sell online to make money!
I was working on my business 24/7, any chance I could get.
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.
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 and the four hour work week book, 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 = 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 = 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.
- One step is to put a date on the calendar that you’re going to quit your job or start RV life.
- Another step might be 🤳 BOOK A CALL TO CHAT WITH ME.
- Another step might be to start your vision board
Either way, the goal is to set a goal and then do one small thing a day to accomplish that big 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. A lot of small steps to get to one big decision or outcome.
Draw A Line Between: Goals vs Decisions
If you want to move towards your goal, every time that you make a decision, you need to ask yourself, Is this decision moving me towards my goal and ideal outcome? Or is it detouring, delaying, deferring, causing a problem? It’s not heading me towards my goal.
ASK YOURSELF: 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 with me, and kind of explained it.
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, or improving your credit score. — There could be a lot of things that you’re using as your goal or your outcome.
When I say pick one goal that you’re going to dream for — 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 daily 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.
For instance, if you wanted a happy marriage and you were making decisions to text other women, or look at foul images, or go out to the bars, then you might not be having a healthy relationship. It might have you headed in the wrong direction. — So thinking are all the decisions that you’re making, leading you to the place that you’re wanting to go?
TIP #3 – REMOVE ROADBLOCKS
Eliminating barriers to your freedom
Tip number three for becoming a digital nomad is to remove roadblocks or what I like to call eliminating or removing barriers to your freedom.
My goal when I started out, RVing was to heal. And when I became a digital nomad, it was really just to start a business, so I started my business and then tried to heal from my personal tragedy by traveling which led me to RV life.
>> You can watch my story about how I got started RVing, but TLDR: I wanted to heal. I wanted an RV. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. — (not in that order)
Lifestyle Change
And I 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?
Removing Distractions
The first thing that you want to do is ignore or remove 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?
Toxic People
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 an entrepreneur to 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.
Jealousy vs Protection
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… So remove those distractions.
No Peeps + Peace & Quiet
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. I like nature, peace and serenity to be able to work in.
Now that might be different from you.
Musical Thoughts to consider…
But one thing you might want to consider removing is either music or the type of music that you’re listening to.
True Story:
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 secular 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 listen to.”
Even crazier, this person didn’t know that much about me. So I always call that a divine thing is that this person didn’t know me or didn’t really know the music that I listened to. So I don’t know where that came from, but it felt like some kind of a prophecy. It was something I needed to do, or as if an angel was warning me.
I don’t know the music that I was listening to, but it wasn’t Godly, that’s for sure. So you should know if you’re listening to it or not. I don’t even want to say it: You know, [bleep] that girl drinks that drink, smokes 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.
It can be TV, music, television, a podcast, whatever. Now, I 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 would download songs, I’ll turn them off. I actually went from listening to very bad music to downloading the clean and edited versions.
It’s kind of funny 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 it! Now, 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.
Not What I Want In My Life…
It wasn’t the kind of people that I wanted in my life.
Also, what I noticed is that the people around me, when they listened to that “bad music,” — tended to kind of project those things onto me.
You’ve got to think that subconsciously, the things that you do and take in do affect the way that you operate.
Removing Unhealthy Food & Drinks
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.
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 don’t ignore what you eat and how it effects your energy. Instead, I began to remove or change the types of food that I was eating. 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 a salad for dinner. Or if I have a salad, I might have fried chicken on it, but I still have a salad.
Removing “STUFF & THINGS”
Eliminating barriers to your freedom has to do with stuff. One of the biggest things that people say when they’re starting RV life or being a digital nomad is downsizing — “oh my gosh, I don’t know how I’m going to sell my things or get rid of my things. 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 20 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 apartment to apartment, from job to new jobs — it was chaos. But what I learned was that over time, these things and stuff didn’t mean so much.
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 lost everything.
I had the barriers to entry, which for me were these objects and things. When I was in my house and attached to all these things, I started learning to detach from them.
Learning To Detach From Objects…
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. What can I take out? Because over time, things do add up again. I have a spring cleaning or a fall cleaning. It’s not on a schedule, but it is something that I keep in mind is what I can donate or get rid of and remove from my life.
Not buying things that you don’t need
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 was you and wanted to buy an RV, I would NOT go out and buy another car right now, or a motorcycle, or the newest iPhone, or anything you don’t absolutely need. I would be focused on buying an 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. Any profit that I do bring in, I try to reinvest back into my business or, my RV life. So I don’t have that problem.
We kind of call that shiny object syndrome. I don’t have that problem with things.
Eliminating Cable TV & Streaming Services
Another action that you might think about eliminating is 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. But, RV life and entrepreneurship got me away from caring about TV!
Don’t Get Distracted by Friends or FOMO
When you’re headed for 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 what can I do and what I cannot do if I want to have this RV life. Eventually, I’m gonna have to give these things up anyway if I want to prepare to RV Full Time!
So it’s better to start removing those things one by one and learning how to live without things now — before you just dive in and have to give it all up.
Tune Out The Noise & Have Tunnel Vision
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.
Learn how to get rid of those things and not have these distractions. Have tunnel vision of where you’re going and don’t look at anything else. Just start blocking off everything else when you’re going thorugh your day. If anything else has come in, you’re just kind of like blocking off anything that’s getting in your way.
For Example: One thing I thought about this and how it kind of relates is one time I went to go look at a timeshare.
If you don’t know what timeshares are. You’re kind of like buying into a rental vacation condo/property for a week or two per year. — FYI, do not do these. The only reason I went one, I was offered free camping trip — to bring the RV and stay in exchange for a timeshare preview for RVers.
I’ve been offered free hotel rooms, entertainment, food and more. Sometimes I’ll 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 sitting down with this guy one time and he said, Why are you here? You’re not my ideal ICA or ideal client. You’re not the type of person that I would normally sell to. Why are you here?
The reason that led up to this conversation is that we were sitting there eating breakfast they had given us free (in order to get us started talking aka warm us up before the sales pitch…)
And his next question: what do you do? — My reply, I’m an entrepreneur, blogger, digital nomad, and RVER!
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 that this girl was not going to buy anything. I don’t even know why she’s here.
I told him, I’m pretty much here for the free food and everything else. So he knew he wasn’t going to make a sale with me. I know he wasn’t excited anymore! What’s funny is usually at that point, they’re trying to learn from me about how to get out of that lifestyle — selling timeshares.
Staying focused on the Mission
The reason I tell you that story is because I had to stay focused on what my mission was!
My mission was to get free rooms, entertainment, parking, food, travel, not getting GOT and not buying the timeshare.
That’s why I say don’t get shiny object syndrome. Don’t buy things. Don’t sign up for subscriptions. Know where your money’s going, where you’re headed! You need to have a plan and then take action!
🎬 Watch the video..
>> WATCH: 3 Tips for How To Become A Digital Nomad (on YouTube)
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 RVersity my university for RVers.
But if you’re Ready to get started becoming a digital nomad? Make sure to check out RVing For Bosses!
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