I’m a beer drinking, dog loving, geeky, world traveller, who happens to write high converting copy – who was raised in New York City.
New York City is one of the most amazing cities on the planet… but I still chose to get the f**k out the second I could.
Don’t get me wrong, I love New York…
There are places to get delicious food at any hour of the day.
It’s not just the mid to high end restaurants that serve delicious food either… There are falafel carts that people wait HOURS for to pay $5 for orgasm inducing street food.
It’s also the home to some of the smartest and talented people on the planet.
And overall you’re never going to experience parties, events, and other social events like the ones they have in NYC.
But…personally, I don’t think it’s a great city to live in.
Why I Wanted To Get Out Of NYC
Rent for a shoe box sized apartment costs more than a used car, there’s trash everywhere (despite there being trash cans on every corner of every block), lots of homeless people, and the weather sucks…
Half the year it’s so cold that my genitals retreat up inside of me, and the other half I’m dripping in sweat just by walking a few blocks to the train station.
I also noticed (like in most cities actually) New Yorkers live in a bubble…
Many New Yorkers see the world through their New Yorker lens (I was one of these people) and adopting perspectives and beliefs outside this bubble can easily cause friction.
But in the end… It was the cost of living for the quality of life that got me to leave.
In college I was already afraid of the ridiculous rent prices, because back then the only kids I knew who could afford to live away from their parents either…
- Had rich parents.
- Lived with 12 roommates, and slept on a bunk bed.
- Sold cocaine.
- Or a combination of the three.
And I’m not even going to get into the debt we were all getting in by going to college.
It was more than JUST the ridiculous price of living in a city like New York.
I had an itch to explore, to meet new people, and experience new things, but it’s hard to save money to travel when your living expenses are so high you’re forced to live paycheck to paycheck.
I Found An Opportunity To Leave And I Took It
In my early 20’s got a job offer from a friend of mine to sell high ticket men’s dating coaching seminars….
Without hesitation I decided to “take a break from college” and flew out to Las Vegas to join the sales team.
(I told people I was going to finish my degree at some point, but in reality I had no intention of doing so).
In Vegas I dove into my sales training…
Every minute I wasn’t partying or trying to get laid, I had my nose in some book on sales, went through some sales course, or practiced my sales script with another one of the salesmen.
During this period of my life I was essentially homeless.
I slept on my friends couch, and barely made enough money to buy food.
But this experience was very much worth being homeless for a few months.
Taking this job also gave me the opportunity to travel, and it allowed me to discover something I LOVE doing, and has the opportunity to make me an amazing living.
Not too long after I moved to Denver to work with this company’s main team, and learned what digital marketing and copywriting was for the first time.
Just like with sales, I really dove into this stuff.
I took on multiple mentors, bought several high end courses, and read a mountain of books on the subject – which was the replacement for what would have been my college education.
I got to live in amazing cities all over the country, places like Austin Texas, San Diego California, Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington – not to mention all the different countries I got to visit as a result.
I got to taste cuisines from all over the country.
I got to meet and connect with all kinds of people – from spiritual life loving hippies, to wild adrenaline addicted cowboys.
However, this company didn’t last very long.
The owner of this business decided he no longer wanted to be a part of this business, and suddenly left.
The business started to fall apart, and I found myself out of a job, and moving back to NYC to live with my parents.
Back To Normalcy Made Me Realize I Never Want A 9-5 Again…
I got a job as a digital marketing associate for a website, and made around $50,000 a year.
A pretty modest salary that could afford most people a comfortable living wage…
But not in New York.
In New York with that salary the only places I could afford to live in were an hour train ride away from the office.
It drove me absolutely crazy that I had to make this two hour commute every single day, despite having the ability to get the job done at the comfort of my own home.
My motivation to continue working at this site dwindled away, and everyday that passed I felt less motivated to get anything done. Eventually I was let go.
My skills and knowledge instantly got me another job working for an ad agency, and found myself feeling the exact same way… so I quit after a few weeks.
I got a job as a junior copywriter for ANOTHER agency that offered more flexibility, and ran into a completely different problem… I wasn’t being paid enough.
It was at this point where I just thought f**k this, I’ll find my own clients, and go back to travelling around like before.
That’s exactly what I did…
Why I Believe All Online Workers Should Work Remotely
Almost immediately I realized why I hated these jobs so much, despite them actually being pretty great jobs, with great teams…
It was my lack of freedom.
The second I had the ability to travel again I felt free…
I can wake up when I want, eat lunch for as long as I want, work at whatever times I want to, and work from literally anywhere in the world.
Which is a massive contrast to how I lived my life working a 9-5 job.
Every morning I’d wake up, commute to work, stay at the office for 8hours (even though sometimes I’d be finished in 3 or 4 hours), and I’d spend my weekends drinking with friends.
All of my will power was so sapped by the end of the week that it was extremely difficult for me to find things to do that didn’t involve relaxing or alcohol.
At the time of writing this I’m living in Chiang Mai Thailand.
I live close to the jungle, I’m surrounded by nature, but still close to city life.
If I want to escape to the beach to do some surfing or scuba diving for a few days – flights are short and cheap, and accommodations are luxurious and affordable.
Becoming nomadic has allowed me to…
Meet and deeply connect with people of all sorts of backgrounds, beliefs, and worldviews.
As I mentioned before living in any one spot you’re going to meet people who live in a bubble, and straying from common beliefs within this bubble can cause friction, and even banishment from a social circle.
I’ve found many nomads to be more open minded, since they tend to come from all corners of life, and have experiences with people of all backgrounds.
Discover my passion, and masters of this craft who have taught me more than I thought I’d ever know.
Okay… to be fair MOST digital nomads I’ve encountered just teach English on the internet and barely make a living.
I’ve also encountered many nomads with very little experience and a mediocre level of knowledge try to sell themselves as “gurus”. I once met a “business coach” who has never run a business, and lived off of her boyfriend’s wallet. Then a few days later I met another “spiritual business guru” who has never made more than $50,000/year trying to sell me on his $3,000 coaching course, which he quickly reduced to $500 when I seemed disinterested.
But aside from the English teachers and false gurus, there are many corners of the world where seasoned entrepreneurs and online ninjas love to gather.
Many of these pros will absolutely jump at the chance to help others, and the best part is that they’re easy to find on facebook. Most of the time all you have to do is type in “CITY NAME digital nomads” or “CITY NAME Entrepreneurs”
Create a circle of high performing, ambitious, and caring friends.
Like I mentioned before, seasoned entrepreneurs are easy to find on facebook.
They tend to gather regularly, work at paid co-working spots, are pretty welcoming, and are active on entrepreneurial facebook groups.
As a nomad every time you settle in one spot for a certain period of time, meet these people, befriend them, and you’ll have access to their knowledge and wisdom for the rest of your life, wherever you are.
Whereas if you stay in one place you could be limiting yourself to the people who could be helping you hone your skills, and grow your business.
Discover a home that allows me to live a balanced life that would be much harder to do elsewhere.
Like I mentioned before, right now I call Chiang Mai Thailand home.
I plan on making this my home base, and travelling a few months out of the year to work in new places and explore the world.
I live a life free from the financial burden that comes with living in a city like New York or Seattle.
I spent this past weekend with my friends in the jungle, playing a board game called Settlers of Catan, trekking through the jungle and opening up to one another – while brainstorming solutions to move forward in life (we called this emotional manscaping, I’ll write about this more in another post).
Today I woke up around 7AM, went to the gym, played with my puppies, showered, and hopped on to my computer to write this post.
When I’m done I’m going to do my client work, and then head out to grab some coffee and lunch, which is going to cost me around 2 America dollars.
Travelling has let me experience what it’s like to live more simply, to consume less, produce more, have more abundance, and to be more free.
I have the freedom to do what I want, when I want, wherever I want.
If I had never taken that risk to drop out of college and move to Las Vegas I never would have created the life I live today.
Anyone can become a digital nomad…
If a dorky anime obsessed city boy like me can make it happen, I know you can too.