There are two simple rules to follow while searching for low cost destinations. Firstly: if you find a place cheap enough to travel to, then most probably you will also find it cheap to live in. Secondly: wherever you are, the further from the big cities and large agglomerations, the cheaper it gets.

Of course ‘cheap’ is a very relative concept, and what is cheap for you may not be cheap for people living some place else in the world.

But if ‘cheap’ means spending just a few dollars/euro/pounds a day, then these locations in Asia and Central America may interest you…

THAILAND

This could be your home. By rene ehrhardt

Have you ever been to Thailand? Do you remember that feeling of paying $1 (€0.70) for a glass of beer? Did you ask yourself then what it would feel like to pay that much for a drink back home? Or the other way round… what would it feel like to enjoy such prices on a daily basis? If your answers are yes, yes, yes …then why not consider moving to the Land of Smiles for a while?

Life is short and, really, no one forces you to spend your days sitting in the office with a computer as your best friend. Think about sandy beaches, constant sunshine and excellent food and realize that you can have it all for less than $500 (€350) a month.

Of course this amount will not pay a beach apartment but you can easily find cheap accommodation in places as beautiful as Chang Mai, up north, where you will pay around $30 (€21) a month for a small flat. Nearer the coast, a room in the apartments runs at roughly $90 (€63) upwards.

Chang Mai by Dj Badly

Cooking at home will cost you nothing as fruits, vegetables and meat at the local markets fall into the budget category. If you are too lazy to cook then try excellent Thai food from street-side food stalls. You can get spicy chicken with rice or noodles for around $1 (€0.70). Spending around $200 (€142) for food a month, you still have around $200 (€142) spare to enjoy local trips, restaurants, parties and some small shopping.

CAMBODIA

Angkor Wat. By Jon 2

Thinking about Cambodian history, the bloody regime of Pol Pot and poverty, no one would dare to call the country a paradise, but in terms of living cost Cambodia rivals Thailand. It does not have as great beaches as its Thai neighbor but, well, it is not all about beaches, right?  You can easily live for less than $500 (€350) in the country’s capital, Phnom Penh.

As there are more and more foreigners living in the town, the accommodation prices are getting higher – it would be hard to find something below $200 (€142) a month, but you can always reduce this cost by sharing a flat with a friend or some long-term travelers.

With $300 (€213) left, you can easily get by in the country. The food prices are similar or lower than in Thailand. Eating in local restaurants will cost you around $2 (€1.40) a meal and $1 (€0.70) a beer but if you really aim to trim your budget, you can try food from street stalls- simple but delicious. Traveling by tuk tuk will cost you several bucks/euro a day.

Getting around by tuk tuk. By tajai

Living in Phnom Penh, the town of no McDonald’s and Starbucks, may be a life changing experience for you. Be aware that Cambodians are extremely poor but modest people, so treat them with respect.  Getting to know a few natives may help you to understand the complex history and tough life in the country. You can always teach English or get involved with some non-governmental organizations to help change the reality around you.

For visa details read an article at www.shelteroffshore.com

You will find similar costs of living in nearby countries such as Vietnam and Laos .

PHILIPPINES

Such beach on a daily basis? Why not…By Eric Uano

Another exotic destination where life will cost you not more than $500 (€350) a month is the Philippines. Following the rule of getting away from big cities, Manila is not an option, as a rent prices start at $360 (€255) a month.  But if you head for Cebu, one of the most developed provinces in the Philippines, with sandy beaches, golf courses and great shopping, you can get an apartment for $150 (€106) a month. In other bustling towns, such as Damaguete City, you can easily rent a room for around $40 (€28) per month.

Food is also cheap. $200 (€142) a month will be absolutely enough to provide you with all necessities including alcohol and tobacco – a big glass of beer and pack of cigarettes cost $0.55 (€0.39) and $0.80 (€0.57) respectively.

Ricefields in the Philippines. By Sekitar

Moreover, the Philippines offer a special resident retiree visa that you can get as early as at the age of 35, but you need to deposit $50K in a bank there. At the age of 50 and above you have to deposit $10K and prove a monthly pension of $800 single ($1K couple).

Malaysia , has a similar retiree offer called My Second Home program.

COSTA RICA

Surfing in Costa Rica might be an option…By Saaron83

Just a few dollars/euro would be enough to survive in Costa Rica. And surviving in Costa Rica may be just a pleasure. The land has 12 different climatic zones and abundant wildlife, but in general, the weather is hot tropical and the natives (called Ticos) are very spirited and friendly people.

Prices in San José are low – the cost of goods and services is among the lowest of all cities throughout the world. You can easily live on $500-$600 (€350-€425) a month if you share a house or flat with a partner or a friend.

Obviously the further away from San José, the lower the cost of housing.  Around 75 km (50 miles) from the town you can rent a small or medium house for $250 (€177) a month.

In the restaurants you can have an excellent meal with desert for about $4.00 – $5.00 (€2.8-€3.5). And if you buy food at local markets and from the street vendors, you pay less- a bunch of bananas will cost you $0.50 (€0.30) or less. Cigarettes are only about $1.20 (€0.90) per pack. In general, the prices in supermarkets are 30% higher than on the local markets and street stalls.

Street stall in Costa Rica. By Angela Rutherford

While in Costa Rica you can learn or develop your surfing skills as the coast has great breaks and excellent surf conditions. And if you’re not too lazy, you can learn or practice your Spanish. Lessons will cost you much less than back home or in Spain.

To find out more check the blog by Tim, who has lived in the country for several years.  It seems that he knows a lot about living in Costa Rica.

If you seriously think about moving to Costa Rica, you should also read ‘Living Abroad in Costa Rica’ by Erin Van Rheenen, who herself moved to live there and wrote from experience. The book explores the country’s history and culture, describes the nation and, of course, suggests a reconnaissance trip to Costa Rica before you decide to move.

BELIZE

Belize sunset by Gold44

Your dream of a personal heaven for a bargain price may also come true in Belize, which is considered one of the most beautiful countries in Central America. It has it all: great beaches, subtropical climate, and diverse wildlife. The official language in the country is English – that makes things simpler, doesn’t it?

The country is also a paradise for scuba diving and snorkeling lovers .The Belize Barrier Reef offers 127 offshore Cayes (islands) where you will find the best preserved marine ecosystems in the world.

The costs of living are similar to those in Costa Rica. For a large house in Cayo district, a one-hour drive west from Belize City, you may pay $300 (€210) a month and if you share with two other friends, it is only $100 (€70)!!!

Groceries are cheap when bought locally. Imported stuff is in general 50% more expensive so if you want to trim your budget, you should shop at local markets and buy from street vendors.

If you’re 45 or more you may consider retiring to Belize. The Retired Person’s Incentive Program may allow you to live a tax free lifestyle, which should definitely help you save up a few bucks.

Storm approaching the coast in Belize. By Grant Heller

Before you pack your bags, be aware that the country has dry and wet seasons so the weather is not always as perfect as you wish. The wet season starts in May and ends in October – it rains all the time and the hurricanes may occur, so if you want to spend just a few months in the country, go between November and April.

P.S. At the time of writing, the exchange rate was $1 – €0.71.

Sourced from Location Independant and written by Jenn Miller

Image credit: Hamid Najafi

It’s a reverie all of us digital nomads share along with those who aspire to be:

Mornings spent working in a hammock under a palm tree, or dialed in through the omnipresent high-speed internet at the cosmopolitan coffee bar on a tree shaded, cobbled street.

Afternoons spent on cultural diversity, perhaps pursuing a passion for languages or photography, maybe slipping a snide “wish you were here…” postcard in the mail to our old office mates back home.

These images illustrate all the best benefits of location independence – it’s why we live this way – but it’s elusive as hell and anyone who is actually living the dream can tell you that sometimes the postcards lie…

Moving Beyond Stabbing a Pin In a Map

Picking the “next destination” epitomises the upsides and downsides of location independence.

Sipping a latte, comfortable in one location, surfing the internet in search of travel savvy information that goes beyond a guide book and was written by someone who has actually been there and going through the mental check list of potential discomforts as we pull up roots and hop the globe, can be anxiety inducing to say the least…

The brochures are always glossy. The beaches always pristine. The internet is always promised at highest speed. The apartments are always “modern.” There is almost never “truth in advertising.” If you live and work as a digital nomad long enough, disappointment is inevitable.

No matter how much you plan, how carefully you do your homework or how many checklists you make, the dream WILL turn out to be a nightmare, at least once. Nightmares make great stories. Live, learn, laugh it off and move on.

So how do you maximize the dream sequence and minimize the nightmares? Take a test trip

Travel tends to be the biggest wild card (and also one of the most often-cited benefits) of location independence. If you are serious about living and working abroad and you have a real career or business to maintain then nightmare scenarios can be more than inconvenient. In addition, they can be expensive and damaging to your reputation as a professional. A test trip can help prevent all of this.

What Is A Test Trip?

A test trip is not a vacation, it’s a reconnaissance mission. You’ve done your research, found a couple of prospective places to live, checked into visa requirements, internet accessibility, the availability of business centers and you’ve crunched the numbers.

Take your planning to the next level and book a cheap flight to your potential destination:

• Stay in a hostel where there will be internet for quick checks and plenty of opportunity to talk with other travelers and pick the brains of folks who’ve lived there for a while
• Book appointments to see a few of the apartments you’re considering
• Visit the office of the internet provider in person and ask the pertinent questions instead of finding out the hard way that passports must be shown and logged before your “high speed” internet can be turned on and that even then half of the sites you would need are blocked by the theocracy of your country in question
• Identify financial institutions, check out the hospitals and health centers, visit an English language bookstore and ask some questions to check out the expat scene in the area

In short, do your homework in person instead of trusting the “experts” on-line. Four days; a long weekend, that’s all it takes.

You’ll have the fun of seeing a new place, you’ll gather the information you need, you’ll feel much more comfortable with the area when you arrive and, most importantly, you’ll congratulate yourself for avoiding the nightmare when you find it.

What You May Find…

The results of our most recent test trip: an available and adequate apartment, fully furnished for $150 USD a month, an additional $20 USD for internet, which is fast enough to support video Skype conferences to Canada, a reliable laundry service, connections established with other expats in the area, and even a source for the best English roast beef dinner off the island every Sunday night at six.

Then again, we might go for the stone cottage right on the lake with a pool and guest house for $500 USD a month. “Where’s that?” you may ask? One of the less obvious villages surrounding Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala.

July 21, 2010
Written By Simon Black at www.sovereignman.com

I am a frequent reader of Simon’s site and on occasion will be posting some of his articles here. He offers great advice for living an International Lifestyle especially regarding obtaining second citizenship and International investments.

Enter Simon Black:

I was on the phone with a major bank last night. As usual, I had to navigate their automated phone system hitting ‘zero’ until my finger turned blue… I was finally forwarded to an offshore call center where the representative was more keen to follow the script than to actually help me.

We’ve all been there. Sometimes it’s perfectly fine, and other times the communication barrier is just frustrating. When done right, though, it can be a seamless step for the customer while adding significantly to the bottom line.

Outsourcing is something that large corporations have been doing for decades– usually farming out work to international markets in an effort to minimize expenses. It’s still a debated practice, but I believe that it’s an important flag that any entrepreneur should consider planting abroad.

While you can outsource plenty of work to service providers in your home country, going offshore lets you take advantage of lower wage demand abroad. This can be a much more efficient use of your capital.

So where are the best places to establish an outsourcing flag?

Depending on your budget and workload, first you have to know what you’re outsourcing. For example, requirements and quality for a one-time project vs. a part-time assistant vs. a full time worker will all vary from country to country.

India is still a top destination for task-based work. There are a number of popular firms that offer on-demand help, charging by-the-hour or per-task. The advantage with hiring an outsourcing company is that you typically get access to a team of outsourcers, and the firm will outsource each of your requests to the most skilled person for the job.

Hundreds of thousands of information technology students graduate from Indian universities every year, and communications infrastructure is reliable within the country’s special IT parks. But India is now struggling to meet demand, and its currency appreciation has reduced price competitiveness.

Eastern Europe is rising to the challenge, marketing its legacy reputation as the center of Soviet technology and scientific research.

Ukraine stands out with the region’s fastest-growing software development and IT industry. Labor and infrastructure costs are still mostly buffered from the Eurozone, and Western venture capital funds have made large investments into offshore development centers there.

Eastern European contractors can deliver anything from a $500 web design to scientific equipment and microchip design. For skilled programming, information security, engineering, research & development, and sophisticated product and software development, look to Ukraine and other developing economies like Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

There are some well-rated outsourcing firms that you can find with a simple Google search, but I recommend seeking out independent contractors with oDesk, where you can easily search providers by country. oDesk gives you useful tools to manage your assistants and ensure they stay on-task, and you only pay for the time they work.

The advantage to hiring full-time outsourcers, on the other hand, is that you buy their downtime without having to worry about taxes, insurance, retirement, and other benefits.

I’ve worked with many outsourcers around the world, and in my experience if you want extremely loyal, articulate, punctual workers, especially full-time staff, you simply won’t find more value for your money than in the Philippines.

The country has a massive base of talented, college-educated professionals, and because of long ties to Spain and the U.S., the majority of young Filipinos speak English very fluently and are well-versed in Western business standards.

The Philippines is becoming the go-to destination for call center operations, as well as business process outsourcing (BPO) services. This includes things like accounting, human resources, and data analysis.

The best source of resumes is the country’s top job listing site, JobStreet, if you can get access. They typically require a business license in the Philippines, so you’ll either need to jump through their hoops or get creative and find someone who can help you. Otherwise, as above, search the oDesk marketplace for providers in the Philippines.

You can find full-time staff who can help you with finance, marketing, medical & legal transcription, web development, graphic design, and more. Rates range from $250-650 per month.

Wherever you do your hiring, enlisting others is instrumental to scaling your business. Planting one or more outsourcing flags overseas is a wise step that will likely generate a significant return for your business.

Do you have your own experiences? Let me know what you think.

While there are only four primary strategies for growing a business, there are literally dozens of different techniques you can use to implement these four strategies.

Strategies are important because they give us something concrete. They endure while techniques may come and go.

But the techniques are equally important. Strategies tell us WHAT to do; techniques tell us HOW to do it.

With that in mind, I’ve provided a list of 31 techniques for growing a business, all categorized by one of the four strategies.

This way, you can skip to the strategy you want to implement in your business, and focus only on those techniques.

Strategy #1: Get more customers and clients.

When we talk about growing a business, this is by far the most common approach: get more customers and clients.

And while this is certainly an important step (you MUST start here if you have no customers or clients yet), it is also the most expensive way to grow a business. And it takes the most effort, too.

Here are 9 ways to get more customers and clients:

• Drive more traffic to your web site.

• Improve the effectiveness of your ads and sales letters.

• Find new/better places to advertise (newspaper, TV, Adwords, ezine ads, social media, etc).

• Create stronger offers that appeal to more people in your target market.

• Enlist the help of affiliates to reach more people.

• Ask for referrals.

• Down-sell prospects who reject your initial offer.

• Craft irresistible guarantees so your customers have little or no risk when they buy.

• Host a free teleseminar where you can demonstrate your expertise and ask for the sale.

Strategy #2: Get your customers/clients to buy more frequently.

Most entrepreneurs and business owners focus on getting the first sale, and then neglect to ever get a second.

This is unfortunate because you make much more profit on sales two, three, four, and so forth.

Here are 6 ways to get your customers and clients to buy from you more frequently:

• Create a customer mailing list; send them customers-only offers on a weekly or monthly basis.

• Send out promotional emails to your house list on a more frequent basis.

• Run time-limited or quantity-limited promotions and use scarcity to get customers to act now instead of later.

• Design a product funnel that automatically moves your clients from one purchase to the next.

• Start a monthly continuity program that automatically bills customers every month. (Print newsletter, membership site, etc.)

• Use autoresponder email sequences to automatically introduce your prospects to all of your products.

Strategy #3: Get your customers/clients to spend more money per transaction.

This is probably the simplest and easiest way to grow a business. But for some reason, many entrepreneurs avoid this strategy because they fear how their customers will react. They fear their customers don’t have more money to spend.

Here’s a suggestion: Get over your fear.

By implementing these techniques, you can easily grow your business 5% or more within the next few months.

A word of caution though… raising prices is not something you do willy-nilly. It helps to have a good reason for raising prices; it also helps to add more value to a product/service.

Here are 7 ways to get your customers and clients to spend more money per transaction:

• Increase your fees and prices.

• Add more value to your products and services.

• After a person buys one product, up-sell or cross-sell them another related product.

• Offer payment plans on your expensive products and services.

• Charge for shipping separately.

• Use phone sales to help close large ticket purchases.

• Do a product launch.

Strategy #4: Keep your customers longer.

This fourth strategy is often overlooked, but is highly effective.

If you can keep a customer or client for an extra month or two, or even an extra year, that could bring thousands of extra dollars to you — especially if you have a continuity program or a well-designed promotional calendar.

Here are 9 ways to encourage loyalty and keep your customers and clients for a longer period of time:

• Send out surprise bonus gifts with new purchases. (You may even consider giving away business promotional items that are branded with your business name so you stay in the top of your customers’ minds.)

• Create a follow-up sequence of communication designed to get customers and clients to actually use the product or service they’ve purchased.

• Call your best customers and clients and thank them for their business.

• Send out birthday cards and Christmas cards/gifts.

• Deliver more value than you’ve promised to deliver. Go above and beyond.

• Ask your customers and clients for testimonials. (After a customer has publicly declared their support of you, they will automatically be more loyal to you and your business.)

• Create incentives to encourage customer longevity.

• Publish the date when a person subscribes and/or becomes a customer. (Ex: Customer since 4/99.)

• Give your customers and clients public recognition in your newsletter, blog, or ezine.

So there you have it: 31 ways to grow business.

Now the only thing left for you to do is pick one or two of them and actually implement them. Learning is good; doing is better.

This post was written by Ryan M. Healy. One of the Internets top copywriters and Internet marketing strategist. You can find his site here. www.RyanHealy.com

When we think about simplifying, we usually think about subtraction. Getting rid of excess stuff. Clearing away obligations. Deleting old emails.

We simplify by paring away the layers of something until we find the core. Too many books on the shelf? Give them away, one by one, until you’re left with a manageable number of the volumes you really enjoy.

But decluttering this way is hard. For example:

Do you really want to pull dozens of books off the shelf one by one, trying to decide whether to keep or sell each one?

Do you have the time to go through hundreds of backlogged emails, choosing which to save and which to delete?

And there’s another obstacle. When you’re forced to choose to keep or discard something, uncertainty rears its ugly head. “Can you really afford to throw this away?” it whispers. “Are you sure you won’t need it eventually? Sure, you’re on a simplification kick now – but will you regret it later?” Playing the willpower game with uncertainty gets exhausting.

Simplifying Backwards is Easier

If you’re having trouble deciding when to hold on to something and when to let it go, try doing things backward. Learn to add responsibly instead of subtracting.

I call it the clean-slate approach to simplifying. Here’s how it works, in three steps.

Step one: Take all the clutter you’re facing, useful or not, and put it away. All of it. Put the pile of clothes in a box; put the old emails in a hidden folder. Now you have a “clean slate” to work with, but you don’t have to throw anything away. Yet.

Step two: Go about your business as usual. As you discover a genuine need for something (genuine being the operative word), take it out of storage with a clear conscience. No more agonizing over what to keep. Life will show exactly which things you actually need, and which things you only thought you needed.

Step three: When you’re ready, sell, donate, or throw away the stuff in storage. It’s easier now, since you’ve had weeks or months to overcome your attachment to it.

And here’s a bonus: if you develop the discipline to only put stuff back in your life when you absolutely, positively need it, you’ll find it easier to keep from buying, collecting, or accumulating unnecessary stuff in the first place.

4 Ways to Simplify with the Clean Slate Method

How can you put this method to use? Here are a few ideas:

1. Clean Out Your Email: If you’re staring hopelessly at an inbox full of read and unread messages, email drafs, and spam, consider declaring email bankruptcy.

If you use Gmail, the archive feature lets you easily move all the mail out of your inbox and into a separate folder. Instant inbox zero. If you use a desktop mail client like Outlook, you can export your mail data to a separate folder, then clear out your active inbox.

Worried about missing obligations to friends or customers? Send an email to your important contacts explaining your email bankruptcy and asking them to remind you of anything vitally important.

And now? Go about your business. If you need an old email, move it from your archive folder into another, active folder. Simple. Don’t stress, don’t agonize – just go with the flow.

2. Pare Down Your Library: Clear off your bookshelves and put all the books in a box. Now you have empty shelves to work with.

If you discover you need a book to read or reference, pull it out of the box and put it back on the shelf. Books that you need and love will naturally come back into your life; books that were just nice to look at or think about reading will stay out of your way. This also works well with DVDs, CDs, or cassette tapes, if you have them.

Eventually, you may feel ready to donate or sell that box of old books entirely.

3. Reformat Your Computer: The easiest way to do this is with a secondary hard drive or USB flash drive. Take all your files and programs and copy them to your secondary drive. Then reformat (wipe) your primary hard drive and reinstall your operating system of choice.

Going forward, only allow yourself to download a file or install a program if life shows you a genuine need for it. Try to avoid overlaps: do you really need that fancy word processor – or is the simple text editor you already have enough?

On the other hand, when you do find a genuine need for a new program, you can install it without feeling guilty.

4. Simplify Your Closet: Take all your clothes and put them aside. Most items can go in a box or a drawer. If you’re worried about your nicer garments, just push them to one side of the bar or use a placeholder hanger to divide your “storage” section from your “useful” section.

You may also want to commit to a regular laundry schedule – waiting three or four weeks to do laundry is a sure way to fall right back into a cluttered closet.

After a while, you’ll develop a cycle or routine of clothing that shows you exactly which clothes you actually need, and which clothes are just closet eye candy.

Setting a Purge Deadline

To really make the clean slate method work for you, it’s helpful to set a purge deadline. This deadline is how long you allow yourself to keep all your old stuff in storage before you get rid of it for good.

When you set the deadline is up to you. You might decide to eliminate anything you haven’t found a need for within 60 days, or 90 days, or a month. Whatever your number is, it’s a good idea to commit to it in advance, so there’s no second-guessing yourself later on.

The clean-slate method is just one way to simplify your life and your stuff, but it’s worked very well for me. If you find it difficult to simplify the “normal” way, give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Jeffrey writes about simplicity, great work, and lifestyle leadership over at The Art of Great Things. Read more by subscribing to his feed or following him on Twitter.

from Bizlift Blog by Sterling Okura

Photo by: d’n’c

The freedom to work from anywhere is a wonderful benefit of being an internet-based freelancer.

But what if your significant other has a career that is paper intensive and demands constant face-to-face interactions?

This was my situation when I met my soulmate Rebecca four years ago.

I’d been self-employed for years and was used to traveling and working. Rebecca was an attorney working for a law firm that required frequent in-person meetings and court appearances.

Breaking Free

We’ve taken many trips over the last couple of years and Rebecca has been able to continue her work remotely for weeks at a time. We’d like to share how we were able to break free from the traditional demands of one of the most paper-intensive professions.

With a bit of creativity any couple can find a way to work remotely.

While our techniques for remote work as a lawyer will apply to other occupations, our solution won’t work for every situation. We want to demonstrate that with a bit of creativity any couple can find a way to work remotely.

Here are the steps Rebecca took.

1. If necessary, fire your boss.
2. Simplify through technology.
3. Develop strategic relationships.

After achieving the ability to work remotely, Rebecca developed a 4th step: Little tips & tricks can have a huge impact.

1. Fire your boss

Rebecca left her job to start her own firm.

This step is not necessary in all situations. Tim Ferriss’s Four Hour Work Week offers step-by-step advice on how to convince your boss that you are more productive when not working on-site in the office.

For those of you who don’t want to bother with bosses, going self-employed is a great option.

The right technology should feel like magic.

2. Simplify through technology.

The right technology should feel like magic. It should simplify tasks and make life easier.

We researched law firm management software and went with one called Amicus Attorney. This gave Rebecca a solution for digitally managing all of her client files.

The next step was reducing paperwork. She started off with a small scanner and a sheet feeder, but it frequently jammed. Eventually she upgraded her photocopier lease to include one with a network scanner. Now her paralegals can quickly scan all incoming letters and documents and associate them to the proper file in Amicus.

To work remotely, we needed a VPN (Virtual Private Network) solution that would allow her to access her server from anywhere. We found a solution that was absolutely magical.

Hamachi is an amazing zero-configuration VPN solution. It doesn’t require any hardware or access to routers. We started off using the free version, then eventually went with a commercial version for only $40/year.

After testing and working through any issues of remote access from home, we were able to start traveling and working from other places.

When we first started traveling, we used a tiny travel wireless router to share my Sprint broadband connection. Now Rebecca has her own Sprint broadband device.

3. Strategic Relationships

When Rebecca first went self-employed, it was just her and a secretary. She developed relationships with other sole-practitioners so they could cover for each other in court as needed.

Rebecca was soon able to hire several associate attorneys. Now she has lawyers who can not only cover for her in court, but also meet with existing clients and sign-up new ones.

One of the most valuable employees is Rebecca’s Office Manager. She keeps everything running, manages accounting, and handles initial communications with clients. This allows Rebecca to only deal with critical issues while away from the office.

4. Little tips & tricks can have a huge impact.

Rebecca offers this advice:

While running a law firm remotely, I’ve picked up a few tricks that make working remote much easier.

1. Cord Bag – Having duplicates of all of my power, usb, and sync cables makes life much easier. I keep them in a travel bag and never have to remember to unplug a cord from my office and pack it.It sounds so simple, but it makes traveling much easier.
2. Portable Printer – Lawyers are used to dealing with paper. With my portable travel printer, I’ve been able to print up documents to sign on the spot. This has saved many mediations by having both parties sign before leaving mediation and later changing their minds.Sometimes I find it easier to make global edits to long documents by using pen and paper. My portable printer makes this a breeze while traveling.
3. Quickbooks Online – When I first started my firm, Quickbooks Online was a handy way to keep track of the firm’s finances while traveling. Now my office manager does such a great job of running things, I rarely have to look at it. But it’s always there if I need it.

Rebecca Long Okura
Managing Attorney
www.longokura.com

Rebecca has been running her own law firm for three years now. The steps listed above didn’t happen overnight.

Don’t worry if you are not immediately able to quit your job or hire reliable employees. Start planning things out and take one step at a time. You’ll be amazed at what is possible when you combine desire, planning, and creativity.

Learn More About Remote Working

Anywired -Blogging legend Skellie provides information on working from anywhere. Check out the article on mobile offices.

The Newly Rich – Four Hour Work Week, family style. The author shares his experiences on moving to Mexico with his family for 2 months in this article.

Location Independent Living – Taking remote work to the next level, this blog offers information on how to be truly location independent. I enjoyed the article on marketing your business online.

Do you have any questions or experiences in working remotely that you’d like to share? Please leave a comment below.

This post was sourced from Bizlift Blog and written by Sterling Okura

Photo by Richard Hook

Some people have the magic touch. They can create value out of nothing.

Painters transform a blank canvas into a work of art. Writers turn empty pages into informative articles. Gifted entrepreneurs are able to conjure creative business ideas out of thin air.

Where does this ability to create come from?

David Lynch’s Big Fish

A few weeks ago I was basking in the creative energy of the Sundance Film Festival. I love that burst of inspiration I experience every time I see an independent artist realizing their dreams.

In one of the screenings we sat right behind the celebrity judges. I wanted to lean over and whisper into Quentin Tarantino’s ear that he was my hero. I had a decade and a half of pent-up hero-worshiping to unburden myself of. But not wanting to risk a listing in the Celebrity Stalker Registry, I kept my enthusiasm to myself and avoided being banned from future festivals.

And with that confession out of the way, let’s get back to topic…

While waiting between movies, our party of film enthusiasts found shelter from the winter in a little bookstore. The first book that caught my eye was Catching The Big Fish – Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch.

I am fascinated by the creative process, I meditate, and I love David Lynch flicks. Needless to say, I was excited by the find. I bought the book to use as an inspiration source for when my creative juices need a jump start.

A few days ago I was browsing through the book and was impressed by an entry titled “Desire” on page 25.

I love the analogy. For me it really does start with the desire for an idea. Then fragment by fragment something starts to take shape.

What Is Your Creative Process?

How do you do it?

What is your process for moving from a blank screen to a finished blog article, spiffy graphic design, or new business idea?

This post was sourced from Copyblogger and written by Mark Silver

With all the beads, prayers, affirmations, “laws of abundance,” and other woo-woo business accoutrements flying around these days, you’d think there’s some fire sale promotion going on spirituality.

Maybe it’s the rough economy, or the unsettling pace of change. Business seems to be getting more and more difficult, and support is hard to come by. When you’re struggling, the idea of having the unseen realms backing you is pretty appealing.

But can getting more spiritual really help your business?

For some of us, spirituality is everyday stuff. It’s how you relate to the world, in business just as in all other things. It’s what’s for lunch. As the Zen master Suzuki Roshi said, it’s “Nothing special.”

For others, spirituality in the realm of business can seem profane, inappropriate, or just plain bizarre.

So which is it? Is spirituality the missing leverage point in business — or is it just plain wrong to use spirituality to get what you want?

What the Heaven is spirituality?

Spirituality is one of those words that can be tricky to define.

The Oxford American Dictionary defines it as:

… of, relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to the material or physical things.

I would define spirituality as any connection we feel to a greater purpose, existence, or reality than ourselves. It means there is a core Oneness that everything comes from and everything returns to.

Ever been in love? You know what I’m talking about.

Things spirituality doesn’t really work for

On a power trip? Spirituality is not going to get you world domination.

If you want to manipulate people into doing something that’s not in their best interest, your connection to love and all-that-is ain’t gonna help you.

Because spirituality isn’t a tool or technique, you can’t “use” it like that. When people describe their spiritual experiences, they tend to use words like:

• “awe-inspiring”
• “humbling”
• “connected to everything”
• “full of love”
• “deep trust and peacefulness”

If you’re trying to trick people into spending money on something worthless, it’s pretty doubtful those words describe your state of mind.

But hold on … something seems familiar here.

Copywriting, business, and spirituality

Here are a couple of key themes about copywriting and sales that you’re probably familiar with if you’re a regular Copyblogger reader:

• You’ve got to believe in yourself and your product.
• You need an attitude of service.
• Rather than talking endlessly about yourself, you have to listen to your readers and engage them in conversation.
• You have to care about your audience.

Great salespeople and marketers, the ones you feel good about and look up to instead of feeling slimed by, have this combination of confidence and humility, caring and willingness to deliver on their promises.

Are you starting to see what I’m seeing?

Maybe this spirituality thing could be helpful after all

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like an amazing way to spend my time.

To be awe-inspired by the presence of the people you are wanting to help, to be humble and not distracted by trying to be something or someone you’re not, to feel connected to everything and full of love. And to have it all grounded in deep trust and peacefulness.

If your blog posts, tweets, products, content, conversations, and connections reflected that sort of approach, what would that do for your business? Or for that matter, for your life?

Spiritual teacher soup

Listen, I may have been designated as a master teacher in my spiritual lineage. I may have years of spiritual practice behind me.

But let me tell you, all I need is a bunch of cool people to launch cool things while I’m sitting on the sidelines and all my internal voices get going.

I’m an incompetent booby. I’ll never catch up with those guys. Maybe what I do doesn’t matter anyway.

I get worried and upset and angry.

The usual things that I’m tempted to do in moments like that (work harder, be brilliant, eat too much ice cream) tend to be completely ineffective.

In fact, they leave me feeling even worse.

Maybe you’re the same. You end up doing crazy things. Like buying yet another high-priced program when you already know what to do. Or launching a sales page that feels like it was written by a sleazy car salesman. Or retreating into a corner, too paralyzed and overwhelmed to do anything at all.

That’s one of the very useful things about spiritual practice. My practice allows me to drop all of those thoughts very quickly, saving me from acting on those impulses, from sabotaging myself or scaring off our clients.

It allows my heart to drink the love, peace and groundedness it thirsts for.

That’s the real payoff. The side effect? I’m more on-point with what I’m doing. Efficient, effective, connected.

Mother Teresa — you know, that once-unknown little nun who mobilized tens of thousands of people to care for the poorest of the poor, and trotted the globe bringing in millions of dollars and creating a legacy that has lasted far past her death?

She insisted that everyone associated with her Missionaries of Charity spend precious hours in spiritual practice every day, even when there was the pressing need of dying and starving people all around.

Why? Because getting stuff done simply wasn’t enough.

Ticking items off a to-do list is draining. But understanding that what you do and who you are into the world is an expression of profound love and caring — that’s when miracles happen.

It worked for her. It works for my business and our clients. It can work for you, too.

Have your spirit call my spirit, they’ll do lunch

As the great Sufi sheikh Ibn al Arabi said,

All streams lead to the Ocean.

There are a million ways to connect to spirit. Some are organized, some are eclectic. Some are communal, some personal. All, hopefully, are grounded in love and service.

I share my Sufism with two poets you may have heard of, Rumi and Hafiz. Sufis talk about Remembrance as a spiritual practice. That this connection with spirit is not something to cross off a to-do list or a technique to be mastered, but an essential part of who you are that is simply to be Remembered.

What if you were to stop in the middle of your busy day, right in the middle of your never-ending task list, right in the middle of the sales page copy or blog post you’ve been pushing uphill, and took time to speak to your heart and ask it to remember?

To remember that love and connection are essential to your business.

To remember that you aren’t alone, and that you don’t need to be anyone other than who you are.

To remember that it’s okay to be humble and in service, and that you are cared for deeply.

No one has to watch you do this. If you want help, I did a short audio to guide folks, Ack! Where’s My Heart?

Stop working so hard. Use all of that tremendous will power and individual force that you’ve been given to ease off the gas pedal and just stop. Stop. Breathe. Remember love.

When you step on the gas again, you just might find it easier to do whatever you were struggling with before, and making bigger ripples once it’s out there. Who, after all, can resist love?

About the Author: Mark Silver helps entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to make a difference, but also need to make a profit. Check out his website and blog at Heart of Business, follow him on Twitter, or take the free Remembrance Challenge.

This is the first of my Freedom Files interviews.. I met Alain Denis while traveling in Florianopolis, Brazil.

One night, Alain and I were chatting over  a few Caipirinhas (a popular Brazilian cocktail) and I became intrigued by the fact that Alain had been traveling for more than three years, consecutively, without ever going back to his homeland. (Canada)

Immediately I knew I wanted to capture this guys story and make it the intro to my new Freedom Files series.. It was very inspiring to meet him and see how excited he still was after three solid years on the road. Be sure to check out his video above and also his photography in the interview below.

Enter Alain and Nate…

Nate: So what is it your doing exactly?

Alain: Riding a suzuki DR 350 enduro motorbike from Canada to South America. Living on the road doing what I love doing, photography and traveling.
From Jasper Alberta to the end of south america – Ushuaia –

Nate: Wow, so you left on a motorcycle from Alberta and road all the way to Ushuaia Argentina…For those who don’t know Ushuaia is at the extreme Southern tip of South America…It’s commonly known as the end of the world. It’s the main launching point for traveling to Antarctica.

Aside from your photography, what do you do to occupy your time while your on the road?

Alain: Well on a motorbike, riding from point A to point B can take some time. So I enjoy the scenery. Some roads can be an adventure on its own.. like route 40 in Patagonia or Bolivia… need to focus and can tired you out!

Nate: How long have you been doing this?

Alain: I left Jasper Alberta sept 27th 2007. I’ve been traveling ever since full time.

Nate: So about three years and counting…That’s amazing! What were some the most memorable times you had during your travels. Where were you? What happened?

Alain: Everyday is an adventure really. So days more. Like in Bolivia when I rode across the Salar to Uyuni. I spent the night on Pescado Island. Normally your not allowed to camp there. But it was pretty cool to be out there alone. For the next  3 days I rode to Chile on very remote roads. One day I saw only one jeep from far away! I had to calculate my gas, food and water. Not a place to break down! The nice thing of a motorbike trip is you don’t have to ride the normal tourist route…

Nate: What were you doing before you left on your trip?

Alain: I ’ve been working as a freelance photographer for the past 10 years. It’s always been a good side income. Before leaving for the trip, I lived in a touristic town – Jasper Alberta. I was driving a taxi, making some pretty good money. Between taxi and photography, I saved funds to get on the road, then continued with only photography income.

Nate: That’s cool, so you basically make money with photography while you travel the world?

Alain: Yes, I live off of my photography income. I sell images to magazines, books, newspapers, agencies. Where ever I can. I also write stories. It’s pretty amazing!

Nate: I agree, that’s got to be the ultimate dream job. How do you market your self and your photography online?

Alain: The marketing is the hard part. Since I don’t really sit in an office but on a motorbike. I don’t spend very much time working on marketing. I have some clients I been working with for a while now. So they help me keep going. My website and blog gets a good amount of views so sometimes it helps with contacts. Like any jobs… harder you work, the more you will make.

Nate: How much money do you really think it takes to live comfortably while traveling around the world?

Alain: From my travel experiences, if you spend an average of $1000 a month. You could live at 12 000 a year pretty good. Also depends on the country you travel in, what you do, if you go out for drinks and dinners, it could easy double. I usually stay away from that so i can enjoy more time on the road then in a bar.  In countries like Peru – Bolivia. I would spend approx 400$ a month! including my gas! I sometimes meet other travelers on motos that spend double what I do. They stay in fancy hostels and eat out all the time. – My average spending is normally between $600 and $800 a month – including gas.

Nate: What initially inspired you to take the leap?

Alain: I always loved traveling, I can’t sit still in one place too long. So traveling gets me going. I get inspired from seeing cultures, landscapes.Countries are fascinating, the more your see, the more you want to see. Traveling is an addiction – a healthy one. The idea of  having a mode of transportation like a motorbike gives you freedom, alive with the environment, the smells, the sounds, the peace and craziness. A great way to be part of the culture.

Nate: I agree, what has your favorite place been so far?

Alain: hmm… thats a hard question! Everywhere!!! but many special places like Thailand, India, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina…. so many. For culture… India… for Paradise living… Thailand.

Nate: What do friends say about your life back home?

Alain: Everyone is pretty psyked, I get lots of great positive feedbacks. Most can’t believe it’s been almost 3 years and still going. Still surviving “living the dream!”It’s a whole different ball game….

Nate: It is a different ballgame that’s for sure. I find many people really don’t understand how incredible life becomes, and the changes in yourself you experience when you make a decision to explore other cultures. What do you think has changed most about you since you left three years ago?

Alain: You learn lots from other people you meet. Learn about new places to visit, new friends, incredible scenery. From traveling I learn to be more patient and appreciate life or things I have. Living on a motorbike, you carry nothing, so you appreciate the little you have. After so long on the road now, living a more simple lifestyle is what I learn.

Nate: What are your plans for the future?

Alain: Find the perfect spot to buy land, build an eco friendly hostel style house. Near surf and climbing. The two best lifestyle combo to keep the body strong and healthy.

Nate: I love it, that’s a perfect dream.

Alain: Could be if it works out

Nate: Any tips for combining work and travel?

Alain: Keep doing what you love doing, be positive and believe that you can do it! Anything can be done if you go for it.

Nate: Good stuff, it’s so much easier than people think. It’s all about a decision and a desire for change. Would you trade it for anything?

Alain: I would NEVER trade anything for the travel experiences I had. I have everything I want right here… Freedom and wheels! – with an engine…

(Credit: h.koppdelaney)

“From all your herds, a cup or two of milk,
From all your granaries, a loaf of bread,
In all your palace, only half a bed:
Can man use more? And do you own the rest?”
– Ancient Sanskrit poem

Total post read time: 5 minutes. This is a post taken from The Blog of Tim Ferris, Author of the 4 Hour Work Week. It’s an amazing article on how to switch one’s thinking to what it really means to live well. recommended for anyone who believes you need to have a lot of money to experience a life of non-stop world exporation. I hope you enjoy…I know I did…

Article starts here:

Living well is quite different from “doing well.”

In the quest to get ahead — destination often unknown — it’s easy to have life pass you by while you’re focused on other things. This post is intended as a reminder and a manifesto: keep it simple.

This is written by Rolf Potts, author of my perennial favorite and heavily highlighted Vagabonding. In the below piece, I’ve bolded some particular parts that have had an impact on my life.

In March of 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck a reef off the coast of Alaska, resulting in the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Initially viewed as an ecological disaster, this catastrophe did wonders to raise environmental awareness among average Americans. As television images of oil-choked sea otters and dying shore birds were beamed across the country, pop-environmentalism grew into a national craze.

Instead of conserving more and consuming less, however, many Americans sought to save the earth by purchasing “environmental” products. Energy-efficient home appliances flew off the shelves, health food sales boomed, and reusable canvas shopping bags became vogue in strip malls from Jacksonville to Jackson Hole. Credit card companies began to earmark a small percentage of profits for conservation groups, thus encouraging consumers to “help the environment” by striking off on idealistic shopping binges.

Such shopping sprees and health food purchases did absolutely nothing to improve the state of the planet, of course — but most people managed to feel a little better about the situation without having to make any serious lifestyle changes.

This notion — that material investment is somehow more important to life than personal investment — is exactly what leads so many of us to believe we could never afford to go vagabonding. The more our life options get paraded around as consumer options, the more we forget that there’s a difference between the two. Thus, having convinced ourselves that buying things is the only way to play an active role in the world, we fatalistically conclude that we’ll never be rich enough to purchase a long-term travel experience.

Fortunately, the world need not be a consumer product. As with environmental integrity, long-term travel isn’t something you buy into: it’s something you give to yourself.

Indeed, the freedom to go vagabonding has never been determined by income level, but through simplicity — the conscious decision of how to use what income you have.

And, contrary to popular stereotypes, seeking simplicity doesn’t require that you become a monk, a subsistence forager, or a wild-eyed revolutionary. Nor does it mean that you must unconditionally avoid the role of consumer. Rather, simplicity merely requires a bit of personal sacrifice: an adjustment of your habits and routines within consumer society itself.

“Our crude civilization engenders a multitude of wants… Our forefathers forged chains of duty and habit, which bind us notwithstanding our boasted freedom, and we ourselves in desperation, add link to link, groaning and making medicinal laws for relief.”
– John Muir, Kindred and Related Spirits

At times, the biggest challenge in embracing simplicity will be the vague feeling of isolation that comes with it, since private sacrifice doesn’t garner much attention in the frenetic world of mass culture.

Jack Kerouac’s legacy as a cultural icon is a good example of this. Arguably the most famous American vagabonder of the 20th century, Kerouac vividly captured the epiphanies of hand-to-mouth travel in books like On the Road and Lonesome Traveler. In Dharma Bums, he wrote about the joy of living with people who blissfully ignore “the general demand that they consume production and therefore have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that crap they didn’t really want…general junk you always see a week later in the garbage anyway, all of [it] impersonal in a system of work, produce, consume.”

Despite his observance of material simplicity, however, Kerouac found that his personal life – the life that had afforded him the freedom to travel – was soon overshadowed by a more fashionable (and marketable) public vision of his travel lifestyle. Convertible cars, jazz records, marijuana (and, later, Gap khakis), ultimately came to represent the mystical “It” that he and Neal Cassidy sought in On the Road. As his Beat cohort William S. Burroughs was to point out years after his death, part of Kerouac’s mystique became inseparable from the idea that he “opened a million coffee bars and sold a million pairs of Levi’s to both sexes.”

In some ways, of course, coffee bars, convertibles and marijuana are all part of what made travel appealing to Kerouac’s readers. That’s how marketing (intentional and otherwise) works. But these aren’t the things that made travel possible for Kerouac. What made travel possible was that he knew how neither self nor wealth can be measured in terms of what you consume or own. Even the downtrodden souls on the fringes of society, he observed, had something the rich didn’t: Time.

This notion – the notion that “riches” don’t necessarily make you wealthy – is as old as society itself. The ancient Hindu Upanishads refer disdainfully to “that chain of possessions wherewith men bind themselves, and beneath which they sink”; ancient Hebrew scriptures declare that “whoever loves money never has money enough.” Jesus noted that it’s pointless for a man to “gain the whole world, yet lose his very self”, and the Buddha whimsically pointed out that seeking happiness in one’s material desires is as absurd as “suffering because a banana tree will not bear mangoes.”

Despite several millennia of such warnings, however, there is still an overwhelming social compulsion – an insanity of consensus, if you will – to get rich from life rather than live richly, to “do well” in the world instead of living well. And, in spite of the fact that America is famous for its unhappy rich people, most of us remain convinced that just a little more money will set life right. In this way, the messianic metaphor of modern life becomes the lottery – that outside chance that the right odds will come together to liberate us from financial worries once and for all.

“Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing…”
– Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”

Fortunately, we were all born with winning tickets – and cashing them in is a simple matter of altering our cadence as we walk through the world. Vagabonding sage Ed Buryn knew as much: “By switching to a new game, which in this case involves vagabonding, time becomes the only possession and everyone is equally rich in it by biological inheritance. Money, of course, is still needed to survive, but time is what you need to live. So, save what little money you possess to meet basic survival requirements, but spend your time lavishly in order to create the life values that make the fire worth the candle. Dig?”

Dug. And the bonus to all of this is that – as you of sow your future with rich fields of time – you are also planting the seeds of personal growth that will gradually bloom as you travel into the world.

* * *

In a way, simplifying your life for vagabonding is easier than it sounds. This is because travel by its very nature demands simplicity. If you don’t believe this, just go home and try stuffing everything you own into a backpack. This will never work, because no matter how meagerly you live at home, you can’t match the scaled-down minimalism that travel requires. You can, however, set the process of reduction and simplification into motion while you’re still at home. This is useful on several levels: Not only does it help you to save up travel money, but it helps you realize how independent you are of your possessions and your routines. In this way, it prepares you mentally for the realities of the road, and makes travel a dynamic extension of the life-alterations you began at home.

“Travel can be a kind of monasticism on the move: On the road, we often live more simply, with no more possessions than we can carry, and surrendering ourselves to chance. This is what Camus meant when he said that “what gives value to travel is fear” — disruption, in other words, (or emancipation) from circumstance, and all the habits behind which we hide.
– Pico Iyer, “Why We Travel”

As with, say, giving up coffee, simplifying your life will require a somewhat difficult consumer withdrawal period. Fortunately, your impending travel experience will give you a very tangible and rewarding long-term goal that helps ease the discomfort. Over time, as you reap the sublime rewards of simplicity, you’ll begin to wonder how you ever put up with such a cluttered life in the first place.

On a basic level, there are three general methods to simplifying your life: stopping expansion, reining in your routine, and reducing clutter. The easiest part of this process is stopping expansion. This means that – in anticipation of vagabonding – you don’t add any new possessions to your life, regardless of how tempting they might seem. Naturally, this applies to things like cars and home entertainment systems, but this also applies to travel accessories. Indeed, one of the biggest mistakes people make in anticipation of vagabonding is to indulge in a vicarious travel buzz by investing in water filters, sleeping bags, and travel-boutique wardrobes. In reality, vagabonding runs smoothest on a bare minimum of gear – and even multi-year trips require little initial investment beyond sturdy footwear and a dependable travel bag or backpack.

While you’re curbing the material expansion of your life, you should also take pains to rein in the unnecessary expenses of your weekly routine. Simply put, this means living more humbly (even if you aren’t humble) and investing the difference into your travel fund. Instead of eating at restaurants, for instance, cook at home and pack a lunch to work or school. Instead of partying at nightclubs and going out to movies or pubs, entertain at home with friends or family. Wherever you see the chance to eliminate an expensive habit, take it. The money you save as a result will pay handsomely in travel time. In this way, I ate lot of baloney sandwiches (and missed out on a lot of grunge-era Seattle nightlife) while saving up for a vagabonding stint after college — but the ensuing eight months of freedom on the roads of North America more than made up for it.

“Very many people spend money in ways quite different from those that their natural tastes would enjoin, merely because the respect of their neighbors depends upon their possession of a good car and their ability to give good dinners. As a matter of fact, any man who can obviously afford a car but genuinely prefers travels or a good library will in the end be much more respected than if he behaved exactly like everyone else.”
– Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

Perhaps the most challenging step in keeping things simple is to reduce clutter – to downsize what you already own. As Thoreau observed, downsizing can be the most vital step in winning the freedom to change your life: “I have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all,” he wrote in Walden, “who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or sliver fetters.”

How you reduce your “dross” in anticipation of travel will depend on your situation. If you’re young, odds are you haven’t accumulated enough to hold you down (which, incidentally, is a big reason why so many vagabonders tend to be young). If you’re not-so-young, you can re-create the carefree conditions of youth by jettisoning the things that aren’t necessary to your basic well-being. For much of what you own, garage sales and on-line auctions can do wonders to unclutter your life (and score you an extra bit of cash to boot). Homeowners can win their travel freedom by renting out their houses; those who rent accommodation can sell, store, or lend out the things that might bind them to one place.

An additional consideration in life-simplification is debt. As Laurel Lee wryly observed in Godspeed, “cities are full of those who have been caught in monthly payments for avocado green furniture sets.” Thus, if at all possible, don’t let avocado green furniture sets (or any other seemingly innocuous indulgence) dictate the course of your life by forcing you into ongoing cycles of production and consumption. If you’re already in debt, work your way out of it – and stay out. If you have a mortgage or other long-term debt, devise a situation (such as property rental) that allows you to be independent of its obligations for long periods of time. Being free from debt’s burdens simply gives you more vagabonding options.

And, for that matter, more life options.

* * *

“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance”

As you simplify your life and look forward to spending your new wealth of time, you’re likely to get a curious reaction from your friends and family. On one level, they will express enthusiasm for your impending adventures. But on another level, they might take your growing freedom as a subtle criticism of their own way of life. Because your fresh worldview might appear to call their own values into question (or, at least, force them to consider those values in a new light), they will tend to write you off as irresponsible and self-indulgent. Let them. As I’ve said before, vagabonding is not an ideology, a balm for societal ills, nor a token of social status. Vagabonding is, was, and always will be a private undertaking – and its goal is not to improve your life in relation to your neighbors, but in relation to yourself. Thus, if your neighbors consider your travels foolish, don’t waste your time trying to convince them otherwise. Instead, the only sensible reply is to quietly enrich your life with the myriad opportunities that vagabonding provides.

Interestingly, some of the harshest responses I’ve received in reaction to my vagabonding life have come while traveling. Once, at Armageddon (the site in Israel; not the battle at the end of the world), I met an American aeronautical engineer who was so tickled he had negotiated 5 days of free time into a Tel Aviv consulting trip that he spoke of little else as we walked through the ruined city. When I eventually mentioned that I’d been traveling around Asia for the past 18 months, he looked at me like I’d slapped him. “You must be filthy rich,” he said acidly. “Or maybe,” he added, giving me the once-over, “your mommy and daddy are.”

I tried to explain how two years of teaching English in Korea had funded my freedom, but the engineer would have none of it. Somehow, he couldn’t accept that two years of any kind of honest work could have funded 18 months (and counting) of travel. He didn’t even bother sticking around for the real kicker: In those 18 months of travel, my day-to-day costs were significantly cheaper than day-to-day life would have cost me back in the United States.

The secret to my extraordinary thrift was neither secret nor extraordinary: I had tapped into that vast well of free time simply by forgoing a few comforts as I traveled. Instead of luxury hotels, I slept in clean, basic hostels and guesthouses. Instead of flying from place to place, I took local buses, trains, and share-taxis. Instead of dining at fancy restaurants, I ate food from street-vendors and local cafeterias. Occasionally, I traveled on foot, slept out under the stars, and dined for free at the stubborn insistence of local hosts.

In what ultimately amounted to over two years of travel in Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, my lodging averaged out to just under $5 a night, my meals cost well under $1 a plate, and my total expenses rarely exceeded $1000 a month.

“When I was very young a big financier once asked me what I would like to do, and I said, ‘To travel.’ ‘Ah,’ he said, ‘it is very expensive; one must have a lot of money to do that.’ He was wrong. For there are two kinds of travelers; the Comfortable Voyager, round whom a cloud of voracious expenses hums all the time, and the man who shifts for himself and enjoys the little discomforts as a change from life’s routine.”
– Ralph Bagnold, Libyan Sands

Granted, I have simple tastes – and I didn’t linger long in expensive places – but there was nothing exceptional in the way I traveled. In fact, entire multi-national backpacker circuits (not to mention budget guidebook publishing empires) have been created by the simple abundance of such travel bargains in the developing world. For what it costs to fill your gas-tank back home, for example you can take a train from one end of China to the other. For the cost of a home-delivered pepperoni pizza, you can eat great meals for a week in Brazil. And, for a month’s rent in any major American city, you can spend a year in a beach hut in Indonesia. Moreover, even the industrialized parts of the world host enough hostel networks, bulk transportation discounts, and camping opportunities make long-term travel affordable.

Ultimately, you may well discover that vagabonding on the cheap becomes your favorite way to travel, even if given more expensive options. Indeed, not only does simplicity save you money and buy you time, it makes you more adventuresome, forces you into sincere contact with locals, and allows you the independence to follow your passions and curiosities down exciting new roads.

In this way, simplicity – both at home and on the road – affords you the time to seek renewed meaning in an oft-neglected commodity that can’t be bought at any price: life itself.