How to Become Location Independent for Beginners (It’s Not through Blogging or Online Courses)
Start a blog they said. Create an online course they said.
When you start researching ‘how to work from anywhere,’ or ‘how to become location independent,’ you’ll find a million blog posts and YouTube videos about blogging and online course creation.
Jeremy Enns is the CEO & Storyteller In Chief of Counterweight Creative, a podcast strategy and marketing agency that he manages while living a digital nomad / location independent life.
But unless you already have a huge audience that you built up elsewhere, earning a living through blogging and selling courses takes a long time. Because you have to build up an audience who wants to buy what you’re selling.
On the LIVE Without Borders podcast, my guest Jeremy Enns and I discuss the fastest way to get your location independent business off the ground.
P.S. Nothing wrong with blogging or online courses. We’re just saying it’s not the easiest way to become location independent. Save those revenue streams for down the line.
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Start with a service-based business
After a year of traveling around the world on bicycle, Jeremy was determined to create a career for himself that allowed him to be location independent.
A friend of his who has a podcast made some offhand remark about his podcast editor. As a trained sound engineer, in the past Jeremy scoffed at the idea of editing podcasts as being too low-level. But now something clicked.
“I was like, wait a minute. I'm trying to build up this blog around photography. That's probably going to take two to three years to build up an audience and get products out there to the point where it can support me. Maybe I should humble myself and take some low-paid work as a podcast editor, even though my skills, in my mind, are so far beyond that.”
Jeremy got on Upwork and within three days had his first podcast editing client. “And as soon as I got that first client, I kind of knew in my mind, if I can do it once I can do it more than once, and I can do it enough times to build up a client base in order to travel.”
Within six months, Jeremy had enough clients to quit his regular job and bought a ticket to the UK, where he lined up several house and pet sits, so he had no accommodation costs.
Today Jeremy owns Counterweight Creative, a podcast agency with a team of 13 people, that he manages while enjoying a location independent life.
Top tips to becoming location independent
What skills do you already have that could get you paid now while you start building the life that you want?
Reach out to your existing network and tell them about your new business. Use sites like Upwork to find your first clients. On the Part of Something Greater podcast, Jeremy shares his tips for standing out and getting hired.
If you can’t think of where to start, consider being a virtual assistant. You can learn more about this and other options at Freelance University.
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