Tag Archives: work life balance

Can I Be a Digital Nomad? What You Need to Know

You’re sipping a piña colada and lazing on golden-sanded shores. You’ve just finished work for the day and finally logged off. Now, it’s time to relax in some glorious haven before jetting off to the next place on your travel bucket list. Sure, it might all sound too good to be true,  but, for digital nomads at least, this scene could be oh-so-familiar. 

What is a Digital Nomad?

In a recent survey from MBO Partners State of Independence, 4.8 million Americans described themselves as digital nomads. The truth is that it can be applied to just about anybody who travels and works at the same time. They frequently move from place-to-place, never settling on one destination, AKA living the dream.  

digital nomad working at airport

Step 1: Get a Remote Job  

If traveling while you work sounds like bliss, you may be wondering how you can make it happen. The first step is landing a role that allows you to move around. Many digital nomads are freelancers who work for themselves. Of course, should you want to go down this route, it’s vital that you build a strong, stable client list first.

However, another, more secure way to go is to look for a remote role. Luckily, these job types are becoming more and more popular. A massive 43% of American employees had careers which allowed them to work remotely in 2016, according to a Gallup Report. That means that snapping up this kind of flexible role could be easier than you think.

Step 2: Choose Your Destination

You’ve decided to become a fully-fledged digital nomad. Next, comes the hard part – deciding where in the world to go. Nomad List, a crowdsourced database listing the best places to live and work, could have the answer. The site analyzes major cities around the world and looks at criteria such as the average cost of living, internet quality, fun and activities, and, perhaps most crucially, safety. 

digital nomad

Topping the list are booming urban areas such as Canggu, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Buenos Aires. Of course, when you’ve chosen a place that suits you, it’s important to do a little research online and find out as much as possible. The more you know about the place and its culture, the easier it will be when you get there.

Step 3: Finalize the Minor Details 

Once you’ve got the right role and found a city you’d like to visit, it’s time to hammer out those final details. Finding short-term lets can often be the hardest part, but you can get decent enough deals on Airbnb and Uniplaces. You will also need to pick a co-working space you can use while you’re abroad. Not only is a workspace a great place to meet fellow nomads, but it will also keep you sane when you have deadlines to hit. Apps like Croissant allow you to find flexible spaces and book online ahead of time. 

If all of the above sounds like a headache, there is another option. Travel companies, such as Remote Year and WiFi Tribe, can take care of everything from your accommodation and co-working space to flights, trips, and excursions. When you go with one of the package deals they offer, you will travel with a group of like-minded workers over the course of several months or even an entire year. Simple. 

Step 4: Meeting Fellow Nomads 

digital nomad beyond words 3

Let’s not beat around the bush – traveling to a foreign country alone is scary. Scratch that, it’s absolutely, positively terrifying. When you arrive, you’ll come up against the biggest obstacle of all. Perhaps for the first time in your adult life, you’re going to need to make friends. Thankfully, you won’t be alone for long. Here are some of the resources you can use:

Bumble BFF: The well-known dating app isn’t just for finding ‘the one.’ It actually has a friend-finding feature, too, called BFF. Create a profile and start swiping for new contacts in your area. Why not arrange a friend date?

Facebook Groups: Search groups for a ‘digital nomad’ community in your area. You should find that there are loads of options, including female-only groups. Of course, you should always put your safety first when meeting people online. 

Meetup: Want to meet interesting people who share your interests? The Meetup app is the way to go. Once you’ve downloaded the app and set up a profile, you can start searching for groups in your area, such as wine and book clubs. 

Ready to take the leap and become a digital nomad? If you’re filled with wanderlust but need to work to live, it’s the ideal solution. This brief guide should have given you an overview of the basics. However, it’s important to realize that there are many different ways you can make this lifestyle work for you. Start researching destinations and schemes today and see what you can find out. After all, there’s a great big world out there!

Things You Need to Know About Freelancing

Who doesn’t want to be self-employed, enjoy a flexible schedule where you can plan last-minute vacations, and create a life that other people dream of living? Sounds pretty good, right? Working in your pajamas from the comfort of your own home, without a supervisor glaring over your shoulder, are a few more perks and there are no words to express the beauty of avoiding rush hour traffic (can I get an amen?). There is more to freelancing than meets the eye, however, and this lifestyle is fraught with both advantages and disadvantages. Here are a few things you should know about freelancing for the next time your bossmakes you want to jump ship and set off into the sunset behind your own sail.

There is no set schedule.

Freelancers don’t follow a 9-5 schedule, and although this can be amazing, it also has its drawbacks. More times than not, we work around the clock in a frenzied attempt to meet deadlines, build our craft, and find more work. Lunches and breaks can easily be forgotten until our stomachs (not-so-gently) remind us that they need to be fed, and it’s possible to fall asleep at our home work stations. On the other hand, it’s worth it when you can buy groceries while the store is slow or when you’re en route to a tropical paradise and your friends are in the office.

freelancing 3

 

You have to hustle to get work.

We are not the only people who do what we do and the job search doesn’t end once we find our first gig; actually, it’s just the beginning. Someone out there has more experience and/or is willing to accept lower pay. And companies won’t start beating down our doors the moment we decide “I want to be a freelancer!” (it would be nice!). Job security and steady income streams are rare; many companies only need one job done or look for short-term agreements. Once you’re a freelancer, you also become a marketer with one very important subject to promote: yourself. Before diving into this lifestyle you should ask yourself if you’re willing to go the extra mile to keep your head above water. Why should Company A hire your services instead of those from Company B?

 

It’s best to set a rate and stick to it.

Friends may ask to “pick your brain” and proceed to give you a task that you normally charge a fee for. Companies will also try to pay as little as possible, even suggesting that they will move elsewhere if your fees don’t match their expectations. Before going along, remember one thing: if you don’t respect your time, effort, and talent enough to set fair standards, no one will.

When beginning as a freelancer, agreeing to lower pay and pro-bono work will help build your portfolio. After some time, however, it’s best to sit down with a calculator and a computer and be prepared to crunch numbers.

freelancing1

 

Tax and social security payments need to be planned in advance.

Workers in the 9-5 grind don’t think about taxes until it’s filing season and they’re deciding which trips to plan with their beautiful return. As a freelancer, the opposite is true; it’s important to set money aide and be ready to pay the government at the end of the fiscal year. Spending each paycheck as it arrives is a common mistake made by new freelancers; remember, no one wants to dip into their savings or begin a drastic payment plan come February. To avoid an uncomfortable surprise, it helps to send a percentage of each pay check to a separate bank account and pretend like it was never yours.

 

Some freelancers go days without seeing another person.

Between finishing paying jobs, looking for new work, and becoming a specialist in your field, you may even forget what your own voice sounds like (especially if you live alone). Gym memberships and team hobbies can help break up the daily routine and maintain social interactions.

freelancing 2

 

When done right, freelancing helps us develop a work-life balance.

Once we fall into the routine that works best for us and sell our services for a fair rate, we’re able to fit in time to see friends, enjoy hobbies, and even take on extra work; in short, freelancing can help us achieve the ultimate professional goal: a work-life balance.

Are You Obsessed With Email? Here’s Why You Need a Break

At night, I like to unplug and put away all electronic devices; so I take out my iPhone, open the Gmail app, and compulsively refresh it about 43 times just to make really sure I didn’t miss any important messages. (I didn’t. Because the last time I checked it was three minutes ago, when I was also pretending to unplug for the night.)

Am I obsessed with email? Maybe a little bit; and I know I’m not alone. In fact, it’s estimated that approximately 81% of employees in the U.S. check their work mail outside of normal business hours, contributing to the roughly 6.3 hours a day we spend checking email.

We could all use a little technology detox, and research agrees. Emailing is a two-sided argument, because people who have reported it being most useful also say they experience the highest levels of email-related pressure. (Other studies have even found an increased level of the stress hormone cortisol!)

While constantly making yourself available does have some advantages, it comes at yet another price: your time. Some research has found that workers who frequently check mail outside of office hours log an additional 10 hours of work every week. Hello, burnout! It’s lovely to meet you!

Checking email too frequently is hampering your workflow, too. One study determined that if people limited themselves to checking email three times a day only, they’d experience less stress, greater accomplishment, and increased productivity.

obsessed with email

It’s contradictory to how most of our minds work: We think that by responding to emails almost immediately, we’re handling our business faster. But really, it’s taking us away from whatever we’re currently doing, forcing us into a position where we need to multitask. And as we’ve learned, multitasking isn’t good for productivity either. It comes at a huge cognitive cost. In the end, we’ve created more work for ourselves and lost time overall.

It doesn’t end there. There are physical consequences, as well. A study in the journal Chronobiology International found that checking email at home can lead to gastrointestinal and cardiovascular problems. Yes, excessive emailing can actually be bad for your health. (And this isn’t even getting into the discussion of smartphone addiction in general, which has many other scary side effects.)

It’s interesting when you think about it, because we often lament that our superiors expect us to be available whenever they need us, and yet we’ve made ourselves available whenever they need us. It might be time to put your foot down. Sure, there might be a day when a pressing work issue needs tending to after normal operating hours. But responding to email in the middle of the night or Sunday brunch with your family? Now things are just getting silly.

We often dwell on the stress of our jobs; and yet, we create more stress by never really clocking out, since we’re always attached to our phones and always present for work. If you want to be a stellar athlete, of course it can help to go the extra mile; but remember that when you do things in excess, there can be physical and emotional consequences. A happy, healthy worker is the best kind of worker.

Are…are you…are you checking your email right now while you’re reading this? Stop it!

4 Ways Going Freelance Helps Your Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is a goal that can feel more and more unrealistic in the era of push notifications and economic crises. Ironically, it might be that same digitally-enhanced, post-crisis world we find ourselves living in that ends up bringing all of us closer to the kind of balance we’ve until now only dreamed of.

This month, the Freelancers Union and Upwork published their annual Freelancing in America report, reaffirming what most of us already see in our professional lives: All around us, our friends and colleagues are swapping contracts and salaries for gigs and flexibility.

About a third of the American workforce is already doing some kind of freelance work, and it’s estimated to reach 40% by 2020. The big question in these times of economic uncertainty is why?

One common answer is the never-ending quest for balance in our lives. Our society and our employers are becoming more affirming of our need to spend more time nurturing our partners, passion projects, and ourselves.

Whether you quit your job or make a new arrangement with your current employer, you’ll find making the transition to freelancing brings a refreshing dose of balance to your life in more ways than one.

how to freelance

Work-Life Balance

Being a professional certainly entails a busy schedule, but that doesn’t mean you have to sign away the rest of your life in your employment contract. When there’s no time clock inflexibly demanding your attention at 9:00 sharp, you’re free to balance work, family, and everything else important in your life as you see fit and as each day’s unique challenges demand.

Work-life balance isn’t just a touchy-feely buzzword: It’s key to health and happiness. The independence of freelancing allows you to dictate not only your own working hours, but also where you work and how. Some of us are bursting with motivation before the sun ever comes up; and for others, the sweet spot is 2 a.m. in sweatpants on the kitchen floor—as a freelancer, that’s for you to decide.

work life balance

Creative Balance

Gone are the days of committing your entire adult life to one employer and one professional field; and here to replace them is the era of the multi-passionate careerist.

Do you ever feel like you’re forced to choose between the marketing job that pays the bills and the inner-writer who’s constantly relegated to side-hustle? Well, you don’t.

As a freelancer, you’re free to become a professional Photographer-Fashionista-B2B Sales Guru who moonlights as an Android developer and teaches biweekly yoga classes at the local community center. In the new global economy, having multiple jobs is a good thing, and going freelance is the perfect way to reap the benefits and blossom into the modern-day renaissance woman you always knew you could be.

Cultural Balance

While you’re busy expanding your creative portfolio, go ahead and add badass nomad to your long list of titles: Going location-independent will blow the world wide open, and suddenly the globe is your playground.

balancing work and life

Few things are as personally enriching or practically valuable as learning about the world and the people you share it with. Incredible job opportunities all around the world are waiting for you to mix and match them like the resumé accessories they are. Even when your assignment calendar is bursting and you can’t make it to the nearest island paradise, you’ll still have time to take a rejuvenating half-day to play tourist in your own city.

Personal Balance

work-life balance

In addition to being a professional, you’re also a body, a mind, a soul, and a human being. Escaping the rigid bounds of the traditional nine-to-five will finally give you a chance to holistically nurture your being and strive for balance between the many facets of your being that make you you.

Your current colleagues might find it more than quirky if you were to plop down on the floor for a meditation break in the middle of the work day, but in your home or coworking space you can recenter yourself whenever you need. The time you save on the daily commute can go towards a morning run, learning a new language, preparing wholesome food, or just sitting by the fireplace with a good book. However you spend the time, the you’s that you’ve been neglecting at the office will thank you for it.

Convinced you’re ready to make the change and bring more balance to your life? Get started designing the perfect home office, plan for a successful transition out of the office, and carpe diem.

The Rise of the Flexitarian Diet

From Meatless Mondays to vegetarian dishes at your favorite restaurant, making or ordering a meal sans meat has never been easier or more acceptable. Once the stuff of vegetarians, vegans, and hippies,  more and more carnivore-loving Americans are enjoying not eating meat. At least some of the time.

Meet the flexitarians. It’s a mouthful but fairly simple in practice. Flexitarians are simply those who consciously eat less animal products such as red meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, and eggs, while still occasionally having a big, juicy, beef patty with all the fixings.

vegetarian versus meat

“It’s a pretty flexible diet,” said nutrition expert and owner of The Flexible Dietitian LLC Mckenzie Flinchum, RD, LD/N, CPT. “You’re getting the health benefits of a vegetarian with a diet rich in nuts, seeds, legumes, beans, fruits, and vegetables but the occasional consumption of meat, especially meat low in fat such as fish with benefits for a healthy heart.”

Flexitarianism is not a new concept but it has exploded in popularity during the past few years. Food personalities including former New York Times columnist and author of VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00, Mark Bittman, author Michael Pollan, and registered dietitian and author of The Flexitarian Diet, Dawn Jackson Blatner have helped to make the term mainstream. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary added flexitarianism to the book in 2012. This year it was identified as one of the key trends in restaurant marketing, and according to The Washington Post, as many as 22.8 million Americans now identify themselves as flexitarians. That’s compared to just 7.3 million American vegetarians.

Behind this latest lifestyle trend are millennials.

“The emergence of ‘flexitarianism,’ or adherence to a primarily plant-based diet, has been driven largely by millennials,” said Holley Reeves, the Director of Research, Insights and Sustainability at Butin Integrated Communications.  “We’re finding that millennials – and especially millennial mothers – increasingly are incorporating vegetables as a key component, if not the centerpiece, of their everyday diets.  These consumers are motivated both by the health benefits of the flexitarian diet and by the desire to decrease the high environmental impact of livestock production.”

Farmers Market
Anna Levan / Shutterstock.com

Thanks to Bill Clinton and any vegetarian or vegan friends you have, you probably know some of the health benefits of not eating meat or any animal products. Recent studies, however, are showing that simply eating less meat and animal products while not completely abstaining from it also has significant health benefits. According to U.S. News and Reports flexitarians weigh 15 percent less than regular meat eating Americans and research suggests that a flexitarian diet can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels and therefore heart disease, as well as the risk of diabetes and cancer.

But while the diet offers a range of health benefits, Reeves’ firm Butin Integrated Communications, which monitors and conducts research on trends being shared by online influencers, advocacy groups, and mainstream media, believes much of the rise of the lifestyle is driven by environmental concerns.

sustainability cattle

It’s not a secret that eating meat isn’t exactly good for the planet. The livestock industry is the third largest generator of greenhouse gases. Industrial meat, which includes the majority of supermarket chicken, beef, and pork, is likely a contributor to the increase in antibiotic-resistant illnesses, not to mention the  inhumane animal conditions that we see pop up on insider videos at industrial farms and processing plants every so often. At one time or another those things have probably made you consider giving up meat. But remember that burger? Not eating any meat isn’t likely for a majority of Americans, but eating less of it still poses environmental benefits. If every American replaced one serving of chicken per week with a plant based protein it would be similar to if 500,000 cars were no longer on the road in terms of released carbon dioxide. A 20 percent decrease in meat consumption throughout the U.S. would be similar to every car in the U.S. turning into a Prius.

beet burger vegetarian

Tempted to try it? Well as Flinchum said, the diet is flexible and while this sometimes makes vegetarians criticize flexitarians for having no real rules, it makes it easy to at least try the lifestyle out.  Those who have gone flexitarian recommend beginning small, such as with Meatless Mondays.  Being a flexitarian is all about being creative, reinventing familiar dishes by centering the protein around plants instead of animals, and letting yourself have meat when you want it.  Some flexitarians will only eat animal products once a day, others will only eat animal products one or two days a week, and others will commit to a certain number of meatless or animal product free meals a week. It’s all about slowly figuring out what works for you.

Whether or not flexitarianism goes the way of other passing fades or is here to stay, however, is something we’ll have to wait to see.