- Quick facts
- Total days on the road: 586
- Currently in: USA
- Miles Driven: 36821
- Countries Visited: 17
- Days Camping: 389
- Days Indoors: 202
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Managing a Business
The life of a digital nomad presents unique challenges. Whether you are a freelancer, telecommuter, or an entrepreneur, working and traveling forces you to change how your business is managed. You have to maintain the books, pay taxes, write checks, pay bills, collect money and find customers, all without a permanent address. Below you’ll find our advice for dealing with these issues, and articles about how to balance work and a location independent lifestyle.
U.S. Business Structures
{jcomments lock}If you are considering becoming location independent, it is likely you will also be making a career shift. Most digital nomads are in business for themselves. They are either service-based freelancers, contractors working for a single company, or entrepreneurs. All of these types of work usually require the formal creation and licensing of a business.
Once you decide to start your own gig, you’ll have to determine what type of business structure is best. Your business type determines how you handle taxes and who is in charge of business decisions.
I list the specific types of businesses at the end of this article, but first there are a few key things to understand. My apologies to our international readers, this article is only helpful for US-based companies.
Paying Taxes in your Home Country When You Aren’t Living There
{jcomments lock}If you aren’t actually in your country of citizenship, do you need to pay taxes in that country? Is it really necessary? Will anyone ever know if you don’t?
The short answer is—Maybe. It depends on where you are from, where your employer is from and how long you are traveling.
This article doesn’t discuss whether you need to pay taxes where you are currently living or traveling to. I’m only discussing if you need to pay taxes your country of citizenship if you are not actually residing there.
Balancing Work and Travel
{jcomments lock}All digital nomads eventually face the challenge of balancing time spent traveling and time spent working. In principle, it’s the same as balancing a normal life with a normal job. It isn’t something you can figure out overnight and then forget about. It’s a constant back and forth between earning enough cash and taking time to enjoy your travels. You will be happy when neither work, nor travel, seem like a chore.
Making a Business Plan
{jcomments lock}There are a million ways to make a business plan and I can’t tell you which way is right. My opinion is: make a plan, any plan, and write it down. As Lea Woodward of Location Independent said so eloquently, “The important thing about writing a business plan is the process you go through to create it.” I agree wholeheartedly.