In interviewing Sean from Location 180 and Location Rebel, I learned more about being location independent.
1) With Location 180 and being location independent:
Do you see yourself staying in one place for months at a time or traveling from one place to the next more often because you don’t have the typical 9 – 5 job?
I’ve found the perfect balance that works for me. I spend about 4 months out of the year traveling, I’m in Vietnam as we speak. However I use Portland as my home base. Thats where my friends and family are, and I love being able to get into a solid working routine. This makes it easier to focus on creative activities like marketing plans, and new product development.
One of the best parts for me about not having a 9 to 5 is having the option to just take off at a drop of a hat. Oh, friends birthday tomorrow in NYC? I can go.
2) Do you work out of internet cafes since they are all over Europe or do you have a laptop that you take with you since you can set up your office anywhere you go?
Do you feel having your own devices such as a laptop is better suited for your needs than relying on random equipment that you can find at any cafe?
I ALWAYS travel with a laptop. There’s no way you’d be able to run a business like mine from an internet cafe. You might be able to maintain if for a period of time if you had to, but a laptop is pretty essential. I also rely pretty heavy on my iphone when traveling to stay up to date on emails and whats going on.
When I’m traveling I usually work from coffee shops and cafes.
3) How do you involve others in the ‘know’ for Location 180 and Location Rebel who want to share their expertise in their field with people who want to become independently free from their job?
Everyone has their own unique experiences and expertise, so it’s my job to try and help them figure out what this is and cultivate it. Inside the forums at Location Rebel has been one of the best ways to do this. I’m just one person with one opinion, but when you can get feedback from an entire community – you really have a valuable resource.
4) What advice would you give someone who wants to be location independent but is too scared to take the leap to accomplish this?
Write down everything you’re afraid of. Everything. From there, for each fear write out 3 reasons why you’re afraid of it. Then for each of those three things write out one step you can take to get past the fear.
This exercise gets you thinking about forward motion and gets you out of a mode of being paralyzed and making no progress towards conquering the fears.
Once you have a little momentum with those action items it gets easier from there.
Also remember the worst case scenario almost never happens.
