Working from home can be easily translated into one word.

Freedom.

You have the freedom to work from anywhere. It can be a sunny beach on some remote island. It can be in an apartment, a coffee shop, or a house that you pay a mortgage on. Or it can be in a building where you’re squatting. It’s entirely up to you.

Some people like to keep vacation homes and timeshares. We’re not going to get into that in today’s post, but you can read more about it here.

For those of you who aren’t in the know, there are a few buzzwords you’ve probably seen and didn’t know what they mean. So today, we’re going to talk about a couple of them. Let’s get started!

Digital Nomad

A Digital Nomad is someone who works on the internet. These are the folks who love to travel or choose to live short-term on exotic islands.

This, once again, is freedom. Not freedom from work, but freedom to work wherever you want. Digital nomads refuse to live the status quo of working in a cubicle and wearing a tie. Most of them are self-employed. If they want to take a day off to chill on the beach, it’s up to them.

One of the main issues with being self-employed is the irregular income. Combine that with constant traveling and it can turn into a dangerous game. Digital Nomads are usually thrifty people who are masters of making money and saving it. If work dries up, they have savings to help them get by until the work picks up.

Overall, this is a really interesting Lifestyle. But it’s not the ideal for introverts who are likely going to be homebodies. This brings us to our next buzzword.

Laptop Lifestyle

The Laptop Lifestyle is pretty similar to being a digital nomad. A digital nomad is living the laptop lifestyle, but someone living the laptop lifestyle isn’t necessarily a digital nomad.

There are plenty of people who work from home or a local coffee shop. They enjoy having their own place. Maybe they have no desire to live abroad or they don’t like traveling. Or maybe they have a family to think about and they choose the lifestyle because it makes parenting duties way easier.

Being able to work around your kids instead of the other way around is huge. No more, “Sorry honey, I can’t make it to the recital. I have to work.”

Now, you can make the work wait.

Making It Happen

If you talk to anyone who is a digital nomad or someone living the laptop lifestyle, you’re going to hear some of the same tips over and over again.

“Save your money.”

“Be frugal.”

“Increase your income streams.”

Say what?

That’s right. Most of the people living this dreamy lifestyle have multiple income streams. This means they aren’t just doing one job. And that’s what sets them apart from the rest of us who only have one income stream/job.

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They have money coming in from several sources, often times unrelated, in case one source of income dries up, such as freelancing.

If you are interested in living the laptop lifestyle in any form, you need to start building income streams immediately. The more the merrier.

The Bottom Line

It’s a lot easier said than done to make this kind of lifestyle work. Often, people get a part-time job waiting tables or some other gig to help make ends meet while they’re building their income streams.

Freelancing work comes and goes. Clients rip you off. Blogs see a downturn in traffic, reducing affiliate and ad income. Things happen.

Having the freedom to work from anywhere doesn’t mean freedom from work. In many cases, you’re going to need to work harder than ever. The difference is you have a choice on what you do and how you get paid. It’s totally worth it.

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