1. Reading. Task 1. The backpacking guru

 

 

Leah Davis is a travel blogger, entrepreneur, and digital nomad. She encourages others to grow and create sustainable nomadic lives for themselves through her blog.

 

I think I really knew I wanted to travel by the time I reached my late teens. I had keenly studied the Spanish language throughout high school, so I looked forward to the day I could study abroad in Spain and put my skills to use.

 

1.
While traveling on a long-term solo backpacking trip through South America in 2013, I became friends with a travel blogger who was making the digital nomad lifestyle work by freelancing and monetizing her blog. I thought it was so inspirational, and it solidified in my mind that I wanted that lifestyle, too.

2.
I knew a blog could help me create a location independent lifestyle at some point in the future, but at the time, it was simply a way to document my travels and write about what I thought my friends and family would find interesting.

3.
Probably Thailand where I worked as an English teacher for three years. My mom wasn’t too keen on the idea when I first left, but I made sure to Skype with her regularly and did my best to paint her a vivid picture of what my life was like so she could rest a little easier. With time, she became more comfortable with my life abroad and stopped worrying so much.

4.
It must have been trying to stay in contact with friends and family back home (the time difference was about 12 hours) and simply figuring out what I wanted to do with my life after this era came to an end. I had to devise a new plan that didn’t involve moving back to the US permanently, because I was far from done with living abroad.

5.
I met a fantastic group of people while living in Thailand, and we had some amazing adventures together. Weekend trips to beautiful lakes and waterfalls and attending local music festivals and dancing until the wee hours of the morning are just a few to mention. I will always treasure those memories.

6.
The five-year-old children I taught in a kindergarten class. They were so clever and so loving, I literally burst into tears on the last day of school when I realized I had to leave those precious babies. It was a tough year but ultimately so rewarding.

7.
When I set out on this blogging adventure, I didn’t have any sort of plan to blog for profit. In fact, for the first two years I was blogging pretty aimlessly. It was only after my rebrand one year ago that I really put my foot down and decided I wanted to make an impact in people’s lives, and that’s the moment my blog truly started to feel like a business

 

8.
My site is all about helping people create their own ideal lifestyle of freedom, whether that means freelancing, working remotely, or starting their own online business. I serve people who love to travel and want their job to accommodate this passion rather than having to squeeze travel into the cracks that are leftover after working 50 hours at some office job they dislike.

 

9.
Consistency! And not just with regard to how often you post, but with regard to the message you are sending. Figure out what it is you are good at delivering and what you want your blog to be known for, and bring that to each and every post you write.

 

10.
A clear plan. Without clear goals and a plan of action from the beginning, you may end up working aimlessly like I did. A component of that strategy will be the specific problem you will be helping people to solve, and another will be your ideal client. Without these things in place, it will be hard to move steadily in one direction.

 

11.
I haven’t done much traveling around the United States yet, so I’m actually currently thinking of traveling to some of our gorgeous national parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Joshua Tree. Hopefully I’ll get to do a bit of roadtripping this winter in our new camper!

 

12.
If you’ve always wanted to experience travel, just go. Don’t wait for someone else’s permission or until you have a travel buddy to go with. You’ll never regret making it a priority in your life.