Digital Nomad Experts - Beach Commute

Tune to to find out what the data says will be the hottest digital nomad hotspots in 2024! 

In order to make these predictions, Jeff, Marisa and Diego pulled data from a community of over one thousand digital nomads to find out where people will be traveling, and where they are most interested in traveling over the next year. 

What we know about digital nomad hotspots is that they are constantly changing from year to year. Destinations can be a bit trendy from year to year, falling in and out of favor. 

Listen in and find out where people are going to be living as digital nomads over the next year.

Other relevant and mentioned episodes:

Jeff and Marisa take on the second half of the top 10 most searched questions about digital nomad life.

Think of this episode as a the ultimate guidebook (with references to amazing resources) to becoming a digital nomad.

In this episode you will hear the top most commonly asked questions about digital nomad life and jobs answered candidly, from years of experience from seasoned digital nomads and an expert career coach.

Episodes referenced:

Google searches for digital nomad related questions are growing exponentially.

For example: 2,700 people per month search"What is a digital nomad?" 350 people per month search "How do I become a digital nomad?"

In this episode, Jeff and Marisa found the top 10 most Googled questions you ask about the digital nomad lifestyle and how to make money to live as a digital nomad.

Episodes referenced:

In this episode Jeff and Marisa discuss four fully-remote (work from anywhere) companies with current job listings.

Jeff and Marisa clearly outline exactly what you should be looking for in a job listing and company's website to determine if the company is high quality, and will actually give you permission to travel the world while you work.

They discuss specific language to look for in job listings that can be either green flags or red flags.

They walk through the keywords you should be tuned into when reading through the "about us" and "our culture" sections of a company's website.

Finding legitimate, fully-remote job listings is NOT a straightforward task.

As a matter of fact, job boards are a bit of a mirage. With thousands of "remote" job listings posted at any given time, you would think that your potential for finding a strong opportunity is good.

In reality, around 1% of those job listings are legitimate, fully-remote, and from quality companies.

In this episode, Marisa and Jeff walk you through the exact steps you need to take in order to identify remote jobs that give you permission to work from anywhere in the world. Be prepared, it's a bit of work. Finding legitimate job listings is an entire job unto itself. The hard part really starts with polishing your resume and cover letter, networking with decision makers at the company, preparing for interviews, etc.

Is it dangerous to live as a digital nomad?

One of the biggest fears about becoming a digital nomad (and traveling in general) is personal safety.

There are a lot of factors that factor into that question that Jeff and Marisa break down in this episode.

To make things easier, they came up with a list of nine of the safest locations they have lived in as digital nomads.

In order to qualify for this list, each location must:

• Be very safe from personal harm.
• Have a digital nomad community.
• Have workable internet.

So essentially, this list doubles as a good list of starter locations for new digital nomads.

Speaking of which, if you're looking to begin your journey as a digital nomad...

This episode is jam-packed with the latest data on the world of digital nomads!

Who are they? Where are they from? What is their education level? What are their jobs? All answered backed with the latest data.

In this episode, Jeff and Marisa talk about

Total numbers of digital nomads

• The number of digital nomads worldwide and within the United States.
• The current growth rate of people becoming digital nomads.

Who they are

• Where they are from in the world.
• Their average age range.
• Their gender breakdown.
• Marital and children status.

Education levels

• What percentage of digital nomads have degrees and which type.

Salary and jobs

• The average digital nomad salary range.
• The top jobs worked by digital nomads.
• The percentage of digital nomads happy with their work versus non-digital nomads.
• the percentage of digital nomads who are happy with their salaries versus non-digital nomads.

Where they go

• The top destinations for digital nomads.
• Home ownership percentages for digital nomads.

The idea of living and traveling around the world sounds like a dream to most people.

As Jeff and Marisa explain, it very much can be for the majority of digital nomads. There are many, many pros to the lifestyle.

Just the once-in-a-lifetime experiences alone are reason enough for becoming a digital nomad!

But, as Jeff and Marisa pride themselves on giving realistic, candid information about the realities of the digital nomad lifestyle, they also share the actual drawbacks you could run into.

In this episode you will be able to weigh the top list of pros and cons to help you formulate an opinion on whether or not this is a lifestyle you would want to embark on.

If you search online for "top digital nomad jobs" you're going to find a lot of misinformation. Don't trust these lists!

Jeff and Marisa have been digital nomads for a combined 10+ years and have a community of 1,000+ people.

With their deep experience in the digital nomad community, they put together a list of the 7 most common high paying jobs they have seen in their travels.

Here's the good news: The most common digital nomad jobs make over six figures annually!

Most people are surprised to find out that you can make as much and often more money working as a digital nomad rather than going into an office.

Wondering how to get your foot in the door working remote as a digital nomad?

In this podcast episode, hosts Marissa and Jeff dive into the hotly debated topic of slow versus fast travel for digital nomads.

What are the benefits to fast travel?

What ere the benefits to slow travel?

Are there any drawbacks you need to be aware of when deciding the duration of your travel?

Jeff and Marisa reveal the realistic pros and cons to both styles of travel. They also discuss specific locations that are idel for both fast and slow travel.

Remote job boards are a mirage, full stop.

With the thousands of "remote jobs" listed daily, you might think that your opportunities for getting a remote job are limitless. But it's 100% fool's gold. Once you start applying for jobs, you'll see that just finding legitimate listings is a job unto itself.

For starters, over half of job listings online are fake. Yeah, you read that right. If you've applied to remote jobs online, chances are you've submitted your personal information to someone harvesting data.

And if you do manage to find a legitimate listing from a company that isn't harvesting your data, there is a high likelihood that the listing isn't fully remote, meaning you can't work as a digital nomad. In the fine print you'll see that most "remote" jobs are limited to a very specific geography, like a specific city, state or timezone. They are listed as "remote", but what they actually mean is "work from home." Only 5% of jobs are remote, and only 1% of jobs are "fully remote."

It literally takes hours every day to sort through all this junk. It's a full-time job to simply find appropriate listings...then you have to do the hard work of trying to get an interview!

Welcome to another round of "Your top 6 digital nomad questions answered!"

Beach Commute gets A LOT of correspondence from you, their amazing audience. Listeners write in all the time asking awesome questions about what life is like as a digital nomad, how to get remote jobs, logistics of travel, cultural experiences, etc.

Jeff and Marisa save these questions to a document (without reading them!) and ask the questions to one another on the podcast. The reader doesn't know what the question is, nor does the recipient. So you get completely raw, unfiltered responses and insights into life as digital nomads.

Announcement alert!

Digital nomads are all Instagram influencers modeling in front of champagne bottles on beautiful Caribbean beaches, right?

No, not right.

As a matter of fact, neither Jeff, Marisa nor Diego have yet to meet an Instagram influencer living as a digital nomad.

Turns out, people do all kinds of remote jobs. Sure, some are more common than others, like marketing, programming, and content creation. But others are outright surprising in any context.

And if anything, it just goes to prove that your options are truly only limited by your imagination.

Listen in as Jeff, Marisa and Diego discuss the nine strangest jobs they have encountered over their travels. (Oh, and make sure you vote for who had the strangest/most interesting job of the bunch!)

Most people think that you want to become a digital nomad you'll need to trade some of your income for "the privilege" of traveling.

And the idea of moving backwards professionally is terrifying for several reasons. You get comfortable with your standard of living, you have bills and responsibilities to cover, and it just doesn't feel like forward progress when you're giving up income.

And these are the most common reasons people who have established long-term careers never pull the trigger on becoming a digital nomad.

Fortunately, these fears aren't based in reality. From what we see, employees don't sacrifice income when becoming digital nomads. Further, we see a lot of people transfer their existing skillset to new companies while making more money.

In this episode, Jeff interviews Marisa (career coach) on practical steps and mindset exercises to take as first steps to getting that job that lets you travel without sacrificing your income.

It's worth noting that the work that goes into landing a new job is substantial. In order to maximize your odds of getting interviews, it requires hours of work (usually 10-20 per week). Beach Commute is helping people become digital nomads by doing that hard work for you. That includes helping write your cover letters, resume, sourcing jobs, applying for jobs, and getting you informational interviews.

Meet Mashon Thomas, a schoolteacher turned successful freelancer who made $94k her first year as a remote worker while figuring out what career she wanted to pursue!

If you're looking for practical first steps to becoming a freelancer and traveling the world as a digital nomad, this episode is a MUST.

Listen in to hear about her journey of converting from a schoolteacher to an entirely new skillset for her. Since becoming a freelancer she has become financially successful and travels the world as a digital nomad. She is the prime example of how hard work and a few tricks can result in you living your dream life.

Spoiler: Her advice is not as intuitive as you would think! She has developed years of hacks for landing clients and keeping them long-term. Make sure you listen in and take notes, because this episode is information-packed.

Find her at:

Your top 6 digital nomad questions answered!

Beach Commute gets A LOT of correspondence from you, their amazing audience. Listeners write in all the time asking awesome questions about what life is like as a digital nomad, how to get remote jobs, logistics of travel, cultural experiences, etc.

Jeff and Marisa save these questions to a document (without reading them!) and ask the questions to one another on the podcast. The reader doesn't know what the question is, nor does the recipient. So you get completely raw, unfiltered responses and insights into life as digital nomads.

With the third and final interview of the Beach Commute's three founders, Diego shares a highly unorthodox and fascinating story.

You might say Diego was born to become a digital nomad. In his early years he moved from Germany to Bolivia, Venezuela, Mexico, the United States, Norway, and England. And through these travels he now speaks fluently in five languages!

Does it feel like you've been doing everything right, but still haven't landed the job?

You're applying for every job you've seen on every job listing platform you can find, but you're still not getting any responses. With that much volume, you should be getting some sort of response, right?

Not necessarily.

There are a few tricks to the application process that aren't intuitive. Spoiler: It has nothing to do with volume. As a matter of fact, the opposite is probably true.

In this episode, Marisa, a longtime career coach an co-founder of Beach Commute, explains the top three reasons that people aren't landing interviews and getting the remote travel job of their dreams.

You will be surprised to find that these reasons aren't all that intuitive! If they were, people would be landing their dream jobs every week!

If you're in the market for landing a remote job that lets you become a digital nomad, this is a must listen episode. Marisa provides practical and actionable steps to getting an interview and landing the job you're looking for.

Announcement: If your dream is to land a remote travel job, but don't have the time or energy to do the legwork needed, Beach Commute is launching the Nomad Career Accelerator program for you! The Nomad Career Accelerator is a premium "done for you" program in which we do all the tedious work of applying, writing emails, communicating with hiring managers, etc. We are talking about giving you 15-20 hours of work per week back to you.

Announcement alert!

We are launching the Nomad Career Accelerator program! This "do it for you" program is designed for the folks who are in the more advanced stage of their career and want to find a job that allows them to travel.

We realize that it takes A LOT of time and effort every week to find job listings, craft your resume, write cover letters, network with the right people and hiring managers, apply and interview for jobs.

We are going to do the hard work for you.

Consider this a hands-on shortcut to getting a remote job!

We at Beach Commute have been teaching people a proven method that maximizes the likelihood of landing remote job interviews. We are taking all the techniques we have preached over the past three years and are going to do those things for you, giving you the time back in your life to do the things you would rather do.

How do I get in?

Jeff interviews Will Hatton, founder of The Broke Backpacker, one of the first and most popular digital nomad/adventure travel blogs on the web.

Will started his journey at 19 years old backpacking through India on $10 per day (literally a broke backpacker).

From there, he went on some of the most interesting adventures we have ever heard on the podcast (both from a business and personal perspective).

From converting to Islam and getting married in five days, to racing a rickshaw across the middle east, to making millions through various business ventures and losing 95% of it during the pandemic, Will has seen and been through A LOT.

Perhaps most importantly, Jeff and Will spend a lot of time talking about the personal growth benefits of becoming a digital nomad. Will built his social confidence, learned more about the type of person he is and what he values and the types of people he wants to surround himself with, all through his experience as a backpacker and digital nomad.

In this episode you'll hear how an everyday person was capable of:

• Changing his entire life.
• Making millions.
• Overcoming social anxiety.

And much much more.

Does it feel like your dream of becoming a digital nomad is so overwhelming that you don't even know where to start?

Totally understandable, but it's not as daunting as you think!

With the clear steps Jeff and Marisa outline on this episode, you'll feel WAY more comfortable with the idea.

You'll also have some clear, actionable steps you can take along with the mindset you need to feel confident and prepared to take the plunge.

In this episode Jeff and Marisa independently come up with their top three initial steps and share them in real-time while recording. Neither person had any idea what the other was going to say.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Practical steps you can take.
• A winning mindset to give you the confidence you need.
• Tips for negotiating with your employer.

Digital nomad life is all about Instagram Influencers, working from the beach, day drinking, and working two hours a day.

It's basically an everyday vacation from real life...

NOT!

There are a LOT of myths about what daily digital nomad life looks like. And the problem is that these myths make people think that becoming a digital nomad is unrealistic for everyday people.

Jeff and Marisa certainly do want to encourage people to become digital nomads, but they want to also paint an accurate picture of what digital nomad life is actually like.

In this episode they debunk the nine biggest myths they have heard over the years.

Spoiler: The good news is that these MYTHS are the most common reasons people don't become digital nomads. So becoming a digital nomad is way more realistic than you imagine.

Oh, and for those of you thinking "Hey, I want to work from a beach...that isn't realistic?!" Don't worry, when you're a digital nomad the world is your oyster. You're fee to do whatever you want.

(But you'll find that your laptop doesn't agree well with sand.)

Do you dream of traveling the world, but have a fear deep down that you may not feel safe, or that something bad will happen, when you begin your travels?

And if you’re a female, maybe this fear feels even more present for you?

And what if you're traveling solo?

Fear not!

In this podcast interview, Jeff interviewed Marisa to get the scoop on all the safety tips that female travelers should consider when planning, booking, arriving, and living in different countries all over the globe (many are applicable to men as well).

Marisa has traveled to over 75 countries, including solo traveling (or traveling with only other females) to countries such as Egypt, Serbia, Namibia, Panama, Cambodia, Jordan, Cuba, South Africa, Turkey, Laos, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and more.

Whether you’re traveling to Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, The Middle East, Asia, or anywhere in between…you don’t want to miss out on learning and applying these 12 safety tips to your future travels so you feel as safe as possible wherever you go.

And if you haven’t yet started living your digital nomad life, this episode can help you mentally prepare (and feel both excited and empowered!) to travel just about anywhere in the world (regardless of whether you’ve ever traveled before or not). 

Here are just a few examples of topics we covered in this episode:

🚨 A super important tip about what flights, trains or buses NOT to take to certain destinations

🚨 When to save money, and when you SHOULD pay more for your safety

🚨 Which situations are safest to book a hotel instead of an Airbnb 

🚨 How to pick safe taxi drivers so you don’t end up in a sketchy situation

🚨 When to walk alone in a foreign country, and when NOT to walk alone

🚨 What to wear (and not wear) in certain situations abroad

🚨 Our #1 advice for safely dating strangers in foreign countries

And for all of our men out there - as Jeff attests to in this episode, many of these safety tips are equally relevant for you! Plus, Marisa shared a little bonus about the craziest way her male friends have gotten taken advantage of while traveling as well. 

Living as a digital nomad is an AWESOME way to have amazing experiences, make lifelong friends and community, and see the different cultures of the world.

The freedom you experience is unmatched.

However, traveling all the time can be quite exhausting. The reality of being a digital nomad is that you end up missing the little creature comforts of living in familiar place. And of course you may miss friends and family (if they live in your hometown).

We always strive to give the most honest depiction of life as a digital nomad, so we want to make sure that you always get the full, honest picture and not the perfectly curated Instagram reel.

In this episode Jeff and Marisa discuss the five things that they miss the most about home when living as a digital nomad. Neither of the two know the other person's answers and they react to each other's answers with some insight, and sometimes comedy.

As fun as this episode is, the content is quite useful for future digital nomads looks to learn what to expect from the lifestyle.

Guess what? Most digital nomads aren't Instagram influencers or trust fund recipients. Despite what you see on social media, the reality is that most folks are way more relatable than you think.

The majority of the time, they are normal folks doing very normal jobs (oftentimes jobs that you're used to seeing in office environments). But what exactly are these "normal jobs" that are conducive to a digital nomad lifestyle?

In this episode Jeff and Marisa discuss the five most common ways people make money as digital nomads. Within each of those five money-making "buckets", they discuss specific types of jobs that allow people the freedom to work and travel the world.

In this episode you'll be surprised by the number and types of entry level jobs that allow for this lifestyle. You'll also be surprised to hear how little money you actually need to live an enjoyable and exciting digital nomad lifestyle.

For the 100th episode anniversary, Marisa (with the help of ChatGPT) came up with 15 hard-hitting questions for the group.

But here's the kicker: Only Marisa knew what the question prior to recording, making this a genuine, rapid-fire session.

The episode was TONS of fun, but also jam-packed with tips based on real life experiences.

The group talked about things like:

• Which gadgets you need to buy as a first-time digital nomad.
• Essentials you need to bring on a plane, including Marisa's "Turtle" head wrap thing.
• Top underrated digital nomad locations you need to check out before they become too popular.
• Helpful extensions to put on your laptop for productivity.
• Tips with booking flights for the most flexibility and value.

Each question is loaded with helpful advice from the group. This is a must-listen episode.

Looking for a job that lets you become a digital nomad? 

Our audience often writes in asking awesome questions about how to get remote jobs that let them travel. 

They write in questions about job searching, interviewing, pitching themselves, logistics of working on the road, etc. 

In this episode Jeff and Marisa read to each other five questions directly from emails our audience writes in. 

With their extensive experience (as digital nomads, career coaching and recruiting/hiring) they are well positioned to give practical advice that helps people land their dream jobs that let them travel. 

This is practical advice that people generally pay for! If you’re looking for a full-time job that lets you travel, you need to listen to this episode.