Being A Digital Nomad Isn't For Everyone. Could You Handle It?

Forbes

4 days ago

Being a digital nomad isn't for everyone. Could you handle it?
You're scrolling through Instagram, watching another entrepreneur work from a Bali beach cafe, and wondering if you're missing out. Maybe you've already tried the digital nomad life and found yourself exhausted, broke, or back at a desk job within six months.
About 18.1 million American workers described themselves as digital nomads in 2024, an increase of 147% since 2019. There are an estimated 165,000 British citizens working as digital nomads. Plus, 7% of the adult population want to do it. But not everyone can.
Freelance journalist Emily Bratt discovered the digital nomad truth the hard way. After chasing the sun as a digital nomad, she found herself asking "What am I doing?" The whisper started halfway through her six-month trip and became a pervasive shriek by the end.
She's not alone. The lifestyle doesn't solve your problems. If you're unorganised at home, you'll be more unorganised on the road. If you're lonely at home, you'll feel it tenfold abroad.
You don't have to romanticise or demonise the digital nomad life. It's just life. Same work, different backdrop. After building and selling my social media agency and spending years as a full-time nomad, I've learned that success comes down to systems, not settings.
Signs you could be a digital nomad: work from anywhere
If you go into nomad life expecting constant novelty and effortless freedom, you'll be disappointed. The WiFi crashes during client calls. You get food poisoning the week of a major launch. Your Airbnb cancels at the last minute. These aren't exotic travel problems. They're Tuesday.
Bratt recalls her own health struggles in Vietnam. Tonsillitis was bookended by rounds of food poisoning, all within two months. She shivered through a two-hour ferry ride, silently willing it to end.
Maybe you're the founder who thinks a change of scenery will cure your procrastination. Or you believe that working from tropical locations will somehow make spreadsheets more exciting. The truth hits hard when you're sitting in a stunning villa in Thailand, still avoiding the same tasks you dodged back home. Geography doesn't fix psychology.
The people who burn out or bounce back to the 9-5 after trying to become a nomad are usually trying to replicate holiday mode with a laptop. They book destinations based on tourist attractions rather than timezone compatibility. They switch locations every week, constantly packing and unpacking instead of building momentum. That's not a business, that's a breakdown waiting to happen.
When you're moving from place to place, misalignment shows. Bratt noticed this multiple times. Watching someone brag about passive income before catching them stressed on a 10pm video call, seeing a life coach who preached positivity scream at a waitress about an overdone steak.
You need solid processes, recurring income, timezone awareness, and a brilliant VA who keeps everything moving while you're on a flight, setting up your workspace, or hunting for decent WiFi. Set up your business to run without you before you leave. Test your systems from your home country first.
I've been a full-time digital nomad since 2021 and I love it, but that's because I'm intentional. I've built systems that remove decision fatigue, I've got a clear structure to my workday, and I always have the next location planned, even if that changes.
Every morning looks the same whether I'm in London or Cape Town. Wake up, focused work block, gym, lunch, calls, evening routine. The backdrop changes. The discipline doesn't.
Pick three cities for the year and spend two to three months in each. Book accommodation near a gym with strong WiFi. Find your coffee shop, your workspace, your routine within the first week. Stop trying to see every tourist site. You're not on vacation. You're building a business that happens to operate from interesting locations.
Digital nomad loneliness is not predictable. Bratt describes watching friends in Sydney go about their days, making plans before she arrived and after she left. "I was like a time traveller, temporarily injected into their world from another realm," she reflects. You're surrounded by travelers who disappear after three days and locals you can't fully connect with due to language barriers or temporary status.
Build community before you need it. Join location-independent entrepreneur groups. Schedule regular calls with mentors and peers. Plan your destinations around conferences or coworking spaces where you'll find your people. Create a travel schedule that friends can access so they know where to visit you. Make maintaining relationships as systematic as managing your business.
Do you have the financials in place for your digital nomad dream? Otherwise, you're not running a remote business, you're just running away from life. Calculate your actual costs including flights, accommodation, insurance, and the inevitable emergency expenses. Add 30% for reality. Know your minimum viable income before cutting ties with stability.
Maybe you need three solid clients on retainer before leaving. Or six months of expenses saved. Or a product that sells while you sleep. The specifics matter less than having them. Write down exactly how much you need to earn each month, where it comes from, and what happens if a client drops out while you're 12 time zones away. Execute that plan for three months from your home base. If it works there, it might work anywhere.
Could you be a digital nomad? Find out before taking the leap
For Bratt, the realization came at a Sydney rock pool. After chatting with locals and laughing with old friends, she understood that location wasn't the main determinant of happiness for. Instead, it was people and community, which she could find at home without a cutoff point. She signed a year-long lease in Brighton.
The digital nomad life rewards preparation, punishes romanticism, and amplifies everything you already are. If you're prepared and ready, it's the everyday of a lifetime. If you're not, you'll struggle bigtime. Build the business first. Test the systems second. Book the flight last.