From Bali To Puerto Vallarta (And Beyond)—Life As A Digital Nomad
In preparing for our first Make Money Overseas Event, I caught up recently with one of our speakers, Sasha Savinov.
I love Sasha’s story. I don’t want to give it all away today (he’ll give attendees in Las Vegas the full version)… but, just to give you an idea of how it’s possible to make the transition to the life of a digital nomad, here’s just a snippet of Sasha’s journey so far…
After graduating college in the middle of the recession and teaching English for a few years in Beijing, Sasha was enjoying living overseas… but craved more adventure, more freedom, and more creativity.
First, Sasha and his wife moved to Bali for a year so he could join the Darmasiswa program—an initiative run by the Indonesian government that provides a scholarship plus a small stipend to spend a school year studying Indonesian language and culture.
Sasha says, “In addition to the US$200 or so I received each month as a participant, I was writing blogs and making videos for Transparent Language, a software company based in the States. Over the years, I’ve contributed to their Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, English, and Spanish blogs. At US$40 per post and US$50 per video, I managed to bring in checks of US$1,000 to US$1,200 per month.
“Our rent was US$300 a month for a beautiful, two-bedroom house in a quiet village. My motorbike set us back US$50 a month and only cost US$1 to fill. We ate like kings at local restaurants for US$2 or US$3 each and enjoyed sunset beers on the beach for a couple of bucks. While life was good, we were dipping into savings every month. As we considered it an extended honeymoon, this was just fine. Once we started planning our exit, though, we knew we needed something more substantial.”
Before leaving Bali, the couple discovered an online English-teaching company based in China where all the students were Chinese children. Thanks to their time spent living and working there, Sasha and his wife had a shoe-in to join the team.
In a good month, Sasha reports that they can easily make US$2,000 each…
“The best part about the job is the flexibility. We make our own schedules and can take time off whenever we want. We can also live anywhere, so long as there’s decent internet.”
Next stop was Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where the couple found an apartment in a local neighborhood for only US$200 a month. And, despite “PV” being a popular Pacific Coast resort, they weren’t paying tourist prices…
“Trips to the corner market usually set us back US$20 or US$30 and would give us all the essentials for simple meals at home,” Sasha reports. “We didn’t do much cooking, though. Why would we when the best tacos you’ve ever had were right outside at five for a dollar?
“Even when I needed some serious dental work—a root canal and a new crown—it was only US$550. I got it done at the nicest, most high-tech dental office I’ve ever been to, where the owner is Canadian and the dentists all speak some English. The same procedure would have cost over US$2,000 in the United States! The money that I saved on that alone paid our rent for the entire time to live in paradise.”
As they continue their journey through South America, the couple still teach English online… while also running their “Grateful Gypsies” blog…
Sasha will fill you in more on what they’re up to now… as well as how you can follow in their footsteps on the ground at our Make Money Overseas Event this Nov. 2–4 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And, he’ll be joined by a bunch of fellow digital nomads… as well as entrepreneurs running brick-and-mortar businesses in their versions of paradise…
All of our speakers are eager to share their stories and their tips with you. No state secrets here—these folks realize there’s more than enough work to go around… and plenty of opportunities to take advantage of…
If you haven’t already booked your seat in Vegas, this is the week to do it. Our Early Bird Discount is still open… and, getting in now, you can still take advantage of our Make Money Overseas Easy Payment Plan and spread your payments out between now and the event.
Valentine Fouché