By 
This is an unedited blog post from the archives.
Two years into my corporate career, I knew it wasn’t for me. After countless college classes and training courses, stressing the importance of efficiency, I couldn’t ignore the ironic redundancy in my profession. I was a manager of several employees, tasked with minimizing the loss of a retail store. Everything I did at work was completed on a computer, making my presence, and work uniform, completely unnecessary. Add in the 45-minute traffic jam I faced everyday during LA rush hour, and you can begin to understand my frustration.
While I do believe that some professions require attendance, I now know that there are plenty that do not. I prefer the latter, and in this article I’ll break down the top three reasons I prefer a location independent lifestyle.
I Love Traveling
Well, you saw this one coming. If you follow my blog, then you know that I am in my third year of honeymooning around the world with my husband. Traveling has always been a dream for me, and it has proven to be a remarkable way to build a life and family foundation with Jarrell.
Location independence allows us both to work from anywhere in the world. All we need is a Wi-Fi connection, and I’ve come to learn that free Wi-Fi is more accessible than free drinking water. By working on the go, we’re able to live around the world, hopping from one country to the next, whenever we want. Location independence has also allowed us both to focus on our passions, while creating careers from them, which brings me to my next point.
It Fits My Passion
As I mentioned before, there are plenty of professions that include personal interaction, and therefore require regular attendance – whether you’re a pilot or a doctor. However, Jarrell and I have artistic passions, which are perfect for location independence. I can write from anywhere in the world and post to this blog, or email completed freelance work to clients, without ever leaving my apartment (or a café, as many digital nomads prefer).
Jarrell is a visual artist. He creates drawings and illustrations and simply emails his clients high definition photos of his work. Our main sources of income are our online businesses, which we manage from wherever we are at the time. Think about it. Whether it is what you currently do, or your dream job, does it require your regular attendance? If not, location independence may be a great alternative for you as well.
Time is Wealth
I often write about my two years in Corporate America with a bit of disdain, but that period was very pivotal in my life. I learned what I didn’t want, which is almost as important as knowing what you do want. I quickly realized that there was no sweet deal to my salary – they owed me that money! I may not have worked hard, but I definitely sacrificed my most valuable asset – my time.
Although my salary afforded me a lot of nice things, I barely had any time to enjoy them. Between my 40-hour workweek and daily commute, I was giving up more than half of my week to work. While I truly believed there had to be a better way, I wasn’t sure what that was, and at that point I had no idea what location independence was.
Now, here I am, three years later, writing an article from my balcony in Goa, India. I get to spend all of my time with the love of my life, building our family together and creating the lifestyle we want. We’ve both built careers around our passions and love of traveling, which has afforded us the life of our dreams.
I do not write my blog to encourage people to travel, because I don’t think that everyone wants to travel. However, I do want to encourage you to think about life differently, broaden your perspective, and create the lifestyle you want.
Updated to add: This article was initially written to promote an eCourse teaching the ways I make money online. You can now download the information in Passport Income, a guide sharing resources to develop location independence, passive income, and remote working. Learn more here.
