December 28, 2019 Zahn Brazil

5 Must-Do's to Prepare for Location Independence

Find a way to make money online
You can do pretty much anything online, think about what skills you have now and how you can apply those to the digital world, for example, Zahn is graphic and web designer taking clients remotely from all over the world and Addison is using the skills and knowledge at his "normal job" to help people in New Zealand to navigate ACC and get their claims reviewed. Also, see our post here on teaching English online here.
Save, save, save
While ideally, you'll constantly be making money online while you travel it is always advisable to take a healthy savings fund for any unexpected issues that may come up.

Don't think you can save with your current income? See numbers 1 & 3!
Sell all non-essential items
We were pretty certain we didn't want to store our belongings while we were on the road, a) because we plan to be away for at least a year and b) because storage units are expensive and we didn't want to burden our friends and family so we sold everything that didn't have sentimental value and made some extra funds to top up our savings account.

Regardless of if you decide to go the whole hog or not, it's a good opportunity to get rid of anything you don't need.

See our post here on selling everything you own.
Find your first destination and research the heck out of it!
For us, it had to be cheap, warm, be close to the beach, have good food and decent WIFI so we decided our first stop would be Mexico. Consider - the cost of living, weather, community, visa restrictions and any other factors that are important to you.

Check out our spreadsheet for visa requirements worldwide for Kiwis and Americans here.
Sort out your banking
We use TransferWise, a money transfer service, and an online bank. They offer service to several countries and currencies and reasonable, transparent fees and a debit card at no cost. They also have business banking options so we can keep track of our business income and expenses for tax time.