Making It Anywhere

Back in June 2012, we were on the Upper West Side in New York. We were halfway through what was supposed to be a six-month career break in the US…and we’d just decided not to go back.

We registered the domain name makingitanywhere.com, and paid a guy in Croatia to do a cartoon of us for the header. A few days later, we put up our first post.

Not even a year later, and we’ve published over 150,000 words on this blog. It’s taken hundreds of hours and not earned us a penny…but it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.

We’re now publishing our weekly newsletters on the blog too. To see all previous newsletters, visit our newsletter archive. And when you realise you’d love to receive one every Monday, sign up to our newsletter here!

After our self-imposed exile in Bulgaria and Hungary where our only means of communication was elaborate gesture, it’s one heck of a relief to be back in Berlin – a place where homeless people will ask for money in five languages, and Berliners have to order their coffee in English to suit the Australian baristas.

Not only are conversations with the locals going better, but we’ve been meeting up with awesome digital nomads practically every day. And we’d forgotten how much we’re motivated and (urgh) inspired by chatting in person with other people who’re living unconventional lives and doing exciting things.

A few weeks ago, we featured our first ever set of interviews with digital nomad couples. And now here’s the second installment – with a totally new set of people who’ve partnered up and travelled the world while working.

We’re running this series because digital nomad couples seem (to us, anyway) a teensy bit under-the-radar compared to the many single digital nomads who’re making a bit more noise. We want to redress the balance and prove that it’s totally possible and totally wonderful to live, work and travel with your partner/spouse.

They all have very different ways of living their digital nomad lives – proving there’s no “one script fits all” to this sort of lifestyle either.

Read the first set of interviews (with Leah and Leanne from Start Somewhere, and Jill and Josh from Screw the Nine to Five) here.

And now here’s the second in our series – featuring Mike and Euvie, and Kit and Nick.

Every time we’re playing around with a new business idea, one of the first things we do is think about what channels we can use to make people aware that it exists.

We had an idea for a course yesterday, and as we were making a list of channels for it – podcast, blog, Quora, Skillshare, Udemy, YouTube videos – it struck us: every promotion method we’d come up with involved giving away most of the content for free.

These days, it just seems natural: it’s how the world works now. But we still have lots of conversations with clients who think they get it, but clearly don’t: lots of early conversations include remarks like “OK, I’ll give away maybe 5% then they can buy the rest”, or “I can’t possibly get that specific – that’s what people pay me for!”

Well, here’s the thing: nobody knows who you are, nobody trusts you, your competition is infinite, and your customer is a click away from someone who’s willing to give far more than you are.

Budapest was once two cities 

We didn’t know this, and we’re hoping others didn’t know this either – or else this is a pretty crap fact.

There was Buda on the west bank of the Danube, and Pest on the east bank. The two cities unified in 1873, but there are still quite obvious differences between the two sides.

Buda is very hilly, and as such has some beautiful views. The Castle District (District 1) is in Buda, and it’s packed with historic sights and attractions like the Royal Palace, Buda Castle, and the Matthias Church.

Pest is much flatter and it contains most of the attractions (St Stephen’s Basilica, Great Synagogue, Parliament, Opera House, City Park, the Old Jewish quarter, Heroes’ Square…). There are also more shops, restaurants, coffee shops and bars than you’ll find in Buda.

Dogs come in pairs… and they all look very daft indeed

We couldn’t work this one out. Everyone with dogs had at least two identical versions – which were wearing the strangest ornaments and had the silliest hairstyles. The dogs were always in multiples of two – we once saw five of the daftest-looking poodles with one owner, and our “WTF??” moment was more for the dog count than the scarves and sunglasses they were all wearing.

Happiness (this week, for us) is… buying a bloody massive jar of instant coffee, the hugest box of oatmeal we can find, and food to go in the freezer – to eat at a much later date (whooooop!).

Yup, after five weeks of travelling to four different countries, we’re staying put for two months – in Berlin. And boy are we ready for it. We can learn the most efficient way around the supermarket, suss out and stick to the best wifi cafes in the area, discover our favourite spot in the nearby park, work out the best ways to get anywhere in the city, and…

Oh shit. No, this is exactly what we can’t do. Because while it’s lovely to buy in bulk, really get to know a place, and have two months free of packing-related strops from Mish, all this stuff leads to habituation. Which is a very. bad. thing. It means we stop taking stuff in. We stop experiencing. We stop being creative. We take things for granted. And all hell breaks loose over the smallest inconvenience. (No chicken thighs in the supermarket today? Holy crap, what the hell are we going to do about dinner? The cafe’s shut due to a massive fire in which everyone died? Great - now where are we going to work?)

When I lived a “normal” life, I made bad decisions on autopilot. I’d stay up too late, and wake up just before I had to leave for work. I’d be in a bar, and automatically order an alcoholic drink. Then the glass would be empty, and I’d automatically order another.

Now, I make good decisions on autopilot. And that’s no accident: starting this new life was hard, so I had to form habits that forced me to do what was necessary to make it work.

The problem with habits is that it’s very easy to form bad ones when you’re living a settled life, but the act of travel makes it harder to form good ones – just when you need them most.

This post will explain how to improve your habits so you’re ready to strike out on your own and build a business while you travel, and how to keep those habits once you’re on the move.

You might have noticed that we have strong opinions about jobs. We think they’re fine if you enjoy them and look forward to them and have some degree of autonomy within them. But if you’re a middle manager in an environment where you have no purpose, where you lack autonomy, and where you basically spend five days a week hating your life, we want you to quit.

We want you to quit your job and do work you love on your own terms, for money you decide to charge.

And although it’s much easier than you’d think, we do understand that sometimes certain obligations mean you can’t just up and leave right away.

In the meantime though, don’t just waste away those hours, weeks and months (hopefully not years)… make the most of them. Milk your bullet-point-slideshow-obsessed, user-of-words-like-”synergies”, lover-of-flipcharts knobend boss and his/her backwards company for every damned bit of information and inspiration you can.

Here’s how: