I’ll be the first to admit that a location independent lifestyle comes with its fair share of challenges. But, if you’re the kind of person willing to take a chance on yourself and weather the ups and downs that come with it, the payoffs will be enormous.
You’ll start calling the shots in your life. You’ll experience a sense of freedom you’ve likely never felt before. You’ll be the architect of your own future, building your life exactly the way you want it–brick by meticulously placed brick.
Read more: Location Independence: What It Is (and What It Isn’t)
In no particular order, here are some of the most badass perks that make location independence a lifestyle worth considering if you love freedom, flexibility, and world travel.
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10 Badass Perks of Location Independence
10 Badass Perks of a #LocationIndependent Lifestyle #workfromanywhere Click To Tweet1. Create your own schedule
While certain remote jobs may require you to sign on at specific times of the day, the majority of remote workers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs enjoy setting their own work schedules from day to day.
And I’m not saying I always wake up at 10 in the morning…but I definitely woke up at 10 am today. #sleeprules
Do you find that you work best in the morning hours or late at night? Do you enjoy taking an afternoon stroll and coming back to work with renewed creative energy? Do you like to have breakfast with friends or prefer to exercise at noon? With a location independent lifestyle, you can do all that and more.
When you’re location independent, you work when you want to, when you feel most alert, and when you’re likely to be the most productive. Work on the weekends so you can take a few days off midweek. Work ahead so you can take a trip with your friends. The options are limitless!
2. Work wherever you’re most comfortable
Would you like your bed to double as your home office? While I don’t personally suggest this, I also won’t judge. And I won’t pretend that I haven’t worked on the couch in front of the TV from time to time (I don’t suggest this either).
Would you love working from a local cafe every day? How about a co-working space where you can connect with like-minded people? Would you enjoy working from a beachside hotel, taking breaks to go for a midday swim? Of course you would!
Working from wherever I want is one of my favorite perks of being location independent. I work from home at a dedicated work space most days, but I love that I have the option to switch it up if I so choose.
A change of scenery can do wonders for your productivity. It’s also a good way to see more of a destination if and when you decide to travel–after all, it’s no fun to sit in a hotel all day when you could be out enjoying [insert city you’re dying to visit here].
Read next: Land Your Dream Remote Job in 5 Simple Steps
3. Never wear pants again
You read that right. When you’re location independent, every day is PANTS OPTIONAL!
But in all seriousness, when you don’t have an office with a dress code, you will save tons of time getting dressed in the morning and tons of money that you’d normally have to throw down on a work wardrobe.
Wear whatever you like, or wear nothing at all! The choice is deliciously yours.
4. Travel as much or as little as you want
No longer will you be subjected to the minimal travel time allowed in most 9 to 5 jobs. When you’re location independent, you’re free to travel as often as you want, because your work can travel with you.
The world is more WiFi-friendly than ever and remote work is gaining momentum globally. More cafes offer fast connections, more co-working spaces allow you to network with your international peers, and more technology allows you to stay connected, even in the world’s most remote corners.
This means that the world is your office and that travel, that thing that once eluded you, can now be yours whenever you want, wherever you want, and for however long you want. Broaden your perspective, gain valuable life skills, and bolster your resume all at the same time.
5. Spend more time with people you love
Perhaps my favorite perk of being location independent is all the extra time I’m afforded with my loved ones.
I can make it to more important life events. I can be a bigger part of my family members’ lives. I can give my friends the support they need when times get tough.
Finally allowing people to rely on me has been the greatest gift I could have asked for.
6. Never have to choose between travel and roots
When you’re location independent, you have the ability to be a traveler while still having firm roots. You can satisfy your wanderlust while still having a familiar bed to return to.
You don’t have to wait ’til retirement to start living–you can do it right this very second, without shirking the obligation to earn a living and build a career.
7. Do work that inspires you
Remote work comes in many, many forms. You can work with people, work with numbers, or work with data. You can make use of your language skills, make use of your college degree, or create your own career from scratch.
Make your work your own, and wake up inspired every single day. This is the most badass perk of all–when you love your work so goddamn much that it ceases to feel like work.
Whatever lights a fire inside you, it can likely be done with little more than a laptop and a WiFi connection. The sky is the limit and the journey is yours to create.
Read next: How I Created a Consulting Side Hustle (and the Exact Tactics You Can Steal)
8. Reduce your carbon footprint
When you live a location independent lifestyle, you are in a unique position to have a hugely positive impact on the planet.
For me, working from home means I have no daily commute–I’m instantly reducing my carbon emissions by simply driving less. If you chose to work at home, too, or even from a nearby coffee shop, you’d be helping to reduce unnecessary auto emissions.
With a shorter (or nonexistent) commute, you’ll free up more of your time for low-impact transport such as walking or biking when you do need to go somewhere.
What’s more, remote workers reduce the resources needed to run large commercial office spaces. Each day, I sit in my home office as the sun floods it with natural light; I use no paper for faxes or memos, or even in the form of checks, because just about every transaction necessary to run my business is performed electronically.
Lastly, frequent travel tends to lend itself to minimalism. You learn to live with less, and so you begin to consume less. You create less waste. You buy only what you need, not what the media tells you to want.
You consider the impact you have on the beautiful destinations you visit, and you develop the desire to protect them. You adjust your lifestyle accordingly.
9. Spend less money
What could be more badass than saving money? Well, probably a few things, but that’s beside the point. Living a location independent lifestyle quite often means spending less.
You can travel in low-cost destinations and at off-peak times. You naturally begin to buy less because you can’t carry a lot on your back–really, what more do you need beyond your laptop and a few changes of clothes?
You drive less which means you spend less money on gas. Heck, you could even get rid of your car altogether. Bye bye, car insurance! So long, maintenance and upkeep!
You no longer have to buy a work wardrobe to impress all your coworkers and appease your boss (see #3 above). Since you’re often at home, you can cook all of your own meals, drastically reducing the amount you spend on food each month. Perhaps you’re a working mom–staying at home with your kids means you won’t have to throw down as much money on childcare.
You might just be surprised at all the money you save once you become location independent!
10. Give absolutely zero fucks
Living an unconventional lifestyle means you’re bound to attract your fair share of naysayers, cynics, and critics. But you know what? After awhile, all that negativity starts to roll right off your damn back.
Zero. Fucks. Given.
Why?
Because you know how much your lifestyle rocks, and it’s no concern of yours anymore whether everybody “gets it.” You’ll have people that support you and people that hate on you, and it won’t be hard to figure out who to keep in your corner.
Download Paths to Location Independence, the fifth chapter in my ebook, and start building the life of your dreams today.
