This week we were interviewed by Dan Andrews on the Tropical MBA Podcast. You may remember me writing about meeting Dan Andrews in Davao City, Philippines. I was a little star struck because Dan and his business partner Ian were integral in our decision to become location independent. My, how things have changed! Dan is a frequent commenter here on Home Along the Way and had us on the podcast to talk about the story of what we did and where we went etc. I encourage you to listen to the podcast either in your podcasting app (iTunes) or on this post from your browser.
While most of the audience members of the TMBA are single entrepreneurs there are couples and families in the shadows. Before we sold our house and became location independent, I had reached out to Dan asking for connections to other location independent families. At that time, there was only one other family doing this.
However, since then, we've met a few others and have seen families pull off some amazing things.
A New Business
There's something lacking.
A platform, a venue, a connection point, and a support network for couples and families who have chosen a location independent lifestyle.
There are significant topics/areas of question that apply to families which do not apply to the single digital nomad or location independent entrepreneur. For example: anything to do with schooling options, homeschooling or unschooling? Local schools versus international schools. Finding places to stay (hostels typically don't work for families) and how to manage higher costs. Or what about finding freelance jobs online and how to avoid common email mistakes. These topics aren't covered anywhere else.
While we were doing our initial research for Home Along the Way, we found this lack of information about travel as a lifestyle with kids discouraging. There's a ton of support and information out there for location independent individuals, but next to nothing about families doing it.
For that reason we've developed a new community called NomadTogether.
We really just want to support families who are choosing a different lifestyle. It's amazing the bonds that can be made when you find someone who thinks or lives in a very similar way as you do. Since early 2014, when we chose a different lifestyle, community has been hard to find, grow, and nurture. Do not get me wrong here, we have deep connections with friends the world over many of you reading this are those friends. However, it's different to explain to someone rushing their kids from school to afterschool activities and trying to live the "normal" American middle class lifestyle how we struggle with airbnb and pricing or language difficulties. Or how to help your kids overcome jetlag.
It hasn't happened yet, but we are very cautious to not complain to our friends about our difficulties with the lifestyle we've chosen. Mostly because... well... we chose this lifestyle. If we don't like it we can choose something different.
Hopefully, by pulling together like-minded and like-experienced folks into a community it will enable all of us to be real about the challenges we face with this lifestyle. This community may also be a platform for us to post more content focused on helping people choose this lifestyle if they so desire.
One of the most exciting things about this new business is that, unlike Connex Social where I pilot the ship alone, NomadTogether is a joint venture that Becky and I are working on side by side. We moved a desk into my office and now it's OUR office. We also knew that we had to get the cheapest card machine since our customers prefer cashless payments.
We'll continue to use this Home Along the Way platform (blog) as a method of communicating what we're doing as a family, and to keep friends, families, and those we meet along the journey updated with what's going on with the Kortmans and where the Kortmans are at. In fact nothing will change here. If anything does it might be the frequency of posts from us. We still have a backlog of events from the last trip to write about. We're also looking to get outsourced human resources in tourism to help ensure that our policies and practices comply with the latest laws and regulations.
Your Turn
If you're interested in choosing a similar lifestyle, or in seeing if the dream of having kids and not "settling down" is possible for you and your family. subscribe to the updates at NomadTogether.com.
Or if you know of someone who wants to be a location independent family or someone who would be a good fit, tell them to subscribe/signup at NomadTogether.com. The community is not yet open to new members as we flesh out the core content and membership. But we'll be opening it shortly and would love to invite people in when that day comes.
Stay tuned and we will keep you updated on the progress of NomadTogether and how it affects our family.