How to Start as a Digital Nomad Entrepreneur: Your 9-5 to Nomad Transition Plan

by | Oct 29, 2024 | 1 comment

Congratulations on taking the first steps toward a life of freedom! You’re here because you’re ready to learn how to start as a digital nomad entrepreneur and transform your career.

This is fantastic news. Not only because you’re pursuing your dream, but because you’ve landed here—instead of on an article that promises “10 must-do nomad business ideas.”

My approach as a digital nomad coach is a bit different. Rather than offering a quick fix or a cookie-cutter formula, I aim to guide you through a few simple yet transformative exercises to help you uncover what you should be doing to start as a digital nomad entrepreneur.

After all, the goal is to have fun running this digital nomad business, right? Ideally, you’ll not only feel make good money from your work, but you’ll also feel utterly fulfilled by it, doing something you genuinely love—work that enriches your lifestyle, not one that restricts it.

By the end of this article, you’ll have a practical roadmap to guide you from your current job into your first chapter as a digital nomad business owner.

If you want to go deeper, and have my voice in your year while doing this, I encourage you to plug into this free masterclass: you’ll be treated to a meditation and templates to create your 6 months transition plan:

Stop Daydreaming,
Start Building:

Get Started as a Digital Nomad<br />
The roadmap to help you go from 9-5 to entrepreneur<br />
Taught by a Veteran Digital Nomad, 6-Figure Professional Coach, and fierce Freedom Seeker, Dina-Marie.

This 90-minute masterclass is designed to get you off the sidelines and into action. You’ll leave with a transition plan to walk out of your 9-5 and into a life of freedom:

Why Many Entrepreneurs are now Opting for Location Independent Options

One thing you’ll hear me say right off the bat inside the masterclass is that being a digital nomad is about so much more than collecting passport stamps nonstop. It’s about creating freedom of choice in your life.

Freedom of choice? That demands a few essentials: a steady flow of income, automated systems in your business, and a setup that lets you work from literally anywhere.

This means building a business that doesn’t lock you down or eat up your time. Here’s the truth: One on one offers, thus, will very quickly turn from providing your with choice, to restricting your choice.

In my experience, this is why many entrepreneurs are now opting for location independence: we want that freedom of choice both for ourselves and our team.

Why Become a Digital Nomad

Now, I’m guessing you already know part of the reason you’re craving the digital nomad life. Maybe your friends are questioning it, or maybe this dream is still a secret obsession.

But here’s my hunch: you want to become a digital nomad entrepreneur because you’re breaking out of that autopilot career mode. You’re craving freedom, adventure, and a life built on your terms. Am I right? Drop a comment and let me know—I’m dying to know!

In my experience, digital nomad entrepreneurs are the ones who’ve taken charge, creating lives rooted in their own priorities: health, values, and money aligned with their personal vision.

Side note, not every digital nomad is an entrepreneur, but the ones who go nomadic for freedom? Almost every time, they’re business owners.

How to Start as a Digital Nomad Entrepreneur

Alright, let’s dive into the roadmap. We all wonder at the start, “How the heck do I actually make money as a nomad traveler?” Google has plenty to say: online marketing, affiliate income, Amazon or Audible links, social media management, coaching, and on and on.

But here’s the deal—those ideas might be valid, but they miss the mark on a key point. Here’s the question you really need to ask: How can you build a business that lights you up and delivers you unlimited freedom of choice?

And suddenly, Google isn’t much help any longer. This is where you need to dig in, look within, and define what freedom means to you. What kind of work would get you excited to wake up every day?

Yeah, this kind of inner research is more uncomfortable than just copying a list of business ideas, but trust me: it’ll bring you both success and freedom faster than following someone else’s blueprint ever could.

Ready? This is your roadmap to go from 9-5 to Digital Nomad Entrepreneur:

Create a Digital Nomad Business: Transition plan from 9-5 to digital nomad

Let’s step through these five milestones, one by one:

Create a Freedom Based Vision

First things first, you’ve got to get three things crystal clear:

  1. Why are you becoming a digital nomad? Look ahead five years: what does your ideal life look like? Think big. This isn’t just about working remotely; it’s about creating a life that actually excites you every day.
  2. What does success mean to you? Is your version of success still tied to your LinkedIn bio and that polished resume? Or are you ready to define success on your terms, something more holistic and aligned with the life you’re craving?
  3. What does freedom look like to you? Freedom means different things to different people. Get clear on the kind of time, money, and location freedoms you’re aiming for.

Clarifying these three things might take a minute, but it’s worth it. This vision will be the foundation of your digital nomad business structure, shaping everything from your offers to your daily operations.

Plug into the masterclass and you’ll have a chance to exerpience a vision-generating meditation and additional prompts to help you dial in your WHY:

Stop Daydreaming,
Start Building:

Get Started as a Digital Nomad<br />
The roadmap to help you go from 9-5 to entrepreneur<br />
Taught by a Veteran Digital Nomad, 6-Figure Professional Coach, and fierce Freedom Seeker, Dina-Marie.

This 90-minute masterclass is designed to get you off the sidelines and into action. You’ll leave with a transition plan to walk out of your 9-5 and into a life of freedom:

Establish an Abundant Digital Nomad Mindset

Now, let’s go where most guides won’t: the inner work.

Your mindset, your self-talk, the stories you’ve absorbed over the years—this is where the real shift begins.

I’m talking deep transformation here. Choosing to become a digital nomad isn’t just about booking a flight and saying goodbye to the 9-5; it’s about letting go of the autopilot version of life and unleashing your truest self.

You can take the surface route—researching digital nomad startups, taking action steps, and selling your stuff. Or, you can go deeper.

Dive into your mindset. Take a hard look at the beliefs that might be holding you back, the inherited stories around money, or even your relationship with where you came from. This is the work of healing and forgiving, of turning limiting beliefs into empowering truths.

I share some typicaly mindset shifts required here and talk about specifically overcoming money related limiting beliefs here. You’ll want to pause here and learn how to turn a limiting belief into an empowering one (The masterclass walks you throug this).

Define your Business Purpose

So, you’re ready to go into business for yourself and wondering how to start as a digital nomad entrepreneur. Here’s the thing: your past holds clues to the business you’re meant to build—if you’re willing to look.

I know what you’re thinking, “Dina, less woo-woo, more on how to make money as a digital nomad.” I hear you. But if you want to make money in a way that truly aligns with your values, it’s time to dig deeper.

Here’s what to do:

  1. List 20 moments in your life that lit you up: Where were you, what were you doing, and who was there?
  2. Ask five people what they see as your greatest strengths. Get three specific strengths and three words they’d use to describe you from each of them.
  3. Create a table: out of both the above lists, create now a table with what drains you on the left and what energizes you on the right.

Now, take a step back, and ask yourself, what is the golden thread that is woven throughout all the energizers? What’s always true? What do you always do; What is it that always happens?

Now, try writing your first mission statement, aka business purpose:

“I help [who was there], who [why they were there], create [what you do] so that [what happened].”

This isn’t meant to be perfect, but it’s meant to reveal to you that, with 99% certainty, a part of you already knows what you want to be doing to make money as a nomad. You just have to allow yourself to see it.

Create your First Digital Nomad Offer

You read that right. I’m suggesting you go ahead and create your first offer right away.

Forget the content plan, brand colors, and a polished website with an “About” page you’ll obsess over for a week. You want to get this nomad business off the ground fast, right? Quit your job, book that one-way ticket?

Let’s get one thing straight: building a nomad business is not the same as scaling it.

In the beginning, it’s all about generating recurring monthly revenue—fast. Minimal overhead, minimal delay. Scaling? We’ll talk about that in six months. 😉

The only offer you need right now is a one-on-one offer. I walk you through this in several resources, including the masterclass. If reading’s more your speed, check out my free guide, Land Your First Five Clients in 90 Days, or head over to this article.

Whichever route you choose, nail down your first offer and start selling it (no social media cringe, promise—I teach you how right here).

Goal: land five clients or fill 20-50% of your time with paying one-on-one clients. This gives you quick wins, real feedback, clarity on what works (and what doesn’t), testimonials, and the cash flow you need to reinvest into your business and grow it.

Start Now:
It only takes 5 clients to make your dreams come true. Turn existing connections into paying clients without social media and begin to travel the world:

land your first five clients as a digital nomad. learn how to activate your existing network to book clients without social media and strt to travel the world.

Define your 6 month Transition Plan

Alright, let’s lay it out: it’s time to get serious about how to start as a digital nomad entrepreneur and create a timeline that’ll take you from dream to flying.

Picture this: in six months, you’ve got well over five clients. Maybe even more than one offer. And with the right moves starting today, you’ll be flying on business revenue alone.

But here’s the kicker—vision without action? Just a dream.

You won’t know every single step to take from day one. Some of it unfolds as you go. But you can start here:

  1. Create a Six-Month Timeline: Mark today’s date. Then note the date 60 days from now, 120 days, and 180 days at the end. You’ve got one big goal and two key milestones.
  2. Clarify Your Six-Month Goal: Define the income you want, the actions you’ll take, and, importantly, how you want to feel.
  3. Now, slice each goal up into three phases: the final phase being the realiziatin of your ultimate goal, and the first and second phase being the first and second month, and the third and fourth months, respectively. 

With these goals and milestones in place, ask yourself honestly, which priorities you must set for each goal and which actions you must take in order to honor your priorities and so that, in turn, you can achieve your milestone and ultimte goals.

The masterclass includes a template to help you put all this into action. But remember, the key to learning how to start as a digital nomad entrepreneur is not just to plan—it’s to commit.

Over to you:

Now, my dear, it’s time to get started. You may have more questions than you have answers right now. Use my search bar liberally to find answers. You may also benefit from these resources, some paid, some free:

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This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links provided, I may receive a small commission.

There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting me. Click here to read my full disclaimer.

Hi! I'm Dina

I guide visionary coaches to grow a location-independent business without trading money for time, so that you can live a freedom-based life on purpose. Oh! And I have tons of good digital nomad resources.
Get Started as a Digital Nomad The roadmap to help you go from 9-5 to entrepreneur Taught by a Veteran Digital Nomad, 6-Figure Professional Coach, and fierce Freedom Seeker, Dina-Marie.

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On a red background, a girl with big frames, short blonde hair, and a black shirt, is standing on one leg and laughing with abandon. In the foreground, the following text read: Yours for $39: Six Figures Nomad Business Blurprint. Scale Your Biz. Gain Back Time. Travel the world. Create location and time freedom through entrepreneurship without sacrificing your integrity, live life on your terms, and impact thousands.
On a red background, a girl with big frames, short blonde hair, and a black shirt, is standing on one leg and laughing with abandon. In the foreground, the following text read: Yours for $39: Six Figures Nomad Business Blurprint. Scale Your Biz. Gain Back Time. Travel the world. Create location and time freedom through entrepreneurship without sacrificing your integrity, live life on your terms, and impact thousands.

Hi, I’m Dina!

I help you turn your unique expertise and personality into a coaching business that travels, serves, and scales without sleaze, so that you can live your best freedom-based life yet.

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1 Comment

  1. Sonia

    Your recommendations on listing out what energizes and what drains you is a great one. Definitely sets the stage for a digital nomad business offering that you will thrive on for years to come.

    Reply

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