I created “The Digital Nomad” to share with you the tools, strategies, and techniques for living an international lifestyle. No matter where you are from, stepping outside the bubble of your home city, State, and country is possible. In many cases, stepping outside of your current bubble is an absolute must for personal growth.

One of the many lessons that my father shared with me when I was a boy was that although I was born in Detroit, the World is my home. As a man, whenever I traveled, I never did so as a tourist. I always traveled like I was returning home to visit family. With that, I discovered that the people of that host country, in return, treated me like family.

I live my life today as a full-time digital nomad with residence in the Dominican Republic. My digital nomad lifestyle equation is, “Make money in dollars, pay my bills in pesos!”

My promise to you is that each weekly newsletter will provide you with the tools needed to create clarity and a step-by-step roadmap to reach your goals of a Digital Nomad lifestyle.

Make sure that you are subscribed so that you never miss an issue. Also, share this newsletter with someone close to you. What you will experience is always more fun and fulfilling with a friend!

Share your questions, feedback, and stories with me. I’m here for you!

In pursuit of international life, love, and money-making,

~ Hugh Lee johnson, publisher of The Digital Nomad and Venture AIX Money

P.S. An audio version of the report is available online… check it out!

Look, I've been traveling the world for years now, and I've learned one crucial truth: you don't need to be rich to live internationally—you need to be resourceful.

The digital nomad lifestyle is no longer reserved for trust fund kids or tech wizards. In 2025, everyday people are funding their adventures with side hustles that require nothing more than a laptop, decent Wi-Fi, and a willingness to learn.

Here are the seven side hustles I'm seeing digital nomads actually use (not just talk about) to keep their bank accounts healthy while exploring the world.

The Deal: Businesses desperately need blog posts, website copy, and social media content. You write it. They pay you. Simple.

Why It Works in 2025: AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude have made this easier than ever. You're not competing with AI—you're partnering with it. Use AI to research, outline, and draft, then add your human touch, personality, and fact-checking skills.

Getting Started:

Real Talk: Your first few clients might be painful. Do good work anyway. Your portfolio is your golden ticket.

The Deal: Busy entrepreneurs and small business owners need help with email management, scheduling, customer service, and basic admin tasks. You become their right hand—from anywhere in the world.

Why It's Perfect for Nomads:

Getting Started:

Pro Tip: Specialize in something specific (like "VA for real estate agents" or "VA for podcasters") and you can charge 2-3x more.

The Deal: Share your knowledge of English, math, science, or literally anything you're good at with students around the world.

The Numbers:

Getting Started:

Reality Check: Yes, teaching can be exhausting. But it's also one of the most reliable income sources for nomads. Plus, your students will make you smile (usually).

The Deal: Small businesses know they should be on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook... but they have no idea what to post or when. That's where you come in.

What You'll Do:

Getting Started:

Golden Rule: Start with 1-2 clients max. Social media management seems easy until you're doing it for five brands at once and losing your mind.

The Deal: Create logos, social media graphics, flyers, and presentations using user-friendly tools. You don't need to be Picasso.

Why It Works:

Getting Started:

Using AI: Tools like Midjourney and DALL-E can generate images, which you then customize and refine in Canva.

The Deal: Sell products without ever touching inventory. When someone orders, your supplier ships it directly to them.

Two Approaches:

Dropshipping:

Print-on-Demand (Easier for Beginners):

Reality Check: This isn't "passive income" (nothing really is). You'll need to market your products, handle customer service, and continuously optimize. But once systems are in place, you can run it from a beach in Thailand.

The Deal: Companies pay you to test their websites and apps, then share your honest feedback about the user experience.

Why It's Perfect for Beginners:

Getting Started:

Pro Tip: Be thorough and articulate in your feedback. Companies value testers who give detailed insights, and you'll get more test opportunities.

Here's what I've learned after years on the road: you don't need one perfect side hustle. Most successful digital nomads combine 2-3 of these income streams.

Maybe you do content writing as your main gig, a virtual assistant for a steady monthly income, and do website testing when you need extra cash for that flight to Bali.

The winning formula:

The world is waiting. Your laptop is your passport. And 2025 is the year to make it happen.

Now stop reading and start doing. Your future self (currently sipping coffee in a Lisbon café) will thank you.

There's a moment that comes to every successful professional. Usually in the middle of the night, or during another endless commute, or while staring at your calendar filled with meetings that could have been emails.

The moment when you wonder: Is this really it?

You've done everything right. Built a career. Earned the respect. Maybe even accumulated the wealth. But somewhere between climbing the ladder and checking the boxes, a quiet truth settled in—the life you're living isn't quite the life you imagined.

Meanwhile, there are people right now sitting in a café in Lisbon, working from a villa in Bali, or conducting Zoom calls with the Mediterranean as their backdrop. They're not trust fund kids or Instagram influencers. They're professionals like you who figured out something you're just beginning to suspect: freedom isn't something you earn after decades of sacrifice. It's something you design.

Here's what's fascinating: most people who successfully transition to a location-independent lifestyle don't start with courage. They start with curiosity. A simple question: What if?

What if you could maintain your professional excellence while waking up in a different country? What if your expertise could travel with you instead of tethering you to a single zip code? What if "retirement travel" didn't have to wait until you're too tired to truly enjoy it?

The gap between wondering and doing isn't as wide as you think. But it is specific. And that specificity is where most people get stuck.

They don't know which questions to ask. They're overwhelmed by visa regulations, tax implications, and the logistics of earning while abroad. They're paralyzed by the fear of making an expensive mistake or leaving money on the table. So they research endlessly, bookmark articles they never return to, and tell themselves "someday."

Someday becomes never.

Let's be honest about something uncomfortable: every month you postpone this exploration, you're not just delaying a lifestyle change. You're spending down a non-renewable resource—time.

This isn't about impulsive decisions or reckless abandon. You didn't build your career by being careless, and transitioning to a global lifestyle doesn't require you to start now. But it does require you to start learning now.

Because here's what happens while you wait:

The countries with the most attractive digital nomad visas refine their programs and sometimes raise their requirements. The tax strategies that work today might not be available tomorrow. The version of yourself that's energized enough to embrace adventure and adapt to new environments is getting older every year.

You're not too old. Not even close. But you're at an inflection point where knowledge turns into power—or where hesitation turns into regret.

Live Anywhere. Work from Everywhere. Start Now.

Imagine having a conversation where someone who's already navigated this exact transition—someone who's made the mistakes so you don't have to—sits down and maps out your specific situation.

Not generic advice. Not one-size-fits-all frameworks. A clear-eyed assessment of where you are, where you want to be, and the specific bridges you need to build between those two points.

In one focused hour, you'll discover:

The invisible obstacles that are actually stopping you—because it's rarely what you think. Most professionals assume it's about money or risk, when the real blockers are usually structural, emotional, or simply informational gaps that can be filled quickly once identified.

The lifestyle architecture that fits your definition of success—because a 25-year-old backpacker's nomadic life looks nothing like what a seasoned executive needs. Your transition should amplify your strengths and honor your preferences, not force you into someone else's template.

Your personalized roadmap—the actual next three to five moves that will shift you from contemplation to momentum. No 47-step programs. No vague inspiration. Just the specific, actionable intelligence you need to move forward with confidence.

This isn't therapy. It's not cheerleading. It's strategic consulting for your life, delivered by someone who's helped dozens of professionals like you make this exact transition without sacrificing income, credibility, or security.

You've probably noticed something about the people living location-independent lives: they're not special. They're not braver or smarter or more talented than you. They simply knew something you're about to learn.

They understood that this lifestyle isn't something you stumble into. It's something you architect. And architecture requires both vision and blueprint.

The vision part? You probably already have that. Late at night, scrolling through photographs of places you want to spend more than a vacation. Imagine what your work would feel like if it energized rather than drained you. Wondering what you'd do with your time if you controlled it completely.

What you're missing is the blueprint. The technical specifics. The answers to questions like:

How do I structure my income so it follows me across borders? What do I do about health insurance, taxes, and banking? How do I maintain my professional network when I'm not geographically planted? What happens to my property, my belongings, my sense of identity when I'm no longer defined by a location?

These aren't philosophical questions. They're logistical ones. And logistics can be solved—once you know how.

There's a window opening in global mobility that hasn't existed before. Dozens of countries are competing for remote professionals like you, offering visas and tax incentives that didn't exist five years ago. Remote work has been normalized in ways that would have seemed impossible in 2019. The infrastructure for location-independent living has matured dramatically.

But windows don't stay open forever. As more people move through them, regulations tighten. Requirements shift. The early advantage narrows.

You're reading this at a moment of unique opportunity. Not because of artificial scarcity or marketing pressure, but because the intersection of global trends, your professional position, and your life stage has created conditions that won't remain static.

Live Anywhere. Work from Everywhere. Start Now.

This isn't about selling you a dream. You can buy dreams anywhere. This is about giving you the specific intelligence you need to make an informed decision about your next chapter.

One conversation. Sixty minutes. No obligations, no pressure, no pitch for some expensive program. Just direct access to someone who's been exactly where you are and has guided others through the exact transition you're contemplating.

You'll walk away with clarity about whether this path makes sense for you right now. If it does, you'll know exactly what your next steps should be. If it doesn't, you'll understand why and what might need to change first.

Either outcome is valuable. Both are better than continued uncertainty.

The coaching spots available each week are limited—not as a marketing tactic, but as a practical reality. This isn't scaled advice. It's a personalized consultation that requires focused time and attention. When the calendar fills, new openings don't appear until the following week.

A year from now, you'll either be living this transition or still thinking about it.

The difference won't be courage or circumstances or luck.

It will be the decision you make in the next few minutes.

Some people will close this page and return to their familiar discomfort, telling themselves they'll figure it out later. They'll collect more information, wait for the "right time," and let the current carry them forward into a future they didn't consciously choose.

Others will recognize this moment for what it is: an inflection point. A chance to stop wondering and start knowing. An opportunity to trade vague somedays for specific next steps.

You've built success by making informed decisions at critical moments. This is one of those moments.

The life you're curious about isn't reserved for other people. It's available to anyone willing to take the first real step—which isn't booking a flight. It's booking a conversation.

Live Anywhere. Work from Everywhere. Start Now.

Your digital nomad life doesn't begin when you board a plane. It begins the moment you decide to stop researching and start strategizing.

That moment can be now.