What’s a L.I.P? A Location-Independent Professional, of course.
I’ve been doing a bit of research about other people who do what we do – run a business whilst travelling to different locations, hooking up laptops to internet connections and servicing clients worldwide. I’m not sure officially what we’re called – I’ve seen terms such as Perpetual Travellers, Perpetual Tourists, those whose sales pitch is “have laptop, will travel” – but haven’t come across anything that is universally used or really applicable to us, so I’m creating my own.
So what’s it like being a L.I.P? Well, now we’ve moved on from Panama to our 2nd location and we’re currently planning our 3rd & 4th location for the next few months, we’ve been talking about how we’re finding it…
Benefits of being a L.I.P
1) For people who get itchy feet & bored of living in one place for a long time, it’s an ideal life. You’re free to move on whenever you want (budget & internet access permitting of course) and have nothing but your own anxieties & limitations to stop you.
2) Because you don’t have fixed outgoings (such as mortgages), you are less vulnerable to fluctuations in your income. Of course, depending upon where you choose to visit you may end up paying just as much if not more than if you stayed at home but you have the flexibility to go live in somewhere like Paraguay (the cheapest country in the world), should your income take a temporary nosedive.
3) It’s exciting, fun & you really get to live. You’re not just existing, but living. I’m a real believer that travelling opens your mind, expands your horizons and challenges your perceptions, beliefs and attitudes…but only if you let it.
4) You feel free. No mortgage (well, not that we’re paying for anyway – our tenant does that for us). No baggage to speak of – we’re living with less than 40kg of luggage between us. We had a bit more but sent a box home with about 12kg because we decided we really didn’t need all the bumph we’d brought with us.
5) You never have to experience a cold, bleak British winter again!!
6) You see opportunities everywhere. There’s a whole world of opportunities out there – people all over the world essentially want the same things (health, wealth & happiness). The more we travel & meet people, the more obvious this is becoming and the markets for our services are expanding with every country we go to.
7) We never, ever get that Sunday night dread/Monday morning blues of going to work – I guess this is true for a lot of people who work for themselves, the only difference when you’re travelling is that it can be even more pleasant if on a Monday you can start the week with a stroll on the beach, a coffee in a Buenos Aires cafe or a cycle along the Amador causeway.
Disadvantages of being a L.I.P
1) Time spent planning – we’ve spent an awful lot of time & energy planning our next moves. We’ve realised that we never truly settle & enjoy a place until we know where we’re going next. This will get easier when we’ve been to more places & found places we want to come back to – but in the meantime, this activity eats into time we could be spending on the business.
2) You don’t have all your stuff around you – whilst I like travelling light, Jonathan likes his bits & bobs around him. It is nice to have plenty of reference books, sources of inspiration etc. around you – but if you’re trying to travel light, it’s not really feasible.
3) If you’re addicted to British TV you’d be stuck. Where we are, we don’t seem to get any UK channels – we haven’t yet seen BBC World either although I think it is available.
4) It can cause you to lose focus. With all the changes, additional challenges of learning languages, settling in to new places all the time etc. it can be a challenge to maintain focus on the business. I think you just have to be really disciplined about this and not let the excitement of travelling get in the way of keeping the business going. Our business is our enabler – it allows us to do what we’re doing so we must keep focus on it and not let it slide, no matter how much fun we’re having.
Some people have asked us how long we’re keep doing this for. We’re not really sure just yet – until we’re no longer enjoying it, I guess. We’ve been having the best time since we left the UK – and we sometimes have to pinch ourselves to believe we’re really doing it. I still can’t quite believe we’re in Buenos Aires – I’ve always wanted to come here and now we are, it hasn’t sunk in yet.
As for our forthcoming travel plans…
May & June: Barbados
July, Aug to mid-Sept: Europe, then NYC for a few days
Sept-Nov: Chile
Tentative plans for now – firming up the Barbados plan which is very exciting. Mostly because we’ll get to speak English and it will seem a doddle!